Chapter 162: Land of Earth Element

He had been here for a long time. The conical stones all moved in a spiral upward. Wang Lin flew along, and after half a month, he finally followed the stones to the top.

This was the end point for those conical stones. A boundless, gigantic Vortex appeared in the Void Realm. All the conical stones eventually sank into it, slowly disappearing within.

Wang Lin looked at the Vortex, silent for a moment. He formed Hand Seals with his right hand, and a Flying Sword immediately flew out of his Storage Pouch, hovering motionless before him. He extended his Divine Sense, imprinting a trace onto the Flying Sword. Then, with a flick, the Flying Sword immediately flew towards the Vortex.

Wang Lin slightly closed his eyes, his divided Divine Sense rapidly following the Flying Sword. It quickly approached the Vortex, and without any hesitation, abruptly rushed in.

The moment it entered, the Flying Sword paused slightly, as if sinking into mud. After a while, it slowly passed through, flying out from the other side. What appeared before Wang Lin's eyes was a world of shimmering light. The ground was covered in a thick layer of ice, and the sky was slightly dim, yet faint light penetrated through, reflecting off the ice.

Gusts of wind blew, circling a few times on the ice surface before drifting into the distance.

From a distance, this place was boundless, but every so often, a black tower stood tall. The nearest black tower was only ten zhang high, but the further back they were, the taller the black towers became. As far as Wang Lin's Divine Sense could reach, the farthest black tower already exceeded forty zhang in height.

These black towers formed a straight line, and their increasing height gave off an extremely magnificent feeling.

Especially these black towers, which were entirely composed of black mountain rock. Even the light reflected from the ground's ice layer was absorbed by the towers, with not a single ray reflected.

After pausing here for a moment, the Flying Sword flew back from the Vortex and landed in Wang Lin's hand.

Outside the massive Vortex, Wang Lin opened his eyes. He withdrew the Divine Sense from the Flying Sword, put the Flying Sword into his Storage Pouch, and after a moment of silence, took out the Dragon Tendon. He shook it, and the Devil Head immediately flew out from within. It looked at Wang Lin with excitement and loudly said, "Who are we killing this time?… Uh… Where is this?" The Devil Head's excited expression immediately froze after it clearly saw its surroundings.

It quickly spun around its surroundings, finally casting its gaze towards the massive Vortex, then looked at Wang Lin, rubbed its hands, and tentatively said, "You… you wouldn't be thinking of making me go in there, would you? No, absolutely not!"

Wang Lin said nothing, merely pointed at the Vortex with his right hand, staring coldly at the Devil Head.

This place was full of dangers at every step; if he didn't test it multiple times, Wang Lin wouldn't rashly intrude.

The Devil Head made a bitter face and resolutely said, "Who knows what's inside there? This damned place gives me a very strange feeling. I'm not going, absolutely not!"

Wang Lin patted his Storage Pouch, and several Soul Banners immediately flew out. These were items obtained from others. Wang Lin took out one of them, his eyes flickering as he looked at it for a moment, then his right hand suddenly reached up and grabbed, pulling out Sang Muli's soul.

That day in the Cultivation Devil Sea, Wang Lin encountered Sang Muli, who had killed his Senior Brother and seized his foundation. After getting the answers he needed, Wang Lin casually extracted his soul and sealed it within the Soul Banner that Sang Muli himself had refined.

A weak white light flickered in Wang Lin's hand, faintly revealing Sang Muli's terrified face. Wang Lin flicked his right hand, and the white light immediately flew towards the Devil Head.

The Devil Head licked its lips, its eyes showing greed. Without a word, it opened its mouth wide and swallowed. After rubbing its belly, it shook its head like a rattle-drum and said, "Still not going, still not going."

A cold glint flashed in Wang Lin's eyes. His extreme realm Divine Sense suddenly leaped out, and the Devil Head immediately let out a miserable shriek, its body once again emitting green smoke. After a series of wails, it quickly begged for mercy, finally flying towards the Vortex with extreme reluctance.

