Travel (Part 5)
Lin Shi, in his soul form, followed Qi Ming, Li Feini, and Wen Zhaoan of the "Dream Heaven Sect" for many years, and witnessed their nearly 100-year experiences through fragmented and disjointed illusory memories.
Lin Shi had read many folk tales in her childhood and was very familiar with the various legends and stories of Qiupu Town. When she traveled alone after achieving Foundation Establishment, she would sometimes encounter melodramatic family quarrels and fights above those villages and towns. Each time she encountered this, she would stop, listen for a while, and then continue on her way. She was no stranger to melodramatic love stories.
Upon first seeing Qi Ming, Li Feini, and Wen Zhao'an chasing each other, Lin Shi began to speculate about the possible melodramatic and unpredictable events that might follow. And indeed, her prediction came true. From their interactions and conversations, she discovered a secret four-way love affair: Li Feini loved Qi Ming, Qi Ming loved another female cultivator from the same sect, Yan Qing, Yan Qing loved Wen Zhao'an, and Wen Zhao'an, in turn, loved Li Feini.
Lin Shi initially thought she was examining the fragments of illusory memories through Li Feini's eyes, but only at the very end did she realize she was following Wen Zhaoan's perspective. In the end, Wen Zhaoan and Li Feini became Daoist partners, but when an external enemy attacked and destroyed the Mengtian Sect, Li Feini died saving Qi Ming, Qi Ming died saving Yan Qing, and Yan Qing died saving Wen Zhaoan. In the end, only Wen Zhaoan and a few Mengtian Sect disciples escaped the massacre, wandering the country and plotting revenge.
Lin Shi later witnessed Wen Zhao'an facing near-death experiences several times, but he always managed to escape successfully. She watched him progress from the Qi Refining stage to the Golden Core stage. On the day his sect was destroyed, he was beaten until his Golden Core shattered, and he reverted to the Foundation Establishment stage. Afterwards, through hard work, he rebuilt his Golden Core and eventually reached the Nascent Soul stage.
Revenge, being venged upon—similar stories repeat themselves, in a never-ending cycle.
Lin Shi witnessed numerous wicked cultivators, driven by selfish motives, blocking the passages from lower realms to higher realms, and simultaneously disrupting the path from this realm to even higher realms. Conversely, kind-hearted cultivators, even those whose personal cultivation couldn't advance further, still helped to clear the passages for ascension. She also saw cultivators engaging in various acts of murder, plunder, and the destruction of sects in their struggle for cultivation resources. In the end, the numerous cultivators fought to the bitter end, resulting in the near extinction of high-level cultivators, a depletion of talent, and punishment from the Heavenly Dao, with the Great World being downgraded to the lowest level, the Small World.
As Lin Shi watched, she felt a deep sense of sorrow welling up from the bottom of her heart.
Is it better to seek immortality by any means necessary, to sacrifice oneself to save the world, or to seek immortality while doing one's best to save the world? That is the question.
Lin Shi thought to herself that she would probably choose to seek immortality while doing her best to save the world. She couldn't be indifferent to anyone or anything and just seek immortality, nor could she be so selfless as to be willing to give up her own life and lifelong cultivation just to help others.
Lin Shi gained many insights from contemplating this issue. Occasionally, she felt as if the barrier hindering her cultivation to the next level had suddenly vanished. She sensed more spiritual energy surging into her body from the outside, constantly impacting her meridians, causing the spiritual energy within them to increase in quantity and flow faster, then continuously condensing from a gaseous state into a liquid state, residing within her dantian. Even the liquid state was subtly changing towards a solid state. Layer upon layer of liquid was continuously compressed, then slowly solidified. The golden halo surrounding the liquid spiritual energy aura grew increasingly bright.
On this day, Lin Shi followed behind Wen Zhao'an as usual, walking in the wilderness. But suddenly, with a "bang!", the illusionary fragments from Wen Zhao'an's perspective, where Lin Shi was, shattered completely.
Lin Shi looked closely and found herself standing in front of the lotus pond again, opposite the majestic palaces and pavilions of the "Dream Heaven Sect". At this moment, a terrifying sound of lightning and thunder came from above her head, and dark clouds quickly gathered above her.
Unexpectedly, just staying in the illusion for a little too long led to her cultivation reaching the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, almost forming her Golden Core. Lin Shi mentally complained while feeling a bit flustered. To increase the probability of forming her Golden Core, she needed to prepare various pills, defensive magic artifacts, etc., but she hadn't prepared any of them. Her physical body wasn't strong enough to reach the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage either. Her sect wasn't nearby either. But fortunately, if she failed to form her Golden Core the first time, she could try again a few more times.
Fearing that the lightning tribulation would destroy the lotus pond and the palaces and pavilions of the "Dream Heaven Sect," Lin Shi took the lead in leaving the vicinity of the lotus pond and ran to the very edge of the clearing in the middle of the forest, far away from the river.
