# Chapter 1996: Lin Divine Gathering (Part 1)
Yun Che, who had turned back, unsurprisingly encountered Helian Lingzhu, who was anxiously searching for him.
"Young Master Yun Che!"
Helian Lingzhu's voice came from afar as she hurried to meet him, her face full of joy.
But beneath that joy, there was a faint, not-yet-fully-dispersed mist in her beautiful eyes.
"I thought... I thought you had quietly left." She stood close to Yun Che, then deliberately kept a less intimate distance.
"Leave? How could that be." Yun Che showed surprise, then smiled: "The Eldest Princess is my lifesaver. How could I break my promise to you?"
"You're in such a hurry... Did something happen?" Yun Che asked knowingly.
That one sentence turned Helian Lingzhu's joy into panic. She instinctively reached out to grab Yun Che's sleeve: "Father... Father is on the verge of death! His heart meridian is severely damaged... even the Grand Ancestor cannot help!"
"You said before that you had a way! I know... I know Father didn't believe you before and treated you poorly, but... but now only you can save him! Young Master Yun Che... I beg you... please save him."
She was momentarily incoherent, at a loss. But after what had happened before, even though the royal clan's Guardian Grand Ancestor was helpless, she still had an inexplicable trust in Yun Che.
A gentle wave of profound energy soothed Helian Lingzhu's emotions: "Alright, I'll go take a look."
...
Helian Imperial Palace.
Helian Jue's face was as pale as paper, making the blood beads continuously seeping from his seven orifices even more glaring.
With his cultivation at the Half-step Divine Destruction Realm, he was now barely hanging on by a thread.
Tortured for several days by the chaotic demigod profound energy in his heart meridian, Helian Jue had gone from desperately suppressing it to gradually becoming afraid to suppress it. Now, he could barely circulate any profound energy at all, lest it make the demon rampaging in his heart meridian even more frenzied.
When Yun Che arrived, the hall was packed with moving figures.
Princes and princesses knelt everywhere, and the strongest auras within the imperial city were mostly gathered here.
It was a scene fit for seeing off an emperor.
Yun Che also immediately spotted the people he had seen when he first arrived here: the masters of Helian Lingzhu and Mo Cangying, the Helian Heavenly Mansion's Master, Ku Xian.
"Father! You must hold on! The Grand Ancestor will surely find a way... Father!"
Crown Prince Helian Linglang knelt on the ground, wailing in grief. Anyone who didn't know better would think the Helian Nation Lord was already dead.
Mo Cangying's brows were deeply furrowed. If it weren't for the fact that Helian Linglang was the Crown Prince, he would have wanted to do what Yun Che had done that day and stomp his head hard into the floor.
He had long been utterly disappointed in the Helian Imperial Clan.
As the most outstanding figure of this generation in the Helian Heavenly Mansion, he had undoubtedly received olive branches from the three great sects: the Rock Mystery Sect, the Ten Thousand Ren Sect, and the Burning Sand Sect. But the reason he had always remained loyal to Helian was twofold: the grace of his master, and Helian Lingzhu.
But now...
His gaze turned outside the hall, where Helian Lingzhu, who had been gone for several hours, finally hurried back.
The length of her absence made it impossible for him not to be troubled.
"Father, I'm back."
Ignoring the fact that even more people had crowded the hall, Helian Lingzhu rushed to Helian Jue's side.
Helian Jue turned his neck. When he caught sight of Yun Che following unhurriedly behind Helian Lingzhu, his dim eyes struggled with a strange glint.
After being tortured to the brink of true despair, with all hope lost, he would undoubtedly think of the one person who had said they had a way to save him.
He had angrily refused back then.
But now, having witnessed Yun Che's extraordinary nature with his own eyes, those "absurd words" he had once dismissed became his only hope in his desperate situation.
"Father, Young Master Yun Che is here. He will surely find a way to save you." Helian Lingzhu's heart was full of panic, but also carried a few points of inexplicable trust.
