Chapter 134 – National Migration
However, while chasing Sun Youcai and encountering a fire beast, the demon managed to escape. After Wang Lin emerged from the volcano, he used his divine sense to chase after the demon.
After devouring so many humans, the demon had recovered its cultivation to the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage and entered the pseudo-Core Formation stage. It was confident that it was already stronger than Wang Lin, so it attacked.
Wang Lin’s gaze turned cold as red lightning flashed from his eyes. The demon suddenly screamed as the lightning struck it. It immediately stopped its attack and retreated. How could Wang Lin let it escape? He stepped forward and grabbed the air with his hand. The attraction technique activated and captured the demon.
The devil begged for mercy, but Wang Lin ignored it as his Ji Realm Divine Sense repeatedly penetrated the devil. His control was excellent; he always stopped just before the devil was about to collapse. This cycle continued until smoke emerged from the devil’s body. Its screams became quieter until they stopped completely.
The fear in the demon’s eyes deepened. After this incident, he truly began to fear Wang Lin from the bottom of his heart.
Wang Lin’s cold gaze revealed a cruel emotion. He stared at the demon and said, “If this happens again, you will die!”
The demon trembled in fear as he nodded meekly.
Wang Lin patted his storage bag, and the metal piece appeared. The demon didn’t even need Wang Lin’s command; it entered the metal piece itself. The metal piece flashed red a few times before returning to the storage bag.
Wang Lin looked at the bodies of the people devoured by the demons and pondered for a moment. His current mentality was very different from his previous state in Zhao. Previously, the simple nature of a country boy was still ingrained in Wang Lin’s personality, but after the death of his family, that simplicity had disappeared.
The world of cultivation is a place ruled by the strong. If he can’t even protect himself and his family, what right does he have to show mercy?
Situ Nan had always wanted him to walk the devil’s path, but Wang Lin had always refused. However, after dying once, he had abandoned all reason to refuse.
“So what if I’m a demon?” He laughed coldly as he waved his hand and jumped into the air.
Wang Lin circled a volcano in the remote area of Hou Fen. After selecting a spot, he landed and carved a cave into the mountain with the metal piece.
After an hour, the cave was completed, and Wang Lin entered it. He used the rubble to create several confusing formations before sealing the cave entrance.
After finishing all that, he sat on the ground, took out the storage bags he had gotten from the middle-aged man and Sun Youcai, and rummaged through them for a while. He took out three pieces of jade from them.
He placed the first jade piece on his forehead. After looking at it briefly, he set it aside. This one contained a cultivation method from the Evil Demon sect called the Unrestrained Cultivation Method.
The Evil Demon Sect is one of the demonic sects in Hou Fen, and their cultivation method will make one’s skin crawl. This Boundless Cultivation Method has six levels and focuses on cruelty.
The jade’s instructions read: Kill someone, then purify their heart. Once you’ve purified their heart, use this experience to transform your own heart into that of a killer and walk the path of ruthlessness. Immerse yourself in the path of ruthlessness to form a Shura soul to replace your Nascent Soul, and then this cultivation method is complete.
There was a strict requirement to cultivate this method at the beginning: killing one person every day. He suspected that the middle-aged man was cultivating this method, and that this jade came from his storage bag.
Wang Lin wasn’t interested in this cultivation method, but he was interested in some of the techniques. Although these demonic techniques were cruel, they were also very practical.
He picked up the second jade slip. Its contents made him smile. There was only one technique recorded on this jade slip. It was called the Earth Escape Technique.
This Earth Escape Technique is one of the Five Elements Escape Techniques. Speaking of the Five Elements Escape Technique, it was extremely renowned even in the ancient cultivation world. After the emergence of the Cultivation Era, this technique became extremely rare.
However, the Five Elements Escape Technique was so well-known that many branches emerged from it. Most of these branches used the same name, but they were actually not much different from other types of escape techniques.
The jade in Wang Lin’s hand also didn’t contain the original Five Elements Escape Technique. It was slightly more refined than the other imitations. However, that slight refinement created a world of difference.
Time passed slowly as he immersed himself in studying the Earth Escape Technique. It wasn’t until the next morning that Wang Lin opened his eyes and revealed a look of understanding. Instead of standing, he slammed his hands on the ground. His figure suddenly disappeared and reappeared 30 feet away.
