Lin Hao did not want to cause trouble, but that did not mean he was afraid of it. If someone were to provoke him, Lin Hao would not tolerate it.
"Thank you." Lin Hao turned and thanked Yi Qing, naturally referring to the silver needle she had given him. Yi Qing nodded, saying nothing more, and watched Lin Hao leave.
...
After leaving the Hundred Herbs Hut, Lin Hao wandered for a while and returned to the stall where he had bought the Immortal Gold Robe. After a long time, Yu Yao still had not appeared.
After inquiring with the stall owner, Lin Hao learned that during his absence, Yu Yao had not come to this place. As the young lady of the Yu family, the vendors all knew her, so if she had not appeared, it was true that she had not.
At this moment, Lin Hao had a sense of foreboding. Could something have happened to Yu Yao? He had severed Lin Feng's arm today, and he feared that Yu Yao might have been implicated.
However, upon further thought, Yu Yao was still the young lady of the Yu family, and the Lin family might not dare to do anything too extreme.
"Little brother, if there's nothing, you should go home. It seems that the town is not peaceful today," the middle-aged vendor said, seeing that Lin Hao had been waiting for a long time.
"Oh? How is it not peaceful?" Lin Hao asked curiously.
"Heh, who knows what madness has come over the Lin family. They sent out some of their strong men and black-armored guards to seal off the entire Fenglin Town. It seems that something big is about to happen," the middle-aged man replied.
"The Lin family has sealed off Fenglin Town?" Hearing this, Lin Hao's eyebrows furrowed, and his sense of foreboding grew stronger.
This morning, he had severed Lin Feng's arm, and now the Lin family had sent people to seal off Fenglin Town. What did they intend to do?!
Could it be that this branch of the Lin family was so bold as to want to take action against him, a disciple of the Lin family's main branch?
"Uncle, do you know why the Lin family has sealed off Fenglin Town?" Lin Hao asked with a light smile.
"I heard they are trying to capture a traitor of the Lin family... It seems that the Lin family has even opened the long-unused altar, and there are rumors that they want to change the bones of their prodigy, Lin Tong. I don't know the details," the middle-aged man said after a moment's thought.
Change bones?
Lin Hao was somewhat puzzled. Why was the Lin family acting so strangely, making it hard to understand?
However, the fact that the Lin family branch had sealed off Fenglin Town was likely aimed at him. He needed to be careful.
After much thought, Lin Hao realized that if the Lin family branch truly wanted to deal with him, with his current damaged body, he might not be able to handle it.
Subsequently, Lin Hao turned and left, going to investigate the situation in the town.
...
A full moon hung high in the sky, its light piercing through the clouds and casting a glow over the earth, illuminating the world.
At this moment, Lin Hao stopped in front of a mansion in Fenglin Town.
Lin Hao had been lurking in Fenglin Town for several hours and discovered that the entire town was sealed off by the black-armored troops of the Lin family branch.
In the end, Lin Hao came to this place.
This mansion belonged to the Yu family, one of the four major branches in Fenglin Town.
His father had done a great favor for the Yu family, and they could be considered the Yu family's saviors. Now, Lin Hao could only come to the Yu family, find Yu Yao, and have the Yu family help them leave Fenglin Town.
Lin Hao leaped and flew into the Yu family mansion.
It was already late at night, and the mansion had no guards. Lin Hao, familiar with the layout, went to Yu Yao's room, knocked on the door, and waited for a while, but no one answered.
Clearly, Yu Yao was not in her room.
With no other choice, Lin Hao went to Yu Xin's room and called out softly.
Soon, the door opened, and a woman with sleepy eyes appeared.
"Brother Lin Hao!" Seeing Lin Hao, Yu Xin's sleepiness vanished, and a look of surprise appeared on her sweet and beautiful face.
"Yu Xin, where is Yu Yao?" Lin Hao asked urgently.
"Brother Lin Hao... The Lin family is searching for you and Sister Yu Yao everywhere. Father, fearing that something might happen to Yu Yao, sent her to the Yu family's main branch," Yu Xin replied after some thought.
"Hmph... The Lin family branch, how dare they!" Lin Hao's eyes flashed with a fierce light. It seemed that his suspicions were correct; the Lin family branch truly intended to take action against him!
"Brother Lin Hao, don't worry. Father said that Uncle Lin Yan has done a great favor for the Yu family and is their benefactor. No matter what, he will not let you and Sister Yu Yao be harmed," Yu Xin quickly reassured him, seeing his anger.
Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar face before him, Lin Hao felt a warm sensation in his heart.
Years ago, his father had taken him and Yu Yao to the Yu family's main branch as guests. At that time, Yu Xin was also there, and they had spent some time together, forming a good relationship.
Lin Hao had some affection for Yu Xin.
Though he was the Nine Heavens Emperor in his previous life, in this life, he was still Lin Hao.
The woman stepped forward and hugged Lin Hao, her face full of anger. "The Lin family branch is too bold and reckless, daring to treat Brother Lin Hao like this!"
Lin Hao was a disciple of the Lin family's main branch and had successfully entered the sect world due to his powerful spiritual root, making him a disciple of a major sect with unparalleled talent.
Yet now, the Lin family branch dared to treat him like this, which was truly an act of extreme arrogance.
"Yu Xin, I heard that the Lin family branch opened the altar today to change the bones of the family head's son, Lin Tong. What does this mean?" Lin Hao vaguely felt that this matter was somehow related to him.
