Along the way, Wang Lin spread out his divine sense and saw many cultivators. However, all of them had ugly expressions on their faces and seemed to be in a hurry. Even when the divine senses of people they knew met, they would only respond briefly before dispersing.
As Wang Lin flew, he suddenly frowned. He saw more than 10 cultivators in the distance. Their divine senses were linked together in a strange way and slowly swept over.
Among these cultivators, three were at the Soul Formation stage and the rest were at the Nascent Soul stage.
They weren't targeting anyone, but every cultivator was being checked.
When their divine senses swept toward where Wang Lin was, Wang Lin didn't have time to waste with them. He took a step forward and disappeared without a trace from the combined divine senses of the 10 cultivators.
The 10 cultivators didn't find anything strange and continued to sweep through the divine senses.
Wang Lin's speed was very fast. Soon, he arrived outside the Soul Refining Sect. The Soul Refining Sect's protective formation had already been activated, forming a black soul fog. From afar, it looked like there were countless ghosts inside.
Waves of mournful cries came from the black soul fog. It was like a realm of the netherworld, causing people to feel fear just by looking at it.
No cultivator from the country of Pilu was willing to get close to this place and would often take a detour.
When Wang Lin saw the Soul Refining Sect's protective formation, he let out a sigh of relief. The fact that the formation had been activated meant there was no danger inside. His hands formed a seal and he activated the soul locking technique. He opened his mouth and a ray of black light flew out. The black light turned into a three-meter-long soul flag.
"Enter!"
Wang Lin's right hand pointed forward and the one-billion-soul soul flag moved without any wind. The flag wrapped around Wang Lin's body and carried him into the mountain protection formation that was giving off the black fog.
When the one-billion-soul soul flag charged into the black fog, the black fog moved to the side, opening a path for Wang Lin. The one-billion-soul soul flag moved very fast and disappeared into the depths of the black fog.
At this time, the black soul mist produced by the protective formation returned to normal, and the small path that had been opened up was immediately swallowed up by the surging fog on both sides.
The Soul Refining Sect hadn't changed much compared to when Wang Lin left. However, the number of disciples in the Soul Refining Sect had dwindled to less than a tenth of what it used to be.
From afar, of the nine golden rings, only three remained … "You're back …" An ancient voice came from the void. A blood-colored ring appeared in front of Wang Lin and Du Tian walked out.
Du Tian looked even older than before, and his body gave off a dense death aura. The difference between him and his past self was like heaven and earth.
"Senior, you …" Wang Lin's eyes narrowed as he carefully looked at Du Tian and let out a sigh. He could see that Du Tian's lifespan was reaching its end.
"You can see it … Don't worry, the Old Man still has a few more years to live. He won't die so easily." Du Tian laughed, and with this laugh, the death aura around him seemed to dissipate a lot.
"Not bad. Your cultivation level has increased a lot in these past few years. You have already reached the point where you can refine celestial qi and refine your body. If you have a lot of celestial jades, you will soon reach the Soul Transformation stage!" Du Tian carefully looked at Wang Lin. He was shocked and his eyes shined brightly.
Wang Lin pondered a bit and asked, "Senior, do you have any celestial jades here?"
Du Tian looked up at the sky and laughed.
"Ceng Niu, you came back to the Soul Refining Sect for celestial jades. If you didn't lack celestial jades, you wouldn't have come back."
Wang Lin faintly smiled and shook his head. "For the one-billion-soul soul flag, I would have come back as well."
Du Tian's eyes lit up. He looked at Wang Lin and revealed a look of admiration. "Good. The one-billion-soul soul flag is yours. The Old Man's soul fragment in a few years will also be yours. Even the entire Soul Refining Sect will be yours. If you don't like it, you can give up on the Soul Refining Sect. However, you have to remember that you have to repay the Old Man for what he has done for you.
"The Old Man wants you to repay him by protecting the one-billion-soul soul flag. As long as the flag exists, the Soul Refining Sect will never die. This little Suzaku won't be able to stop you, Ceng Niu. He said that if you leave this place, you must find a place where the Soul Refining Sect can flourish. Also, help the Soul Refining Sect build 999 Heaven Stairways so that the Soul Refining Sect can become a rank 6 cultivation country.
Ceng Niu, listen up! "
Wang Lin's eyes were calm. There was no free lunch in this world. If you want something, you have to give something. Wang Lin agreed with Du Tian's words. After pondering a bit, he nodded and said, "Fine!"
Du Tian carefully looked at Wang Lin. After a long time, he let out a sigh. He looked up at the sky and thought, "Senior apprentice brother, I bet everything on your divination. I hope I won't lose everything in the end …"
He took a deep breath, waved his sleeves, and said, "Follow me!"
With that, he led the way and Wang Lin followed.
The two of them moved like lightning and arrived at the back mountain of the Soul Refining Sect.