Relying on the Divine Sense left in the Devil Head's body, the moment it entered the Vortex, Wang Lin once again saw the scene beyond the Vortex, but immediately, his expression changed!

This time, beyond the Vortex was not a world of ice, but a sea of fire. This was indeed a sea of fire, equally boundless. The color of the flames became darker the further back they went. From a distance, the far-off area was almost covered in monstrous black flames, and the entire sky was scorched purplish-red. Waves of high temperature and heat rushed forth.

In addition, countless strange beasts, transformed from fire, flashed through the flames. In this sea of fire, just like in the ice world, there were also black towers of increasing height, forming a vertical line that stretched endlessly into the distance.

The Devil Head let out a strange cry, seemingly terrified of the fire waves, and quickly retreated from the Vortex.

Wang Lin was silent for a moment, staring at the Vortex with flickering eyes. He pointed at the Devil Head with his right hand, and the Devil Head immediately cried with a mournful face, wailing, "Give me another soul!"

Wang Lin glanced at it, then took out another soul from the Soul Banner and threw it. After the Devil Head swallowed it, it put on a look of heroic sacrifice and once again rushed into the Vortex.

This time, the world within the Vortex changed again. It was a desert, with countless gigantic Immortals' Palms standing in it. In the distance, rows of gray hurricanes slowly moved.

Just like the previous two worlds, a vertical row of black towers extended into the distance, without end.

Wang Lin's eyes flickered. The subsequent few tests revealed a mountain of blades and a giant wood forest. If combined, they clearly represented the Five Elements lands of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.

Wang Lin suddenly understood why Duanmu Ji would seek out Wang Qingyue. With Wang Qingyue's Five Elements techniques, he could easily pass through any of the places, be it the ice world, the sea of fire, the desert, the mountain of blades, or the forest.

Among the Five Elements lands, if Wang Lin were to choose, it would naturally be the desert, as his proficient Earth Evasion technique would be of great help in passing through it.

Wang Lin pondered for a moment, then drifted onto a nearby stone, slowly moving with the stone towards the Vortex. He glanced sideways at the Devil Head, which sighed inwardly and obediently plunged in first.

Not long after, just as the stone was about to sink into the Vortex, Wang Lin immediately retreated, standing on another stone. The Devil Head emerged from the Vortex at this moment, its face mournful, and then plunged in again.

After repeating this cycle, when the Devil Head plunged in for the fourth time, Wang Lin's eyes flashed, and without another word, he immediately rushed in.

As far as his eyes could see, there was an endless expanse of loess-colored desert. Gusts of violent desert wind howled and roared. In the distant horizon, countless black hurricanes slowly moved. The hurricanes were majestic, connecting heaven and earth, endless and vast, and describing them as covering the sky and earth would not be an exaggeration.

Along with the wind came the swirling sand, which struck one's body with immense force.

Wang Lin put away the Devil Head, squatted down, and touched the yellow sand beneath his feet. Then, with a light step, he executed his Earth Evasion technique. He instantly vanished from his spot, reappearing a hundred zhang away.

A hundred zhang away was the first black tower of the Land of Earth Element. Wang Lin entered the tower, and immediately the wailing wind outside disappeared, and tranquility returned to the surroundings.

After carefully observing the inside of the tower, Wang Lin's expression was solemn. This black tower had three floors. The first two floors were empty, but on the third floor, there was a table covered with a thick layer of dust. Wang Lin inspected the surroundings for a moment, and just as he was about to leave, his steps suddenly paused. He stared at the table, his eyes flickering.

Just now, when he glanced sideways, he faintly saw that in the middle of the dust on the tabletop, there was a spot where the height was slightly different. He stepped forward for a closer look, then gently waved his right hand over it. A gust of clear wind swept by, clearing a layer of dust from the table.

At this point, a row of small characters vaguely appeared on the tabletop. Without a word, Wang Lin gently waved his hands again. After several sweeps of clear wind, the writing on the tabletop gradually became clear.

These characters were clearly written on the table by a predecessor, and then years of accumulated dust gradually covered them.

