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Chapter 375 - Soul Refining Sect

The moment this gap appeared, a large amount of spiritual energy from outside entered Wang Lin's body. At the same time, the shattered pieces of his origin soul began to condense. Although it hadn't recovered, it was no longer dissipating.

Wang Lin immediately closed his eyes and quietly cultivated.

Three days later, the sky darkened and snow covered the mountain. From a distance, the entire mountain looked like it was buried in snow.

The snowflakes that were falling toward Wang Lin would melt three inches from his body. This caused a circular water mark to gradually form around him.

The tea mark on his face was no longer as prominent as it was before and it was showing signs of disappearing.

When Wang Lin opened his eyes, they were filled with spirit.

"Ten percent of the tea marks are gone, the seal has loosened, and my cultivation has recovered to the early stage of Foundation Establishment. As a result, I will be able to just barely use a lot of the treasures inside my bag. Thanks to that and the mosquito beast, as long as I don't meet any Soul Formation cultivators, I will be safe."

"However, that piece of celestial jade is the limit my body can handle right now. If I take anymore, then I'm afraid my body will be turned to dust by the celestial spiritual energy before the domain and seal are broken."

"Now I can only try to reach the Core Formation stage as soon as possible. When I reach the Core Formation stage, I should be able to take another piece of celestial jade and try to break the domain and seal completely."

"However, I only have so many top quality spirit stones, so I can't just keep using them like this. I need to find a place with dense spiritual energy to cultivate in peace. I must recover my cultivation in nine years no matter what!"

After Wang Lin pondered a bit, his eyes lit up and he jumped on the mosquito beast.

The mosquito beast let out a happy roar and carried Wang Lin away.

Wang Lin lowered his head and looked at the Fire Cloud Village. After killing the large, burly man and the knife-scarred burly man, most of his anger had been appeased. He patted the mosquito's big head and the mosquito let out a roar and charged forward.

"Slower!" Wang Lin's expression changed. His cultivation had only recovered to the early stage of Foundation Establishment, so he couldn't withstand the speed of the mosquito beast which was around late stage Nascent Soul level.

The mosquito immediately slowed down and flew slowly.

While sitting on the back of the mosquito beast, Wang Lin took out the map jade and looked south. That was where the country of Pilu's Soul Refining Sect was.

"One of the three great sects in the country of Pilu on the continent of Suzaku must have plenty of spiritual energy within the sect!"

The reason he chose the Soul Refining Sect was because it was very strange. It only had a few hundred core disciples but more than tens of thousands of outer disciples.

Compared to the other two great sects in Pilu, the Soul Refining Sect had the lowest amount of core disciples, but they were on par with the other two great sects. To be able to match the other two great sects with only a few hundred core disciples showed that not only were the treasures in the Soul Refining Sect great, but the cultivation of the core disciples was also powerful.

The Soul Refining Sect would never recruit disciples from mortal children. There was only one way to become a core disciple of the Soul Refining Sect, and that was to first become an outer disciple.

Every three years, the outer sect disciples would have a competition where one of them would be chosen to become a core disciple. The core disciples also competed every three years, but in their competitions, one would be kicked out. This meant that even if someone became a core disciple, they could still be kicked out.

It was very simple to become an outer disciple; as long as one paid enough spirit stones, they could gain the status of an outer disciple for a period of time.

There were several large mountains around the Soul Refining Sect with spiritual energy several times denser than normal. This was where the outer disciples of the Soul Refining Sect resided.

Although they were outer disciples, they were actually just paying spirit stones to rent a cave to cultivate in.

The methods of the Soul Refining Sect were very strange and rarely seen in Suzaku, and no one knew the reason why they did it like this.

Because of this, Wang Lin chose the Soul Refining Sect. The map had very detailed information about the Soul Refining Sect. Wang Lin believed that the person who sold him the jade once came and was an outer disciple of the Soul Refining Sect for a period of time.

Pilu was, after all, a rank 5 cultivation country, and there were countless cultivation families that relied on the three great sects. These families would send a large amount of disciples to the three great sects every three years.

None of these disciples of the cultivation families had special privileges. Unless their talent was heaven defying, they would have to start from the bottom.

Wang Lin arrived near the Soul Refining Sect after seven days of riding the mosquito beast. About 500 kilometers away from the sect, he got off the mosquito beast and took out a normal flying sword. He jumped on the flying sword and flew toward the sect.

Not long after, the Soul Refining Sect came into view, but a few kilometers away from the sect, a gentle light blocked him from entering.

Wang Lin knew that this was the Soul Refining Sect's defensive formation, so he immediately put away the flying sword and landed.

Just at this moment, a ray of purple and red light passed by Wang Lin from behind, creating sonic booms. The trees in the forest all rustled from the wind the light had created.

When the red light closed in, a red-haired old man came into view. This person's face looked very strange. His mouth and nose were very large, but his eyes were very small; it looked like he could swallow the heavens.

After Wang Lin saw this person, his eyes lit up and immediately stood to the side respectfully.

The old man was about to enter the Soul Refining Sect when he suddenly turned and saw Wang Lin. He was surprised when he looked at Wang Lin, then he looked at the scar on Wang Lin's face and shouted, "Which sect's disciple are you?"

Wang Lin respectfully said, "Disciple is a rogue cultivator hoping to become an outer sect disciple."

The old man looked at Wang Lin and nodded. "To reach the Foundation Establishment stage as a rogue cultivator is not easy. You want to become an outer sect disciple to find a place to go into closed door cultivation, correct?"

Wang Lin's eyes revealed a respectful gaze as he said, "That is what disciple intends."

The old man waved his sleeves and said, "You are too late; the time to accept outer sect disciples has long passed. Go home and come back in a few years." With that, he was about to step into the sect.

Wang Lin sneered in his heart but revealed a respectful look. He pretended to be heartbroken as he took out a sealed box and said, "Senior, this is a flying sword that junior found a few years ago and hasn't been willing to use. Senior, please accept this. Disciple only wishes to become an outer sect disciple."

Wang Lin was able to easily see that this old man was only at the early stage of Core Formation. To this level of cultivator, the flying sword he took out was very valuable.

The old man stopped and looked at Wang Lin with a faint smile. He thought that Wang Lin was definitely a rogue cultivator, because he was much smarter than those from the big families. He waved his hand and the sealed box landed in his palm. When he opened the box, he revealed a joyous expression.

But he immediately hid the joy and calmly asked, "Where did you find this?"

Wang Lin respectfully said, "Many years ago, I helped a Core Formation cultivator. He was heavily injured and I helped protect him while he recovered. He gifted me this sword as thanks, but disciple's cultivation level is too low to use it."

The old man eyes lit up and he said, "Oh? What kind of injury? Describe it to me."

With Wang Lin's 500 years of being a cultivator, all he had to do was casually make something up and it would sound real. After the old man heard a little, the doubt in his heart disappeared. After all, the person before him was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Without seeing it personally, there was no way for him to describe the injury this clearly. Although there were some places that were a bit iffy, that was normal. If it was explained too clearly, it would seem fake.

"Okay, I can see that you have worked hard to reach your cultivation level, so I'll make an exception. Follow me!" With that, the old man entered the Soul Refining Sect. At the same time, he took out a token and pressed it behind him. The light preventing Wang Lin from entering immediately disappeared.

Wang Lin quickly walked in.

"Follow me closely. There are many restrictions within my Soul Refining Sect; if you enter one of them, I won't save you." With that, the old man flew forward.

Wang Lin slapped his bag of holding and a flying sword appeared. He stepped onto the flying sword and followed the old man.

Shortly after, the old man stopped at a cliff. There was a luxurious palace here as well as countless houses nearby.

After the old man landed, he shouted, "Chang Dawei!"

"I'm coming, Red-Hair. What are you shouting for?" A lazy voice came from one of the houses. Soon, a middle-aged man walked out. This person's hair was very messy, like it had been many years since it was last washed.

The red-haired old man laughed and said, "This is a disciple I met on the way. How about you take him as an outer disciple?"

The middle-aged man let out a yawn as he glanced at Wang Lin, who was standing behind the red-haired old man. He lazily said, "Since you personally asked, how could I refuse?"

The red-haired elder smiled and said, "This time I gathered over 100 vengeful souls when left the sect. I'll add them to my soul flag and make one of them a main soul. Once I finish, I'll come and drink with you."

With that, the old man flew into the distance.

The middle-aged man looked at Wang Lin and asked, "What is your name?"

Wang Lin respectfully said, "Disciple is named Qian Mu."

"The 1090th cave on this mountain will belong to you. It costs one mid quality spirit stone to use it for one year." The middle-aged man threw a black token at Wang Lin.

Wang Lin made it look like his heart was aching as he took out two mid quality spirit stones. After the middle-aged man took the spirit stones, he no longer paid attention to Wang Lin and left.

Just as Wang Lin wanted to leave, the middle-aged man suddenly asked, "What did you give Red-Hair?"

Wang Lin honestly replied, "A flying sword that a senior gave me in the past."

