Today was the third watch!
After an unknown amount of time, Wang Lin opened his eyes and looked out the window. It was dark outside. He got out of bed and moved his body for a long time. He didn't feel anything strange, so he took out the stone bowl from under the bed. He found that the liquid in the bowl was all gone. He picked up the bead and looked at it carefully. He was pleasantly surprised. The tenth cloud appeared in the empty place.
Wang Lin immediately became spirited. He held the mysterious stone bead and looked at it. His eyes lit up and he quickly put it away. He went to the mountain spring to get a large bowl of water. After he returned to his room, he put the stone bead in the bowl and stirred it.
After doing this, he drank a mouthful of spring water and tasted it for a long time. He found that it was no different than usual. He looked at the bead with doubt for a long time. He put it in his mouth and bit it. It was still hard.
He squeezed out a drop of blood and the bead was still the same.
After hesitating for a moment, he clenched his teeth, picked up the stone bowl, and smashed it on the stone bead. He thought that maybe after the tenth cloud appeared, there would be some changes inside.
After a crashing sound, the stone bowl broke. Wang Lin's hands were numb, but the bead didn't show any signs of damage.
He tried everything, but the bead still didn't show any changes after the tenth cloud. Wang Lin felt sad for wasting two gourds of dew. He angrily threw the bead aside.
After a while, he picked it up unwillingly and carefully observed it.
As he looked, he suddenly felt sleepy. He was startled. He just woke up, why was he still sleepy?
He rubbed his eyes hard and continued to look at the bead.
Slowly, sleepiness couldn't stop coming. The bead became more and more blurred in his eyes. Finally, Wang Lin's body tilted and fell to the ground. He was still holding the bead in his hand.
He had a dream. In the dream, he came to a boundless place. There was no sun, moon, or stars, but there were countless luminous objects around. Although it was a dream, his mind was very clear. He even wondered why he was here in his dream.
He didn't feel any discomfort here. He knew that he was dreaming, but he didn't know how to wake up. He had no choice but to walk around and walk around this boundless place for a long time.
After an unknown period of time, when his body was exhausted, his surroundings suddenly trembled. Following that, he felt as though his body was being torn apart. With a miserable groan, he opened his eyes.
Looking around, he was still in the room. Wang Lin took a deep breath and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He thought to himself that he had finally woken up from this strange dream. Suddenly, his expression became extremely strange. He stared at the mysterious bead in his hand. The dozen or so clouds on it had all disappeared. On its surface, a few small words appeared.
"This …" Wang Lin was dumbfounded. He quickly picked it up and took a closer look. The handwriting was crooked and looked quite unfamiliar. He had loved reading since he was a child, so he knew many different kinds of words. After thinking for a long time, he compared the handwriting he remembered one by one and finally managed to guess some of the meaning.
"What's written on it is probably just a number. It doesn't have any actual meaning." Wang Lin held the bead and muttered to himself.
Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind. He recalled the dream he had just had.
"Does it have something to do with this bead?"
Wang Lin thought for a while, then immediately lay down on the bed and closed his eyes to force himself to sleep. However, he was full of energy and couldn't fall asleep.
His heart moved. He remembered that when he went to sleep, he naturally fell asleep looking at the bead. He stared at the bead without blinking. Gradually, drowsiness came over him. Unconsciously, he closed his eyes.
The boundless space appeared again. Wang Lin stood there, thinking. This time, he didn't walk around. Instead, after thinking for a while, he kept jumping up and down, repeating the cycle.
As time passed, he jumped higher and higher. Now, he could reach a height of less than half a foot. When his body was exhausted, the long-lost feeling of being torn appeared again.
Then, he woke up.
The moment he opened his eyes, he immediately got off the bed and jumped. His body jumped high, just like the training in the dream.
Suddenly, Wang Lin's eyes revealed a look of disbelief. An expression of ecstasy appeared on his face. He took a few deep breaths and suppressed his excitement. He paced back and forth in the room. His expression changed rapidly. Sometimes he was deep in thought, sometimes he was distressed, and sometimes he was confused. Sweat was dripping down his forehead.
"If I can only train my body in the dream, then it's useless. I can also train in the real world. There's no need to do it in the dream." Wang Lin muttered to himself.
"No, this bead absorbed so much liquid filled with Spiritual Qi. It can't be useless. There must be some other function. There must be!
But what is it? "Wang Lin's eyes revealed a stubborn look. He forgot everything around him and immersed himself in deep thought.
"Could it be …" His footsteps stopped. His mind seemed to have grasped a clue. He exclaimed, "Could it be time?"
Thinking about this, he could no longer control his emotions. He was so excited that he wanted to shout out loud. He clenched his fists and stared at the bead while trembling.
"If it really has something to do with time, I … I, Tie Zhu, will become an immortal no matter how bad my talent is!"
Wang Lin took a few deep breaths before he was able to return to normal. Without a word, he took out the oil lamp and filled it with oil. He held the bead in his hand as he silently calculated the time in his heart.
About four hours later, the lamp that was filled with oil was extinguished.
Wang Lin quickly filled it with oil. After lighting it, he took the bead and entered the dream again.
This time, he didn't practice high jump. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the ground and silently counted the time.
One hour, two hours, ten hours, twenty hours, forty hours, forty hours!
His body felt like it was being torn apart. The moment Wang Lin opened his eyes, the oil lamp showed signs of going out.
"Ten times the time. The time in the dream is ten times the time in reality!" Wang Lin excitedly stood up and tightly held the mysterious bead.
For the first time, he had complete confidence in cultivating.
At this time, it was already late in the morning. Wang Lin put away his excitement and didn't immediately use the bead to cultivate. He knew that if he used the bead in the sect during the day, someone might accidentally find out. At that time, he would definitely not be able to keep it. Thus, he put the bead in his storage bag and pushed open the door to leave the room.