Chapter 197: Ancient Mirror and Restriction Banner

After casting the Restriction, Wang Lin ignored the woman. Instead, he flicked his sleeve, dividing the Immortal Cave into two, separating it from the room where she resided. A Restriction blocked the middle.

Sitting cross-legged in the Immortal Cave, Wang Lin formed Hand Seals with his right hand and lightly tapped his glabella. Immediately, a phantom shot out from his glabella. This phantom was only palm-sized and indistinct in form, but vaguely resembled a beast.

This phantom was precisely the second Devil Head Wang Lin had obtained from the Ancient God Land!

After the second Devil Head appeared, it immediately floated silently in mid-air, motionless, awaiting Wang Lin’s command. Since the Soul Core had formed, the last trace of rebellion in this Devil Head's heart involuntarily vanished.

Wang Lin pointed with his right hand from a distance, and the Devil Head's figure gradually faded, eventually disappearing completely. However, Wang Lin could clearly sense the Devil Head's location when he used his Soul Devourer Divine Sense to check.

With a thought, he sent out a Divine Thought, and the second Devil Head immediately left the stone room and arrived in Yun Fei’s room, silently landing on her bun.

Throughout this process, the woman remained completely unaware.

After doing all this, Wang Lin ignored the woman and took a deep breath, rapidly reviewing everything he had experienced in the Ancient God Land over the past two hundred years.

During this time, he had faced numerous dangers and almost lost his life multiple times. Looking back now, it felt like a dream from yesterday, making it hard to distinguish reality from illusion.

After a long while, Wang Lin exhaled. Although he had received the Legacy of Memory from the Ancient God, it was only a part compared to the true Ancient God Legacy; the other part was the Legacy of Divine Power.

The master of the Sea of Blood in the Ancient God Land would certainly not give up. Once he found a way to leave the Ancient God Land, the first person he would undoubtedly seek out would be Wang Lin, who had absorbed the Legacy of Memory.

And having lost all the advantages gained through the Legacy of Memory in the Ancient God Land, if he were to encounter that red-haired man, Wang Lin would have almost no chance of preserving his life.

This matter was like a great mountain, pressing down on his heart.

However, Wang Lin analyzed that it would not be an easy task for the red-haired man to leave the Ancient God Land. Thus, he would not face danger from this master of the Sea of Blood in the short term.

Despite this, some necessary preparations still needed to be made as soon as possible. Wang Lin had already decided that after tidying up in Qilin City, he would have Yun Fei lead him to find some Ancient Teleportation Formations within this Cultivation Devil Sea.

He had over twenty Top-Grade Spirit Stones in his pocket, including those obtained previously, which was enough for him to activate a Teleportation Formation to go anywhere.

But before that, he still needed to carefully study Ancient Teleportation Formations. If he didn't understand the Formation, even if he found one, he wouldn't dare to activate it rashly.

This was actually one of the reasons he came to Qilin City.

Besides this, his cultivation had already reached the Core Formation Late Stage, but forming a Nascent Soul was like an insurmountable chasm. No matter how hard he tried, he always fell short.

Wang Lin didn't know if others found forming a Nascent Soul so difficult, but for him, it was several times harder than imagined. He had already consumed all the Flood Dragon Marrow Fluid and Medicinal Pills that could increase the chances of forming a Nascent Soul, yet he still couldn't form one.

Not even a trace of an omen had appeared.

Wang Lin had also analyzed whether all of this was related to his extreme realm. However, at the moment his extreme realm entered his Divine Sense back then, the faint enlightenment he gained about the extreme realm only told him that the Nascent Soul Late Stage was the endpoint in this peculiar state, and that extreme realm Cultivators held heavenly might within the same cultivation stage.

In fact, he didn't have a systematic understanding of the extreme realm. Coming to Qilin City this time to search for ancient texts describing the extreme realm was also one of his tasks.

Wang Lin's eyes flickered. After a moment of silence, he took out several Storage Pouches from his怀. These, apart from the items from the Divine Dao Technique cave in the War God Temple, were all his gains from the Ancient God Land.

First was Ancient Emperor’s Storage Pouch. Wang Lin's Divine Sense probed it, and immediately a gentle force pushed out from within, preventing his Divine Sense from entering.

