Translucent lights pass through the chaotic space. Mist blocks the sunlight. People can only see things a few meters away. Lin Luoran and Yang Lisha sit cross-legged on the ground, together with Goldie and the cyan little fox.
To their surprise, they are the first team that gets back.
The loss of the ancient book of the monsters of wood at the last moment is a severe blow to Lin Luoran. Although her moral mind is tough, she feels sad and regretful for a long time. Mrs. Lin has already been fifty years old this year. Although she looks young, other schools regard a woman beginning to practice cultivation at her age as a waste of resources. Cultivation is a race with time. Lin Luoran feels a little bit helpless.
Yang Lisha presses her lips tightly and doesn’t say a word. She wants the Soul Wood badly. If they hadn’t gone on the strange trip to Babylon a, she would have forced Lin Luoran to give her the Soul Wood even though she didn’t find the ancient book of the monsters of wood. Why did the mysterious Tower of Babel choose Lin Luoran as the principal test-taker? Apart from attending the wedding of Babylon’s king, why did the tower send them to more than 2,600 years ago? What is the aim?
As a monster, Yang Lisha’s humanized life is much shorter than that of the powerful monsters who are thousands of years old. However, this does not mean that she is stupid. At least, she is more knowledgeable than Lin Luoran. The unusual decision of the Tower of Babel sounds the alarm for Yang Lisha.
She doesn’t know what is special about Lin Luoran, but she knows she’d better not try to rob the Soul Wood from Lin Luoran unless she has to.
“We seem to get nothing from the trip to Babylon, right?” The atmosphere is too embarrassing. Yang Lisha has to say something to break the silence.
Lin Luoran thinks for a while and shakes her head, “No, we still got something.”
The trip lets them know that the fake saintess is from the alien world. It also allows Lin Luoran to try the translation plug-in that the woman surnamed Ji put in her spiritual mind. Lin Luoran is thinking about finding the crazy Taoist and discusses how they should deal with the fake saintess under the Kalahari Desert. There will be severe consequences if the fake saintess takes the knowledge of cultivation on the earth to other planets. Lin Luoran suddenly thinks about a weird thing. If the fake saintess mistook Lin Luoran for an alien traveler 2,600 years ago, she definitely knows Lin Luoran after the whole incident, so why didn’t the fake saintess recognize her when they met in the 21st century?
Is it because the time difference or something happens in the Tower of Babel after she and Yang Lisha get back?
Now that the true function of the Tower of Babel has already been discovered during the Spring and Autumn period, have the senior cultivators on the earth gone to other planets through the tower? Where are they now?
If it wasn’t for Yang Lisha’s presence, Lin Luoran would have taken out the jade stairs to find out.
The star atlas carved on the dome of the Tower of Babel is the same as the pattern on the first step of the jade stairs. If the star atlas on the first step can already allow the power of stars to be used, what about the second step? Can it do interstellar transmission by reversing time and space?
Lin Luoran holds the sacred pearl on her wrist. This is the second time she sees the man in robe in her dream.
The first time was when Baojia was in critical condition. Lin Luoran used up the Reiki in her body and still couldn’t save Baojia. A strange force controlled Lin Luoran’s body after she fainted. The force helped her draw a golden pattern with immense power. Was it a magic figure? Lin Luoran’s instinct told her it was more powerful than the magic figures of the Qingcheng Taoist Temple. Considering Baojia’s health condition at that time, the golden pattern Lin Luoran tried her best to draw was far more powerful than the healing ability of people in the branch of the Wood. It was not exaggerating to say that the pattern brought Baojia back to life.
Lin Luoran saw scenes from The Classic of Mountains and Seas in her dream after she fainted: the back of the man in robe, the sacred pearl on her wrist, the golden pattern she drew in the air, and the glance from afar stinging her spiritual mind.
From then on, she knew that the man was someone who she couldn’t look directly at, at least for now.
And then, it is this time. Lin Luoran keeps stepping back as the fake saintess pushes her to the corner. She sees the man in the white robe exploring the starry sky. She also sees a strange planet that regards green as the noblest color. Although Lin Luoran doesn’t know where this planet is, it definitely has more advanced technologies than the earth. Technologies on the earth fell so many years behind at that time, how about the situation now?
When Lin Luoran sees the man in robe this time, she suddenly understands the strange language that the fake saintess called the “interstellar standard language”.
The times when the man in robe shows up are not necessarily related. Lin Luoran slightly moves her fingers and remembers the mysterious golden pattern.
When Yang Lisha sees that Lin Luoran is absent-minded, she doesn’t bother her. Instead, she closes her eyes to rest.
After a long while, the mist is disturbed. Yang Lisha and Lin Luoran both open their eyes and see two men coming to them while complaining to each other. Xi Heng and Chen Yun come!
To Lin Luoran and Yang Lisha’s surprise, the two men who dislike each other the most finish their test first.
“Fellow cultivator Xi, did you find anything?” Lin Luoran stands up and asks.
Chen Yun is irritated, “Xi Heng, if you cared more about the big picture, we could have got the Foundation-laying Bolus! ”
Xi Heng rolls his eyes and ignores him. In terms of the details of their test, Lin Luoran knows that the stone gate Xi Heng and Chen Yun entered led them to a ruined cave house. The two men were tormented by the inhibition left in the house. They fought all the way out and found the treasures left by ancient people. The two men can fight together, but it doesn’t mean they can cooperate well. Since they dislike each other, they didn’t get anything that looked like the Foundation-laying Bolus.
