Rise from a Poor Family: My Martial Arts Counterattack

Chapter 473 The Secret of Yin Yue

Do you not know what a demon is?
The answer from the Marquis of Dingxi left both Lin Chen and Yin Yue with doubt in their eyes. The Dingxi Army guards the western border, isn't that to fight against the demons?

The one who knows you best is your eternal rival.

The Dingxi Army has existed in the western border region for three hundred years, yet they still don't know who their enemy is.

If Lin Chen hadn't been certain that the Marquis of Dingxi wouldn't joke about this or hide anything from him, he would have almost thought that there was some secret involved that he wasn't qualified to know.

"Lord Lin, given your status, I will not hide anything from you. Our Dingxi Army's duty is to defend against the invasion of demons, and we have also fought against demons, but the way we fought may be different from what you think."

Marquis Dingxi knew that Lin Chen would misunderstand his words, and not only Lin Chen, but every soldier who came here initially couldn't understand either.

“On the day of the full moon each month, black mist will surge out of the abyss. This black mist will flow in, and our Dingxi Army will fight against this black mist.”

Mentioning the black mist, Marquis Dingxi's expression turned serious: "There are demons in the black mist, but even those who have entered cannot say for sure what they are like. All martial artists who come out of the black mist will forget their experiences in the black mist and their bodies will become weak, requiring a month of rest to recover. Those who fail to come out will never be seen again."

Lin Chen's eyes held a thoughtful look: "If that's the case, why enter the black mist instead of retreating and waiting for the demon within to emerge?"

The western borderlands are a vast expanse of desolate, uninhabited yellow sand stretching for tens of thousands of miles, allowing the Dingxi Army to retreat thousands of miles.

"Lord Lin, the black mist will not dissipate on its own; it will only continue to move forward. The further it retreats, the more black mist will emerge. The only way to make the black mist disappear is to send in martial artists and fill the black mist with their numbers. Only then will the black mist stop growing."

Zhang Hai added a comment from the side, while the Marquis of Dingxi said to his personal guards, "Bring the sand table over."

The guards obeyed and ran back to the military camp. Marquis Dingxi explained to Lin Chen, "Lord Lin, many people like you who are visiting Xichui for the first time are having some difficulty understanding. The previous marquises simply made a sand table, so Lord Lin will understand it at a glance."

In less than a hundred breaths, several guards returned carrying the sand table.

On the sand table, on the far left is a deep abyss, and the bottom of the abyss is filled with some kind of liquid.

"Lord Lin, please take a look."

Marquis Dingxi ignited the liquid below the abyss, and soon black smoke rose up. Lin Chen smelled the liquid and knew it was kerosene.

Black smoke billowed from the abyss and, under the control of the personal guards, began to spread to the right. In the middle of the sand table was the camp of the Dingxi Army.

“If our Dingxi army doesn’t charge into the black smoke, black smoke will keep emerging from the bottom of this abyss, and even the vast desert will be swallowed up by the black smoke.”

Lin Chen and Yin Yue were also looking at the sand table. The black smoke was rising very quickly, and judging from the volume of kerosene in the abyss, it was far from being completely wiped out.

When the black smoke was about to reach the military camp location on the sand table, a soldier took out small balls that looked like cotton. These small balls, about the size of a fingernail, were thrown into the black smoke, and the smoke was quickly absorbed into them, turning the originally pure white balls into black balls.

The white spheres absorbed the black smoke. As more white spheres were added, the area where the black smoke spread began to shrink. When it shrank to a certain extent, Marquis Dingxi struck out with his palm. The palm wind caused all the black smoke on these spheres to surge back into the abyss. A few spheres were also carried by the palm wind and fell into the abyss.

"According to our findings over the past three hundred years, as long as the range of this black smoke does not exceed a hundred miles from the abyss, the black smoke will retreat on its own when the moon sets, as if it is summoned by the abyss. However, if the range of the black smoke exceeds a hundred miles, the abyss will continue to swallow and spew out black mist, unaffected by the setting moon."

With a sand table and the Marquis of Dingxi explaining things, Lin Chen and Yin Yue both understood what was going on. But it was precisely because they understood that they were even more confused.

Why does the abyss continuously release black mist when it exceeds a hundred miles, but shrink back when it falls below a hundred miles?

"Over the years, every martial artist who has entered the black mist has lost their memories of being in it. Has there been no exception?"

Hearing Lin Chen ask this, Marquis Dingxi smiled bitterly: "No, I have entered the black mist dozens of times. Every time the black mist dissipated, I fell into a coma. When I woke up, I only remembered the events before I was swallowed by the black mist."

"If you don't remember anything, how can you be sure there's a demon, or that the black smoke itself is just that peculiar?"

Yin Yue, who was standing to the side, slowly spoke up. Marquis Dingxi had already learned about Yin Yue's identity from Lin Chen's introduction. Of course, he knew the identity that Lin Chen had fabricated for Yin Yue.

“Little girl, that’s because there were records of black mist emerging from the yellow sand in the past. At that time, the people of several cities were shrouded in black mist. After the black mist passed, the hearts of the people in these cities all disappeared. According to some written records from the previous dynasty and the local area, there is a demon that eats human hearts hidden in this black mist, and the one in the abyss is the Demon Ancestor.”

The title "demon" didn't originate in the Great Liang Dynasty; it existed much earlier...

The name can be traced back thousands of years or even longer, and the Liang Dynasty adopted this name as well.