There, Du Tian's right hand formed a seal and landed in the sky. A giant vortex appeared in the sky. There were countless bolts of black lightning moving around the vortex and a dangerous aura spread out.
"This is a forbidden area of the Soul Refining Sect. Only those who have mastered the soul sealing technique can enter. Bringing you here isn't against the sect's rules." Du Tian entered the vortex.
Wang Lin pondered a bit. His expression was calm, but he was secretly on guard and quickly followed.
The moment he entered the vortex, Wang Lin felt like he was inside a transfer array. His vision blurred and when he reappeared, he was inside a giant cave.
This cave wasn't large, and there were more than 30 tablets made of celestial jades on the wall.
Du Tian bowed toward the tablets and said, "Those are the tablets of all the Soul Transformation cultivators of the Soul Refining Sect."
Wang Lin also bowed.
A trace of happiness appeared in Du Tian's eyes and he nodded slightly. He then pressed his right hand against the wall, causing a rumbling sound to come from all directions.
"Ceng Niu, sit down cross-legged. There aren't many celestial jades left in the Soul Refining Sect. Although we accumulated a lot back on planet Four Saints, after tens of thousands of years and more than 30 Soul Transformation cultivators, we've already used up all the celestial jades we have. The remaining ones were obtained by the Old Man and his brother when they were young. I'm afraid they aren't enough for you, but you don't have to worry. If you don't have enough celestial jades, the Old Man will take you to the Soul Transformation stage.
"Ever since the Old Man's generation, if anyone in the Soul Refining Sect is at the Soul Transformation stage, we don't have to worry about celestial jades. If one sect isn't enough, we'll take two. If two isn't enough, we'll take three. Sooner or later, we'll have enough.
"When the Old Man reached the Soul Transformation stage, my teacher took the one-billion-soul soul flag and robbed all the sects in three rank 5 cultivation countries." There was even a hint of pride in Du Tian's eyes.
Wang Lin could only bitterly smile. The Soul Refining Sect was indeed too tyrannical. The one-billion-soul soul flag was something that even Rosefinch's son was wary of. With it, the Soul Refining Sect could do whatever they wanted. No wonder they had so many Soul Transformation cultivators; it was all because of the spear celestial jades.
At this moment, the rumbling became even more intense and the ground began to tremble. Finally, with a series of crackling sounds, two pieces of celestial jades that were as tall as a person flew into the air.
Dense celestial spiritual energy suddenly filled the area. Wang Lin carefully looked at the two large pieces of celestial jades. They weren't as good as the ones Wang Lin used before, but they were too big, so the amount of celestial spiritual energy they contained was much higher.
Wang Lin took a deep breath, sat down in the lotus position, and began to cultivate to absorb the celestial spiritual energy.
The two pieces of celestial jades surrounded Wang Lin and released a large amount of celestial spiritual energy. The moment the celestial spiritual energy appeared, it was immediately absorbed by Wang Lin's body. His body was like a giant whirlpool as he absorbed the celestial spiritual energy from the two pieces of celestial jades like crazy.
Gradually, the celestial spiritual energy from the celestial jades became visible to the naked eye. It was a milky white aura that connected to Wang Lin's body and was absorbed like crazy by Wang Lin.
Du Tian, who was standing not far away, secretly nodded. After pondering a bit, he slapped his bag of holding and seven white flags appeared in his hand. He waved his hand and the seven flags flew out and surrounded Wang Lin.
Immediately, white lines spread out from the seven flags and connected with each other, forming an irregular pattern.
"Stand!" Du Tian's hands formed a seal and he pointed at the air.
Rays of white light suddenly rose from the white lines connecting the flags and completely surrounded Wang Lin.
"Ceng Niu, with this formation, you will be able to absorb celestial spiritual energy and convert it into spiritual energy even faster. The Old Man has never been stingy with you."
Endless spiritual energy came from all directions and entered Wang Lin's body from every pore. It continued to change his body, causing the spiritual energy inside his body to quickly change as well.
Gradually, Wang Lin forgot about the passage of time. He was completely immersed in refining his body with celestial spiritual energy. He slowly gained a deeper understanding of celestial spiritual energy.
The Soul Transformation stage was a transformation of spiritual energy and celestial spiritual energy. It could be said that only by controlling celestial spiritual energy could one truly be considered a powerful cultivator.
Soul Transformation cultivators controlled celestial spiritual energy. Many treasures that required spiritual energy to activate wouldn't be able to withstand the impact of celestial spiritual energy and would become dispensable.
Similarly, in this world, there was a type of treasure that couldn't be activated with spiritual energy. Only celestial spiritual energy could activate it.
For example, the celestial sword or the God Slaying War Chariot … As time passed, no matter how much celestial spiritual energy there was, it would eventually be absorbed. On this day, cracks appeared on the two pieces of celestial jades that were placed in front and behind of Wang Lin.