Helian Linglang turned to look at the person behind Helian Lingzhu: "He... is this so-called 'extraordinary person'?"
Yun Che completely ignored his existence, stepped forward, and stood beside Helian Lingzhu. His spiritual sense lightly swept over Helian Jue... Hmm, the situation was about as he had expected. It hadn't been a waste of his saliva that day.
"Save... me..." Helian Jue's voice came out, weak and filled with bone-deep pain.
That trembling groan from Helian Jue immediately changed the way everyone looked at Yun Che.
Even the Guardian Grand Ancestor had no way, yet he was begging... this young man at the Divine Sovereign Realm?
Yun Che said: "Aside from the Eldest Princess, Brother Mo, and Master Ku Xian, everyone else, withdraw."
Ku Xian looked at him in surprise.
This command left everyone stunned. Helian Linglang stood up directly, his face full of authority: "What wild brat are you? When did the Helian Imperial Clan become something you can order around?"
"Withdraw!" Helian Jue spoke with difficulty, his voice hoarse but still carrying imperial authority.
Helian Linglang turned in shock: "Father, even the Grand Ancestor has no solution for now. How could a mere Divine Sovereign possibly have a way? This is clearly a sca—"
"Are you... treating me as if I'm already dead!" Helian Jue, suffering torment at death's door every moment, roared from his throat: "Get out!"
"All of you... get out!"
Helian Lingzhu quickly spoke: "Father has commanded, all withdraw. Mas... Master Ku Xian and Ninth Senior Brother, stay."
The "extras" quickly withdrew, and the imperial hall quieted down.
An aura as vast as the heavens briefly lingered on Yun Che, powerful yet with some instability.
So that's the Guardian Grand Ancestor? Yun Che remained unmoved, merely looking calmly at Helian Jue.
"Young man, can you really save the Nation Lord?" Ku Xian spoke, his voice flat. Though full of doubt, there was no contempt.
These days, he had learned in detail from Helian Lingzhu and Mo Cangying about what had happened that day, and he was deeply amazed and curious about Yun Che... as well as various speculations about his background.
Yun Che said: "My cultivation is low, so naturally I cannot interfere with profound energy at the demigod level. But from a medical perspective, I do have a method."
"Medical perspective?" Ku Xian frowned. He was also skilled in medicine. The injury Helian Jue had suffered involved the life meridian, which was simply beyond the scope of medical reasoning.
"Common knowledge holds that an injury to the life meridian is permanent. Therefore, once the life meridian is involved, no one dares to act rashly. But in truth, the life meridian can be divided into seventy-two apertures. Among them, seventeen can be broken without being crippled, and they do not cause the life force to dissipate too quickly. With sufficient cultivation, they can even slowly recover on their own."
"Since the entangled profound energy cannot be forcibly resolved, we simply break open the gaps and use sufficient external force to guide it out."
Yun Che's words were plain and calm, but to Ku Xian, who understood medicine, they sounded like pure fantasy.
Destroying someone's life meridian was equivalent to taking their life. He had never heard of such "medical reasoning." Regardless of this person's background, no matter how deep his medical knowledge, in terms of experience, he could never surpass that of an old man nearing his grave.
Even if everything he said was true... how could one precisely break those seventeen apertures?
This was the life meridian. One slight mistake would cause the life force to dissipate, leading to death.
"This? How is that possible to achieve?" Ku Xian frowned deeply, unable to convince himself to believe.
Yun Che made no further explanation, his gaze fixed on Helian Jue: "Helian Nation Lord, I told you the method that day. I need to open seventeen wounds on your life meridian. Whether you want to try or not is entirely up to you."
Helian Jue's pupils dilated, his throat moved, but a voice without hesitation came out: "Try... try quickly."
Because he already had one foot in the gates of death. Even if the other party was just spouting nonsense, there could be no worse outcome.
"Good." Yun Che lowered his brows. "However, you didn't believe me first and expelled me later. It seems I have no reason to save you for free."
