Chapter 17

"Your problem lies with these two rings."

Lin Feng smiled faintly and lightly tapped the two rings hanging on Xiao Yan's chest.

Xiao Yan's expression turned cold: "Does this senior also believe that these two rings of mine are cursed?"

Lin Feng ignored Xiao Yan's change in expression and said calmly, "Ordinary people think curses are intangible and absurd, but they don't know that the power of curses is real."

Seeing Xiao Yan's increasingly poor expression, Lin Feng smiled and suddenly changed his tone: "But these two rings of yours have nothing to do with curses. It would be more accurate to say that the great changes in you are due to human actions."

"Human actions?" Xiao Yan was slightly bewildered, and then his expression turned extremely gloomy: "Senior, are you saying that someone deliberately harmed me? My parents definitely wouldn't... So, are you saying that even my parents' deaths are related to the person who harmed me?"

Lin Feng secretly gave a big thumbs up in his heart: "Good kid, good association, promising!"

He waved his hand and looked at Xiao Yan with a calm expression: "Whether your parents' deaths are related to these rings, I can't make a definitive statement now, but the great changes in you are the result of these two rings."

"In the rings, there are lingering spirits that continuously absorb your magical power to strengthen themselves," Lin Feng said slowly, his tone calm but heavy like a mountain on Xiao Yan's heart: "This is why your cultivation regressed three years ago. In the following three years, although you worked hard to cultivate, you made no progress. This is the root of the problem."

"Because the magical power you gained from your hard cultivation all became nourishment for the spirits!"

Xiao Yan looked down at the rings on his chest, his expression gradually turning from bewilderment to hatred.

Seeing his change in expression, Lin Feng felt relieved and secretly smiled.

"This is called striking first!"

By putting you in the position of the antagonist first, how can you still compete with me?

You thought you had the advantage, acting high and mighty, waiting for Xiao Yan to come to you? Now you're speechless, right?

Lin Feng felt smug. He wasn't wronging anyone. The old man in the ring might have made Xiao Yan soar, but the fall from the clouds to the valley was also mostly due to them.

If Lin Feng hadn't joined, they could have deceived Xiao Yan and made up for it with a large amount of cultivation techniques and elixirs. But now, Lin Feng struck first, leaving them no chance to make amends. The relationship between them and Xiao Yan would only be filled with enmity.

While feeling smug, Lin Feng was also on guard. He might have to face off with the old man in the ring soon.

Lin Feng looked up at the sky. The weather in summer is like a child's face, changing in an instant. It was sunny just a moment ago, but now it was overcast with thunder rumbling.

Lin Feng felt a bit relieved: "It's good that the weather has changed. Otherwise, the Nine Heavens Thunder Summoning wouldn't have been able to exert its true power. Now, I have enough cards to play with you."

Reduced to just a wisp of a soul, living in a ring waiting to be a grandfather, no matter how powerful or strong the old man was in the past, he was now in an extremely weak state.

With the wind blowing and the war drums beating, who's afraid of whom?

Just as Xiao Yan was gritting his teeth and grabbing the rings on his chest, a gentle sigh echoed in his and Lin Feng's ears.

"If it weren't for your offerings, I wouldn't know how long I would have to sleep."

Xiao Yan stared blankly at the ring in his hand. A white light mist rose from the ring, gradually forming a human figure in the air, becoming clearer and clearer until it was vivid and lifelike.

Lin Feng also stared blankly at the figure, to be precise, he had been in a daze since the figure spoke.

Because it was clearly a woman's voice!

... Not a grandfather, but a grandmother?

Lin Feng's mind was a bit confused. It would be impolite to call her a grandmother.

She was an extremely beautiful woman, wearing a light green robe that fluttered in the wind, exuding an indescribable grace. She looked down at the clear stream, calm and composed.

The woman's eyes flickered, looking at Xiao Yan for a moment before focusing more on Lin Feng.

Looking at her, a passage from "The Rhapsody on the Luo River Goddess" that Lin Feng had read in his past life suddenly came to mind: "Her form, graceful as a startled swan, gentle as a meandering dragon, radiant as the autumn chrysanthemum, flourishing as the spring pine. She seems like a light cloud veiling the moon, like a flowing wind swirling the snow."

