Within the ancient mine outside Purple Mountain, ripples spread through the void as Lin Yu appeared. He returned to the surface and flew toward Zhang Family Stone Village.
Lin Yu descended in a streak of light. Once the village residents recognized him, they immediately crowded around him and asked in a flurry of voices, "Brother Yang, you finally came out of Purple Mountain?"
"Brother Yang, are you all right? Nothing happened to you in there, did it?"
"Everyone was so worried about you!"
Lin Yu nodded with a smile. "Thank you for your concern. Everything went smoothly."
He looked around and noticed that several young people were missing, so he asked, "Have the Holy King Sect disciples come?"
"That's right. A few days after you left, someone came to test our aptitude. Wang Shu, Silly Er, and his sisters were all chosen as Immortal Seeds," Grandpa Zhang Wu answered.
It seemed those people had not revealed my identity.
Wang Shu and Silly Er possessed the bloodline of the Primordial Silver Blood Race. Their constitutions were powerful, and they were known as the uncrowned kings of ancient times, though they later declined for certain reasons.
Silly Er's real name was Lei Bo. Their two families were not descendants of the Source Heavenly Master lineage. Rather, after the Source Heavenly Master encountered misfortune in his later years and wandered about, he brought back two Silver Blood infants. Their blood was silver, their brow bones could emit light, their eyes had double pupils, and they possessed many other abnormalities.
The two children multiplied and settled in this place, marrying humans. After an unknown number of generations, the blood of the Wang and Lei families gradually changed from silver to red, until they became little different from ordinary people.
Yet every so often, one or two exceptional children would appear. Their brow bones would shine, though the light would recede after a hundred days. They were born knowing divine arts and possessed strange abilities.
He took out a bundle and handed it to Grandpa Zhang Wu. "This contains the Source Heavenly Book I found in Purple Mountain, as well as the remains of your ancestor, Zhang Jiye. Find a proper place and bury him well."
Grandpa Zhang Wu accepted the bundle from Lin Yu with trembling hands. Opening it, he saw shattered stone garments and a stone pendant inside. His voice shook as he said, "It's good that you found them... good that you found them."
He then handed the Source Heavenly Book back to Lin Yu. "No one in our village has any cultivation now. Keeping the Source Heavenly Book would only bring disaster upon us. You should hold on to it."
Fine. Lin Yu could only accept it, intending to find an opportunity to pass it on to the descendants of the stone village someday.
Next, Lin Yu planned to cultivate in the Fire Domain and use its environment to complete his transformation. If not for searching for the Source Heavenly Book, he would have gone there long ago. He would probably already have benefited from it by now.
The Fire Domain was located in the Southern Region of the Eastern Wasteland, while Lin Yu was in the Northern Region. He had no choice but to borrow a Domain Gate from some sect.
One month later,
At the westernmost edge of Jin State in the Southern Region.
After emerging from the Domain Gate, Lin Yu flew the entire way. He stopped several times to ask for directions before finally reaching the Fire Domain.
The Fire Domain burned year-round with flames that never went out. Seen from the night sky, the area for a hundred li around was crimson red, making it exceptionally conspicuous.
Lin Yu stepped inside. Scarlet flames surged toward him, but with a thought from Lin Yu, the Hell Furnace appeared. Before the flames could touch him, they were sucked into it, forming a vortex of fire around him.
Lin Yu estimated that absorbing flames here would take five or six years before he accumulated enough Life Source for a transformation.
"The efficiency is a little low. It looks like I still need to go deeper inside." Lin Yu was dissatisfied as he headed toward the depths of the Fire Domain.
The Fire Domain was divided into six levels and contained ten kinds of flames. According to ancient records, immortals had once been burned to death in its deepest reaches.
The tenth level contained an immortal tree formed from flaming runes. It stood less than a meter tall, yet it was ancient and vigorous, like a coiled dragon lying dormant. Its flickering flames seemed capable of incinerating all heavens and burning eternity to ruin.
It was said to be a type of Immortal Fire. The immortal artifact of the Eastern Wasteland, the Desolate Pagoda, had once risen and sunk there for a thousand years, using it to repair itself. Later, Gai Jiuyou used it to fight the Dark Supremacy, and in the end, both vanished without a trace.
