Chapter 707: Void Cavern (I)

Within the dark and empty void, Lin Zheyu sat cross-legged in midair with his eyes tightly closed. Under his control, the energy within his body began circulating in a specific manner, while the power of the spatial laws fluctuated violently through the void around him.

All of a sudden, the power of the laws surrounding Lin Zheyu vanished. His eyelids trembled slightly before slowly opening, revealing deep exhaustion in his eyes.

Lin Zheyu shook his head slightly. "It still won't work. Creating this technique is far more difficult than I imagined."

More than twenty days had passed without the slightest progress. Even after exhaustively trying every technique he could conceive of, he had still failed to create the fourth stage of the Earth Shrinking Technique.

"It seems my current strength is still insufficient to create a technique like this. I simply haven't accumulated enough knowledge and experience." Lin Zheyu shook his head slightly and decided to stop trying.

He had already tested nearly every technique he could think of. As for those he had not tried, Lin Zheyu could tell at a glance that they would never work, so there was no need to test them at all.

"Forget it. I'll focus on optimizing the divine patterns first. Perhaps I'll make an unexpected discovery while studying the demonic patterns." Lin Zheyu rose to his feet, and with a slight flicker of his figure, he disappeared from the cultivation space within the Primordial Chaos Pool.

When he reappeared, he had arrived in the space filled with yao. Lin Zheyu narrowed his eyes and looked toward the Shadow Dragon suspended in the void. It belonged to a rare race among yao. Unlike the other yao, however, this Shadow Dragon was already dead.

Lin Zheyu had deliberately preserved its corpse to study the demonic patterns covering its body. The demonic patterns of such a rare species possessed immense research value. Unfortunately, despite studying them for a long time, he had failed to uncover anything useful. That, however, had been in the past.

Back then, Lin Zheyu's research into demonic patterns had not been sufficiently thorough, and his understanding of them had still been too limited. Once he had studied all the yao captured this time, proceeding from the simple to the complex and from the weak to the powerful, he should be able to gain something when he returned to studying the Shadow Dragon.

"It's a pity I only have the corpse of a single Shadow Dragon. It would be perfect if I could capture several more alive. The Shadow Dragon's unique natural talent allows it to merge into the gaps between shadows. Perhaps it could help me create a technique for short-range teleportation," Lin Zheyu said regretfully.

In truth, the Shadow Dragon was not the only one with such an ability. The barbarian who had once worked with Shi Tianyun possessed an ability somewhat similar to that of the Shadow Dragon. If Lin Zheyu could glean some insights from the totems on his body, they would also be of considerable help.

Unfortunately, after killing that barbarian warrior, Lin Zheyu had failed to retain his corpse and somehow allowed it to escape. He found the whole thing utterly absurd. The man was already dead, yet his corpse had still managed to get away.

He exhaled softly, cast aside the distracting thoughts in his mind, and calmed his heart and focused his spirit. The Heavenly Eye within his sea of consciousness abruptly opened, and Lin Zheyu began another tedious round of seclusion. The path of cultivation naturally grew increasingly difficult. At his current level, achieving a major breakthrough required ever more time and an ever greater accumulation of knowledge and experience.

Even with the aid of Origin Force, the accumulated knowledge and insights Lin Zheyu consumed while cultivating within the consciousness space could not arise from nothing. He had to cultivate, accumulate experience, and seek enlightenment in the real world to obtain them. After amassing a vast wealth of knowledge and insight, they would become nourishment that, under the influence of Origin Force, could bear abundant fruit. Time held no meaning in cultivation.

Time passed slowly, and in the blink of an eye, more than a year went by. This was the longest period Lin Zheyu had ever spent in seclusion since transmigrating. This seclusion differed from all his previous ones. He never once stepped outside the courtyard, nor did he even leave the inner void of the Primordial Chaos Pool. Each day, aside from studying the demonic patterns on the yao, he periodically underwent extreme training and quietly accumulated Origin Force.

Within the void space, Lin Zheyu's eyes abruptly opened.

"Fan Hongwei?" Lin Zheyu was somewhat surprised. His spirit wavered for a moment, and only after counting the passage of time on his fingers did he realize that nearly a year and a half had passed.

"It feels as though I only entered seclusion a few days ago, yet more than a year has already passed. Time truly holds no meaning in cultivation..." Lin Zheyu murmured with emotion.

