Chapter 381 – First clash with Liu Mei

“The competition in June will be the best chance to enter the inner sect. Rumor has it that the Soul Refining Sect’s most prized treasure is a soul flag with more than 100 million souls. The moment it appears, the sky changes colors. It is considered one of the top treasures in Suzaku.”

“In addition to that, the Soul Refining Sect focuses on refining soul flags, and all of their techniques relate to the sect’s treasured soul flag. Although other sects throughout Suzaku also know how to capture and refine souls, they can’t compare to the Soul Refining Sect. If I can learn how they do it and refine a soul flag using wandering souls, it shouldn’t be any weaker than the restriction flag.”

Wang Lin’s eyes lit up and he waved his hand. A series of illusionary restrictions appeared and landed on the surrounding walls. Then he took out a pure-white celestial jade.

This celestial jade was missing a piece, but the celestial energy it gave off wasn’t much different from before.

“Now that my cultivation has recovered to the mid stage of Nascent Soul, I can swallow another piece of celestial jade to attempt to break the tea mark and seal in my body.” Wang Lin took a deep breath, then he broke off a small piece of the jade and put it in his mouth.

Unimaginable pain suddenly spread throughout his body.

At this moment, in a valley surrounded by mountains in Chu, one could hear crisp laughter and the cries of a tiger filled with grievance.

It was spring inside the valley, so the ground was covered in green grass. Little Zhou Ru was wearing a coat embroidered with a peony flower, red pants, and she had two little pigtails on her head. She was now sitting on top of a tiger with black stripes, and she had a huge smile on her face. “Little White, you didn’t do as you were told, so I’m punishing you by making you eat with chopsticks today.”

The tiger let out a growl with a hint of sadness.

During this past year, he was constantly being tortured by this little devil. He would often wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. All of his nightmares involved this little devil.

Zhou Ru clapped her little hands and smiled. “Your roar is too loud; you need to be softer next time. Ehh!! I suddenly thought of something fun! Can you meow like a little kitten?”

Little White’s growl was now filled with even more despair.

“I wonder when uncle will come back. Little White, do you miss uncle?” Zhou Ru let out a sigh and patted the tiger’s head.

The tiger let out a soft growl as an unenthusiastic response. He was still thinking about how a tiger like himself was going to mimic a cat’s meow.

Tie Yi sat under the pagoda and looked at Little Zhou Ru with a gentle gaze. After a while, he let out a soft sigh.

The news of Wang Lin’s disappearance had already spread to Chu, but he decided to not tell Zhou Ru. He believed that with his benefactor’s strength, he would be able to get out of any danger.

If benefactor said he would return within nine years, then he would definitely come back by then.

Tie Yi revealed a look of firm belief in his eyes.

100 feet away from Tie Yi sat the thunder toad. It just lied there, enjoying the warm sun. It had almost been an entire year and it hadn’t moved at all.

While looking at the white clouds in the sky, the thunder toad sometimes missed his life inside the land of the ancient god. Ever since it was born, it had lived there and gradually grew up in there. There were constant battles in the land of the ancient god with other beasts for food and territory, and they were often life and death battles.

During these countless vicious battles, the thunder toad slowly grew up and eventually learned how to spit out balls of lightning. After that, aside from a few beasts in the land of the ancient god, it didn’t have to worry about anyone else.

While he was thinking of the past, the thunder toad’s stomach expanded and then went back to normal after a while.

He thought of Wang Lin. It was Wang Lin who brought him out of the land of the ancient god. But the one he thought of more was that mosquito.

Time slowly passed. In the blink of an eye, spring was over and it was now June.

June may not have any special meaning to most, but to the outer sect disciples of the Soul Refining Sect in Pilu, it was a very important time.

The competition among the outer sect disciples was going to take place this month. After a series of competitions, one outer sect disciple will become an inner sect disciple.

Wang Lin awakened from his closed door cultivation and opened his eyes. His eyes were clear, but if one looked at them closely, they would see that they shined like the starry sky.

The tea mark on his face had faded a lot and only eight pieces remained. These eight pieces were also the key points of Sun Tai’s seal.

The small piece of celestial jade had been completely absorbed by Wang Lin. Under the pressure of the celestial jade, large amounts of the tea domain and seal broke off, but he still wasn’t able to remove it completely.

Wang Lin muttered, “Peak of the late stage of Nascent Soul.” He slowly stood up, took a deep breath, and walked out of the cave.

“What I comprehend is the heaven’s life and death domain. The more I see through the world’s life and death, the more intertwined they become. Before, I thought life was life and death was death, but now life can be death and death can be life.”

“I, Wang Lin, have spent most of my life killing, so I have experienced death. In comparison to death, I haven’t experience much life. Li Muwan’s new life is one and my own rebirth is another, but it is still not enough!” Wang Lin walked out of the cave. He looked at the distant mountain and gently shook his head.

