Lin Jin kept his word and stopped harassing Patriarch Xue Pao.
After their conversation, Lin Jin could tell that Patriarch Xue Pao wasn’t near his limit yet. Just from the fact that he could create a second clone, perform uncommon spells like gathering rocks and consolidating them into a table and benches, it was clear that the old man still had energy to spare.
This indicated that Patriarch Xue Pao was harder to deal with. If pushed into a corner, he might just take everyone down with him and that would be troublesome. There was nothing to gain from that.
Since he couldn’t overwhelm Patriarch Xue Pao completely, and the latter was seeking a truce, Lin Jin had no reason to insist on a fight. However, he couldn’t just leave either. Lin Jin began buying time until after Jin Chi had destroyed Lord Xue’s first clone. Only then, did he rise from his seat. Patriarch Xue Pao was grinding his teeth in anger but he had no other choice.
Losing that clone of his meant throwing away at least five hundred years’ worth of cultivation. It would take at least a few hundred years to regain what he lost.
Moreover, Lin Jin was sure that the next time he returned, he would grow strong enough to overwhelm Patriarch Xue Pao.
On the way back, Lin Jin bid Jin Chi and Tiger Taoist goodbye. Or rather, it was Curator who was going to part ways with them. As Jin Chi was indebted to Curator for saving his son, he had been respectful and refrained from asking anything.
It was the same for Tiger Taoist. Thanks to Curator’s phenomenal abilities, not only did he get to keep his arm, but it also grew stronger because of the death aura. He even got a zombie dragon pet beast so he had the most to gain from this incident.
Now that Curator wanted to leave, he wouldn’t stop him.
After all, from their perspective, Curator was a legendary expert. Experts tend to roam without care and liked to be mysterious about their whereabouts.
After they parted ways, Lin Jin went west on a cloud, traveling more than a thousand miles until he reached the borders of Grassy Continent where no one was around. He descended and activated his Camouflage spell before shedding away Curator’s disguise. There, he returned to being Lin Jin.
In this fight with Patriarch Xue Pao and Corpse Taoist, Lin Jin made a number of errors. For instance, he had accidentally let his pet beast, Xiao Huo, out. However, Tiger Taoist and Jin Chi didn’t know much about his pet beasts so he should be fine.
Looking into the distance, further west of Grassy Continent, he could see a desolated stretch of land. Although that area was also considered the mainland, they didn’t belong to any of the continents. By traveling ten thousand miles further ahead, he would reach the border of the extraterritorial zone.
That area would be covered in endless miasma where average humans and animals could never reach. In fact, the final human settlement was located here at the border of Grassy Continent. The area ahead was a desert that stretched over ten thousand miles, with the occasional boulders and cliffs. Even birds would find it challenging to travel this distance, never mind humans.
The extraterritorial zone was a place of exile for immortals. Lin Jin knew he would eventually have to travel there, but today was not that day.
Right now, he still thought he was lacking in competence.
Although Lin Jin could very well hold his ground against real immortals with the help of the Clear Wind Sword, he still didn’t think it was enough. If Lin Jin were to visit the extraterritorial zone someday, the prerequisite he set for himself was to promote both his pet beasts to Rank 6. Otherwise, the risks for going there were too great.
The border of Grassy Continent was void of humans. Lin Jin only came here because he wanted to have some privacy to research a Rank 6 evolution method. Also, he felt there was much to consider in Patriarch Xue Pao’s story of the immortal’s path’s destruction and the Heaven’s Foundation Stone.
Could the Nine-Heaven he mentioned be the Nine-Heaven Realm Lin Jin once witnessed?
It was a place with layers of skies, and countless palaces that seemed to stretch on forever. The floating mountain in the Nine-Heaven Patriarch Xue Pao mentioned was probably in the same place Lin Jin had once visited.
The Nine-Heaven Realm, also the living quarters of the Immortal Emperor and all immortals back when they were at their strongest.
Lin Jin was curious as to why he ended up seeing the Nine-Heaven Realm.
Back then, he had only chanced upon it after invoking the Five Element Edict. However, if he were to trace it to its roots, it was because he had borrowed the museum’s powers.
After connecting the dots, a thought suddenly came to mind but it went away just as quickly as it arrived. It was a difficult thought to grasp, like a person that was shown only as a blurry silhouette.
Lin Jin felt puzzled.
Confusion wasn’t a good thing. He quickly removed the excessive thoughts and calmed his mind.
For some reason, the thought of the Nine-Heaven Realm and the legendary Heaven’s Foundation Stone, which was rumored to have killed all immortals, tended to mess up Lin Jin’s thoughts. He could only direct his attention to other things and then he would feel better.
Lin Jin started researching the evolution methods for his two pet beasts, which were provided by the museum.
He retrieved a transparent blood bead.
This bead seemed to be condensed from fresh blood. Upon closer observation, one could see a layer of monster energy bound to the surface of the bead.
This was given to him by Jin Chi. It was the essence the latter had gathered and refined with unique methods after eliminating Patriarch Xue Pao’s clone.
This single bead contained centuries of Patriarch Xue Pao’s cultivation.
With this, Lin Jin could at least promote his second pet beast, the blood ghost. That would raise its strength by a level. As for Xiao Huo, Lin Jin still needed time.
A desolate area with no one around to disturb him was the perfect place to evolve a pet beast.
Lin Jin got the blood ghost to emerge from his body. Blood flowed from beneath Lin Jin’s feet and quickly gathered into a pool. The blood pool was boiling and emitted hostile energy.
A Rank 5 blood ghost was known to be a fearsome creature and Lin Jin was almost certain that this guy came from Patriarch Xue Pao.
Hence, using Patriarch Xue Pao’s cultivation to promote it was an appropriate measure.
Once the evolution succeeds, its strength would be on par with Patriarch Xue Pao’s clone, or perhaps even stronger.
That was a good thing for Lin Jin.
Staring at the pool of blood, Lin Jin tossed the bead into it.
The blood bead instantly sank in, causing the pool to boil even more vigorously. Blood spluttered and hissed as the pool kept morphing into various beasts. Simultaneously, Lin Jin could hear howls and roars which he recognized to be the wails of the blood ghost.
Lin Jin didn’t react to it because the blood ghost was a strange beast. Patriarch Xue Pao’s cultivation should be enough to push the blood ghost up to Rank 6. Should they fight Patriarch Xue Pao again, the blood ghost would definitely prove useful. After all, Patriarch Xue Pao’s actual body was only Rank 7.
The blood pool continued to boil for an hour before finally calming down.
The next instant, a crimson glow shone from the pool, dyeing their surroundings in a sea of red.
Lin Jin looked around, baffled.
His vision of the world was covered by a red tint, and everything seemed too surreal.
An average person would surely be frightened by this but Lin Jin could tell this was actually a blood barrier.
The blood ghost had created a barrier, and from the looks of it, this was much stronger than his Nebula Barrier. Lin Jin reached forward and a hand extended from the pool to hold his.
