The young man looked at his master's back as he walked away. After a long time, he kowtowed a few times, clenched his fist, and left.
"I, Chen Huan, swear that I will destroy Xue Yu!"
Wang Lin returned to the ice tower with a complicated mood. Even though he had obtained a great treasure, he didn't feel too happy. Instead, he felt a sense of melancholy.
At this moment, Wang Lin had a new understanding of life and death. What is life … What is death … This question echoed in Wang Lin's mind for a long time.
The late Deity Transformation cultivator of the Water Ink School carried the last blazing sun of his life. Like a moth flying towards a lamp, he exploded on top of the statue of the snow fairy at the top of the shrine of ice, leaving behind a bright red stain that could never be erased.
As a result, several Soul Formation cultivators who surrounded him also died in this explosion.
All of his glory had gone with the wind … His death was worth it. His death had awakened the cultivators of the Four Sect Alliance who were hiding and didn't dare to show themselves.
In the blink of an eye, another year passed.
During this year, Wang Lin continued to ponder about life and death. Gradually, his understanding of this domain became deeper and deeper.
His entire person seemed to have undergone a metamorphosis in this one year.
The mountain was a mountain, the water was water … However, Wang Lin found that sometimes, the mountain was not a mountain and the water was not water. It was as if there was a layer of fog covering his eyes. He couldn't see it, but he could feel it. He could feel it, but he couldn't touch it.
This kind of enlightenment was not something that could be pushed forward with time. It required enlightenment.
Spring passed and autumn came. Another two years of ice and snow fell.
Wang Lin's research of the ice puppet had made some progress. The ice puppet was maintained by the snow meridians. When 49 snow meridians were activated, it could reach the attack of a mid stage Core Formation cultivator.
As for the Nascent Soul stage, it required 81 snow meridians.
However, the more snow meridians there were in the ice sculpture, the more difficult it was to control them. The possibility of them colliding with each other was also greater. As long as there was a single collision, the entire ice sculpture would collapse.
Because of this, the difficulty increases by many folds with each additional meridian. Because of this, the difficulty of eighty-one meridians is shocking.
This was also why Xue Yu rarely produced ice puppets at the Nascent Soul stage.
Also, the snow meridians used to make the puppets came from the Ice Snow Spell. After Wang Lin studied the spell, he was shocked.
The Art of Ice and Snow focused on training one's heart. This art used ice to change one's bones and snow to condense one's heart to form a soul of ice and snow. From there, one would be able to reach the state where one's heart was as clear as ice.
It could be said to be mysterious and indescribably wonderful.
This was also why the cultivators of Xue Yu did whatever they wanted. The Ice Snow Spell focused on condensing one's emotions. If one didn't enter the mortal world, how could they condense their emotions?
The more Wang Lin studied the Ice Snow Spell, the more he felt how terrifying it was. This spell couldn't be considered a proper path of cultivation. It was an unorthodox path. Wang Lin even felt that although it was different from the Six Desire Devil Lord's cultivation method, it had the same effect.
Wang Lin didn't want to cultivate this method, so he imitated it. He changed the snow meridians to blood meridians and used the life and death domain to control them.
In the blink of an eye, Wang Lin had been in this small town for three years. Adding on the one year he spent traveling, a total of four years had passed. There was only one year left until the ten year deadline. Wang Lin could feel that the time to reach the Soul Formation stage had arrived. He didn't know if the moment he reached the Soul Formation stage would cause the heavens and earth to tremble. However, the closer the deadline was, the more Wang Lin felt that when a cultivator reached the Soul Formation stage, it would be noticed by all the nearby cultivators.
So on this day, Wang Lin walked out of the Ice Snow Tower and left.
Before he left, the Shrine of Ice and Snow sent down an Immortal Decree, summoning all cultivators above the Core Formation stage to the shrine for a great ceremony. This was because one of the 13 cultivators who went to Suzaku came back. This person was the only one who succeeded. He had reached the Soul Transformation stage!
As for whether or not Shi San only succeeded, and whether or not there were any secret movements in Rosefinch, outsiders didn't know.
Wang Lin left silently. Even the Core Formation cultivator that had been locked in the tower for three years lost his memories under Wang Lin's spell and regained his identity.
At the border of Xue Yu, Wang Lin looked back at the land. Scenes from the past few decades flashed through his eyes. Finally, he left with a sigh and left.
Wang Lin's goal was the Zhao Garden. There, he would prepare to reach the Soul Formation stage!
The reason he returned to the country of Zhao to reach the Soul Formation stage, aside from the remote location, was because Wang Lin felt something he hadn't felt in a long time from that respectable late stage Soul Formation cultivator. The feeling of home … Everyone had a home, but did he have one? If there was really a home, then the country of Zhao could be considered one. There was also the country of Chu on the other side of the Sea of Devils. There was a woman waiting for him there. Perhaps that could also be considered a home … So he chose the country of Zhao to reach the Soul Formation stage and complete the karma of being born there.