"No wonder that Red-Hair was so happy! Qian Mu, although you are at the Foundation Establishment stage, you shouldn't be proud. Although there aren't many Foundation Establishment cultivators among the outer disciples, there is still a decent amount. Six months from tomorrow is when the competition of the outer sect disciples starts. If you work hard on your cultivation, you might have a chance to become a core disciple." The middle-aged man then shook his head and walked into the room.

At this moment, Liu Mei looked toward the Soul Refining Sect from a mountain 25 kilometers away. She was holding a piece of jade. This jade was sent to her by the ancestor via messenger. Although it couldn't pinpoint Ceng Niu's exact location, it would have a reaction if he was within 50 kilometers.

At this moment, the jade was releasing a green light.

Liu Mei whispered, "Is he at the Soul Refining Sect…"

Chapter 376 - The last day of the new year

A ray of green light was flying over the eastern side of planet Suzaku. However, this person was not flying with his body but with his origin soul.

He was a mess; there were three fist-sized dents on his origin soul. Each one was emitting a silver light.

This person was the Giant Demon Clan's ancestor. He was heavily injured by Sun Tai's demon child and had to escape with his origin soul. He didn't even have time to worry about Wang Lin.

But that demon child was very strange; it never said a word and only chased after him. In these past few months they almost circled the entire planet once.

During the chase, the Giant Demon Clan ancestor was hit by a few of the demon child's punches. These small fists marks shouldn't be looked down upon because they had injured his origin soul. If it wasn't for the fact that he had been a cultivator for a very long time and had some secret techniques of the Giant Demon Clan, he wouldn't have been able to get away.

He was too injured to us his bloodline power again, so, in the end, he lured the demon child to the extreme north. There was an ancient restriction there that had been in place since planet Suzaku was founded. Only by trapping the demon child in there was he able to get away.

He was very weak at the moment and he didn't want to attract too much attention, so he quickly returned to the Giant Demon Clan. As for whether or not Chi Hu and the other clan members had made it out alive, he had long forgotten about them.

After returning to the Giant Demon Clan, he immediately possessed a clan member and began his closed door cultivation.

As for Wang Lin, he didn't dare to search for him now. Suzaku had already begun to investigate this matter, so he could only clench his teeth and helplessly give up for now.

Although he didn't catch Wang Lin, he stole this mysterious flying sword. At this moment, the ancestor opened his eyes. He moved around in the body he was possessing and his eyes darkened.

This possessed body would take time to completely become his own. This time varied depending on the cultivation levels of the person being possessed and of the person doing the possessing.

The ancestor's eyes lit up. He slapped his bag of holding and the celestial sword flew out and floated before him.

The ancestor pointed at the celestial sword and a miserable scream mixed with pleas for mercy immediately came out.

The ancestor shouted, "Sword spirit, appear!"

Black gas suddenly came out of the celestial sword and formed the shape of Xu Liguo. After he saw the Giant Demon Clan ancestor, he immediately began to beg for mercy. "My lord, have mercy. Please don't kill me. I was forced by that person named Wang! My hatred for him isn't any less than yours, my lord! I hate him to the bones!"

After the Giant Demon Clan ancestor heard Xu Liguo's words, he was stunned and then immediately smiled. "You are certainly a strange sword spirit. Most sword spirits are very determined and loyal."

Xu Liguo immediately revealed a pleasing smile and said, "Your grandpa Xu…"

The ancestor stared at Xu Liguo.

Xu Liguo quickly changed his expression and said, "How could those servant sword spirits compare to me? A wise man knows who they should follow!"

The Giant Demon Clan ancestor looked at Xu Liguo and then shot a ray of green light at him. Xu Liguo immediately began to scream miserably while speaking badly about Wang Lin.

The ancestor snorted and removed the spell. He then shouted, "From today onward, you are my sword spirit. Since you surrendered on your own, I won't place a restriction on you. After all, in my hands, you won't be able to escape anyway!"

In truth, that green light was meant to be a seal, but it only hurt Xu Liguo instead of sealing him.

This old man was very surprised, but he didn't show it on his face. He decided to research it more once he adjusts to his new body.

Xu Liguo immediately revealed a thankful expression. He patted his chest and said, "My lord, don't worry; I have always been loyal. That Wang Lin mistreated me, so I rebelled against him, but my lord treats me so well; I wouldn't dare to betray you. This is my oath. If I break it, let 10,000 demons pierce my heart!"

Seeing this, the Giant Demon Clan ancestor lightened up. Xu Liguo let out a sigh of relief. He secretly thought, "It seems your granda Xu Liguo is smart. I don't know when that fiend will come and save me, so I must resist. I will first give in and then get back at this old man in the future. I, Xu Liguo, am very loyal. That fiend has been good to me, so how could I betray him?"

The Giant Demon Clan ancestor's eyes lit up. He originally wanted to wipe this sword spirit out and replace it with his own. However, if it was not the initial sword spirit, he wouldn't be able to use the sword's full power.

Moreso, this sword spirit was not simple; it had gained enough intelligence to beg for mercy and to please others. Thus, it made him even more unwilling to give it up.

It has to be said that it was very rare for a sword spirit to gain intelligence. During battles, the benefits of intelligent sword spirits were great.

He didn't know that Xu Liguo wasn't the original sword spirit and that the reason he was intelligent was because he was a devil.

Even if Xu Liguo were to break the oath he had just made, the punishment wouldn't harm him at all. In fact, he was waiting for the punishment to happen, because it would actually strengthen him instead.

The Giant Demon Clan ancestor pondered for a bit before putting Xu Liguo back into the sword and carefully examining it. The more he saw, the more shocked he was.

"This sword is definitely not normal! I don't even know what material it's made of."

His eyes lit up and he carefully placed the sword inside his bag.

As for Wang Lin, he took the token, flew along the mountain until he found cave 1090, and flew inside.

This cave was not very big. It was very similar to the one he used back in the Heng Yue Sect. All it had was a stone bed; there wasn't even a table.

But the spiritual energy in here was very dense, several times more dense than outside. It was even slightly better than the well in the Fire Cloud Village which was powered by three almost-depleted top quality spirit stones.

Although spiritual energy released by top quality spirit stones was easy to absorb, it lacked a sense of vigor. Especially spirit stones that were about to be depleted; they had no vigor at all. The spiritual energy released by the spirit vein here was much better.

Wang Lin sat down in the lotus position on the stone bed and began to cultivate.

Three days later, Wang Lin opened his eyes and shook his head. He felt like it was still too slow. He slapped his bag of holding and took out three top quality spirit stones. Then he placed several restrictions on the walls and the entrance before closing his eyes to cultivate again.

As a result, the spiritual energy in room 1090 immediately became denser. When the spiritual energy reached the walls, the restrictions would bounce it all back, preventing it from dissipating.

The cave had become like a steamer. The spiritual energy had nowhere to go, so Wang Lin became the only outlet.

As he breathed, large amounts of spiritual energy surged into his body.

Wang Lin's face turned slightly red as he silently cultivated.

The amount of spiritual energy in his body gradually grew, but it was still far from what he needed to break the tea domain and the seal. The tea domain and seal devoured spiritual energy, so as Wang Lin's cultivation level increased, they became even harder to break.

Time slowly passed. It has been a month since Wang Lin became an outer disciple of the Soul Refining Sect.

On this day, Wang Lin opened his eyes. His eyes were brighter than before. In this past month, he had been absorbing spiritual energy like crazy. Of the three top quality spirit stones, two had already turned to dust and the last one was about to expire as well.

After wasting so many resources, his gains this month were also great. He started at the early stage of Foundation Establishment and managed to reach the peak of the mid stage of Foundation Establishment, only one step from the late stage.

"It is still too slow. I had to waste top quality spirit stones to barely reach this stage. I only have 15 top quality spirit stones left. These won't be nearly enough." Wang Lin sighed and moved his body.

Cracking sounds filled the room as countless cracks appeared on the stone bed.

Cracks even appeared on the surrounding walls.

Wang Lin was startled at first and then he pondered a bit. He immediately understood that it was because the spiritual energy was too dense for the cave to handle.

If this continued, the cracks would become even larger.

"I can't use this cave anymore; I have to change caves." Wang Lin's hand pressed on the wall and all the cracks immediately closed up.

Even the stone bed returned to normal when Wang Lin pressed on it.

However, Wang Lin knew that this was only on the surface. If the spiritual energy increased, the cracks would reappear.

But as long as he refrained from using top quality spirit stones, the cracks wouldn't appear and he wouldn't arouse any suspicion.

Wang Lin pondered a bit, then he stood up, opened the cave's door, and walked out.

It was currently dusk and the distant sunset emitted a red glow. Today was the last day of the year. Wang Lin looked at the sunset. The winter's sunlight didn't contain much warmth. By the time it landed on one's body, it was already cold.

