Survival in an apartment, starting with a stroke of luck on a plane

However, Lin Yu did not take any risks. Instead, he would use his shadow clones to scout ahead or lure away the enemy after advancing for a while.

But when he tried to use this method to cross an open area that could have been a plaza, something unexpected happened.

In the center of the square, deep underground, a flaming skeleton, clad in tattered elder's robes, with dark gold bones and soul fire blazing like small suns in its eye sockets, seemed to sense Lin Yu's presence. It paused for a moment, then suddenly dug itself out of the ground.

"not good!"

Upon seeing this guy with an extremely terrifying aura, Lin Yu's heart alarm bells rang, and he immediately prepared to retreat.

The aura emanating from this skeleton is no weaker than that madwoman from the Black Buddhism sect; it is definitely a platinum-level existence.

But it was too late. The dark gold skull let out a silent roar, and a powerful mental shock swept over it as if it were a tangible force.

At the same time, it swung a broken longsword burning with dark red flames in its hand!

Om-!

Countless eerie blue runes instantly lit up the ground of the entire plaza, and a massive trapping and killing formation was activated.

Countless blue flame chains shot out from the ground and the void, wrapping around Lin Yu.

Even more terrifying, this roar and the fluctuation of the formation were like a stone thrown into a calm lake, instantly alarming the entire ruins!

"Snap!" "Snap!" "Snap!"

Hundreds of fiery skeletons crawled out of the ruins and from underground from all directions, including many silver and gold-level beings.

The soul fire in their eye sockets locked onto Lin Yu, surging forward like a tide! In an instant, they formed an encirclement!

Our escape route is blocked! All around us are skeletons wreathed in flames.

"Damn it!" Lin Yu's expression changed drastically. The Azure Rose roared, the Demon Sword danced wildly, and lightning and sword energy erupted, instantly tearing the first few skeletons to shreds.

But more skeletons charged forward fearlessly, and the dark gold skeleton elder waved his staff, condensing several dark red fireballs the size of houses, which crashed down with an aura of destruction!

Boom boom boom!

Lin Yu narrowly avoided the fireball using [Spatial Leap]. The spot where he had been standing was blasted into a deep crater, with debris and eerie flames flying everywhere.

Lin Yu felt a sudden increase in pressure, his mana shield fluctuated violently, and the [Heavenly Cloak] automatically activated, its crimson light swaying as it blocked attacks from all directions.

The flowery vines had barely emerged when they were burned to ashes by a large swath of ghostly blue flames.

"Leverage resources!"

Lin Yu silently recited in his heart.

His aura instantly surged.

With the help of the momentum, everything in Lin Yu's field of vision seemed to slow down.

The skeleton's movements became sluggish, and the flow of energy was clearly visible.

The Demon Sword in his hand erupted with unprecedentedly dazzling lightning, sweeping across the room in one strike.

"A thunderous roar!"

Boom!

A massive, crescent-shaped lightning blade roared out, shattering silver-level skeletons like paper wherever it passed, and even severely wounding gold-level skeletons, clearing a large open space.

However, Lin Yu dared not linger in the fight, as his time to use the momentum was limited and he had to break away as soon as possible.

His figure transformed into a golden light, no longer following the passage, but crashing directly into the mountain wall to the side, intending to forcefully open a path and bypass this terrifying encirclement.

"Break it!"

A punch imbued with immense power was unleashed, causing the mountain wall to tremble violently and blasting a large hole in it.

Without hesitation, Lin Yu crawled inside, where there were a maze of natural caves and abandoned mine tunnels.

He didn't care about finding his way; all he knew was that he had to get away from the army of skeletons behind him.

With the blessing of the True Lord's divine power, the Heavenly Eye's perception has been enhanced by several levels. It can not only see the flow of energy, but also vaguely perceive the subtle folds in space and the hidden fluctuations of restrictions.

The roars and pursuit behind him gradually faded away, but Lin Yu dared not stop. The feeling of weakness, as his strength receded like a tide, began to emerge.

