67: Gradually gaining momentum
Time flew by, and a year had passed since the seven Saints went out for their experiential training.
During this year, under Lin Dao's oversight and the effective operation of various systems, the Lin Clan's foundation grew increasingly profound.
Nourished by the pure golden Luck, outstanding disciples constantly broke through their Bottlenecks. The cultivation of Acting Clan Head and the other Elders also improved steadily, and the entire clan presented a grand scene of vitality with powerhouses emerging in large numbers.
As for the seven Saints who had gone out to train, their names and deeds began to spread back to the Lin Clan through various channels like legends, inspiring countless young disciples.
In the Meteorite Sea, spatial rifts spread across the Void Realm like hideous scars.
Lin Hao's green robes were already torn in many places by Sword Qi, stained with blood that was either his own or his enemies'.
Holding an ancient sword, he stood alone on a floating star fragment, surrounded by dozens of corpses of "Star-husk Raiders" who had been killed with a single sword strike to the throat.
These eerie creatures born from spatial rifts each possessed strength comparable to the Heavenly Soul Realm and were unafraid of death.
He closed his eyes to regulate his breathing. The Sword Soul in his Sea of Consciousness had become increasingly solid and brilliant after countless life-and-death battles and the absorption of the broken Sword Intent in this place, showing signs of transforming into a Heavenly Soul.
"It's not enough..." He opened his eyes, his gaze like lightning as he looked toward the deeper parts of the Meteorite Sea—the legendary place where an ancient sword immortal had once fallen—and set out again with his sword.
In the core of the Myriad Beast Mountain Range, roars shook the heavens.
Ye Chen was bare-chested, his bronze skin covered in a crisscross of old and new scars. However, he didn't care at all, instead laughing heartily as he traded flesh-to-flesh blows with an "Ancient Giant Ape" that stood a hundred zhang tall and possessed the Behemoth Bloodline!
Airwaves rolled, and mountains crumbled!
He felt every inch of his Ancient Desolate Sacred Body's flesh cheering in this most primitive collision of strength, as power surged out continuously.
Ultimately, he punched through the giant ape's chest and stood bathed in beast blood, his aura violently breaking through to the Heavenly Soul Realm Second Level!
"Exhilarating! Next!" He wiped the blood from his face, his eyes burning as he looked deeper into the mountain range.
The Ancient City of Heavenly Secrets floated above the clouds, shrouded in misty starlight.
Lin Yun walked along the ruined streets of the ancient city. Within his Double Pupils, a river of stars flowed, reflecting the eternally changing Star Map in the sky above the city.
He avoided several spatial traps and time turbulences that were enough to annihilate the Nirvana Realm, and with a light tap of his finger on the void, he cracked one ancient star Restriction after another.
On the ruins of a star-gazing platform, he found a damaged "Star Core Fragment." The star Origin contained within it caused his pupil power to surge, and the resonance between his Divine Soul and the stars reached an unprecedented height.
He vaguely felt that this ancient city seemed to hide a huge secret regarding the starry sky.
In the Southern Brightness Flame Abyss, magma was like a sea, and fire poison permeated the air.
Phoenix Spirit transformed into a streak of red-gold light, shuttling through the endless sea of fire.
The flame rune on her forehead shone brightly, guiding her to absorb and refine the pure Southern Bright Departure Fire of this place.
Countless fire spirits and flame beasts tried to devour her, but were instead counter-devoured and purified by the more noble Phoenix True Fire within her body.
At the bottom of an abyss where the Law of fire was most active, she found a damaged Phoenix True Feather. The ancient memory fragments contained within gave her a deeper understanding of the Phoenix Undying Body, and her cultivation steadily rose to the Peak of the Life Soul Realm, needing only an Opportunity to condense a Heavenly Soul.
At Myriad Dao Mountain, clouds and mist swirled, and countless traces of the Great Dao were naturally inscribed upon the mountain's body.
Lin Feng walked through the mountains with a composed gait.
He did not deliberately try to comprehend any single Dao, but instead, in a state close to "non-action," he felt the rhythm of the Myriad Daos intertwining and reinforcing or counteracting each other.
The Dao Rhyme of his Innate Dao Body resonated faintly with the entire Myriad Dao Mountain. Wherever he passed, those complex Dao traces seemed to become gentle and clear.
