Library Pavilion.
Lin Qinghe beamed at Lin Yan. "First place in the New Star Competition. Well done. You’ve brought great honor to the Third Branch."
Lin Qinghe had a unique perspective on Lin Yan.
Ever since Lin Yan first came to the Library Pavilion to select the Thunder Sound Technique, he had taken note of the young man from the branch family.
Back then, however, he had only seen Lin Yan as an ambitious youth.
The second time they met, Lin Yan had already mastered the Thunder Sound Technique and was selecting the Flowing Cloud Thirteen Techniques.
At that point, in his eyes, Lin Yan was no longer just ambitious, but also a youth with great potential.
The third time he saw Lin Yan was when the young man broke through to the Blood Exchange Realm.
Then came the fourth time, and the fifth.
Time and again, Lin Yan shattered his expectations, culminating in him taking first place in the New Star Competition and making a name for himself throughout the entire Lin Family.
It wasn’t just the younger generation; many of the elders had now also heard of Lin Yan.
Before, any elders who had heard of Lin Yan only knew him because they had learned that Xiaojiu had taken him as an apprentice.
Any mention of Lin Yan would always be followed by the words, "Shouyuan’s new apprentice."
But from this day forward, Lin Yan’s name would be known for his own talent and power, not because of his connection to Xiaojiu.
Lin Yan gave a reserved smile. This was a difficult comment to respond to. ’If I act all humble,’ he thought, ’won’t that just be a slap in the face to Lin Mingqi and the others from the Lin Family who lost to me?’
"Are you here to choose a Cultivation Technique this time?"
"I’d like to go to the Ancestral Land."
Hearing Lin Yan’s reply, Lin Qinghe was taken aback for a moment before breaking into a smile. "First place in the New Star Competition does indeed come with one opportunity to enter the Ancestral Land. But are you sure you want to go in now? Why not wait until the Grand Tournament is over, or until your Realm has improved a little?"
When entering the Ancestral Land to absorb the Cold Gang, the higher one’s Realm, the longer they can withstand it, and the more Cold Gang they can absorb.
Although the effect doesn’t compare to the Cold Dew, a single wisp of Cold Gang is equivalent to half a Bodhi Pill.
"I have to go in sooner or later anyway."
According to the rules, the winner of the New Star Competition must use their entry within three months at the latest.
Lin Qinghe thought for a moment and decided not to press the issue. ’That’s true... in three months, even if his Realm did improve, by how much?’
Since Lin Yan had already made up his mind, he wouldn’t try to dissuade him.
"Come with me."
Lin Qinghe led Lin Yan to the courtyard behind the counter, bringing him to the same underground plaza where he had broken through to the Blood Exchange Realm.
This time, however, Lin Qinghe didn’t stop in the plaza. He led Lin Yan straight across it and toward a corridor at the far end.
The corridor contained another downward staircase, this one narrower than the last. After descending less than a hundred feet, Lin Yan felt the same chill he had experienced in the stone chamber.
The chill here came from the same source as the one in the stone chamber where he’d had his Blood Exchange breakthrough.
After descending another thousand feet, a stone door appeared ahead.
Lin Qinghe stopped before the door, drew a Jade Token from within his robes, and pressed it into a recess in the wall beside the entryway.
The stone door slid silently apart, and a far more intense chill billowed out from within. Before he even had a chance to activate his Blood Gang, Lin Yan felt his Qi Blood momentarily freeze in his veins.
"Go on in." Lin Qinghe stepped aside to let him pass. "There’s a stone platform inside. Just sit on it and focus on absorbing the Cold Gang. You’ll see another stone door, but you can’t enter it without a key. Do not attempt to open it. The clan rules strictly forbid anyone from setting foot in there."
His tone grew much sterner as he spoke the last words.
Lin Yan nodded, stepped across the threshold, and the stone door slowly slid shut behind him.
He found himself in a small stone chamber, only a few yards square. The walls were rough and unpolished, still bearing the primitive marks from their excavation. At the far end of the chamber stood another stone door.
Lin Yan gave this second door a single glance before looking away.
’Although I’m curious about what’s behind it, I’m not about to break the clan rules.’
In the center of the chamber was a stone platform about waist-high. Its surface was smooth, as if worn down by countless people sitting and lying on it over time.
Lin Yan walked toward the platform. He could perceive an invisible, faint power flowing slowly throughout the chamber. It wasn’t wind or an air current, but something he had never encountered before.
’So this is the Cold Gang?’
Reaching the stone platform, Lin Yan reached out to touch it but felt nothing unusual. The moment he sat down, however, a bone-piercing chill assaulted him, sending an involuntary shiver through his entire body.
HSSS!
Without a moment’s hesitation, Lin Yan immediately activated his Blood Gang. Only when layers of it shielded his body did the intense chill begin to weaken.
Lin Yan closed his eyes and pushed his Perception to its absolute limit. He could almost hear an incredibly faint sound, like water surging beneath a sheet of ice—barely audible, flowing right below the stone platform.
’It seems the cold current is right under this platform. The special energy flowing through the chamber—the Cold Gang—must be seeping through the stone.’
The platform was perfectly smooth, without any cracks. ’Logically, it should be nearly impossible for the Cold Gang to permeate it,’ he thought, ’but I’m not here to study geology. I’m here to absorb it.’
Taking a deep breath, Lin Yan focused his consciousness inward and began to circulate the complete version of the Eight Desolates Dragon Elephant Technique.
As the Eight Desolates Dragon Elephant Technique began to cycle, the Cold Gang flowing through the chamber was drawn slowly toward him. Following his breath, seeping through his pores, and tracing the flow of Qi Blood in his meridians, it infiltrated his body wisp by wisp, like an invisible stream silently merging with his own Qi Blood.
Within his Dantian, the globule of golden blood also began to change as the Cold Gang entered his system.
As if injected with a catalyst, the globule of blood began to compress at a rate visible to the naked eye.

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