Returning to the Outer Academy, the Royal Family's Unease, Burying Nangong Yin

“Buzz!”

Accompanied by a subtle spatial ripple, Ye Lin's figure reappeared inside his new cave dwelling in the Inner Academy.

Although he had been in closed-door cultivation inside the Desolate Ancient Dao Pagoda for over twenty days, only a little over fifteen minutes had passed in the real world.

It was still the very same day he had defeated Xiao Chen and entered the Inner Academy, except it was now afternoon.

“Vengeance is best served without delay. I'll go take out Nangong Yin first and make him a member of the Reincarnation Legion.”

Muttering to himself, Ye Lin immediately left his cave dwelling.

Flying out of Xuanqing Island on his sword, he once again arrived before the teleportation formation at the foot of the giant peak.

This teleportation formation was for public use, with the academy maintaining the teleportation spirit stones and other necessities.

As the formation vibrated slightly, it wasn't long before he returned from the Inner Academy—which was situated in some unknown blessed land—back to the Outer Academy in Tianqi City.

With Xiao Chen's guidance, he easily found Nangong Yin's cave dwelling.

It was a spacious, independent palace with beautiful scenery and dense spiritual Qi, with handyman disciples guarding the entrance.

Seeing Ye Lin walking straight toward them, the two handymen initially wanted to act like dogs relying on their master's power, shouting, “How bold! This is Deacon Nangong's cave dwelling. Intruders shall die!” Furthermore, if they were to pass on a message, they would usually demand some benefits first.

But when they saw the Inner Academy disciple token Ye Lin produced, the two handymen were instantly scared out of their wits.

Academy disciples were divided into handyman disciples, Outer Academy ordinary disciples, and Inner Academy elite disciples.

Handyman disciples were basically those who had no Spiritual Roots or whose Spiritual Roots were so thin they were practically nonexistent. To pursue cultivation, they could only come to the academy to do the hardest and most tiring work in exchange for cultivation resources and methods.

By virtue of Nangong Yin's status as a Deacon, these two handymen had previously dared to look down on ordinary Outer Academy disciples, even demanding tips just to announce someone's arrival.

But Inner Academy disciples were completely different. An Inner Academy disciple would face no punishment whatsoever for beating a handyman disciple to death, and even killing a few Outer Academy disciples wouldn't cause them any trouble.

Back during the freshman trial, Xiao Yue had been arrogant enough to directly kill several freshmen without receiving any punishment, precisely because he was an Inner Academy disciple.

Therefore, the moment they saw Ye Lin take out his Inner Academy disciple token, the two handyman disciples became incredibly respectful.

“We pay our respects to Senior Brother of the Inner Academy. May we ask what brings Senior Brother here?” the two handyman disciples asked cautiously while bowing to Ye Lin.

“Deacon Nangong and I are old acquaintances. I have urgent business with him. Open the cave dwelling's formation immediately,” Ye Lin said expressionlessly, looking at the two handymen.

He was indeed telling the truth. He had seen Nangong Yin once from afar, so they could naturally be considered old acquaintances.

And coming to guide Nangong Yin into reincarnation was, of course, also an urgent matter.

“Yes... Yes, Senior Brother, please come in.”

The two handymen were already intimidated by Ye Lin's identity and aura, so they didn't doubt the truth of his words. They immediately used their tokens to open the palace's protective formation.

Seeing the formation open, Ye Lin headed straight for the main hall ahead.

Meanwhile, in a secret room of the luxurious palace, Nangong Yin was using a transmission stone to speak with Noble Consort Ji Yu.

“Useless trash! I told you to find an opportunity to stick the Death Curse Talisman on that little beast while he was still an Outer Academy disciple!”

“Now that the little beast has already become an Inner Academy disciple and you still haven't completed the task, is your Golden Core Stage cultivation completely useless?”

In the imperial palace, Ji Yu was so furious she was practically smoking from her ears upon hearing Nangong Yin's report of his failure.

