章節 9: C9

• {Year: 17} •

*woosh*

Lin Shen looked up and saw a person with the cultivation of Seventh Stage: Spirit Venerable. He immediately recognized him as Seventh Path. He stood up and pointed upwards with Flame of Purification above his index finger.

Dark mist swirled away from his area and made a wide circular area around him. Seeing this from the distance, Venerable Seventh Path came towards him and was slightly surprised.

"That is..." He recognized the pure white flame that was flickering above Lin Shen's index finger. "His Holiness's Brilliance of Flames!"

Venerable Seventh Path was so shocked to see the slightly similar flame to His Holiness's Brilliance of Flames. It was said that only those of utmost pure soul and high comprehension of Flame Dao would be able to ignite a flame with holy element. Seventh Path drooled at this, he always wanted to see the legendary Brilliance of Flames and now his wish was achieved!

"..." Lin Shen was momentarily confused when he realized that someone else may have had something similar to Flame of Purification. "No, this is just a fourth stage of Transcendence of Flames technique."

Seventh Path violently coughed at this. He made a mistake...

"...Transcendence of Flames?" After coughing to clear the mistake he made, Venerable Seventh Path repeated. He never heard of such technique in his whole life. His reputation as a wise old man in Nine Provinces Number One Group wasn't for naught, so that was saying something.

"Yes." Lin Shen just sighed and explained. "This is a technique I received from a... legacy shrine. Transcendence of Flames involves flames art. Each level would have their own elements merged with flames and has their strengths and weakness. There are ten levels of Transcendence of Flames, and I can only do up to six in my current cultivation."

Lin Shen began to continue explaining. Venerable Seventh Path was so focused on listening that he forgot about the tainted darkness breeding ground. Transcendence of Flames had ten levels but Lin Shen actually knew five more levels to it, of which he refused to tell anyone. It was extremely dangerous and suicidal to the point that their next reincarnation would be nonexistent upon failure.

In truth, Lin Shen got this technique from one of his old friends back in his past universe. Said old friend was a Devil Emperor, Transcended Infernus who was born a Flame Devil. His title was drawn on the history line, every demons and devils knew of such legendary figure and aspired to be one. Devil Emperors were very rare and extremely hard to achieve, as only four was known to have attained such achievement and power in history. Normally, all devil cultivators had a natural path that went up to Devil Kings and Royal Devils but Devil Emperors overpowered those mere figures. It was a stage and title that one obtained after a lot of hardship and earned, not given. Devil Emperor Transcended Infernus passed away several millions years after Lin Shen achieved Heavenly Emperor, but he did so with no regrets and smiles.

"Unfortunately, no one can learn this unless I provide a cultivation manual for them to start cultivating." Lin Shen finished, then added. "If you truly want to learn this technique, you'll have to sacrifice your cultivation and re-do it with the manual I provide."

"Erm... I will keep my cultivation..." Venerable Seventh Path miserably stated. He worked so hard and long to attain Seventh Stage... He was not about to lose it just for a astounding technique that has the potential to kill Eternal Beings easily... Seventh Path slowly found himself becoming greedy and shook his head to banish such thoughts. "Alright, back to the breeding ground..."

"Yes, please follow me." Lin Shen said as he led him to the temple that held evil energies. Venerable Seventh Path frowned at this, he found them familiar and strangely... it was irritating him to no ends. He approached it closely and scrutinized the runes.

"Damn! I find them familiar and yet, I can not remember where I remembered them from!" He cursed after several minutes and failing to remember.

Lin Shen sweat dropped. 'This old man... he better not go crazy on me...'

Venerable Seventh Path continued to scrutinize the familiar temple with evil energies. Normally, one would assume that this temple was built to worship a evil god, but the temple was created with a Buddha statue in front...

