On the black lake floating with petals, Lin Sheng stood quietly on water, gazing at his surroundings.
“So, this is Lake Yu in the deepest part of the soul as described in the Reflector of Souls?” Lin Sheng frowned. He still remembered the last time he was here, he had stumbled upon a set of majestic pure-white armor. But this time, it was all quiet.
“I had followed a voice, dived into the water and found the armor last time. What about this time?”
He slowly walked forward on the lake. It looked like a mirror. He felt as if he was walking on dry land. It was solid and cold.
“The first step of the Reflector of Souls technique is to inscribe the refinement technique.”
Lin Sheng looked around and soon found himself looking at an endless body of water. He could never reach the end. And every direction he went, the scenery looked just the same. He thought he might as well just randomly find a spot. He crouched down and reached out his index finger.
“Inscribing the technique requires a high concentration of compressed soul power, which I already have. It saves me a lot of time.”
A navy-blue bead appeared in his hand.
“Second, the technique inscription requires a pure internal state of the body. I have achieved this, too.” He had gotten rid of the powers he had accumulated in the past in exchange for his pure bodily state. “Now, let’s begin.”
Streaks of navy-blue soul power came out from the tip of his forefinger. He glided his finger over the lake and cut a long and narrow blue line on the surface.
“It works!”
Lin Sheng felt relieved, knowing the first of leaving a mark was a success. Inscribing the technique would be next.
“Inscribing the technique requires loads of soul power. My soul power should suffice.”
Following the technique of the Reflector of Souls, he started inscribing on the lake surface. In just a few moments, a complex pattern of concentric circles appeared. The innermost circle contained an irregular pattern like a bunch of strings. The middle circle had eighteen uniform-sized triangles, each of which contained a distinct character and symbol. The outermost circle comprised six small rings, inside which were a pattern of vine-entangled swords.
It was a complex and exquisite pattern of technique. It would have taken an average human several days to perform this meticulous work. But Lin Sheng’s powerful soul power had given him an extreme level of concentration. All he took was half an hour of total concentration to complete the pattern.
“Done. The core technique is complete. Next step.”
He willed his consciousness to come out of Lake Yu, back to his bodily level. Using the high-concentrate of soul power, he inscribed the simplified version of the secondary technique. The result was 100 techniques neatly inscribed in his body. By the time he came out of the inscription state, the sky outside was again turning dark.
“I’m not awake yet? I’ve been sleeping for a long time.” Lin Sheng exhaled, glancing at the darkening sky. “Something is right about the rate of flow of time in this place. This was clearly shown in what happened to Ancellia. I just haven’t worked out how much difference, and it’s difficult to calculate here.”
About completing the inscription, Lin Sheng got up and started technique. With the speed of lightning, he drew several runes and magic seals, all navy-blue, floating around him. Streaks of pale blue light appeared and linked the runes and magic seals together in the shape of a ribbon. As the last magic seal formed, Lin Sheng willed his soul power to form a circle of soul ripple expanded into all directions, and shroud all the runes and magic seals.
“It’s done.”
Looking at the runes and magic seals that were linked as if stripes of blue ribbon around him, he smiled. At that time, he could feel the inscription technique inside him resonate with the runes and magic seals on the outside. The technique began to absorb his soul power like a massive sinkhole swallowing up a lake. His soul power was all gone.
Without the soul power, Lin Sheng’s consciousness should have fallen into a muddle. But because of the power of the Dark Wheel, he was still well awake, observing the changes of the technique inside him.
Not long after, the technique that had absorbed the soul power began to release back plumes of soul power, of which the shade of navy blue was deeper than the initial compressed soul power’s.
“Awesome!” Lin Sheng looked in amazement. “It was so easy to refine the soul power into a higher level of concentration. This Reflector of Souls is remarkable!”
The concentration of soul power was akin to the temperature of flame. The difference between a 600°C flame and a 6,000°C flame was like day and night. So too the soul power.
Feeling the high-concentrate of soul power surging in him, his body began to be filled and controlled by this whole new level of energy. Within a few moments, he felt he could think faster, his body more agile, self-healing ability increasing, and perception of the environment more sensitive. Everything seemed to have improved by a wide margin.
“Perceptibility, self-healing ability, resistance, and even intelligence has been elevated. Awesome!”
This came even before his body had completely converted into the new state of highly concentrated soul power. He could almost see the level of improvement he would experience once that happened.
“Next will be to cultivate the soul power, letting the highly concentrated, highly refined soul power fill my body.”
Lin Sheng looked at the steps described in the Reflector of Souls technique and got a better sense of direction. The sound of the clock ticking came suddenly, coming near from afar.
“It’s time to wake up.” Lin Sheng opened his eyes and saw the colors transformed before his eyes. In a split second, he was back in the house in his dream. Following immediately, his surroundings began to turn dark. He opened his eyes a few seconds later, waking up in his bed in the sanctum. Sitting up in bed, he checked his mobile phone beside the bed for date and time.
“Just one day has passed?”
He was a little surprised. He had spent a long time in the dream to get the enlightenment of the deepest part of his soul. He thought half a month must have passed in the actual world by the time he woke up. But it turned out to be just a day.
“That is an enormous difference in the rate of flow of time.” This dream puzzled him. The last time he went in, he thought many days must have passed when he came out.