"I entered this place and left these characters as a mark!" These characters were strong and vigorous, faintly exuding an indescribable Aura. He quietly looked at them for a moment, then turned and went down, leaving the black tower.

The moment he stepped out of the black tower, the wailing and roaring wind echoed once more. Sand flew everywhere, covering the sky and obscuring the sun, making the entire sky dim.

Wang Lin could only advance underground using his Earth Evasion technique, not daring to fly recklessly. If there were powerful Restrictions in mid-air, then flying would mean death. He pondered for a moment, patted his Storage Pouch, took out a Flying Sword, and flung it into the air. The Flying Sword immediately soared. When it reached over a hundred zhang, a hurricane suddenly descended silently from the sky. The Flying Sword was immediately swept into it, turning into dust in an instant.

Wang Lin's expression was normal; he had long anticipated this. The Flying Sword was merely for verification. He estimated that the distance to the next black tower was about a hundred li. After a brief thought, he stepped down, once again sinking into the ground, and continued to evade forward.

This time, Wang Lin clearly felt a layer of resistance beneath the desert, hindering the execution of his Earth Evasion technique. However, this resistance was not great. Wang Lin's spiritual power circulated slightly within his body, and he pushed through it. The hundred li distance was quickly and safely traversed.

Inside the second black tower, Wang Lin searched but found nothing. There was one thing he couldn't be sure of: whether Gu Di and the others also passed through this Land of Earth Element. However, judging from their previous remarks, especially mentioning the Ice Wind Shield Magic Treasure, it seemed they mostly intended to pass through the Land of Ice.

At this moment, tens of thousands of li ahead of Wang Lin, inside a black tower towering a thousand zhang high, Meng Tuozi stood with a gloomy face, looking out. He saw countless hurricanes surrounding them, and wailing sounds like ghosts crying and wolves howling slowly drifted in.

He looked quite disheveled at this time, and even the toad on his shoulder was listless, its head drooping, emitting faint gurgling sounds.

He stroked the toad, his heart filled with hatred. Several months ago, he and the Six Desires Demonic Lord and others were chased by the red flood Dragon in the passage. No one among them was a match for that savage beast, and even joining forces was useless. In the end, they could only flee separately.

Everyone's goal was the Vortex at the top of the passage. Only by reaching there and entering the first stage could they temporarily escape the crisis. However, the red flood Dragon pursued relentlessly, completely disrupting everyone's previous plans.

Originally, they had planned to enter the first trial together, relying on their combined strength to overcome it. This would naturally greatly reduce the difficulty of the first trial, and they wouldn't expend too much spiritual power, preserving their strength for the second trial.

Unfortunately, the red Dragon's strength was too great, and its Divine Abilities were even harder for everyone to deal with, forcing them to quickly flee. Thus, no one lingered for a moment in the Vortex at the top, rushing in one by one. This resulted in each person facing a different environment upon entry.

The place Meng Tuozi entered was precisely the Land of Earth Element. The moment he saw the desert, his heart sank. According to their original plan, this time they were supposed to enter the Land of Water Element, which was the Glacier World. Last time, they had barely passed through there after countless casualties. Although dangerous, the four of them who survived had experienced it once, and with the Magic Treasures they had prepared to counter the local conditions, they were confident they could pass safely.

But now, Meng Tuozi had never experienced this Land of Earth Element before. As a result, he could only brace himself and move forward. The first ten thousand li were relatively safe, but after that, black hurricanes swept in like a tidal wave. Especially, there was a strange creature within the hurricanes that attacked with sound, making it impossible to guard against.

Originally, there weren't many of these creatures, so when Meng Tuozi encountered them, he used his poison cultivation to hunt them down one by one. But he didn't expect that as he killed more and more, the creatures actually increased in number. In a previous great battle, no less than tens of thousands of creatures roared in unison.

However, Meng Tuozi was still a Soul Transformation Stage Cultivator and skilled in poison attacks. Although the sound wave attacks of these creatures made him somewhat wary, he ultimately killed all of them. Yet, he hadn't gone far before more than a hundred thousand creatures appeared again.

