Chapter 180 – The Unlucky Ancient Emperor
With full concentration, Wang Lin walked down the mountain path. Seven years had passed. Every time he broke the limit, he would change it a little and add a few more. If the path he walked was like hell and full of dangers at every step, it would make him feel like the grass had turned to ice. All of that combined would make him feel like the sky and earth were swallowing you.
If someone is unlucky enough to meet them, they will still lose a layer of skin even if they don’t die.
In these seven years, Wang Lin had changed a lot in terms of his restriction techniques. He had gained a lot of enlightenment. Now he could easily use all the restrictions he had broken as his own, and was more effective than before.
This surprised Wang Lin and made him even more interested. After all, the only way out of this mountain was through the restriction technique.
In the past seven years of his research on restrictions, Wang Lin never simply made simple observations; he was able to develop his own method for deducing a way to bypass restrictions. This method was the result of countless trials and errors. He always worked slowly from the beginning, never missing a single detail. Although he progressed slowly, each step was a steady one.
When faced with rare and difficult limitations, he always started from the basics and gradually progressed. Without any impatience in his heart, he gradually developed a mindset for practicing the technique of limitations.
There were many people who could use restriction techniques; however, only a few possessed a profound understanding of them. Aside from a few old experts, no one else could match Wang Lin in restriction techniques.
Even Wang Lin himself was confused. His mediocre talent seemed to be nothing when practicing restriction techniques.
At this moment, Wang Lin was sitting cross-legged on a large rock. He was staring straight at the clouds in the distance. The clouds were motionless.
Since two days ago, Wang Lin has been staring at the clouds in deep meditation. He took out a jade slip and wrote a few words on it, then drew a picture on the ground.
This cloud seemed extremely ethereal to Wang Lin. It was a restriction surrounding the mountain. If anyone wanted to pass through, they would have to fly through it and rely on their luck to survive.
Seven years ago, Wang Lin would have needed to use a small animal to experience a breakthrough in his restriction technique. However, with his current understanding of restrictions, especially with his Soul-piercing Eye, he only needed to stare at the clouds for a moment. Although he didn’t fully understand the restriction, he could tell what it was. It was a restriction that prevented flight.
In this way, the cloud boundary becomes more subtle. Without the cloud, although the boundary would still be impenetrable, one wouldn’t be completely lost. However, the cloud obscures the center of the boundary.
This increases the unknown variables within these constraints.
Even in this situation, Wang Lin’s heart remained unperturbed. His eyes sparkled as he stared at the clouds. Suddenly, his hands began to move faintly in front of him.
Shadows of his hands began to appear until it looked like he had thousands of them. These shadows began to vibrate, then spread rapidly.
The shadows created by Wang Lin’s hands formed an illusory circle. He suddenly stopped and pushed his right hand forward. The illusory circle formed by the shadows flew toward the clouds.
After the illusion circle entered the clouds, it began to disappear. The illusion caused waves to surge through the clouds. Wang Lin sat cross-legged, not even glancing at the clouds. With his eyes closed, he slowly began to frown.
This illusion circle is a technique developed by Wang Lin to break through limitations. After seven years of research and development, he has mastered this technique.
He didn’t even need to look with his eyes. By observing the waves generated by the illusionary circle, he was able to understand its structure and the rules of the restrictions. After a moment, he opened his eyes. His right hand waved in front of him again. This time, with a serious expression, he moved his hand for the time it takes to burn an incense stick. Layers of illusionary circles quickly appeared before him.
When the ten illusionary circles appeared, Wang Lin began to pant. He lost control of his right hand. With the last of his strength, he pushed his arm ten times.
Ten illusory circles fell into the clouds one after another.
Although forming an illusionary circle seemed easy, Wang Ling had to circle his hand tens of thousands of times to form one circle.
This technique is the result of seven years of studying restriction techniques. One could say that the illusion circle itself is a restriction technique.
Ten illusory circles pierced the clouds and disappeared. This created endless ripples within the clouds, causing them to pulsate rapidly.
Wang Lin concealed his presence. His left hand then repeatedly drew on the ground. After a long time, he opened his eyes and smiled. He waved his left hand and erased all the drawings on the stone. His eyes lit up as he stood up, erased the drawings with his left hand, and then began rubbing them with his right hand. He looked down and counted the time. He then suddenly moved his right hand and emitted a ray of light.
The light shot towards the cloud, causing it to vibrate, then slowly dissipated. As the cloud dissipated, what was hidden within was revealed.
