Chapter 431: Chaos in Zhongzhou, the Lava Sea
It is not difficult for everyone to reach a consensus on questions like “who is the strongest”, but it is absolutely impossible for everyone to reach a consensus on questions like “who is the most beautiful”.

At the same time, topics like “who is the most beautiful” can get much more discussion than topics like “who is the strongest”.

When this “Handsome Men List” with Lin Yuan at the top was leaked from a strange organization called “Yaojun Fans Association” in Danta more than half a year ago, it quickly sparked a debate among the female disciples of various sects in Zhongzhou.

Not long after, many women’s organizations in various sects also launched their own “Handsome Men Lists”.

All of a sudden, a battle for the right to speak on the “Handsome Men List” began in full swing.

This incident also gave many sect disciples who had a monotonous life a new source of fun, so they actively participated…

Under the influence of various factors, the competition for the list is becoming more and more intense.

Shengdan City, as the center of Zhongzhou, is top-notch in terms of wealth, commercial prosperity, and information flow speed… The main force in the rankings is the extremely wealthy female disciples of Danta. After a business “fight”, they won an absolute victory in this battle.

Even after winning, they directly changed the “Zhongzhou Handsome Man List” to the “Mainland Handsome Man List”.

In addition, according to some anonymous sources, many senior executives from the five major Danta families participated in the “Handsome Men List” ranking campaign.

In the black market of Shengdan City, painting competitions with the theme of “Medicine Lord” are often held.

It is rumored that the rewards for this painting competition are extremely high, and those paintings with high rankings are often bid for by women from the big Danta families.

On the other hand, with the “Handsome Men List” which is an unclear but influential list, other abstract lists such as the “Beauty List”, “Girl Rice List”, “Hidden Dragon List”, “Fighting Sect Combat Power Ranking List”, etc., have emerged one after another.

Among them, the dispute over the “Beauty List” was the most popular and had the largest number of participants. Almost all disciples from major sects participated in the debate, and the debate is still going on to this day.

Combat power and beauty are enduring topics even in the Douqi Continent.

Among the many lists, many will deliberately put Lin Yuan, currently recognized as the number one genius in Zhongzhou, at the top of the list in order to enhance their own credibility.

Therefore, during the more than one year that Lin Yuan disappeared, he got a lot of titles.

“The most outstanding person in Zhongzhou”, “the most handsome man in the continent”, “the first Dou Emperor in history”, “the first Dou Zong in history”, “the first Grandmaster on the Earth List”, “the most powerful fighter on the Earth List”, “the most wealthy son-in-law in Zhongzhou”…

Lin Yuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry after hearing such a strange development.

Looking at the laughing Medusa and Little Medical Fairy in front of him, Lin Yuan shook his head helplessly and said, “Okay, I’ll go visit Elder Huo, you guys can laugh as much as you want!”

After saying that, he slowly stood up, waved to the two girls, and slowly left the courtyard.

In the next two days, Lin Yuan secretly visited several elders.

Afterwards, he reminisced with his two old friends, Hu Jia and Wu Hao, and had some drinks. Both of them had changed a lot: Hu Jia was already a six-star Dou Wang and stayed in the inner courtyard as an elder; Wu Hao was already an eight-star Dou Wang and returned to the law enforcement team.

It is worth mentioning that the two did not forget their previous agreement and both presented return gifts for the ‘Earth Marrow Body Tempering Pill’ given six years ago.

Hu Jia was given a sixth-grade spiritual fruit in return; Wu Hao was given a sixth-grade magic core in return.

Although the gifts from the two were nothing to Lin Yuan, they far exceeded the value of the ‘Earth Marrow Body Tempering Pill’. Lin Yuan kept the gifts from his friends carefully.

The unrestrained attitude of the two childhood friends comforted Lin Yuan – it’s lonely at the top!
And this feeling of having friends is really good.

So, he “invested” in the two of them some elixirs to improve their qualifications and strength in the name of “agreement”.

However, the news of Lin Yuan’s return to Canaan College was indeed blocked.

After all, his current status in Zhongzhou is too high, and his reputation is too great. He is being watched intentionally or unintentionally by many people. He is walking in the stormy waves, and being too deeply involved with Canaan College may not be a good thing for the latter.

Sometimes, the more you care about something, the more you should stay away from it before you have enough strength!
Three days later, after Lin Yuan finished arranging the affairs of the academy, he picked up Zi Yan, who was addicted to games, and brought her to a place.
–
In the inner courtyard, at the bottom of the Tianfen Refining Tower.

