Chapter 85: Refining the Scabbard

This was a massive karst cave. The walls of the cave were covered densely with countless tiny holes, and Wang Lin's Divine Sense had entered through one of them.

At the center of the cave lay a massive coffin. The coffin looked extremely ordinary from the outside, lacking even decorative patterns, but vast amounts of frigid Qi rapidly emanated from it, turning into plumes of white vapor that were then sucked away by the small holes in the surrounding walls.

Wang Lin hesitated for a moment, observing the surroundings of the coffin with his Divine Sense for a long time. He then probed inward, and to his surprise, his Divine Sense slipped inside without any resistance.

The coffin was empty, save for a large circular hole at the bottom, from which the frigid Qi was emanating.

The frigid Qi here was quite dense, forming layers of waves that prevented Wang Lin's Divine Sense from probing deeper.

In the room where Wang Lin was Cultivating, a look of resolve flashed in his eyes. To uncover the mystery of the frigid Qi here, and to understand why the Stone Bead evolved after absorbing the local frigid Qi, he immediately patted his Storage Pouch, took out the Gourd containing the freshly collected Frigid Dew, and took a small sip.

Even with Wang Lin's current physique, he couldn't help but shiver. His body felt icy cold, and he quickly lost sensation, becoming numb. Wang Lin wasted no time and immediately circulated his Spiritual Qi. As he breathed, his Divine Sense also became more solidified. With a continuous supply of replenishment, his Divine Sense, like an awl, fiercely pierced into the hole inside the coffin.

His Divine Sense struggled inside the hole, nearly being dispersed by the frigid Qi several times. When it sank to about 400 Zhang deep, the frigid Qi reached its limit of concentration, forming yet another “door.”

Wang Lin grit his teeth and took a large gulp of the Frigid Spiritual Energy Dew. Immediately afterward, his Divine Sense surged forward, breaking through the door. The moment he entered, Wang Lin was stunned by the sight before him.

A colossal, naked male corpse floated mid-air. If compared, Wang Lin was only about the size of one of the corpse's fingers. The body was covered in a purplish-green plant species. These plants constantly writhed. As they wriggled, the giant's body visibly shrank, but then immediately returned to normal. In this constant, cyclical process, frigid Qi rapidly dispersed from the plants.

Wang Lin paused, examining the corpse carefully with his Divine Sense. The more he looked, the more alarmed he became. This giant corpse was clearly placed here intentionally, its purpose being to serve as nutrition for those purplish-green plants.

Clearly, the reason the Corpse Yin Sect possesses frigid Qi of Earth Yin Quality lies with these purplish-green plants.

Furthermore, the reason the Heaven Defying Bead evolved must be greatly related to these plants. After observing for a long time, Wang Lin slowly withdrew his Divine Sense. This place was extremely bizarre, and ever since entering, Wang Lin had felt a subtle sense of danger.

Just as he was about to leave, a faint murmuring sound suddenly drifted over.

Wang Lin immediately tried to retract his Divine Sense, but to his alarm, the frigid Qi in the area suddenly churned, blocking his Divine Sense. At this moment, the murmuring grew closer, and Wang Lin could faintly make out the content.

“Save me…”

Wang Lin decisively picked up the Gourd and drank the liquid inside in one gulp. His Divine Sense immediately jolted, fiercely boring into the surrounding frigid Qi. An unimaginable chill instantly penetrated his Divine Sense, intertwining with the undigested Frigid Liquid inside Wang Lin's body. Wang Lin's face turned pale, and he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, which instantly crystallized into Blood Crystals upon exiting his mouth.

Despite this, his Divine Sense finally broke through the obstruction and rapidly retreated along the hole, returning to his main body in the blink of an eye. Wang Lin felt a chill run through his body, and after spitting out a few more Blood Crystals, a look of horror appeared on his face.

He dared not probe again. He immediately began breathing exercises to calm the frigid Qi within his body. After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes, glancing with lingering fear at the small holes in the surrounding walls, remaining silent.

Time passed slowly. In the blink of an eye, Wang Lin had been at the Corpse Yin Sect for four days. During these four days, aside from the Divine Sense probe three days prior, he took no further action. Most of his time was spent collecting the liquid on the Stone Bead, which had gone from two leaves to three.

According to Wang Lin's calculations, the total number of leaves on the Stone Bead should be ten, just like the previous clouds. Having the prior experience of adding clouds, Wang Lin knew that the later additions of leaves would be slower. If he only relied on the nourishment of the local frigid Qi, it would likely take several years for the Wood element Spiritual Qi to reach Perfection.

However, the Corpse Yin Sect was not a place to stay long. After much thought, Wang Lin decided to probe the underground giant one more time, this time attempting to find a route his physical body could take. If successful, personally going down to grab a few of the purplish-green plants would certainly cause the Stone Bead to evolve rapidly.

But the risk of doing so was too great, leaving Wang Lin somewhat indecisive.