Just as he was passing through a particularly narrow and chaotic side passage, preparing to find a corner to summon the apartment for temporary refuge, his [Heavenly Eye], which had been enhanced to its maximum in the borrowed state, happened to sweep over a seemingly normal rock wall.

"what?"

Deep within that rock wall, he "saw" a faint spatial fluctuation, almost blending into the rock, yet exceptionally pure and stable.

This fluctuation was completely different from the abyssal death energy and skeletal evil fire he had sensed before. It carried a gentle, protective intent. If he hadn't had the help of the True Monarch's divine power and his extraordinary perception through his Heavenly Eye, he would never have been able to detect it.

"There's...something wrong here!"

Lin Yu's heart stirred, and he gathered his power in his fist, carefully shaking it towards the core of the spatial fluctuation.

hum!

The surface of the rock wall rippled like water, and a barely perceptible ripple spread out, revealing a narrow opening, barely wide enough for one person to pass through, cleverly concealed by an illusion array.

Inside the cave entrance is a downward-sloping path with obvious signs of artificial excavation.

Lin Yu slipped inside without hesitation.

The moment he entered, the illusion array behind him closed again, and the rock wall returned to its original state.

Almost simultaneously, several of the fastest gold-level skeletons caught up to the vicinity. They wandered around the area in confusion, having lost the presence of any living beings, before finally roaring furiously as they departed.

After passing through a slight spatial barrier, Lin Yu found himself in a small stone chamber with fresh air and a warm spiritual atmosphere.

The exhaustion of surviving the ordeal and the joy of discovering the secret realm surged into my heart at the same time.

The entrance behind him vanished silently after he entered, as if it had never existed.

Lin Yu regulated his breathing for a while before raising his head to examine the stone chamber.

Although the air inside the stone chamber was stale, it miraculously lacked the deathly stillness and pollution of the abyss. Instead, it retained a faint, warm fire-elemental spiritual energy that calmed the mind.

The stone chamber was simply furnished with a stone bed, a stone table, and two futons.

A complete skeleton sat cross-legged on the stone bed.

The skeleton was a strange, fiery red color, as if it were carved from the purest red jade. The bones were crystal clear and had no sinister feeling. Instead, it exuded a majestic aura that was both magnificent and lifelike.

The skeleton remained in the mudra position, as if it had simply fallen into a deep sleep.

On the stone table in front of the remains, a crimson jade slip lay quietly, next to a storage bag that had long since lost its spiritual light.

Lin Yu's gaze was instantly drawn to the jade slip.

He could sense that the pure spiritual energy remaining in this stone chamber, and the fact that the skeleton could maintain its form without being contaminated by the abyss, likely originated from this jade slip.

He took a deep breath and first respectfully bowed to the remains: "Junior Lin Yu has mistakenly entered the senior's secluded cultivation place. I hope you will forgive any disturbance."

Whoever it is, the one who can create such a pure land here must be an extraordinary and powerful person.

After bowing, Lin Yu carefully stepped forward, his gaze sweeping over the storage bag. He discovered that its spiritual energy had completely dissipated, the internal space had probably already collapsed, and the contents had turned to ashes.

Only then did he focus all his attention on the crimson jade slip.

The jade slip has a smooth surface with faintly visible runes flowing across it.

Lin Yu could sense that the faint energy fluctuations in the stone chamber originated from this jade slip.

He thought for a moment and did not act on his own. Instead, he summoned his shadow clone again and had it touch the jade slip.

The shadow clone stepped forward and grabbed the jade slip, but nothing happened.

Lin Yu thought for a moment, took out a small bottle of pure spring water, opened it, put the bottle opening in his mouth, and then went to the side of the shadow clone.

This was done mainly as a precaution. If there was anything strange about the jade slip, Baff would be safe thanks to the protection of the True Lord statue and the effects of the pure spring water.

He took a deep breath, extended his right hand, and slowly grasped the jade slip.

The instant his fingers touched the jade slip—

hum!

The jade slip suddenly lit up with a dazzling red light, and a huge and chaotic flow of information, mixed with a remnant spiritual thought, forcibly surged into Lin Yu's mind like a river bursting its banks.