This huge first floor was empty at the moment. In the center, with the Heart Flame as the center, a mysterious formation was running efficiently, continuously generating Heart Flame and transporting it to the training room above.

Although it is only a wisp of fire, if it can be precisely controlled, the speed of producing heart fire is no less than that of the uncontrolled Fallen Heart Flame.

Suddenly, the space shook slightly, and three figures walked out from the ripples and landed in front of the entrance to the magma world.

“Compared to before, this place has changed a lot!”

Lin Yuan looked around, his eyes swept across the fire not far away, and fell on the old man in front: “Grand Elder, regarding the formation of the Heart Flame Fire, I have studied some improvement plans, which should be able to double the effect! Here…”

Before he finished speaking, he took out a red jade slip and handed it to Su Qian.

Compared with three years ago, Lin Yuan’s strength and vision are completely different. In addition, with a deeper understanding of Heart Flame, optimizing the formation is naturally a piece of cake.

When Su Qian heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up and he quickly took the jade slip.

“Lin, thank you for your help!” He carefully put away the jade slip, looked at Lin Yuan deeply, and said with emotion: “Although you are not the chief elder, in terms of contribution to the academy, you are much better than us old guys!”

After a pause, a flash of reminiscence flashed in his eyes: “When the dean came back last time, he praised you highly… I didn’t expect that you would actually win the championship!”

Su Qian asked Lin Yuan to attend the meeting because he wanted to let Mang Tianchi know about Canaan’s achievements and give the latter some comfort.

But the final result was unexpectedly good!
“hey-hey–“

On the side, Zi Yan laughed slyly and said disdainfully: “How difficult is it to beat those small fry? Lin Yuan didn’t even use his full strength! I can easily deal with them…”

Hearing this, Su Qian’s gaze shifted slightly and fell on Zi Yan.

He looked at the two people hugging each other intimately, and at Zi Yan’s smiling face, a gentle smile appeared on his face.

It was somewhat different from Lin Yuan’s guess. Su Qian had taken care of Zi Yan for several years and knew her personality very well. Naturally, he had anticipated the development of their relationship to this point. He had intended to pair them up and even fueled the flames.

His feelings towards Zi Yan are more like a grandfather’s feelings towards his granddaughter…which is completely different from the one Lin Yuan is about to meet!
Su Qian smiled slightly and said, “Zi Yan, listen to Lin Yuan more in the future.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, I know!” Zi Yan waved her hand casually, and then threw a storage ring to Su Qian, “By the way, old man Su, this is my gift to you! You should practice well and try to live longer, and we will go on an adventure…”

As she spoke, she pulled Lin Yuan and jumped into the deep cave in front of her, quickly disappearing from Su Qian’s sight.

“Zi Yan is still so impatient!”

Su Qian sighed helplessly and looked at the ring in his hand. However, just as he immersed his thoughts in it, a look of shock appeared on his face, “This… this is…”

The magma world is still red.

The hot magma, like boiling water, was bubbling. The air became slightly distorted due to the burning of the magma. At a certain moment, the sound of breaking wind was heard, and two figures flashed over.

Lin Yuan pulled Zi Yan and floated above the magma sea. He looked up at a hollow cave not far from the passage. A nostalgic smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, as if he was thinking of the years of hard training here.

Then, his eyes moved slightly and fell on a rock wall with a secret mark.

“open–“

With a low shout, Lin Yuan waved his hand and a beam of green light flew out from the rock wall and landed on the palm of his hand.

This is an ancient jade piece. In the center, a light spot is slowly moving – it is the Tushe Ancient Emperor Jade.

The light spots seemed to be much brighter than before.

Lin Yuan looked at the soul mark, his eyebrows slightly raised, and a playful smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: “Soul Clan, do you regard Xiao Zhan as a collection?”

The brightness of the soul mark can reflect the state of the entity to a certain extent.

The brightness of the soul imprint that Xiao Zhan left on the ancient emperor jade has greatly improved compared to a few years ago. There is only one possibility – Xiao Zhan’s strength has greatly improved compared to before.

According to Lin Yuan’s guess, he was probably promoted from Grand Fighter to Fighting Emperor.

“Lin Yuan, what exactly is this thing?”

Zi Yan glanced at the ancient jade, shook Lin Yuan’s arm, and asked curiously.

