Chapter 101 – Jade Soul
After finishing, Wang Lin’s expression became even more serious as he stared at the symbol on the sword sheath. He formed a seal with both hands and spat out a mouthful of blue spiritual energy. As the blue spiritual energy touched the sword sheath, blue flames surrounded it.
It’s not quite right to call it fire. Although it looks like fire, its temperature isn’t. In fact, when this fire appears, the temperature of the entire room immediately drops.
Wang Lin didn’t even blink as he controlled the cold flame to refine the sword sheath.
This cold flame was something he had created while attempting to copy the core flame of a Core Formation cultivator. Since he had no one to consult, he had been extremely cautious about it. After much deliberation, he was confident that his cold flame would be sufficient to refine the sword sheath.
Time passed slowly. Three days later, Ye Zizai returned to the plains above the Corpse Sect like a meteor. The moment his feet touched the ground, he disappeared without a trace.
When he reappeared, he was already in his own room, deeply troubled by the thoughts of his agreement with the other three demon sects.
The qualification exam to enter the foreign battlefield was previously won by the demonic sects, but now there is Punnan Zi and his Xuan Dao Sect, so the outcome is uncertain.
His brows furrowed as he muttered, “Are you sure you can kill Punnan Zi?”
A hoarse voice came from Ye Zizai. “Although that junior is only in the middle Nascent Soul stage, he’s already at the peak of the middle stage. If he’s lucky, he could break through to the late stage within 100 years and become the ruler of a rank 3 cultivation country. If my possession were complete, he wouldn’t be a big deal, but right now, I don’t want to complicate things further.”
Ye Zizai pondered silently for a long time. After a long time, he took out a piece of jade. The jade was green with blood-colored dots flashing incessantly.
“All Foundation Establishment disciples from caves 77 to 99 are to gather immediately in cave 36.” After he finished speaking, he pondered for a moment and looked at the corner where he had sealed Adai. Then, he made a decision. He pressed the jade slip against his forehead, then threw it away.
Mu Rong was cultivating when his eyes suddenly opened as a jade slip from his storage bag flew out by itself. His expression changed slightly, and he picked it up with a troubled expression. After a long time, he sighed and muttered, “Thankfully, I managed to break through the early to mid-stage Foundation Establishment stage three years ago and jumped from cave 82 to cave 72, or my life would have been in danger this time.”
Suddenly green smoke appeared in front of him, forming a piece of jade.
Mu Rong was stunned. After examining the jade, he sneered and turned toward Wang Lin’s cave.
After a while, he arrived at Wang Lin’s cave. Seeing that it was tightly closed, he pressed his hand against the entrance and used his spiritual energy to shake the cave. After that, he shouted, “Ancestor, First Ancestor is gathering the Foundation Establishment cultivators in cave 36. I’m here to guide you there.”
After receiving no reply, he frowned. From the First Ancestor’s previous message, Wang Lin seemed to be disliked. Furthermore, before the First Ancestor left, he had ordered him and several other Foundation Establishment cultivators to guard Wang Lin. In short, Wang Lin was like a prisoner.
However, Mu Rong was very smart. He wouldn’t say any of this out loud.
Just then, the tightly sealed cave opened with a cracking sound. An exhausted Wang Lin walked out.
Mu Rong looked at Wang Lin and smiled, “Ancestor, what happened to you?”
Wang Lin did not answer, but took out his dark blue jade and said, “Brother Mu, please guide me to cave 36.”
Mu Rong didn’t mind. He nodded and walked in front of Wang Lin.
A cold light flashed across Wang Lin’s eyes as he smiled coldly in his heart. Although he hadn’t been able to completely refine the sword sheath in these three days, he was now four-fifths of the way to refining the sword sheath, significantly increasing the power of his flying sword.
They walked through one cave after another until they reached a giant cavern with 16 stone pillars. Atop each stone pillar was a blue fireball.
The dim light from the blue flames made the place look very eerie.
Inside the cave stood about 20 people in neat rows. Each of them had a coffin behind them. The coffins came in various shapes, but they all exuded a powerful aura.
After bringing Wang Lin here, Mu Rong glanced at the people present with a complicated gaze. He then turned and left without a word.
Wang Lin frowned. He felt something was wrong here. After carefully examining the people, he became even more cautious. Almost everyone here had just entered the Foundation Establishment stage and all of them seemed extremely stupid, as if they didn’t possess much intelligence.