Lin Shen chuckled as he gazed at the Buddha statue that rigidly sat crosslegged with palms out, praying. He approached it while Seventh Path continued to check. When he arrived to the back of the Buddha statue, he noticed that there was a rune written on it but the way it was written was different from others.

[Buddha converts Evil to Karma]

"Venerable Seventh Path, I've found something else." He told. Seventh Path turned and came, reading the runes when he finally remembered.

"Ah! Buddha converts Evil to Karma..." Venerable Seventh Path sighed. He remembered what exactly this temple was. "This temple used to be a place where the ancient local 'judgement' system would take criminals to redeem themselves. If this temple is that 'Redemption Temple'..."

He walked to the temple and clapped his palms thrice. Dark mist slowly faded and shoutings became faint to hear clearly as Spirit Qi surged. Venerable Seventh Path then spoke while his clothes fluttered with the sudden burst of Spirit Qi that came after.

"Criminals redeem themselves."

"They dare not to repeat their evil acts again."

"For they are now in regrets of past and thirst for forgiveness."

[Redemption] appeared in front of his body and slowly circled him. Right then, it glowed black and burst into piercing black particles.

"Appear!"

*Rumble*

A flat gate with hellish features appeared and chains clanged tightly around it. Venerable Seventh Path sighed again at this. He spoke to Lin Shen without turning.

"Though the temple was used for criminals to redeem themselves... It was created by a evil cultivator."

Lin Shen rose a eyebrow.

"You may have already guessed it. Yes, this temple was created to refine criminals into tainted dark souls." Seventh Path turned and said. "Tainted dark souls then became a dark mist which would grow when more tainted dark souls join it. Even more and faster if pure dark souls joins it. It turned out that the evil cultivator truly wanted to banish the world into a world of evil atrocities."

Venerable Seventh Path then turned to the gate that erected and looked chained, pointing at it as he said.

"This gate is the entrance to the domain that holds every tainted dark soul that plagued Redemption Temple back in the years." He then explained how this came to be. "There were three righteous cultivator who happened upon this temple and was enraged at how such actions were happening. Those three however, were weaker than the evil cultivator. They fought and two of them lost..."

He gazed at the gate with pity. Lin Shen realized and stated.

"This gate was created by those two's death, wasn't it?"

"Yes." Seventh Path nodded. "The remaining survivor could only use their death to create this gate and force the dark mists into its domain, sealing it."

Lin Shen then nodded, understanding. "So some of dark mist somehow escaped the gate and has been increasing. However, to escape the gate would need some outside help, which means someone did it."

"Mn." Venerable Seventh Path nodded, satisfied that Lin Shen was not a clueless cultivator. "Unfortunately, we can not find who did this since it seems that no one else has come here for awhile. Last time anyone came here should be at least fifty years..."

"But what about the deformed monster I banished? Does this mean that there's a group of evil cultivators working together for the same goal?"

"Perhaps. This is not common but it certainly has happened often in this era now. For evil cultivators to work together would mean to swallow their malicious pride." Seventh Path curiously checked out the gate. "This gate is pretty interesting..."

He only knew of this gate from words, not in person. Venerable Seventh Path loved to know of things and histories, but thirsted to see them in person.

"...Well, I'm going to go back to my flat." Lin Shen said, to which Seventh Path nodded at.

"Alright. I can deal with the dark mist here in a week, just be sure to inform us if you find any clues of evil cultivators working together." He warned. "I will tell everyone in the chat group to be wary as well."

"Mn." Lin Shen waved him off and left in a step.

Venerable Seventh Path twitched his mouth but shook his head before resuming. "Hmm... those chains look similar to Hundred Fairy's Chain Arts..."

He shuddered remembering the woman who would use the very same chain art for revenge. Most of them were ways to ensure the victims feel pain while incapable of dying. Seventh Path then moved onto the next object on the gate.

…

At Lin Shen's apartment...

Lin Shen appeared in his current home. He already moved out of his parents' home few months after he graduated high school.