She vaguely remembered that several years ago, Lin Yuan told her here that if he had an accident, this ancient jade would be the most precious gift he would leave for her.

“hehe–“

Lin Yuan played with the ancient jade and chuckled, “This is Tuoshe Ancient Emperor Jade, one of the eight keys to open the Ancient Emperor’s Cave Mansion.”

Even the thick-skinned Zi Yan couldn’t help but shrink her purple-gold eyes after hearing such explosive news. She quickly looked up at Lin Yuan, and when she saw the latter’s serious eyes and realized that this was no joke, she immediately took a breath of cold air.

While she was shocked, Lin Yuan placed the ancient jade in her palm and said, “You are the strongest among us at the moment. You will take care of the ancient jade!”

After saying that, he ran his hand through the purple hair by the girl’s ear, bringing the girl back to her senses.

Zi Yan took a deep breath, pondered for a moment, and put the ancient jade away – Lin Yuan was right, it would be better for her to keep such a risky thing.

“Next, we should explore the magma sea!” Lin Yuan nodded slightly, and then motioned her to look down: “When I was exploring in the magma sea before, the ancient emperor jade had shown abnormal behavior. The area below may really be related to the ancient emperor’s cave.”

“Although you are already a five-star Dou Sheng, this exploration may be related to the Dou Emperor, so we still have to be extremely careful…”

“I understand!” Seeing Lin Yuan’s serious eyes, Zi Yan’s face also became solemn and she said seriously.

“Okay, let’s go!”

Lin Yuan nodded slightly, and without hesitation, he wrapped the two of them with the dry blue ice flame and rushed straight into the magma world, splashing waves of magma.

……

In the magma world, the main color is still red, and high temperature is radiating all around. Looking around, there is no end to the scorching and red color.

This was not the first time that Lin Yuan entered this place, and his speed was much faster than before.

Diving at full speed, in just a few minutes, the two passed the location where they had found the Skyfire Master.

As expected, the Tushe Ancient Emperor Jade once again emitted a faint glow.

Afterwards, Lin Yuan pulled Zi Yan and slowly slowed down their speed. Then he looked around the magma with a calm expression – he could sense that there were a lot of obscure auras that were rapidly approaching the two of them.

Zi Yan’s perception is now far superior to Lin Yuan’s, so naturally she noticed something.

“Oh? Interesting, is this the magma creature you mentioned? Lin Yuan, retreat behind me, here come two pretty powerful guys.”

As she spoke, she took a step forward and protected Lin Yuan behind her.

Immediately, a purple light flashed in Zi Yan’s eyes, and suddenly, a mysterious wave emitting a noble aura diffused from her brows. In an instant, the figures hidden in the magma let out whimpering sounds of fear.

“Aura similar to that of the Guardian…”

Intermittent sounds were heard, and the surrounding magma also began to fluctuate violently. Countless red figures rushed in from all directions and blocked the two of them.

Leading the group were two lizardmen whose entire bodies were milky white.

These two lizardmen looked much older than the other lizardmen, and their aura had even reached the semi-saint level.

While Lin Yuan was observing secretly, the two halves of the Holy Lizardman looked at Zi Yan cautiously.

Then, one of the semi-saint lizardmen slowly spoke, reading out in a clumsy and formulaic manner: “Human, this is the cemetery of God, not a place for you to come! Leave quickly, otherwise you will wake up the guardian and you will be buried here forever…”

After saying that, he and the other half of the Holy Lizardmen looked at each other, and then gave a signal, and the many gathered Lizardmen dispersed.

Although they live underground, they are not fools and know what not to mess with.

Not to mention the aura of the purple-clothed woman, just the fact that her aura originated from the same source as the Guardian was not something that the outer guards like them could offend.

The mission passed down from ancient times is important, but the survival of the ethnic group is also important.

Anyway, I warned the other party and tried to stop him, but I failed due to the difference in strength. I have fulfilled my duty!

Lin Yuan did not stop the group of lizardmen from leaving, and stopped Zi Yan who wanted to take action.

Regarding not allowing outsiders to approach the area below, he and the Lizardmen had the same stance – and the fact that he was from Canaan Academy had caused the academy to receive some attention, and keeping the Lizardmen guarding here was enough to stop most of the people who were spying.

“Zi Yan, let’s continue diving! God’s Cemetery, it seems there is a big secret underneath…”

After watching the lizard man leave, Lin Yuan walked to Zi Yan’s side and chuckled.

(End of this chapter)