He stopped for seven days in front of a seemingly ordinary stone wall. When he woke up, Dao Rhyme flowed in his eyes, and he had actually self-comprehended a Divine Ability called "Myriad Transformations Returning to the Void," which could turn all Laws into nothingness.
His cultivation also naturally stepped into the Heavenly Soul Realm. The speed of his progress was staggering.
The Yin-Yang Realm was a place of bizarre sights, half as hot as a furnace and half as cold as an ice prison.
The siblings Yang Yan and Moon Radiance stood back-to-back, each dealing with the trials of the extreme environments.
Solar Divine Fire burned fiercely around Yang Yan, dispersing and refining the incoming extreme yin cold Qi; Moon Radiance used Lunar Divine Light to condense an ice crystal barrier, resisting the scorching of the extreme yang flames.
They were not resisting, but adapting and guiding.
Gradually, they discovered that when their Divine Power merged along a specific trajectory, they could actually form a small Domain of Yin-Yang balance and primordial Chaos around them, making them inviolate to all Laws!
Relying on this rapport and the uniqueness of their divine bodies, they were like fish in water in this dangerous place. Not only did they stabilize their Life Soul Realm cultivation, but they also found an Immortal Cave left by an Ancient Yin-Yang Daoist and obtained a significant Opportunity.
The seven Saints were growing rapidly in different dangerous lands in their own ways. Their reputations also began to ring out among the younger generation of the Nine Provinces with every battle and every Breakthrough. The name of the "Seven Saints of the Lin Clan" was starting to gain momentum.
In the Lin Clan's main residence, within the Ancestral Hall's Quiet Room.
Lin Dao slowly opened his eyes. Chaos and dark gold colors intertwined in his pupils, and his aura was more profound than it had been a year ago.
Under the continuous feedback from the Family and his own comprehension, his cultivation had stabilized at the Peak of the Samsara Realm Second Level, and the Minor Achievement stage of his Primordial Divine Demon Body was also completely consolidated.
His Divine Thought swept across the Nine Provinces, and he could vaguely sense the general state of the seven Saints. Knowing that they were all safe and progressing rapidly, he felt very gratified.
"It is time," he whispered to himself, his gaze once again turning toward that mysterious and unpredictable Guixu Sea in the east.
During this year, he had not just been sitting idly.
Through the Shadow Hall and his own Divine Thought, he had collected countless ancient records and rumors about the Guixu Sea, gaining a deeper understanding of that chaotic sea area and becoming more certain that a possibility of leading to other Realms existed there.
He summoned Acting Clan Head and instructed: "I need to leave for a period of time to head to the Guixu Sea to seek opportunities. The clan's affairs will still be decided by you and the various Lineage Masters together. If there is a major matter, you can burn this incense, and I will naturally sense it."
Lin Dao handed Acting Clan Head a seemingly ordinary green incense stick, which contained a strand of his Origin Divine Thought.
Acting Clan Head took it solemnly: "Rest assured, Old Ancestor. I will do my utmost to protect the Lin Clan!"
Lin Dao nodded. Without disturbing anyone, he took a step forward, and his figure merged into the Void Realm and disappeared.
The next moment, he appeared in the easternmost land of the Nine Provinces, before a vast, gray sea area that seemed to have no end.
This was the Guixu Sea.
The seawater was not blue but a deathly gray-black. The waves did not rise, yet it gave off a terrifying sense of devouring everything.
Thick Chaos mist shrouded the sky above. When Divine Sense probed into it, it was like a clay ox entering the sea, instantly weakened, distorted, or even annihilated.
The air was permeated with Chaos, decay, and a completely different aura of laws.
Even a Samsara Realm powerhouse would feel great pressure and danger in this place.
Lin Dao's expression remained unchanged. His Minor Achievement Primordial Divine Demon Body operated slightly, and a domineering, ancient power that seemed able to stabilize earth, water, fire, and wind naturally flowed out, pushing aside the chaotic Law aura around him a little.
Dark gold runes flickered around his body, as if he were wearing a layer of invisible armor.
Without hesitation, he stepped forward and entered the churning Chaos mist.
His figure was instantly swallowed by the mist and disappeared.
Not long after Lin Dao entered the Guixu Sea, a huge shadow seemed to quietly swim beneath that gray-black sea surface. The Chaos mist also seemed to become more active, and eerie whispers and the roar of Law collisions vaguely came from the depths...