Chapter 152: The Divine Dao Art

Wang Lin looked up at the old man and said, word by word, "Senior, rest assured. Once I finish reading the Divine Dao Art, I will leave and likely never return."

The Red-Faced Elder stared at Wang Lin. After a long moment, he flipped his right hand, and a jade talisman appeared in his palm. He slapped the jade talisman onto the stone wall, and immediately, a burst of white light spread out from the talisman, quickly covering the entire stone wall. Following this, a layer of crystalline light appeared on the wall, gradually intensifying until the stone wall suddenly transformed into a mirror-like surface.

The old man stepped into the mirror surface without looking back. His entire body sank in as if plunging into water, and ripples spread across the stone wall. Wang Lin hesitated for a moment before stepping inside.

The instant he entered the stone wall, a cool sensation immediately transmitted from the outside world into his body, as if a layer of damp canvas had brushed across his face. After the coolness subsided, Wang Lin realized he had entered the stone wall. He looked back and saw that the stone wall behind him, like the outside, was shimmering with ripples and sparkling light.

Wang Lin reached out a hand to probe it, and the icy sensation reappeared.

"This is the Water Mirror Gate, created using the Artifact Refining technique of my War God Hall. Without the jade talisman to open it, unless one's cultivation reaches the Soul Transformation Stage, it is impossible to enter this Stone Residence," the Red-Faced Elder said in a calm tone.

Hearing the mention of the Artifact Refining technique, Wang Lin's heart stirred. After taking another careful look at the stone wall, he followed the Red-Faced Elder and walked forward.

The space inside the Stone Residence was enormous. Besides the main hall in the center, there were hundreds of Stone Chambers densely packed around the perimeter. Outside each Stone Chamber was a stone wall, and Wang Lin observed that every single stone wall resembled the Water Mirror Gate.

"There are a total of three hundred and sixty-five Stone Chambers here, and every stone door is a Water Mirror Gate. This Water Mirror Gate is actually the symbol of a Disciple graduating from the Artifact Refining Hall," the Red-Faced Elder explained, seeing that Wang Lin's gaze was fixed on the stone doors.

Wang Lin looked for a moment before retracting his gaze. At this point, the two of them were standing in the main hall in the center. Directly ahead was a long shelf, divided into four tiers, with Spirit Tablets placed on each tier.

Except for the top tier, which held only one Spirit Tablet, the other tiers contained quite a few.

Wang Lin’s eyes fell upon the Spirit Tablet on the top tier, which read: "War God Hall Founding Ancestor —Gong Mo."

"Ancestor Gong is the founder of my War God Hall, and he is the one who discovered the Divine Dao Art." The Red-Faced Elder bowed deeply to the Spirit Tablet, then turned to look at Wang Lin.

Wang Lin remained silent for a moment, then bowed in respect.

The Red-Faced Elder turned and walked forward. Behind the Spirit Tablets was a stone wall paved with azure jade, covered densely with countless small characters. Wang Lin looked up, and at the very top, the three words "Divine Dao Art" were clearly inscribed.

But as he read further down, his heart sank. Below it was written: "Disciple Chen Chong, inscribed from memory. Future generations who Cultivate this must exercise caution."

"Are you disappointed?" The Red-Faced Elder looked at Wang Lin and sighed. "The Divine Dao Art—in the second year after Ancestor Gong discovered it, a traitor appeared in my War God Hall. Rumors about the Divine Dao Art quickly spread everywhere. Not long after, the Fourth-Grade Cultivation Country Tiangang Country visited. After a secret discussion with Ancestor Gong, they took away the original Divine Dao Art. Three days after they left, Ancestor Gong departed on his travels and never returned.

This Divine Dao Art is the strangest magic I have ever seen. Anyone who views it can comprehend it, but they cannot express it in words, as if an invisible force is blocking them.

Ancestor Chen Chong had ordinary Aptitude and was the worst Disciple under Ancestor Gong. Yet, relying on his memory, he accomplished what no one else could: he inscribed the Divine Dao Art. Immediately after finishing the inscription, Ancestor Chen Chong died. Before his death, he warned future generations that this Art was a great Divine Ability, but his Lifespan was insufficient, only allowing him to inscribe ten percent of it. Future generations who Cultivate it must be extremely cautious!

Actually, Ancestor Chen Chong worried too much. How could the Divine Dao Art be so easily comprehended? Over thousands of years in my War God Hall, fewer than thirty people have been able to see through it. Half of those thirty eventually succeeded in forming their Nascent Soul.

As for the Divine Dao Art viewed by other Schools in Huofen Country, they are all fake, and even fewer people can comprehend those."

Listening to the Red-Faced Elder, Wang Lin quietly gazed at the azure jade stone wall, imagining a thin, weak man carving onto the wall, exhausting his Lifespan in the process.

"Take a look yourself. I will wait for you outside. Do not trespass into the sealed areas of the Water Mirror Gate!" The Red-Faced Elder finished speaking, turned, and left.

Wang Lin looked at the stone wall and read every character. The text was arcane and difficult to understand, with many parts seemingly contradictory. As he read, his brow gradually furrowed.

After a long time, Wang Lin sat cross-legged on the ground, his expression fluctuating, but his eyes never blinked as he stared intently at the azure jade wall. All the inscriptions appeared one by one in his mind.

The more he looked, the more confused he became. This Divine Dao Art was completely incomprehensible. His frown deepened further, and finally, after reading the whole thing, he simply closed his eyes, letting the dense, obscure text echo continuously in his mind.