He killed a hundred thousand, and then another hundred thousand appeared. He killed a million, and then ten million appeared. They were dense and boundless. Within each hurricane, there were countless creatures. These hurricanes were actually formed by these creatures flying together, their wings flapping.

After endless killing, he himself didn't know how many he had slain. Finally, his spiritual power was scattered and he was utterly exhausted. Only then did he manage to open a gap, break out of the creatures' encirclement, and hide inside the black tower, not daring to venture out.

Even with his Soul Transformation Stage cultivation and poison abilities, he felt a bit soft-handed from the killing. There were simply too many. He even worried that after killing these creatures outside, ten times their number might fly over again.

Especially in this boundless Land of Earth Element, with countless hurricanes, let alone ten times, even a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand times the number was highly possible. This made Meng Tuozi's heart grow cold.

Individually, these creatures weren't very powerful, but if their numbers exceeded hundreds of millions or billions and they launched sound wave attacks simultaneously, even he, a Soul Transformation Stage Cultivator, would instantly have his Divine Sense shattered on the spot, and even his body would be torn to pieces.

The further Wang Lin walked, the more perplexed he became. He had already traveled no less than several thousand li, yet he hadn't encountered any danger, apart from occasional hurricanes sweeping by. Only the resistance from underground grew stronger, forcing his speed to slow down. More than half of his spiritual power was used to resist this force.

On this day, Wang Lin appeared outside a black tower. This black tower was about a hundred zhang tall, piercing into the clouds. As soon as Wang Lin entered the black tower, his expression suddenly changed. He stared at the ground on the first floor of the tower. On the thick dust, there were several faint marks, as if the dust had been brushed by someone.

Wang Lin slowly walked over, lowered his head and observed for a moment, then his eyes flickered. He quickly and cautiously searched the black tower from bottom to top, finally finding the dust on the ground in the highest floor to be messy, as if someone had stepped on it.

Wang Lin took a deep breath. He could now confirm that someone had entered this Land of Earth Element before him. Moreover, judging by the marks in the dust, this person should not have left too long ago.

Wang Lin stood on the top floor, looking out through the tower window. From this position, he could clearly see a great distance, but looking far into the horizon, there was nothing but dense black hurricanes.

After pondering for a moment, Wang Lin immediately slowed down. He unhurriedly continued to flee forward. According to his analysis, no matter who the person ahead was, it made no difference to him. Once they met, he would certainly be at a disadvantage. However, if he could maintain the right distance, he could completely leverage the other party's strength to help him safely pass through this Land of Earth Element.

With this thought, Wang Lin proceeded unhurriedly. It wasn't until three days later that he reached ten thousand li away. During this time, every time he passed a black tower, he would first release his Devil Head to scout it out. Only after confirming it was safe would he carefully enter.

Time passed bit by bit. Half a month later, the height of the black towers had reached eight hundred zhang. After Wang Lin carefully investigated inside, he stood on the highest floor and looked out.

Along this path, he had grown accustomed to standing on the top floor and looking into the distance whenever he reached a tower. Suddenly, his pupils contracted. As far as his gaze reached, he saw large and small hurricanes all moving rapidly forward, as if summoned by something, all heading in the same direction.

Wang Lin's eyes flickered. After observing for a moment, he descended the black tower, sank into the ground outside the tower, and fled forward underground.

The resistance underground grew even stronger. Now Wang Lin needed to use eighty percent of his spiritual power to barely execute his Earth遁術. As he was fleeing, Wang Lin suddenly stopped. His Divine Sense detected a faint black glow emanating from the sand ahead, and a pungent odor slowly wafted over. Without a word, Wang Lin patted his Storage Pouch, took out the anti-poison pill Meng Tuozi had given him that day, immediately put it in his mouth, and then leaped out from underground.

This was his first time revealing himself before reaching a black tower.

As soon as he emerged from the desert ground, the roaring wind immediately intensified several times. Gusts of hurricane aftershocks blew, stinging his body. But at this moment, Wang Lin couldn't concern himself with that. He narrowed his eyes, formed Hand Seals with his right hand, and loudly commanded, "Go!"

