After Xu Tao left, Wang Lin's life once again returned to normal. It was as if everything that had happened before was like smoke, gone and never to return.
Wang Lin still woke up early every morning, opened the door to his shop, and waited for Daniu's children to bring him fruit wine. As he drank, he would practice carving. This kind of life was something he had lived for many years, and it was gradually engraved into his bones.
He had distanced himself from killing, and it was as if he had become a completely different person from years ago. There was no killing intent on his body, only a sense of peace, the understanding of a mortal.
Wang Lin didn't know what realm he would be able to comprehend in the end, but he wasn't in a rush. Instead, he quietly experienced it.
On the seventh day after Xu Tao left, he once again went to Wang Lin's shop. Accompanying him was a middle-aged man with a noble appearance. This person respectfully entered the shop with Xu Tao, not caring about his status at all. He knelt to the ground and kowtowed three times to Wang Lin.
Wang Lin's gaze swept over this person, but he didn't say anything.
He could tell at a glance that this person was Xu Tao's master, the Crown Prince that the large-eared cultivator wanted dead.
In the eyes of a mortal, the Crown Prince was part of the imperial family. But to Wang Lin, this person was no different from an ant.
Although he had cultivated a bit, as long as he hadn't reached Foundation Establishment, it would be difficult for him to escape the cycle of reincarnation.
The middle-aged man seemed to know Wang Lin's personality. After kowtowing, he stood up, took out a bag of holding, and respectfully placed it on the table. Then he and Xu Tao bowed and retreated.
From beginning to end, Wang Lin didn't say a single word. After the two left, he lifted his head from his carving and picked up the bag of holding. He scanned it with his Divine Sense and saw a large amount of Spirit Stones inside.
Casually tossing the storage bag to the side, Wang Lin took a deep breath and walked out of the shop. Leaning against the long chair at the entrance, he looked up at the blue sky and white clouds, enjoying the warm sunlight. He couldn't help but squint his eyes. He really enjoyed this kind of life. If his parents were still alive, and his family stayed in the shop, then he would have no regrets in this life.
Time passed quickly, and another five years passed … On this day, Daniu's father was unable to escape the cycle of reincarnation and passed away. A white banner hung from the ironware shop, and waves of sorrowful weeping could be heard from within.
Wang Lin stood outside his shop and stared blankly at the opposite side. He couldn't help but think of the hearty man who had invited him to his house for dinner when he first came to this street more than 20 years ago.
She also couldn't forget how this hearty man had awkwardly said that he wanted to borrow money because he wanted to expand his shop.
In these 20 years, Wang Lin couldn't even remember how many times he had eaten at this person's house and how much he had drunk. However, the cycle of reincarnation was not something that Wang Lin could change by himself.
Birth, aging, sickness, and death were all part of his comprehension of the heavenly dao. Even if he used a heaven-defying technique to extend that person's lifespan by a few years, in the end, that person still couldn't escape the cycle of reincarnation.
Not only that, but because of this heaven-defying technique, that person would fall into the lower ranks of the six paths of reincarnation.
After all, Daniu's father was different from Wang Zhuo. Wang Zhuo was a person who cultivated the Dao and walked the path of the heavens. That was why Wang Lin extracted his soul and sent it into the pregnant woman's body.
However, Daniu's father couldn't do that.
Wang Lin stood at the entrance of the shop and let out a soft sigh. At some point, a flower with black petals appeared in his hand. This flower was not an ordinary item, but one of the ingredients for the Spirit Exorcism Pill.
If a mortal had not died for a long time, and their soul had not completely dissipated, then this flower could help solidify their soul. That way, they would have more soul power in the river of reincarnation, and would be able to marry into a good family.
Wang Lin hobbled toward the ironworks shop. Inside the shop, Daniu's uncles, aunts, and aunts all had sad expressions on their faces. Sorrow filled the entire shop.
In the back courtyard of the shop, Daniu's father lay quietly in the coffin. Daniu and his wife were kneeling beside him. Daniu's eyes were red, and it was obvious that he had just been crying.