Wang Lin's eyes narrowed. He pondered for a moment; Ancient Emperor was clearly not dead.

He sneered inwardly, placing this Storage Pouch with the one obtained from the War God Temple, then his gaze fell on the remaining few Storage Pouches.

The one that made his heart pound the most was the bag containing the Lifebound Magical Artifacts of Duomu and the other ten people. He waved his right hand, and the contents of the Storage Pouch immediately flew out one by one.

Ten Magical Artifacts floated before him. Among them, only a crescent-shaped black curved saber still flickered with a faint glow; the other nine were all dim and lusterless.

Wang Lin's Divine Sense immediately moved, enveloping the nine Magic Treasures, but he instantly frowned. Although the owners of these nine Magic Treasures were dead and their Lifebound light was dim, they contained another trace of Divine Sense that prevented Wang Lin from claiming them.

His eyes flickered. After a brief thought, he suddenly remembered that when the old man among Duomu’s ten people handed these Magical Artifacts to him, he had pressed a brand onto each of them.

Wang Lin slightly furrowed his brows. His Divine Sense surged again, enveloping the nine Magical Artifacts. He observed them carefully, spending a significant amount of time on each one, meticulously scrutinizing and checking the fluctuations of the Divine Sense upon them.

After a long while, Wang Lin stared at a palm-sized bronze mirror, his eyes suddenly lighting up. Among the nine Magical Artifacts he had observed, except for this bronze mirror, the Divine Sense on the others could not be resolved by a Core Formation Cultivator like him.

Only the Divine Sense on this mirror, at the moment its original owner’s Divine Sense was destroyed, caused a slight collapse of Divine Sense, thereby indirectly affecting the Divine Sense left by the old man.

In this way, resolving the Divine Sense on this Magic Treasure was not impossible. Wang Lin was silent for a moment, then suddenly reached out and put away the other Magic Treasures, leaving only this mirror floating before him, attempting to forcibly claim it.

Time flew by. A month and a half later, Wang Lin walked out of the Immortal Cave, his expression normal and his face calm. Thirty days ago, he had already successfully resolved the Divine Sense on the ancient mirror, successfully imprinted his own Divine Sense upon it, and after seven days of refining, he could initially control this treasure.

He then continued to refine this item with Pill Fire, and after forty-nine days, it would be entirely his.

During this period, he had also gained a slight understanding of the ancient mirror's function. The ancient mirror's effect was quite miraculous, somewhat similar to the mysterious power within the Shattered Star Ring, both related to Clones.

He thought that this item must have been famous in ancient times, otherwise, it would not have been used by that ancient Cultivator as a Lifebound Magic Treasure.

However, with Wang Lin's experience, he could not know the name of this item. Even in the memories of Ancient God Tu Si, there was little knowledge about Magic Treasures.

After all, an Ancient God's body was already the best Magic Treasure. Ancient Gods rarely engaged in Artifact Refining, but if they did, the items they refined would undoubtedly possess infinite power.

Even now, Wang Lin often thought about the square cauldron Tu Si had thrown away!

After inheriting the memories, Wang Lin had dozens of massive Magic Treasure crafting methods in his mind. However, every one of these Magic Treasures required unimaginable Materials, and even if all the resource Materials of the entire Vermilion Bird Star were gathered, not a single one could be crafted!

He now knew the name of that square cauldron; it was called the Profound Star Cauldron, and its function was Sealing. According to the records in his memory, if this cauldron were completed, it could Seal all things in the world, even an entire planet could be Sealed by it.

The crafting Materials for this cauldron were the fewest in Wang Lin's memory, but this 'fewest' was relative. In Wang Lin's view, it was merely the difference between fifty steps and a hundred steps.

During these days, apart from this bronze mirror, Wang Lin spent the remaining time using Inkstone as the main Material to begin crafting Restriction Banners.

However, he still lacked some common Materials. Today, Wang Lin's purpose in leaving the Immortal Cave was to visit the city's market and purchase the missing Materials.