Strictly speaking, the death of her son, Nangong Yun—the Second Prince—had absolutely nothing to do with Ye Lin.

It was clearly the Second Prince who had courted death by capturing geniuses to serve as blood food for the evil spirits, which led to him accidentally killing Qi Changqing from the Sacred Domain.

Although Qi Changqing was eventually resurrected due to his cheats, Qi Changqing's older sister, Qi Feiyan, had still cut down the culprit with a single strike of her sword.

Not only that, but because of this incident, a Nascent Soul True Monarch of the imperial family had fallen, quite a few Golden Core experts had died, and they were ultimately forced to compensate a massive amount of cultivation resources.

This matter should have ended there. After all, the mastermind Nangong Yun was dead, and Qi Feiyan's background was far too immense, leaving the imperial family with no choice but to suffer in silence.

However, having suffered such a massive loss, the imperial family had to find an outlet—or rather, a scapegoat—to preserve the royal family's prestige.

Thus, tracing back to the root of everything, Ye Lin, who had killed an evil spirit in Great Desolation Village back then, became the scapegoat.

Initially, the imperial family didn't think much of dealing with such a minor figure.

They only needed to send any expert to kill Ye Lin, and their royal family would have a fig leaf to maintain their dignity.

But who could have expected that this seemingly ordinary Ye Lin would become increasingly defiant of heaven?

First, he won first place in the freshman trial, and then his cultivation skyrocketed. With a Qi Condensation Stage cultivation, he killed the Chu family's eldest daughter, Chu Yu'er, as well as her Foundation Establishment Stage Dao protector. He had even gained the protection of Xiao Jintian, a man of great background from the Demon Suppressing Division.

Finally, he had risen to fame in recent days, breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, consecutively slaying five Golden Core evil Venerables, wiping out all the evil spirits in Zhenhai City, completing the three most difficult hell-grade missions of the Tianyuan Demon Suppressing Division, and becoming an Inner Academy disciple.

All of this had happened in just over a month. If it had been a genius with an immense background, such feats might be shocking but still acceptable.

Yet the imperial family had repeatedly conducted detailed investigations into Ye Lin's background. No matter how they searched, this kid was just a minor villager from a place called Great Desolation Village. Furthermore, he possessed a mid-grade seven-attribute mixed Spiritual Root—the kind that would make it difficult to achieve much in this lifetime.

But it was precisely this ordinary little ant, whom they had previously thought they could crush with a single foot, whose current growth rate made them increasingly unable to eat or sleep in peace.

Thus, even before the one-month period Xiao Jintian had mentioned was up, Ji Yu and the other imperial experts could no longer sit still. They didn't dare to act openly, so they could only resort to underhanded means in the shadows.

And the Death Curse Talisman was the tool they had prepared to secretly doom Ye Lin to death.

Unfortunately, while the plan was great, Nangong Yin, who was tasked with executing it, was a coward. Despite being a grand Golden Core Stage cultivator, he didn't dare to offend Ye Lin face-to-face.

Listening to the hysterical roaring from the transmission stone, Nangong Yin could only curl his lips.

“I don't care what method you use, that Death Curse Talisman must be placed on that little beast Ye Lin's body.”

“Otherwise, I will reclaim all the investments I've made in you over the years, including your status and cultivation, and make your life worse than death.”

“Remember, I am only giving you three days.”

After a furious tirade, Ji Yu in the palace cut off the transmission.

“Go to hell! Ye Lin is currently like a dragon crossing a river—whoever touches him dies. If you're so capable, why don't you face him yourself?”

After Ji Yu cut off the transmission, Nangong Yin slumped onto the ground in dejection.

He didn't dare to confront Ye Lin directly, nor did he dare to disobey Noble Consort Ji Yu's orders. For a moment, he was caught in a true dilemma.

“Why torment yourself so? Enter my reincarnation, and all your worries will surely be wiped away.”

At this moment, a calm voice suddenly rang out from behind him.