Travel (Part 6)
Lin Shi returned to the lotus pond of the "Dream Heaven Sect." She didn't choose the central white jade arched bridge, nor the paths circling the pond on either side; instead, she stood suspended in mid-air on a lotus leaf. With her hands raised high above her head and her steps light, she began to dance a graceful, soaring dance. As she danced, she leaped from one lotus leaf to another. Her eyes were alluring, and her gaze revealed a deep and lingering affection.
This was the flying apsara dance that Li Feini once performed for Qi Ming. Unfortunately, her allure was wasted on a blind man. Qi Ming couldn't appreciate it; he was only thinking of Yan Qing. Meanwhile, Wen Zhao'an, hiding in the shadows, witnessed it and was consumed by rage and jealousy.
Lin Shi replicated the Flying Dance that Li Feini had once performed, and danced it again in the same lotus pond. Her appearance and figure were exceptional; she danced the Flying Dance even better than Li Feini had. Her expression, eyes, and body language all conveyed tender affection. After completing the last movement, she stood in mid-air on a lotus leaf at the edge of the pond closest to the palaces and pavilions of the "Dream Heaven Sect," and then listened with satisfaction as the gates of the "Dream Heaven Sect" roared open with a deafening sound.
Lin Shi floated down from the lotus leaf, and then, using her spiritual power, flew into the gate of the "Dream Heaven Sect," passing through the spacious front courtyard, the long corridor, and the sword training ground. When Lin Shi pushed open the door to the front hall, she saw a bunch of afterimages of cultivators shatter and disappear into dust in the air. At the same time, a large number of Nascent Soul stage remnant souls and spirits that wanted to possess and be reborn rushed towards her face.
Lin Shi used the Demon-Slaying Sword to scatter many fragmented souls, but five incomplete souls still inadvertently entered her sea of consciousness. When she was still a mortal, she had survived being soul-searched by evil cultivators and had also undergone part of the process of creating a puppet, making her soul much more solid than that of ordinary cultivators. Her cultivation was steady and solid, achieved step by step, and her unwavering will further prevented her from being easily influenced by illusions.
Without any instruction, Lin Shi absorbed some of the energy from the fragmented souls that had entered her sea of consciousness, then blasted them all out, annihilated them to ashes with the Demon-Slaying Sword, and finally activated the Rebirth Technique to send them to a new beginning. A few souls were pure black; Lin Shi simply wiped them out completely with the Demon-Slaying Sword, leaving them no chance to regenerate.
Lin Shi thoroughly explored the ruins of the "Dream Heaven Sect." She completely destroyed the incomplete souls of the cultivators, either sending them to be reopened or annihilating them outright. She conveniently collected weapons like longswords, cultivation incantations, and sword manuals. Seeing any rare herbs, she also harvested the older ones. She stored spirit ores and spirit stones in her storage ring and storage bag.
When Lin Shi reached the last main hall of the "Dream Heaven Sect," she could already feel a strong sense of anger and violence permeating the surrounding air. Lin Shi paused for a moment at the entrance of the hall, sensing the intense emotions emanating from within, before pushing open the red door and stepping inside.
As Lin Shi entered the main hall, his gaze met that of the spirit of a man in black sitting on the main seat. The man in black was Wen Zhao'an. He was now a young man, with a hair ornament on his head, a fair complexion, and phoenix eyes. His eyes were long and narrow with slightly upturned corners, giving him an extremely sharp look. His gaze was like a sharp sword, radiating a cold light. His lips were tightly pursed, and his forehead and eyebrows were slightly furrowed, making him appear both fierce and extremely unapproachable.
"He looks so fierce, no wonder Li Feini doesn't like him!" Lin Shi thought to herself. No sooner had she finished thinking that than Wen Zhaoan glared at her. His anger seemed to materialize, piercing Lin Shi.
"Senior Wen Zhaoan, I'm sorry, I forgot this is your little spiritual realm, you can hear my thoughts!" Lin Shi's expression didn't change at all, he just apologized directly in a normal tone.
Upon hearing this, Wen Zhaoan's expression softened slightly.
"He's short-tempered, but easy to coax!" Lin Shi thought to herself, then glared at Wen Zhao'an with displeasure.
Lin Shi found it amusing. Although she tried her best to suppress her laughter and stopped internally ranting, the smile in her eyes and the dimples on her cheeks betrayed her true feelings.
Lin Shi stood right in front of Wen Zhao'an, one sitting and the other standing, staring at each other intently for a long time. When Wen Zhao'an looked at Lin Shi, it was as if he was looking at another person through her appearance.
Lin Shi had some guesses in her mind, but she restrained herself from complaining and just continued to stare directly at Wen Zhaoan.
