Chapter 25: Victory, Official Explanation
Forced to use Thunder Dragon Claw again, Yu Tianlin could not help but smile.
This was already the fourth time. Tianqing's Spirit Power had to be close to running dry, which meant victory was right in front of him.
Even so, Yu Tianlin did not relax for a second. He was a grown man with a mature soul, and in his previous life he had seen too many people get careless at the edge of victory, only to be overturned at the last moment.
With that in mind, he did not stop. His pale yellow Spirit Rings lit up again, and he quickly condensed two more lightning balls, sending them straight at Yu Tianqing.
Yu Tianqing stared blankly as the two lightning balls rushed toward him. He did not dodge or block. He simply stood there, unmoving, his eyes unfocused.
He still had some Spirit Power left, but his physical stamina was exhausted. The constant pain in his left arm had also pushed him to his limit.
Just as the lightning balls were about to hit, Yu Luomian, seated above the main hall, shot to his feet, face dark. Yu Tianlin's vision blurred. In the next instant, Yu Luomian was already in front of Yu Tianqing.
He lifted a hand casually. The two lightning balls vanished without so much as a spark.
"Grandpa, I lost."
Staring at Yu Luomian's back, Yu Tianqing murmured those words, then his head tilted and he fainted.
Yu Luomian flashed behind him, caught his collapsing body, and gripped his left arm. His own Spirit Power flowed in, dispersing the lingering lightning within.
After clearing the residual thunder force, Yu Luomian pulled out medicine and bandages from his storage Spirit Tool and treated Yu Tianqing on the spot.
When the last wrap was done, Yu Luomian spoke coldly, "Brother, the outcome is decided. Tianlin won this time. As agreed, he can receive a Dragon Origin Fruit."
He lifted Yu Tianqing in his arms and walked toward the hall entrance. "Tianqing is still injured. I'll take him back to rest first."
Before he could leave, Yu Yuanzhen called out, "Luomian, wait a moment."
He hesitated, then said, "There's something I need to tell you. It's about Tianlin's first Spirit Ring."
Yu Luomian stopped and turned back. "Tianlin's first Spirit Ring? It's just a hundred year Spirit Ring. What is there to talk about?"
"Ahem." Yu Yuanzhen glanced around at the elders before slowly speaking. "In truth, Tianlin's first Spirit Ring is not that simple. It is not an ordinary hundred year Spirit Ring."
The elders exchanged puzzled looks, not understanding what he meant.
Yu Yuanzhen continued, "Four months ago, when Yu Jian took Tianlin to hunt Spirit Beasts, they unfortunately ran into a ten thousand year Spirit Beast. Yu Jian had no choice but to fight it."
"After a fierce battle, Yu Jian gained the advantage and was about to kill it. But at the crucial moment, that ten thousand year Spirit Beast burned itself, pouring all its energy into Tianlin's body, trying to make him explode from within."
"Isn't that a sacrifice?" One elder exclaimed in shock. "A ten thousand year Spirit Beast sacrificed itself for Tianlin!"
"That's right, a sacrifice." Yu Yuanzhen nodded. "Logically, if a Spirit Beast sacrifices itself for a Spirit Master, that Spirit Master can ignore the current Spirit Ring age limits and absorb it beyond their level. But that kind of transcendence is not unlimited."
"Tianlin was only six years old and had just reached rank ten. The maximum Spirit Ring age he could withstand was four hundred twenty three years. In that situation, a ten thousand year sacrifice would only burst his body apart."
"That was the Spirit Beast's goal. Since death was unavoidable, it chose to perish together with Tianlin."
Yu Yuanzhen's words left the hall silent. Yu Luomian's eyes widened as he muttered, "So that's how it was…"
Seeing the elders still stunned, Yu Yuanzhen pressed on, continuing his carefully crafted lie.
"Fortunately, Yu Jian was there. He suppressed the Spirit Beast's power in time, then rushed Tianlin back to the clan and reported everything to me."
"I used a secret technique to seal away most of that ten thousand year power. The small portion left behind became the white Spirit Ring you heard about before."
An elder asked quickly, "Now that Tianlin's Spirit Ring has turned yellow, does that mean the seal is slowly breaking?"
"That's right." Yu Yuanzhen nodded. "The seal I placed will gradually fade as Tianlin's body strengthens and his Spirit Power grows."
"In other words, from the outside, the age of Tianlin's first Spirit Ring will keep increasing, until one day he can fully withstand the ten thousand year power. At that point, it will turn black."
That was the official explanation Yu Yuanzhen and Yu Tianlin fabricated together.
After all, the color of Yu Tianlin's Spirit Ring could not be hidden forever. As the years passed, it would turn purple, then perhaps even black. Whenever he fought in public, that change would be impossible to conceal.
Without a reasonable story, outsiders would speculate wildly. Seeing a first Spirit Ring shift from yellow to purple, then purple to black, they would naturally wonder if it might later turn red, reaching the level of a hundred thousand year Spirit Ring.
And by sheer luck, they would be guessing in the right direction.
With this fabricated narrative, the upper limit of Tianlin's first Spirit Ring was locked at the ten thousand year level. Yu Yuanzhen also emphasized that the Spirit Beast behind it had been forced into despair by a level fifty eight Spirit King. That implied the beast had only just reached ten thousand years and was not especially strong even among ten thousand year Spirit Beasts.
So even though a ten thousand year first Spirit Ring sounded exaggerated, it would still seem ordinary compared to the other Spirit Rings the two of them were hiding, rings that might one day evolve into hundred thousand year Spirit Rings.
Of course, once Yu Tianlin's first Spirit Ring truly reached one hundred thousand years, this false explanation would be exposed. But by then, Tianlin would already be fully grown, and there would be no need to hide it anymore.
Still, there was one obvious flaw.
Yu Jian knew the truth. He knew Tianlin had absorbed a Thunder Hell Prison Vine Spirit Ring that was only close to a hundred years old. There had been no ten thousand year sacrifice at all. The clan leader was simply spouting nonsense.
Yu Yuanzhen had considered that from the start.
After issuing an extremely strict gag order to Yu Jian, he transferred Yu Jian to serve as his personal bodyguard. From that day on, Yu Jian stayed at his side wherever he went, ensuring, as much as possible, that the truth would never leak out.
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