“My way of thinking has been changing after my rebirth from the ashes, especially during those few months at the Fire Cloud Village. The memories from there have been engraved deeply within me. I see life as life and death as death. I see life not as life and death not as death. These two perceptions match the early and mid stages of Soul Formation respectively.” Wang Lin’s clothes flapped loudly in the wind.

“This experience has given me some enlightenment. If I could go back to seeing life as life and death as death, then my domain will reach the late stage of Soul Formation.”

“However, I will need another breakthrough to reach the peak of the late stage of Soul Formation. To get to that point, my domain will also have to reach its completion.”

“The completed domain of a peak late stage Soul Formation cultivator is still different from a Soul Transformation cultivator’s domain. That Li Yuanfeng’s domain was able to take physical form and leave the tea mark on my body. This kind of power is not something the domain of a peak late stage Soul Formation cultivator can compare to. That means that the completion of a domain at the Soul Formation stage is only one level. Reaching the Soul Transformation stage requires even more comprehension of one’s domain.”

Wang Lin began to ponder. The current him didn’t notice that a beautiful woman was silently watching him from a cave in the distance.

This woman’s gaze was a bit complicated; it was filled with confusion, doubt, and helplessness.

“Back in the Celestial Realm, senior Zhou Yi gave me the Ascendant crystal that can help me reach the Ascendant stage. This crystal must be formed by the cultivator’s comprehension of their domain.”

“Ascendant… I wonder when I will reach the Ascendant stage! Right now the seal hasn’t been removed, so I don’t even any hopes of reaching the Soul Transformation stage yet…” Wang Lin softly sighed.

“Tian Yunzi accepted me as a disciple. Perhaps I should quickly find him and maybe then I’ll have a chance of reaching the Ascendant stage… However, I’m a bit unwilling to part with my current cultivation path, Situ Nan hasn’t awaken yet, and I haven’t gotten the planet crystal that can help my Ji Realm break through. What is more important is that everyone on that planet must have rather high cultivation levels, so if I go when I’m too weak, I won’t catch Tian Yunzi’s attention…” Wang Lin was in deep thought until he suddenly seemed to notice something. He turned his head and saw the woman gazing at him.

“Who exactly is that woman?” Wang Lin’s eyes lit up and he floated toward that woman’s cave.

The woman withdrew her gaze and took a few steps back to make space.

Wang Lin landed where the woman was standing. He coldly stared at the woman, not caring about how beautiful she was, and said, “Do you know me?”

The woman looked at Wang Lin and gently said, “You don’t remember me…”

Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. He stared at the woman for a long time but still couldn’t remember where he had met her.

The mountain wind blew by and lifted her black hair, making her look like a fairy. She put her hair behind her ear and softly said, “I’m called Liu Mei…”

“Liu Mei!” Wang Lin looked at the woman and after a while said, “I don’t know you.”

Liu Mei let out a gentle sigh and then a smile. Her smile was like a blooming flower that immediately overshadowed the surroundings.

“Senior apprentice Wang Lin, the youth who carried the large sword on his back in the Heng Yue Sect. Can you really not remember?”

Wang Lin wasn’t shocked at all when she pointed out his identity. When she called herself Liu Mei, Wang Lin had already guessed.

Wang Lin blandly said, “The Liu Mei I know is a disciple of the Xuan Dao Sect with water spirit roots, not a disciple of Suzaku!”

Liu Mei was startled. This kind of expression rarely appeared on her face. She softly asked, “What does senior apprentice brother Wang mean?”

Wang Lin didn’t reply but calmly looked at Liu Mei.

Shortly after, Liu Mei lowered her head and softly said, “I’m afraid senior apprentice brother Wang has some misunderstanding…”

“For you to be able to appear in the Xuan Dao Sect and also be able to appear here in the Soul Refining Sect, I don’t believe anyone else besides the country of Suzaku can do this!” Wang Lin cut her off and turned around to leave.

Liu Mei faintly smiled and said, “With just this much, senior apprentice brother Wang was able to deduce that I’m from Suzaku. Is senior apprentice brother Wang that sure… I think that you are just testing me. Senior apprentice brother Wang, I won’t lie to you; I’m indeed a disciple of Suzaku.”

Wang Lin shook his head, revealed a mocking smile, and said, “Am I really testing you…. I have seen a bracelet like yours on Red Butterfly’s hand…”

With that, Wang Lin’s body gently floated away.

Liu Mei lowered her head and looked at the bracelet on her arm. When the mountain wind blew earlier, it revealed her bracelet. She looked at Wang Lin’s figure as he left, then she let out a sigh and mumbled, “He has changed a lot in the last 500 years. He is no longer an ignorant youth; the current him has a heart of steel…. But what exactly is his Dao heart…”