Lin opened his eyes and sat up hurriedly. With eyes full of fear and certain hope he inspected his body and when his eyes fell on the tattoo he knew everything that had transpired wasn't a dream.
Divine Artifact Timeless truly had sent him back before the cataclysm that destroyed the Mortal Realm.
He suppressed the memories before trying to get out of the bed. His legs wobbled as he stood but managed to remain up straight. He looked around as the medical hall was fuller than expected.
Some seats were occupied by cultivators that looked bruised. Some looked like they were on the death's door. Some laid motionless. Lin counted 12 cultivators here at this moment. But this didn't confuse him.
What confused him were the familiar faces. Faces that shouldn't be here not now at least. Lin saw Disciples running around taking care of downed cultivators.
Most of them were too preoccupied to notice Lin so he slipped away quietly. His tattoo pulsed for a moment as if trying to communicate. Lin acknowledged but didn't show any obvious movement. He walked out of the Medical Hall. Medicine Hill was crowded and very noisy.
Lin saw in the middle a lot of Cultivators practising. None below Earth Core Realm.
Lin looked around and opened his Left Eye of Truth. He could sense all around him. He felt the power that was hard to fathom. He felt this power before. He attained them in a lifetime and suppressed them. He could sense seven people in the Sect Masters Residence. He could feel three familiar Aura. As Lin was about to make his way to the Sect Masters Residence few Earth Core Cultivators blocked his way.
"What a small core realm expert doing out here?"
One of the big men said with disdain. Surrounded him were three more people. The Big man was a Peak Earth Core Realm Cultivator. Lin ignored him and stepped aside before continuing.
But one of the followers grabbed Lin's shoulder and said,
"You dare ignore Young Master Pigu."
Like a spark, something ignited into Lin's brain. He looked at the Peak Earth Core Cultivator.
"Yes... There's is a resemblance."
Lin said as if confirming something. A memory surfaced in his mind.
Cataclysm was the biggest threat Mortal Realm had ever faced before its emergence. No one understood what caused the Cataclysm or why it started. In just about a decade the Mortal Realm was reduced to a wasteland. Mortals cast aside their differences and fought against them. But not all of them. Some of the scums joined the invaders and rampaged throughout the realm.
Pigu Leovile was one such scum. He looted killed, raped, tortured and committed numerous atrocities on cultivators and normal men and women. He was also one of the few that participated in Lin's hunt during the cataclysm and was directly responsible for Snow's death.
So Lin felt his hand itching. But refrained from acting. He stared at Pigu in his eyes then at the follower.
Pigu felt his entire body shiver as his legs buckled a little. He even felt a little suffocated.
The followers were glued to their spots. They didn't dare to even breathe out loud. As Lin turned around and left, the followers slumped on the ground.
Lin didn't make it far however because he noticed he was being surrounded.
He then suddenly dropped to his knees as a huge pressure was bearing down on him.
He tried to get up only for it to increase and made him kneel on two knees.
His palm felt hot as the tattoo pulsed but before anything happened the pressure suddenly disappeared as a gentle voice rang out.
"That's enough."
Lin looked up to see Yoi standing before him and across him floating in the air gently was a Star Core Realm Expert.
Lin also recognised him. Another scum if not one bigger than Pigu. But he was killed brutally during one of the wars.
"Hump! A mere no name cultivator dares to insult my brother. If I don't teach him a lesson I am afraid I won't have any face."
The floating man said with a smile.
"It is unnecessary to meddle in between juniors."
Yoi said as he shielded Lin a little.
"Oh! And if I do decide what are you gonna do about it?"
The floating man said with a smile.
Yoi however instead of answering floated up and levelled with him.
Almost all of them were shocked. Only those who had attained Star Core Realm could fly at will. Others had to either consume an extreme amount of Qi just to hover a little or use formation and Artifacts.
The floating man stared at Yoi before saying,
"Interesting."
And flying off. Yoi came down and pulled up Lin. He patted the dust off of Lin and said,
"Try not to be too eye-catching. Tigers and Lions lurking everywhere."
He said in a soft and gentle tone before beckoning him to follow.
Lin in his previous life wasn't able to have much interaction with Yoi.
But he remembered how Yoi was called the Pride of Green Leaf.
He was also the fastest and youngest to attain Star Core Rank Realm.
At that time Yoi was the one who died in the Nightmares Realm which resulted in the Powerful people moving in here from the capital.
"Thank you Senior Brother Yoi."
Lin said with respect and thought if possible he wanted Yoi to stick around and be by his side during the cataclysm.
During his final battle, Lin understood he cannot save anything or anyone alone. So when he was sent back Lin already had a plan on how to prepare for the cataclysm.
But the introduction of Ssyba threw his plan to disarray. The people he wanted to recruit were nowhere in sight. And the events were happening out of order.
Lin put aside the thoughts for now and asked,
"Senior brother where is Fang, Fang Yunqi. And Snow. Is she safe?"
Yoi answered as he was making his way through the crowd,
"Well Snow is now the core disciple of the Beast Hall and Fang... he's..."
Yoi was hesitating to reply about Fang. Just as Lin was about to ask about Fang he saw it. In front of the Green Leaf Pavilion, a huge beast has hung Lin recognized the beast. A fiend. Notorious for being difficult to kill. But seeing its severed heads and tails Lin was stunned and left speechless.