Chapter 23

Today, third update!

Not knowing how much time had passed, Wang Lin opened his eyes and looked out the window. It was pitch black outside. He got out of bed, moved his body for a while, and felt nothing unusual. He then took out the stone bowl from under the bed and found that all the liquid inside was gone. He picked up the bead, examined it closely, and was suddenly delighted to see that the tenth cloud had appeared in the originally blank area.

Wang Lin immediately became energetic. He held the mysterious stone bead, examined it from all angles, and his eyes flickered. He immediately put it away and left the room, went to the mountain spring to get a large bowl of water, and hurriedly returned to the room. He stirred the bead in the water.

After doing this, he took a sip of the spring water and tasted it for a while, but found no difference from usual. He looked at the bead in confusion for a long time, then bit it with his teeth, but it was still as hard as ever.

He squeezed out some blood and dripped it on the bead, but it remained unchanged.

After hesitating for a moment, he gritted his teeth, picked up the stone bowl, and smashed it hard on the stone bead, thinking that perhaps the bead would have some internal changes after the tenth cloud appeared.

After the clanging sound, the stone bowl shattered, and Wang Lin's hands were numb, but the bead showed no signs of damage.

He tried every method, but the bead still showed no difference after the tenth cloud appeared. Wang Lin was heartbroken over the wasted two gourds of dew and angrily threw the bead aside.

After a while, he picked it up again, unwilling to give up, and focused on examining it. As he looked, a sudden wave of drowsiness washed over him. He was startled, as he had just woken up and shouldn't be sleepy. He rubbed his eyes hard and continued to look at the bead.

Gradually, the drowsiness became uncontrollable, and the bead became increasingly blurry in his eyes. Finally, Wang Lin's body tilted, and he fell to the ground, still holding the bead in his hand.

He had a dream. In the dream, he found himself in an endless place with no sun, moon, or stars, but there were countless luminous bodies around. Despite being in a dream, his mind was crystal clear, and he was even wondering why he was there in the dream.

He felt no discomfort here and knew he was dreaming, but he didn't know how to wake up. Helplessly, he wandered around in this endless place for a long time.

After an unknown amount of time, when his body was utterly exhausted, the surroundings suddenly trembled. Then, he felt an intense pain as if his body was being torn apart. He groaned and immediately opened his eyes.

Looking around, he was still in the room. Wang Lin took a deep breath, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and thought that this strange dream was finally over. Suddenly, his expression became extremely peculiar. He stared at the mysterious bead in his hand, where all the ten clouds had disappeared, and a few small characters appeared on its surface.

"This..." Wang Lin was stunned and quickly examined it closely. The characters were crooked and quite obscure. He had a fondness for reading since childhood and knew many characters. After a long time, he compared the characters in his memory and finally guessed some of their meanings.

"These should be numbers, not having any practical meaning." Wang Lin held the bead and muttered to himself. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration came to him, and he thought of the dream he just had.

"Could it be related to this bead?" Wang Lin pondered for a moment, then immediately lay down on the bed and closed his eyes, forcing himself to sleep. However, he was now full of energy and couldn't fall asleep.

Thinking for a moment, he remembered that he had fallen asleep naturally while looking at the bead before. So, he stared at the bead without blinking. Gradually, drowsiness came over him, and he closed his eyes without realizing it.

The endless space appeared again. Wang Lin stood there, his eyes filled with contemplation. This time, he didn't wander around but sat in deep thought for a while, then repeatedly jumped and landed in place, repeating the cycle.

As time passed, the height of his jumps increased, eventually reaching half a zhang. When his body was utterly exhausted, the familiar tearing sensation reappeared.

Then, he woke up.

The moment he opened his eyes, he immediately got out of bed, took a step, and leaped high, just as he had trained in the dream.

Wang Lin's eyes immediately showed disbelief, and a look of wild joy appeared. He took several deep breaths to suppress his excitement, walked around the room, and his expression changed rapidly, sometimes deep in thought, sometimes troubled, and sometimes puzzled, with sweat streaming down his face.

"If it's just about training the body in dreams, it would be a mere trifle. I can train in reality as well, so there's no need to do it in dreams." Wang Lin muttered to himself.

"No, this bead absorbed so much spirit-filled liquid to produce the tenth cloud; it can't be a mere trifle. There must be other uses, there must be! But what are they?" Wang Lin's eyes showed determination, and he forgot everything around him, fully engrossed in deep thought.

"Could it be..." He stopped in his tracks, as if he had caught a clue in his mind, and exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be time?"

Thinking of this, he could no longer control his excitement and wanted to shout out loud. He quickly clenched his fists tightly and stared at the bead, his body trembling.

"If it really is related to time, I... I, Tiezhu, even if I have poor talent, will surely become an immortal!" Wang Lin took several deep breaths to calm down, then without a word, he took out the oil lamp from the room, filled it with oil, and sat beside it, holding the bead and silently calculating the time.

After about two hours, the oil lamp, which was full of oil, went out.

Wang Lin quickly refilled the oil, lit the lamp, and held the bead, entering the dream again.

This time, he didn't practice jumping but sat cross-legged on the ground, silently counting numbers to calculate the time.

Half an hour, one hour, five hours, ten hours, twenty-five hours!

The tearing sensation appeared, and the moment Wang Lin opened his eyes, the oil lamp showed signs of going out.

"Ten times the time, the time spent in the dream is ten times the real time!" Wang Lin stood up excitedly, tightly holding the mysterious bead.

For the first time, he felt a strong confidence in cultivation.

It was already midday, and Wang Lin calmed down his excitement. He didn't immediately use the bead for cultivation, knowing that if he used it during the day in the sect, he might be discovered unintentionally, and he wouldn't be able to keep it. So, he put the bead in his storage bag and opened the door, leaving the room.