Development IV

This way, once Lin Xin recruited disciples with decent aptitude, he could have them move in with their families and become his subjects.

He looked down over his entire Wasteland territory.

"Now, the Wasteland should no longer be called the Wasteland."

Lin Xin could clearly feel that after the last great battle, the concentration of spiritual energy in the Wasteland's air seemed to have increased considerably.

After the Golden Goddess Statue had originally been built, the concentration of spiritual energy in the air had been roughly on par with the Nether Prefecture.

But after that battle, a massive supply of corpse fertilizer had suddenly been added. The spiritual energy concentration soon rose to more than double its former level.

Though it was still inferior to the Human Realm's average level, compared to the Nether Prefecture and many small worlds, it was already quite good.

"The territory should be given a name."

One name after another swiftly flashed through Lin Xin's mind.

"Though this Wasteland is small, it is still a small world. I came from the Nether Prefecture, so let it be called the Nether Realm."

"Nether Realm, Nether Realm. Simple and easy to say, and convenient to spread."

Having settled on the name, Lin Xin immediately transmitted it through the spiritual link into the minds of all the Dao soldiers.

"The Sacrifice to the Gods Land is an Earth Immortal's most secret place. While I am weak, it absolutely cannot be exposed lightly. Even if it is exposed, no one untrustworthy can be allowed inside."

Lin Xin also began considering what sort of people he should select to enter, cultivate, and multiply.

Members of the Lin Family?

No. Evil Qi had entered their bodies, and their aptitudes would be affected in the future. Purifying them would be exceedingly troublesome.

Ordinary mortals from the mundane world?

Those from the Human Realm were probably out of the question. The Human Realm's forces were intricately tangled, and there was no guarantee other factions would not plant spies among them.

Moreover, the crucial point was that the spiritual energy concentration in the Nether Realm was now far thinner than in the Human Realm.

Only a fool would come scampering over to put down roots here if they knew how to cultivate.

Even if he recruited them through certain means, they would only agree temporarily. If he wanted their descendants to live here generation after generation, no one would be willing.

"Looks like I can only find mortals in small worlds where spiritual energy is even thinner."

Lin Xin made up his mind.

"Besides that, I can draw in Void Demon Spirits for widespread slaughter, raising the Nether Realm's spiritual energy concentration."

Yet the Nether Realm was located in an isolation zone, making it difficult to move without harming its foundation. Lin Xin had asked his master about it, and learned that it truly could not be moved.

In that case, with such an awkward location, if he provoked a Void Demon Spirit legion into launching a massive siege, he would truly be digging his own grave.

If a large legion came, or even an expert on the level of a Void Spirit Asura made a move, perhaps only the entire Dragon Snake Realm thrown into battle could barely withstand it.

"Looks like there is only one choice..."

Lin Xin sighed. He could only go to worlds with thin spiritual energy and lure back some population—and people trustworthy enough at that.

Of course, it was not impossible to directly acquire some population from an extremely remote place in the Human Realm, but the range of selection would be too narrow. It was still not as convenient as going to small worlds.

If he happened to find an unexplored small world, his luck would be incomparably good. He could completely use it as a rear base and grow into a lord of a world.

In truth, many world lords had come to be this way.

"Wait, a world lord?"

Lin Xin's heart suddenly stirred.

He suddenly remembered that he had the Bewildering Gate, as well as the Ancient Divine Artifact, the Qi La Mask, which could travel between worlds.

Most crucially, he also had an endless supply of energy cores: Magma Core Hearts.

"The Bewildering Gate opens once every ten days, and can be opened three times in total."

When he had opened the Black Market Dao Seed Feng Huai had given him, the Bewildering Gate that had emerged had already been opened once, but it still had two chances remaining. It was highly possible that it could connect to some unknown small world. Then, using the Qi La Mask, he might be able to find an untouched virgin land.

At the thought of this, Lin Xin felt slightly excited.

The Bewildering Gate's connection, the Qi La Mask's traversal, and the Magma Core Heart serving as an energy source—after crossing over, he could gather resources and set up a teleportation array, fully forming a pioneering system.

In fact, many cultivators had discovered new worlds through the Bewildering Gate before. But because the distance was too great, teleportation costs were too high, and they themselves could not cross over to set up teleportation formations, all these factors combined had ultimately left them unable to begin development.

"But I am different."

The more Lin Xin thought about it, the more likely he felt it was.

He simply began carefully deducing every step, took out the Qi La Mask, and examined the conditions for traversal.

The mask only needed coordinates to travel directly. However, its uses were limited: it could only be used once a month and not consecutively.

The coordinates it required were based on any physical material from the target location. It extracted spacetime essence from it, thereby conducting an integrated positioning.

Lin Xin did not know what spacetime essence was, but he understood what any physical material meant.

"Looks like I can try it first."

He rose into the air and landed in the courtyard of his small Dao Palace.

After straightening his robes, he strode into the Dao Palace.

The Bewildering Gate was kept in a sealed hall within the Dao Palace. The surrounding walls had all been reinforced with formation seals personally carved by Lin Xin. Apart from him, not even the Dao soldiers were permitted to enter.

Its confidentiality was extremely high.

Following the passage as it twisted east and west, he soon arrived before the sealed hall.

Inscribed above the hall's entrance were the words: Secret Seal Hall.