"Ugh!" Lin Yu groaned, feeling a splitting headache as countless images, sounds, and insights frantically assaulted his consciousness.

He seemed to have traversed endless time and space, and witnessed another world:

It was a glorious era, brimming with spiritual energy and bathed in countless rays of light. A colossal mountain, towering and burning with eternal divine fire, floated above the nine heavens.

Countless cultivators riding magical artifacts and wielding ethereal light traversed the mountain peaks, their voices uttering sermons, the aroma of alchemy, and the clanging of hammers as they forged weapons rose and fell, creating a magnificent scene of immortals.

Clearly, this is the Divine Fire Sect at its peak!

However, one day, without any warning, the world changed drastically.

The clear sky was torn open with a huge rift, and murky, viscous black rain, filled with insane babbling, poured down.

The spiritual energy between heaven and earth was being polluted and mutated at an alarming rate, becoming violent and dangerous.

At first, the cultivators of the Divine Fire Sect did not pay much attention to it, thinking it was just some rare celestial phenomenon.

But as the cultivation continued, something terrifying happened.

All disciples who absorbed the polluted spiritual energy, regardless of their cultivation level, began to exhibit varying degrees of mutation.

The lower-ranking disciples lost their composure, became agitated and irritable, and started killing each other.

The high-ranking elders fared even worse; their bodies began to twist, growing grotesque tumors and tentacles. Their reason was consumed by endless madness and resentment, turning them into monsters who knew only destruction and slaughter.

In a very short time, the entire Divine Fire Sect was transformed from a paradise into a purgatory.

The camera focuses on an elderly man with a dignified face, dressed in a crimson elder's robe.

He was the owner of the corpse in the stone chamber, the Transmission Elder of the Divine Fire Sect—Yan Jin.

A top expert whose cultivation has reached the Diamond level (Nascent Soul stage).

Elder Yan Jin tried to stop the disaster. He used his powerful cultivation to forcibly purify the polluted spiritual energy that had invaded his body, but the strange substance was like a bone-deep ailment that could not be completely removed. Instead, it continued to erode his foundation and soul.

He witnessed firsthand how the sect leader and his fellow disciples went mad, slaughtering each other and turning into demons, destroying the sect's foundation.

"Heaven has forsaken my Divine Fire Sect! Heaven has forsaken my human race!" Elder Yan Jin roared in grief and resentment in his last moments of lucidity.

At this point, he realized that he was not immune either.

Rather than becoming a monster, neither human nor ghost, after going completely insane and wreaking havoc on the world, it's better to... end one's own life, preserve one's last dignity, and leave behind the legacy of the Divine Fire Sect and this bloody truth.

With immense perseverance, he sealed his life's cultivation, his last conscious spiritual power, and the core inheritance of the Divine Fire Sect into this specially made jade slip for transferring power.

Subsequently, in this secluded cave dwelling located on the edge of the sect, which he had pioneered in his early years, he passed away peacefully. His body, under the spontaneous operation of his cultivation technique, transformed into this immortal "Divine Fire Glazed Bone".

The influx of information finally subsided.

Lin Yu was pale, cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and he was breathing heavily.

Digesting the remaining spiritual thoughts and a large amount of information of a diamond-level expert, even if it was just a fragment, shocked him and consumed a great deal of energy.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the fiery red corpse that was still sitting cross-legged, his eyes filled with a complex expression.

"So the legends in those teahouses were all true... The pollution of spiritual energy in this world began in an extremely ancient era... Even a super sect like the Divine Fire Sect was powerless to resist it and was eventually destroyed..." Lin Yu muttered to himself.

The information left behind by Elder Yan Jin resolved many of his doubts about "ancient cultivators" and "strange spiritual energy".

At the same time, it also gave him a deeper understanding of the dangers of the world today—pollution that even diamond-level beings cannot resist, and the so-called "dragon transformation" of the emperor and the Black Buddhism will probably only create more terrifying and insane monsters in the end!

He once again immersed his consciousness into the crimson jade slip in his hand. This time, without the violent surge of information, the contents of the jade slip were clearly presented in his mind.

