Chapter 597 – Sealing the Island

　　South Courtyard’s Dean He said thoughtfully, “Ever since ancient times, we’ve never gone out of our way to look for trouble, but we also weren’t afraid of trouble. Since those Fiends came to our door, we naturally have to kill them all. However, if the Fiends found us because of our close contact with the East Land, and if we can guarantee that the Fiends will retreat once we cut off contact with the East Land, that’s still acceptable.”

　　Sword Saint Tianshu raised his eyebrows and cast a sidelong glance at Dean He. “Dean He, since when did we have to yield to the Fiends?”

　　Dean He replied, “It’s not a concession; instead, it’s like this — if it’s just a personal grudge, then it hasn’t yet gotten to the stage where we have no choice but to intervene. Myriad Dao Academy has always stood aloof from worldly affairs as the Nine Lands’ final shield. It’s not necessary to intervene right now. If we do intervene, not only will it break the rules, but it will also invite trouble from everyone in the world — it will be much harder for the sect to refuse any Land’s request for help in the future.”

　　Soon, a new round of debate took place among those in charge of the sect. The matter of the Fiends was a major one, but if they only targeted the East Land, then it was also just a small matter. With this blood letter as proof, coupled with Elder Feng Tan’s earlier words, after the debate, the voices calling for the island to be sealed were louder.

　　“All of us hold different opinions and have good reasons, but from the perspective of the sect’s interests, it is imperative to close off the island,” Mr. Li pressed a hand on his forehead and said faintly.

　　Sword Saint Tianshu nodded. “I can’t refute this. Huarong Sword Immortal, you haven’t spoken so far. What do you think?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi looked at Sword Saint Tianshu and nonchalantly responded, “Seal the island.”

　　Sword Saint Tianshu frowned slightly. “Huarong Sword Immortal, you’re not someone who’s afraid of trouble.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi lightly explained, “A Land’s internal affairs should be resolved internally. The disaster of the Fiends originated from the East Lands; it has nothing to do with Ethereal City, to begin with. In all likelihood, the Fiends first entered the city by mistake back then. The second time they invaded, it was very likely because of retaliation. We shouldn’t have had too much involvement with the East Land to begin with — thus, there is no need to worry about what we should do right now. Not to mention–”

　　Lin Xuanzhi gazed at the rolling clouds outside through the window’s fretwork and continued, “The East Land doesn’t want us to intervene in their internal affairs. They haven’t sent us a help signal yet, so we can just pretend that we don’t know.”

　　That was true; East Sovereign Xuan Wushe was such a proud person. Naturally, he wouldn’t bow his head and ask for help easily, and he also didn’t want to trouble others to solve the problem for him.

　　“Ah.” Yaoguang secretly breathed a sigh of relief. “Huarong Sword Immortal, why didn’t you say this earlier? Why did we even have to argue then?”

　　Everyone thought about it — Is it not true?

　　They kept discussing whether they should step in to help, but they never thought about whether the East Land had any intention of letting them help, eventually dragging them into the water together.

　　Lin Xuanzhi, as a “related party” who had some friendship with the East Empress, was pushed out to take the blame. At noon that day, after the discussion ended, Lin Xuanzhi went to find Lin Zhan by himself. If this was someone else, they would find it very difficult to speak about this kind of thing. After all, Myriad Dao Academy was the one who sent a fire beacon to the Nine Lands. Now that someone from the East Land came here after much difficulty to discuss how to suppress the Fiends, Myriad Dao Academy actually wanted to drive them away just because it ultimately found that Fiends had nothing to do with the sect and was entirely caused by the East Land. However, this kind of action would be embarrassing to say out loud, and another person would truly fear offending Lin Zhan.

　　However, Lin Xuanzhi was very familiar with Lin Zhan’s character, so he told the whole story about how the sect received that blood letter.

　　After hearing this, Lin Zhan said very calmly, “Originally, your father didn’t want me to come to Ethereal City. I was the one who wanted to come here to meet you and find some books. Speaking of which, Ethereal City’s disaster was indeed brought over by the East Land. We should leave here as soon as possible.”

　　In the end, Lin Xuanzhi still cared about Lin Zhan, so he frowned slightly. “If Fiends appear in the East Land on a large scale, it will affect the East Land’s safety. I don’t know if you all can deal with it.”

　　Lin Zhan said, “Your father has already arranged for patrol guards and arrays to protect the city. Moreover, the one in the Royal Heavenly Capital merely wanted to show off his strength; he wouldn’t truly proceed to crush the East Land with this move alone.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi nodded. “Let’s not talk about this. After I left yesterday, did you…say anything to him?”

　　When this was mentioned, Lin Zhan also looked ashamed. He patted Lin Xuanzhi’s head and replied with a dark expression, “I took advantage of last night to tell him everything.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi was slightly stunned. “He actually believed it?”

　　“If he dared to doubt me, then he can forget about getting into my bed in the future.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi, “…”

　　Lin Zhan added, “I was afraid that he would forget when he woke up, so I coaxed and pestered him into personally copying down the important information on paper. I decided to have him read it every day so that he won’t forget, even if he wanted to.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi really admired this, and his mood was also very complicated. “He truly has it hard.”

　　Lin Zhan patted Lin Xuanzhi on the shoulder as he spoke meaningful and heartfelt words, “Your father was very happy, and he tried to look for you before, but I stopped him. I told him that I would never allow him to disturb your life, not unless he remembered everything about you. Of course, if you want to see him, you can do so anytime.”