During the time he spent resolving the ancient mirror, Yun Fei's Restriction had acted up several times. Each time, he remotely resolved it for her with the second Devil Head. Over time, Yun Fei had resigned herself to fate, even becoming somewhat numb to the Restriction.

In fact, Yun Fei had left the Immortal Cave several times during this period, each time searching for a master in Qilin City to resolve her Restriction, but each time she returned disappointed.

None of the Cultivators she sought could successfully resolve this Restriction. All who saw it frowned deeply, for in their opinion, the technique of this Restriction was completely unlike anything currently found in the Cultivation World; this Restriction leaned more towards ancient forbidden techniques.

Some did raise questions about this, but forbidden techniques were niche Spells in the Cultivation World, and generally, very few people would spend a great deal of effort researching them. As a result, even if someone found the woman's Restriction strange, they did not pursue it further.

Furthermore, Yun Fei was extremely cautious when seeking someone to break the Restriction, fearing that if the Restriction wasn't broken, she would reveal Wang Lin's identity and be killed by the other party.

Yun Fei had no idea that everything she experienced was clearly seen by Wang Lin through the second Devil Head on her hair bun. Wang Lin sneered inwardly at her little tricks, thinking, 'You're asking for death!'

This time, Wang Lin walked out of the stone room, about to leave the Immortal Cave for the market. Just then, the Immortal Cave suddenly opened, and Yun Fei walked in from outside, frowning. Wang Lin's expression subtly changed, he formed a Hand Seal with his right hand, and his body abruptly vanished from where he stood.

After the woman entered the Immortal Cave, she glanced at the stone room where Wang Lin usually stayed, a trace of venom flashing deep in her eyes.

Wang Lin, with his figure concealed, stared at the woman. Her recent small tricks had already aroused his killing intent. After the other party entered the stone room, Wang Lin moved and left the Immortal Cave. He leaped up, following the back of the Qilin beast, and entered Qilin City.

The interior of Qilin City was vast, filled with various shops selling all kinds of cultivation items. Walking through the city, Wang Lin encountered a great many Cultivators along the way. These Cultivators had varying levels of cultivation, with the highest being Core Formation Late Stage, and the lowest even Qi Condensation second or third layer.

Wang Lin strolled along, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding shops, searching for what he needed. At the same time, his Divine Sense remained connected to the Second Devil Head. He clearly saw that after he left, Yun Fei opened a stone slab in a corner of the stone chamber, took out a Pill Furnace from within, then hesitated, put the Pill Furnace back, and sat aside, her expression wavering.

Seeing this, Wang Lin sneered inwardly. This woman's life was in his hands, so he wasn't in a hurry to kill her. Instead, he planned to see if anyone in Qilin City could break his Restriction, which would also serve to indirectly verify the power of his Restriction.

With this plan in mind, he remotely sensed the woman while searching for Materials.

As he walked, Wang Lin's gaze suddenly sharpened, falling upon a shop nearby. This shop was about five stories tall, with carved dragons and phoenixes, exuding faint Spiritual Qi. Above the shop was a huge white jade plaque, on which three large characters were carved in a vigorous, flowing script: Artifact Refining Pavilion!

Gazing at the pavilion, Wang Lin's mouth curved into a strange smile. He clearly remembered that back in Nandou City, he had entered the Artifact Refining Pavilion to exchange a Flood Dragon skin for a Pill Furnace, only to be spied upon and pursued for thousands of miles, which then triggered a bloody storm throughout the outer regions of the Cultivation Devil Sea.

The Pill Furnace that caused the incident was eventually given by him to Li Muwan.

Thinking of this, the image of a gentle, delicate woman involuntarily surfaced in Wang Lin's mind. He sighed inwardly. Wang Lin could tell that Li Muwan had feelings for him, but he carried a deep-seated blood feud. In this cruel Cultivation World, he truly could not have any attachments, otherwise, if he were to cause another great disaster, that woman would surely be implicated.

After experiencing such a thing once, Wang Lin's heart had become cold. He would not allow such incidents to happen again before he had the power to protect his loved ones.

Furthermore, two hundred years had passed in a flash; whether Li Muwan was still alive was another matter entirely.

He forcibly dispelled Li Muwan's image from his mind, and Wang Lin's gaze turned cold once more. He lifted his feet and walked into the Artifact Refining Pavilion.

