"Thank you, Young Lord!"
Hearing that Lin Yi was going to teach him some spell arts, Damien Graves' eyes immediately lit up, his whole face filled with excitement.
The cultivation arts he practiced were extremely difficult to research on his own.
Outsiders only saw Damien Graves as powerful, but in reality, every time he studied his arts over the years, it consumed tremendous effort.
Because of this, his progress in cultivation was actually very slow.
Just now, when he wanted to apprentice under Lin Yi, Damien was mostly thinking about survival.
He hadn't expected that, although Lin Yi refused to accept him as a disciple, he was still willing to guide his cultivation. This made Damien so excited he could barely contain himself.
At his level, he understood far better than ordinary people how invaluable even a little guidance from an expert could be.
"Absolutely not!"
Standing there, Lucy Bai finally couldn't hold back and shouted toward them.
She glared at Damien Graves, her face full of anger: "As one of Hong Kong's three grandmasters, even if you don't care about yourself, you should at least consider my sect-ancestor!"
"With your status as a Hong Kong grandmaster, you kneel before Master Lin from Seacrest, and even want to become his disciple!"
"What does that make my master?"
Lucy Bai scolded him furiously, one line after another.
Seeing Damien Graves groveling like this, she was truly infuriated.
Especially when she looked at Lin Yi standing there, calmly accepting it all, her anger only grew.
"Who I kneel to or apprentice under is my own business."
Damien Graves glanced at Lucy Bai, his expression darkening: "What right do you, a little brat, have to lecture me?"
"Besides, this world has always belonged to the strong. The weak clinging to the strong—that's how it's always been."
"He's stronger than me, more powerful. He beat me until I begged for mercy and knelt. What's wrong with that?"
Or do you think I should, for the sake of some empty title like 'Hong Kong grandmaster,' go up against him even knowing I can't win?"
Damien Graves scoffed at Lucy Bai's words.
"Aren't you a bit spineless?"
Hearing this, the elder beside them was stunned, his eyebrows raised, and his tone carried obvious disdain.
"Is backbone more important than life?"
Damien Graves sneered: "Don't talk about me. Just look at your master—Phoenix Bai has been hiding in that giant bronze coffin for years, never daring to come out."
"Every year on Dao-discussion day, Phoenix Bai stays inside the bronze coffin, never showing her true face. If we're talking about spinelessness, I'm still braver than your master."
Damien Graves kept talking, not giving them a chance to respond.
Lucy Bai and the elder's faces changed several times, but they had no way to refute him.
Phoenix Bai hadn't appeared for many years.
Even Lucy Bai herself had never seen this so-called sect-ancestor in person.
Over the years, all she ever heard were a few brief words from Phoenix Bai, spoken through the chains.
"I haven't come out because the time hasn't arrived yet."
At that moment.
A quiet voice came from within the giant bronze coffin.
This time, the voice wasn't transmitted through the chains around the bronze coffin and into the ground, but spread directly through the thick bronze walls.
Unlike before, when it was impossible to tell if the voice was male or female, Phoenix Bai's voice now sounded especially muffled.
Probably because the coffin door was so thick and heavy, the voice sounded uncomfortable to hear.
But faintly, it was still possible to tell that the speaker was a woman.
"Interesting, Phoenix Bai!"
Hearing the voice, Damien Graves, who was kneeling before Lin Yi, turned to look at the giant bronze coffin.
He smiled, his eyes flickering: "After all these years, I've never really heard you speak."
"You say you haven't come out because the time hasn't arrived. So when will it?"
Damien Graves was about to continue speaking.
"Crawl away."
Lin Yi glanced at the giant bronze coffin and spoke calmly.
"Sigh, alright."
Damien Graves shuddered, didn't hesitate for a second, and crawled away from Lin Yi's side. Only after reaching Allen Graves did he slowly stand up.
Seeing Damien Graves actually crawl away from Lin Yi like that...
Lucy Bai and the elder's faces grew even more complicated.
Just now, when Damien Graves was speaking to Phoenix Bai, he acted completely calm and unafraid. But when he turned to speak to Master Lin from Seacrest, he immediately switched to a fawning and submissive attitude.
This obvious difference in treatment made Lucy Bai, as Phoenix Bai's disciple, furious inside.
But she couldn't step forward at all.
To outsiders, Lucy Bai seemed incredibly powerful and gifted, and everyone assumed she would avoid Master Lin from Seacrest even more fiercely.
But Master Lin from Seacrest first defeated Victor Zhou, then subdued Damien Graves.
Just based on those two feats, no matter how arrogant Lucy Bai was, she would never think she could be his match now.
Lin Yi looked over at the giant bronze coffin and said calmly, "You've been hiding in a coffin for so long—why not come out and meet me?"
"I originally had no interest in dealing with your miscellaneous trivial affairs today."
"I didn't even want to bother with your Coldspire Peak Dao-discussion."
"But now, with Hong Kong's three grandmasters—one dead, one surrendered—since I've already settled two, I might as well deal with the last one too."
Lin Yi's tone was calm as he looked at the giant bronze coffin before him, completely unfazed by its intimidating appearance.
"How dare you disrespect my master!"
Lucy Bai's expression changed as she shouted angrily.
The elder's face was gloomy as he looked at Lin Yi: "Master Lin from Seacrest, I'm several decades older than you."
"Watching you fight just now, I can see you're powerful and monstrously talented."
"But precisely because of that, I still want to give you some advice."
"As a human being, you must be more humble and less arrogant."
"This world is vast—there are skies beyond skies, people beyond people. You're young and inexperienced, that's fine, but if your pride grows too high, you'll eventually suffer for it."
The elder spoke slowly, his gaze never leaving Lin Yi.
His demeanor carried a hint of threat.
"The master hasn't spoken yet, but you disciples and grandchildren jump out first?"
Lin Yi looked at Lucy Bai and the elder, his gaze cold: "If you think my words are wrong or unpleasant, that's fine."
"Step forward. If you can stay standing for three seconds, I'll apologize."
"If you fall within three seconds, then head for the Yellow Springs. How about that?"
"Dare to try?"