Spiritual light flashed from his hand more than ten times. The Secret Seal Hall's doors slowly opened on their own. Lin Xin strode inside, and the doors swiftly closed again, activating the automatic sealing formation.

The Secret Seal Hall was empty. Its black floor was dim and gave off no reflection.

A huge symbol of white light flickered on each of the four walls. The ceiling was also pitch-black, while Sun Secret Stones were set into the four corners. These gems, specially used for illumination, cast down a soft, faint white glow.

The moment Lin Xin entered, he saw the Bewildering Gate placed in the very center.

The gate was over a person's height tall. Its frame was silver-gray, like metal strips twisted until they were about to snap. Above the frame was carved a huge golden single eye.

As though sensing Lin Xin's arrival, the golden eyeball moved. Like a dragon's eye, it had a black vertical slit in its center, deep and bottomless.

"The last connection failed. I had to cut it off during the transfer. Hopefully, this time will be worthwhile."

Lin Xin walked up before the Bewildering Gate and cautiously pressed his hand tightly against it.

With a thought, the Azure Origin Cauldron at the Nether Realm's core gave a slight tremor, releasing a great quantity of Supreme Clarity Water that surged up from below through the ground and entered the Bewildering Gate.

"Ah..."

An aged sigh came from within the gate frame.

A blackish-purple vortex slowly emerged in the previously empty frame, and countless fluctuations of power swiftly filled the entire frame.

The vortex turned slowly and heavily.

Time trickled by.

Buzz.

Suddenly, the vortex gradually came to a halt.

Hiss...

A ray of clear light shone out from its center and fell upon Lin Xin.

"Huh?" A tender female voice came from the other side of the gate. "Why did this gate suddenly light up?"

Lin Xin could not understand the other party's language at all, but the Bewildering Gate automatically converted it into spiritual thought fluctuations and transmitted them into his mind.

He also let out a long breath. What he feared most was inexplicably connecting to some terrifying, mighty existence. He did not care about any fortunate encounter; what he feared was some unusual accident.

Yet he had forgotten that, to countless other living beings, as a perfected Human Immortal, he had already reached the level of giving others fortunate encounters.

"So beautiful..."

The voice from the other side was very young. Clearly, its speaker was not old.

Lin Xin thought for a moment and sensed the Qi La Mask. The mask was already in a state where it could traverse worlds, so he decisively stopped sending Supreme Clarity Water.

The Bewildering Gate's connection slowly broke off at once, and the voice from the other side gradually faded away.

"I'll arrange everything else first. Once all preparations are complete, I'll attempt the traversal."

He carefully examined the Bewildering Gate, then turned and strode outside.

Since it was already connected, he could use a small exchange at any time to let the Qi La Mask lock onto the location and travel there. There was no need to hurry for now.

He had previously found Hero Yuan Qiuque, but many arrangements had yet to be handled. If the Qi La Mask traversed over and he encountered trouble that prevented him from returning for the time being, that would be troublesome.

North Mulberry Continent, Ru Nation.

Within a mountain range in the northwest of the nation.

A massive black sword several hundred meters long was embedded upside down in the center of the mountains.

On a bluish-black cliff beside the giant sword's blade stood a vast cluster of small Daoist temples, gray-white with a yellowish tinge.

Within the courtyard of one of those temples.

Yuan Qiuque stroked his beard, concentrating as he played chess with a white-haired old Daoist.

Disciples stood behind each of the two men, waiting respectfully.

After a long while, the old Daoist finally pulled a long face and swept his hand across the board, scattering the pieces.

"I'm not playing anymore, I'm not playing anymore! I lost again!"

"What are you doing?" Yuan Qiuque could neither laugh nor cry. "You are, after all, an elder of the Facing Heaven Sect, the foremost sword sect of Ru Nation. You can win but cannot accept defeat? Is that any way for an elder to behave?"

"As the chief elder, I should only win and never lose," the old Daoist declared with perfect confidence.

"You old rascal!" Yuan Qiuque laughed in exasperation. Across all of Ru Nation, the two of them were among the very finest experts. If outsiders learned that the famous Elder Xin Luan was actually a shameless old chess addict who could only win and never lose, who knew how many people's idols would come crashing down.

"Fine, fine. It's only one game of chess. Is there any need to be so fixated on winning and losing?"

Elder Xin Luan waved a hand, feigning magnanimity.

The disciples behind them all wanted to laugh, but had to secretly hold it in.

"After so many years apart, Hero Yuan still carries himself with the same grace as ever."

Suddenly, a clear voice carrying a hint of laughter came from the courtyard entrance.

Yuan Qiuque froze at the sound, then quickly looked up toward the newcomer.

"Who is it?"

Without any announcement, someone had directly approached so close. The two disciples were both shocked, and one of them was about to draw his Magic Sword and attack.

But Yuan Bo Fei immediately stopped him. He was both a disciple and Yuan Qiuque's biological son, and his experience far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators.

He knew the newcomer's cultivation was likely profound, not something disciples like them could compare to.

Elder Xin Luan's expression also darkened as he rose to his feet.

"Fellow Daoist, arriving unannounced seems rather discourteous, does it not?"

"I, Lin, truly have my reasons. I hope Fellow Daoist will forgive me."

Before his words had faded, he was already standing in the center of the courtyard.

The four looked over at once, only to see a young gentleman of tender years, pale-faced and somewhat sickly in appearance.