Time slowly passed, but Wang Lin still couldn't grasp it. He slowly opened his eyes, sighed inwardly, and looked toward the wall again. But just then, his pupils suddenly contracted, and he exclaimed, "Wait!"

The moment he looked at the wall, the characters he had just memorized suddenly vanished from his mind, as if they had never existed. Wang Lin looked at the words on the wall, which were extremely familiar to him, having just memorized them all. Yet now, in the blink of an eye, they had all disappeared as if he had suffered a memory lapse.

Wang Lin took a deep breath, his face solemn. This Divine Dao Art was too strange; no wonder no one could make a copy of it. He had once asked Zhou Zihong to copy it for him, and Zhou Zihong had confusingly told him that the Divine Dao Art simply could not be transcribed. At the time, he was only slightly surprised and didn't take it to heart. Now that he had personally experienced it, his expression immediately became serious.

When he looked again, Wang Lin’s gaze settled on the line: "Disciple Chen Chong, inscribed from memory. Future generations who Cultivate this must exercise caution." His heart was even more shocked than before. After all, he had only heard about it previously, but now he truly understood the difficulty of inscribing the Divine Dao Art. The name Chen Chong was deeply etched into his mind.

Wang Lin took a deep breath, skipped over that line, and looked at the Divine Dao Art again. An incense stick's time later, Wang Lin finished recording it once more, but immediately, the previous scene repeated itself.

After repeating this several times, Wang Lin’s expression gradually darkened. He stared at the wall without blinking. This time, he didn't try to memorize it, but instead continuously read it over and over again.

The first time Wang Lin read the Divine Dao Art, it took him three incense sticks' time, but now, he only needed one incense stick's time to finish one reading. His eyes scanned faster and faster, and gradually, he could finish one reading in just half an incense stick's time.

Time slowly passed, and Wang Lin's reading speed became even faster, changing from one reading per half incense stick to three readings per half incense stick. His speed continued to increase. Slowly, his eyes became bloodshot, and throbbing pain constantly assaulted him.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but Wang Lin's eyes unconsciously closed. Yet, the stone wall seemed to still exist before him, shaking and flashing repeatedly.

The characters shook faster and faster. Finally, even though Wang Lin had closed his eyes, his eyes still stung, and two lines of fresh blood flowed down from the corners of his eyes. But at that very instant, Wang Lin suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes were now heavily bloodshot, and his expression looked ferocious.

In this split second, Wang Lin clearly saw the inscriptions on the azure jade stone wall slowly disappear. A white-robed figure suddenly appeared within the wall. His face was blurry and indistinct, but Wang Lin could see him continuously forming several hand Seals with his hands, leaving behind a series of afterimages. Then, his body changed from one to two, and then from two to three.

Unlike the Clone of the Azure Robed Elder from that day, while the Azure Robed Elder's Clone possessed equivalent strength, it was slightly rigid, with every movement merely imitating the actions of the main body.

However, every Clone of this white-robed figure before him was extremely agile, without the slightest hint of rigidity, even giving people the feeling that they couldn't distinguish the main body.

In truth, Wang Lin did not know that the Azure Robed Elder's Clone was merely forcibly separated using a powerful Magic Treasure, and was not the great Divine Ability of Clone creation.

Slowly, the white-robed figure gradually dimmed and finally dissipated.

Wang Lin closed his eyes again, his face pale and showing contemplation. At this moment, a few Incantations had inexplicably appeared in his mind. After analyzing them one by one, Wang Lin opened his eyes with a wry smile. He had finally gained some understanding of the Divine Dao Art.

This was a Divine Ability for Cultivating a Clone. The reason it could increase the chance of Nascent Soul formation was because it relied on Cultivating a Clone. By Cultivating simultaneously, the cultivation speed would increase, and at the moment of Nascent Soul formation, the two bodies would merge, naturally raising the success rate.

However, this Cultivation Technique was incomplete. The Clone that was Cultivated had a fatal flaw: the Clone was a body unto itself, possessing zero cultivation upon creation, and its Lifespan was less than half a Jiazi (thirty years). As a result, this Cultivation Technique immediately became useless.

The Incantation also contained a passage left by Chen Chong in an unknown manner. Besides pointing out that due to insufficient Lifespan, he couldn't copy the entire text, leading to the Cultivation Technique being incomplete, he also came up with a solution.

The method was to use this Divine Ability to Cultivate a Clone, and then spend the half Jiazi period consuming Medicinal Pills. One should prepare a large amount of Medicinal Pills beforehand to quickly fill the Clone's cultivation, reaching whatever Realm possible. This way, while it was better than nothing, it would still increase the chances somewhat.

If enough Spirit Pills and miraculous medicines were prepared, it might truly be possible to stack up a Core Formation Cultivator within half a Jiazi. If that happened, the success rate of forming the Nascent Soul during the Fusion would increase considerably.

Wang Lin pondered for a moment, then wryly dismissed the idea of Cultivating the Divine Dao Art. He didn't have enough Medicinal Pills for the Clone to consume. Even if he obtained Medicinal Pills, he didn't have enough for himself, so how could he bear to give them to a Clone?

Compared to this Divine Ability, it would be more practical to obtain Medicinal Pills that could increase the chances of success.

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I still owe two chapters, plus one chapter for 424 votes, making three chapters in total. Continuing to write. (Also, the unreasonable parts in Chapter 161 have been revised.)