Chapter 37 – Four Years
Apprentice Brother Zhang stared coldly at Wang Zhuo and said, “The key to breaking through the limit truly has a lot to do with your talent. Some people only need a few tries to succeed, while others need hundreds or thousands of years or even never succeed in their entire lives.”
Wang Lin revealed a sad expression and suddenly asked, “Apprentice Brother Zhang, is breaking through each layer this difficult? Is breaking through from the 2nd layer to the 3rd layer and the 3rd layer to the 4th layer equally difficult?”
Apprentice Zhang nodded, “Yes. The further the stage, the more difficult it is, especially the 3rd to 4th and 5th to 6th layers.”
Apprentice Brother Zhang’s answer also caught the attention of several other students. A female student suddenly asked, “Apprentice Brother, how difficult is it to advance from the third to the fourth layer? I’m currently at the third layer.”
Wang Lin knew who the speaker was. She was the girl named Zhou whom Wang Huo had been pursuing.
Apprentice Brother Zhang pondered for a moment and said, “Alright. Today, I will tell you about the two barriers you will face below the 6th layer of Qi Condensation. The first barrier is from the 3rd to the 4th layer. For some, this is very easy, but for others, it is something they may never overcome in their entire lives. The key has nothing to do with talent, but rather with one’s ability to understand the meaning behind the phrase “the path is merciless.”
He looked at everyone intently and continued, “Immortals need to sever their mortal bonds. If you can do that, then the 3rd to 4th layers are easy; if not, then it becomes difficult. As for the bottleneck in the 5th to 6th layers, it is the change in the quality of the spiritual energy in your body. The spiritual energy slowly transforms your body, and at that point, it begins to make deeper changes. This requires a large amount of spiritual energy, so it becomes a bottleneck that hinders many people.”
After Wang Lin finished listening, he was stunned and pondered silently.
All the other students had different expressions and continued to ask questions. It wasn’t until it started to get dark that everyone dispersed.
Wang Lin walked into the valley, following the sound of the water, frowning. Before long, a lake appeared before him.
A faint scent of spiritual energy wafted from the water. Wang Lin went over and drank some. Although it wasn’t comparable to spiritual energy liquid, it still contained enough spiritual energy to help increase his spiritual energy.
So he took out the gourds and filled them with water, one by one. After a long time, he finally filled all the gourds and turned around. His pupils immediately shrank as he saw his second apprentice-brother standing a distance away, behind him, like a ghost. As he filled the water, he continuously scanned the area with his divine sense, but found nothing. However, it seemed that apprentice-brother Zhang had been there for a long time. Wang Lin’s heart sank.
Zhang Kuang’s eyes lit up and he said, “Brother Wang, the river does indeed contain a lot of spiritual energy, and it’s good for your cultivation, but I see you’ve prepared a lot of gourds. Did you know you’d need them before you came here?”
Wang Lin put away his things without any change in his expression and said, “Master had previously told me that the river would help my cultivation, so disciple has prepared a lot.”
Zhang Kuang stared at Wang Lin for a moment and said, “It’s natural for Sun Dazhu to know this. You should go back and train. To be able to reach the first layer in just two years, it seems junior brother is truly determined. That’s good. I hope that when I see you again, you’ll already be at the second layer.”
Wang Lin clasped his hands and left. Only after returning to his cave was he finally able to relax a bit. His clothes were soaked with sweat. Fortunately, he had trained himself to constantly use that technique to conceal his cultivation level. Otherwise, if Zhang knew that he had already reached the 3rd layer, he would definitely be suspicious. If Zhang tried to kill him, he would have no power to resist.
Wang Lin silently reminded himself, “Immortals are the same as mortals. There are many different kinds. In fact, immortals are much more cruel than mortals, so I must not let anyone know I have this mysterious bead.”
After pulling the lever to close the cave again, Wang Lin sat cross-legged and began cultivating again.
The principle of cutting off all human desires and attachments is to prevent them from interfering with one’s cultivation. However, after entering the Heng Yue Sect, Wang Lin discovered that most immortals not only failed to cut off their desires, but instead became even worse.
Therefore, the term “cutting off mortal desires” is a very vague expression, but according to Brother Zhang, it is the key to moving from the 3rd layer to the 4th layer, which seems to be a contradiction.
After a long period of confusion and still no clue, Wang Lin knew he would never be able to sever ties with his family. Fortunately, the third layer wasn’t like the first two. Although he couldn’t break through, his spiritual energy continued to increase. In the end, he gave up trying to break through to the fourth layer quickly and continued to build up his spiritual energy.
Time passed quickly. One year, two years. Before he knew it, two years had passed. Wang Lin had been in closed-door cultivation for four years. He only left the cave once more to refill the water to use as spiritual energy water for his cultivation.
Four years in the real world equaled 25 years in the dream world. Including the time before his closed-door cultivation, Wang Lin had been cultivating for 27 or 28 years.
His Qi Condensation level was still stuck at the 3rd layer, but the amount of spiritual energy in his body was still increasing.
It was the final day of the four years of intensive training. Outside, an arrogant voice shouted, “Apprentices, the four years are over. Hurry and come out. The principal is here, preparing to send you all back.”
All the caves on the cliff were open. The followers in the cave came out one by one.
Wang Lin felt, with this divine sense, that these 40 plus people had all gained great harvests while practicing here in the past 4 years.
Wang Zhuo had reached the peak of the 5th layer and was ready to break through to the 6th layer. Many others were in the same situation. Everyone’s cultivation had improved rapidly.
The girl named Xu is in the 3rd layer, and brother Zhang, he is already in the 6th layer!
He faintly felt that his cultivation was different from everyone else’s. Just now, when he had used his divine sense to scan everyone, no one else seemed to have noticed it.
The girl named Zhou had previously said that she had reached the third layer two years ago, but based on Wang Lin’s scan, he observed that she was still at the third layer, with no growth at all.
Wang Lin had a guess. It seemed that other people’s third layer was not like his, boundless.