He pondered a bit and remembered that today was the last day of the year. Once today passes, it will be a new year. He thought about what little Zhou Ru could be doing. Was she still bullying Little White…

Thinking about this, Wang Lin let out a faint smile. He faced the sunset and took a deep breath.

Wang Lin muttered to himself, "Life rises from the ashes!" From his place high up in the heavens, he was suddenly beaten down into becoming a mortal, but he was able to get through it all with his determination.

It wasn't until today that he could lament about it and mutter those words. As he thought about what had happened since he lost his cultivation, a complex feeling appeared in his heart.

Today, the last day of the year, represented Wang Lin's fall, but tomorrow was the first day of the new year, representing infinite new possibilities.

Wang Lin whispered, "It has passed…"

At this moment, a girl's beautiful figure slowly flew toward the Soul Refining Sect in the sunset.

Wang Lin's eyes became focused. "This person… looks familiar…"

Chapter 377 - Gathering Spirits

Wang Lin carefully looked at the girl as she floated into the inner part of the Soul Refining Sect.

"This person is a bit familiar…" Wang Lin took one more look and pondered a bit, but he wasn't able to remember where he had seen this person before.

He floated down from the mountain and arrived before the buildings near the center of the mountain range.

The middle-aged man was currently cultivating with his eyes closed. When Wang Lin landed, he casually glanced at Wang Lin, but then his eyes were immediately filled with shock and he stared wide-eyed at Wang Lin.

"Eh!! You reached the mid stage of Foundation Establishment!" This person's face was filled with shock.

Wang Lin secretly sighed. Because his origin soul collapsed, he couldn't hide his cultivation level, so this Core Formation cultivator could see through him.

Wang Lin secretly thought, "I must quickly recover my origin soul or else it will be a problem in the future." He respectfully said, "Disciple was already at the edge, and because this place has plenty of spiritual energy, I got lucky and made a breakthrough to the mid stage of Foundation Establishment."

The middle-aged man's expression didn't change, but he began to ponder. What Wang Lin said wasn't strange, but his cultivation speed was a bit too fast.

He took a good look at Wang Lin and, after memorizing who Wang Lin was, asked, "Why did you come here?"

Wang Lin clasped his hands and said, "Disciple wants to change to a cave with more spiritual energy."

The middle-aged man frowned. "Cultivators shouldn't be too greedy. Your cultivation speed is too fast, so your foundation is unstable. If you keep this up, you will never reach the Core Formation stage!"

Wang Lin pondered a bit and said, "Disciple understands, but I hope senior can agree."

The middle-aged man looked at Wang Lin and said, "Since you insist, I won't try to stop you, but to change rooms costs one more mid quality spirit stone."

Wang Lin bitterly smiled. He looked heartbroken as he handed over a mid quality spirit stone.

The middle-aged man took the spirit stone and said, "Give me your token."

Wang Lin handed the token over. After the middle-aged man put it away, he took out another token and said, "The lower the number, the more spiritual energy there is inside." With that, he threw the token at Wang Lin.

After catching the token, he saw the number on it: 803. Then he quickly thanked the middle-aged man before leaving.

It wasn't until he left that the middle-aged man's eyes lit up and he muttered to himself, "Strange." Then he flew to cave 1090.

In the blink of an eye, he arrived inside the cave. He searched the cave for a while but found nothing wrong. Then he began to ponder.

"Was I being too paranoid? Was he just indeed at the brink of a breakthrough which resulted in his cultivation speed being so fast?" The middle-aged man pondered a bit and then walked out of the cave. He decided to pay more attention to this person called Qian Mu.

Wang Lin flew along the mountain with the token until he found cave 803. The size of the cave was the same as 1090's, but in the center of the cave was a small formation.

This formation was very complicated; it even gave off the feeling that it wasn't real.

After Wang Lin entered the cave, his gaze fell on the formation. He looked at it for a while and found that it was actually a simple spiritual energy gathering formation.

There were many unnecessary things added to it, which were clearly there to prevent people from figuring the formation out.

The purpose of this formation was to gather the surrounding spiritual energy to create an area with dense spiritual energy. However, this formation had to be used on top of a spirit vein eye or else it wouldn't be very effective.

Spirit vein eyes were like acupuncture points on a person's body.

"This place can't be a spirit vein eye, so it must be a pseudo spirit vein eye!" Wang Lin looked at it for a while and figured out its secret.

Although he had his cultivation sealed by the tea domain and the seal, he was a Soul Formation cultivator. With his 500 years of experience, he was instantly able to see through the formation.

It has to be said that even Core Formation cultivators would have a hard time seeing through this formation. Only at the Nascent Soul stage could one see it, but they would still have a very hard time understanding it.

Especially because there were many redundant things added on top of the formation, making it even harder to see through.

After all, for the Soul Refining Sect to turn this entire mountain into caves for the outer disciples, they must have taken measures to prevent people from seeing through the formation.

However, the ancestor of the Soul Refining Sect would never have imagined that a Soul Formation cultivator would be in the mountain for outer disciples.

Wang Lin's eyes lit up and he moved his right hand over the formation to find that there was an even more complicated formation under this one.

Wang Lin looked at it and thought, "I believe this formation is the one that's creating a pseudo spirit vein eye by linking it to the real one."

He pondered a bit before returning the formation back to normal. He sat down in the lotus position and placed restrictions on the walls again. Then he took out three top quality spirit stones and began to cultivate again.

The spiritual energy here was several times more dense than in room 1090. After all, this place had the spiritual-energy-gathering-formation here along with a formation that pulled from the spirit vein to create a fake spirit vein eye. The spiritual energy here would naturally be much more dense.

Adding on three top quality spirit stones, the density of the spiritual energy here had reached a frightening degree. Even if a Nascent Soul cultivator saw this, they would steal it without any hesitation.

By cultivating here, their cultivation speed would increase greatly.

Wang Lin emerged himself in cultivation and forgot about time. His entire body was covered in a layer of spiritual energy frost.

When the spiritual energy reached a certain density and wasn't able to go anywhere, it would condense into blue frost. Right now the entire floor of the cave was covered in this blue frost, making it look very beautiful.

There was even more spiritual energy frost gathered on Wang Lin's body. From a distance, he looked like a blue person. However, the tea mark on his face was still very deep and looked very frightening.

Spiritual energy slowly gathered inside Wang Lin's body. However, at the same time, the tea domain and seal also absorbed the spiritual energy and became more sturdy. They were currently several times sturdier than before.

Time slowly passed and Wang Lin had been in closed door cultivation here for two months.

In the these two months, Wang Lin's body hadn't moved a inch. He used all of this time to keep raising his cultivation level.

However, the higher his cultivation level became, the more spiritual energy it required and thus, his cultivation speed decreased. In these two months, he was only able to reach the late stage of Foundation Establishment. He was still a certain distance away from the peak of the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

The three top quality spirit stones had all turned to dust, which caused Wang Lin's heart to ache. He had decided to try to avoid using top quality spirit stones to cultivate.

On this day, Wang Lin's eyes landed on the formation in the room. His palm hit the ground and the formation shattered, revealing the other one underneath it.

"There isn't enough spiritual energy here. If I were to directly pull spiritual energy from this pseudo spirit vein eye, it should give me enough spiritual energy to reach the Core Formation stage!"

Wang Lin's eyes lit up as he stared at the formation and began to study it.

A formation was just a type of restriction, and Wang Lin was very familiar with restrictions. After studying it for a bit, he gained some understanding.

His hand formed a seal and the spiritual energy in his body moved. His hand created one afterimage after another and soon, his forehead was covered in sweat.

At almost the same moment an afterimage appeared, another one would start forming.

The sweat from his forehead had already gotten his clothes soaked.

This illusionary restriction was Wang Lin's own creation, and it was very different from normal restrictions. With his current cultivation level, it was very easy to create normal restrictions, but the illusionary restrictions were very difficult.

Back when he was inside the land of ancient god with his Core Formation cultivation, he could only create several of these. Now he was only at the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

With his current cultivation level, he could barely make one.

Wang Lin's hand moved faster and faster until all of the afterimages merged into one. Wang Lin pointed at the formation and shouted, then the illusionary restriction suddenly landed on the formation.

The formation immediately shook and then a powerful force came out of it and spread out.

Wang Lin dodged the force and stared at the formation.

After the force disappeared, the formation stopped working and no more spiritual energy came out. Wang Lin walked up and pointed at the formation. Then a series crackling sounds appeared as the formation shattered, revealing a spirit stone the size of a fist.

The color of this spirit stone was red and it looked like there were clouds floating inside it. Wang Lin was able to identify it immediately. This stone was known as the Crystal Kun Stone. It had the ability to absorb spiritual energy but no way to store it.

Without a word, Wang Lin's right hand pressed upon the red stone and it began to cultivate.

Bang!

And unfathomable amount spiritual energy surged out from the Crystal Kun Stone at an unimaginable speed and charged into Wang Lin's body.

With the powerful surge of spiritual energy charging into his body, he felt his pores open and black gas coming out of them.

The tea mark on his face dimmed. Although it hadn't been destroyed, it was clear that it had weakened.

