Chapter 11: The Unsuppressable Heterogeneous Spawn!

Evil spirits roamed the world, and monsters were rampant everywhere; any place of safety was worth its weight in gold.

Forty years ago, the Lin family ancestors came to High Willow City and settled in the outer three boroughs.

In the alleys, a single small house accommodated three generations of people.

Just in Linjiang Square alone, there were nearly nine thousand people in one of the twelve wards of the outer southern district.

And those were just the local residents, not including the visiting merchants.

"This city is more densely populated than I expected,"

In such a bizarre world, it was reasonable to encounter dangers outside the city and overcrowding within.

Moreover, High Willow City was even more expansive than he had imagined.

In his life, having grown up in High Willow City, he knew it was vast but had no concrete understanding of it.

At least, before his memories of his past life awakened, his life in Linjiang Square was limited, and the occasional outings were confined to the outer three wards.

He had not even traveled through the entire outer southern district.

At this moment, Lin Yan held in his hand a map of the outer southern region's terrain that he had just retrieved from the local branch of the Outer South Bureau.

In the outer southern region, the twelve wards would often be separated by some distance, with mountains, rivers, fertile fields, melon sheds, or medicinal herbs and tea trees in between.

It was said that when High Willow City was first built, the primary concern was survival and finding a place to live; consequently, the houses were closely packed with numerous disadvantages.

Later, as the outer city expanded, various changes were made in all aspects.

For example, young masters and ladies of the inner city who wished to tour mountains and rivers or go fishing and hunting could do so without risking leaving the city, right within the "outer city area."

Of course, this had little to do with the common folk.

The Lin family's three generations toiled until three years ago, when they were still crammed into that small house in the alley.

Only after the second brother got married, relying on his wife's family's support, did he build a house at the very edge of Linjiang Square.

Though it was merely a three-room tiled house, it had already provoked envy and jealousy among the neighbors in the alley.

After today, Lin Yan would also move out of this old house in the alley.

The Observatory had established an office in Linjiang Square and arranged corresponding living quarters.

He was preparing to come back and tidy up when he discovered a bundle of lotus leaves on the stove after pushing the door open.

"..."

Lin Yan couldn't help but let out a chuckle, whispering, "This half roast chicken, after all the fuss, has made its way back to me."

In this era, even in the city, roast chicken was quite expensive for ordinary people.

That's why, when fleeing for their lives last night, the second brother did not forget to pick up this half roast chicken, which clearly held great value to him.

But after encountering "Chen Yuannv" in the alley yesterday, he probably thought about visiting his younger brother's future father-in-law's house and didn't want to go empty-handed, yet he could bring himself to bring this half roast chicken.

The so-called rudiments of civilization, shaped by etiquette and rules, were also gradually being established in this chaotic era... to be precise, they were slowly recovering.

Thinking this, he uncovered the lotus leaves and tore into the chicken with big bites.

The taste had diminished overnight, but he still ate it all up.

He then went inside and tidied up carefully.

He boiled water and took a hot bath.

It was midday, and the water was quite hot, almost scalding.

"This arm of mine, reattached, is only restored on the surface."

Within the bath, Lin Yan slowly lifted his arm, contemplating, "The skin and flesh have healed first, but the tendons and bones need more time, blood circulation and marrow need at least half a month to recover completely as before."

Then he closed his eyes slightly, sensing his current level of cultivation.

Name: Lin Yan.

Cultivation Technique: Five Elements Inner Breath Technique.

Cultivation: Refining Essence Realm (1/3650) +

Divine Skill 1: Devouring Evil!

Divine Skill 2: Demon Suppression!

Techniques as follows:

Thunder Blade, first layer (100/100) +

Folding paper into horses (30/100) +

Disguise Technique (67/100) +

Concealment Technique (31/100) +

Evil Qi: 31 strands.

Ever since his breakthrough into the Refining Essence Realm, the entry-level skills of the Concealment Technique were no longer sufficient to entirely conceal his Qi Mechanism.

Thus, he expended ten strands of Evil Qi to elevate his Concealment Technique to the level of "expert."

This was also why the Han Commander couldn't see through his true cultivation level.

"Without any Cultivation Technique to enhance my cultivation right now, I can only rely on Evil Qi."

Lin Yan thought to himself, "I must find a Refining Essence Realm Cultivation Technique as soon as possible!"

Within the Observatory, there indeed exist Cultivation Techniques for the Refining Essence Realm, but there are two troublesome issues for him to acquire a technique.

First, he would need to display a cultivation level of at least the peak of the Internal Strength Realm.

Second, he would have to amass at least three thousand merits.

It is known, his assistance in cases with the Night Patrol Envoy over the course of a year has just barely amounted to over nine hundred merits.

Moreover, his rapid rise through the ranks, breaking through three levels in just two years from a Martial Artist to the Refining Essence Realm, was simply astonishing.

And within High Willow City, he was not the only one in the Refining Essence Realm!

Lin Yan held great caution towards them.

To be precise, he was filled with caution towards this entire world.

This world, after enduring prolonged darkness, was barely beginning to rebuild its moral ethics, manners, and rules from the rubble.

Perhaps someone like the Han Commander might take a special interest in nurturing him.

But more likely, other powers would consider snuffing out this rare talent early, to avoid shaking their own status!

They might even slice him into pieces to investigate how his cultivation could be so shockingly astonishing!

"Be steady in everything, and never expose yourself."

Thinking this, Lin Yan breathed out, "Concerning the Cultivation Technique, I must rely on myself to obtain it."

After bathing, he felt quite warm, and his skin was somewhat reddened from the heat.

He got dressed and walked outside.

At that moment, the midday sun was particularly glaring.

He narrowed his eyes slightly and lifted his hand to shade his forehead.

But at that moment, his body stiffened as if struck by lightning.

Under the sunlight, a vague oval mark appeared in the warm palm of his hand.

On that mark, there were eighteen lines, nine deep and nine shallow.

The deep ones were as dark as ink, the shallow ones were reddish.

"..."

At this moment, above the sky, the sun was blazing hot.

At high noon, the Yang energy was at its peak.

In an instant, Lin Yan felt as if he had plummeted into an icy abyss, a chill rising from his spine, spreading to his head, and enveloping his whole body.

Just a moment ago, after his hot bath, he was feeling the heat all over his body, with his skin reddened... But now, the chill dominated, overwhelming even the warmth of the blazing sun.

"Divine Skills! Demon Suppression!"

Lin Yan's eyes suddenly turned ice-cold.

His Demon Suppression Divine Power was potent enough to make the Evil Qi surge with a thousandfold might!

But the "alien pattern" in the palm of his hand remained unchanged.

His heart sank a little, and he slowly lowered his hand to take a closer look at it before his eyes.

However, as soon as his hand left the range of the sun's rays, the alien pattern began to fade gradually.

Looking at the palm that had just returned to normal, Lin Yan's sense of unease lingered on.

"What on earth is this thing?"

"It has clearly been annihilated by my sword, yet it's still imprinted in my palm?"

"In the midday sun, it doesn't hide away but instead reveals itself?"

"Even under the power of the Demon Suppression Divine Skills, with Evil Qi surging and easily dispelling evil spirits, it is still of no use against it?"