Chapter 226 – Leave The Country of Chu
One of the old men waved his sleeves without a word. Suddenly, countless dark clouds appeared in the sky. If one looked closely at the clouds, they would notice that they were made of thumb-sized insects. All of them gathered together caused the wind to smell fishy.
The Nascent Soul cultivators of the other sects immediately recognized this black cloud as one of the Cloud Sky Sect’s ancestor’s, Cheng Bailiang’s, famous treasure: Purple Ink Insect.
Not only did the Purple Ink Insects contain a very deadly poison, their skin was very thick. Normal treasures wouldn’t be able to harm them. Once you are surrounded by them, it would only take them a few breaths of time to completely devour you. Not even your bones would be left behind.
In addition, even if a cultivator was able to avoid them, as long as one insect managed to bite them, then it would be hard to avoid death. These insects’ poison was ranked 184th in all of the known poisons in the cultivation world.
It has to be said that the top 100 poison are almost all extinct, so just talking about the Purple Ink Insect was enough to make people pale.
When rank 4 countries visited the Cloud Sky Sect, they would beg for some of the Purple Ink Insects. These insects were rare treasures even in rank 4 countries.
The moment the black clouds appeared, Wang Lin threw Liu Fei to the side. He slapped his bag of holding and held the restriction flag in his hand. Under Wang Lin’s control, the restriction flag grew larger and surrounded him and Li Muwan.
At the same time, Wang Lin’s Ji Realm moved. The powerful pressure returned again, causing the five Cloud Sky Sect ancestors’ expressions to suddenly change. They quickly took out various treasures to protect themselves.
The Ji Realm formed a flash of red lightning as it penetrated through the black clouds and charged toward Chen Bailiang’s brow.
Chen Bailiang was a late stage Nascent Soul cultivator, so he could feel that this red lightning contained the power to destroy everything it hit. In that moment of crisis, his body quickly moved backward. His eyes suddenly widened as his hand formed seals and his Nascent Soul appeared above his head and started to form seals as well.
Layers of defenses were formed to block the red lightning, but the red lightning broke through every layer with ease.
Cheng Bailiang didn’t hesitate. He bit the tip of his tongue and spat out blood. His Nascent Soul spat out Nascent Soul essence as he shouted, “Blood Shield!”
In an instant, the blood and Nascent Soul essence fused together to form a blood bead. The red lightning arrived in a flash and entered the blood bead.
Chen Bailiang shouted, “Illusion Break!” His white hair moved without any wind and a rift in space appeared next to the blood bead. Black light flooded out of the rift as the blood bead, along with the red lightning inside, were sucked in. The moment the blood bead entered the rift, the rift closed.
Chen Bailiang’s forehead was covered in cold sweat. He had just arrived at the door to hell and did a 180. If he was any slower, he would have died.
The four Nascent Soul cultivators behind him all showed signs of fear.
Wang Lin still hadn’t spoke a word as he watched Cheng Bailiang. Wang Lin secretly sighed. Late stage Nascent Soul cultivators weren’t like the rest of these cultivators. This was the first time his Ji Realm was stopped by someone.
Chen Bailiang took a deep breath. His expression was serious as he sullenly said, “What a powerful treasure! But now that the treasure has been sent into the dimensional rift, I want to see what other techniques you have! Purple Ink Insects, devour that person along with that bitch!” Chen Bailiang waved his right hand and the black cloud immediately charged toward Wang Lin and Li Muwan.
Li Muwan revealed a surprised expression. She touched her bag of holding and was about to counter attack when Wang Lin said, “No need.”
With that, he waved his right hand. Suddenly, the space before him tore open. Following the sound of the space tearing, a bolt of red lightning shot out of it and disappeared into Wang Lin’s hand.
At the same time, the restriction flag around Wang Lin expanded until it had trapped all of the Purple Ink Insects inside.
Rays of restriction light kept shining inside. No matter how much those Purple Ink Insects struggled, they couldn’t escape the restriction flag.
Chen Bailiang’s face was pale. He stared at Wang Lin and said, word for word, “Who the hell are you? With your ability, I don’t think you’re doing this for a mere alchemist. Please tell us your purpose.”