Wang Lin felt very happy. He didn't think that directly absorbing from the spirit vein eye would have such an effect, but he knew that it would only be this effective the first time. Once this powerful spiritual energy surge stabilizes, he will need to find an even more powerful spirit vein eye to obtain a similar effect.

Wang Lin took a deep breath and removed all distractions from his mind. The spiritual energy coming out from the Crystal Kun Stone gradually leveled out until it was no longer as fierce as it was before. Wang Lin also slowly emerged himself in cultivation once again.

Chapter 378 - Crazy Recovery (1)

Country of Xue Yue, inside the Divine Snow and Ice Shrine.

Li Yuanfeng was currently sitting in the lotus position and cultivating. Around him were five large blocks of ice. Each of these blocks emitted a five-colored light as well as slivers of celestial spiritual energy for him to absorb.

There was a piece of celestial jade the size of a thumbnail inside each block of ice. Thanks to a formation in the ice, the celestial spiritual energy underwent a mysterious change.

Li Yuanfeng currently didn't look too bad, but his expression was dim and his face was pale.

After a very long time, he opened his eyes and revealed a lingering look of fear.

"What powerful lightning! That lightning contained celestial spiritual energy. Even though I managed to reduce its power by half before it landed on me, it still managed to cause me such injuries."

Li Yuanfeng tried to kill Wang Lin while Sun Tai and the Giant Demon Clan ancestor was fighting. However, he was attacked by Sun Tai's lightning and spent a lot of effort to finally escape.

He had only reached the Soul Transformation stage by force through a secret technique from Suzaku. He had no hope of having a breakthrough in the future.

As a result, compared to those cultivators who broke through to the Soul Transformation stage themselves, he was too weak.

Li Yuanfeng was stronger than peak late stage Soul Formation cultivators but weaker than true Soul Transformation cultivators, so there was no way for him to stand up against Sun Tai's lightning.

"I don't know if Ceng Niu died or not. Even if he didn't die, my tea domain is not something that can be broken easily." Li Yuanfeng sneered and his eyes became cold.

"That junior Red Butterfly announced that she was going into close door cultivation for 100 years. Once she comes out, she will definitely be a Soul Transformation cultivator. But at that point, my lifespan will have ended and it won't matter anymore. Why did the Giant Demon Clan's ancestor want Ceng Niu's body? This is very strange! Could there be something I don't know…" Li Yuanfeng pondered a bit but still wasn't able to guess the reason.

Inside Pilu, among one of the many mountains used by the Soul Refining Sect's outer sect disciples, Wang Lin awakened from his cultivation.

"The peak of the late stage of Foundation Establishment!"

Wang Lin's eyes were bright as he took a deep breath and moved his body. The spiritual frost on his body began to move and entered his body.

Even the frost on the ground and walls turned into faint, blue gas and was absorbed by Wang Lin.

The tea mark on Wang Lin's face had faded a bit but was still very shocking.

"This pseudo spirit vein eye isn't enough to meet my needs; I need to find a place with even denser spiritual energy. I believe the spot where the real spirit vein eye is located will be enough." Wang Lin rebuilt the formations to cover up the pseudo spirit vein eye and walked out of the cave.

It was sunny outside the cave. Looking into the distance, there was a hint of spring. The mountainsides were green, creating an elegant feel. Although the wind was still cold, it contained a hint of warmth.

Wang Lin took a deep breath and was about to leave when his expression changed. He turned to look to the side.

There were countless caves near Wang Lin's cave. He had been in closed door cultivation this entire time, so aside from the middle-aged man, he hadn't met anyone else.

Right now, at a cave 100 feet away, another person walked out. This person was wearing light blue clothes made of yarn and had a white veil over their shoulder, giving off a very out-of-this-world feel.

A head full of black hair was moving along with the wind. She seemed very gentle and, along with a hint of pink on her cheeks, looked very elegant.

This woman seemed to have noticed that someone was looking at her, so she looked over. Her eyes contained an unexplainable beauty. After seeing Wang Lin, she let out a smile as a response and then looked into the distance.

Wang Lin withdrew his gaze. He was immediately able to recognize this girl as the person he saw arriving in the sunset.

Wang Lin frowned. "This girl looks familiar… But I'm confident that I have never seen her before…"

The Liu Mei from the Xuan Dao Sect was only an avatar created from the Thousand Clone technique.

Wang Lin pondered a bit and no longer cared about this girl. Although she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life, even more beautiful than Red Butterfly and someone Li Muwan couldn't even compare to, but she still couldn't attract his attention.

He jumped down from the mountain and examined it as he floated down. Then his gaze focused on one of the caves on the mountain.

There wasn't anything special about this cave, and it wasn't the lowest one. From a distance, he could see the number 743 on top of the cave's entrance.

"It should be here!" Wang Lin landed and look at the cave.

While he was cultivating, he used the pseudo spirit vein eye to find where the real spirit vein eye was located. Looking at it now, he was able to immediately determine that cave 743 was one the closest to the real spirit vein eye.

"There is someone inside." Wang Lin saw that the door of the cave was sealed. After pondering a bit, he came up with a plan.

He was about to return to his cave when the middle-aged man walked out of his house. His eyes lit up and he looked toward Wang Lin.

In truth, was watching Wang Lin from the moment he came out.

The middle-aged man's expression revealed no emotion as he said, "Qian Mu, come here!"

A trace of killing intent appeared in Wang Lin's eyes. He arrived ten feet away the middle-aged man.

"Peak of the late stage of Foundation Establishment…" The middle-aged man's pupils shrank and his heart started beating like crazy. He had a hunch that there was something strange about this Qian Mu. Qian Mu's cultivation speed was too fast. When he got here, he was only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment.

When the middle-aged man next saw him, he was at the mid stage of Foundation Establishment.

Now that the middle-aged man saw him again, he had already reached the peak of the late stage of Foundation Establishment. The middle-aged man licked his lips as his heart pounded. He didn't hesitate to think that the next time they meet, this person will have already reached his cultivation level, the early stage of Core Formation!

"This Qian Mu either has some heaven defying treasure or his cultivation method is very mysterious!" The middle-aged man stared at Wang Lin and smiled. "Qian Mu, I'm afraid that the next time we meet, I'll have to call you fellow cultivator."

Wang Lin glanced at this person and said, "No problem!"

A hint of ill intent appeared in the middle-aged man's eyes, but he quickly hid it and smiled. "Qian Mu, if you can reach the Core Formation stage, you will have a good chance in the competition to become a core disciple a few months from now. Once you become a core disciple, you have to remember to come back every now and then."

Wang Lin faintly smiled and said, "Of course… But the spiritual energy in my room isn't enough. I wonder if I can change to another one?"

The middle-aged man was startled and was a bit embarrassed. "The caves numbered under 700 require an elder's permission. However, I can help you apply for it once."

Wang Lin shook his head and said, "You don't have to go through that much trouble; I just want cave 743."

The middle-aged man looked at cave 743. He laughed and said, "That is no problem, but, Qian Mu, although cave 743 has more spiritual energy, it isn't the best."

"No problem!" Wang Lin laughed and took out two mid-quality spirit stones. "I have constantly had to bother senior. This extra spirit stone is something to show my respect."

After the middle-aged man accepted it, he secretly sneered. "Right now is not the time, but when night comes, no matter how many spirit stones you give me, I'm still going to find out how you cultivate so fast!"

Although he was thinking about this in his heart, he laughed. He took out a jade, recorded a message, and flicked it. The jade flew out. Under the control of the middle-aged man, it flew into cave 743.

After a while, a person flew out from cave 743. He was wearing black and his face was filled with meat. He looked more like a butcher than a cultivator. He landed before the middle-aged man and clasped his hands. "Senior, what do you wish to speak with me about?"

The middle-aged man said, "Give me your token. I'm changing your room."

"Change caves? I'm not changing; I'm cultivating just fine in there! Why should I change?" This person snorted. His gaze landed on Wang Lin and he sneered. "Are you the brat that wants to change? Give me 100 mid quality spirit stones or else don't even dream about it!"

With that, he returned to cave 743 without even looking at the middle-aged man.

"Hmph!" The middle-aged man looked at that man's back. He decided that after he deals with Qian Mu, he will definitely make that person pay.

"Qian Mu, you can go back first. I'll find a different cave for you tomorrow." The middle-aged man's voice was filled with determination. He clearly wasn't going to let Wang Lin speak anymore. He waved his sleeve and returned to his house.

Wang Lin's expression remained normal as he flew back to his cave. He sneered in his heart. If the middle-aged man doesn't come to bother him, then that means the middle-aged man wasn't destined to die. However, if the middle aged man gives into greed and comes to him at night, then Wang Lin can only kill him.

It was completely silent late at night as the middle-aged man walked out of his house. He looked at Wang Lin's cave and greed filled his eyes.

Chapter 379 - Crazy Recovery (2)

He had been stuck at the early stage of Core Formation for a very long time, which was why he was kicked out of the inner sect to become a steward for the outer sect disciples.