"Was this how Cao Zhi felt when he first saw the Luo River Goddess?" Lin Feng's mind wandered, but he sounded the highest-level alarm in his heart.

The beauty of the woman in the green robe surpassed Murong Yanran in composure and Xiao Zhen'er in maturity. Among all the women Lin Feng had seen in his life, only the peach tree spirit Long Ye could be compared to her.

Long Ye and her were like spring orchids and autumn chrysanthemums, each with their own charm.

But just like when he faced Long Ye, Lin Feng felt no passion at all when facing such a beautiful woman, only a slight chill. The danger level of this woman was definitely on par with Long Ye.

Perhaps growing up with Xiao Zhen'er had honed Xiao Yan's discernment. At this moment, Xiao Yan had no thoughts of admiration or praise, only a hostile look as he stared at the woman in the green robe.

"Offerings?" Xiao Yan's tone was icy: "The changes in my body, were they really caused by you?"

The woman in the green robe sighed: "Mingyue was also forced, please don't blame me, young friend."

"I don't blame you... I blame the hell out of you!" Xiao Yan could no longer hold back, tearing the string around his neck and throwing the ring with the woman's figure out.

The ring strangely stopped in mid-air, floating silently, and the projected figure wobbled slightly before stabilizing again.

The woman in the green robe sighed: "I understand your anger, young friend, but please note that the other ring you are wearing is actually the root of your troubles over the past three years."

She then looked at Lin Feng: "This fellow cultivator has keen eyes. Xiao Yan's hard-earned magical power over the past three years has indeed been absorbed by me, for which I deeply apologize."

"But the incident three years ago, when Xiao Yan fell from the peak of the Qi Condensation stage to the first level, has nothing to do with me."

Xiao Yan's expression was grim. He looked at the woman in the green robe, then at Lin Feng, and finally at the second ring in his hand.

Lin Feng's expression was calm, as if he had everything under control, but his true thoughts were not visible from his expression.

But in fact, Lin Feng's sense of crisis was growing.

This woman was not someone to be underestimated. In just a few words, she had deflected most of the blame and taken control of the conversation, making Xiao Yan follow her rhythm.

The woman in the green robe looked calmly at Lin Feng and Xiao Yan: "In the other ring, there is the remnant soul of a Taotie, an ancient fierce beast!"

"Taotie?" Xiao Yan was startled. According to legend, Taotie was one of the four great fierce beasts of ancient times, along with Chaos, Qiongqi, and Taowu, known as the king of fierce beasts.

Taotie was greedy, devouring everything, and at its peak, it could even devour the sky and the earth, destroying all life.

Even a great cultivator at the Yuan Shen stage would find it troublesome to face such a fierce beast. Any attack against Taotie would be swallowed by its large mouth, making it extremely difficult to deal with.

Lin Feng also frowned and looked at the second ring on Xiao Yan's hand.

The woman in the green robe continued: "Ten years ago, I was severely injured and had to寄托 my soul in this ring. I remained in a deep sleep until three years ago when I discovered that the Taotie had devoured all your magical power and even your life force."

"I used the Heavenly Cage Curse Seal to seal the remnant soul of the Taotie, but my own soul suffered great damage and had to fall into a deep sleep again." The woman in the green robe looked apologetic: "During this second deep sleep, to repair my soul, I unconsciously absorbed the new magical power you gained from cultivation, causing you trouble. Please forgive me, young friend."

Although Xiao Yan still looked suspicious, his expression had clearly eased.

Lin Feng's expression remained unchanged, but his heart sank deeper.

Especially after he reviewed the exchange system and found the Heavenly Cage Curse Seal, his heart sank to the bottom after reading its description.

The Heavenly Cage Curse Seal is a spell that uses one's own magical power to create a cage to seal another's magical power, with enhanced effects against soul targets.

Note: This is the exclusive secret technique of the Supreme Void Temple, the leading sect among the three great holy places in the Tianyuan Great World's cultivation realm!

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