Ku Xian gave Yun Che a deep look, surprise in his eyes.
Though he had heard of it, this young man, facing the Nation Lord, was truly not intimidated by any imperial authority, but instead showed an attitude that put him on equal footing.
Helian Jue's lips moved again, and he spoke with difficulty: "If you can save me... I will grant... whatever you ask."
Yun Che half-smiled. He turned sideways, his gaze shifting to Helian Lingzhu: "My conditions are simple."
"At the Lin Divine Gathering twenty days from now, I hope that the Helian Imperial Clan's side will be led and directed by the Eldest Princess. As for the Nation Lord, you may remain in the imperial city to rest and recuperate. What do you say?"
This "condition" left everyone stunned.
Helian Lingzhu's lips parted slightly, while Mo Cangying's expression was extremely complex.
His request did not involve himself in the slightest, but instead was about... establishing the Eldest Princess's authority and creating momentum for her?
After all, in the past, such a major event would have required the Helian Nation Lord to be present in person. If this time, Helian Lingzhu led the group, wouldn't that be signaling... that the future successor to the Nation Lord's position would be Helian Lingzhu, not Crown Prince Helian Linglang.
"Young Master Yun Che, I..." Helian Lingzhu was clearly at a loss.
"I... agree."
To Helian Jue at this moment, no matter how outrageous a request Yun Che made, he would not refuse. After all, his life was on the line... especially such a simple request.
With the addition of the Worship Qilin Sect to this Lin Divine Gathering, if they were to lose the qualification to enter the Lin Divine Realm, the imperial clan would become a laughingstock and lose all face... He would be more than happy not to go.
"Very good." Yun Che nodded, a strange light flashing in his eyes.
With the Helian Imperial Clan side led by Helian Lingzhu, it would be equivalent to him controlling the situation.
After all, by now, Helian Lingzhu was quite obedient to him.
This way, whatever he wanted to do would be much more convenient, and he could prevent unexpected events to the greatest extent.
"Master Ku Xian, when the energy spills out, I'll trouble you to guide it."
Having said that, without waiting for Ku Xian to respond, he pointed his right hand and directly landed it on Helian Jue's heart meridian.
Bang!
Helian Jue's chest split open, blood droplets flying... And in an instant, the demigod aura belonging to Mo Beichen suddenly became dozens of times clearer, releasing a terrifying pressure that made everyone's hearts lurch.
Ku Xian's voice that was about to come out got stuck in his throat. His aged face showed extreme shock.
His withered hands also pushed out at that moment at extreme speed, a mass of powerful yet gentle profound energy dispersing into thousands of streams, enveloping Helian Jue's heart.
Boom!
Boom!!!
Strands of chaotic demigod profound energy burst forth, blasting through the top of the imperial hall and shooting straight into the sky.
Carrying a hatred that... seemed forever unwilling to dissipate.
...
The time for the Lin Divine Realm's opening arrived in an instant.
The days in between had been calm, with no one troubling Yun Che.
Because the Worship Qilin Sect had exhausted all their efforts but could not find even a shred of information about Yun Che.
It was as if he had suddenly descended from the heavens into the Linyuan Realm.
This extreme strangeness, coupled with the Lin Divine Gathering ahead, made the Worship Qilin Sect wisely decide not to seek revenge on Yun Che for the time being.
On this day, countless profound practitioners and sects of all sizes within the Linyuan Realm converged toward its center.
The Helian Imperial Clan's side was led by Helian Lingzhu, with Ku Xian at her side, bringing the most outstanding young profound practitioners of this generation. They stepped onto a mysterious ark and flew toward the location of the Lin Divine Realm.
As they drew closer, Yun Che could almost faintly sense the stirring from his Evil God's Mysterious Vein.
No mistake... Yun Che murmured in his heart: What awaits ahead is the complete Evil God's Mysterious Vein.
And it will also be his...
true beginning in the Abyss!
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[Insomnia, dazed. Don't know what I wrote in this chapter. Hope to recover tomorrow.]