Immediately, a strange wind appeared out of thin air, weaving through the hurricane aftershocks and rapidly moving through the surrounding desert. Gradually, the desert seemed to be stirred by an invisible large hand, layer by layer, revealing countless charred beast carcasses buried within.

These were creatures only the size of a fist, with a pair of thin wings. Their mouths were pointed, and their faces were ferocious.

Wang Lin's Divine Sense spread out, examining the ground. His expression immediately darkened. There were no less than ten thousand carcasses of these creatures here, and all of them were charred black, having died from severe poison.

Wang Lin immediately knew that the person who had entered this Land of Earth Element with him was Meng Tuozi.

Recalling Meng Tuozi, Wang Lin's lips curled into a cold smile, but at the same time, his heart was secretly vigilant. He stomped his foot, sank into the ground, and fled towards the distant black tower.

Several hours later, Wang Lin's Divine Sense detected a black tower. However, in front of the tower, there was a small hurricane. The hurricane let out a violent howl, slowly swaying.

Wang Lin remained silent for a moment, then slowly retreated a few zhang, preparing to go around it and proceed to the next black tower. But just then, the hurricane immediately moved, slowly swirling towards Wang Lin's position. Layers of sand were lifted, sucked into the Vortex, and then shot out, some of them hitting the black tower, making crackling sounds.

Wang Lin sneered inwardly. His Divine Sense swept out, finding only this single hurricane nearby. Without a word, his extreme realm Divine Sense immediately shot out from his eyes, instantly entering the hurricane. At that moment, he immediately sensed over a thousand Divine Senses within this small hurricane.

Each Divine Sense was equivalent to a Core Formation Cultivator. As long as it didn't exceed the Nascent Soul, it wouldn't pose a threat to Wang Lin. With a sweep of his Divine Sense, nearly a hundred Divine Senses were instantly destroyed. But at that moment, the remaining nine hundred-plus Divine Senses suddenly merged together in a strange way, forming a Divine Sense sword that fiercely stabbed towards Wang Lin's Divine Sense.

At the same time, the small hurricane abruptly paused. With this pause, its rotational force disappeared, revealing countless densely packed small beasts within.

These small beasts were identical to the one Wang Lin had just seen. They huddled closely together, their wings flapping rapidly, and sharp wailing sounds emanated from their pointed mouths.

The moment the Divine Sense sword appeared, these sounds immediately converged, forming a sharp sound wave that, along with the Divine Sense sword, fiercely stabbed towards Wang Lin's Divine Sense.

Wang Lin frowned, immediately retracted his Divine Sense, and patted his Storage Pouch. His Devil Head flew out. Seeing the Divine Sense sword, its eyes immediately lit up. Without waiting for Wang Lin's command, it excitedly pounced forward.

The moment the Devil Head flew out, the Divine Sense sword and sound wave attack arrived one after another. The Devil Head roared excitedly, its body suddenly transforming into a cloud of black smoke, spreading out like a cloud, instantly enveloping the Divine Sense gathered by the small beasts. As for the sound wave attack, it had no effect on the formless and bodiless Devil Head, passing straight through.

At the same time, Wang Lin opened his mouth and spat out a crystalline light. A Flying Sword flashed out, stabbing towards the small beasts. The moment the Flying Sword flew into the beast swarm, the small beasts scattered with a clamor, densely covering the sky.

No sooner said than done, seeing the small beasts scatter, Wang Lin suddenly patted his Storage Pouch. Immediately, hundreds of Flying Swords flew out from within. Wang Lin's Divine Sense swept over them, distributing among them. With the power of his extreme realm Divine Sense, he simultaneously controlled these Flying Swords like streaks of star rain, rapidly unleashing them.

—

Today and tomorrow, I'm going to the hospital for physical therapy, so I can only update 6,000 characters. As I said before, it will be postponed… Originally, 9,000 characters should have been written by the 14th, but now it's extended to the 18th. Anyway, before the end of the month, I'll make up the 15 days' worth of 9,000 characters and the few chapters owed from August, even if it kills me. I will not go back on my word.