Chapter 7: Lin Fan’s Concern

Gulp.

Looking at the somewhat bizarre scene before him, Lin Fan couldn’t help but swallow his saliva.

How… how is this possible?!

Bai Ling is just a cultivator at the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm, so how did she kill this demonic beast that was comparable to the Great Ascension Realm?

[What’s so strange about this? It’s merely bloodline suppression.]

The System’s lazy voice echoed in Lin Fan’s mind.

“Bloodline suppression?”

Lin Fan furrowed his brow.

[Does the host not know? When a top-tier demonic beast encounters an ordinary demonic beast, its bloodline suppression can allow it to cross three entire realms in battle~]

“Cross three realms?!”

Lin Fan exclaimed in shock.

“Are you saying… that at the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm, she can fight on par with a demonic beast at the Earthly Immortal level?!”

[You can understand it that way, dear.]

After receiving the System’s affirmative reply, Lin Fan’s heart was thrown into tumultuous waves.

‘Demonic beasts at the Earthly Immortal level and above… there probably aren’t many of them in the entire Dark Night Forest, are there?’

‘Doesn’t this mean that if Bai Ling’s cultivation were just a little bit higher, flipping the entire Dark Night Forest upside down would be a trivial matter?’

“I have one more question.”

Lin Fan licked his lips.

“When she fights against other races, she can’t also cross three realms, can she?”

[That she cannot. But because the physical constitution of top-tier demonic beasts is generally stronger than that of other races, it’s possible for a situation to arise where she fights to a draw across realms, but at most, it would only be crossing one realm.]

“Crossing one realm… only?!”

Lin Fan’s face immediately turned green.
‘By this calculation, when Bai Ling reaches the Immortal Emperor Realm, wouldn’t she be able to directly contend with me at the Demon Lord Realm?’

“Wait, that’s not right…”

Lin Fan suddenly thought of something.

“You’re tricking me, aren’t you?”

“If it’s really like this, then a thousand years ago, wouldn’t the Quasi-Saint Realm Fairy Bai Ling have been able to suppress this lord all by herself?”

[Do you think I have any need to lie to you?]

The System shot Lin Fan a look of disdain.

[Before Fairy Bai Ling was reincarnated, her race’s bloodline was not pure, and its power was quite diluted. So during combat, she could barely produce any suppressive effect.]

[But it’s different now. The current Fairy Bai Ling possesses the purest bloodline of a Nine-Revolving Spirit Cat, you know~]

The System was clearly taking some pleasure in his misfortune.

“I really have to thank you for reminding me!”

Lin Fan looked at the demonic beast corpses strewn across the ground, an indescribable feeling washing over him.

After a long while, Lin Fan sighed, silently walked over to Bai Ling, and reached out to straighten the corner of her clothes.

“Ling’er, you’ve worked hard. Let’s go home now.”

After Lin Fan and the other had left, a few demonic beasts huddled in a cave cautiously poked their heads out.
After confirming that the danger had passed, they slowly crawled out of the cave.

“Amitabha~ That scared me to death, scared me to death!”

A red demonic beast patted its chest, speaking with lingering fear.

“Who was it that led that plague god here? Who was it?!”

Seeing the corpses of their companions all over the ground, a blue demonic beast beside them roared in fury.

“Boss, it was him… it was him who did it!”
An ugly-looking demonic beast jumped out, pointing at the cyan demonic beast next to it.

“I’ve been wronged, Boss! I really didn’t mean to!”

The cyan demonic beast explained with tears streaming down its face.

“I was just… too hungry. So when I saw that little girl, I couldn’t help but want to…”

“Eat, eat, eat! All you know is eating! Since you love to eat so much, I’ll send you down below to eat your fill!”

In an instant, a monstrous killing intent spread from the blue demonic beast’s body.

“No, Boss! Ah…”

A roaring blue flame enveloped the cyan demonic beast’s body.

In the blink of an eye, the cyan demonic beast’s massive body was turned into a pile of ash.

“Boss, what do we do now?”

The red demonic beast asked with a worried expression.

“What else can we do?”

The leading beast’s expression was grave.

“Notify all the brothers. Tonight, we evacuate this forest overnight.”

“But Boss, is that really necessary? That girl might have just been passing by…”

A demonic beast at the side spoke, then hesitated.

“Just go do as you’re told! If something happens again, can you bear the responsibility?!”

The leading beast roared like thunder.

“Yes, Boss!”

On the outskirts of the Dark Night Forest.

Two beast hunters at the late stage of the Golden Core Realm were furtively peering into the forest’s interior.

“Big Brother, this Dark Night Forest is extremely dangerous. Do we really need to take this risk?”

The one-eyed man’s legs couldn’t help but tremble as he looked at the dark and terrifying forest before him.

“Look at you, so worthless!”

The blond man shot the one-eyed man a disdainful look.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Don’t forget what we rely on to make a living!”

“Besides, I also know the interior of the forest is incredibly dangerous. We’ll just stick to the outer ring; we won’t run into any high-level demonic beasts.”

“But…”

The one-eyed man was still hesitant.

“Are you a man or not? Why are you so fussy every time we do something?!”

The blond man patted the one-eyed man on the back.

“Don’t you want to get rich anymore?!”

‘Get rich…’

The one-eyed man was in a daze.

‘Who doesn’t want to get rich, but you have to be alive to spend the money, don’t you?!’

“Shh—”

The blond man seemed to have heard something.