She sat cross-legged on the open ground, her palms facing up on her lap. Concentrating her mind and focusing her breath, she frantically drew in the surrounding spiritual energy, channeling it into her body. This energy continuously cleansed her meridians, causing them to be both damaged and rapidly reconnected, resulting in her meridians and physique becoming increasingly robust. Her face, contorted with pain, was a mixture of pale, bluish, and red.
Before Lin Shi could prepare further, the dark clouds above her head roared down with bolts of purple lightning as thick as bowls. Lin Shi raised her hands, quickly forming hand seals, creating a protective barrier around herself, allowing the lightning to strike the barrier. The first time, the second time, the third time… until the tenth time, the protective barrier was destroyed, and blood immediately seeped from the corners of Lin Shi's eyes, under her nose, at the corners of her mouth, and from her ears.
Lin Shi didn't have time to wipe away the bloodstains. She threw her Demon-Slaying Sword vertically upwards, where it hovered above her head. When lightning struck the sword, she quickly used her spiritual power to redirect it to an open area nearby. She repeated this process until fine cracks began to appear on her Demon-Slaying Sword. Only then did she hurriedly recall her sword and prepare to withstand the lightning tribulation with her own body.
Lin Shi gathered all her healing pills, painkillers, and array-refining equipment into a storage ring. She first took a handful of painkillers and healing pills, then the lightning struck her, causing her hair to become disheveled and her clothes to be almost completely torn. Overwhelming pain spread throughout her body. Before she could even cry out in pain, a second and third lightning strike came down on her head and body. Lin Shi was in so much pain that she almost fainted.
Fearing not only failure in forming her Golden Core but also death by lightning tribulation, Lin Shi quickly took out array stones and rapidly set up a defensive array to counter the lightning tribulation. The defensive array withstood nearly ten more lightning strikes. When the first array was on the verge of collapse, Lin Shi quickly set up another defensive array to counter the lightning tribulation. In this way, the arrays blocked much of the lightning tribulation's power, greatly reducing her pain from being struck by lightning.
Finally, Lin Shi used up all the array stones she possessed and even endured the final lightning strike before she finally survived the tribulation and successfully formed her golden core. After the golden core was formed, accompanied by celestial music, a brief illusion of rainbows and cranes appeared above her head.
After seeing the illusion of the crane, Lin Shi, who had been sitting cross-legged, collapsed backward, utterly exhausted, and lay motionless on the ground for a long time, as if dead. After a long while, the birds and small animals in the forest, seeing that she hadn't moved for so long, either flew over or ran out, pecking and trampling on her face and body.
Unable to bear the harassment any longer, Lin Shi grabbed the legs of a small bird that was stepping on her face and threw it away. The bird, startled, cried out and flapped its wings, hurriedly flying back into the forest. Small animals that could only run, not fly, also instantly and alertly scurried back into the forest. For a moment, the forest was filled with an unusually noisy commotion. After a while, the forest quieted down, leaving only the usual chirping of birds, the buzzing of insects, and the low growls of animals.
Lin Shi sat up again. She brushed her messy hair back and behind her ears before examining her meridians and dantian. She felt the swift spiritual energy flowing through her meridians like a waterfall cascading down a cliff. Looking at her dantian again, what was originally a liquid ball of spiritual energy had now transformed into a round, fist-sized golden core, lying quietly there, its golden light even more dazzling.
She had successfully formed her core! That was wonderful! Lin Shi couldn't contain her joy. The joy of successfully forming her core even gave her renewed strength, allowing her to stand up immediately. She walked towards the stream, squatted down, and looked at the disheveled, no-longer-glamorous female cultivator on the water's surface, her eyes fixed intently on her.
Lin Shi couldn't help but laugh, and then a set of pearly white teeth appeared on her dark face. It looked both comical and strange.
Lin Shi surveyed the river's surroundings and found a large rock near the bank. She walked over to it, stepped into the water, and squatted beneath it, letting the clean, flowing water submerge her head, pulling her long, black hair, reaching her ankles, back like swaying water plants. Lying in the water, Lin Shi happily gazed at the clean sand and pebbles beneath her feet. Tiny, mindless fish and shrimp stared back at her with their tiny eyes, swimming around her face.
Once she felt completely clean, Lin Shi emerged from the river and used her spiritual power to dry her body and clothes. Using an illusion and appropriate magic, she changed into a red fairy-like dress. Her hair was styled into a beautiful flying bun, adorned with shimmering fire-colored hair ornaments that made her even more beautiful and captivating.
She stood by the river, gazing at the water's surface, and saw the reflection of a more radiant beauty than ever before. Lin Shi smiled. Her appearance was forever frozen at 23. Of course, if she wished, she could have frozen her appearance at her most beautiful age of 16, but she didn't. 23 was an age for Lin Shi—beautiful yet not too young. As her cultivation level increased, her overall aura became even more ethereal and otherworldly.
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