Wang Lin's cultivation speed gave him a sliver of hope.

"The sect doesn't care about the life and death of outer sect disciples at all, so it'll be fine if I kill him. This person is also a rogue cultivator, so after he dies, no one will search for him. Qian Mu, don't blame me; blame yourself for cultivating too fast. If I wait until you reach the Core Formation stage, it will be difficult to deal with you, but right now it will be as simple as waving my hand!"

The middle-aged man flew toward Wang Lin's cave and arrived outside of it in the blink of an eye.

The surroundings were completely silent and the middle-aged man was stunned. Normally, when someone was in closed door cultivation, the door would be completely sealed, but Wang Lin's door was only half-closed.

Having eliminated the need to use the jade to open the door, the middle-aged man bravely entered the cave. Although he found it strange, he didn't think a late stage Foundation Establishment cultivator would be his match, so he entered the cave.

The moment he entered the cave, he saw Wang Lin sitting on the bed calmly looking at him.

The middle-aged man's eyes lit up and without a word his hand formed a seal. He silently shot out a ray of spiritual energy toward Wang Lin.

He didn't want to kill Wang Lin now; he wanted to capture him and question him before ending his life.

Wang Lin's eyes revealed a mocking expression. He slapped his bag of holding and took out the restriction flag. He shook the flag and then a ray of restriction light shot out of it and collided with the ray of spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy immediately collapsed.

"You're courting death!" The middle-aged man sneered and spat out a three-inch-long sword. He held the sword and charged toward the restriction gas. In his mind, this late stage Foundation Establishment junior couldn't withstand the power of this flying sword that had been refined by his golden core.

But his smile froze. The moment the flying sword touched the restriction gas, a cracking sound could be heard. The sword broke in half straight down the middle.

Wang Lin, who was on the stone bed, shook his head and sighed. "When I started cultivating, you weren't even born yet!"

The middle-aged man's face was pale and he coughed out blood. Without any hesitation, he turned around to leave, but the restriction gas quickly caught him and dragged him back.

The middle-aged man opened his mouth to speak, but after a slap from Wang Lin, he let out a miserable groan and coughed out a mouthful of blood along with some broken teeth.

"I'm from the Soul Refining Sect…" The middle-aged man was terrified from the pain.

But before he finished speaking, Wang Lin slapped him again. A hint of madness entered the middle-aged man's eyes. He had never been humiliated like this since he started cultivating.

"I'll fight to the end!" The middle-aged man shouted, and then cracks appeared on his golden core. His eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Wang Lin.

"It would be a waste to let your golden core explode." Wang Lin shook the restriction flag in his hand and three branches of restriction gas immediately shot out. In the blink of eye, they entered the middle-aged man's body and wrapped around his golden core. To the middle-aged man's shock, his golden core was torn out of his body.

Wang Lin grabbed the golden core and swallowed it.

The middle-aged man's body trembled. He coughed out blood and his body weakened. He screamed in his heart, "He is not at the Foundation Establishment stage!! He is not a Foundation Establishment cultivator!!"

All of his spiritual energy was being drained from his body. He clenched his teeth and managed to squeeze out, "You…Who exactly are you…"

"You don't deserve to know!" Wang Lin arrived before the middle-aged man and pointed at his brow. The middle-aged man's eyes widened before they lost their color and he fell down.

Wang Lin shook his head. He didn't want to kill, but this person forced him to. He hit the middle-aged man's body with his hand and the entire body turned to ashes and disappeared.

Wang Lin walked out of the cave and charged toward cave 743.

Outside of cave 743, Wang Lin waved his hand to shoot a restriction at the door. Then his body turn into a ray of white light and charged toward the door.

The moment he touched the door, his body disappeared. When he reappeared, he was inside cave 743.

The reason he was able to get through was because of that restriction.

"Who!?" A gasp came from inside the cave. The butcher-looking guy was sitting on the stone bed with a look of disbelief on his face.

But after seeing that it was Wang Lin, he became angry, but he suddenly felt like cold water was being poured over him. He didn't know that Wang Lin had entered through a restriction, so the only thing he could think of was teleportation.

"Sen… Senior…" His voice was trembling. Before he could say more, Wang Lin arrived before him. Wang Lin pointed at the butcher-looking guy's brow, causing him to pass out.

After throwing the person to the side, Wang Lin didn't even bother to look at him. His eyes fell on the right wall.

Shortly after, Wang Lin slapped his bag of holding and a flying sword appeared. He pointed at the wall and the flying sword cut into it.

The sounds of stone being smashed filled the room and soon, a hole big enough for a person to crawl through appeared. Wang Lin entered the hole after the flying sword.

With the flying sword opening a path, Wang Lin followed. The tunnel went on for more than 300 feet, and at the end of the tunnel was a room that was glowing gold.

"Spirit vein ore deposit!" Wang Lin's eyes lit up. He was filled with joy.

He pointed at the flying sword, which let out a hymn as if it had intelligence, and it quickly went back through the tunnel. In the blink of an eye, it arrived back in cave 743 and stabbed into the ground next to the butcher-like cultivator.

The sword instantly exploded into pieces that formed a restriction, trapping the butcher-like cultivator inside.

Wang Lin pressed on the wall at the entrance and the walls of the tunnel began to move. Soon, the tunnel behind him disappeared without a trace.

Even looking from inside cave 743, one wouldn't be able to see anything wrong.

Wang Lin's right hand formed a seal and he placed a restriction on the spirit vein ore deposit. This was the same restriction he had used to get inside cave 743. He charged into the deposit and reappeared deep within it.

Now he was in the depths of the mountain. There were countless spirit stone deposits surrounding him, creating a powerful surge of spiritual energy.

This spiritual energy couldn't be directly absorbed by cultivators because there was too much impurity inside it. It needed to be converted before cultivators could absorb it.

However, this only applied to low level cultivators, so Wang Lin didn't care at all.

The density of spiritual energy here had reached such a degree that it created a pressure similar to what powerful cultivators could create. However, this was all just natural spiritual energy, so it couldn't compare to the pressure a cultivator emitted.

Wang Lin was immediately affected by the pressure once he charged in. This pressure felt like an entire mountain pressing down upon him.

However, this mountain wasn't just pressing from above; it pressed Wang Lin's body from all sides.

Crackling sounds came from inside his body as a result. Instead of being worried, Wang Lin was extremely happy. This was exactly the pressure he was looking for. Under this pressure, he could feel his shattered origin soul beginning to reform.

"I'm going all the way!" He slapped his bag of holding and three top quality spirit stones flew out. Wang Lin took a deep breath before letting out a roar and then the three top quality spirit stones all exploded.

An insane amount of spiritual energy exploded forth and fused with the surrounding spiritual energy. The pressure Wang Lin was feeling suddenly increased several fold.

Wang Lin bled from his orifices, but his eyes were filled with joy.

"Still need a bit more!" Wang Lin clenched his teeth and two more top quality spirit stones appeared and exploded. As if adding a spoonful of water into boiling oil, the spirit vein went crazy.

The pressure on Wang Lin's body increased greatly.

Under this powerful pressure, the shattered pieces of Wang Lin's origin soul were slowly condensing like pieces of a shattered mirror being put back together.

At the same time, an unimaginable amount of spiritual energy entered Wang Lin's body. Even the tea domain and seal couldn't stop it.

Wang Lin's cultivation began to recover at an extremely quick pace.

Breakthrough to the peak of the late stage of Foundation Establishment!

Core Formation, complete!

Breakthrough to the early stage Core Formation!

Breakthrough to the mid stage!

Breakthrough to the late stage!

Breakthrough to the early of stage Nascent Soul!

The spirit vein's core began to dim and the spirit stone deposits turned to dust which rapidly spread.

Ten breaths!

Only ten breaths! In just ten breaths of time, all of the trees growing on the mountain wilted.

The entire spirit vein inside the mountain dimmed and disappeared in just ten breaths of time. The entire mountain was now a useless spirit vein.

At this moment, thousands of outer sect disciples that were cultivating inside this mountain opened their eyes. They all noticed the spiritual energy inside their rooms disappear. After that, a powerful suction force came from below them, sucking away the spiritual energy inside their bodies.

Terrified, all of the outer sect disciples used various methods to leave the caves. They no longer dared to stay within them.

In the spirit vein deep inside the mountain, Wang Lin suddenly opened his eyes. He immediately teleported and disappeared. When he reappeared, he was already outside the mountain. There were outer sect disciples all around him. They were all talking with shock and fear on their faces.

All Wang Lin could hear was speculation about the strange event that had just taken place.

As for that butcher-like cultivator, Wang Lin controlled the shattered sword to release the restriction to let him come out. When the butcher-like cultivator saw Wang Lin, he immediately became terrified.

However, with one cold glance from Wang Lin, he immediately became respectful and no longer dared to make any noise.

Just at this moment, a gaze was cast upon him. He turned his head and saw that beautiful woman looking at him with a friendly smile.

