Ink Flood Dragon?

Lin Yun knew nothing of what was happening above him. At that moment, he was contentedly exploring the changes that had come with his Foundation Establishment.

There was no need to dwell on his Innate Five-Element Dao Body's tremendous affinity with the five elements' Primordial Qi, or the qualitative transformation of his True Essence.

The most important change after Foundation Establishment was the opening of his mysterious pass aperture.

Lin Yun opened his mouth and spat out the Clearvoid Invisible Sword. The sword vanished in a flash, and when it reappeared, it had already entered his Profound Aperture.

Previously, Lin Yun had kept the Clearvoid Invisible Sword within his lungs, nourishing it with Lung Metal Qi. But this sword differed from other flying swords; the best place to nurture it was actually within the Profound Aperture.

The mysterious pass aperture was an extraordinarily peculiar spatial aperture, neither inside the body nor outside it. Yet it was intimately connected to both flesh and soul, as though they were one, and remained united with heaven and earth at all times, constantly drawing in and expelling spiritual energy.

Nurturing the Clearvoid Invisible Sword there would not only strengthen the connection between man and sword at every moment, but also nourish it with spatial power, raising the Invisible Sword to new heights.

Having put away the Clearvoid Invisible Sword, Lin Yun immediately began considering the next step in his cultivation.

If he practiced a cultivation method native to the world of A Mortal's Journey to Immortality, then with his current Innate Five-Element Dao Body, forming a Nascent Soul would pose no difficulty, no matter which elemental branch he chose.

But if that was all he did, Lin Yun felt he would be wasting the Daoist Books and Heavenly Books in his mind. Every one of them was a supreme scripture pointing straight toward the great path of celestial immortality, and some even contained methods for becoming a Golden Immortal.

To simply set them aside and practice only a few of their divine abilities felt to Lin Yun like a terrible waste of his extraordinary good fortune.

Yet on closer reflection, he had underestimated how impoverished the Mortal Realm's spiritual energy was. Mastering even the White Yang Diagram had involved a thousand hardships and ten thousand difficulties. How could he possibly master those Daoist Books that consumed such immense quantities of Primordial Qi?

After pondering for a long while, Lin Yun still had no idea. Fortunately, he had only just reached Foundation Establishment, so choosing his next cultivation method was not an urgent matter.

After a moment of thought, Lin Yun suddenly murmured, "There's no hurry to choose a cultivation method, but I can learn a technique to protect myself."

Aside from the various low-level spells he had learned in the Yellow Maple Valley, the only technique he could currently rely on for protection was the Supreme Clarity Daoist Orthodox School Formless Sword Art.

Because of the differences in cultivation systems and the activity of the world's Primordial Qi, Lin Yun's insufficient control over that qi before Foundation Establishment had prevented him from practicing many spells and divine abilities from the Zu Mountain World.

Now that he had established a superior foundation and developed his Innate Five-Element Dao Body, his affinity with the world's Primordial Qi had risen another level. It was the perfect time to begin practicing spells and divine abilities.

"Let's try it first," Lin Yun murmured after concentrating for a moment.

He then extended his palm and silently circulated the technique. Thirty feet before him, a mass of five-colored light roughly ten feet across appeared out of thin air, its shape faintly recognizable as a hand.

Looking at the five-colored light, Lin Yun unconsciously frowned. "No good. The Primordial Qi is too scattered. It lacks power."

This hand-shaped mass of five-colored light was a grasping divine ability widely circulated within the Daoist Orthodox School in the Zu Mountain World-Innate One Qi Great Grasping!

This divine ability used magical power to gather the world's Primordial Qi into a massive hand. Combining offense and defense, it was flexible and adaptable, with a broad range of uses, from seizing things at a distance and snatching treasures to restraining enemies.

Moreover, the entry requirements were low; anyone at Foundation Establishment could practice it. Reaching true mastery, however, was extremely difficult and required profound cultivation to support it. The higher one's cultivation, the greater its power, with virtually no upper limit.

Keeping the hand's shape from dispersing marked initial success. The higher one's cultivation, the more solid the hand became, and the greater its power.

Looking at the indistinct palm of light before him, Lin Yun pondered briefly, then moved his hand. The glowing palm nearby condensed slightly, growing solid enough for its shape to become clearly visible.

But Lin Yun was not satisfied. Even the Primordial Qi within the forbidden land was insufficient to support a complete Innate One Qi Great Grasping. Once he went outside, its power would probably drop another notch, and it might not even take shape at all.