Wang Lin took a deep breath. He took out a jade slip and carefully recorded its characteristics while analyzing the restriction. In the past seven years, every time Wang Lin opened a restriction, he would record it so he could use it again in the future.
After the time it takes a full incense stick to burn, he put the jade away. He looked up at the clouds and saw the broken bridge just ten feet away.
This was the true face of the prohibition. As Wang Lin was about to step forward, he carefully examined the bridge. His gaze fell on a small tree growing beside the broken bridge.
Based on Wang Lin’s experience breaking restrictions over the past seven years, he realized that something was wrong with the small tree. Of all the restrictions Wang Lin had encountered on this mountain, although very rare, he would occasionally encounter two restrictions stacked on top of each other. However, these restrictions were very different from the precious restrictions.
This one must have been added by someone else. He himself had done the same thing many times over the past seven years. This little tree must have been placed here by someone else.
Wang Lin laughed coldly. He took one look at the prohibition on the small tree and immediately realized that he had encountered the same level of evil many times before. They were all created by the same person.
About four years ago, someone started trying to hinder him with various restrictions. After breaking them one by one, he became more aware of them.
The restrictions on the mountain normally didn’t activate unless he touched them. However, the restrictions set by this person were completely different. The moment he entered their range, they immediately attacked him. If his attack was in vain, it would self-destruct and activate all nearby restrictions, trapping him in a prison of restrictions.
Wang Lin narrowed his eyes as he stared at the small tree. He sent out three illusionary circles. They landed on the small tree.
The small tree swayed slightly and its leaves began to fall. Its trunk quickly darkened. After a few moments, it finally began to bend.
Wang Lin’s illusionary circle contained many restrictions. Its main function was to destroy restrictions. Thus, the restrictions on the small tree shattered, layer by layer.
A cold light flashed across Wang Lin’s eyes. He immediately took out a black sword from his bag and pointed it at the tree. At the same time, the bent tree trunk flew toward Wang Lin.
The black sword suddenly flashed, passing through the tree trunk and splitting it in two. As the tree trunk fell to the ground, it curved and slowly revealed itself as a brown centipede.
The centipede spun around a few times before transforming into a cloud of black smoke. This black smoke exuded a sense of death that would make anyone panic; however, it vanished as quickly as it appeared.
Wang Lin thought with a dignified look in his eyes. This was the first time he had seen a restriction that used spirit beasts, where the spirit beast’s body produced black smoke that would cause panic. He felt very familiar with this method.
He could tell that this prohibition and several others before it were created by the same person. It was clear that this person rarely used this type of prohibition. This prohibition wasn’t much stronger than the others, but it was far more ingenious. If one were to walk carelessly, it would be difficult to avoid death.
“Six Desires Devil Sovereign!” Wang Lin whispered. He knew why this felt so familiar to him. Back then, in the void, Six Desires Devil Sovereign had wanted to use him to test his strange technique.
Wang Lin remembered this in his heart. The first time the Six Desire Devil Lord targeted him, he decided to spare Wang Lin after a brief interaction. He used the young man he had brought with him as his substitute.
He used the young man’s body as a special material to cast a spell. This time it was exactly the same, only the victim was a centipede.
Just at that moment, on a rock 5,000 feet above the mountain peak, the Six Desire Devil Lord suddenly turned around and stared at the mountain. The eyes of the young man standing beside him were no longer blank, but filled with a deep and dull color.
“Who on earth has been continuously violating my restrictions for the past five years? He even violated the restriction I set to kill him in the clouds. Could it be Duanmu? No, it must be the Ancient Emperor. That old bag of bones must have been studying restrictions for the past thousand years. This person will be my greatest enemy in the third trial!” the Demonic God of Six Desires whispered to himself.
A hint of fanaticism flashed in his eyes. At the top of the mountain, 5,000 feet away, stood a giant whirlpool. That was the entrance to the third trial.
Over the past seven years, Six Desire Devil Lord’s journey had started off smoothly, but as he neared the pinnacle, the power and complexity of his restrictions had increased. Some restrictions were truly astonishing. One such restriction was the one that had trapped Six Desire Devil Lord for five years.
He turned and immediately stepped forward.
At the same time, a figure stepped out of the whirlpool at the foot of the mountain. This person held a whisk and wore a veil that concealed her face, exuding a gentle, fairy-like aura. She walked out confidently.
It was the Ancient Emperor.
Although he appeared calm, his brow furrowed. In his first trial, he was facing a fire trial. It took him seven years to complete.