Wang Lin frowned. He didn't have time to deal with this woman. He glanced coldly at her and then withdrew his gaze.

"Peak of the mid stage of Nascent Soul!! I didn't expect that my action just now would allow me to recover to this level of cultivation. And along with this, my origin soul has begun to recover. Although it is not completely healed, I can now use my domain!" Wang Lin took a deep breath. His eyes were calm.

However, compared to all of this, the life to death and death to life experience he gained was even more important.

The huge change in the mountain attracted the attention of the inner sect. Three people came out. One of them was a white-haired elder who emitted a pressure without even being angry. He shouted, "All of you, shut up!"

Chapter 380 - Search

The surroundings suddenly became silent.

The old man shouted, "Where is Liu Fulin?" After a long time, no one responded. The old man frowned, then he looked at the two next to him and the three of them flew toward the mountain.

Liu Fulin was the middle-aged man that got greedy.

As for the three of them, they were inner disciples of the Soul Refining Sect and also the deacons of the outer sect.

Wang Lin's eyes faintly lit up. The old man was at the early stage of Nascent Soul while the other two were both at the late stage of Core Formation.

The three of them flew into the mountain, but only the old man flew out. He had a very ugly expression on his face. His eyes were filled with confusion but even more filled with shock.

The old man's eyes lit up and he shouted, "You outer sect disciples can just cultivate here. None of you are allowed to leave!" Then he took out a piece of jade, recorded some information, and threw it.

The jade turned into a ray of light and flew into the inner sect.

The majority of the outer sect disciples were startled, but there were a few that sat down and cultivated. Wang Lin was one of them.

He sat on a giant tree and cultivated.

After the old man arrived, he carefully scanned each of the outer sect disciples.

When he went into the mountain with his fellow sect members earlier, they were terrified the moment they found out that the entire spirit vein had been wasted. When they went deep into the spirit vein and reached the ores, the ores turned to dust the moment they touched them. This occurs when the spiritual energy is sucked out of them too quickly.

This whole thing was very strange. He had never heard of or seen anything like this happening since the Soul Refining Sect was formed.

His gaze swept past each of the disciples one by one. He didn't pause on Wang Lin at all. In his eyes, Wang Lin was only at the late stage of Foundation Establishment; he was not worth noting.

Because Wang Lin's origin soul had recovered a bit, no one below the Soul Formation stage could see through his cultivation.

Not long after, more than ten rays of light flew out of the inner sect and arrived before the old man in the blink of an eye. When they landed, the rays of light became ten people. Among them were five Nascent Soul cultivators while the rest were at least at the mid stage of Core Formation.

One of the middle-aged scholars was at the late stage of Nascent Soul. He was wearing a black robe and emitted a cold aura like there were countless vengeful ghosts surrounding him. The moment he appeared, the surroundings immediately became cold.

His eyes were like lightning as he coldly looked at the mountain and said, "Junior apprentice brother, what exactly happened for you to send that jade?"

The old man from before immediately became respectful and said, "Third senior apprentice brother, the spirit vein in this mountain was sucked dry in almost an instant. I suspect it had something to do with these outer sect disciples."

The middle-aged man's eyes lit up and he shouted, "Seal off the surroundings. If anyone dares to leave, kill them! Junior apprentice brother, follow me up the mountain to meet the sect master."

With that, he turned into a ray of light and charged toward the inner sect.

The old man quickly followed and the two of them entered the inner sect in the blink of an eye.

Wang Lin's expression remained calm as he coldly looked at the guards. If he were to call out the mosquito beast, he would be able to escape in an instant. However, the beast was his last resort, and he didn't want to give up such a good cultivation ground.

Although his origin soul had recovered a bit, it hadn't been completely reformed yet. He tried to call out the heaven defying bead but wasn't able to. Wang Lin pondered for a bit and didn't do anything reckless.

Some light came from the horizon as the sun appeared, covering the land with warmth. The light dispelled the darkness. As the surroundings gradually lit up, the middle-aged scholar flew out from the inner sect.

Following behind him were nine people. All nine of them were wearing red robes. Their ages varied, but the one thing they had in common was that they were all surrounded by large, vengeful souls. Looking at them from a distance, in front of the light of the sun, it looked like they were surrounded by demonic flames that reached the sky.

With a gloomy expression, the middle-aged scholar shouted, "Split into ten groups to be inspected!"

The nine red-robed people behind him moved and all activated a technique at the same time. Red gas poured from their sleeves and surrounded each of the thousands of outer sect disciples that were standing outside. The outer sect disciples were split into ten groups against their will.

Along with the middle-aged man, each of them them took charge of one group and called the outer sect disciples one by one for inspection.

They didn't even need to ask any questions; they simply pointed at the brow of each outer sect disciple and a few breaths later they would move on to the next person.

Wang Lin was split into the third group,. His eyes were calm without any trace of panic or abnormality. These nine people in red were all only at the mid stage of Nascent Soul, so Wang Lin didn't consider them threats at all.

Whenever an outer sect disciple passed, they would let out a sigh of relief. As time passed, the surrounding atmosphere became increasingly oppressive.

Just at this moment, a green-robed cultivator in the fourth group moved like lightning and attempted to escape.

The surrounding inner sect disciples were constantly on guard, so the moment this person tried to escape, a Core Formation disciple moved to attempt to stop that person.

"Scram!" The green-robed cultivator shouted, as he waved his hand, creating a powerful force. The Core Formation disciple groaned and his body was pushed to the side.

Without a word, the green-robed cultivator turned back around and rushed toward the opening. Just as he was about to make it out, the red-robed cultivator in charge of group four reached out with his hands.

"Come back!"

Five rays of black light suddenly flew out of his fingers. They moved like lightning and in the blink of an eye drilled into the body of the green-robed cultivator.

The green-robed cultivator let out a miserable groan and his body went soft. The red-robed cultivator dragged him back and threw him into the open space in the middle of all the groups.

After that, the red-robed cultivator didn't even look at the green-robed cultivator and said, "Next person, come up!"

All of the outer sect disciples were filled with fear, especially those that came with some bad intentions. Their faces became ugly upon seeing what had just happened.

At this moment, the eyes of red-robed cultivator in charge of group eight lit up as he looked at the pale-faced disciple before him who had an expression like he was begging for mercy. The red-robed cultivator grabbed the disciple and threw him into the opening in the middle of all the groups.

The amount of people in the middle gradually increased; there were now over 30 of them.

The red-robed cultivator in charge of the third group threw the disciple before him to the middle and slowly sad, "This is normally only done for disciples entering the inner sect, but today it is being used on you outer disciples, so you should all feel proud."

Wang Lin's expression remained calm, but his heart was shocked. The Soul Refining Sect had so many outer sect disciples that came with ill intentions, but none of them could escape this kind of inspection.

As for the butcher-like cultivator who was originally in cave 743, Wang Lin wasn't worried about him. He had already placed a restriction in that cultivator. Although Wang Lin's cultivation level had dropped, the complexity of his restrictions was not something these Nascent Soul cultivators could see through.

In Wang Lin's eyes, this person was kind of interesting. Although the butcher-like cultivator was at the late stage of Foundation Establishment on the surface, he was really at the pseudo Core Formation stage. But it wasn't too weird for outer sect disciples to hide their cultivation levels.

"You, come up!" The red-robed cultivator in charge of group five pointed at the butcher-like cultivator.

The butcher-like cultivator's body trembled as he quickly went up.

The red-robed cultivator pointed at the butcher-like cultivator's brow and then, after a few seconds, he waved his hand.

The butcher-like cultivator let out a sigh of relief and didn't dare to look at Wang Lin. He was currently in a state of shock and confusion. When that finger landed on his brow, he felt something cold enter his body; it felt like there was a giant hand going through his memories.

This feeling left as soon as it came. Before he could clearly feel what it was, the cold energy left.

Not long after, it was Wang Lin's turn.

The red-robed cultivator in charge of group three pointed at Wang Lin's brow, then shortly after he said, "Next!"

Wang Lin calmly walked to the side.

More than 1000 disciples were inspected by noon. More than 100 of them had been thrown into the middle.

The middle-aged man threw the last person into the middle and asked, "Did you guys find anything?"

One of the red-robed cultivators coldly said, "Aside from these people who have their own objectives, nothing related to the matter last night."

The remaining nine cultivators all shook their heads.

The middle-aged scholar pondered a bit before ordering, "You outer sect disciples go cultivate at the other mountains. There will be someone who will assign rooms to each of you."

The outer sect disciples who passed the test all respectfully bowed before flying toward different mountains.

As for the more than 100 cultivators in the middle, no one glanced back at them and no one cared about what would become of them.

Wang Lin was given a cave in a slightly smaller mountain nearby. He sat inside the cave cultivating, his eyes sparkling all the while.

