Chapter 58: Forming an Alliance

  "Ah, Lin Shidi, I am Li Minghao!" The elderly Mr. Li revealed a seemingly warm smile as soon as he saw Lin Tianyang and began to introduce himself.

  Lin Tianyang saw his smile and immediately raised a sense of vigilance in his heart. This old man was obviously the kind of person who was cunning and deceitful, and it was unlikely that he would come to him for anything good. However, since he had put on a smiling face, Lin Tianyang couldn't be too cold towards him either, so he politely clasped his fists together and said: "So it's Brother Li, I don't know what brings you to find me?"

  Li Minghao chuckled and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "Does my junior brother have confidence in this trip to the Tianlan Realm?"

  Lin Tianyang saw him open his mouth to ask this, and replied indifferently: "What do you mean by that, Brother Li? If you're saying we should get ten Scarlet Sun Fruits, I really don't have any confidence in that!"

  As soon as Lin Tianyang said this, Li Minghao felt a mix of emotions and said: "Junior brother is only at the initial stage of cultivation, yet he's thinking of getting ten Scarlet Sun Fruits. Is junior brother intentionally teasing me or does he really not know how perilous this trip to the Heavenly Ridge is?"

  "What brings you here, Brother Li?" Lin Tianyang asked with an expressionless face.

  Li Minghao didn't know Lin Tianyang's true intentions, but after some thought, he said: "I see that my junior brother is alone and his cultivation is weak, so I was thinking of forming a temporary alliance with him to get through this difficult journey in the Tianlan realm together. What do you think, junior brother?"

  "Li Shixiong, Lin Shidi has already formed an alliance with us, I think you should look for someone else!" Just as he finished speaking, Qu Xuan arrived behind him.

  Li Minghao saw Qu Xuan arrive, accompanied by two other cultivators, including a late-stage cultivator. Realizing his efforts were in vain, he immediately put on a smile and said: "So Lin Shidi has already formed an alliance with the three of you? In that case, I won't stay any longer!"

  Watching him leave, Qu Xuan said with some disdain: "This guy surnamed Li actually wants to invite Lin Shidi, I think he must not know what happened to Lin Shidi on the Life and Death Platform back then!"

  Lin Tianyang just smiled slightly and immediately invited Qu Xuan and others to come in, then closed the door.

  "After the door closed, Qu Xuan immediately introduced to Lin Tianyang: 'Lin Shidi, let me introduce you, this is Lin Hongyu Lin Xianzi, and this is Han Hao Han Shidi!'"

  Lin Tianyang's gaze swept over Qu Xuan's introduction of the two, among whom was a woman with the same surname Lin as himself, a palace-dressed beauty who looked to be around thirty-five or thirty-six years old. Of course, she only appeared to be thirty-five or thirty-six on the surface, and her actual age, Lin Tianyang estimated, was probably over a hundred years old. After all, she already had the strength of the late foundation-building stage.

  Another was a pale-faced, slightly frail-looking man whose cultivation base was also in the middle of the foundation-building stage. He seemed to be called "Shidi" by Qu Xuan, and appeared to have started building his foundation later than Qu Xuan.

  "Master Lin, Master Han, Lin Tianyang greets you!" Lin Tianyang made a bow with his fists.

  The two of them were now sizing Lin Tianyang up and down, Lin Hongyu didn't say anything, but Han Hao slightly furrowed his brow and said to Qu Xuan: "Qu Shixiong, as I said earlier, after entering the Tianlan realm, we will only take action to protect this Lin Shidi under the premise that we can ensure our own safety!"

  Qu Xuan heard Han Hao say this and smiled calmly: "Of course!"

  "Since that's the case, then it's settled. We'll all act together at that time. Lin sister, what do you think?" Han Hao asked Lin Hongyu.

  Lin Hongyu nodded and said, "Qu Shidi, don't blame us for being unscrupulous first and then becoming gentlemen. After all, who knows what we'll encounter after entering the Tianlan realm? Even I'm not fully confident that I can come out alive!"

  Qu Xuan heard this and smiled seemingly pleased: "To have Lin Xianzi say such a thing, Shidi is already infinitely grateful. Whether or not we can come out alive depends entirely on our luck!"

  Hearing Qu Xuan had no objection, the two of them exchanged a glance and left without hesitation, not even asking Lin Tianyang's opinion.

  Lin Tianyang knew that as an initial cultivator, he probably didn't have any status in their eyes. However, Lin Tianyang wasn't concerned about it either. After they left and closed the door, he asked, "Qu Shixiong, what's going on?"

  Qu Xuan sat down on the couch with a big swing, stroked his beard and said: "Since I knew I was named to participate in this Tianlan border trip, I have been looking for allies. Today, seeing that my junior brother is still participating in this trip, I can only ask them for help!"

  "I see that they both seem a bit reluctant, it seems that Shixiong should have paid out something?" Lin Tianyang thought for a moment before asking.

  Qu Xuan didn't know whether to nod or shake his head, and after a slight movement of his brain, he said: "I haven't paid anything, and I don't have anything on me that can make them move. It's just that we agreed to take only one share each in the Tianlan realm. So it doesn't count as any payment! In fact, even if I really gave them benefits, I wouldn't be sure they would help us wholeheartedly, so it's better this way."

  Lin Tianyang knew that Qu Xuan was telling the truth. If he really trusted those two, he wouldn't have come to Luoyin Valley alone. It seemed that cooperating with them was also a helpless move for Qu Xuan. Even he had chosen this path, which showed just how perilous this journey to Tianlan Territory was.

  Lin Tianyang had repositioned his journey to the Tianlan Realm, as he had just dissipated his powers a few months ago. Now, every moment was spent grasping for an increase in his magical powers, without even sparing a glance at the scenery outside.

  Although Liuyang State is adjacent to Leiyin State, it takes more than 200,000 miles from Leiyin Sect to Liuyang Sect. The flying boat travels 3,000 miles a day and took nearly three months to arrive at Liuyang Mountain where Liuyang Sect is located.

  Although Lieyang Sect has declined, it was also a major sect with Transcendent cultivators 100 years ago. The flying boat of Leiyang Sect arrived at the mountain gate and did not allow it to fly directly into the mountain gate. After some negotiations, everyone got off the flying boat.

  This time in the Tianlan border, the sect sent a total of sixty cultivators. After landing from the flying boat, Lin Tianyang found that most of the sixty foundation-building cultivators had formed small groups of three to five people, with the largest group having seven or eight people. There were at least five or six groups like Lin Tianyang's, which consisted of three or four people. Even Li Minghao managed to gather two cultivators together, one of whom was also a foundation-building cultivator in the early stages. Lin Tianyang estimated that his chances of leaving the Tianlan border alive were less than 1%.

  When He Xingzhi put away the giant flying boat, the cultivators of Lieyang Sect activated the array disk and opened a gap in the mountain protection array. Under the leadership of a Golden Elixir cultivator, He Xingzi gave an order, and everyone drove their Escape Lights to follow the Golden Elixir cultivator of Lieyang Sect and flew in.

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