There were many monsters in the trial by fire. He killed countless of them. While he might have been able to get out faster if he had used all his strength, the Ancient Emperor was a very patient man. He preferred to waste time fighting rather than taking risks.
It was the amount of patience he possessed that really set him apart from Hunchback Meng.
The Ancient Emperor was ready to pass this trial. Although he faced the test of fire, his natural weakness, he remained strong and successfully overcame it step by step.
Even though this took a lot of time, his treasure was not used up, so when he tried to overcome trials in the future, he would still have it.
However, on the path ahead, nothing could stop him. Even though there were many illusory barriers, none of them were able to affect him.
After entering the second trial, the Ancient Emperor took a deep breath. His eyes stared at the mountain peak, revealing a cold smile. For the past 1,000 years, he had been preparing for this day.
If you wanted to enter the third trial, you had to learn about restrictions. This was something he had already memorized. If it weren’t for his incredible speed, which had allowed him to cross the tunnel in three breaths all those years ago, even if he had killed everyone there that day, he would still have died.
He wasn’t like Six Desire Devil Lord, Duanmu, or Hunchback Meng. Over 1,000 years ago, he was already at the middle stage of Soul Formation and had been the leader of the final expedition.
Back then, Six Desire Devil Lord and the others were merely juniors in his eyes. If not for his severe injuries after escaping, how could the three of them still be alive today?
For the past 1,000 years, he had been recuperating in the Sea of Devils and had begun to expand his knowledge of limits so he could attempt the trial again. In those 1,000 years, he had been able to recover all of his cultivation, but he had been unable to advance. After careful analysis, he believed that the injuries from those years had damaged his foundation. Unless he used a heavenly treasure, his cultivation would be stuck forever.
As a result, he became even more excited as he thought about re-entering the Land of the Ancient Gods. Only there would he find treasures that could not only restore his health but also help him advance to the Soul Transformation stage, allowing him to become a Soul Transformation expert. This would make all the hardships he had endured even more worthwhile.
To this end, he stopped cultivating and focused solely on researching restrictions. He even traveled to many sects renowned for their restriction techniques to study them.
After 1,000 years of study, he felt extremely confident in his abilities. He even brought some amazing surprises with him. He touched his storage bag and his smile widened.
Without saying a word, he arrived at the first obstacle at the foot of the mountain.
This was the first boundary he had forcibly broken in years. After catching a glimpse of it, he stepped forward. He saw that there was no point in wasting time on resolving this boundary; it was far better to break it by force.
After all, this is exactly how he got through it all those years ago.
He remembered that the moment he entered, the weeds had turned into blades. Everything had gone as he had expected. The weeds around him had flown up, as he had expected, and had flown through the sudden red mist. Then they had spun around again and turned into a rain of swords.
The Ancient Emperor acted as if nothing had happened and continued forward. As the swords approached his body, they were covered in ice and exploded.
The continuous exploding sounds didn’t slow the Ancient Emperor down in the slightest. He easily reached the edge of the formation. He remembered that this was where the red light was supposed to appear.
Sure enough, just as he was thinking about it, pillars of red light appeared around him. The Ancient Emperor let out a short chant. His right hand clenched and struck one of the red lights. The light immediately dispersed and disappeared.
One by one, he ran the red lights. In less than two hours, all the red lights were out. He easily broke through this barrier.
The Ancient Emperor stepped forward. He observed the second barrier several dozen feet away. After moving a hundred feet, his expression suddenly changed. As he exited the barrier, a black mist appeared around him. This was completely different from the red light and beast sounds that could be heard from within.
Soon, countless black swords and red lights appeared. They all flew towards him. Their speed was too fast; by the time he heard them, they were already upon him.
The Ancient Emperor’s face suddenly darkened. He let out a roar, and the spiritual energy that erupted with the roar immediately transformed into a thick wall of ice that surrounded him. Most of the attacks slammed into the ice wall.
He then immediately took a few steps back. He clenched his right fist and punched the ice wall. The ice immediately shattered into pieces.
His left hand continuously emitted spiritual energy, which adhered to the ice shards one by one. The ice rapidly melted, forming clones of the Ancient Emperor. They all unleashed various techniques.
The barrier roared after receiving such a powerful attack. It completely collapsed.
As the black mist dissipated, the Ancient Emperor walked out with a gloomy expression. His complexion darkened as he released a powerful killing intent. “Six Desires Demon Sovereign, this restriction must have been set by you!”
The sudden, shocking restriction left him at a loss for what to do for a moment. If someone less powerful than him were in that situation, even if they didn’t die, they would be left in a miserable state.