After a long pause, Wen Zhao'an was the first to give in. He spoke, his voice deep and magnetic, but much gentler than his appearance suggested. He said, "Lin Shi, I am indeed Wen Zhao'an. Aren't you going to ask me why you suddenly came here?"
"Why?" Lin Shi asked directly, following his words. Her eyes sparkled with a thirst for knowledge as she met Wen Zhao'an's gaze directly.
Wen Zhao'an took another look at Lin Shi's beautiful face and graceful figure. Then, he said in a low voice, "Lin Shi, you're so smart, you should have guessed that you are the reincarnation of Li Feini."
Lin Shi raised an eyebrow and asked, "What makes you say that?"
Wen Zhao'an: "I have marked your soul, so there is no mistake. If you were not her reincarnation, you would not have been able to come to this small spirit realm, nor would you have been able to directly enter my illusion to view my memories."
Lin Shi pressed further, "Am I Li Feini's first reincarnation after her death?"
Wen Zhaoan: "No."
Lin Shi: "How many times has she been reincarnated since her death?"
Wen Zhao'an: "You are her twentieth reincarnation after her death. In her previous 19 reincarnations, she was just an ordinary mortal without the aptitude for cultivation. Only in this life did you have the talent for cultivation and truly enter the path of immortality."
Lin Shi: "So you were at the Nascent Soul stage before you died, and your soul has remained for almost two thousand years?"
Wen Zhaoan nodded and replied, "Yes."
Lin Shi couldn't help but say directly, "Senior, if I may be so blunt, I don't believe that a person or cultivator who dies and is reincarnated twenty times is still the same person."
Wen Zhaoan raised an eyebrow. He said, somewhat angrily and helplessly, "I know. You don't look like her at all, nor do you have the same personality or experience. She was born into a top-tier cultivation family and cultivated all the way through a major cultivation sect, never lacking cultivation resources or care. If it were her, she wouldn't have been able to endure the torment of soul searching and puppet making during her mortal life, nor would she be as smart as you, unlike you who was able to read people's expressions and had amazing insight from a young age, nor as rational as you, not indulging in love, but only focusing on cultivation."
Lin Shi: "She and I are completely different people. It's normal for us to be very different."
Upon hearing this, Wen Zhaoan remained silent for a moment. Then, he looked at Lin Shi's face with a gaze that seemed to hold both nostalgia and resentment. Lin Shi calmly allowed him to look at her, simply meeting his gaze with a neutral expression.
Wen Zhao'an felt he had been lonely for too long and couldn't help but want to talk to someone about his feelings. Seeing that Lin Shi didn't seem inclined to ask him any more questions, he spoke up, saying, "Lin Shi, I also marked Qi Ming and Yan Qing's souls. Aren't you curious about who they are?"
Lin Shi thought about the people she had known since birth, then looked at Wen Zhao'an and cautiously probed, "Qi Ming's reincarnation can't be Xu Xinghao, can it?" Her eyes were fixed on Wen Zhao'an's expression, not missing the slightest change.
Wen Zhaoan chuckled: "It's definitely not him."
Lin Shi: "Who is that? Xu Xingran? Or someone else I know?"
Wen Zhaoan: "Yes, it's Xu Xingran."
Lin Shi: "Is Yan Qing's reincarnation my senior sister Huo Linglong?"
Wen Zhaoan: "Yes."
Lin Shi breathed a long sigh of relief and couldn't help but exclaim, "Fortunately, they are reincarnated, so there's no possibility of any melodramatic love entanglements in this life. I don't love Senior Brother Xu Xingran, and Senior Brother Xu Xingran doesn't seem to have any romantic feelings for Senior Sister Huo Linglong for the time being. Since you haven't been reincarnated, Senior Sister Huo Linglong won't fall in love with you either."
Wen Zhaoan laughed out loud, raised an eyebrow, and asked provocatively, "How do you know I haven't been reincarnated?"
Lin Shi was truly astonished. Her beautiful eyes widened in surprise as she asked, "Is it possible to reincarnate even with a lingering soul? Where is your reincarnation? Is it also in the Dream Heaven Small World? It doesn't seem like it."
Wen Zhao'an continued to laugh: "My reincarnation is indeed not here in Mengtian."
Lin Shi laughed along, "That's good. Anyway, there's no way we'll have any interaction for now. When our cultivation is higher and our will is stronger, we won't have to worry about us, the three of us, having any more interaction or dramatic romantic entanglements with your reincarnation."
Wen Zhao'an simply smiled, offering no comment on whether Lin Shi's idea was naive or unrealistic. He also knew that, whether cultivator or mortal, it was difficult to continue the previous relationship after reincarnation. The fact that Lin Shi was able to become fellow disciples with Qi Ming and Yan Qing in this life was already a testament to their deep connection. Their previous 19 reincarnations had never intersected.