It is mainly divided into three parts:

The first part is a spiritual imprint left by Elder Yan Jin, which is similar to a diary. It records in detail what he saw and felt during the dark years before the destruction of the Divine Fire Sect, and corroborates the scene that Lin Yu just saw.

Yan Jin particularly emphasized that the substance in that strange spiritual energy was most likely not naturally occurring in this world, but rather came from beyond the heavens, possessing extremely strong corrosiveness, distortion, and... a kind of indescribable "activity".

The higher one's cultivation level, the deeper one's dependence on spiritual energy, and the more terrifying the influence and backlash one will suffer.

The second part is the foundational cultivation method of the Divine Fire Sect—the Divine Fire Heart Sutra (Diamond Level).

This is a fire-based cultivation method that leads directly to the Nascent Soul stage. It is profound and mysterious. Not only can one control all the fires in the world and cultivate to a high level, but one can also condense "innate divine fire" to burn all things and even temper one's soul, possessing all sorts of incredible supernatural powers.

The jade slip contains complete cultivation techniques and insights, covering everything from the Qi Refining stage to the Diamond level.

The third part is Elder Yan Jin's own top-level body-refining technique—[Molten Flame Demon Body] (Diamond level).

This technique requires constantly tempering the body with earth vein fire, heavenly fire, and even various strange flames, transforming oneself into a "Fire Demon Body" comparable to divine weapons.

Upon reaching mastery, one's physical body can withstand the bombardment of magical treasures, and every move possesses the power to burn mountains and boil seas. Furthermore, it can provide a certain degree of immunity to inner demons and some mental attacks, and seems to have a miraculous effect in resisting the mental erosion of that strange spiritual energy.

This might be Elder Yan Jin's attempt to find a way out after sensing the abnormality in the spiritual energy.

Two diamond-level areas of knowledge.

Even with Lin Yu's strong will, he couldn't help but feel his heart racing and his breathing becoming rapid.

This harvest is enormous!

The Divine Fire Heart Sutra is an orthodox and infinitely powerful cultivation method, which is sufficient to serve as his main cultivation method in the future.

The [Molten Flame Demon Body] is even more precious. Its powerful physical forging ability and resistance to mental erosion make up for some of his current shortcomings, and it may play a key role, especially in dealing with the strange pollution of this world.

Without any hesitation, he immediately began to try to learn and record.

[Hint: Learnable knowledge "Divine Fire Heart Sutra" (Diamond Level) has been discovered. Do you wish to learn it?]

[Hint: Learnable skill "Molten Flame Demon Body" (Diamond level) has been discovered. Do you wish to learn it?]

"study!"

With Lin Yu's confirmation, a wealth of profound knowledge about the laws of fire, energy circulation, and the mysteries of the physical body was deeply imprinted in the depths of his mind, like a brand.

Although we are still far from fully understanding and mastering it, the basic framework and cultivation methods have already taken shape.

[Note: You have mastered the knowledge of "Divine Fire Heart Sutra" (Diamond Level)]

[Note: You have mastered the knowledge "Molten Flame Demon Body" (Diamond Level)]

Seeing the system notification, Lin Yu breathed a long sigh of relief.

He bowed deeply to the remains of Elder Yan Jin.

The crystalline red jade skeleton remained seated.

To be honest, Lin Yu really wanted to take the skeleton with him, since it was a diamond-grade skeleton, which was also a top-tier material. However, Lin Yu didn't do that.

Although he wasn't a good person or anything good, he still took the legacy left behind by the other party and then went and desecrated the other party's remains. That was too beastly.

In fact, Lin Yu was overthinking it. Shortly after he finished his ceremony, the skeleton seemed to have completed its final task. A blazing flame ignited on its body, and soon after, the skeleton turned to ashes.

Upon seeing the remains disappear, Lin Yu bowed again.

Once there was no further movement, he straightened up and glanced at the stone table again.

After the information was infused, the jade slip of inheritance lost its luster and became just an ordinary piece of jade.

He turned and began to examine the stone chamber.

The most urgent thing is to leave here as soon as possible.