The reason he was so certain that it was the Six Desires Devil Sovereign was because Duanmu didn’t have the temperament to learn restriction techniques. However, this didn’t exclude that brat Wang Lin.
But he was very sure that it was the Six Desires Demon God because he had completely forgotten about Wang Lin.
Now that he considered how evil the prohibition was, he couldn’t help but curse in his heart. He had secretly decided in his heart that no matter how simple the prohibition was, he would carry it out with utmost care.
As Wang Lin slowly walked toward the mountaintop, he suddenly stopped and looked down at the foot of the mountain. He realized that the first restriction he had set up had been broken.
However, Wang Lin didn’t panic at all. Over the past seven years, as he climbed the mountain, he had set up countless restrictions to stop anyone behind him. Even if they managed to break through all of those restrictions without dying, they would at least lose a layer of skin.
If their luck is bad, they can even trigger nearby restrictions. Even if it is someone in the Soul Formation stage, the only path for them is death.
There weren’t many super-powerful restrictions behind Wang Lin. There were only three or four, on top of the restrictions already in place. Six Desire Devil Lord had added several layers to those restrictions. After Wang Lin painstakingly passed through them, he added more layers on top of them. And finally, for good measure, Wang Lin spent four weeks going back and stringing all the restrictions together so that if even one were triggered, the results would be disastrous.
Wang Lin laughed coldly. The people behind him didn’t matter. He continued to move forward.
The closer Wang Lin got to the peak, the slower his steps became. He had to expend a great deal of mental energy to understand how the restriction worked. He studied every detail of the restriction before attempting to break it.
With the restriction technique he created, he could only create up to ten illusionary circles. He couldn’t create more than ten. Not to mention himself, even someone in the Soul Formation stage couldn’t do more than that.
With this technique, anyone else would only be able to create three to five circles. The only reason Wang Lin could create ten circles was because of his Ji Realm divine sense.
It was because of the support of the technique that was stretched to its limits that Wang Lin was able to advance one step at a time until the point where he could draw ten illusionary circles.
The jade stones he used to record the restrictions now numbered over a hundred. They were his treasures, proof of his growth.
Wang Lin’s will was indeed very strong. Many restrictions took him days and nights to study and analyze, and one day, he finally achieved a breakthrough.
Time passed quickly and in the blink of an eye, three years had passed. Wang Lin’s hair had turned completely white. His gaze became sharper, as if it could penetrate your soul.
Wang Lin never expected to spend ten years on the mountaintop, but for him, these ten years passed quickly. Every moment was spent studying the limits.
From his position, he was 6,000 feet from the summit. However, starting at 3,000 feet, a thick white fog enveloped the mountain, making it impossible to reach the summit.
After three years, Wang Lin didn’t have much spiritual liquid left. He had to be very careful in using his spiritual energy, making sure to conserve as much as possible.
Exploring boundaries requires a great deal of mental energy, and when one expends mental energy, one’s spiritual energy is also depleted.
At this moment, his white hair was tied up. He sat cross-legged on a cliff surrounded by restrictions. All these restrictions had been shattered by the illusionary circle created by this right hand.
As Wang Lin approached the peak, he became more nervous, wondering if the person in front of him had passed the second trial. If that person hadn’t passed, then he must be waiting for him there. The restrictions where Wang Lin was were so powerful that if he were to pick one at random, even someone at the Soul Formation stage would have a hard time surviving.
As a result, Wang Lin couldn’t afford to be distracted at all. His full focus had to be devoted to analyzing these boundaries.
As for the person behind Wang Lin, he clearly felt his progress over the past three years. In the beginning, he would feel a restriction being broken every few weeks. Now, it took months before he felt a restriction being broken. The reason why he was getting slower was not only because of the increasing power of the natural restriction, but also because of Wang Lin’s own growth. The restrictions he created now were like heaven and earth compared to those ten years ago.
Wang Lin exhaled slowly. His gaze shifted forward. Just as he could detect the speed of the person behind him, the person in front of him also sensed Wang Lin’s speed. Perhaps there was hidden danger waiting up there.
Wang Lin smiled coldly. He waved his hand and set up some boundaries. He had been sitting here for almost a year. He had to pay attention not only to what was above him, but also to what was below him. He set up countless boundaries around this place. Wang Lin was not in a hurry. He did not intend to rush into the enemy’s trap. There could not be a single mistake at this point.
Wang Lin waited for the person behind him to catch up and let him pass first.
The person behind him was definitely at least at the Soul Formation stage. This was the reason Wang Lin had stopped for a year. He had set up countless restrictions not to attack, but to conceal his presence.