Off to the side stood a woman. She was Daniu's mother. She was also grieving as she looked at her husband in the coffin, her eyes filled with despair.
More than 20 years ago, Wang Lin had already seen that the relationship between this couple was very deep.
As soon as Wang Lin walked in, the neighbors and Daniu's uncles all had respectful expressions on their faces. In the entire street, Wang Lin already had quite a bit of status.
When Daniu's mother saw Wang Lin, she nodded lightly and curtsied. In a low voice, she said, "Widow Ceng greets eldest brother Wang."
Wang Lin sighed and helped her up. Then he took a stick of incense from someone nearby, lit it, and offered his respects.
As he bowed, the sky outside darkened. However, this kind of darkness couldn't be seen by mortals. A black aura slowly rose up from Daniu's father's corpse. This black aura gradually condensed into the appearance of Daniu's father. He was hugging his body as if he were very cold. His face was pale, and his body seemed like it could dissipate at any moment. He looked around blankly before his gaze fell on Wang Lin.
This was because no one in the surroundings could see him. Only Wang Lin's clear eyes fell on him.
Wang Lin sighed inwardly. The black flower in his right hand immediately turned into dust. As it slowly dissipated, it turned into motes of light that couldn't be seen by mortals and landed on Daniu's father's soul. Daniu's father immediately didn't feel cold anymore. He looked at Wang Lin with deep gratitude.
At this moment, he completely understood that this neighbor who had been his neighbor for more than twenty years was no ordinary person. He floated in the air and knelt down. He gently kowtowed to Wang Lin a few times, then reluctantly looked at his wife and Daniu. He sighed and slowly rose up as if he was climbing up a ladder. Finally, he disappeared into the air. "Dad, mom, I saw grandpa!"
At this moment, a young voice came from a corner. Daniu's child, the nine-year-old child, was looking at the sky with a puzzled expression.
However, no one believed the words of a child. When the child saw that no one was paying attention to him, he wrinkled his nose and didn't say anything else.
Wang Lin sighed as he looked around. The cycle of reincarnation was inescapable. He looked at the old corpse of Daniu's father in the coffin, and suddenly, he thought back to the changes that had occurred over the past twenty years. He had been in the prime of his life, but now, he had grown old and died.
Wang Lin took a deep breath and looked at Daniu's mother. Back then, she had only been about thirty years old, but now she was more than fifty years old. The marks of more than twenty years could be seen on her body.
Wang Lin's gaze moved again. This time, it fell on Daniu. This was the young man who had poked his head into the shop years ago, and who had given Wang Lin the impression that he was a tiger with a tiger's head. But now, he had grown up. Not only had he married and had children, but he had also given his father a funeral.
He was like a small tree that had slowly grown up over the past twenty years, becoming a tree that could withstand the wind and rain.
At this moment, Wang Lin suddenly had an epiphany. This epiphany grew deeper and deeper, and in this instant, Wang Lin felt for the first time in the twenty years that he had been mortal, the unfathomable door to the Heavenly Dao.
He didn't know when he had left the ironworks shop. In a daze, he sat next to the stove in his own shop, staring blankly at the wall. His mind was blank, and the only thing that existed was a strand of divine sense.
Daniu's father, mother, as well as Daniu himself, images of him interacting with Wang Lin over the past twenty years flashed through his mind. Their appearances gradually changed, and gradually, Wang Lin felt like he could see an invisible force enveloping the three of them. The existence of this force caused Daniu's parents to slowly age, and Daniu himself to slowly grow up.
Gradually, Wang Lin felt his mind rumble, and his eyes shone with an unimaginable light. In that instant, he felt his body suddenly float up from the shop, rising higher and higher.
As he floated up, he saw countless mortals, and all of them could sense the existence of that force. Even the flowers, the trees, and all living things in the world had it. It was everywhere.
This force descended from the sky, and Wang Lin subconsciously wanted to find the source of this force.
Slowly, Wang Lin felt himself rise higher and higher, and the capital below his feet became smaller and smaller. Finally, the capital disappeared, and what appeared before him was a huge earthy yellow planet.