After pondering for a moment, he still chose to abandon the idea of going down himself. He knew that with his current cultivation, no matter how careful he was, the chance of successfully obtaining the purplish-green plants was low, and he might very well lose his life for it. Comparing the two options, Wang Lin naturally made his choice.

Having made up his mind, Wang Lin patted his Storage Pouch, and an ancient, simple Scabbard flew out, hovering before him.

Since obtaining this Scabbard, Wang Lin had only refined it once during the seclusion after seizing Teng Li's Foundation Establishment. Although the refinement wasn't successful, he had gained some understanding of how to use it. The effect was not optimal; currently, it could only allow his Flying Sword to sink three-fifths of the way in.

Wang Lin had studied this Scabbard for a long time. Even Situ Nan had said that the Scabbard was quite strange, and its value far exceeded that of the small green sword refined by blood.

"Sun Hao previously mentioned that this Flying Sword and Scabbard were found by his master in an ancient cave, and except for his master, they could not be refined by anyone below the Core Formation stage. This statement likely contains both truth and falsehood. These two items are not impossible to refine, but below the Core Formation stage, it takes too long and consumes too much Spiritual Qi. If one successfully reaches Core Formation, then relying on the Core Fire can greatly shorten this process.

"It's a pity that the Blood Refining Art can only be used on one item; otherwise, if I could also use it on the Scabbard, everything would be much simpler," Wang Lin thought to himself, his eyes flickering.

Wang Lin stared at the Scabbard without blinking, pondering for a moment. To increase the power of his Flying Sword, he had to attempt refining the Scabbard again. Wang Lin mused inwardly that although he didn't possess a Golden Core, he did have the Cold Core obtained from Cultivating the Yellow Springs Ascending Aperture Art.

The frigid Spiritual Qi in his body was now entirely centered around that Cold Core. He had studied it carefully recently. However, Situ Nan had sternly warned Wang Lin after discussing the Yellow Springs Ascending Aperture Art that the Cold Core was vastly inferior to the Golden Core. The most significant difference was that the Cold Core should not easily leave the body unless absolutely necessary, or else it would immediately dissipate if exposed for too long, requiring him to Cultivate anew.

His first attempt at refinement was right after he successfully seized the foundation. But now, after Cultivating the Yellow Springs Ascending Aperture Art, not only had the Spiritual Qi in his body mutated, but his cultivation had also reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment Early Stage, ready to Breakthrough into the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage at any time. Thus, he figured the refinement would be easier than the previous time.

Thinking of this, Wang Lin opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blue frigid Spiritual Qi. As soon as the Spiritual Qi touched the Scabbard, it immediately turned into layers of frost, enveloping the Scabbard in the blink of an eye.

Wang Lin pointed with his right hand, and the Scabbard slowly rotated in the air. Streaks of blue light emanated from it, looking quite beautiful.

Wang Lin's hands moved continuously, sending out several streams of blue light in succession. Every time the blue light struck the Scabbard, it trembled slightly. Gradually, Wang Lin's hands moved faster and faster. The streams of Spiritual Qi-filled blue light almost formed a straight line, and the frequency of the Scabbard's trembling intensified without any pause.

Large amounts of sweat beaded on Wang Lin's forehead, but the moment they appeared, they were frozen into ice beads by the surrounding cold Qi and fell to the ground. Wang Lin had no time to worry about this. He stared intently at the Scabbard, quickly shot out a few more streams of blue light, then swiftly patted his Storage Pouch, retrieving a Gourd. He took a drink and continued the refinement.

Time slowly passed. After the Scabbard had continued trembling for so long, the blue light on its surface flickered on and off. Slowly, a pentagonal pattern emerged from the Scabbard.

Seeing this pattern, Wang Lin sighed in relief and stopped sending out blue light. He slightly adjusted the Spiritual Qi in his body, thinking, “My cultivation is nearly five times stronger than before. Previously, using the method Situ Nan told me—forcing out the Formation within the Scabbard using Spiritual Qi—I hit it with over five thousand streams of Spiritual Qi before I was completely exhausted and couldn't continue the refinement. But now, the Formation appeared after only a thousand streams of Spiritual Qi. Although my cultivation has increased significantly, it is still too far behind the Core Formation stage. Situ Nan once said that a Core Formation cultivator only needs a few streams of Spiritual Qi to force out the Formation.”

Taking a deep breath, Wang Lin performed Hand Seals with his right hand and tapped his lower abdomen. Immediately, his chest constricted, and a look of pain appeared on his face. He slowly raised his right hand from his lower abdomen, then opened his mouth, and a blue Cold Core, about the size of a baby's fist, floated out.

Wang Lin's complexion was extremely pale. After catching his breath slightly, he immediately pointed at the Cold Core. The Cold Core instantly melted at a visible rate, forming a puddle of blue liquid. At this point, Wang Lin's face was even paler, completely devoid of color, but he wore a solemn expression as he carefully controlled the liquid formed from the Cold Core, slowly letting it seep into the Scabbard.