After traveling another several dozen li, the flames changed to blue and became even more scorching. He had arrived at the second level of the Fire Domain.
After briefly sensing the difference from the first level, Lin Yu passed straight through it. He crossed the third level's milky-white flames, the fourth level's black netherfire, and the fifth level's golden flames, only stopping upon reaching the sixth level.
The sixth level of the Fire Domain was called “purple qi comes from the east.” Purple qi flowed through it, shrouding the area in haze. Great figures often refined artifacts here.
"Crackle, crackle."
A wisp of purple mist fell onto Lin Yu's body. When it met his divine power, it let out the sound of resistance.
Lin Yu activated Underworld God's Protection. An egg-shaped shield appeared, its divine power rotating at high speed. Whenever flames fell upon it, they were deflected away.
"Underworld God's Protection truly deserves to be called the strongest defense. It will probably take flames from several deeper levels to threaten it."
Lin Yu stopped testing it and activated the Hell Furnace, creating the Vortex of Hell. Countless flames streamed into it like a tornado and were refined into Life Source.
Ten days later, Lin Yu sensed that he had already reached the peak of the Divine Bridge and was about to step into the Other Shore.
Suddenly, a fog appeared before his eyes. His five senses became blurred, and even his divine sense could not detect any changes. Lin Yu walked through it with the feeling that above him was no sky and below him no ground. He realized that he had encountered the Calamity of Lost.
For cultivators, the Calamity of Lost was a life-and-death trial. One careless misstep, and they would sink into it forever. It was said that the greater a genius's aptitude, the more severe the Calamity of Lost they would encounter.
But this was nothing to Lin Yu. He had the little golden figure suppressing his mind, an eternal guidepost.
"Prison Suppressing Divine Elephant, stand upon the Other Shore!"
The Divine Elephant suppressed hell, upheld heaven, and wherever it stood was the Other Shore.
The fog scattered, and heaven and earth became clear. The Divine Bridge shone brilliantly, blooming with dazzling radiance as it carried Lin Yu across the Sea of Bitterness to its end.
This was a pure land, veiled in drifting clouds and mist. High in the sky, he vaguely saw immense Dao Palaces.
Those massive Dao Palaces were the five internal organs of the human body. Cultivating this secret realm could nourish the five organs and extend a cultivator's lifespan.
The Dao Palaces lay far away amid the vague and ethereal, quickly vanishing from sight.
After resting for a while, Lin Yu began walking toward the seventh level of the Fire Domain. The seventh level was also called Five-Colored Cloud Flame. It could burn away divine power and incinerate great figures. Lin Yu intended to use it for a more thorough transformation.
This place was even hotter than the one where purple qi came from the east. The five-colored mist burned Lin Yu's divine power until it hissed.
He sat down cross-legged. The Hell Furnace rose and fell around him, constantly drawing in the Five-Colored Cloud Flame and converting it into life essence.
Lin Yu lowered his defenses and began drawing the flames onto his body. In an instant, he was completely engulfed by these flames that covered the heavens and obscured the sun.
His clothes instantly burned to ash, while his skin rapidly carbonized, exposing the stark white bones beneath.
The five-colored cloud flames followed Lin Yu's divine power and began burning his spirit, plunging him into utter extinction.
The terrifying flames ignited everything about Lin Yu. Only the Giant Elephant Particles deep within his source glimmered faintly; that was his mind still holding on.
Suddenly, the Hell Furnace turned into a phantom and vanished. The accumulated Life Source swept through him like a spring breeze over the earth, sending ripples of life spreading outward.
Lin Yu's physical body began to revive. His bones reformed, flesh spread over them, and his skin regained its former smoothness and firmness. Inside, his organs were like precise machines restarting, operating in perfect order and injecting boundless vitality into his renewed life.
This transformation occurred nine times, until even the Five-Colored Cloud Flame could barely harm Lin Yu.
Thanks to Unfortunate Ordinary Person for the monthly ticket!
Thanks to Clear Dreams Filling the Boat, Pressing Down the Starry River for the monthly ticket!
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