Ink-Clad Creator

The light in the hall was dimming in a way that defied common sense.

It was as if an invisible hand was slowly dimming a giant lamp; the light wasn't extinguished, but rather "diluted"—gradually fading from a clear boundary between light and shadow into a hazy gray.

The strange aura left by the annihilation of antimatter in the air had not yet dissipated, mixed with dust, blood, and a very faint metallic smell, similar to that of ore smelted at high temperatures.

In the silence, the sound of breathing was as faint as a whisper.

Xiao Lingshan sat curled up on the cold ground, her hands and feet still bound by those strange silk ropes. She looked at the people lying haphazardly, her gaze finally settling on Li Xian not far away.

He collapsed too.

Just moments ago, he was haggling with me, his expression a mix of feigned ferocity and youthful arrogance. But the next instant, it was as if he had been struck by an invisible hammer; blood gushed from his seven orifices, and he fell straight backward, motionless.

Should she be happy? This petty villain who kidnapped her, threatened her, and acted strangely has finally gotten his comeuppance.

Yet, a heavy weight settled in his heart, churning with confusion and unease. His father's leg was broken, the lord and elders were unconscious, the young lord's fate was unknown... and the only person who seemed to possess the means to save him had inexplicably collapsed.

This eerie cave, those flying iron bats, the crab monsters with spinning leaves, and that terrifying white light that destroyed everything and then abruptly stopped... all of this was beyond her understanding of her seventeen years of life.

"Shan'er...where are you?" A weak but familiar voice called from behind.

"Father!" Xiao Lingshan's eyes welled up with tears, and she twisted her body. "I'm here! How are you?"

"Your leg...it's probably broken." Elder Xiao's voice was tinged with pain as he gasped for breath, but it was still relatively steady. "Don't worry, it's just a bone, it won't kill you...Why haven't you made a sound? Where's that little thief? Didn't he...?"

"He...he suddenly fainted. The Lord of the Fortress, Elder Peng, and Elder Cao are also still unconscious," Xiao Lingshan said hurriedly.

"What?" Elder Xiao's voice suddenly tightened, then lowered, becoming urgent. "Quick! Shan'er, find a way to get that little pine tree from his arms! Then... find an opportunity to finish him off! Be discreet, don't let anyone see!"

Xiao Lingshan's heart skipped a beat: "But...but my hands and feet are tied!" She tried to struggle, but the silk rope tightened as if it were alive, making her skin ache.

"Wait for me..." Elder Xiao said no more, and began to crawl towards his daughter, enduring the excruciating pain, using both hands and feet. His heavy breathing and the rustling of his clothes against the floor were exceptionally clear in the overly quiet hall.

Just then—

"Well……"

A low, suppressed groan came from the center of the hall.

Lord Han slowly opened his eyes. He blinked blankly at first, then his gaze quickly focused, sharp as ever. He propped himself up and sat up, his movements somewhat slow, but his composure remained. He subconsciously circulated his internal energy to examine himself, and then an incredulous look of astonishment appeared on his face.

The internal injuries...are mostly healed?

Moreover, within his dantian resided a pure, refined, and vibrant strange energy! This was by no means the Thunderous Profound Qi he had painstakingly cultivated for decades; its quality was so high that it resembled the legendary "Innate Qi," the very opportunity he had longed for to break through to a higher realm after being stuck at the peak of the Heavenly Origin Realm for so many years!

Who? Who saved him? And left behind such a precious gift?

"Lord of the Fortress! You're awake!" Xiao Lingshan's voice was filled with surprise.

Lord Han looked in the direction of the voice, nodded, and his gaze swept over the messy hall before finally landing on Xiao Lingshan: "Lingshan, which expert came to your rescue?" He naturally did not believe it was Li Xian.

Xiao Lingshan opened her mouth, but her gaze involuntarily drifted to Li Xian, who was lying unconscious on the ground.

Lord Han followed her gaze, his pupils suddenly contracting: "It's...him?"

Xiao Lingshan nodded with difficulty.

Han Baozhu felt a chill run down his spine, a sense of absurdity and vigilance washing over him like ice water. A petty thief from a demonic cult, who had tried to kill him, had unexpectedly saved him? And left behind such a valuable "gift"? Now he himself lay unconscious on the ground… Was the rescue too costly? Or was there another scheme at play?

His mind raced, but his expression remained impassive: "I vaguely remember seeing him put something in my and Elder Feng's mouths. Did he say anything?"

"He said... he promised to save me, and in return, he would wake everyone here. Then, he suddenly fainted," Xiao Lingshan whispered, concealing the specific details of the "experiment."

