Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Otherworld Evil Thoughts – the System

Ignoring Ling He’s expression, Lin Zhao layered a Restriction Seal over him and closed her eyes to regulate her breathing.

The fight had clarified her current strength.

She’d beaten Ling He mostly because he underestimated her—and because he wanted to kill her without getting injured. That hesitation had cost him.

If Ling He had fought her with everything he had from the start, it would’ve been a hard battle. She would’ve needed to burn every trump card she possessed.

And Ling He was only an ordinary fifth-layer Enlightenment cultivator.

If she ran into a fifth-layer opponent with better talent and foundation, she would likely lose.

She needed to grow stronger.

No matter what.

Granny understood her thoughts. “That’s not a problem. You only fused back three parts of your Phoenix Fortune. You still haven’t truly integrated it with the Phoenix Pulse Art. And your spirit techniques—Hong Hu Sword Art is good, but relying on a single technique leaves you lacking compared to true heavenly prodigies.”

Lin Zhao’s eyes lit up. “Teacher, you have spirit techniques even stronger than Hong Hu Sword Art?”

“What’s so surprising?” Granny chuckled. “As long as your strength can handle it, Granny even has techniques above ninth grade.”

Lin Zhao drew a slow breath.

On the Heavenly Phoenix Continent, the strongest techniques she knew were ninth grade. The Lin Family didn’t even have an eighth-grade technique. Hearing Granny say “above ninth grade” made Lin Zhao feel, all over again, how narrow her world had been.

When the sun climbed to the center of the sky, Lin Zhao opened her eyes and looked at Ling He. “The tournament has started.”

Ling He’s back went rigid.

Lin Zhao smiled faintly. “Relax. I won’t go back on my word. But letting you out is impossible. For the next seven days, you’ll stay obediently inside my Restriction Seal.”

She added another Restriction Seal to the Immortal Binding Rope. “After seven days, you’ll be able to move freely and make noise again. Of course, by then you’ll already be eliminated.”

An Enlightenment cultivator could go hungry for 10 days or half a month without issue. With Granny’s arrangements, Lin Zhao wasn’t worried anyone would discover him early.

She left the cave and followed Granny’s directions deeper into the forest.

A hidden presence that had been watching the treeline stirred slightly, as if hesitating whether to follow.

1,000 li away, inside the South Sea Academy, a lavishly decorated room held several elders. A wall of spirit crystal displayed scenes from the New Student Grand Tournament—moving images of the forest, the disciples, the battles.

When Lin Zhao’s figure appeared, brows furrowed.

A white-browed elder spoke first. “That Lin Zhao… does she not know the farther in you go, the higher the grade of the Spirit Beasts? If she runs into one, she can’t possibly handle it.”

A bearded, rugged middle-aged man shook his head. “Young and hot-blooded. She still needs tempering.”

An elder with narrowed eyes smiled. “I think this child has her own plan.”

As he spoke, the others turned toward him with respect.

If Lin Zhao were here, she would’ve recognized him immediately—the high-status elder she’d bowed to on the day she registered.

“Oh?” a beautiful woman with her hair pinned high said, smiling as she watched Lin Zhao on the screen. “Venerable Elder Xian Yun thinks so highly of her? If this child truly is as you say… then I’ll go settle the trouble she caused on Yun Ding Peak.”

The South Sea Academy’s intelligence was swift.

They’d known Lin Zhao would enroll the moment she earned her admission slot. They’d shown no reaction when she went up Yun Ding Peak, partly because she hadn’t officially entered the academy yet. As Yun Ding’s immortal venerable said, it wasn’t worth offending a late-stage Spirit Transformation for an un-enrolled disciple at peak Foundation Establishment.

But now?

Lin Zhao had enrolled. And she’d broken through from peak Foundation Establishment to Enlightenment in less than half a month.

That changed everything.

The South Sea Academy didn’t like trouble.

But it had never feared it.

The white-browed elder’s brows twitched. He considered, then said nothing.

