Mind Empty, Body Transforms Itself (Part One)

Inside the carriage.

Lin Rong spread out the map and checked the route.

The Speed Clan's base, one of the four Single Attribute Great Clans, was well hidden. It had taken him several days of inquiries and following the clues before he finally tracked down its location.

The Strength Clan was in Heaven Dou City, while the Defense Clan was in Dragon Rise City.

As for the Breaking Clan, it was located in a city that housed one of the Seven Great Sects—the Lower Four Sects.

According to the original work, one of the Lower Four Sects that shared a city with the Breaking Clan had threatened Yang Wudi shortly before the gathering of the four great clans.

At the same time, the Elephant Armor Sect, also one of the Lower Four Sects, had sought out the Defense Clan during this gathering.

Furthermore, in the All-Continent Advanced Spirit Master Elite Tournament, the Elephant Armor Academy, which belonged to the Elephant Armor Sect, competed in the Heaven Dou Empire division, so it could be ruled out first.

That left the White Tiger Sect, the Wind Sword Sect, and the Fire Leopard Sect—the three remaining great sects.

The White Tiger Sect was a faction of the Star Luo Royal Family.

Since Yang Wudi did not reject the Star Luo Royal Family's attempts to recruit him, the White Tiger Sect could also be ruled out.

That left only the Wind Sword Sect and the Fire Leopard Sect.

The Breaking Clan had arrived last at the gathering of the four great clans, which meant that the city where it was located was farthest from Dragon Rise City. It was most likely somewhere in the south of the Star Luo Empire.

Although both the Wind Sword Sect and the Fire Leopard Sect were in the south of the Star Luo Empire, the Wind Sword Sect was farther south.

Moreover, the Lower Four Sect that had threatened Yang Wudi wanted the Breaking Clan to join them.

There was already a precedent in the original work.

The Defense Clan's martial soul was the Plate Armor Giant Rhino, while the Elephant Armor Sect's martial soul was the Diamond Mammoth.

Both clans possessed beast martial souls, and both martial souls excelled in defense. That was why Hu Yan Zhen of the Elephant Armor Sect had personally come to incorporate the Defense Clan into the Elephant Armor Sect.

Therefore, the Lower Four Sect located in the same city as the Breaking Clan should have an inherited martial soul like the Breaking Clan's—a tool martial soul.

The Wind Sword Sect's inherited martial soul was the Wind Sword, the Fire Leopard Sect's was the Fire Leopard, and the Breaking Clan's was the Soul Breaking Spear.

Thus, only the Wind Sword Sect fit the conditions.

To sum it up, the city where the Breaking Clan was located was Windy City, in the southern part of the Star Luo Empire.

Because the Breaking Clan often helped the Speed Clan, the distance between the two clans was not very great.

With Bai He's speed, if he wanted to visit the Breaking Clan and mooch off them, he would probably not even need an hour if he traveled at full speed.

But that was Bai He's speed. With the pace of the four-horse carriage beneath Lin Rong, traveling at an ordinary speed, it would take roughly five days to reach Windy City.

Lin Rong was not worried that Bai He would reach the Breaking Clan before them and seek out Yang Wudi, using their friendship to ruin what he was trying to accomplish.

The reason was simple.

Yang Wudi was utterly obsessed with refining medicines and poisons. If he found out that his best friend possessed a Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng but had hidden it from him—and had even sold the ginseng to someone else instead of giving it to him—

Given Yang Wudi's fiery temper, he would certainly be furious.

From then on, although Yang Wudi and Bai He would not sever contact entirely because of this, a rift would form between them, and their relationship would no longer be what it once was.

Lin Rong lowered his head and looked at Windy City marked on the map, gaining an even deeper understanding of the Star Luo Empire's strength.

"A city that houses one of the Lower Four Sects would definitely be called Wind Sword City if it were in the Heaven Dou Empire."

"But in the Star Luo Empire, it's called Windy City. This also indirectly proves that the Star Luo Royal Family's control over the empire is far greater than the Heaven Dou Royal Family's."