The weakness brought on by the leverage washed over him like a tidal wave, and his mental exhaustion reached its peak.

Although the platinum-level skeleton elder and his skeleton army outside are temporarily confused by the illusion array, no one can guarantee that they won't find this place.

"I must recover as soon as possible and then find a way to leave." Lin Yu sat down cross-legged, first taking out a large amount of high-energy food and water from his storage space to quickly replenish his strength, and then drinking a mouthful of [Pure Spring Water].

The cool spring water, upon entering the throat, quickly transforms into pure energy that flows throughout the body, nourishing the parched meridians and dispelling mental fatigue.

He closed his eyes and began to practice the most basic Qi-guiding method of the Divine Fire Heart Sutra.

Although it was only the first attempt, the profound mystery of this diamond-level technique was already evident.

It does not directly absorb polluted spiritual energy from the outside world, but focuses on tapping into the body's own potential, condensing a wisp of "heart fire" in the dantian, and then using this fire as a guide to gradually refine and purify the spiritual energy from the outside world for its own use, which is extremely efficient and greatly increases safety.

After just one rough cycle, Lin Yu felt his previously depleted magical power begin to recover rapidly, even becoming more refined and condensed, carrying a gentle yet domineering pure yang aura, which also greatly reduced his physical weakness.

"As expected of a diamond-level technique!" Lin Yu thought to himself in admiration.

With this technique, he not only had a safe way to cultivate, but also a more solid foundation to fight against the strange pollution of this world in the future.

After about half an hour of meditation, with the help of the spiritual spring and the "Divine Fire Heart Sutra," Lin Yu's condition had recovered to about 70-80%, and the side effects of borrowing power were also barely suppressed.

He stood up and began to carefully examine the stone chamber. Elder Yan Jin's choice to dissolve his body here might have left behind arrangements beyond his legacy, such as… a path to escape?

The Heavenly Eye was activated again, carefully scanning every inch of the stone chamber's walls, floor, and ceiling.

The stone chamber was small and simply furnished, seemingly unremarkable.

But when he focused his attention on the stone bed where Elder Yan Jin was sitting, he vaguely sensed a very faint spatial fluctuation, which was of the same origin as the fluctuation at the entrance, but even more subtle.

He walked to the stone bed, stretched out his hand, and slowly poured the faint trace of magic power he had just cultivated into the connection between the stone bed and the wall.

hum...

With a barely audible sound, behind the stone bed, the once perfectly sealed rock wall silently slid open, creating a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through, as if a curtain had been drawn back.

Beyond the crevice was not the passage we had come from, but a narrow stone staircase that stretched upwards, emitting a faint white light, from which a relatively fresh, earthy scent emanated.

"As expected, there's a way out!" Lin Yu thought with delight. This Elder Yan Jin was indeed meticulous, having prepared a way out for himself and the potential successor.

The passage clearly leads to the outside world, rather than deep within the ruins of the Divine Fire Sect.

Lin Yu thought for a moment, then summoned his shadow clone again to check. After confirming that there was no danger, he stepped onto the upward stone steps without hesitation.

The stone steps wound upwards, and after walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a light appeared ahead.

The exit was hidden by dense vines and bushes, but once you pushed them aside, a breath of fresh air rushed out.

Lin Yu found himself on the mountainside on the other side of the edge of the abyss of death. Looking back, the huge, terrifying crack still stretched across the land, but it was now mostly hidden by the mountains.

The cave he emerged from was extremely well hidden, beneath a giant rock, and would be impossible to find without prior knowledge.

"Finally out..." Feeling the thin air outside, which was no longer filled with the deathly curse, Lin Yu breathed a long sigh of relief.

This trip to the abyss yielded far more rewards than I had imagined.

Instead of leaving immediately, he found an even more secluded crevice nearby and moved his apartment there again as a temporary base.

Once inside the safe apartment, soaking in the familiar bathtub and completely relaxing, an immense joy and excitement erupted like a volcano.

"The Divine Fire Heart Sutra! The Molten Flame Demon Body! Diamond level!" He couldn't help but clench his fist.

He couldn't wait to begin studying the two techniques in depth.

......