Chapter 83

Chapter 83: Ancestral Dragon Intent

Lin Mang instinctively looked to Lin Zhao.

This Spirit Transformation expert had come with his daughter.

Lin Zhao nodded. “With Instructor Han Yan here, Yao Chi Sacred Land can’t touch anyone else in the Lin Family.”

But the mother who had already been taken…

Lin Zhao didn’t know what Yao Chi Sacred Land would do.

Lin Mang understood what she wasn’t saying. The light in his hawk-like eyes dimmed.

For years, losing his two sons had hollowed him out. In this small place, he’d almost forgotten what strength a noble house was supposed to have. He had let his cultivation slide. He had let himself sink.

Only when his wife was snatched from in front of him did he realize how much pressure he’d placed on Zhao Zhao—how he’d left everything on his little daughter’s shoulders.

“Your mother being taken is Dad’s fault,” he said hoarsely. “Dad will find a way.”

Lin Zhao let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “Back when Zhao Zhao was abandoned on her wedding day and returned home because Shen Yu Han left me behind, Father didn’t say it was his fault.”

Her gaze steadied on him. “In a family—who’s to blame? About Mother… we’ll think of a way together.”

Han Yan remained silent. This was Lin Family business. As an outsider, she couldn’t say much.

“Tomorrow we start striking back at Yao Chi Sacred Land,” Han Yan said. “From what I sense, those three Spirit Transformation-level fights have stopped. They must have noticed what happened inside Lin Family City.”

As soon as the words fell, three figures appeared in the council hall without a sound.

One was the Lin Family Old Ancestor. The other two were also familiar to Lin Zhao.

“Greetings, Old Ancestor. Aunt Xiao. Immortal Venerable Lei Yuan.”

Xiao Chang Qing flicked a hand as if waving away ceremony. Lei Yuan nodded once.

Lin Mang hurried to have seats arranged.

The Lin Family Old Ancestor looked exhausted, and after he sat at the head, he didn’t speak. Xiao Chang Qing’s mood was complicated as well—she had faced Immortal Venerable Yun Ding of the same Ten Thousand Swords Sect, and she clearly didn’t want to revisit their battle.

Only Lei Yuan’s brow stayed tightly furrowed. He glanced at Han Yan, and something in him eased. “Yao Chi Sacred Land came with bad intentions this time. But logically, even if their Old Ancestor came, he wouldn’t be my match. Yet the one I fought wasn’t from Yao Chi Sacred Land.”

Not a Spirit Transformation Great Perfection from Yao Chi Sacred Land?

Xiao Chang Qing forced herself to speak. “Vice Dean Mo Ya has already arrived at the Ten Thousand Swords Sect. Aside from that madman Yun Ding, no one in the sect could possibly be involved.”

The Lin Family Old Ancestor frowned, then seemed to recall something. “Could it be the Ji Family?”

The Ji Family did have old monsters at Spirit Transformation Great Perfection.

Lei Yuan shook his head. “If it were the Ji Family, this wouldn’t be so complicated.”

He took a breath, then looked at Lin Mang. “I have an impolite request. Family Head Lin—and young lady Zhao—could you speak with me in private?”

Lin Mang seemed to guess something. He exchanged a glance with Lin Zhao. Anger slowly swallowed the grief in his eyes, and his steadfast face showed a faint, defeated strain.

Lei Yuan raised a barrier domain.

Inside it, he went straight to the point. “Does the Lin Family possess something that doesn’t belong to the Heavenly Phoenix Continent?”

Lin Mang lowered his gaze and let out a bitter laugh. “What could the Lin Family have now that’s worth coveting?”

Lei Yuan’s eyes settled on Lin Zhao.

“So you gave that thing to young lady Zhao.”

Lin Zhao froze, then a memory struck like lightning. “The jade pendant my brother gave me?”

Lin Mang sank into a chair, eyes closing. “That’s probably what they’ve been searching for all along. Yu Er specifically asked us to give it to you before he left. We don’t know what it is—but it’s not ordinary.”

“May I take a look?” Lei Yuan asked.

Trusting Su Bai, Lin Zhao drew the jade pendant and handed it over.

Lei Yuan examined it carefully.

Under ordinary methods, it was merely a pendant—normal jade, faint spiritual energy clinging to its surface. At most, it carried two lingering traces of powerful divine sense.

When simple observation failed, Lei Yuan shaped his spiritual power into a fine probe and sent it inside.

In the next instant, a terrifying pressure erupted outward.

It wasn’t brute force.

It was oppression that crushed bloodline, crushed existence itself.

Lei Yuan yanked his spiritual power back. His gaze turned wary as he stared at the pendant, judgment locking into place. “Ancestral Dragon intent. No wonder people from the Ancestral Dragon Continent have come.”

Lin Mang blinked, then asked awkwardly, “So you already sensed who that person was?”

Lei Yuan’s earlier uncertainty had been… a test.

Lin Mang wiped cold sweat from his brow and exhaled long and slow.

Good thing Lin Zhao had produced the pendant without hesitation. With his own cautious, hesitant nature, he might have offended an elder like Lei Yuan.

Lei Yuan glanced at him coolly. “The Lin Family has suffered repeated upheavals. It’s natural to be cautious.”

His gaze returned to Lin Zhao. “Besides—if not for the Young Lord, the thing inside this pendant… forget me. Even if our hall master came, he would be tempted.”

Something that could tempt the ruler of Thunder Hall.

Lin Zhao stared at the pendant as if seeing it for the first time.

She had thought it was only a keepsake left behind by her brother.

“Ancestral Dragon intent can change a living being’s existence,” Lei Yuan said. “If you gain its recognition, you can shed your mortal body and become a dragon on the spot.”

Even with her suspicions, hearing it said aloud made Lin Zhao’s scalp prickle.

“But on the Heavenly Phoenix Continent, that intent is suppressed,” Lei Yuan continued. “And it was likely held down for a long time by powerful, pure Phoenix Fortune. That’s why those hidden here never detected it.”

He returned the pendant. “This girl truly is the most suitable to carry it. This time, you stumbled into fortune without meaning to.”

Lin Zhao’s jaw tightened. “Did the people from the Ancestral Dragon Continent come because of this intent?”

Lei Yuan hesitated. “When I fought him, I always felt he was hiding something.”

He shook his head. “Ancestral Dragon intent is precious, but to the Ancestral Dragon Continent it isn’t a once-in-all-ages treasure. Their move this time is strange. Back then, the Ancestral Dragon chose a road completely different from the Ancestral Phoenix. No one knows what the cultivators of the Ancestral Dragon Continent want. Perhaps it truly is for this intent.”