Wang Lin held the wine jug in his hand as he looked at the boat that was slowly moving along the river. The zither music entered his ears, and it was as if he had returned to hundreds of years ago.
However, this zither music was only similar, but it didn't have the charm of the past. Even the person playing the zither wasn't the Blind Girl from before … After drinking a mouthful of wine, Wang Lin let out a sigh and said, "The Demon Emperor is very considerate."
The middle-aged man didn't speak. The two of them sat by the river and silently drank wine. One jug, another jug … The sun set in the west and the earth was shrouded in darkness. There was no moon tonight.
There was only the sound of the zither lingering on the river and a few lights hanging on the boat that flickered in the wind.
Time slowly passed. As the light from the east shrouded the earth and the darkness faded, there were empty jugs of wine beside Wang Lin.
The middle-aged man looked at the wine jug and softly said, "Lord Bei Lou already knows of Brother Wang's arrival and sent me here to pass on a message to Brother Wang."
Wang Lin's expression was calm. When the Demon Emperor arrived last night, he had already expected this.
After all, the Demon Spirit Land was Bei Lou's world. Over the past hundreds of years, Bei Lou had continued to devour other demon spirits. Every time he devoured one, he became countless times stronger.
Wang Lin drank the remaining half a jug of wine in his hand.
"As long as Brother Wang agrees to leave one spot for the fifth celestial cave, four of the nine countries in the Demon Spirit Land will be a gift to the Soul Refining Tribe!
Also, it won't interfere with anything related to the Soul Refining Tribe, including the remnant of the Cloud Demon's consciousness! "
The existence of the black stone statue could fool a lot of people, but it couldn't fool Ancient Demon Bei Lou. Wang Lin knew this very well. Bei Lou hadn't done anything in the past hundreds of years and allowed the Soul Refining Tribe to develop. He also didn't take away the remnant of the Cloud Demon's consciousness. All of this was for today.
Wang Lin looked into the distance and calmly said, "OK!"
The middle-aged man stood up and cupped his fists towards Wang Lin. "Brother Wang, I have completed Lord Gu Yao's task, but I have another request.
"My Emperor's sword spirit was originally the daughter of a good friend of mine. Unfortunately, life is unpredictable and she couldn't escape death. She could only become my sword spirit and was trapped here for countless years, unable to leave the Demon Spirit Land.
"My only request is that Brother Wang can take this spirit and leave the Demon Spirit Land so she can enter the reincarnation cycle or find some other fortune …"
The middle-aged man's expression was gloomy. He pointed at the air with his right hand and immediately, a sword energy came whistling from the direction of Yan Jin. Within the sword energy was the Emperor's Sword!
Wang Lin was silent for a moment before he slowly said, "Why not find someone else?"
The middle-aged man shook his head and calmly said, "Many cultivators have entered the Demon Spirit Land over the countless years, but aside from a few, I can't trust the rest … However, the few that I could trust missed out on because I was still able to protect the sword."
Wang Lin let out a sigh. When the Emperor arrived last night, he noticed that there was a faint death aura around the Emperor's body. This person's lifespan was about to run out.
Although people from the Demon Spirit Land had a longer lifespan than ordinary cultivators, it would still dissipate one day. If there were no accidents, the Emperor would die in less than half a century.
Since they had known each other for a while, Wang Lin had no reason to refuse, so he nodded.
The middle-aged man revealed a smile and revealed a carefree expression. He waved his right hand and the Emperor's Sword turned into a girl. The girl's eyes were filled with reluctance. If it wasn't for the fact that sword spirits had no tears, her eyes would have become hazy with tears.
"Be obedient and don't use the Ren surname anymore …" The man looked at the girl lovingly. It was as if he wasn't looking at a sword spirit but his own daughter.
After letting out a sigh, the middle-aged man clasped his hands at Wang Lin and deeply bowed.
"Many thanks, Brother Wang!"
With that, he turned around and took a step forward. In just a few steps, he was far away, leaving behind only Wang Lin, who was holding the wine jug, and the girl filled with reluctance and sorrow.
"Let's go."
Wang Lin drank all the wine inside the jug in one gulp and placed it on the side. Then he stood up and walked into the void.
The girl looked at Yan Jin with eyes filled with farewell. She knew that she would never see the Emperor who had treated her like a daughter again. The end of her lifespan couldn't be changed.
While feeling sorrow, her body turned into green smoke and returned to the Emperor's Sword. She let out a sorrowful cry and followed behind Wang Lin.
The Emperor's Sword was like a ray of silver light that followed behind Wang Lin. As Wang Lin moved forward, Wang Lin waved his sleeve and put the sword inside his bag of holding. Shortly after, his divine sense spread out and he activated the celestial cave jade. There was a flash of golden light and he disappeared without a trace.
In the fourth cave in the Demon Spirit Land, with Situ Nan in the lead, everyone was breaking restrictions. There were too many restrictions in this cave, and as they continued to break them, more celestial items appeared before them.
With Situ Nan and company's cultivation, it wasn't difficult for them to break these restrictions. They were like a hot knife through butter as they made their way toward the center of the cave.