Before returning to the country of Zhao, Wang Lin went to the neighboring town where Daniu lived. From afar, he saw that Daniu had opened a blacksmith shop. Although his wife wasn't young anymore, she was pregnant again.
Wang Lin smiled as he watched this scene. A new life was forming day by day … When he left, Wang Lin injected some spiritual energy into Daniu's wife's body. This spiritual energy could protect the mother and daughter. The new life was a girl.
Daniu still didn't know that the Uncle Wang he wanted to see again had already come to see him.
Until he died, Daniu's only regret was not that Xiaoniu didn't come to see him, but that he would never be able to see Uncle Wang, who watched him grow up.
That strange person who opened a shop, the person who he often pulled customers for, and the person who charged ten gold coins.
After he died, he gave those two wooden carvings to his daughter. They were the family heirlooms of the Zeng family.
Wang Lin flew all the way back to the country of Zhao. Forty years ago, he had walked the same path. At that time, he had just entered the Nascent Soul Realm. Today, he followed the same path back to the country of Zhao. This time, he was about to reach the Soul Formation Realm and was choosing a place to prepare.
The difference between this trip and the return trip was like heaven and earth.
After passing through one ancient transmission array after another, Wang Lin was flying on an unfamiliar land. Suddenly, the sky darkened and dark clouds covered the sky. Drops of rain fell from the sky.
The rain became heavier and heavier, almost forming a curtain of rain. Wang Lin looked up at the sky. He hadn't seen such heavy rain in a long time. He couldn't help but think of the time when he was in the Heng Yue Sect, when he was in the room with Zhang Hu. Outside, lightning flashed, thunder roared, and rain poured down.
At this moment, bolts of lightning flashed across the sky. Silver snakes danced in the sky, creating a beautiful scene.
Wang Lin slowly landed. He didn't use any techniques to disperse the rain. Instead, as he landed, he waved his right hand at the trees around him. Suddenly, leaves gathered, forming an umbrella.
Holding the umbrella, Wang Lin walked through this unfamiliar forest. After passing through two more ancient transmission arrays, he would be back in the country of Zhao. One of the ancient transmission arrays was 40,000 miles to the east.
Within the forest, the sound of the rain was very moving. Not far away, there was an ancient temple. This temple had obviously been abandoned. The original red door had lost its luster, and there were even some cracks on it.
Even the copper nails and rings were covered in rust. At the edge of the door, there was a hint of green.
Wang Lin hadn't seen many temples in his life. It could even be said that they were extremely rare.
Looking at this temple, Wang Lin walked inside. This was an auspicious temple. There was no buddha inside the temple, only half a petal-like cushion.
As he observed, Wang Lin turned his head to look at the temple door. After that, he no longer paid attention to it. After looking around, he stood next to the temple door and looked at the rainy night outside. He was trying to comprehend a faintly discernible realm.
After a long time, shouts came from the distance. A few big men wearing straw raincoats were cursing as they walked toward the temple.
"This damn weather, once it starts, it won't stop!"
"There's a temple in front. Let's go in and hide. When the rain stops, we can continue on our way!"
As they were talking, they saw Wang Lin in the temple. They couldn't help but stop and look at each other. Then they stopped talking and walked toward the temple.
When they walked past Wang Lin, one of them took a step to the side and gently waved his right hand at Wang Lin. However, the next moment, someone beside him let out a roar and pushed that person, causing the attack to dissipate.
That person turned around and snorted. Then he didn't say anything and walked into the temple.
Inside the temple, the five of them took off their straw raincoats and started a fire. They took out some food and ate while talking loudly. However, their gazes would occasionally sweep over Wang Lin.
Wang Lin shook his head slightly. These five mortals had broken the mood of this rainy night and wasted the atmosphere.
He sighed and raised his foot. Just as he was about to leave, Wang Lin's expression suddenly changed. His gaze fell on the mountain forest in the distance.
He saw a long-haired big man wearing a thin robe walking toward him step by step. His pace was not fast, but Wang Lin felt as if the ground had shrunk to an inch. He was still far away a moment ago, but in the next moment, he had already walked past Wang Lin and entered the temple.
The moment he walked past Wang Lin, the big man exclaimed softly and stopped after entering the temple. He carefully looked at Wang Lin and smiled warmly, revealing his white teeth.
"I didn't expect to see someone from the Dao World in this small temple. I'm Mo Zhi. May I know who you are?"
Since everyone wanted to quickly reach the Soul Formation Realm, so be it … Soon …