"My cultivation has recovered to the mid stage of Nascent Soul. Although the effect of absorbing a spirit vein is good, it is simply too dangerous. If I continue, I might lure out Soul Formation cultivators or even Soul Transformation monsters. I have already caught their attention, so I can't do anything too big. However, when I was absorbing the spirit vein, I found out that there is an even bigger, main spirit vein nearby. The spirit vein I absorbed was only a branch."

"That main spirit vein should be under the inner sect of the Soul Refining Sect. If I can go there to cultivate, I should be able to recover my cultivation in one go. At that moment, even if I am found out and a Soul Transformation cultivator comes, I will still be able to escape. If worse comes to worst, I'll rip open space and escape using the star compass." Wang Lin pondered a bit. He knew that the Soul Refining Sect was located in a rank 5 cultivation country, meaning there were Soul Transformation cultivators in the sect. After thinking for awhile, he made up his mind.

Chapter 381 - First clash with Liu Mei

"The competition in June will be the best chance to enter the inner sect. Rumor has it that the Soul Refining Sect's most prized treasure is a soul flag with more than 100 million souls. The moment it appears, the sky changes colors. It is considered one of the top treasures in Suzaku."

"In addition to that, the Soul Refining Sect focuses on refining soul flags, and all of their techniques relate to the sect's treasured soul flag. Although other sects throughout Suzaku also know how to capture and refine souls, they can't compare to the Soul Refining Sect. If I can learn how they do it and refine a soul flag using wandering souls, it shouldn't be any weaker than the restriction flag."

Wang Lin's eyes lit up and he waved his hand. A series of illusionary restrictions appeared and landed on the surrounding walls. Then he took out a pure-white celestial jade.

This celestial jade was missing a piece, but the celestial energy it gave off wasn't much different from before.

"Now that my cultivation has recovered to the mid stage of Nascent Soul, I can swallow another piece of celestial jade to attempt to break the tea mark and seal in my body." Wang Lin took a deep breath, then he broke off a small piece of the jade and put it in his mouth.

Unimaginable pain suddenly spread throughout his body.

At this moment, in a valley surrounded by mountains in Chu, one could hear crisp laughter and the cries of a tiger filled with grievance.

It was spring inside the valley, so the ground was covered in green grass. Little Zhou Ru was wearing a coat embroidered with a peony flower, red pants, and she had two little pigtails on her head. She was now sitting on top of a tiger with black stripes, and she had a huge smile on her face. "Little White, you didn't do as you were told, so I'm punishing you by making you eat with chopsticks today."

The tiger let out a growl with a hint of sadness.

During this past year, he was constantly being tortured by this little devil. He would often wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. All of his nightmares involved this little devil.

Zhou Ru clapped her little hands and smiled. "Your roar is too loud; you need to be softer next time. Ehh!! I suddenly thought of something fun! Can you meow like a little kitten?"

Little White's growl was now filled with even more despair.

"I wonder when uncle will come back. Little White, do you miss uncle?" Zhou Ru let out a sigh and patted the tiger's head.

The tiger let out a soft growl as an unenthusiastic response. He was still thinking about how a tiger like himself was going to mimic a cat's meow.

Tie Yi sat under the pagoda and looked at Little Zhou Ru with a gentle gaze. After a while, he let out a soft sigh.

The news of Wang Lin's disappearance had already spread to Chu, but he decided to not tell Zhou Ru. He believed that with his benefactor's strength, he would be able to get out of any danger.

If benefactor said he would return within nine years, then he would definitely come back by then.

Tie Yi revealed a look of firm belief in his eyes.

100 feet away from Tie Yi sat the thunder toad. It just lied there, enjoying the warm sun. It had almost been an entire year and it hadn't moved at all.

While looking at the white clouds in the sky, the thunder toad sometimes missed his life inside the land of the ancient god. Ever since it was born, it had lived there and gradually grew up in there. There were constant battles in the land of the ancient god with other beasts for food and territory, and they were often life and death battles.

During these countless vicious battles, the thunder toad slowly grew up and eventually learned how to spit out balls of lightning. After that, aside from a few beasts in the land of the ancient god, it didn't have to worry about anyone else.

While he was thinking of the past, the thunder toad's stomach expanded and then went back to normal after a while.

He thought of Wang Lin. It was Wang Lin who brought him out of the land of the ancient god. But the one he thought of more was that mosquito.

Time slowly passed. In the blink of an eye, spring was over and it was now June.

June may not have any special meaning to most, but to the outer sect disciples of the Soul Refining Sect in Pilu, it was a very important time.

The competition among the outer sect disciples was going to take place this month. After a series of competitions, one outer sect disciple will become an inner sect disciple.

Wang Lin awakened from his closed door cultivation and opened his eyes. His eyes were clear, but if one looked at them closely, they would see that they shined like the starry sky.

The tea mark on his face had faded a lot and only eight pieces remained. These eight pieces were also the key points of Sun Tai's seal.

The small piece of celestial jade had been completely absorbed by Wang Lin. Under the pressure of the celestial jade, large amounts of the tea domain and seal broke off, but he still wasn't able to remove it completely.

Wang Lin muttered, "Peak of the late stage of Nascent Soul." He slowly stood up, took a deep breath, and walked out of the cave.

"What I comprehend is the heaven's life and death domain. The more I see through the world's life and death, the more intertwined they become. Before, I thought life was life and death was death, but now life can be death and death can be life."

"I, Wang Lin, have spent most of my life killing, so I have experienced death. In comparison to death, I haven't experience much life. Li Muwan's new life is one and my own rebirth is another, but it is still not enough!" Wang Lin walked out of the cave. He looked at the distant mountain and gently shook his head.

"My way of thinking has been changing after my rebirth from the ashes, especially during those few months at the Fire Cloud Village. The memories from there have been engraved deeply within me. I see life as life and death as death. I see life not as life and death not as death. These two perceptions match the early and mid stages of Soul Formation respectively." Wang Lin's clothes flapped loudly in the wind.

"This experience has given me some enlightenment. If I could go back to seeing life as life and death as death, then my domain will reach the late stage of Soul Formation."

"However, I will need another breakthrough to reach the peak of the late stage of Soul Formation. To get to that point, my domain will also have to reach its completion."

"The completed domain of a peak late stage Soul Formation cultivator is still different from a Soul Transformation cultivator's domain. That Li Yuanfeng's domain was able to take physical form and leave the tea mark on my body. This kind of power is not something the domain of a peak late stage Soul Formation cultivator can compare to. That means that the completion of a domain at the Soul Formation stage is only one level. Reaching the Soul Transformation stage requires even more comprehension of one's domain."

Wang Lin began to ponder. The current him didn't notice that a beautiful woman was silently watching him from a cave in the distance.

This woman's gaze was a bit complicated; it was filled with confusion, doubt, and helplessness.

"Back in the Celestial Realm, senior Zhou Yi gave me the Ascendant crystal that can help me reach the Ascendant stage. This crystal must be formed by the cultivator's comprehension of their domain."

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"Ascendant… I wonder when I will reach the Ascendant stage! Right now the seal hasn't been removed, so I don't even any hopes of reaching the Soul Transformation stage yet…" Wang Lin softly sighed.

"Tian Yunzi accepted me as a disciple. Perhaps I should quickly find him and maybe then I'll have a chance of reaching the Ascendant stage… However, I'm a bit unwilling to part with my current cultivation path, Situ Nan hasn't awaken yet, and I haven't gotten the planet crystal that can help my Ji Realm break through. What is more important is that everyone on that planet must have rather high cultivation levels, so if I go when I'm too weak, I won't catch Tian Yunzi's attention…" Wang Lin was in deep thought until he suddenly seemed to notice something. He turned his head and saw the woman gazing at him.

"Who exactly is that woman?" Wang Lin's eyes lit up and he floated toward that woman's cave.

The woman withdrew her gaze and took a few steps back to make space.

Wang Lin landed where the woman was standing. He coldly stared at the woman, not caring about how beautiful she was, and said, "Do you know me?"

The woman looked at Wang Lin and gently said, "You don't remember me…"

Wang Lin's eyes lit up. He stared at the woman for a long time but still couldn't remember where he had met her.

The mountain wind blew by and lifted her black hair, making her look like a fairy. She put her hair behind her ear and softly said, "I'm called Liu Mei…"

"Liu Mei!" Wang Lin looked at the woman and after a while said, "I don't know you."

Liu Mei let out a gentle sigh and then a smile. Her smile was like a blooming flower that immediately overshadowed the surroundings.

"Senior apprentice Wang Lin, the youth who carried the large sword on his back in the Heng Yue Sect. Can you really not remember?"

Wang Lin wasn't shocked at all when she pointed out his identity. When she called herself Liu Mei, Wang Lin had already guessed.

Wang Lin blandly said, "The Liu Mei I know is a disciple of the Xuan Dao Sect with water spirit roots, not a disciple of Suzaku!"

Liu Mei was startled. This kind of expression rarely appeared on her face. She softly asked, "What does senior apprentice brother Wang mean?"

Wang Lin didn't reply but calmly looked at Liu Mei.