After a year of setting boundaries, Wang Lin felt confident that as long as he didn’t move, others would have a hard time noticing his presence.
A few days later, Wang Lin felt a nearby restriction being breached.
Her lips curled into a cold smirk as she stared back, her eyes sparkling.
The Ancient Emperor’s anger had never subsided over the past three years. Instead of easing, he had only grown angrier. Over the past three years, he had not only had to spend countless hours breaking every single prohibition, but he had also had to be extra careful about the prohibitions left behind by others.
What annoyed him most was that when he finally broke through one limit, another one was triggered. He nearly died dozens of times.
Along the way, he felt depressed and couldn’t help but curse in his heart. Sometimes he couldn’t help it and cursed loudly. From his point of view, the person who added the prohibition was too cruel.
Sometimes, a boundary looks like nothing, but when it breaks, the crack turns out to be an activation for the boundary.
There were also boundaries he could easily cross if he didn’t try to break them. But if he tried, those boundaries would create an endless loop of limitations. Step by step, despite knowing the dangers ahead, he had to keep moving forward to finally escape this hell.
Unless he decides to give up halfway, he can only keep climbing.
Every time he thought about it, his anger boiled over. He wanted to tear the person who did this to shreds.
Sometimes, he would sense a powerful spiritual energy and spend a long time observing it, but he couldn’t detect any restrictions. After expending a great deal of spiritual energy, he would send out his treasure to test for restrictions, but it turned out there were none, and the spiritual energy was deliberately left on to deceive him.
What angered him most were the places that seemed normal, but if he looked closely, he could sense a hint of spiritual energy. These things were impossible to detect unless he paid full attention.
But then he spent more spiritual energy to examine the area only to suddenly realize that this was also a false restriction.
In the past three years, the Ancient Emperor had to constantly contend with both real and false restrictions. Sometimes he accidentally triggered a real restriction, causing a chain reaction.
On his first attempt, he spent more time conserving his magical treasures, but now more than half of them have been used. All of them are used to defend himself when the restrictions are triggered.
Her heart ached and she was filled with regret. If only she had used the treasure to pass the first trial faster. If only she had walked ahead of him, her path would have been much smoother.
Two years ago when he saw three different types of restrictions, he realized that Six Desire Devil Lord was only one of the people responsible for this.
He realized that there were two restriction experts in front of him. Originally, he was most weary of the Six Desire Devil Lord, but now the crown had fallen into the hands of this mysterious man.
Breaking this person’s limits would strike fear into one’s heart. Initially, although this person’s limits were ingenious and detailed, they didn’t require much power. However, as progress progressed, the mysterious man’s skills improved rapidly. These limits were not only ingenious but also extremely complex.
At first, the Ancient Emperor could easily break through these limitations, but as time went on, he was required to work harder to overcome these limitations.
The mysterious person’s presence became even more important in his heart. He felt that, at least in terms of knowledge of boundaries, that person was his rival. He felt that even though that person couldn’t match his thousands of years of experience, the intellect of boundaries left him speechless.
What surprised him most was that the mysterious person seemed to have just begun learning the technique of restriction. It was hard to believe, but he was certain of it.
The most important part is that the layout of the restrictions was messy and large at first, but now it is very difficult to find and has been refined into two special characteristics.
The extremely fast attack speed, attack method, trigger conditions, and timing make it difficult to respond in time.
In his heart, he held this person in high regard, and now he held her in even greater regard. He had finally broken through the barrier that had taken so much effort. He walked out with a gloomy expression.
He looked up. He was still seven thousand feet from the summit. If it were anything like before, he could easily reach it in the blink of an eye. Forget running, even if he could fly, he would still have to move with extreme caution.
He clearly remembered 1,000 years ago, when a Soul Formation cultivator displayed his unique magic treasure, which could teleport him around a mountain. When he suddenly disappeared, a bolt of purple lightning struck, stopping his technique.
The magical treasure was used like a toy, but suddenly it was struck by lightning along with the entire body of the user until nothing was left.
This scene left everyone speechless. Flying in the air would attract purple lightning, so everyone chose to walk on the ground rather than try to fly.
The Ancient Emperor continued for a month. The distance between him and Wang Ling was getting smaller and smaller. This was the first time Wang Lin had seen a Soul Formation expert break through the barrier.
Today, the Ancient Emperor stood only ten feet away from Wang Lin. His gaze suddenly shifted to where Wang Lin was sitting. His eyes emitted a strange light.