"Oh?" A glint flashed in Lord Han's eyes as he instantly grasped the key point. "You agreed to some conditions he set, didn't you?"

Xiao Lingshan lowered her head even further, her ears turning red, and she let out a soft "hmm" that was barely audible. How could she possibly speak of that naked little thing and the shameful "experiment" she might face?

Seeing her shy reluctance to speak, Lord Han's suspicions deepened, but he didn't press the matter further. He closed his eyes and began to fully circulate his profound energy, refining and guiding the pure energy within his body to flow throughout his entire being. Time was of the essence; he had to recover his strength as quickly as possible!

He could clearly sense that the three bat-like metallic monsters hovering in mid-air had their compound eyes fixed on him. Two other crab-shaped monsters with whirring rotors were circling around him, like his most loyal guards.

These unprecedented "magical artifacts" or "demons," along with the layers of mystery surrounding the unconscious thief, filled him with immense apprehension. Today's encounter had completely overturned his worldview of martial arts.

"Lord of the Fortress! Congratulations! You have finally slain this scoundrel!" A voice, tinged with a hint of flattery and relief, suddenly rang out.

Elder Tian appeared silently from the shadows of a passageway like a ghost. He was the only one without any obvious injuries, though his face was pale and his breathing was slightly disordered, clearly indicating that he had hidden himself cleverly.

"Elder Tian," Lord Han opened his eyes and said calmly, "I have just woken up and my strength has not yet recovered. This thief is not dead, he is just unconscious."

"Not dead?" Elder Tian's eyes flashed as he looked at Li Xian on the ground, a murderous intent lurking within him. "That's perfect! Let me finish off the fortress lord and eliminate any future troubles!" He then stepped forward.

"No!" Xiao Lingshan exclaimed urgently, "Elder Tian, ​​there are still people waiting for him to save them! Elder Peng, Elder Cao, and the Young Master!"

Elder Tian paused, looking at Xiao Lingshan with suspicion.

Xiao Lingshan had no choice but to briefly recount the story of Li Xian possessing a "sacred elixir" that could save lives, omitting the details.

"He possesses a 'Sacred Pill'?" Elder Tian's voice suddenly rose, his eyes flashing with an uncontrollable greed. "Haha, heaven is on my side! Once I kill him, the Sacred Pill will naturally be mine, and then it won't be too late to save the people!"

A wide grin spread across his face, revealing an undisguised smile. If he could obtain such a miraculous medicine, it might be his chance to break through his bottleneck and advance to the next level!

"Brother Tian, ​​wait!" Elder Xiao, panting heavily, crawled closer. Ignoring his leg pain, he hurriedly spoke, "Why don't you untie my daughter's binding ropes first? This thief is already trapped; how to deal with him is up to the fortress lord. Brother Tian, ​​please untie Ling Shan's ropes first." He desperately tried to signal to his daughter; the most urgent matter was obtaining the small pine tree! It was a treasure that could change his fate; he couldn't let that old fox Tian Heng discover it first!

Elder Tian glanced at Fort Master Han, who remained silent, his eyes closed as he focused on his inner energy. He then glanced at Elder Xiao's eager eyes and sneered inwardly, but said outwardly, "Brother Xiao is right."

He walked to Xiao Lingshan's side, channeled his inner strength, and tried to untangle the strange silk rope. This rope was neither gold nor silk, but exceptionally flexible. It took him quite a bit of effort to finally manage to untangle it.

"What is this made of? It's so strange." Elder Tian held the untied silk rope in his hand and examined it carefully, seemingly lost in thought.

While Elder Tian's attention was on the rope, Elder Xiao repeatedly winked at his daughter, his finger subtly pointing towards Li Xian's chest.

Xiao Lingshan understood, her heart in turmoil. But seeing her father's pained and anxious eyes, and thinking of the little pine tree that might concern her father's future in martial arts, she gritted her teeth and, taking advantage of Elder Tian and the fortress lord's apparent inattention, quietly moved to Li Xian's side, her hands trembling as she reached into his arms.

The pine tree was tiny. Panicked and flustered, she groped around, her fingertips unexpectedly brushing against the boy's warm, firm chest. As if burned, she trembled, her face instantly flushing crimson.

"Niece Lingshan," Elder Tian's slightly mocking voice suddenly rang out, "as the saying goes, men and women should not touch each other. What... what are you trying to do?"

Xiao Lingshan's hand froze in mid-air, her face flushed crimson, utterly ashamed.

"Hehe, let this old man do it. I'm more mobile and it's safer for me." Elder Tian walked forward with a smile, still holding the silk rope he had just untied. It seemed he intended to tie Li Xian up securely first.

His hand was about to grab Li Xian's ankle—

"Buzz—!"