Wang Lin calmly said, “I want the Cloud Sky Sect!”
Cheng Bailiang let out a hysterical laugh. He said, in a mocking tone, “You are too arrogant. Even if the five of us can’t defend against your red lightning treasure, if we team up, we can still seriously wound you…”
Before he could finish speaking, Wang Lin raised his hand and a red line appeared on his hand. The moment the red light appeared, the sky suddenly changed and red clouds seemed to gather. This scene was very similar to the divine retribution lightning in the Sea of Devils.
Cheng Bailiang immediately stopped talking. He stared at the red line as he sucked in a cold breath of air. At that moment, the four Nascent Soul cultivators behind him moved up and stared at the red light. One of the ancestors, a fairy-like old man, suddenly said, “This… this is that…” With that, he looked up at the red clouds in the sky. His face revealed a horrified expression.
Wang Lin’s expression was calm as he slowly said, “That is right. Even with my cultivation level, if the five of you attack me at once, even if I could manage to kill a few of you, I would still be seriously injured. But if I use this treasure, the result will be different. This is divine retribution lightning. I’m really curious if the five of you together can defend against this divine retribution lightning.”
Wang Lin was finally able to push the sliver of divine retribution lightning out of his body when he reached the Nascent Soul stage. Although he couldn’t refine it to a treasure, he could still use it to call the divine retribution lightning as his ace.
The five people suddenly became silent. They didn’t doubt that this was real because the pressure it gave off and the slowly gathering red clouds showed that it had the power of divine retribution.
The old man look at the red line with dread and slowly said, “We must discuss this matter first. Please wait.”
Wang Lin’s expression was calm as he slowly said, “You can, but…” when he said that, he threw the red line into the sky. Red clouds quickly gathered around it.
The five of them looked at the sky and revealed panicked expressions.
As he tossed up the red thread, Wang Lin’s body charged forward with his Ji Realm flashing out again. Following close behind it was the restriction flag.
The five Nascent Soul cultivators’ expressions suddenly changed. They were able to back up, but they were a step too late. The Ji Realm landed on Chen Bailiang and this time, he didn’t have time to resist. The him that had always been on guard showed a gap in his defense when Wang Lin threw up that divine retribution lightning.
Chen Bailiang’s face became pale and his eyes became unfocused, but he was still a late stage Nascent Soul cultivator and was able to use his cultivation to direct the Ji Realm’s destruction to his consciousness. His body suddenly fell onto the ground and he began to cultivate. He couldn’t be bothered with anything else anymore. If he was any slower, he would have died. Even now, he wasn’t sure if he could stop the destruction of the red lightning in his soul.
Song Qing and the other elders quickly arrived next to Chen Bailiang to protect him.
Closely following the Ji realm was the restriction flag, which arrived before another Nascent Soul cultivator and surrounded him.
The cultivator’s expression was gloomy, but as long as he wasn’t up against the red lightning, he wasn’t too afraid. But just as he was about to rush out of the darkness, everything suddenly went black. He realized that he must have entered some sort of restriction.
All of this happened too fast. In almost the same instant Wang Lin threw out the divine retribution lightning, he attacked Chen Bailiang with his Ji Realm and trapped another cultivator with his restriction flag.
As a result, there were only three people left.
Wang Lin waved his hand at the red line that went into the sky. It returned to his hand once more. Wang Lin stared at the three late stage Nascent Soul cultivators and slowly said, “Now that there are only three of you remaining, even if you team up, I’m confident that I can kill you all one by one.”
The three ancesters’ faces became gloomy. One of them looked at Chen Bailiang, who was sitting there cultivating, and at the other one, who was trapped in the restriction flag. His heart couldn’t help but sink.
Wang Lin’s eyes turned cold as he coldly said, “Give me your soul blood, or else!”
The fairy-like old man took a deep breath and slowly said, “I have cultivated for more than 1300 years and have never given anyone my soul blood.”
Wang Lin’s eyes flashed and he softly said, “I don’t have any grudges against you, but since you don’t want to give me your soul blood, don’t blame me for being merciless.”