With a turn of his right hand, a communication jade talisman specially crafted by the Soaring Cloud Pavilion appeared in his palm. It was the contact talisman Fan Hongwei had left him.

My injuries have fully healed. I wonder when you might be free, young friend. Let us arrange a time to explore those Shamanic Clan Ruins together.

After reading Fan Hongwei's message, Lin Zheyu pondered for a moment and decided not to reply immediately.

Given Fan Hongwei's capabilities, he had probably already learned that Lin Zheyu was in seclusion. Otherwise, he would not have sent a message and would instead have come directly to Yanwu City to visit him in person.

Just how badly was Fan Hongwei injured back then for it to take him so long to recover? It seems those ruins are quite dangerous. There's no hurry to go. I'll leave Fan Hongwei waiting for a few years and finish studying the remaining yao first, Lin Zheyu thought to himself.

Over the past year or so, he had completed only around a third of the work. However, as Lin Zheyu mastered the demonic patterns of more and more yao, the speed at which he studied other demonic patterns would continue to increase. He estimated that it would take no more than two years to finish studying the remaining two-thirds of the yao.

With that thought, Lin Zheyu put away the jade talisman and immersed himself once more in his research on the yao. He pressed his right hand against the body of a yao resembling a tyrannosaurus, its entire body covered in hideous fleshy growths, and spread his powerful perception through it.

Drawing upon his understanding and insights into demonic patterns, Lin Zheyu was now attempting to construct a comprehensive system of knowledge about them, one step at a time.

***

Time passed in the blink of an eye. In Yanwu City, the Profound Light Tower was the finest restaurant and the favorite gathering place of Qiu Kun and the others. Back when they were still at the Divine Repository realm, dining here had strained their finances, making them reluctant to spend so freely.

Now, however, Qiu Kun and the others had all advanced to the Shackles realm. Shackles realm martial artists ranked among the upper echelons of any faction, and there were only a handful of them in the entire Martial Alliance. The cost of dining at the Profound Light Tower was no longer worth mentioning to them.

"It's been three years, yet Fellow Xiao still hasn't emerged from seclusion. It seems he's preparing to make a major breakthrough this time," Qiu Kun said with a smile.

"Fellow Xiao's natural talent is simply monstrous. Even if he emerged and claimed that he had already broken free of his third shackle, I wouldn't doubt him in the slightest," Bai Lin said with a sigh.

Only those who had personally witnessed Xiao Yu's strength and cultivation speed could appreciate just how extraordinary he was. That was not all. Bai Lin had also discussed martial cultivation with Xiao Yu, but toward the end, it had almost entirely become Xiao Yu lecturing while he listened attentively, as though attending a lesson from a teacher. Xiao Yu not only possessed astonishing attainments in martial cultivation but also had remarkable insights into other cultivation systems.

"Indeed. That fellow is a complete monster," Ji Haozhong agreed.

Qiu Kun nodded in agreement. He swept his gaze over the friends he had not seen in several years and found that the aura of each of them had grown considerably stronger. Among them, Zong Linjing had made the greatest progress. Qiu Kun could not see through her strength at all, yet he sensed a faint threat from her.

"Fellow Zong, don't tell me you've already broken free of your second shackle?" Qiu Kun asked in surprise.

"I was fortunate enough to break through, but I still need to consolidate my progress further," Zong Linjing replied modestly with a smile.

"I'm truly envious. Even after cultivating the Circulating Heavenly Radiant Light Guiding Art, I've only managed to fully manifest my second shackle," Ji Haozhong said enviously.

He was the oldest among them and possessed the poorest natural talent. The gap between him and these geniuses was simply too vast.

"Have you heard? While we were in seclusion these past few years, the demon cave was incredibly eventful. Apparently, a battle at the Void Cavern realm took place there," Bai Lin said. He had broken free of his second shackle earlier than the others and emerged from seclusion half a year ago, so he knew more about the demon cave than Qiu Kun and the rest.

"Void Cavern realm? I can't believe I missed such a momentous event while I was in seclusion!" Qiu Kun exclaimed, his face filled with regret.

Those were mighty experts in the Void Cavern realm, beings who stood at the very pinnacle of Great Wei's cultivation world. Qiu Kun felt that even catching a glimpse of such terrifying existences from afar would have been more than worthwhile.