Chapter 15: The Emperor's Map [First Update] (Seeking Recommendations and Rushing to the Top)

  "Pffft!"

  Lin Xigang returned to his residence and could no longer hold back, spitting out a mouthful of blood with a loud "whoa", his lips crimson red.

  "How hateful! Zhang Long, Zhao Xue, Wang Hai, I will definitely make you pay the price!"

  Lin Xi entered this world and it was the first time he had suffered such a great loss.

  Zhang Long, Zhao Xue, and Wang Hai openly bullied Lin Xi, relying on their high cultivation level to suppress him. Although Lin Xi had extremely high innate talent, he had only practiced martial arts for seven days since entering this world.

  Alternating to fight Meng Shi and Wang Yuehe was already Lin Xi's limit. If he continued to challenge Zhang Long, Zhao Xue, and Wang Hai, three core disciples who had been training for over 20 years, it would be impossible to win.

  This is not a matter of strength, but it's a challenge on a different level from the very beginning, and it's unfair!

  "How hateful! I'll swallow this anger for now, and once my martial arts skills are improved, I'll properly deal with those three! A gentleman takes revenge, ten years is not too late, but I can't wait that long. Within a month, I must make them regret being my enemy!"

  Lin Xi took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart. He was at a disadvantage due to the short time he had spent practicing martial arts. If given enough time, he still had enough confidence to take down Wang Hai, Zhao Xue, Zhang Long and others.

  "Revenge can wait for now. First, let's take care of Mother's portrait."

  Lin Xi thought for a moment, then reached into his pocket and prepared to take out his mother's portrait, to carefully preserve it. This was the only thing he had left of his mother. To him, its significance was self-evident.

  However, Lin Xi was startled as soon as his fingers touched the scroll in his arms.

  "Oh no, the scroll is torn!"

  Lin Xi hastily unrolled the painting. The scroll was covered in fine cracks and many fragments had fallen off, but fortunately the painting itself did not appear to have suffered any significant damage.

  "It must have been shattered by Zhang Long's fist during their previous fight!"

  Lin Xi recalled the sound of a crisp crackle in his ear when they were fighting, which was actually the sound of the scroll cracking. Thinking of Zhang Long and Wang Hai, who almost destroyed the only portrait left by his mother, Lin Xi's heart was filled with even more anger.

  "These guys, absolutely can't let them off! Luckily the portrait wasn't damaged, so I'll get Aunt to help find a skilled painter to re-mount it."

  Lin Xixin had an idea as soon as she thought about it. Installing a rolling rod for the painting wasn't too difficult of a task.

  Lin Xi carefully sorted out the fragments of the scroll on the portrait while preparing to take down the scroll part of the portrait.

  "Huh?!"

  While tidying up the photos, a glimpse of golden light caught Lin Xi's eye, and his heart skipped a beat:

  "Is there something inside the scroll?!"

  The scroll was hollow, and the golden light Lin Xi saw was shining through the crack in the scroll.

  Crack!

  Lin Xi merely pinched it lightly, and the exquisite hollow scroll with intricate patterns was immediately crushed, breaking into two pieces. With a light flip, a golden object fell out of the scroll tube.

  The thing hidden in the scroll is like gold foil, thin as a cicada's wing, rolled into a volume. On its surface, there are exquisite patterns, like the veins of mountains and rivers, revealing a noble breath.

  "It's like a painting!"

  Lin Xi's heart skipped a beat. He vaguely remembered that his aunt had said that this portrait originally belonged to Lin Xi's mother, who was a princess of the Great Liang Dynasty.

  "Could this be what Mother brought from the imperial family, the dowry of the imperial family?"

  Lin Xi thought to herself and unrolled the painting scroll.

  This is a gold foil painting scroll that is exquisite to the point of being unimaginable. The scroll is rolled up in mid-air, thin as a cicada's wing, and light as if it were nothing. When held in one's hand, it can hardly be felt.

  Even if it is installed in a hollow scroll, shaking it hard does not feel any abnormality. If it were not for Lin Xi and Wang Hai's hand-to-hand combat at the time, accidentally shattering the scroll, it may not have been possible to discover the secret inside.

  When Lin Xi fully unfolded this golden silk painting scroll, the true appearance of the painting scroll was finally revealed in front of Lin Xi.

  This is an exquisite but unusually concise metal wire drawing!

  In the center of the screen, there is a majestic golden mountain peak. On the mountain body, a nine-clawed golden dragon is coiled. Its claws are deeply embedded in the mountain body, and its dragon body wraps around the mountain peak circle after circle. The golden dragon's whiskers are stretched out, looking out of the painting, powerful and majestic!

  However, what caught Lin Xi's attention was the halo of time and space behind the mountain peak. It seemed to be connected to another time and space, but when Lin Xi looked closer, it became ordinary again, with nothing special about it.

  The painting is roughly one foot square. Delicate yet majestic, ancient yet noble. However, what leaves the deepest impression is the strong mysterious aura that permeates the entire painting, as if it holds some earth-shattering secret waiting to be uncovered.

  "What is this Wanhuangtu?... What on earth is this thing?"

  Lin Xi's gaze fell on the top of the painting, three ancient golden seals, and his eyebrows furrowed deeply.

  The Wanhuatugraph should be the name of this painting. However, such a peculiar material, in Lin Xi's experience as a person, has also been seen before. The craftsmanship it embodies is simply ghostly and divine, leaving one in awe.

  To some extent, it's no longer something that can be achieved by human power!

  "It's truly an unthinkable thing...... But, how did this strange Manhuajing end up in Mother's portrait?"

  Lin Xi couldn't help but praise, this painting scroll seemed to have a kind of invisible magic power, attracting people's eyes. It made one unable to resist reaching out to touch it.

