Exploration II

After opening his eyes, Lin Hui looked at the floating Black Lotus beside him.

The thought of wanting to get my hands on it flashed through my mind.

The next moment.

The Black Lotus vanished instantly, its surroundings distorted, and it appeared directly in Lin Hui's hand.

At this moment, he had an unparalleled clarity regarding the distorted nature, process, and laws of space, as if he were reading the lines on his palm.

Therefore, that instantaneous change was more like space moving at will, moving with one's thoughts.

At that moment, Lin Hui suddenly seemed to realize something.

I merely had a fleeting thought, without taking any other action, yet the overwhelming and scattered subtle thoughts of my divine soul naturally and instinctively went through the process of distorting space. What about temporality? Could it be that, once I understand all the changes in temporality, my divine soul could also spontaneously alter things, just as it did before...?

The distortion of space is far more complex than that of ordinary things.

If even space can be managed, then things... needless to say.

Lin Hui ignored the still chirping Black Lotus, and instead, on a sudden inspiration, quickly reached out and retrieved the previous Insect Master's brain core.

Staring intently at that brain nucleus.

His spirit naturally dispersed into countless fine threads, simultaneously acting on all the cells of his brain nucleus at that moment.

Each cell, returning to the previous moment, needs those subtle substances with opposite effects, and it conjures up the corresponding substances out of thin air, precisely regulating and controlling their function.

Soon, a few seconds later...

A sudden flash of light appeared in the brain nucleus.

It's as if it's been completely refreshed.

On the surface, nothing seems to have changed, but in essence... it has been reversed to a point several minutes earlier!

Lin Hui's hands trembled.

I see!"

He stood up, a deep sense of melancholy on his face.

Before understanding tense, he believed that this realm was omnipotent, capable of manipulating the changes of time at will.

But only after truly entering this realm did he understand.

The so-called tense is based on a thorough understanding of everything, combined with an incredibly vast ability to manipulate space and fabricate matter, allowing for more precise, tightrope-walking control.

This is something that no empty state can do.

This is actually an extremely delicate and meticulous task.

Only with an extreme understanding of something can one fully grasp its tense. Therefore, even External Source cannot arbitrarily manipulate the tense of an unfamiliar object. They also have limitations.

In that instant, Lin Hui had a sudden realization. Many things and principles in his mind connected, and he understood them all at once.

No wonder it requires an extremely large spiritual energy; such in-depth understanding and manipulation are indeed impossible with a weak spiritual energy.

He picked up the Black Lotus, feeling quite pleased with himself, and turned on his phone.

Inside this small house, without the interference of the Disaster Energy, he was able to use the Black Lotus forum functions normally.

In the black and white interface, he easily navigated to the place where he had posted, and sure enough, the notification showed that someone had responded to his post.

The post titled "Seeking Assistance in Trading: Anyone have Star Butterfly Fish Eye? I'm open to offline, non-face-to-face exchanges. Price negotiable."

A user named "Wistful Loss" replied below.

I have some, how much do you want?

Lin Hui replied quickly.

"Minimum order of one thousand, do you have that? What do you want to exchange?"

"A thousand is too much. I have about three hundred. I need something called the Cosmic Toothstone. Do you have it?" -- Wistful Loss.

"No, in that case, if you have any difficulties in your cultivation, we can exchange ideas," Lin Hui said.

"Are you very strong? What level are you at?" -- Wistful Loss.

Lin Hui smiled.

Having lurked and observed for so many years, he naturally had a good grasp of the forum's general level.

The vast majority of people here are below the materialization level, but above the insectoid level. There aren't many at the materialization level, like Silent Stone Swallow. As for those Colloidal Dissociation, they are even fewer.

This can be roughly judged from the content of the posts and discussions.

Therefore, the External Source level is definitely very powerful.

"I'm a little better than you should be," he replied directly.

Okay... I do have a problem..."

The other person immediately described the situation he had encountered. Lin Hui understood instantly that this guy was probably just materialistic. He casually mentioned a few things without explaining further.

The two immediately decided on a location for their offline transaction.

This first exchange of Black Lotus is now complete.

Lin Hui closed the forum, a slight smile appearing on his face.

After waiting for a hundred years, we have finally met someone with the Star Butterfly Fish Eye.

This thing is indeed hard to get; it can only be found inside the Stagnant Storm. I guess this Wistful Loss must have just come out of the other courtyards.

Hours later, he vanished in an instant, leaving the hut. He rapidly distorted and tore through space, and more than ten minutes later, he arrived at the agreed-upon location outside the Wind Disaster, somewhere in the Black Domain void.

In the void, a red brocade pouch floated silently, Existence Force a golden light that only Lin Hui could see.

He reached out and grabbed it; there was a thin seal inside.

It appears to be very tight, and is based on the force of Colloidal Dissociation.

"Interesting. It must be someone's elder or sect. A rather ingenious sealing formation." Lin Hui glanced at it, and his massive divine soul instantly pierced into the formation like a thread, disintegrating and separating.

In an instant, the seal was broken.

He flashed again, disappearing from the spot and heading back to the site of the Wind Disaster.

Back in the cabin, he checked the fish eyes inside, and there were indeed exactly three hundred. No more, no less.