Yin Yue didn't ask any more questions. Lin Chen saw that Yin Yue was looking down and knew that the girl was thinking. He then asked, "Lord Marquis, what was the reason that the martial artists who were taken away by the black mist were taken away? Were they weak? The army should have done some research on this."

“I’ve studied it.”

Marquis Dingxi nodded: "These martial artists taken away by the black mist are not weak. Based on years of discoveries, the army has also found common characteristics among these martial artists. First, they have only recently broken through to a higher realm; second, they are emotionally unstable. Therefore, before each black mist arrives, those who have not broken through to a higher realm within the past three months are assigned to the rear. At the same time, when the Dingxi Army selects people, besides strength, they also consider temperament. Those whose emotions are easily volatile will not pass the Dingxi Army's selection." After listening to Marquis Dingxi's introduction about the "demon," Lin Chen saw that Yin Yue was still deep in thought, and knew that the Moon Soul Clan probably had no records of such a special existence.

If there were any records, this special being that devours the hearts of others and hides in the black mist would leave an impression on anyone who saw it, even if it was just a glance.

"Lord Lin, I don't know why you want to go to the Abyss, but you must be careful. Fortunately, there are still ten days until the full moon. With your strength, Lord Lin should be safe. If it is the full moon... those two missing innate experts must have gone to the Abyss on the day of the full moon."

Marquis Dingxi knew what Lin Chen meant to the Great Liang Dynasty. If he could, he would try to persuade Lin Chen not to go to the abyss. However, he also knew that Lin Chen had come all this way for a reason that he could not persuade him to stay.

"Yes, thank you for the reminder, Lord Marquis. I will be careful. I won't go to the military camp."

Lin Chen nodded, and without further delay, he bid farewell to Marquis Dingxi and continued westward with Yin Yue.

"My lord, why don't you try to persuade Lord Lin? The abyss is so dangerous. Lord Lin is very important to our Great Liang and even the entire Canglan Island. We can't let anything happen to him."

Zhang Hai watched Lin Chen's departing figure and asked in a low, puzzled voice.

"Lord Lin was just here, why didn't you try to persuade him?"

"I'm just a nobody, with no influence whatsoever," Zhang Hai said, scratching his head sheepishly. He knew he was nothing in front of Lord Lin.

"You are of low status and your words carry little weight, but do you think I am not?"

The Marquis of Dingxi snorted: "Lord Lin addresses me as Marquis because I am the Marquis of Dingxi of Daliang, and it is to give face to His Majesty and the court. If it were outside, I, the Marquis, would not even have the chance to see Lord Lin."

Are first-rank martial artists very strong?

It might work on Canglan Island, but it would mean nothing in the Yan Dynasty.

None of the innate experts who came took him, the Marquis of Dingxi, seriously. In their eyes, he was no different from Zhang Hai, a fourth-rank martial artist.

In the entire Liang Dynasty, besides Lord Kong, the only people who dared to persuade Lin Chen, and were qualified to do so, were those who had instructed Lin Chen in martial arts.

……

……

After traveling another hundred miles, even without using his innate power, Lin Chen could feel the rate at which his innate power was draining away from his body was accelerating.

"You know how dangerous that abyss is, so why don't you stay in the Dingxi Army camp?"

Lin Chen looked at Yin Yue, but Yin Yue shook her head: "I am very curious about this demon that even our family has not been able to record. Although I do not know what this demon is, based on what that general just said, I have a guess."

"What speculation?"

Yin Yue's lips curled up into a smile: "I'm afraid that with these Dingxi troops, they simply can't stop the spread of the black mist. The reason why the black mist hasn't spread out is very likely due to the power of that Myriad Manifestations Realm expert you mentioned."

Hearing Yin Yue's guess, Lin Chen's eyes narrowed: "You mean, the reason this senior stayed on Canglan Island was to suppress the demons of the abyss?"

“Perhaps it’s not as simple as just suppressing it.” Yin Yue nodded and then shook her head: “How many experts at the Myriad Manifestations Realm would care about the lives of ordinary people? There might be treasures at the bottom of this abyss that would tempt even experts at the Myriad Manifestations Realm, and suppressing the black mist was just something the other party did casually.”

Although her cultivation level was not even at the Innate Realm, Yin Yue's words showed no respect for the experts of the Myriad Manifestations Realm. In her eyes, experts of the Myriad Manifestations Realm were just martial artists, only those who had cultivated for a longer time and were stronger.

But precisely because they have cultivated for so long and have long been accustomed to life and death, they have become even more indifferent.

"The young girl is quite good at deduction. Even if she was born into the Moon Soul Clan, it would be difficult for someone her age to have such a mind, unless she is a member of the Moon Soul Clan royal family with Moon Bones."

A voice rang out, but Lin Chen's expression didn't change. He recognized the voice as that of the senior martial arts garden master. Since this senior had sent him to the west, the senior must also be here.

However, at this moment, Yin Yue's little face became extremely wary, and when she saw the middle-aged man striding towards her, she couldn't help but take a step back: "Who are you?"

The fact that royalty are born with the Moon Bone is a secret within the clan, and even members of the royal family are not aware of this. Only those born with the Moon Bone are told this secret.

She will know, not because she is royalty, but because she possesses the Moon Bone.

Even the clansmen don't know, so outsiders, even those at the Myriad Manifestations Realm, would never know.

(End of this chapter)