Unfortunately, even now, he still hadn't found the source of this force. He could feel that this force was everywhere in the universe.
Wang Lin's personality was very, very stubborn. Otherwise, he wouldn't have left his hometown for 400 years just to return to the State of Zhao and wash the Teng family in blood.
Besides stubbornness, his personality also had unswerving determination. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to go from a small cultivation land to his current height.
It was this stubbornness and unswerving determination that made him want to find the source of this force. Right now, he was completely relying on his instincts to control his actions.
His body rose higher and higher, but just as he was about to leave the earthy yellow planet, a meteor-like boulder suddenly flew by. On this boulder sat a white-haired old man. When the old man passed by Wang Lin, he suddenly exclaimed and revealed a look of interest.
"I can't believe I saw someone with such deep comprehension on this abandoned cultivation planet. However, with your mere Nascent Soul cultivation, don't be too greedy, even if it's a Soul Formation cultivator. If you continue to pursue this kind of heavenly law, I'm afraid you won't be able to find the source for tens of millions of years. However, by then, your body will have already decayed. Have you thought it through?"
Wang Lin was startled and his eyes were filled with confusion. The old man let out a laugh. He carefully looked at Wang Lin and shouted, "Old Man Tian Yunzi, let's form some good karma today. If you can leave this abandoned planet, come find me on planet Tian Yun. I'll accept you as my honorary disciple and let you follow me for 100 years!"
With that, he pointed with his right hand. Wang Lin suddenly trembled and felt like his body was pushed by a powerful force. He quickly fell back to the earthy yellow planet and returned to the territory of the Four Sect Alliance.
The capital went from almost undetectable in his eyes to the size of a fingernail and then rapidly expanded. Finally, he returned to the west side of the capital and landed inside his shop.
At this moment, Wang Lin suddenly opened his eyes. His body was covered in a large amount of sweat, and there was a strong stench inside the sweat.
Ever since he reached the Foundation Building stage, he rarely had this kind of stench come out of his pores.
At this moment, Wang Lin's eyes lit up. He took a deep breath and picked up a wood carving. His right hand formed a knife and he quickly carved. Wood chips fell. This time, Wang Lin persisted for one day and one night.
Finally, when his right hand withdrew the knife, the statue of the old man from the White Cloud Sect took shape. This statue gave off the marks of time.
Wang Lin silently looked at the carvings. After a long time, he placed it on the shelf next to the carvings of the middle-aged man and old woman.
After doing this, he got up and went to the backyard. After washing his body, he changed into a new set of clothes and returned to the shop.
This time, after comprehending the heavens, Wang Lin's cultivation level had jumped from the mid stage of Nascent Soul to the peak of the late stage of Nascent Soul. He was only a sliver away from the Soul Formation stage.
However, thinking back to what happened just now, Wang Lin still felt a bit scared. If it wasn't for the old man who called himself Tian Yunzi beating him back, then it was very likely that he would have been lost in the cycle of reincarnation.
If that was really the case, then the only outcome for him would be death.
Comprehending the heavens was not a peaceful process and contained countless dangers. This time, Wang Lin completely understood.
Although he still hadn't reached the Soul Formation stage, Wang Lin's understanding of the heavens had increased several times. He believed that he wasn't far from the Soul Formation stage.
Now he had already carved out the green-robed old man's time domain. The old man's domain was clearly imitating the heavens' reincarnation domain. However, now that Wang Lin had experienced the heavens' reincarnation domain, he felt that the old man's so-called time domain was merely an imitation of the heavens' reincarnation domain and not the real heavens' reincarnation.
This was because the heavens' reincarnation cycle was not something a Soul Formation cultivator could comprehend.
At this moment, there was a star map in Wang Lin's mind. This star map was left behind by old man Tian Yunzi. There was a planet countless times larger than Suzaku on this star map. That was where old man Tian Yunzi lived, planet Tian Yun.
However, it was impossible for the current Wang Lin to go there. He let out a sigh and adjusted his mentality. Slowly, he turned back into a mortal.
However, in his mind, the scene of comprehending the heavens' reincarnation cycle was something he would never forget … Today, I'm looking for votes!