Taking his shoes off and putting it near the front door, Lin Shen stretched slightly. Even though he was ineffective of the dark mist's effects, it still left some strain on him.

"Tomorrow's the start of my job..." Lin Shen walked off to shower. After graduating, he didn't immediately find a college to attend since he already learned a lot that he could even become a professor. Instead, he went job hunting and found a easy and casual job.

• [Next day.] •

Lin Shen opened his eyes and yawned slightly. He got up and went to his business in bathroom, changing clothes after. A white long shirt with black pant. After that, he went out.

"The day's warm." He commented as he walked on the sidewalk of road. Lin Shen was one who liked walking in peace. Back as Heavenly Emperor, such thing were very rare since he had a lot of business and reputation to hold.

Warm wind brushed against him.

…

"Boss! Do you know who's coming here as the replacement?" A middle-aged man asked his boss in the building. The boss looked like a young man in his twenties, but did not give off such feeling, instead he gave off a feeling that he was a aged man who lived for a long time.

"Hmm? Yeah, I do. After all, I'm the one who interviewed him." He answered, to which the middle-aged man slouch slightly at.

"Oh, so it's not another woman..." Getting his head out of the gutters, he looked shocked. "Wait, you interviewed him?!"

"Yes...? Why?"

"Erm, no... it's nothing! Haha..." The middle-aged man sweated slightly. If the boss interviewed, it normally included heavy interrogations and a bit of harsh rebuking. He personally experienced it. So, it was rare to find out that a interviewee survived and passed it.

"This young man who I accepted is a curious guy. He never cried a single tear."

"..." The middle-aged man twitched his mouth, before turning away to resume his job. He also remembered the experience of crying before this boss of his...

…

Opening the door to his job, Lin Shen went in the building with the sign of a eastern dragon circling the letter 'DGK'. He looked around and saw several tables with four chairs per tables near the walls. Near the center was a bar with many different drinks and creations.

In middle of the bar was his boss.

"Welcome, Lin Shen." He said. "I'm glad you arrived a hour before the restaurant opens. We have a lot to do."

"Yes, Boss Fang." Lin Shen respectfully nodded and followed him as the boss led him to the back. The only reason why he was respectful towards this man was because he had the cultivation of Eight Stage : Ancient Saint.

He originally intended to find a barkeeper job since it seemed fun and interesting for him at the time. But he happened upon this restaurant and was surprised to see the owner being a Ancient Saint cultivator with a Greater Dragon Seal. It turned out that this restaurant was normally for cultivators but mortals could also visit and eat. This restaurant also did small deeds for them as well, in exchange that they recommend the place for others and that they visit here often.

"Alright, since your cultivation's at Sixth Stage..." The boss muttered as he gazed at the four different outfits. They had the restaurant's sign, a eastern dragon circling DGK. "You'll wear this."

The outfit he chose for Lin Shen was a barkeeper suit in the color of white and black tinted with grayness.

Lin Shen quietly took it and changed into it when Boss Fang left. He didn't understand why Boss Fang considered his cultivation when choosing outfits.

"It's a bit tight..."

He shook his head and left the locker room. Upon leaving, Lin Shen noticed a group of five waiting near the bar with Boss Fang standing in front of them.

"Hello..." He also noticed that they all were mortals, none of them were cultivators.

"This man is Lin Shen, our new barkeeper!" Boss Fang suddenly announced, with the group of five mortals cheering and asking questions.

Three of them were females and the rest were males. Strangely enough, the females were young women in their late-teens and early-twenties, while the males were all middle-aged.

"Do you know how to make good drinks or are you new to it?" A middle-aged man with the body of bodybuilder asked. "Oh, I'm Boss Fang's nephew, Fang Wei."

Though he was a mortal, he did know of cultivators but did not bother to become one for his own reasons.

"Uh, I'm new to it... but I can learn fast." Lin Shen replied, unsure. He definitely knew how to make good drinks, since he did so in his past lives. But this universe was different, so it also meant that it was different too.