With that Wang Lin pointed at his brow and the devil Xu Liguo and the second devil came out. After the two devils came out, they looked around and turned their gazes toward the three Nascent Soul cultivators.
At the same time, Chen Bailiang, who was cultivating on the ground, fell over. An ancestor of the Cloud Sky Sect had died.
The moment he died, the three Nascent Soul cultivators’ expressions sank. One of the ancestors hesitated for a bit, then sullenly said, “If I give my soul blood to you, it would be the same as death. I might as well risk it and fight you. That way, even if I die, I won’t have any regrets.”
Wang Lin’s expression remained calm as he said, “Give me your soul blood. After 500 years, I’ll return it to you.”
The old man revealed a struggling expression. After a long time, he sighed and said, “I hope you won’t break your promise.” With that, he regrettably looked at his friends as he pointed to his brow and a drop of gold blood appeared. After Wang Lin received the blood, he landed on the ground and remained silent.
The fairy-like old man let out a bitter smile and looked at the other ancestors. One of the other ancestors looked at Chen Bailiang’s body and sighed. “Fine! Fine!” With that, he pointed his finger to his brow and handed over his soul blood. He sat down on the ground and began to cultivate with his eyes closed and no longer bothered with anything else.
At this point, only the fairy-like old man remained. He pondered for a while, then pointed at the person trapped in the restriction flag. He said, with a bitter smile, “Could you please not kill Yun Tianzi?”
Wang Lin waved his right hand. A cracked immediately appeared in the restriction flag and Yun Tianzi quickly flew out. Yun Tianzi’s face was dark. Just as he regained the ability to speak, he noticed that something was off. After looking around, his expression greatly changed.
The fairy-like old man sighed and quickly sent a voice transmission to Yun Tianzi. Yun Tianzi’s expression became unsettled as he looked at the fairy-like old man.
The two pondered for a while. Both of their faces were bleak as they gave Wang Lin their soul blood.
As a result, of the five ancestors of the Cloud Sky Sect, one died and four surrendered.
Song Qing was covered in cold sweat. His mind completely was blank and he didn’t know what to do at all. As for Liu Fei, his eyes were filled with confusion. He didn’t expect that even the ancestors wouldn’t be able handle Wang Lin. Was the Cloud Sky Sect really going to change masters?
After Wang Lin got the soul blood, his gaze landed on Song Qing and Liu Fei. He said, with a forceful tone, “All Core Formation cultivators must hand over their soul blood! No exceptions!”
Song Qing’s body quivered. He quickly nodded and handed over his own soul blood. As for Liu Fei and the other two elders, they quickly handed over their soul blood as well.
Finally, Wang Lin’s gaze landed on the cultivators from the other sects. His eyes were as cold as ice as he said, “I won’t see you all off.”
Everyone let out a sigh of relief. They quickly said their goodbyes and left the Cloud Sky Sect. Soon, there were only a couple of people left.
Wang Lin’s expression was normal. He hugged Li Muwan and quickly moved toward the southern courtyard. In a few breaths, they arrived at the southern courtyard and entered Li Muwan’s house. Just as Li Muwan was about to speak, Wang Lin’s face suddenly went pale and he coughed out a large mouthful of blood as his body trembled uncontrollably.
Li Muwan was shocked. Wang Lin took deep breaths and quickly said, “I need to go into closed door training for a few days. Wan Er, please guard me.”
With that, Wang Lin’s body suddenly disappeared and reappeared inside Li Muwan’s room. After he entered the room, he pointed his finger at this brow and he entered the heaven defying bead.
Once inside, he sat cross legged. His face was pale without a trace of blood as he sat there, cultivating with his eyes closed.
In reality, Wang Lin wasn’t able to successfully enter the Nascent Soul stage.
Otherwise, with his personality, he would have killed everyone in his way, taken all of the pills, and left the Cloud Sky Sect with Li Muwan instead of going through the trouble of getting everyone’s soul blood.
