Chapter 1098: Peak of the Cloud Sea – Rain

Far from this jungle, in the eastern part of the Moluo Continent, there was a mountain range. This mountain range was quite strange; it did not wind like a dragon, but instead connected together in a ring shape.

Within this ring-shaped mountain range lay a vast basin.

The basin was filled with pavilions, and lights shone brightly in the dark night. However, at this moment, a sorrowful aura permeated the basin. It seemed that even the rain could not suppress this sorrow, and even the thunder and lightning in the sky could not dissipate it in the slightest.

In the mountains outside the basin, eight massive pillars, each ten zhang thick, were scattered in eight directions. The distance between them was identical, as if they had grown out of the mountains, slanting up into the sky.

About ten thousand zhang below the basin, these eight stone pillars connected to a vast Daoist temple. Looking from afar, it seemed as if this Daoist temple was supported by these eight stone pillars, suspended in mid-air.

Beyond its grandeur, the Daoist temple was quite ordinary, filled with a sense of antiquity. Yet, within this antiquity lay a majesty that shrouded the land. At this moment, as the rain suddenly intensified, bursts of bell tolls echoed within the ring-shaped mountains.

The bell tolls were solemn. The moment they rang out, they pierced through the rain and replaced the thunder, but this only made the sorrowful aura in the basin below even thicker, and faint sounds of weeping could even be heard.

Countless Cultivators, men and women, young and old, walked out of the pavilions in the basin. They wore Daoist robes and paid no heed to the rain falling on them, soaking their hair. They did not use any Divine Ability, but with sorrow, they silently looked up at the Daoist temple ten thousand zhang above, letting the rain fall on their faces and flow down their cheeks along with the tear tracks from the corners of their eyes.

In the Daoist temple above the basin, an old man in Daoist robes sat cross-legged. This old man had a kind face, but at this moment, his complexion was pale and bloodless. He sat there quietly, his expression calm.

In front of him knelt four people. These four were three men and one woman. Aside from one man and one woman who were middle-aged, the other two were old men.

They knelt there, their expressions full of sorrow, but the respect in their eyes remained undiminished. Especially the woman; she was very beautiful and possessed a sense of tenacity. But at this moment, she bit her lower lip, and tears streamed from the corners of her eyes, falling to the ground and wetting it.

"My time is near, so you need not be overly sorrowful… We who walk the path of cultivation will eventually face this day… After I am gone, the Guiyuan Sect will rest upon the shoulders of you four…" The old man's eyes were kind and filled with reluctance as he spoke slowly.

"Master!" The woman's tears flowed more freely as she looked at the elder before her, memories surfacing in her mind.

The other three looked even more sorrowful.

"It is a pity that my cultivation never stepped into the shattered nirvana realm. Otherwise, during the previous trip to the eighth-rank Lingyuan Sect, I would not have had all my Lifespan sucked away by people from the Main Sect, ending up in this state." The old man shook his head, his expression filled with unwillingness, but even more so with helplessness.

"Master, the Zidao Sect set up a Formation in our Moluo Continent and secretly entered the Alliance Star Domain. Why did the Main Sect vent their anger on our Guiyuan Sect after they returned?" The middle-aged man among the four clenched his fists and said in a deep voice.

The old man in the Daoist robe remained silent, his complexion growing paler and paler, and a sense of Death Qi lingering around him. He slowly said: "The Main Sect must have had deep reasons for doing so; do not speculate… If you are unwilling to accept this, then in the Grand Competition of all branches under the Main Sect a hundred years from now, let our Guiyuan Sect break away from being at the bottom for thousands of years. Then, I can die with a smile."

The four remained silent. Amidst their sorrow, bitterness showed on their faces. The once-a-millennium Grand Competition of the branches was a grand event in the Cloud Sea Star Domain. At that time, all sects in the entire Cloud Sea would participate. However, in this grand event, their Guiyuan Sect was always at the bottom, never able to soar into the sky.

The Death Qi on the old man in the Daoist robe grew thicker. He took a deep breath, looking at the rain like a curtain outside the temple. He raised his right hand, which was as dry as bone. A few months ago, this hand had not been like this, but now, it looked as if all the flesh and blood inside had been sucked dry, like a skeleton.

Seeing the old man's hand, the woman among the four kneeling wept even more, and the other three clenched their fists tightly, almost biting their teeth to pieces.

The old man in the Daoist robe did not look at his own right hand, but waved his hand into the void. Immediately, a Storage Rift appeared before him. This Storage Rift was purplish-red, and the moment it appeared, a terrifying aura spread from within.

Following that, a giant purple-black python slowly poked its head out. The python's head was several zhang in size, and as it appeared in the Daoist temple, a wave of pressure immediately spread.

It was just that this python looked slightly exhausted. The head that emerged from the Rift coiled around the old man in the Daoist robe, its eyes also filled with sorrow and reluctance, its tongue touching the old man.