A joyful expression appeared on Wang Lin’s face as he muttered, “This Ma Liang’s body is much stronger than my previous body. Although it’s not top-grade, it’s still middle-grade, so it’s not difficult to learn this Earth Escape Technique. But I still need to practice for a long time to truly master it.”
Wang Lin took out a wooden bucket filled with spirit liquid. He drank it all and then began cultivating. Half an hour later, all the fatigue from practicing the Earth Escape Technique was gone.
He casually picked up the third jade slip and examined it. This jade slip contained a record of Sun Youcai’s daily activities. It seemed Sun Youcai had a habit of keeping diaries. This jade slip contained roughly 30 years of his experience as a cultivator.
The book also contains information about his complicated relationships with several women.
Wang Lin ignored all of this. What interested him was a summary of all the pills Sun Youcai had taken over the past ten years. The jade slip contained information about over ten types of pills, including their effects on the body, the amount of spiritual energy they provided, and how quickly they would increase his cultivation level.
In addition, the bag contained information about seven or eight pills he desperately wanted but couldn’t get. After that, he checked the storage bags for other items.
Aside from a few bottles of pills, Sun Youcai didn’t have any magical treasures. If it were before, Wang Lin would have been suspicious, but after reading the notes, he knew that Sun Youcai had exchanged everything he owned for pills to increase his cultivation level.
The middle-aged man in black had one thing that caught Wang Lin’s attention. It was a yellow paper with a black symbol on it. The symbol gave off a powerful aura.
Wang Lin knew what this yellow paper was because he had owned it before. It was made by a Core Formation cultivator and contained one of that cultivator’s attacks at full power.
Wang Lin couldn’t help but sneer as he held the yellow paper. If the middle-aged man had been more careful and taken it out, he wouldn’t have died. However, this was clearly the middle-aged man’s trump card. He wouldn’t use it unless absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, he encountered Wang Lin’s Ji Realm. Adding to the fact that he underestimated Wang Lin, he didn’t even have time to take out this treasure.
Compared to this talisman, nothing else in the storage bag was worth mentioning. After he finished organizing his loot, he pointed at his brow and the heaven-defying bead floated out.
Wang Lin smiled bitterly as he looked at the bead. The Heaven-Defying Bead had already regained its five leaves. Wang Lin pondered for a moment. The Heaven-Defying Bead needed to complete all five elements to unleash its true power. Water and fire were already complete, and wood was halfway done. He still needed earth and metal to complete all five elements.
Wang Lin couldn’t wait to see what power this heaven-defying bead would possess once its five elements were complete. Looking at it now, the only ability it possessed was access to another space. However, how could the treasure that caused Planet Suzaku’s number one expert, Situ Nan, to lose his body be this simple?
Staring at the bead, Wang Lin’s eyes trembled. He placed it back on his brow. Then, he shook his storage bag, and a jade slip flew out. His divine sense entered the jade slip. This jade slip contained the refining technique Yang Xiong had copied for him from the War God Temple.
All this time, Wang Lin hadn’t had time to examine the jade. Now he could finally study it in peace.
At this moment, countless volcanoes in Hou Fen were emitting black smoke. The smoke grew thicker as it spread its angry spiritual energy throughout Hou Fen.
Furthermore, followers of various sects saw the fire beast at the mouth of the volcano. They were all shocked and used various means to report the information back to their sects.
The four great sects are well-versed in sealing volcanoes and are extremely familiar with fire beasts. However, only Nascent Soul cultivators know about them.
At this moment, in the main hall of the War God Temple, there were four men and two women sitting inside, frowning silently.
One of the old men on the left spoke in a somber voice, “What does everyone think about this matter?”
“Senior Brother Song, I’ve only seen these fire beasts in some old records. Those records only say they’re spirit beasts. That description is overly dramatic, but I believe they shouldn’t be ignored. However, since they’re spirit beasts, I’m sure they can be tamed. If the six of us make a move, we’ll be fine. I refuse to believe that six Nascent Soul cultivators can’t deal with an ordinary fire beast.” The person who spoke was a middle-aged man. Although his face was gentle and his voice soft, they were filled with pride.
The beautiful woman who met Wang Lin said viciously, “Preposterous! Master encountered a fire spirit beast once when they were still in the Core Formation stage. They are natural fire spirits, so all fire-based techniques are useless against them. Only ice-based techniques can last for a while. Don’t even talk about killing or taming them.”