In the past 20 days, after his avatar consumed the rank 6 pill, it managed to reach the Nascent Soul stage and even reached the peak of early stage Nascent Soul. Up until this point, there weren’t any problems.
However, when his avatar fused with his main body, a problem occurred.
Everything started out as he had planned. His avatar fused with his main body and started to help his main body break through to the Nascent Soul stage.
However, he really underestimated the difficulties of breaking through the bottleneck of the Ji Realm. How many other geniuses have been trapped by the limitations of the Ji Realm and were unable to break through?
It can be said that it is an impossible task for the Ji Realm to have a breakthrough because the Ji Realm is really just another form of divine retribution. How can a mere mortal affect the power of the heavens? Even cultivators don’t have that power. That power belongs to the heavens.
During the final stages of the fusion process, Wang Lin was unable to make his main body reach the Nascent Soul stage. Under desperation, he forced his avatar to shrink until it sat in his main body’s dantain as a Nascent Soul replacement.
Although this method enabled him to temporarily raise his main body’s cultivation level to Nascent Soul and allowed his Ji Realm to reach Nascent Soul level power, it couldn’t last. Every time he used his Ji Realm, it used up a lot of his avatar’s nascent energy and his own divine sense’s power.
The Ji Realm was no longer his own power and now acted more like a treasure instead. In order to use a treasure, he must use spiritual power. However, to use the Ji Realm, not only did he have to use a lot of spiritual power, he also had to use his divine sense and his Nascent Soul energy.
Although the situation was frustrating, it was not without its benefits. When his avatar fused with his main body, the 30 year life span of the avatar naturally disappeared. Now, there was no real difference between this main body and avatar. If there really had to be an distinction, then his Nascent Soul was his avatar and his body the main body.
To be precise, his cultivation level was currently at the peak of early stage Nascent Soul and the Ji Realm was his last resort.
If it was not so, the Cloud Sky Sect would not have a tomorrow.
Using the Ji realm multiple times in a row used up a lot of Nascent Soul energy, which was the cause of his injuries. After sorting out the spiritual energy in his body and consuming a large amount of pills, he finally stabilized himself.
This recovery took a full seven days, however, in the real world, only a day had gone by.
After exiting the heaven defying bead’s space, Wang Lin’s eyes shined. Although his Ji Realm had changed to a magic treasure-like existence, he at least finally broke through the Core Formation stage and reached Nascent Soul.
It was time to go back to the country of Zhao for revenge!
Almost the instant he reappeared inside the room, Li Muwan opened the door and entered. She stood next to him and whispered, “Are you feeling better?”
Wang Lin looked at Li Muwan with a tender gaze. His hand stroked Li Muwan’s hair as he said, “It wasn’t anything serious.”
“Did…did something go wrong when you reached the Nascent Soul stage?” Li Muwan looked at Wang Lin with a concerned look and continued, “Wang Lin, I want the truth. I want to know everything about you. I hope you can tell me. Is that ok?”
Wang Lin pondered a little. He looked at Li Muwan and saw the seriousness in her eyes, so he slowly said, “Ok, you would have known about this sooner or later. I’m not from the country of Huo Fen. In fact, I was born in a place from away from here, in a rank 3 cultivation country named Zhao…”
In a calm voice, Wang Lin explained everything that had happened in the country of Zhao and the current state of his own body. He said everything so calmly, as if he was telling a story about someone else.
Li Muwan’s eyes unknowingly became red. She never would have guessed that Wang Lin had such a story behind him.
After a long time, Li Muwan bit her lower lip and whispered, “You are now going to return to the country of Zhao?”
A cold light flashed across Wang Lin’s eyes. He nodded and said, “This time, when i return, I’ll make the rivers flow with the Teng family’s blood. You should come with me as well.”
Li Muwan’s brow tightened. After pondering for a while, she said, “Every time you use your Ji Realm, it uses up a lot of your Nascent Soul energy. This is not a long term solution…” She raised her head and looked at Wang Lin. She revealed a determined expression and said, “I want to stay at the Cloud Sky Sect. Only here will I have the materials and conditions to practice alchemy. If I can make a rank 6 pill, it could help your current situation a lot.”
