Chapter 23: Ten Clouds

He didn't know how much time had passed. Wang Lin opened his eyes and looked out the window; it was pitch black outside. He flipped off the bed and stretched his body for a long time, feeling no abnormalities. He then took the Stone Bowl out from under the bed and found that all the liquid inside was gone. He picked up the bead, examined it closely, and was instantly overjoyed: the tenth cloud had appeared in the spot that was previously blank.

Wang Lin immediately became energized. He held the mysterious Stone Bead, looking left and right, his eyes flashing. He quickly put it away and left the room, fetching a large bowl of water from the mountain spring. After rushing back to the room, he placed the bead inside and swirled it around.

After doing all this, he took a sip of the spring water and tasted it for a long time, finding no difference from normal. He looked at the bead suspiciously for a while, then put it in his mouth and bit down; it was still rock hard.

He squeezed out some blood and dripped it onto it, but the bead remained unchanged.

After hesitating, he gritted his teeth, raised the Stone Bowl, and fiercely smashed it onto the Stone Bead. He thought that perhaps after the bead produced the tenth cloud, there might be some internal change.

Following a loud clang, the Stone Bowl shattered, and Wang Lin's hand went numb, yet the bead showed no trace of damage.

He exhausted every method, but the bead still didn't show any difference after developing the tenth cloud. Wang Lin was heartbroken over the wasted two gourds of Dew and angrily tossed the bead aside.

After a while, he reluctantly picked it up again and observed it carefully with focused attention. As he watched, a wave of sleepiness suddenly washed over him. He was startled, wondering why he was still sleepy when he had just woken up. Rubbing his eyes hard, he continued to look at the bead.

Slowly, the drowsiness surged uncontrollably, and the bead grew increasingly blurry in his eyes. Finally, Wang Lin slumped over, falling onto the floor, the bead still clutched in his hand.

He had a dream. In the dream, he arrived at a boundless place. There were no sun, moon, or stars here, but countless luminous bodies surrounded him. Although he was dreaming, his mind was exceptionally clear, and he even wondered why he was in this place in his dream.

He felt no discomfort here and knew in his heart that he was dreaming, but he didn't know how to wake up. Helpless, he walked around, traversing this boundless place for a long time.

He didn't know how much time passed. When his body was utterly exhausted, the surroundings suddenly trembled. Next, he felt a tearing pain throughout his body. With a miserable groan, he abruptly opened his eyes.

Looking around, he was still in the room. Wang Lin took a deep breath, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and inwardly thought that this strange dream had finally ended. Suddenly, his expression became extremely strange. He stared blankly at the mysterious bead in his hand. All the Ten Clouds had vanished, and several small characters had appeared on its surface.

"This…" Wang Lin was stunned. He quickly picked it up and examined it closely. The characters were crooked, twisted, and quite obscure. Having loved reading since childhood, he recognized many types of script. After pondering for a long time and comparing them one by one with the scripts he remembered, he was finally able to hesitantly guess at their meaning.

"These marks must be numbers, not characters with actual meaning." Wang Lin muttered to himself, clutching the bead. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he thought of the dream he had just experienced.

"Could it be related to this bead?" Wang Lin pondered briefly, then immediately lay on the bed, closing his eyes and forcing himself to sleep. However, he was currently full of energy and couldn't fall asleep at all.

A thought struck him: he remembered that before, he had fallen asleep naturally while looking at the bead. So, he stared at the bead without blinking. Gradually, drowsiness emerged, and without realizing it, he closed his eyes.

The boundless space appeared once more. Wang Lin stood there, a thoughtful look in his eyes. This time, he didn't walk around. Instead, after thinking for a moment, he repeatedly jumped up and landed in place, cycling through the motion.

As time passed, the height of his jumps grew higher and higher, eventually reaching nearly half a zhang. When his body, both inside and out, became utterly exhausted, the long-absent tearing sensation reappeared.

Following this, he woke up.

The instant he opened his eyes, he immediately got out of bed, took a step, and jumped, his body leaping incredibly high, exactly matching the results of his training in the dream.

Instantly, an expression of disbelief appeared in Wang Lin's eyes, followed by sheer ecstasy. He took several deep breaths, forcibly suppressing his excitement, and paced back and forth in the room. His expression changed rapidly: sometimes deep in thought, sometimes distressed, and sometimes showing confusion. Sweat streamed down his cheeks.

"If it only allows me to train my body in a dream, then it's completely useless. I can train in reality too; there's no need to do it specifically in a dream." Wang Lin muttered to himself.

"No, that's wrong. This bead absorbed so much liquid filled with Spiritual Qi just to produce the tenth cloud; it can't be useless. It must have other functions, it must! But what could it be?" Wang Lin's eyes showed determination. He forgot everything around him and immersed himself entirely in thought.

"Could it be…" He stopped walking, feeling as if he had grasped a thread of a clue in his mind. He cried out in surprise, "Could it be time?"

Thinking of this, he could no longer control his emotions, wanting excitedly to let out a few loud roars. He quickly clenched his fists tightly, his body trembling as he stared at the bead.

"If it really is related to time, then I… I, Tie Zhu, will definitely become an Immortal, even if my aptitude is poor!" Wang Lin took several deep breaths before slightly recovering his composure. Without a second word, he immediately dug out the Oil Lamp inside the room. After filling it with oil, he sat blankly to the side, gripping the bead and silently calculating the time in his heart.

Approximately two hours later, the fully fueled lamp went out.

Wang Lin quickly refilled the oil, lit it, and holding the bead, entered the dream state again.

This time, he did not practice jumping high. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the ground, silently counting numbers and calculating the time.

Half an hour, one hour, five hours, ten hours, twenty-five hours!

The tearing sensation appeared. The moment Wang Lin opened his eyes, the Oil Lamp showed signs of extinguishing.

"Ten times the time! The time spent in the dream state is ten times that of reality!" Wang Lin stood up excitedly, tightly gripping the mysterious bead.

For the first time, he felt absolute confidence regarding Cultivation.

By this time, the sun was high in the sky. Wang Lin calmed his excitement and did not immediately use the bead for Cultivation. He knew well that if he used the bead during the day inside the School, someone might accidentally discover it at any time, and he definitely wouldn't be able to keep it. Therefore, he placed the bead inside his Storage Pouch and pushed the door open, leaving the room.