The middle-aged man didn’t feel embarrassed. He looked at the woman awkwardly and didn’t say anything else.
“This matter is actually simple. The fire spirit beasts have been around for a long time, but they’ve never left the volcano. I’m sure there’s some natural restriction preventing them from leaving. I just need to increase the seal’s intensity. Rather than wasting time here talking, we can get to it now. I’ll continue.” The person who spoke waved his sleeve, stood up, and walked out. This person was six feet tall, and his forehead protruded three inches.
Seeing everyone silent, the old man named Song said, “Forget it. I hope the appearance of the fire beast won’t cause the seal to break. Let’s do what we usually do and seal the volcano we’re responsible for.”
The same scene occurred in the Lou He Sect, the Evil Demon Sect, and the Corpse Sect. The results were more or less the same, with all the Nascent Soul cultivators in Hou Fen sealing the volcano.
Suddenly, the entire Hou Fen region could see various Nascent Soul cultivators from various sects hovering around the volcano, sealing it off. The spiritual energy fluctuations had also become increasingly violent in recent days.
As they sealed the volcanoes, all the Nascent Soul cultivators couldn’t help but feel something was amiss. Each volcano had countless fire beasts waiting in its mouth. They didn’t stop the sealing or attack the cultivators; they simply waited with cold gazes.
Their actions gave the impression that they didn’t care about the seal at all. Gradually, the hearts of the Nascent Soul cultivators who had joined the sealing grew heavier. Even those who had held optimistic views changed their minds.
Wang Lin didn’t neglect any of this as he engrossed himself in learning how to refine magical treasures. He knew the fire beast would appear someday, but he had to wait ten days for Lin Tao to bring him the map. Only then could he leave. It would be too difficult to find the map after entering another country.
There were still four days left before Wang Lin was supposed to meet Lin Tao. Wang Lin withdrew his divine sense from the jade. Although he was tired, he revealed a joyful expression. The refining technique was extremely profound and not something he could master in a short time. Once he realized this, he focused his attention on refining the flying sword.
After putting away the jade, he waved his hand, and the metal piece flew out of his bag. It circled around his head once before stopping in front of him. After so much use recently, the metal piece had shrunk. All of its edges were black, caused by all the high-speed flying. The edges melted more and more each time he flew.
Wang Lin pondered for a moment, then closed his hands. When he opened them, thin lines of spiritual energy appeared between his hands. This was the first step in the War God Shrine’s refining technique.
The refining technique of the War God Temple differs from traditional refining techniques. It can be said to have a path all its own. It doesn’t involve using fire to refine, placing formations, or mixing materials. Instead, it’s a very mysterious system, like a pegasus that appears out of thin air.
This particular system requires three steps: adjustment, smelting, and alignment. The War God Temple also requires a crucial tool called a reaction furnace, which is mentioned numerous times in the jade slips.
The effect of the reaction furnace is to stimulate the various elements of each material. Only after successfully constructing a reaction furnace can one be considered to have taken the first step in this refining technique.
Wang Lin’s hands moved extremely fast as the number of spiritual energy threads between them increased. Soon, he formed something like a sheet of shining spiritual energy between his hands.
Once the thin cloth of spiritual energy was created, he waved his hand, and it floated into the air. Wang Lin’s eyes lit up as he recalled the method for making the reaction furnace. There was one extremely difficult requirement: a spirit beast skull to serve as the furnace body.
Wang Lin didn’t know that this requirement alone caused many followers in the War God Temple to be trapped forever.
Wang Lin took a deep breath and patted his storage bag. The carcass of a snake with a head and body as thick as a small wooden bucket floated out.
This snake came from a storage bag he had obtained from Xu Hao in the foreign battlefield. Wang Lin wasn’t sure where he had gotten it, and he hadn’t really cared much about it. But now that he needed to build a reaction furnace, he took it out to try it out.
According to his analysis, this snake was once the pet of a powerful cultivator. Xu Hao was fortunate enough to discover its body while clearing a foreign battlefield.
He carefully cut off the snake’s head and removed all the skin and flesh. What appeared before him was an oval skull. After removing the insides, the reaction furnace body was complete.
Next, Wang Lin carefully controlled the layer of spiritual energy and carefully placed it on the skull. He only heard a cracking sound as cracks appeared on the skull. The cracks grew more numerous until the skull shattered into countless pieces.