  "Ah!"

  When Lin Xi's palm stroked the nine-clawed golden dragon on the painting, a sharp pain suddenly came. Lin Xi subconsciously withdrew his fingers, and saw that there was a red dot on his palm, with fresh blood seeping out.

  "What's going on?!..."

  Lin Xi's gaze suddenly stared at the painting in shock. The nine-clawed golden dragon on the painting, its two eyes suddenly lit up bright red. And what gave this nine-clawed golden dragon its final stroke was the fresh blood flowing from Lin Xi's palm.

  This nine-clawed golden dragon was originally merged with the gold foil painting, but at this moment, it suddenly seemed to come alive. Two metal dragon whiskers trembled, its body slowly and silently slid out of the painting, and actually broke free from the scroll. It raised its head high, like a snake, standing upright on the painting, its two blood-red eyes staring at Lin Xi, spinning around.

  “!!!”

  Lin Xi was completely stunned. The scene in front of him was too bizarre, completely beyond his understanding and common sense! He could clearly feel that the nine-clawed golden dragon was sizing him up.

  "Roar! ——"

  A thunderous dragon's roar, without warning, echoed in Lin Xi's mind. The next moment, the nine-clawed golden dragon that broke free from the painting suddenly straightened its body, transformed into a flash of lightning, and shot up into the air, directly penetrating the small hole in Lin Xi's bleeding palm and drilling into his body.

  "Not good!"

  Lin Xi was shocked and flailed his palms wildly. However, just as one wave subsided, another rose up. Suddenly, the painting on the table emitted a brilliant golden light, and at the same time that the Nine-Clawed Golden Dragon drilled into Lin Xi's body, this one-foot-square golden foil painting transformed into a flowing ball of light, which charged unimpeded into Lin Xi's body.

  Boom!

  Lin Xixin's mind was shocked, and suddenly a blackness appeared in front of her eyes. Immediately, her entire consciousness was sucked into the depths of her brain by an invisible force.

  Under Lin Xi's shocked gaze, a golden painting scroll radiated boundless golden light, swirling above his consciousness. Against the backdrop of endless darkness, it emitted an aura of nobility and supremacy.

  That aura is like the heavenly emperor touring all directions. It makes people who see it feel the majesty and dignity of the emperor, while also producing a submissive impulse.

  "This... this scroll, how did it appear in my mind!"

  Lin Xi's heart was racing with anxiety.

  This painting is exactly the same as the metal scroll he had placed on the table earlier.

  Anyone who suddenly finds a metal painting in their mind will feel quite shocked and terrified, that eerie feeling is simply indescribable.

  Lin Xi was still able to stay awake and hadn't fainted, which was already quite good.

  This golden painting scroll was spinning in Lin Xi's mind. A hollow and loud voice echoed in all directions:

  "The master of all living things, the emperor of all emperors!"

  Along with this sound, a large amount of information poured into Lin Xi's mind. Soon, Lin Xi's mind had an additional cultivation method called "Dominating the World's Trend".

  As soon as this mantra was completely imprinted in Lin Xi's mind, the entire painting scroll immediately froze. The golden light that had been emitted also quickly weakened.

  Boom!

  Lin Xi's mind shook violently, a strong sense of fatigue surged up in his heart, and he finally couldn't help but fall into a daze.

  When I woke up again, it was already the next morning.

  Lin Xi had just woken up, and he felt that his entire body was filled with a powerful force. His whole body seemed to have been remade, becoming even more resilient, denser, and stronger.

  Bang!

  Lin Xi's fist struck out casually, and a loud rumbling sound immediately erupted in the empty air, as if a steel rod had been swung out. A humming noise like gold and iron was emitted. And where his fist landed, a burst of air suddenly exploded, sending shockwaves in all directions, even causing the bronze table to tremble slightly.

  "What incredible power! How did my power increase so much!"

  Lin Xi's heart suddenly skipped a beat. The power of this punch alone was far greater than Lin Xi's original strength, and it even faintly revealed signs of entering the Iron Bone stage.

  Lin Xi took a glance around. In front of her, everything was in disarray, her mother's portrait still on the table, the scrolls that had been taken down were broken into two pieces and placed aside. Everything looked so ordinary.

  However, the mnemonic that appeared in Lin Xi's mind and the sudden surge of power in his body clearly told him that all this had indeed happened.

  Lin Xi was silent, recalling the entire process of last night in his mind. As everything flashed through his brain and finally froze at this morning's time, Lin Xi reacted slowly, but he also reacted.

  He's really lucky!

  Although he didn't understand, a nine-clawed golden dragon somehow broke free from the painting, but Lin Xi also understood that this golden dragon was probably stimulated by his own blood to undergo such a transformation. This golden dragon itself did not possess life, which also solved Lin Xi's greatest concern in his heart.

  "This Wanhuangtu... is unbearable!"

  Lin Xi's eyes sparkled with a bright, snowy light as he pondered. As the Young Master of the Five Thunder Sect for over ten years, although his martial arts skills were not particularly profound, he was well-versed in the legends and stories of various sects. However, he had never heard of anything so bizarre.

  "What a strange thing, how could it be hidden in Mother's portrait scroll? And yet, even Father seems to be unaware..."

  Ideas flashed through Lin Xi's mind one after another.

  It is clear that Lin Xi's father, Lin Xiong, cherished the only portrait left by Lin Xi's mother and could not bear to damage it in any way.

  It was also because of this reason that the secret in the portrait scroll had not been discovered. It wasn't until Lin Xi and Wang Hai fought, unintentionally shattering the portrait scroll, that the secret was revealed.

  (Today is Monday, ready to rush for the top spot. Brothers of the imperial family, where are the recommendation votes? Also, three updates today)