Wang Lin became silent. He looked at Li Muwan and asked, “Are you sure?”
Li Muwan seriously nodded. She let out a smile and said, “Just give me the soul blood of those Nascent Soul cultivators, then you won’t have to worry about my safety. Don’t worry. Wan Er has been in the Cloud Sky Sect for a long time and I can take care of these things myself. I want to turn the Cloud Sky Sect into a sect that makes pills just for you!”
Wang Lin looked at Li Muwan. He frowned and asked, “If rank 4 cultivation countries come, what will you do?”
Li Muwan let out a smile full of contempt and said, “Those rank 4 countries don’t care who the Cloud Sky Sect belongs to. As long as we give them the pills, there will be no problems. Wang Lin, I assure you that I can manage this on my own.”
Wang Lin took a deep breath. He was never an indecisive person. Since Li Muwan had already decided, he didn’t attempt to change her mind anymore. After pondering for a while, he pointed his finger at his brow and the second devil came out. The second devil respectfully bowed at Wang Lin. Its eyes were filled with admiration.
Wang Lin’s eyes lit up and he said, “From now on, you have to always stay near Li Muwan. Don’t you forget it.”
The second devil looked at Li Muwan and nodded. It turned into a ray of black light and disappeared into Li Muwan’s brow.
Li Muwan was stunned. She suddenly remembered the devils Wang Lin had talked about before and couldn’t help but to become curious. She thought about the second devil and it came out of her brow. She really adored this beast-shaped devil.
After pondering for a bit, Wang Lin was still worried, so he waved his hand and took out his most powerful restriction flag. He handed the flag to Li Muwan and said, “If you use this treasure properly, even if you meet a Spirit Severing cultivator, you can still protect yourself! If there is any danger, I will know through my connection with the devil. If anything happens, I’ll return as soon as possible.”
Li Muwan looked at Wang Lin. She didn’t reject it, but obediently took the restriction flag and carefully put it away.
After all that, Wang Lin spread out his divine sense and instantly swept across the entire Cloud Sky Sect. After he found Song Qing and the four ancestors, he sent a message telling them to all gather here.
Before long, all of the Nascent Soul cultivators in the Cloud Sky Sect had shown up. Some of them had given their soul blood directly to Wang Lin and some of them had Li Muwan receive theirs while Wang Lin was in closed door cultivation.
It could be said that the entire Cloud Sky Sect was in Wang Lin’s hands. With just a thought, he could kill them all.
In front of all those people, he took out the soul bloods and handed them to Li Muwan.
The four ancestors revealed surprised expressions. After looking at Li Muwan, they didn’t say a word. As for Song Qing and the elders, they relaxed a bit. Compared to Wang Lin, they found it easier to accept Li Muwan. After all, Li Muwan was originally an elder.
Li Muwan received the soul bloods and looked at the people of the Cloud Sky Sect. She let out a sweet smile and delicately said, “This little girl will take care of the Cloud Sky Sect for her husband. I hope seniors will take care of me. Four ancestors, your status is very noble, so please don’t take the matter of the soul blood to heart. After 500 years, Wan Er will return it for sure. I hope that ancestors won’t mind these 500 years. I’ll even make pills that will increase your lifespan as an apology. Although the refining process is difficult and the materials are hard to find, I will make one for each of you every 50 years. With each pill, your lifespan will increase by 50 years.”
The fairy-like old man’s expression changed. He asked, in a deep voice, “Increase lifespan?”
The other three also raised their eyebrows. It has to be said that lifespan was a very important matter to them. Although pills that can increase lifespan exist in the cultivation world, they are all rank 6 pills and the price for them was too heavy.
“I have five of them here. The four of you can check them out.” Li Muwan smiled and took out a bottle. She poured the pills out and handed them over to the elders.
The fairy-like old man looked at the pills, then looked at the two other ancestors before their gazes fell on Yun Tianzi. Yun Tianzi seriously looked at the pill. He looked at up at Li Muwan and asked, “You refined this pill?”