"Even the branch halls of Spirit Hall in the various cities of the Star Luo Empire have less local influence than the Star Luo Empire's official forces."

"If this were the Heaven Dou Empire, the situation would definitely be reversed. No wonder three of the four Single Attribute Great Clans fled to the Star Luo Empire for refuge."

"That old fool Tai Tan was the exception. Since the Clear Sky Sect was hidden near Heaven Dou City, and Tang Yuehua also had the Moonlight Pavilion in Heaven Dou City—"

"He thought he could obtain news of Tang Hao there. That was why he chose to move his entire clan to Heaven Dou City instead of choosing the Star Luo Empire, where Spirit Hall's influence was weaker."

Lin Rong also felt fortunate inwardly that he was a hereditary duke of Heaven Dou, rather than a hereditary duke of Star Luo.

If he had been born in the Star Luo Empire, usurping the Star Luo Imperial Throne would have been dozens of times more difficult than usurping the Heaven Dou Imperial Throne.

The White Tiger Sect alone, which belonged to the Star Luo Royal Family, would be a tough bone to chew. On top of that, there was the Zhu Family, which shared both glory and ruin with the royal family's Dai Family.

The Heaven Dou Royal Family was different.

As long as Lin Rong followed his plan and seized control of the military, then guided Qian Renxue and Tang San into fighting each other to mutual destruction—

By then, with military power in hand, he could easily seize the Heaven Dou Imperial Throne.

"Although the plan has already been fully set into motion, there are still many things to take into consideration."

"As the saying goes, haste makes waste. Key plans that affect the overall situation still have to proceed step by step. I can't rush."

Lin Rong put away the map, sat cross-legged on the soft cushion, and closed his eyes to cultivate.

All fear came from insufficient firepower. In other words, all confidence came from possessing powerful strength of one's own.

Plans were always built upon one's own strength. If one put the cart before the horse and relied blindly on plans and schemes—

Then once the plan failed to keep up with changing circumstances, all previous efforts would go up in smoke.

Conversely, if one possessed the power to suppress everything, plans and schemes were nothing more than condiments used to spice up one's mood.

Lin Rong understood this principle deeply, so he spent most of his free time cultivating the Marrow Cleansing Scripture to improve his Soul Power cultivation.

The Marrow Cleansing Scripture had four great realms: Mind Empty, Body Transforms Itself; Perfect Wisdom and Self-Awareness; Manifesting and Saving All Beings; and Fingertip Transcendence of Beginninglessness.

As early as his tenth month in the womb, Lin Rong had already cultivated the Marrow Cleansing Scripture to the verge of breaking through the realm of "Mind Empty, Body Transforms Itself."

But after Lin Rong was born, he lost the support of the wondrous state of Innate Fetal Breath he had possessed in the womb.

For more than seven years, whenever he cultivated the Marrow Cleansing Scripture, he always felt that he had reached perfection, yet also felt that something was missing. As a result, he had been unable to break through to the realm of "Mind Empty, Body Transforms Itself."

Things took a turn after Lin Rong absorbed the head Soul Bone dropped by the Kongqing Bamboo.

Although that head Soul Bone was less than a thousand years old, its quality was extremely high.

After absorbing it, Lin Rong's mental power did not improve much in quantity, but it underwent a tremendous improvement in quality.

Moreover, the greatest benefit of absorbing the head Soul Bone did not lie in mental power, but in the Soul Bone's nourishment of the origin of his soul.

As the head Soul Bone absorbed Life and spatial elements to increase its own age, it also divided out some unknown energy to nourish his soul.

His soul was nourished, his mental power improved, and Lin Rong's own state of mind had also changed.

Under the combined effect of these three major factors—

Whenever Lin Rong cultivated the Marrow Cleansing Scripture, he often felt that the realm of "Mind Empty, Body Transforms Itself" was already within arm's reach.

Breaking through a realm was something that could never be rushed.

Therefore, by calming his mind and letting nature take its course, he would naturally break through when the conditions were right.

Today, not long after Lin Rong began cultivating the Marrow Cleansing Scripture, he sensed the opportunity to break through.