"Oh, good! We'll be waiting for you to give us very good drinks!" A middle-aged man with slicked-to-back black hair laughed. "I'm Lin Lin, maybe we're related somehow! Haha!"

The three young women only stared at Lin Shen with bright eyes. They finally got a amazingly handsome man in their restaurant and moreover, he looked nice enough! Though they wanted to take pictures together, Boss Fang was having none of that.

"Alright! Remember that today is going to be a busy day like last week!" They groaned at that, while Lin Shen looked at them with amusement. Since he was a cultivator as True Monarch, his stamina was unsurprisingly long and wide "Go, go!"

Boss Fang waved them off, so they could only return to their original positions and prepare. Then he turned to Lin Shen and said.

"Come, I'll teach you what to do on your job. Just watch and pay attention." Boss Fang wasn't particularly worried that Lin Shen wouldn't, according to the interview they conducted.

He then began to show positions of where drinks and objects were, explaining what they were while he was at it. Lin Shen diligently paid attention.

An hour later...

By now, Lin Shen memorized what was what and where was where. Boss Fang already expected this from a True Monarch, so he simply said that he would be watching him from a distance, to see how he would do with customers.

"The restaurant's opening for the day, everyone!" Boss Fang announced to them.

The three young ladies just sat on their respective chairs while secretly chattering amongst themselves, they would often glance at Lin Shen. The other two middle-aged men were in the kitchen, preparing ingredients as well as ready for orders. Boss Fang sat in the bar, crossing his arms and closing his eyes patiently.

A group of 4 customers came in after ten minutes. They were all middle-aged people. Two were women and other two were men, they were married to their respective partners.

Lin Shen twitched his mouth slightly when seeing them. He was secretly glad that he used a disguising technique on himself. No one, even Eternal Life Beings in the universe, would be able to see through it. This was because he literally forced his physical appearance to change, practically changing his genes.

"Welcome!" One of the young women said. She had long black hair tied into a ponytail and wore a waitress clothes. Though she did not cultivate or knew of it, she felt slight pressure from the group of 4. "I am going to be your waitress, Su Jingwen. Please follow me to your table!"

"Mn." The group of 4 middle-aged people simply nodded and glanced at Lin Shen in the bar. Two of them nearly did a double take and sweated slightly.

Even though Lin Shen changed his appearance, his cultivation and bone age was still the same...

In hushed whispers, one of them said to the other three. "Hey! Am I seeing wrong? Is he a Sixth Stage cultivator at seventeen years old?!"

"So, I wasn't the only one who also sensed his bone age twice?" Another said, twitching his eyes. He truly felt like killing himself before this youngling.

"Ugh... I cultivated all the way to Fifth Stage but I'm at least eight or nine times his age..."

They all fell silent as they followed Su Jingwen to their table. She turned and was about to say something when she instantly clamped up at their intense gloomy facial look. 'What happened?!'

The group took their seats while ordering the usual, before chattering amongst themselves. They looked like they were regulars and would leave when the restaurant closed.

Lin Shen only internally laugh at them. Boss Fang behind him chuckled as well, having heard of their conversation as well. But he also felt his heart aching whenever he remembered he was also way older than Lin Shen, yet he was already Sixth Stage at the age of seventeen...

Boss Fang then opened one of his eyes when someone else entered. He recognized this man and smirked before saying to Lin Shen. "Take this one."

Though clueless, Lin Shen felt like he was going to be in a hell of a day as the man came towards the bar. After all, this man was wearing a strange type of clothes and his mannerisms were... different as he took steps to him.

Finally stopping and judging Lin Shen, the man licked his lips before coyly poking his index finger onto Lin Shen's chest. With a slightly shrilly voice, he spoke.

"My! I did not expect for the replacement to be such... a handsome man!"

Lin Shen instinctively shivered.