However, at this point, the power of the restrictions had almost reached a peak. It was not something that could be broken with cultivation. Only by understanding the structure of the restrictions could one break them.
At this moment, there was a flash of golden light on the platform outside the cave and Wang Lin's figure appeared.
He didn't stop and directly entered the cave. Along the way, he saw the remnants of restrictions that had been broken. Aside from the ones that had been broken by others in the past, most of them had been broken by Situ Nan and company.
Not long after he moved forward, Wang Lin saw Situ Nan and company in the distance.
The three Chen brothers were sitting in the lotus position with bursts of white gas around them. It was obvious that they had consumed a lot of their cultivation to break the restrictions, and they were recovering right now.
Beside the three Chen brothers was Big Head. What Wang Lin didn't expect was that Big Head had some understanding of restrictions. He was leading Lei Ji to calculate how to break a restriction.
Master Hollow Wind had also studied restrictions before, so he became the main force in breaking restrictions. As for Situ Nan and the woman in silver, they were responsible for dealing with the attacks and changes after the restriction was broken, just in case.
Wang Lin's slow steps attracted everyone's attention. Situ Nan had been here for a few days and had long since become impatient. Looking at the restrictions around him, he was dazzled. He didn't have much understanding of restrictions, but he believed that no matter how strong the restrictions were, as long as his cultivation was high enough, he would be able to break them.
However, he was responsible for dealing with the sudden changes after the restriction was opened, so he couldn't leave. Otherwise, with his personality, he would have left long ago and broken the restrictions by himself.
Seeing Wang Lin return, Situ Nan's eyes lit up and he laughed: "You're finally back. I've been bored to death here. This cave isn't big, but it's not small either. We came straight here, so maybe there are treasures in other places. I'll go check them out first!"
With that, Situ Nan didn't wait for Wang Lin to reply and walked toward the bamboo forest. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the bamboo forest.
With Situ Nan's cultivation, Wang Lin wasn't worried about any danger. Also, the two of them had found a way to temporarily suppress the poison in Situ Nan's body. At most, Situ Nan would be trapped here, and Wang Lin would be able to save him later. Wang Lin didn't stop Situ Nan. He arrived next to Master Hollow Wind and looked ahead.
100 steps ahead was a small river filled with celestial spiritual energy. There was also a faint mist, and there was a stone bridge that connected the two sides of the river.
This stone bridge was the only entrance.
"This place is very strange. We have been blocked here for 10 hours, and no matter how the Old Man calculates, he can't find any clues about the restrictions here. However, I have a feeling that if we break it by force, it will cause a series of unimaginable changes. Unless it is absolutely necessary, we can't force it open."
Master Hollow Wind nodded at Wang Lin and gave a detailed explanation. He was worried that Wang Lin didn't understand restrictions and wanted to break it by force.
Wang Lin's expression remained the same. His gaze fell on the stone bridge and he didn't speak.
"This cave is in the shape of a circle. Right now, we are at the border between the inner and outer rings. After crossing this river, we will enter the inner ring of the cave.
"However, the restrictions here are too complicated, so I'm afraid we won't be able to pass through them in a short period of time. Big Head proposed an idea. Instead of using the stone bridge, we can break through the restrictions from the edge of the river."
Master Hollow Wind glanced at Big Head, whose eyes flickered. Big Head would occasionally raise his hand to coordinate with Lei Ji and send a fist wind into the restriction.
Master Hollow Wind's gaze fell on the river and he frowned as he said, "The three Chen brothers have consumed too much energy and are recovering. According to Fellow Cultivator Situ's plan, once they recover, we will attack together and try to break through by force. However, I have my reservations about this method."
In his view, this Wang Lin couldn't have cultivated for a long time. He even knew some things about Wang Lin.
"Cultivating for more than 1,000 years to reach his current cultivation level is already incredible. This Wang Lin probably doesn't know much about restrictions. After all, he doesn't have the time to master restrictions!
It looks like I and Big Head will be the ones to break this cave. "
Master Hollow Wind sighed in his heart. He knew that his restrictions weren't very strong. The restrictions in the outer ring were fine, but from this point onward, he had lost control.
Wang Lin looked at the stone bridge and couldn't help but frown. No wonder Master Hollow Wind was troubled by the restrictions here. It was just as he said; if they broke it by force, it would cause an unimaginable chain reaction.
"I'm afraid this is the first trial to enter the inner part of the celestial palace."
The 100 steps ahead looked ordinary, but aside from what Master Hollow Wind had said, Wang Lin also saw some hidden killing intent. Everything here was different from the restrictions in the outer ring.
"Whether it is as I think it is, I still need to test it." Wang Lin's eyes lit up and he slowly said, "Silver Corpse!"
Not far behind him, the woman in silver's eyes narrowed. She moved forward and arrived next to Wang Lin. She looked at Wang Lin and waited for Wang Lin's order.
Wang Lin didn't look at the woman in silver; his gaze was still on the stone bridge as he calmly said, "Enter 10 steps!"
Master Hollow Wind couldn't help but frown. In his view, this was the most unwise move. It was likely they would open the restriction.
However, he looked at Wang Lin and didn't speak. He retreated a few steps and watched.