After another moment of thought, understanding dawned on Lin Yun, and he smiled. "Who says Innate One Qi Great Grasping can only be practiced as a palm?"

Lin Yun instantly changed his palm into a pointing finger, extending his index finger. Five-colored radiance flashed across the glowing palm nearby, and it transformed into a finger of five-colored light roughly ten feet long.

This time, the finger was clearly visible. On closer inspection, he could even faintly make out slightly blurred fingerprint ridges on its tip.

Lin Yun flicked his finger gently, and the glowing finger nearby flicked in unison. It instantly struck the stone wall, punching a round hole three feet across into it.

Only then did Lin Yun smile in satisfaction. With power like this, he would not have to worry about his Innate One Qi Finger being too weak once he left the forbidden land.

Having achieved initial success with the divine ability, Lin Yun did not intend to linger here. He had already accomplished his main objectives in the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land, so there was no need to continue cultivating here. It was time to go out, search for some medicinal herbs, and bring his expedition to a close.

After putting away both sets of formation equipment, Lin Yun summoned the Clearvoid Invisible Sword from his Profound Aperture, merged his body with its sword light, and ascended using Formless Sword Escape.

He still remembered the restriction overhead. With an opportunity right before his eyes, now was the perfect time to investigate.

After successfully reaching Foundation Establishment, Lin Yun's Formless Sword Escape was considerably faster than before. In a mere flash, the sword light had entered the underground chamber.

The moment he entered the underground chamber, Lin Yun found himself in an open space. Sweeping it with his spiritual sense, he froze at the scene before him.

A young woman in white was controlling a fiery-red ring treasure, locked in battle with a monster beast fifty or sixty feet long, snowy white and scaleless, with the shape of a flood dragon.

The ring treasure alternated between spewing flames to burn the flood dragon beast and slamming into it directly.

Unfortunately, the beast's skin was thick and its flesh tough. The ring treasure inflicted little damage and instead drove the flood dragon into a frenzy, making its attacks on the young woman in white even fiercer.

The scene felt strikingly familiar, making Lin Yun's heart give a jolt. Apart from the flood dragon beast being snowy white rather than ink-black, why did this look so much like that scene with the Ink Flood Dragon, Han Li, and Nangong Wan?

Shouldn't the Ink Flood Dragon be black? Why is it white? A flicker of doubt crossed Lin Yun's mind.

In truth, Lin Yun did not remember much of the original A Mortal's Journey to Immortality. Even though cultivation had now given him a memory capable of retaining anything at a glance, he could not possibly recall every detail of the original novel.

Seeing that the flood dragon beast was about to catch the young woman in white in its jaws, Lin Yun had no time to recall the original plot in detail. He immediately revealed himself and hastily pointed at the beast from afar.

A massive finger of five-colored light, roughly ten feet long, suddenly appeared above the flood dragon's head. Lin Yun gently pressed his fingertip downward, and the enormous glowing finger instantly pinned the flood dragon to the ground, saving the young woman in white from its jaws.

Pinned down-

the flood dragon secured, Lin Yun saw that the young woman in white seemed to have closed her eyes to await death and was standing motionless. He shouted without ceremony, "Have you gone stupid? Run! My finger can't hold this brute down for long!"

Nangong Wan had already despaired and was ready to close her eyes and await death. To think that she, a dignified Core Formation Stage cultivator, had capsized her boat in a gutter here and was about to die in the jaws of a mere Level Three Monster Beast! Who knew how future generations would mock her?

But a shout suddenly rang out beside her ears. Though it seemed to include an insult, Nangong Wan was wild with joy and hurriedly opened her eyes.

She saw the Ink Flood Dragon pinned to the ground by a finger of five-colored light roughly ten feet long, roaring and struggling incessantly. Yet the glowing finger was trembling slightly, as though it might collapse at any moment.

Nangong Wan hurriedly summoned the Vermilion Bird Ring to her side and rode it over to a spot near Lin Yun.

Only then did she have a chance to see Lin Yun clearly. His handsome, carefree face, with its sword-like brows and star-bright eyes, did not surprise Nangong Wan. After all, most male disciples of the Covering Moon Sect were handsome.

But when she noticed the Yellow Maple Valley yellow silk robe he wore, Nangong Wan demanded irritably, "You little fellow from the Yellow Maple Valley, where were you hiding? Why didn't you act sooner?"

She had not seen Lin Yun emerge using Formless Sword Escape, so she mistakenly assumed he had been hiding here all along, waiting for her and the Ink Flood Dragon to cripple each other so he could reap the fisherman's rewards.