　　In Lin Zhan’s heart, he was more biased towards his son, because his son had been wronged too much over the years, which made Lin Zhan’s heart ache.

　　Lin Xuanzhi thought for a moment, then said, “Then I won’t see him for the time being.”

　　Lin Zhan also didn’t insist on them meeting.

　　Lin Xuanzhi asked, “When is Dad going to return?”

　　“Your father went to find Lan Luoying. They are old acquaintances, and their relationship has always been good. This time, Mr. Lan can examine his body and look at the injuries, which can be regarded as a fulfillment of my wishes. After the examination, we will set off immediately and will not make things difficult for you.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi looked at Lin Zhan. “Will Dad blame me?”

　　Lin Zhan asked, “What for?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi paused for a moment. “Originally, it was still negotiable for the sect to decide whether or not to seal the island. It was I who made the dust settle down.”

　　Lin Zhan smiled. “You have saved your father from future worries. Not to mention the fact that he never intended to drag Myriad Dao Academy down the water, even if the sect dared to help him, he still wouldn’t accept the help. Myriad Dao Academy has always been famous for discussing the Dao and never interfering with worldly affairs. If it calmly helped the East Land, that would make the East Land the target of jealousy for the other eight Lands. This is not helping us, but harming us.”

　　After Lin Zhan said this, Lin Xuanzhi’s heart felt a lot better.

　　Lin Zhan went to see Yan Tianhen again, told him to focus on cultivation, and left him some magic treasures and medicinal pills. He didn’t stay for long.

　　On the day when the East Empress’s imperial chariot left Ethereal City and arrived in Jade Ocean City, Ethereal City officially activated the great array that protected the city. After a hundred years, the entire island was once again declared sealed off. Nobody knew how long it would take before the array could be deactivated again.

　　A year quickly passed. During this year, because the sect activated the array and sealed the island, no major event occurred. Even the Fiends that once brought an uproar to Ethereal City disappeared without a trace, as if they had never appeared before.

　　The Fiends, who had invaded the East Land, were forced back by the East Sovereign’s troops and formations, and returned to the legendary land where they were sealed. They were never seen again.

　　After Lin Zhan left, Lin Xuanzhi entered closed-door cultivation on Little Penglai and concentrated on cultivation. Yan Tianhen would slip to Little Penglai every other night to practice, and 100 days in the soul plate was worth 10 days outside. His cultivation was also rising, and he soon broke through the third layer of the《Decline and Prosperity》 sword technique. At the same time, because the cosmetic medicinal pills he refined were deeply loved by female cultivators in the sect, Yan Tianhen’s contribution points were also rushing into his leaf card like water, and soon he changed to a Tier A residence.

　　Yan Tianhen had never mistreated himself in terms of food, clothing, and shelter.

　　The sect was large. There were many disciples who didn’t meet or know each other, all the way from when they entered to when they left. During this year, because Yan Tianhen wholeheartedly devoted himself to cultivation and alchemy, he didn’t make too many friends, so he mainly spent it alone.

　　On this day, Yan Tianhen carried a wooden sword on his back and went to Little Penglai.

　　Countless teal lights were like scattered lotus petals, light and ethereal, with a bit of somber and desolate aura to them. They split into thousands of dots of light, then concentrated into one point, cutting a huge rock in the distance into tens of thousands of pieces. The sound of a landslide rumbled loudly.

　　“Incredible.” Yan Tianhen clapped and walked towards Lin Xuanzhi from behind.

　　Lin Xuanzhi turned his eyes and saw Yan Tianhen. He curled his lips into a smile. “Did you finish your class?”

　　Yan Tianhen nodded. “I went to help Mr. Lan take care of the spiritual plants. He cultivated a new species of extremely rare spiritual plant that must be watered in the middle of the night.”

　　Half a year ago, Yan Tianhen entered Pill Limit Hall and became Lan Luoying’s first core disciple. Lan Luoying did not give any advice on refining pills, but focused on cultivating Yan Tianhen’s affinity for spiritual plants and his foundational knowledge about spiritual plants, such as their characteristics, functions, and interactions. Although Yan Tianhen complained on the surface, he finally understood Lan Luoying’s painstaking efforts when he was interpreting scripts from those incomplete volumes.

　　When Lin Xuanzhi heard this, he said, “Mr. Lan regards you highly. You should study well under him.”

　　Yan Tianhen hugged Lin Xuanzhi’s waist with a smile. “Naturally, I know that Mr. Lan is good to me. Just now, Dage’s attack was very powerful; did you have some new breakthroughs in your comprehension of this technique?”

　　Lin Xuanzhi had been practicing this same technique for the entire year. Nobody knew how many rocks had been destroyed.

　　Lin Xuanzhi said, “The East Land sent over some letters, which included insights and experience when practicing the sword. It was extremely helpful to me.”

　　Although the island was closed off, correspondence with the outside world was never cut off. Otherwise, how would the sect know what happened to the outside world?

　　Yan Tianhen grinned. “It seems that the relationship between Dage and adoptive father has eased somewhat.”

　　Lin Xuanzhi pinched his nose. “I don’t have any deep hatred against him, so what is there to ease? When I think that my dad may have kept talking about me into his ear every day, I feel some sympathy for him.”

　　Yan Tianhen laughed. “Who let adoptive father always forget your identity when he is not careful? This kind of daily reminder can also be considered a good solution.”