He made a hushing gesture and pulled the one-eyed man down behind a bush.

“Listen—”

Although the one-eyed man didn’t know what was going on, seeing the blond man’s tense expression, he also pretended to prick up his ears and listen.

Dong! Dong dong!

Within the tranquil forest, a deafening sound suddenly erupted.

Affected by this powerful noise, the originally flat ground began to crack with several fissures and started to tremble slightly.

“Big Brother, look! What is that?!”

The one-eyed man stared blankly at the stampeding herd of beasts.

“Is it an earthquake?”

“Earthquake my a**! It’s a beast tide! Run, now!”

…

In the middle of the night.

Under a quiet pavilion, Bai Ling looked at Lin Fan’s pale face, feeling a little puzzled.

“Master, what’s wrong with you? Why is your hand shaking?”

‘How could it not be shaking?!’

To be honest, the moment Lin Fan saw the corpses of the high-level demonic beasts, his heart couldn’t help but lurch.

“Ling’er,”

Lin Fan suddenly gripped Bai Ling’s small hand tightly.

“Tell me the truth, how do you think Master treats you?”

“Master treats me very well.”

Bai Ling didn’t understand why Lin Fan was asking this.

“Ling’er respects Master from the bottom of her heart.”

“Then what if…”

Lin Fan hesitated.

“What if one day, you discover that Master isn’t as perfect as you imagined. Or perhaps… you discover Master is a bad person, what would you do?”

“How could Master possibly be a bad person?”

Bai Ling blinked her large, clear autumn-pool-like eyes in confusion.

“I’m saying what if… what if?”

Lin Fan pressed anxiously.

“If Master really is a bad person…”

Bai Ling slowly lowered her head.

“Then Ling’er would have no choice but to enforce justice on behalf of Heaven…”

!!!

Bai Ling’s straightforward answer gave Lin Fan quite a scare.

‘Good heavens, just as expected from the reincarnation of a righteous fairy. She’d really uphold justice even if it meant turning on her own kin, huh?’

‘Although, you can’t really call the relationship between a master and disciple ‘kin,’ but still…’

‘Couldn’t you have answered a little more tactfully?!’

“Pfft—”

Seeing Lin Fan’s silent appearance, Bai Ling couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

“I was tricking you. How could Ling’er bear to raise a hand against Master? It was just a joke~”

‘A joke?’

‘That wasn’t funny at all, okay?!’

“Ling’er believes that Master is definitely not a bad person, at least…”

Bai Ling slowly raised her head, her bright eyes twinkling with starlight.

“At least not right now…”

‘Sigh…’

Lin Fan silently sighed.

‘Forget it. I made this mess myself, I’ll just have to take it one step at a time.’

“The most urgent task now is to quickly find the other disciples…”

“Master, you… are you taking more disciples?”

Bai Ling caught the key point in Lin Fan’s words.

“Why… did Ling’er do something to make Master angry?”

Bai Ling thought Lin Fan didn’t want her anymore and tugged at his arm, pressing for an answer.

“Ling’er, there is something that Master feels he must tell you.”

“Wh-what is it?”

Seeing Lin Fan’s serious expression, Bai Ling couldn’t help but feel nervous.

“Actually, the reason Master took you as a disciple was not a coincidence, but the guidance of Heaven.”

“The guidance of Heaven?”

Bai Ling didn’t understand.

“What guidance?”

“Ahem,”

Lin Fan cleared his throat slightly, then said,

“It’s like this…”

“On a dark and stormy night, Master had a magical dream. In the dream, a white-bearded immortal told me that a thousand years from now, the Xianling Continent will face an unprecedented calamity.”

“To prevent this catastrophe, one person must be chosen. That person must, within a thousand years, find the ten fairies designated by Heaven and cultivate them to the Saint Lord Realm. And Master… is that chosen one.”

“Master, are you saying… Ling’er is one of the fairies designated by Heaven?!”

After hearing Lin Fan’s description, Bai Ling cried out in astonishment.

“Yes.”

Lin Fan nodded affirmatively.

“But… Master, how did you determine… that Ling’er is a fairy?”

Lin Fan took the Exclusive Guiding Stone from his pocket and placed it in Bai Ling’s small hand.

“Through this.”

“This is?”

Bai Ling scratched her head, a little confused.

“The Exclusive Guiding Stone.”

Lin Fan explained.

“As long as a fairy is nearby, the guiding stone will glow.”

“It’s really glowing~ How magical.”

Bai Ling looked at the radiant guiding stone and couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

Phew…

Lin Fan felt a bit mentally exhausted and took a deep breath.

‘I’ve finally fooled this little girl.’

“Then… Master, you must be working very hard, shouldering such a glorious mission all by yourself, right?”

Bai Ling asked cautiously, her gentle tone clearly laced with a hint of heartache.

“It is what I should do. It’s not hard work.”

Lin Fan patted Bai Ling’s forehead.

“It’s getting late, hurry back and go to sleep.”

“Mhm, goodnight, Master.”

Bai Ling happily waved at Lin Fan and trotted back to her room.

“So, Master is such an amazing person…”

Lying in bed, Bai Ling stared at the ceiling above, subconsciously clenching her fists.

“Ling’er must cultivate diligently and absolutely not let Master down!”

[I say…]

After Bai Ling left, the System’s faint voice echoed in Lin Fan’s mind.

[I have never seen such a shameless person…]