There were no mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators present, but there were several late-stage cultivators. The three of them were clearly very different, like the difference between a dead person and a living person.
Wang Lin’s pupils shrank as gas erupted from the sixteen blue flames. The gas gathered and formed the figure of Ye Zizai. Wang Lin noticed that after he appeared, everyone in the cave’s eyes were filled with awe.
Ye Zizai’s gaze swept over everyone. His gaze lingered on Wang Lin for a few seconds. He said plainly, “The outer battlefield that opens once every 100 years is about to reopen. To gain entry, we might have to fight against the orthodox sects. The rule is that Core Formation and Nascent Soul cultivators are not allowed to enter. Soon, you will all be teleported to Jue Ming Valley. Du Chen will be in charge of everyone there. Du Chen, come here.”
A middle-aged man dressed in black walked over. Wang Lin looked at him and saw that he was one of the three late Foundation Establishment cultivators who had entered the pseudo Core Formation realm.
“This is the token to enter the foreign battlefield. Keep it safe. Remember, the goal of this competition is to steal the other tokens. Also, be careful of the other three demon sects. Whoever kills five enemies will have their soul released.” After that, he handed over the token, then took out three pieces of jade as his cold gaze suddenly landed on Wang Lin.
Wang Lin’s expression was normal as he silently stared at Ye Zizai.
Ye Zizai’s tone was casual as he said calmly, “These jades contain a small part of everyone’s soul except yours.”
Without a word, Wang Lin bit the tip of his tongue and spat out blood. He touched his forehead with his right hand and a golden light shone, causing the blood to turn into a drop of golden blood.
The technique to take a part of his soul was recorded in the jade that Ye Zizai gave him.
Wang Lin pointed at a drop of golden blood. The blood shot forward and landed on one of the jade slips in Ye Zizai’s hand. Ye Zizai was stunned when he saw Wang Lin. He hadn’t expected Wang Lin to be so willing. Originally, he was prepared to kill Wang Lin immediately if he refused. He had made the decision to no longer use Wang Lin as a corpse puppet or possession target. After all, besides his strange cultivation method, Wang Lin’s talent wasn’t as good as the people he had prepared. Whoever he had prepared for his corpse puppet or body had more talent than Wang Lin, so he chose Adai in the end.
Seeing Wang Lin obey his orders, Ye Zizai looked at Wang Lin and waved his hand. A giant cave opened up. It was very dark inside, and there was a suction force coming from within.
Ye Zizai threw three jade slips containing everyone’s soul fragments toward Du Chen and the other two. Wang Lin’s eyes lit up as he realized that the other two were the only remaining late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators.
The doubts in Wang Lin’s heart grew stronger, but his expression remained calm. He carefully recalled the cultivator holding the jade that contained a portion of his soul.
Ye Zizai said flatly, “Go, I will wait for the good news.”
Du Chen nodded respectfully. He was the first person to step into the giant cave and disappear.
Wang Lin’s expression was calm. He didn’t hesitate at all as he disappeared from the Corpse Sect.
After everyone left, a hoarse voice echoed in the cave.
“Ye Zizai, with 20 puppets and that boy as sacrifices, once the puppets consume them, their cultivation levels will soar to pseudo-Core Formation. This time, the Corpse Sect’s qualifications are guaranteed.”
Ye Zizai said calmly, “Wang Lin’s Yin energy is extremely pure, so he definitely has some secrets. If it were a few years ago, I would have taken the time to investigate it a bit, but now I only have three months left to live. The day the foreign battlefield opens is the day I die, so there’s no point anymore. Since I won’t be using his body anyway, it might as well be food for the corpse puppets to increase their strength.”
“Luo Cha, I’ll ask you to raise Adai to the Core Formation stage. Once the foreign battlefield opens, find me a good corpse puppet. In return, I’ll go into the forest to help Tuan Zi possess my apprentice-brother, Wu Yu.”
The hoarse voice laughed out loud and agreed.
Jue Ming Valley is located on the southern edge of Zhao. The valley is very wide, with several forests and rivers within it. Because it was used as a competition venue for entering foreign battlefields, the area is shrouded in fog year-round.
At this point, in the northern area of the valley, a large door appeared and cultivators with coffins behind them floated out one by one.
After the last person appeared, the giant door turned into golden dots of light and slowly disappeared.
Just at that moment, three late Foundation Establishment Stage cultivators were about to crush the jade containing the soul fragments with their hands.