Lin Shi couldn't help but ask, "Is Xu Xinghao one of your reincarnations?"
Wen Zhaoan explained, “No. He was your husband in your previous life. You were supposed to continue your relationship in this life, but your fate wasn’t strong enough. You were only able to meet, get to know each other, and grow up together until you were teenagers, but it wasn’t enough for you to become husband and wife again.”
Lin Shi felt a little relieved. She said happily, "Okay, if it's not your reincarnation, then I'm fine."
Wen Zhaoan was somewhat displeased: "Are you happy?"
Lin Shi raised an eyebrow and retorted, "Isn't there anything to be happy about?"
Wen Zhaoan pursed his lips and said slowly, "I didn't expect that even after so many reincarnations, you still don't like me very much, and you're so unwilling to meet and interact with my reincarnation."
Lin Shi smiled and replied seriously, "These are two different things. In this life, I have no feelings for you, neither good nor bad. I just don't like the complicated emotional entanglements between the four of you, which are more tangled than a jumbled mess of needles and thread, and the more you try to untangle them, the more tangled they become."
Wen Zhaoan looked at Lin Shi intently for a while, then decided not to dwell on the matter any longer. He changed the subject and said, "The books, sword manuals, spirit stones, and other items here are all yours. This small spirit realm is also yours if you can refine it. But I need you to do some things for me."
Lin Shi was not surprised at all, but asked, "I need to know what kind of things I need to do first."
Wen Zhao'an slowly spoke: "The Dream Heaven Sect has been destroyed for many years. I need your help to establish a new sect, rebuild the Dream Heaven Sect, and ensure its continuation. You don't have to rebuild the sect in the Dream Heaven Small World, but once you ascend to the upper realm, you will need to rebuild the Dream Heaven Sect. In addition, my soul will not dissipate for the time being. I need you to take me to the Hongchuan Realm, after which I will dissipate on my own. I will not hinder your cultivation, nor will I provide you with any assistance. I will minimize my presence. If you can refine this small spirit realm, you can take it with you at any time, anywhere. If you accidentally perish, the small spirit realm will become ownerless again, and I will make my own plans then."
Lin Shi: "Just these two things, right? Nothing else, right?"
Wen Zhaoan: "Yes."
Lin Shi: "That's no problem. As long as I can ascend to the upper realm, I will complete the two tasks you assigned. If I cannot ascend to the upper realm, then consider it a breach of promise, and you can find other suitable cultivators."
Wen Zhaoan: "Okay. Deal!"
Lin Shi: "Then I'll try refining your minor spirit realm first. Senior, please do as you wish. If there's anything else, please contact me."
Wen Zhaoan: "Okay."
Lin Shi then stayed within the Lesser Spirit Realm, refining it. It took her several days to successfully refine the Lesser Spirit Realm. She refined it into a golden bracelet, which she wore as an ornament on her left wrist. Once she could freely enter and exit the Lesser Spirit Realm, she skillfully stored it away. Afterward, she entered the Lesser Spirit Realm again, attempting to refine her own natal sword, as well as some pills and array stones.
Even a starving camel is bigger than a horse. Although the "Dream Heaven Sect" has been destroyed for nearly two thousand years, it still left behind many ancient texts, cultivation resources, spiritual herbs, ores, and so on. Lin Shi spent more than a month refining the Demon-Slaying Sword into her natal sword, adding many rare ores and refining materials to repair the fine cracks on its blade. It was now even sharper and more adept at identifying and killing evil spirits and evil cultivators.
Afterward, Lin Shi repaired all the original swords and sabers of the "Dream Heaven Sect," making each sword almost brand new. Using the resources for refining arrays, she also crafted at least two hundred small longswords and countless array stones. She also refined at least two portions of every type of pill she could make. After completing all this, she spent several months learning the Dream Heaven Sect's sword manual.
The fundamental cultivation technique of the Dream Heaven Small World, the Dream Heaven Technique, originally belonged to the Dream Heaven Sect. The Dream Heaven Technique, paired with the Dream Heaven Sword Technique, was a perfect match. Lin Shi cultivated so intently that she almost forgot about time. Once she mastered the Dream Heaven Sword Technique to a transcendent level, she could transform her sword energy into at least ten thousand small swords, unleashing a spectacular barrage of attacks on whatever she desired. The swords she repaired, as well as the newly forged small swords, were used in formations, where they were incredibly powerful and invincible, especially in combinations of killing formations and illusionary killing formations.
Lin Shi felt she had basically learned all the sword techniques she most wanted to learn within the Dream Heaven Sect, so she prepared to return to Seven Peaks Mountain. While flying towards Seven Peaks Mountain on her sword, she encountered several groups of ignorant cultivators and even used them as a small test of her skills.
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