"After I die, this fifth-rank Purple-Eyed Python will be the guardian beast of our Guiyuan Sect. You… must treat it well…" The old man's complexion was no longer pale at this moment, but had an unusual flush, and his spirit was suddenly boosted. However, this boost was like a flash of light before death, as his end was near.

"Now, let me use my last bit of vitality to perform the Spirit Selection Technique to choose a child of the spirit for our Guiyuan Sect… Thinking back, that was how I was chosen by your Ancestral Master… At that time, I was just a boy from a mountain village." The old man revealed a reminiscent smile on his face, formed Hand Seals with both hands, and silently closed his eyes.

The four people in front of him looked at the old man with sorrow. They knew that for the past Sect Leaders of the Guiyuan Sect, unless they died in a foreign land, those who returned to the void would burn everything at the very last moment of their lives to perform a Spirit Selection Technique of the Guiyuan Sect, choosing someone who would have a significant impact on the Guiyuan Sect on the Moluo Continent for the next few hundred or thousand years.

This Divine Ability was extremely mysterious; no one could explain the principle clearly. Even the old man in the Daoist robe did not understand it, only knowing that this Spirit Selection Technique had been passed down for a very, very long time.

This Divine Ability did not always succeed. In fact, over these countless years, the number of times past Guiyuan Sect Sect Leaders had succeeded in performing this technique before death was only twice… All others had failed, indicating that at that moment, there was no one on the Moluo Continent who met the criteria.

The old man in the Daoist robe burned the last bit of his vitality and Primordial Spirit within his body. His body also ignited with cyan flames at this moment, gradually disappearing before his four Disciples.

During this process, his Divine Sense was unprecedentedly clear. He seemed to faintly touch some mysterious rules. Under these rules, his Divine Sense spread across the entire Moluo Continent, searching for the child of the spirit.

He searched again and again, but in the end, there was still no sign of finding a child of the spirit. He sighed lightly; the old man in the Daoist robe understood that the Spirit Selection Technique had not succeeded.

At this moment, his body inside the Daoist temple, under the burning of the cyan flames, only had a blurred head left, and it was about to completely vanish into smoke and dust.

But at this very instant, his clear Divine Sense suddenly detected a light in the rainy night within that jungle in the northern part of the Moluo Continent. The reason he noticed this jungle was because it was exactly where the Teleportation Formation to the Alliance Star Domain was located.

He clearly saw the Teleportation Formation in the jungle light up. At the same time, within that light, a white figure slowly appeared. The white hair in the dark night seemed to make the rain in the world tremble the moment it fluttered. Even more striking was the roaring thunder, which seemed to fear this person and dissipated all at once.

"This… He…" The old man's Divine Sense fluctuated violently. His Divine Sense was clear, clearer than ever before. The moment he saw the white-clothed youth, he suddenly had a terrifying guess.

This person is not a Cloud Sea Cultivator!!

Just at this moment, the white-clothed youth raised his head and coldly glanced at the sky. Under this glance, the thunder suddenly rose and retreated together with a rumble. The old man's heart shook. The white-clothed youth's gaze actually caused his heart to tremble, especially since he was currently in the Spirit Selection Technique, fused with some mysterious rules of the world. He seemed to see countless vengeful spirits surrounding the white-clothed youth. The number of these vengeful spirits was too great, dense and earth-shaking, staring at the white-clothed youth with ferocious hatred, but none dared to approach.

These were all the people who had died at Wang Lin's hands in his life!

An extreme sense of crisis instantly shrouded the old man's heart. He frantically withdrew his Divine Sense, wanting to tell his Disciples this news as soon as possible, wanting to have his Disciples escape immediately, and to notify the Main Sect of this news immediately!

Inside the Daoist temple, the old man, who was almost burned out, suddenly opened his eyes! This sudden action immediately made the four people in front of him look up.

"North…" He only had time to say these two words. His time was near, his Primordial Spirit collapsed, and his Divine Sense turned into nothingness, disappearing along with all traces of him in this world.

With strong unwillingness, with crazy struggle, the moment the old man disappeared, he roared out two more words.

"White hair…"

The four stared blankly ahead. Their Master had returned to the void, but the four words before he left were firmly remembered by them, even though they did not know why their Master's expression was filled with shock at the end.

Within the Guiyuan Sect, bell tolls echoed. The sound of weeping in the basin spread along with the bell tolls, carrying sorrow, reluctance, confusion, and hesitation…

"All Guiyuan Sect Disciples, go to the north of Moluo, search for anyone with the Aptitude for cultivation, regardless of age, especially… white hair!"

In the jungle in the north of the Moluo Continent, Wang Lin withdrew his gaze from the sky. The rain fell, soaking his body, wetting the snow he had brought from the Alliance Star Domain on his clothes, turning it into snow water that flowed down his clothes. As Wang Lin walked forward slowly, it fell onto the ground of this foreign land…

The snow of the Alliance, the rain of the Cloud Sea, at this moment, were indistinguishable…

"Snow to see me off when I left, rain to welcome me when I arrived… Seems not bad." Wang Lin took a deep breath of the Cloud Sea's air and walked into the depths of the jungle.