At this time, the layer of spiritual energy began to slowly fade away until it disappeared completely.
Reaction furnace production failed.
Wang Lin smiled bitterly. Although disappointed, he was still somewhat prepared for this outcome. The jade had said that the chances of creating the furnace were low. He needed to gain better control over the strands of spiritual energy, but the most important thing was still the materials for the furnace body.
It would be best if he could obtain the skull of a recently deceased beast or a powerful beast. An abandoned beast would be even better. If the beast had been dead for a long time, the chances of success were very slim. If it wasn’t a spirit beast, then the success rate was essentially zero.
The quality of the reaction furnace would affect its future refining capabilities. Jade repeated this many times.
Wang Lin pondered for a moment after the reaction furnace failed. Regarding spirit beasts, he only had one snake in his bag. Now that the snake’s skull had shattered and there was no way to make a reaction furnace, Wang Lin could only take a step back and find another way to refine the treasure.
He pointed at the metal, and it immediately began to spin rapidly. Soon, drops of molten metal fell from it as it shrank. Eventually, it turned into a puddle of molten metal. The demon had already left the metal and was looking at Wang Lin sheepishly from the side.
The small cyan sword shadow flew out and hovered around Wang Lin. He then took out Senior Brother Sun Youcai’s black sword. This made things easier for Wang Lin.
Wang Lin pointed at the image of the small sword. The sword flew toward the black sword and slowly fused with it. This method was the most direct and worst type of refining. It couldn’t even be considered refining; it was more like finding a new body for your flying sword, just like how cultivators have bodies.
Wang Lin frowned as he tested the flying sword. The sword was much faster than the piece of metal, but still far from what Zhao had achieved. However, this was the best result he could achieve for now.
The demon didn’t wait for Wang Lin’s orders and obediently entered the flying sword. Wang Lin put the flying sword away. He did some calculations to determine the time, then rested to cultivate. After recovering his spiritual energy, he stepped out without hesitation and disappeared.
Wang Lin didn’t know that during the few days he had been in closed-door training, some earth-shaking changes had taken place within Hou Fen.
The source of this change was a volcano sealed by a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Lou He Sect. One of the sealed volcanoes suddenly erupted, spewing lava hundreds of feet into the air.
At the same time, a large amount of black smoke filled the sky. It wasn’t much, but what made the Nascent Soul cultivator’s scalp numb was the countless fire beasts that rushed out along with the lava.
Among these spirit beasts, there was one particularly large one. After the Nascent Soul cultivator fought the giant fire beast, he realized he was no match and escaped with only injuries.
Fortunately, the fire beast didn’t chase after him. Instead, it destroyed the seals on the other volcanoes. Suddenly, many volcanoes in Hou Fen erupted, filling the air with powerful spiritual energy. If anyone cultivated that spiritual energy now, if they were lucky, they would go insane, but if not, they would burn themselves to death.
When this incident occurred, the entire land of Hou Fen was thrown into chaos. The first to be affected were the ordinary humans, as they were completely unable to defend against the fire beasts. All the ordinary humans fled the land.
Second, the various sects and small and medium-sized families. They all looked at the four major sects to see if they were fighting or fleeing.
The Nascent Soul cultivators from the four sects met at the War God Temple. After reporting the news to the upper cultivation nations, they gave the order to migrate.
However, there’s a chance a fourth-ranked cultivation nation could emerge at any moment. Even if they win, their losses will be substantial, and they’ll likely drop back to second place.
Bordering Hou Fen is the country of Xuan Wu. Compared to Hou Fen, Xuan Wu is much more chaotic due to the presence of many more sects.
When Wang Lin emerged from the cave, the four major sects were migrating. A sect migration sounded simple, but since such a rare occurrence was far from easy. Due to the constant attacks of the fire beasts, the sects had to constantly send out disciples to fend them off.
As a result, after the four major sects finally gathered together, along with various other families, they formed a group of over 20,000 cultivators. At this point, not only had all the fire beasts broken the seals on all the volcanoes, they had also formed a fire beast army of 100,000, which was rapidly approaching.
After several intense battles, the cultivators managed to break out of the encirclement. They left one group to hold off the fire beasts while the other approached Xuan Wu.
As Wang Lin left the cave, his pupils shrank as he saw seven or eight cultivators being attacked by the fire beasts and instantly dying.