Then he pretended to chat with the person for a few minutes, answered their question, and received a set of secret words to unlock the seal.

This completes the simple offline transaction.

Lin Hui did not immediately use the fisheye lens, but continued to hang the post and entered a period of seclusion for cultivation.

Three years have passed in the blink of an eye.

Once he grasped the basics of tense control, it seemed to grow exponentially, improving at an incredible speed. Initially, he could only control the tense of his brain cores, but now he could control everything around him.

Then, it spread to some stray monsters in the Wind Disaster.

Continuously observe, record, summarize, and compare.

Countless divine souls recorded countless pieces of information. Lin Hui's control over time also grew stronger.

In the following years, he made two more deals with that Wistful Loss, and in total, he acquired about 1,500 fish eyes.

After using it, Lin Hui swapped the fish eyes back in reverse. This was to prevent the situation from happening in the courtyard, where without the fish eyes, these Star Butterfly Fish would lose their resurrection core and become extinct.

The conversion of Wind Energy is expanding and accelerating rapidly as Lin Hui's cultivation level improves.

Gradually, the entire surrounding area was filled with and mixed with a large amount of Wind Energy.

Some Wind Energy is even beginning to slowly seep into Catastrophe Belt areas.

Lin Hui noticed this sign, but he remained patient and didn't move, continuing to wait.

This time, he mastered both External Source realms, combined them, and began to move towards perfection.

Only after he had a complete grasp of tense did he begin to gradually understand the many mysteries contained in the memories passed down by Karmic Fire.

He sorted out the vast amount of information about various things contained in the inherited memories, as if he were mining from a huge treasure trove.

At this moment, he truly realized that the vast amount of memories instilled in him by these Blood Seal were his greatest treasure.

They contain details of practice experiences for various techniques, as well as observations, perspectives, and detailed records of other things observed during practice.

Countless pieces of information were categorized and rapidly improved his cultivation at the External Source level.

This process of organizing was incredibly long, but also incredibly fulfilling.

He often couldn't even sense the passage of time. One blink of an eye and ten years had passed.

Time flies by like a tap that's been turned on.

Then one day, a message was suddenly left on his Wistful Loss account.

I'm sorry, but in the next transaction, you will be exchanging with me. The Wistful Loss I felt earlier was because of my father; he went to the courtyard to hunt for fish eyes last time and didn't return.

Lin Hui paused for a moment, replied with an "okay," and said nothing more.

He stood up and checked the time record inside the Black Lotus.

"Has it already been nine hundred years?"

Unbeknownst to him, he had cultivated for another nine hundred years.

As he left the cabin, he glanced around and saw that the surroundings were now filled with Wind Energy that he had converted.

The area that was originally Catastrophe Belt has now become much calmer and more peaceful.

He smiled slightly and leaped inside.

He has reached the perfection of the External Source Realm. As for the next stage, Thought Endures Eternally, he has no clue, but at this moment, he is almost ready to continue to delve deeper.

puff.

After many years, he once again entered the Catastrophe Belt.

Boom!!

In an instant, countless bolts of blue lightning roared in. However, these blue lightning bolts were mixed with a lot of Wind Energy, making them less than half as powerful as they were back then.

Furthermore, Lin Hui is no longer the same person he used to be.

The Surrounding Wind that automatically appeared in front of him, layer upon layer, was just consumed, but immediately returned to its previous perfect state.

This is the aberration of tense.

Unless it's an attack from the same realm, you either have to use your immense strength to throw bricks and forcefully shatter their defenses in an instant, or you'll be slowly worn down to death, because a master of time can always keep themselves at the peak of combat, consuming only their divine soul without taking damage.

Lin Hui's current divine soul is so vast that it even feels like it has reached the scale of the Burning Shadow from back then.

He stood at the entrance, moving forward slowly and steadily, staring at the sky full of blue lightning, gradually adapting to the rhythm of the place.

As the speed increased and the pace became more urgent, he gradually began to adapt to the situation.

Amidst the vast expanse of deep blue, highly concentrated Disaster Energy, he flew forward alone, with no end in sight, no view behind him, boundless and directionless.

He was like a pale blue dot in a vast blue ocean, moving faster and faster.

I don't know how much time has passed.

Suddenly, Lin Hui trembled, and the blue lightning before his eyes completely dissipated.

He was suddenly plunged into a pure white light.

"Where is this...?" He had only been there for a moment when an extreme sense of vigilance and a long cry suddenly surged from his soul.

A terrifying, tsunami-like sense of crisis surged through his entire body.

"You've finally arrived..."

Just then, a large, fair hand suddenly pulled him back into the Catastrophe Belt.

Hearing the familiar voice, Lin Hui turned around and looked behind him.

A very familiar figure, enveloped in dark red flames and with a full head of red hair, was silently watching him.

Karmic Fire.

He is Karmic Fire!

"Ever since you pulled me from my slumber, I've been waiting for you here. Fate dictated that you would come here. This calamity was destined for you," Karmic Fire said calmly.

Lin Hui stared at the other person.

Laugh!

The next moment, he suddenly drew his sword, its golden light carrying immense Wind Energy, and pierced into Karmic Fire's chest.