Although Xi Heng complains, he doesn’t actually blame Chen Yun. Only when Lin Luoran feels surprised about that, does Xi Heng tells her the truth. They triggered the inhibition when the test was almost over. It was Chen Yun who grabbed Xi Heng firmly and pulled him out even though Chen Yun might lose his life. Although Chen Yun did this because it is forbidden to abandon teammates in the tower, it still slightly changes how Lin Luoran thinks of Minister Chen.
It is not easy to be an official and manage a group of arrogant young cultivators. Chen Yun must think it’s hard too, so he becomes slick and only seeks wealth. When Lin Luoran stands in his shoes, everything makes sense. Nevertheless, Lin Luoran will never forget how Chen Yun and other officials tried to force the Lins to surrender. If it weren’t for Zou Yaowei, she would have needed to fight against the whole world of cultivation after she got back.
Lin Luoran puts away these thoughts and asks about Xi Heng’s experience in the ruined cave house. After them, the next team may return very soon.
The mist is still there, but the mood of waiting is not the same.
After waiting for another half day, two men riding on high horses come out of the mist. They are Master Mu and Master Guo.
The two cultivators of Laying Foundation are in clothes that are similar to those of the medieval European aristocrats, even their saddles are made of pure gold. Master Guo and Master Mu are relieved after seeing not many people are waiting at the platform.
Their strange outfit is better not to be seen by the junior cultivators.
Lin Luoran and Xi Heng’s adventures in the tests are both short. Although Master Guo and Master Mu come back not long after them, they spent more than a year in where they call “the strange world”.
The world of magic and sword? All the people at the platform are looking forward to their story. After listening to Master Guo’s story for a while, Lin Luoran realizes that he doesn’t cough anymore. His face becomes ruddy while some of his white hair turns back to black. He looks great.
Master Guo is a little embarrassed, “The locals in that world were weird. They turned a blind eye to the Reiki of the five elements and practiced magic based on some substances……Plus the help of Master Mu, my old disease is magically cured.”
Master Mu laughs, “I didn’t cure your old disease. It was cured naturally as you became a more advanced cultivator!”
Lin Luoran is surprised by how the two senior cultivators appeared. If Master Mu didn’t mention it, she really wouldn’t notice Master Guo’s personal abilities. She senses for a while and finds that Master Guo has passed the middle stage of Laying Foundation. Signs of entering the last stage of Laying Foundation have already shown on him!
Every time cultivators become more advanced, their Wakan will improve their health. With the help of Master Mu, Master Guo took in the Reiki of the five elements that no one cared about in the world of magic. It was exactly what his dried meridian needed. When Master Guo stepped into a higher level of cultivation, his old disease was cured without any medicine.
“You are all trying to be more advanced. It seems I would be ashamed if I didn’t work hard……” Xi Heng says to himself. Needless to say, he must have thought of his precious student Li Xi’er whose personal ability is about to be the same as his.
Chen Yun feels jealous for a while and remembers that Master Guo was fierce and strong when he was young. People in Nihon next to Huaxia were afraid of him at that time. Even if Master Guo didn’t get into a higher level, his original abilities when he was young are pretty powerful anyway. Viewing it as a blessing for Huaxia, Chen Yun is not that depressed.
Only Lin Luoran is sincerely happy, “Congratulations, Master Guo!”
Master Guo feels complicated, “Lin, I need to thank you. If it weren’t for your elixirs, I wouldn’t be able to live to this day, let alone entering a higher level……And Master Mu, if you didn’t help me, you should have been the one to be more advanced. There will never be such a chance to absorb pure Reiki again!”
Master Mu pulls his clothes and ignores the touching words of his uncouth friend. He takes a green crystal in the size of a goose egg out from the pocket on the front part of his clothes.
“What is it?”
Master Mu says mysteriously, “This is the real reward of this trip. Master Guo and I think this is related to the Tower of Babel.”
The green crystal hung on a silver chain in Master Mu’s hand looks like an emerald. It is the “Heart of Druid” that the Bauhinia Empire in the magical world took away.
It is bustling with noise and excitement in the mist. More young cultivators come back. Some of them look happy and seem to find something precious. Some are frustrated and seem to have experienced a lot. Some are seriously injured and dragged back by their teammates. They thought they were going to die, but all of their wounds heal once they return into the mist.
Others are truly hurt badly. Lin Luoran can’t help worrying about Mr. Lin and Yuan Ye. They haven’t come back yet.
Time passes away. Most of the cultivators have returned.
Master Guo and Master Mu tell Lin Luoran that nothing will happen to Mr. Lin and Yuan Ye, but she is not relieved. What if Mr. Lin and Yuan Ye didn’t fall in the same place after they entered the stone gate? Mr. Lin doesn’t have any experience of combat. How can he pass the test alone?
The sound of waves comes from the deep end of the mist. Lin Luoran thought she misheard when seawater floods under the cultivators’ feet. The upper part of a strange boat shows up in the mist. On the boat, Mr. Lin and Yuan Ye are pulling the reins and look surprised. They are tanner than before.
Lin Luoran bursts into laughter. Being tanned is nothing compared with losing limbs. Mr. Lin and Yuan Ye are so lucky.
Is everyone here? Lin Luoran looks at Yang Lisha. The female monster stands far away from the crowd. A light of alienation shows up on her face with dimples.
They have been waiting in the mist for a long time, but the Tower of Babel is still not going to send them out.
What’s going on?
The reticent Qu Yi looks around and doesn’t know how to say it, “Grandmaster Lin, Ye Xiaobei hasn’t arrived yet. He was left alone when we got in pairs.”
Ye Xiaobei? Lin Luoran doesn’t remember him. He must be a junior cultivator. This kid was left alone. Did something happen to him?