The middle-aged man snorted. “A first-layer Enlightenment cultivator—can she really turn the sky upside down? If she just lay low and entered smoothly, wouldn’t that be better? Offending Jia Lan and Ji Xiao over a moment of anger—who can she resist?”

The elder seated in the middle chuckled, not bothering to argue.

Meanwhile, Lin Zhao had no idea she was being watched. She pulled a Spirit Evading Cloak over herself as she traveled.

Granny had told her to buy it before enrolling.

“This cloak can hide your aura,” Granny had explained. “With it on, Spirit Beasts and cultivators below seventh rank won’t sense you as long as they can’t see you.”

Lin Zhao’s heart had bled at the last line.

This thing wasn’t “a bit” expensive.

It cost her 50 million low-grade Spirit Stones—nearly a third of the money Lin Mang and Yao Yun had given her.

But the effect was immediate. Along the way, no high-rank Spirit Beast reacted to her presence.

With the cloak, Lin Zhao moved silently through the depths and found a dry cave.

“Set up a Barrier Domain here,” Granny said, “and start digging into the Phoenix Fortune you took back.”

Lin Zhao followed her guidance, forming seals and laying down a careful barrier.

Then, slowly, the little chick floated out of the torn scroll inside her ring.

It looked more solid now—slightly larger. Even the texture of its feathers had changed.

Lin Zhao stared. “Granny… has your soul recovered?”

Granny nodded. “Now I can maintain a humanoid soul form for 10 days or half a month. And I can use strength below Spirit Transformation without a problem.”

Lin Zhao’s pupils tightened. Three parts of Phoenix Fortune made that big a difference?

The chick’s form blurred and reshaped into an old woman. In her hand appeared a clear, transparent jade bottle.

“It’s time to deal with this,” Granny said, staring at the gray aura trapped inside with a complex expression.

Lin Zhao looked at the drifting thread. “What is that?”

“There are things you aren’t qualified to know yet,” Granny said. “But I have to let you know early.”

Blazing phoenix flame wrapped around her fingers. She opened the bottle and released the gray aura.

“This is a Thought Form from outside the Cultivation World,” Granny said. “No one knows when it first appeared. In the past, in smaller planes, it clung to those possessed by Otherworld wraiths. Those wraiths called it ‘the System.’ Working together, they targeted the children of Fate Luck and absorbed the Fate Luck of small planes.”

Granny’s voice hardened with hatred. “The ones that suffered most were the Mortal Domains. Back then, each Mortal Domain was its own small plane. These evil thoughts devastated them. Once a plane’s Fate Luck was drained, it carried the wraiths to the next plane and continued the rampage.”

“When a plane’s Fate Luck is severed,” Granny went on, “no heavenly prodigies are born for a long time. Without good intent to reform the world, evil intent runs rampant, and the plane meets destruction.”

“There was a time when the planes of the Cultivation World launched campaigns to purge the Otherworld evil thoughts,” she said. “But it was already too late. Several mortal planes were barely saved, yet they stood at the brink of collapse. Living beings were slaughtered—near annihilation.”

“To preserve those mortal planes, the major planes had no choice but to merge them into what became the Mortal Domain,” Granny said, voice bitter. “You should know… at the very beginning, the planes created by the five founding divine venerables were not limited to these.”

Lin Zhao stared at the gray aura, understanding dawning like ice.

“You mean Chen Luo Luo’s method of plundering my Phoenix Fortune,” Lin Zhao said slowly, “the one I still don’t fully understand… it was because of this?”

Could such a tiny thread of intent hold that kind of power?

“Don’t underestimate it,” Granny snapped. “This is only a fragment. The enemy behind it is the truly terrifying existence. Back then, clinging to mortals alone was enough to make the Cultivation World suffer. Now it has spread into the Spirit Domains of the Cultivation World.”

Granny’s gaze sharpened. “I don’t even dare imagine how many major planes that force has already infiltrated.”