"Lin Zhan, the head of the branch, is the elder brother of the Lin family's main branch's grand steward... They colluded and deceived the main branch, intending to transfer your spiritual root to Lin Tong!"
Yu Xin's words shocked Lin Hao.
It turned out that the grand steward of the main branch had sent him to the Lin family branch not to restore his spiritual root but to strip it away and transfer it to Lin Tong...
Lin family disciples had sufficient autonomy, and even the head of the main branch had no right to strip a disciple's spiritual root. A small branch dared to act in such a manner!
"The Lin family branch is too bold and reckless. Unfortunately, my spiritual root is already damaged, and I am not their match for now. I must escape from Fenglin Town and return to the main branch to seek justice," Lin Hao said after a moment's thought.
"Brother Lin Hao... It's all my fault... If I hadn't been poisoned, you wouldn't have used half of your true blood to save me, and with your strength, you wouldn't have had your spiritual root severed in the sect world..." Yu Xin's voice was soft, filled with self-reproach.
Five years ago, when Lin Hao and Yu Xin were young, they went out for training. Yu Xin was bitten by a venomous beast, and the poison entered her body. Fortunately, Lin Hao used half of his true blood to save her, saving her life.
Since then, Lin Hao's cultivation had declined, and it had taken him several years to partially recover.
Hearing Yu Xin mention this, Lin Hao's mind flashed back to the scene from those years.
...
"Xin, don't blame yourself. As long as I can escape from Fenglin Town, everything will be fine. However, the town is sealed off, and I need the Yu family's help to escape," Lin Hao said, his eyes filled with affection as he pinched Yu Xin's smooth cheek.
"Brother Lin Hao, my father will definitely help you. Rest in my room for a while, and I'll go find my father."
With that, Yu Xin went back to her room to change her clothes.
Lin Hao had no intention of entering Yu Xin's room, but he had no choice at the moment.
After Yu Xin left, Lin Hao closed the door tightly, sat on the edge of the bed, and began to practice.
"Heavenly Flame!"
Lin Hao slowly opened his right palm, and a blinding flame appeared.
Before Lin Hao could be surprised, the flame disappeared as if it had never been there.
"Of course... The divine power from my previous life is too powerful for this body to support. Forcing it would only harm myself," Lin Hao sighed, feeling helpless.
These were external martial arts, not as powerful as the supreme martial arts he had found in the Ten Directions Heavenly Gates, but they were still quite effective.
Lin Hao then used his divine sense to observe his damaged spiritual root.
The spiritual root was a piece of innate bone, easily recognizable.
"The damage isn't too severe... I need to quickly refine the 'Spiritual Bone Rebuilding Pill.'"
Just as Lin Hao was about to exit his inner vision, he suddenly noticed a streak of extremely brilliant black light in his dantian.
"What is this?!" Feeling the aura of the black light, even Lin Hao was greatly surprised.
"This aura is so deep and terrifying. What could it be...?" Lin Hao pondered.
"Could it be that after merging with my previous life's secondary soul yesterday, my body underwent an unknown transformation?" After much thought, this seemed to be the only possibility.
The black light was nurturing in his dantian, and although he did not know what it was, the aura it emitted was astonishing.
Lin Hao then tried to control the black light with his divine sense.
Buzz!
The black light emitted a strange sound and began to move within his body, like fish in the sea, as Lin Hao's divine sense communicated with it.
Crack...
Suddenly, Lin Hao's limbs and bones felt as if they were being hammered by a thousand-pound hammer, making a sound like popping beans.
Lin Hao's forehead was drenched in cold sweat, like pearls falling from a broken string.
This pain was so intense that it felt like his soul was being torn apart. An ordinary martial artist would likely die from the pain, but Lin Hao, with his great willpower, endured it.
In his previous life, the Nine Heavens Emperor had fought against the strongest beings in the world and had endured all kinds of injuries. This pain was nothing to him.
"Is the black light... tempering my... physical body...?"
Lin Hao gritted his teeth and did not stop the black light from moving within his body, allowing it to 'roam' freely.
Suddenly, an idea came to him, and he used his divine soul to guide the black light to his damaged spiritual root.
He wanted to see how powerful the black light was and whether it could also repair his damaged spiritual root, as it could temper his physical body.
Soon, Lin Hao's face showed a look of surprise.
The damaged spiritual root, under the influence of the black light, began to mend.
Although the process was extremely slow, Lin Hao could feel the damaged parts of his spiritual root gradually healing.
After several hours of healing, by dawn, the damaged spiritual root had healed by about half.
The remaining damaged parts were beyond the black light's ability to repair.
After tempering Lin Hao's body for a while longer, the black light's glow dimmed and returned to the dantian, becoming silent.
At this moment, Lin Hao's body was covered in a large amount of black, sticky liquid, which was the waste expelled by the black light.
Lin Hao got out of bed and found some water in the room, washing his body to remove the black, sticky liquid.
"What a powerful black light... What is its origin, to be able to transform this body?"
Lin Hao exhaled a breath of turbid air. After a night of tempering by the black light, his body felt as if it had been reborn, and the strength of his bones, which had previously dissipated, had re-emerged.
"Very good. In the future, once I refine the 'Spiritual Root Rebuilding Pill,' I can completely heal my spiritual root." Lin Hao smiled, the corners of his mouth curling up.