Compared to the Artifact Refining Pavilion in Nandou City, the general environment inside was not much different, except that this one had an extra floor.

After Wang Lin entered, he casually looked around and then walked up to the second floor. The moment he stepped onto this floor, Wang Lin's footsteps paused, and his gaze suddenly fixed on the wall on the left side of the second floor.

Hung there was a huge Flood Dragon skin, a complete Flood Dragon, which at first glance appeared lifelike, as if it were a living Flood Dragon.

On the second floor of the Artifact Refining Pavilion sat a young girl dressed in a blue patterned silk garment. The girl was cracking melon seeds. Seeing Wang Lin come up and constantly staring at the Flood Dragon skin on the wall, she used the unique Divine Ability of the Artifact Refining Sect to observe Wang Lin a few times, roughly determining that his cultivation had already reached the Core Formation Late Stage.

So she said in a clear, pleasant voice, "This Flood Dragon skin is the most complete one preserved by our Artifact Refining Sect and is not for sale, unless you have something of equal value, then it might be exchanged."

Wang Lin found this Flood Dragon skin extremely familiar, especially the handling of the seams, which was quite similar to the one he had exchanged for a Pill Furnace back then.

"May I presumptuously ask, where did this item come from?" Wang Lin pondered for a moment before asking.

If Wang Lin had asked this question during his Core Formation Early Stage, he certainly wouldn't have received an answer, but as a Cultivator at the Core Formation Late Stage, approaching Great Perfection, his cultivation, in the girl's eyes, was enough for her to answer. So she chuckled softly and said, "Senior, you are not the first to inquire about the origin of this item. After all, obtaining a complete Flood Dragon skin is simply too difficult, and this skin was clearly flayed shortly after the Flood Dragon died."

Wang Lin nodded, his gaze shifting from the Flood Dragon skin to the girl.

The girl put down the melon seeds in her hand and smiled charmingly, "To be honest, Junior does not know who obtained this item. This item was exchanged two hundred years ago at our sect's Nandou City branch in the outer Cultivation Devil Sea for a Pill Furnace. The Cultivator who owned this Flood Dragon skin, speaking of him, was quite famous in the outer Cultivation Devil Sea two hundred years ago.

After this person left the Artifact Refining Pavilion in Nandou City, he was pursued by several Core Formation Cultivators, one of whom was even at the Core Formation Middle Stage. At that time, this person was merely at Foundation Establishment Late Stage Great Perfection. Originally, there should have been no suspense; this person was destined to die. However, the truth was not so. Under the pursuit of those Core Formation Cultivators, this person actually unbelievably broke through Foundation Establishment and reached the Core Formation Stage, then miraculously killed all his pursuers, even forcing that Core Formation Middle Stage Cultivator to use the Ten Thousand Devils Hundred Day Execution Order!"

Wang Lin listened to all of this with a calm expression, not a ripple of emotion on his face. Only after the girl finished speaking did he merely nod slightly, no longer inquiring about the matter.

After circling the Artifact Refining Pavilion, Wang Lin bought some Materials for thirty Mid-Grade Spirit Stones and spent some more Spirit Stones to purchase a Jade Slip said to record an Ancient Teleportation Formation. Then he left without looking back.

That Flood Dragon skin remained quietly displayed on the second-floor wall.

Wang Lin was quite satisfied with the Materials; he had gathered all the Materials needed to refine the Restriction Banner. In fact, apart from Inkstone, the other Materials were quite common and easy to acquire.

Aside from the Materials, Wang Lin frowned a bit at the Jade Slip for the Teleportation Formation. Even within the Artifact Refining Pavilion, there wasn't much profound information on Ancient Teleportation Formations; this Jade Slip only recorded some scattered, minor details.

As for the Jade Slip concerning the extreme realm, Wang Lin found it inconvenient to ask directly. Instead, he probed from the side but ultimately found no harvest.

Returning to his Immortal Cave, Yun Fei was still in the stone chamber. After glancing at her, Wang Lin returned to his own stone chamber, sat down cross-legged, and prepared to create the Restriction Banner.

