Chapter 113: Volcano Seclusion

From beginning to end, Wang Lin's gaze never lingered on the young woman. After Wang Lin left, the young woman Xu Si stared at his gradually vanishing figure in mid-air, her eyes filled with confusion. Back then, Ma Liang had constantly pestered her. Whether she hit him, scolded him, or tried to hide, he would always relentlessly cling to her.

She and Ma Liang grew up together in the same village. Their parents were family friends and had arranged a childhood engagement. Later, after both of them were accepted as Disciples by the War God Temple, she found Ma Liang increasingly rustic and loathed him more and more. However, since they had an engagement, she kept this matter deeply hidden. When she tricked Ma Liang into entering the Outer Realm Battlefield, she used this as an excuse, saying that as long as he returned, she would become his Dual Cultivation Dao Companion.

But now, after Ma Liang returned, he treated her as if she were invisible. Regarding this, Xu Si felt an inexplicable emotion deep down, and coupled with the sudden shiver she felt moments ago, the stark contrast left her mind completely blank for a moment.

As for Wang Lin, after flying for a long time in the unfamiliar Fire Scorch Country, he arrived at a continuous mountain range. According to Ma Liang's memory, this place was a famous cluster of volcanoes in the Fire Scorch Country.

The Fire Scorch Country was named as such precisely because of the numerous large and small volcanoes within its borders. If Cultivators didn't constantly monitor and Seal them, they would have erupted long ago.

In the history of the Fire Scorch Country, there had never been a large-scale volcanic eruption, which was greatly related to the control Spells employed by Cultivators.

After checking the surroundings, Wang Lin turned and flew away, stopping outside a nearby village. It was the busy farming season, and children in the village were playing happily. Wang Lin stood outside the village, a sharp pang of pain twisting in his heart. After being stunned for a long time, he walked in.

After finding some wooden buckets used for holding water in an unoccupied farmhouse, he filled them with a large amount of Qing Shui and quickly left, transforming into a long rainbow.

After returning to the volcanic mountain range, he found a natural cave. Upon entering, he immediately sealed the entrance and used some rubble to set up layers of Formations before sitting down cross-legged.

Having completed all this, Wang Lin's face was extremely pale. He had been severely injured in the Outer Realm Battlefield, and his Divine Sense had completely dissipated. He had barely managed to escape using only a trace of extreme Divine Sense. After exiting the Teleportation Formation, he disregarded his injuries and released that trace of extreme realm Divine Sense. The purpose was to conceal his injuries, making it easier for him to leave and find another place to recover.

At this moment, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes to rest, and immersed himself in his Sea of Consciousness.

Wang Lin's Sea of Consciousness was a golden ocean. The vast majority of this ocean was shrouded in a layer of grayish mist. Only a small area was free of the gray mist, where black light spikes isolated the gray mist.

A lonely, three-inch green small sword stood upright within it. Those light spikes were emitted from its body. Upon closer inspection, one could see several deep cracks on the small sword's blade.

In another part of the Sea of Consciousness, there was a Blank Boundary. A dull gray Stone Bead floated within it, and within ten zhang of the bead, no gray mist dared to approach.

Apart from these two locations, the rest of Wang Lin's Sea of Consciousness was entirely covered in mist.

Suddenly, the gray mist within the Sea of Consciousness began to churn intensely. A red bolt of lightning suddenly rushed out within the golden ocean. As soon as this lightning appeared, the mist around it immediately retreated.

Although Wang Lin's previous Divine Sense had collapsed, the trace of extreme Divine Sense that was ultimately condensed was actually a type of Divine Sense, but its quality far surpassed Wang Lin's previous Divine Sense.

Although Wang Lin's previous Divine Sense was immense, it was practically vulnerable under the Boundary Law. However, the extreme Divine Sense was different; it could resist the Law and ultimately escape, demonstrating its power.

This red lightning bolt was that trace of extreme Divine Sense.

Wherever the lightning passed, the gray mist retreated. Even the golden ocean, which had been calm, began to surge. In an instant, the red lightning arrived at the location of the three-inch small sword, suddenly rushed in, and flashed across the small sword's body.

Immediately, the green small sword emitted a fierce Sword Cry, following closely behind the lightning, and rushed out one after the other.

The two long rainbows traveled through the gray mist, stirring up huge waves in the golden ocean. They instantly reached the Stone Bead and, in the same manner, carried the Stone Bead out of the gray mist.

Wang Lin suddenly opened his eyes, performed Hand Seals, and touched his glabella. Immediately, two illusory lights emerged from his forehead: a Stone Bead and a Flying Sword, floating quietly in mid-air.

Wang Lin did not spare them a glance, closing his eyes again. The red lightning continued to traverse back and forth within the Sea of Consciousness for a long time. After confirming that there were no further abnormalities, the electric light flashed, drilled back into the golden ocean, and vanished.

The gray mist once again covered the blank area, eventually returning to its normal state. The entire Sea of Consciousness quieted down.

Deep within the golden ocean, the red lightning remained still, slowly absorbing the energy within the ocean.

Wang Lin could clearly sense that the extreme Divine Sense was gradually growing stronger within the golden ocean. Although this rate was extremely slow, it was steadily increasing. If Wang Lin could remain immortal, perhaps tens of millions of years later, it would grow to the size of his original Divine Sense.

If that day truly came, perhaps even the Boundary Law would pale in comparison before him, and he could enter or leave the Nirvana Space at will.