Shortly after, Liu Mei lowered her head and softly said, "I'm afraid senior apprentice brother Wang has some misunderstanding…"

"For you to be able to appear in the Xuan Dao Sect and also be able to appear here in the Soul Refining Sect, I don't believe anyone else besides the country of Suzaku can do this!" Wang Lin cut her off and turned around to leave.

Liu Mei faintly smiled and said, "With just this much, senior apprentice brother Wang was able to deduce that I'm from Suzaku. Is senior apprentice brother Wang that sure… I think that you are just testing me. Senior apprentice brother Wang, I won't lie to you; I'm indeed a disciple of Suzaku."

Wang Lin shook his head, revealed a mocking smile, and said, "Am I really testing you… I have seen a bracelet like yours on Red Butterfly's hand…"

With that, Wang Lin's body gently floated away.

Liu Mei lowered her head and looked at the bracelet on her arm. When the mountain wind blew earlier, it revealed her bracelet. She looked at Wang Lin's figure as he left, then she let out a sigh and mumbled, "He has changed a lot in the last 500 years. He is no longer an ignorant youth; the current him has a heart of steel… But what exactly is his Dao heart…"

Chapter 382 - Ji Realm and the Death Spell

No one knew Wang Lin's Dao heart other than himself.

Wang Lin felt gloomy after Liu Mei's appearance. The country of Suzaku was like this massive giant and its presence could be felt by everyone everywhere on the planet.

The higher his cultivation level became, the more he became aware of this feeling. Although his stay at Suzaku was short, that sense of danger was engraved in his heart.

No matter whether it was at the celestial cave where all the servants were mute, or during his fight with Red Butterfly, he felt this huge pressure on him that made it hard to even breath.

It felt like the sky covered by a massive black cloud, and unless he had the power to break through the black cloud, there wasn't any way to resist.

The country of Suzaku was the supreme ruler of the planet Suzaku.

However, from Wang Lin's point of view, although the country of Suzaku was the ruler, there was a hint of death. This wasn't a real death aura but a feeling. The country lacked change, and without change it was dying.

"I'm afraid that Suzaku has reached its end…" Wang Lin raised his head and looked into the distance. That direction was where Suzaku was located.

Two days later, the competition in the outer sect began. The tens of thousands of disciples were divided among hundreds of arenas. There were dozens of fights a day on each arena. Among these outer sect disciples, there were rogue cultivators and cultivators from cultivation families. All of them had the goal of joining the inner sect.

There was only one rule, and that was to win. They didn't care about the life and death of the outer sect disciples at all. If you had the ability, you could kill everyone and they wouldn't care.

There was even a rumor that the more you killed, the higher chance you have of entering the inner sect. If there was someone who killed everyone they fought, their chances of entering the inner sect would be unimaginably high.

This rumor would go around every time the competition started. A long time ago, there was one fiend who killed his way through the competition. Although he failed to win, he was still accepted into the inner sect in the end.

The one extraordinary occurrence caused this rumor to spread like wildfire.

Every time there was competition, less than half of the outer sect disciples would be alive after it ended. The losers would have to pay even more spirit stones to ensure that they could stay for the next competition.

No one could keep track of or knew how many outer sect disciples had died throughout all these years. After each competition, the main soul flag in the sect gained countless souls.

The entire Soul Refining Sect kept on growing stronger thanks to this cruel method.

Every day, a large amounts of outer sect disciples died. The more than 100 battle arenas were flooded with blood. Wang Lin carefully observed over these past few days. Every time someone died, their soul would be absorbed by the arena and disappear.

On the day of Wang Lin's battle, he gently floated onto the battle arena. A Core Formation inner disciple wearing a black robe was managing this battle arena. He coldly looked at Wang Lin and was shocked to find that Wang Lin's cultivation level was close to his. Not many outer sect disciples could reach this level of cultivation. He said, "Number 8972, battle!"

A shout came from the surrounding disciples and then a short and fat disciple jumped out from among the disciples like a ball of meat and landed on the arena. He didn't say a word. Right after he appeared, his hand formed a seal and balls of fire appeared, then they smashed down toward Wang Lin like a rain of fire.

"Late stage of Foundation Establishment…" Wang Lin shook his head. For this competition, he had locked his cultivation level to the mid stage of Core Formation. He waved his hand and jumped off the stage.

The moment he jumped off the stage, the short and fat disciple's body trembled. All of the fire disappeared and the disciple fainted.

Wang Lin didn't kill him; to kill a Foundation Establishment junior was simply too shameful.

As time passed, many outer sect disciples died. After seven days, aside from the 100 that made it through, 50% of the remaining outer sect disciples had died.

The remaining ones all either gave up ahead of time or both sides were heavily injured, so they lived.

During these seven days, four people among the outer sect disciples caught people's attention.

Among the four of them there was a grey-haired old man at the late stage of Core Formation. Everyone he encountered was killed by the same technique. All he did was point at the person, said the word "die," and his enemy would fall over and die.

When Wang Lin saw this technique, he immediately thought of the Ji Realm and was shocked. However, when he looked closely, this technique was different from the Ji Realm.

"Death spell?" After pondering for awhile, Wang Lin guessed the name of the spell.

Back in the Sea of Devils, his Ji Realm was mistaken for the death spell. That's how he learned about it.

This death spell was very difficult to cultivate. In his 500 years of cultivation, this was the first time he had seen it.

The other person was a very small and thin young man. Although he was only at the early stage of Core Formation, he was like a wild beast. He was also able to detect the flow of spiritual energy before someone could use a technique and would act accordingly.

If he was fighting someone stronger than him, it wouldn't be of much use, but against people of the same cultivation level, it was a heavenly advantage.

Wang Lin couldn't help but appreciate this talent. He even had the urge to take him as a disciple, but he quickly threw that idea out of his mind.

The third person was someone Wang Lin was familiar with. It was the butcher-like cultivator from cave 743. He had a talisman treasure that had killed countless people. Everyone he battled was killed by the talisman.

As for the last person, it was Wang Lin himself. He breezed his way through the competition and knocked out every disciple with just a wave of his sleeves. This would naturally catch the attention of everyone.

However, this was something Wang Lin was doing on purpose. Only by doing this would it not seem strange when he enters the inner sect.

As for Liu Mei, he assumed that she had some sort of agenda. Even if she didn't appear in the competition, she would be able to get into the inner sect somehow.

Time quickly passed and seven more days went by. Of the 100 or so disciples, only four remained.

It just so happened that the four remaining people were the four that caught the eyes of the Soul Refining Sect.

This was the day of Wang Lin's battle. He stood on the stage as he watched his opponent walk onto the stage and reveal a weird smile.

The person who came up wasn't a stranger but the butcher-like cultivator from cave 743.

The person in charge of this battle was an early stage Nascent Soul cultivator from the inner sect. He was already middle-aged with greying sideburns. He looked around and coldly said, "Battle, start!"

The moment he finished speaking, the butcher-like cultivator bitterly smiled and said, "I give up!"

The Nascent Soul cultivator was startled. He looked at the butcher-like cultivator and asked, "You give up?"

The butcher-like cultivator quickly nodded and said, "I surrender!" With that, he quickly got off the stage. His heart was pounding as he secretly thought, "I still have the restriction that that brat placed in my body. He could have killed me with just a thought!"

After he got off the stage, he let out a smile to try to please Wang Lin.

Wang Lin let out a smile and faintly shook his head before walking off the stage. The Nascent Soul cultivator thoughtfully looked at Wang Lin and then went on to manage the second battle.

The battle between the old man who controlled the death spell and the young man with very good instincts was quick.

The young man wasn't able to resist the death spell at all. When he wasn't able to hold on anymore, he was saved by a ray of spiritual energy that came all the way from the inner sect.

At this point, only two people remained in this outer sect competition: Wang Lin and the old man who was named Sima.

The battle between the two started on the second day.

Sima's eyes were gloomy as he stood on the stage. He had cultivated the death spell for so long just for this day. Once he enters the inner sect, he will have a chance to form his Nascent Soul.

Moreover, the Soul Refining Sect's soul flag would go very well his death spell. According to his teacher, if he cultivated both at the same time, his power would be close to that of the long lost and legendary Ji Realm.

When thinking of his teacher, his eyes were filled with a hint of fanaticism. His teacher was able to kill any Nascent Soul cultivator just by uttering the word "die," and only a few Soul Formation cultivators would be able to escape.

In his mind, his teacher had the ability to challenge Soul Transformation old monsters.

"Death spell. Unless someone has a much higher cultivation level than you, they won't be able to resist the death spell. The death spell is rumored to come from the ancient cultivation world when the cultivators back then tried to mimic the Ji Realm. Rumor has it that cultivating the death spell to its peak allows one to gain a sliver of the Ji Realm."

His master's words still echoed in his head as Sima stared at his last opponent.

He didn't consider the young man named Qing Mu a threat at all. Killing intent flashed across his eyes and he said, "Die!"

The death spell shot out toward Wang Lin as he said the word.