His cultivation was much higher than hers, so Yun Fei didn't notice anything when he entered the Immortal Cave this time.

He took out the Jade Slip for crafting the Restriction Banner, which he had obtained from the second trial of the Ancient God, scanned it carefully once more, then crushed the Jade Slip with a squeeze of his right hand.

Afterward, he took out the Inkstone, activated it with Spiritual Qi, then took out all the Materials for crafting the Restriction Banner one by one, merging them together according to a specific distribution.

Then, using the method required in the Jade Slip, he activated a mouthful of vital blood Spiritual Qi and began the ritual refining.

This process, as described in the Jade Slip, was called Nurturing Artifacts.

It could be said that the creation of the Restriction Banner was distinctly different from the War God Temple's Artifact Refining technique that Wang Lin was familiar with. The two were not part of the same System at all, but rather two independent and distinct Domains.

The time for Nurturing Artifacts could be long or short, depending on the requirements of the initial Restriction Banner.

This Restriction Banner, if ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Restrictions were imprinted upon it, could reach Major Achievement. In reality, this Restriction Banner was divided into four qualities.

These four qualities were divided by the number of Restrictions imprinted upon them: nine hundred and ninety-nine, nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine, ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine, and finally, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine.

Wang Lin's first goal was nine hundred and ninety-nine Restrictions!

Late that night, Wang Lin sat cross-legged in his room, his hands constantly changing before him. In front of him floated a small white flag, adorned with eighty-one black spots.

Wang Lin's expression was solemn. After his hands performed Hand Seals for a short while, he suddenly pointed at the flag. Immediately, a series of afterimages flickered out from his paused hands, forming a circle of Restrictions that struck the white flag.

As soon as this Restriction landed on the flag, it immediately collapsed and dissipated, finally turning into a black dot that appeared on the flag. At this moment, there were a total of twelve black dots on the flag. Once the number of these black dots reached nine hundred and ninety-nine, the lowest quality Restriction Banner would be considered successfully made.

During this process, Wang Lin was extremely careful. In the better part of the night, he had, to be precise, already cast dozens of Restrictions, but not every one could be successfully imprinted on the flag.

After multiple attempts, Wang Lin discovered that the Restriction Banner could absorb the same Restriction a maximum of nine times. If a tenth identical Restriction appeared, the previous nine would also dissipate.

After a brief rest, just as Wang Lin was about to change to the thirteenth Restriction, he suddenly looked up, staring at Yun Fei's stone chamber, a cold glint in his eyes.

Through the Second Devil Head, he clearly saw Yun Fei in her room, opening a stone slab and taking out a Pill Furnace from within. This Pill Furnace looked quite ancient, with a yellow paper talisman emitting a faint glow stuck to it.

Hesitation once again appeared on the woman's face, but soon, she gritted her teeth. Instead of putting the Pill Furnace into her Storage Pouch, she placed it in her bosom and quietly walked out of the room. Outside Wang Lin's stone chamber, she turned her head, a look of venomous resentment in her eyes, but she quickly concealed it.

The woman stood outside Wang Lin's stone chamber and respectfully called out, "Senior, are you there?" After speaking, she stood motionless, quietly waiting.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the woman respectfully said again, "Senior, Junior has something to go out for, and asks for Senior's permission." After saying this, she slowly retreated. Her steps were not fast. She retreated all the way to the door of the Immortal Cave, yet there was still no movement from Wang Lin's stone chamber.

The woman's eyes flickered slightly. She gently patted the stone wall of the Immortal Cave, pushed herself back, and left the Immortal Cave.

During the past month that Wang Lin was in seclusion, this woman would always make such a show whenever she went out. Wang Lin, in his stone chamber, sneered. After the other party left the Immortal Cave, he stood up and followed her out.

The woman going out tonight with that Pill Furnace surely meant something was afoot. Additionally, Wang Lin had a slight curiosity about that Pill Furnace; he remembered that when he first entered this Immortal Cave, his Divine Sense had already thoroughly checked the surroundings and found no anomalies.

Evidently, that Pill Furnace possessed some Spell that could evade Divine Sense detection. At the same time, Wang Lin also had a guess as to why the woman didn't put the item in her Storage Pouch.

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