Wang Lin remained silent for a moment, looking up at the two illusory lights in front of him. Flipping his right hand, two Storage Pouches appeared in his grasp. The three Storage Pouches he had obtained originally had their Magic Treasures entirely used up in resisting the Boundary Law.

As for the Materials inside, when he created the Tortoise Shell Profound Destruction Formation in the Outer Realm Battlefield, he had divided the items within the Storage Pouches into three portions. At this moment, with a thought, a palm-sized black iron piece floated out of one Storage Pouch.

The appearance of this iron piece clearly indicated it was a part of a complete set of Armor. Wang Lin pondered for a moment. His greatest weakness now was his severe lack of knowledge regarding Cultivation Materials. For example, despite having numerous Materials in the two Storage Pouches, he felt helpless, like entering a treasure mountain yet failing to recognize the treasures.

This iron piece was one of the few items he recognized; it was Refined Iron.

The reason he recognized Refined Iron was that he had seen someone trade a fingernail-sized piece of it during the Secret Trade Fair for Inner Sect Disciples he attended back at the Hengyue School, learning that it was an important Material for Artifact Refining Flying Swords.

He put away the Storage Pouch and secretly decided that after his seclusion, he must put great effort into finding Jade Slips that recorded Materials.

Wang Lin tossed the iron piece up. His right hand pointed at the illusory Flying Sword, which immediately flickered and rushed into the iron piece. A green light immediately lit up at the center of the iron piece, spreading rapidly, and finally, with a buzzing sound, it emitted a Sword Qi.

Wang Lin frowned deeply, looking wryly at the palm-sized iron piece. He felt quite depressed; he didn't know Artifact Refining and couldn't create a Sword Embryo, so he could only proceed like this for now.

Then, with a thought, the iron piece immediately flashed, vanished from its spot, and reappeared behind Wang Lin. However, the size of the iron piece had shrunk by a full circle, and its edges emitted a red glow, dripping several drops of molten iron.

Wang Lin sighed inwardly. After the iron piece's temperature cooled down, he put it into his Storage Pouch.

He then turned his gaze toward the illusory Stone Bead. A feeling of his Soul being connected to it immediately surged forth. Wang Lin's heart stirred, and he beckoned with his right hand. The illusory Stone Bead immediately flew over, landing in his palm and gradually solidifying.

The pattern on the Stone Bead was still two leaves. Without a word, Wang Lin took out the wooden bucket he had obtained from the farmhouse, opened the lid, and tossed the bead into the water.

A moment later, Wang Lin took out the bead, scooped out some Qing Shui, and took a drink. Immediately, a surge of Spiritual Qi appeared within his body. Wang Lin immediately took out the remaining three wooden buckets, immersed the bead in each one, and then stared at the Stone Bead, experimenting to see if he could still enter the Dream Space.

When he arrived in the Dream Space again, Wang Lin fell silent for a moment, looking at the familiar scenery around him. He quickly flew forward, and before long, he reached the location of Situ Nan's Nascent Soul.

Situ Nan's Nascent Soul was still present, but it had shrunk to only one-tenth the size of a normal person—a difference as vast as heaven and earth compared to before.

The Nascent Soul was completely dim and lifeless, its expression listless, and its eyes tightly shut. Beside the Nascent Soul, two faint light clusters floated, one on the left and one on the right.

Wang Lin shed two streams of tears, knelt before the light clusters, and heavily kowtowed several times. Then, he sat cross-legged, placed the four wooden buckets beside him, picked one up, took a large gulp, and immediately began breathing exercises.

There was not a trace of Spiritual Power within Wang Lin's body, so he needed to Cultivate again starting from the Qi Condensation Stage. However, both Wang Lin's body and Ma Liang's body had already gone through the Qi Condensation process, so he was familiar with the process. As Wang Lin performed his breathing exercises, his cultivation rapidly recovered.

Time flew by quickly. In the blink of an eye, one year passed—though speaking of one year, nearly seven years had passed inside the Dream Space.

During this year, Wang Lin spent all his time on breathing exercises, both inside and outside the Dream Space. He also went out several times to replenish his stock of Spiritual Qi Qing Shui.

As early as the third year within the Dream Space, Wang Lin had already reached the fifteenth layer of the Qi Condensation Stage. He then spent another two years entering the Early Stage of Foundation Establishment, and subsequently, over a year later, he finally recovered his previous cultivation: the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment.

Relying on his extreme realm Divine Sense, Wang Lin was the natural enemy of any Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator. He even had the confidence to fight against an Early Stage Core Formation Cultivator. If he reached the Late Stage of Foundation Establishment, Wang Lin would have a seventy percent certainty of killing an Early Stage Core Formation Cultivator.

Similarly, if he could reach Core Formation, he would be the number one person in the entire Cultivation Alliance beneath the Nascent Soul Stage.

This was the power of the extreme realm!

The relationship between the extreme realm Divine Sense and Wang Lin's own cultivation was like that of fish and water. Although the extreme Divine Sense was powerful, without cultivation supporting it, even if it was strong, it could not be sustained. Only after cultivation improved could the extreme Divine Sense be nourished, slowly grow stronger, and possess lasting power.

The stronger the cultivation, the more fully the power of the extreme Divine Sense could be deployed.

At this moment, after seven years of recuperation, Ma Liang's body had completely fused with Wang Lin, and he no longer felt any discomfort. However, the coldness emanating from him also grew thicker, like an iceberg that had not melted for ten thousand years—something no one could thaw.