Li Muwan faintly smiled, “I refined this pill, but the materials were provided by my husband.” These pills were refined from the spirit liquid.
Yun Tianzi pondered for a while. He looked at Wang Lin and exclaimed, “Fine! You giving our soul bloods to elder Li means that you are about to leave. As long as we get these pills, then we promise her safety for 500 years!”
Wang Lin nodded and said, “Very good!”
Li Muwan’s beautiful eyes turned and landed on Song Qing and Liu Fei. She smiled and said, “Why hasn’t martial brother Ouyang Zi come?”
Song Qing looked at Wang Lin and quickly said, “He is currently refining a pill. He said that if you can give him all of the rank 5 pills for him to use on sacrifice refining, then what’s the big deal of handing over his soul blood?”
Li Muwan chuckled and said, “Brother Ouyang Zi is a rank 5 alchemist like me. If he wants them, he can have them. It is only rank 5 pills.”
With that, Li Muwan looked at Wang Lin and explained, “Of the three rank 5 alchemists in the Cloud Sky Sect, besides Wan Er and Ouyang Zi, the third is senior Yun Tianzi.”
Wang Lin nodded. He didn’t say a word as he watched Li Muwan deal with everything.
With Li Muwan’s knowledge of the Cloud Sky Sect, she managed to comfort all of the Nascent Soul cultivators. She was very beautiful and her voice was very gentle, so with her comforting words and pills as gifts, the resentment in their hearts for having to hand over their soul bloods decreased a lot.
Of course, those were not the main reasons. The main reason was that their soul bloods were already in her hands, so there was no point in resisting. Now that Li Muwan gave them a way back down, they weren’t going to keep being stubborn. After all, Wang Lin’s cold gaze constantly swept past them.
Shortly after, everyone scattered.
After everyone left, Wang Lin took a deep breath and said, “Sit down and cultivate. Back then, your essence took damage, making it impossible for you to reach the Nascent Soul stage. I’ll give you a helping hand.”
Li Muwan bit her lower lip and nodded as she sat down cross legged before Wang Lin. Wang Lin’s right hand slapped his bag of holding and the six remaining bottles of spirit liquid flew out. The six bottles broke and the spirit liquid inside gathered together.
Wang Lin grabbed with his right hand and the spirit liquid slowly entered Li Muwan’s body through her forehead. Wang Lin’s eyes lit up as he quickly used his Nascent Soul cultivation to help Li Muwan’s body recover from the injury she took back then.
Only Wang Lin could do this. Besides him, no one else would have this much precious spirit liquid. Also, no one other than him would use something this valuable to heal someone’s body.
After two hours, Wang Lin was done.
After spending a few more months in the Cloud Sky Sect, Wang Lin kept collecting the spirit liquid. While replenishing his own stock, he also left some for Li Muwan.
In addition, Cheng Bailiang’s Purple Ink Insects were put away in a bag of holding in case he needed to use them in the future.
Also, because he gave the restriction flag to Li Muwan, he decided to take these few months to make another restriction flag with one of his remaining two ink stones. This time, he decided to make a pure attack restriction flag.
However, making a single property restriction flag takes a very long time. It usually takes a long time to think of different restrictions to place on the flag.
After several months, the restriction flag was close to completion, but Wang Lin feared that it would attract divine retribution once it was completed, so he hesitated and didn’t place down the last restriction. As a result, it couldn’t display its full power, but because it was a single property restriction flag, although it hadn’t reached the first level, its attack power was only slightly weaker than Wang Lin’s previous restriction flag.
On an early morning, Wang Lin walked on the wind, holding the pills Li Muwan had given him after she checked through all of the pills the Cloud Sky Sect had in stock and left the Cloud Sky Sect. At the top of the main hall stood a woman. Her gazed was filled with tenderness as she watched Wang Lin’s figure disappear
She didn’t know what month and year it would be when they would meet again. Originally, Li Muwan was going to leave with Wang Lin, but she was a very considerate woman. She knew that if she was around Wang Lin, she would become a burden to him, so she decided to stay in the Cloud Sky Sect to practice alchemy. As a result, her position in his heart would only increase.