A sharp whooshing sound suddenly rang out!

Three "Black Bat" AI agents, like three black lightning bolts, rushed towards Elder Tian from different angles! They were so fast that they only left afterimages in the air!

"You wretched creature! You're courting death!" Elder Tian, ​​though startled, remained calm and struck out with a fierce palm strike.

However, the three intelligent entities made an unbelievable sudden stop and change of direction in mid-air, nimbly gliding through the range of his palm strike. Elder Tian's attack missed its mark; his old power was exhausted, and new power had not yet been generated—

Whoosh!Whoosh!Whoosh!

Three extremely fine, almost invisible red rays shot out from the front of the "black bat" and accurately hit Elder Tian's vital points on his back!

"Ugh!" Elder Tian felt as if several red-hot steel needles were stabbing his back. A strong sense of numbness and weakness instantly spread throughout his body. His Xuan Qi stagnated, and he collapsed to the ground, only his eyes still able to move in terror.

"Spiritual energy is being released! Automatic protection of its master! These magical artifacts... actually possess such spiritual power?!" Elder Feng, who had just awakened, happened to witness this scene and exclaimed in shock.

"Not just spirituality, but also near-instinctive combat intelligence. It can judge threats and coordinate attacks without the master's command... Unheard of." Lord Han had opened his eyes at some point, slowly exhaling a breath of turbid air, his eyes shining with a strange light, as if he had recovered quite well.

He looked at Xiao Lingshan, his tone gentle yet authoritative: "Lingshan, they don't seem to have any hostility towards you. Perhaps... you can try again. My strength needs a while to recover, and Elder Peng, Elder Cao, and Yunyang are seriously injured and cannot be delayed. If we can find the 'Sacred Pill' he mentioned, saving them is the most important thing."

Looking at Lord Han's earnest and expectant gaze, and then catching a glimpse of her father's silent urging eyes, Xiao Lingshan bit her lower lip and reached into Li Xian's arms again.

Still no!

She suppressed her embarrassment and gently moved her hand down to his waist and abdomen. She couldn't care less about that now that she was saving him.

The "black bats" hovered in mid-air, their compound eyes flashing with an eerie light, but they showed no signs of attack.

My fingertip suddenly touched a hard object.

She found it! A surge of joy filled her heart, and she was about to take it out—

A warm, strong hand suddenly gripped her wrist tightly!

"What?" A voice, tinged with a hint of mockery and a languid air of just waking up, rang out clearly. "In broad daylight... Oh, there's no sunlight here. Trying to molest me?"

Xiao Lingshan trembled violently and looked up abruptly, meeting Li Xian's eyes, which he had opened at some unknown time. Deep within those eyes, countless tiny rays of light seemed to flow, clear and profound, yet carrying a kind of all-knowing understanding that made her uneasy.

"No...no! I..." she stammered, trying to pull her hand away, but felt as if her wrist was gripped by an iron clamp, unable to move. A blush quickly spread from her face to her neck.

"Hehe," Li Xian chuckled, slowly sat up, and took the hard object from her stiff hand—the Thunder Talisman he had previously seized from Han Yunyang.

"Luckily, I hid the truly important things in an even more important place." He said meaningfully, his gaze sweeping over his chest and abdomen, then over Xiao Lingshan's flushed cheeks.

At this moment, Li Xian felt an unprecedented sense of strangeness.

The throbbing pain and confusion in my mind had vanished, replaced by an indescribable sense of clarity and fullness. It was as if a dusty mirror had been suddenly polished, or as a narrow stream had instantly merged into a vast river. Countless vague concepts became clear, and jumbled threads connected themselves.

He was still himself, but he was no longer the narrow-minded, passive petty thief from Huachuan Mountain. The torrent of information poured into his intelligent brain, even if it was only a tiny fraction, fundamentally broadened the boundaries of his cognition.

He released Xiao Lingshan's wrist, slowly stood up, his movements calm and unhurried. His gaze swept over the bewildered Lord Han, Elder Feng staring at him in horror, Elder Tian slumped on the ground with resentment in his eyes, and Elder Xiao, anxious and guilty, before finally settling on the thunderbolt talisman in his hand.

He gently stroked the intricate patterns on the talisman with his fingertips, a playful smile curving his lips.

"This thing is supposedly quite fun." He held the Thunder Talisman up to his eyes, as if admiring an interesting toy. His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"How about..." He glanced at everyone, smiled slightly, and "give it a try?"

"No!"

"stop!"

"Young hero, wait a moment!"

Exclamations erupted immediately, and everyone's expressions changed drastically. Even Han, the fort master who had been trying his best to remain calm, showed a deep sense of apprehension in his eyes.