Chapter 85

This is a vast cave, with countless small holes densely covering its walls. Wang Lin's divine consciousness had penetrated through one of these holes.

At the center of the cave, there was a massive coffin. The coffin appeared extremely ordinary from the outside, with no decorative patterns, but a powerful cold aura was emanating from it, forming a white mist that was then absorbed by the small holes on the surrounding walls.

Wang Lin hesitated for a moment, observing the coffin with his divine consciousness for a long time before probing inside. To his surprise, there was no obstruction at all as he easily entered.

The inside of the coffin was empty, with only a large circular hole at the bottom, from which the cold aura was emanating.

The cold aura here was quite dense, forming layers of waves that hindered Wang Lin's divine consciousness from probing deeper.

In the cultivation room where Wang Lin was, his eyes flashed with determination. To understand the mystery of the cold aura and why the stone bead had evolved after absorbing it, he did not hesitate to tap his storage bag and take out the gourd containing the recently collected cold dew, taking a small sip.

Despite his current physical condition, he could not help but shiver, feeling a chill inside his body, quickly losing sensation and becoming numb. Without wasting any time, Wang Lin immediately circulated his spiritual energy. As he practiced breathing techniques, his divine consciousness became more solid, and with a continuous supply, it pierced into the hole in the coffin like a drill.

The divine consciousness struggled within the hole, nearly being dispersed by the cold aura several times. When it descended to about 400 zhang, the cold aura became extremely dense, forming another "door."

Wang Lin gritted his teeth and took a large sip of the cold dew, then his divine consciousness surged forward, breaking through the door. The moment he entered, he was shocked by what he saw.

A gigantic naked male corpse floated in the air. If compared, Wang Lin was only the size of one of the corpse's fingers. On the corpse's body, a type of purple-green plant was growing, constantly writhing. As they writhed, the giant's body visibly withered, but then quickly returned to normal, repeating this cycle. The cold aura rapidly emanated from these plants.

Wang Lin was stunned for a moment, carefully examining the scene. The more he looked, the more shocked he became. This massive corpse was clearly left here intentionally, its purpose being to serve as nourishment for the purple-green plants.

It was evident that the reason the Corpse Yin Sect possessed cold aura of the Earth Yin quality lay in these purple-green plants.

Even the evolution of the Heaven Reversing Bead must have a significant connection to these plants. After observing for a long time, Wang Lin slowly withdrew his divine consciousness. This place was extremely bizarre, and since entering, he had a vague sense of danger.

Just as he was about to leave, a faint whisper suddenly came.

Without hesitation, Wang Lin immediately withdrew his divine consciousness, but to his shock, the cold aura suddenly surged, blocking his divine consciousness. The whisper grew louder, and Wang Lin could vaguely hear the content.

"Save me..."

Wang Lin decisively picked up the gourd and drank all the liquid inside. His divine consciousness immediately trembled, forcefully penetrating the surrounding cold aura. An unimaginable chill instantly pierced into his divine consciousness, intertwining with the undigested cold liquid in his body. Wang Lin's face turned pale, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, which immediately froze into ice crystals upon being expelled.

Despite this, his divine consciousness finally broke through the obstruction and rapidly returned to his body. Wang Lin's body shivered, and he spat out several more blood crystals, his face showing a look of shock.

He dared not probe further and immediately practiced breathing techniques to calm the cold aura inside his body. After a long time, he slowly opened his eyes, looking at the small holes on the walls with lingering fear, remaining silent.

Time passed, and it had been four days since Wang Lin arrived at the Corpse Yin Sect. During these four days, apart from the day he probed the underground with his divine consciousness, he had taken no other actions. Most of his time was spent collecting the liquid from the bead, which had changed from two leaves to three.

According to Wang Lin's calculations, the total number of leaves on the bead should be ten, similar to the previous cloud. With the experience of adding clouds, Wang Lin knew that the later stages would be much slower. If he relied solely on the cold aura here to nourish the bead, it would likely take several years to reach fullness.

However, the Corpse Yin Sect was not a place to stay for long. After much thought, Wang Lin decided to probe the underground giant again, this time aiming to find a route for his body to enter. This way, he could personally go down and grab a few of the purple-green plants, which would surely cause the stone bead to evolve rapidly.

However, the risk of doing so was extremely high, and Wang Lin was somewhat hesitant.

After a moment of contemplation, he decided to abandon the idea of going down himself. He knew that with his current cultivation, even if he were extremely cautious, the chances of obtaining the purple-green plants were not high, and he might even lose his life. Weighing the two options, Wang Lin made his decision.

Having made up his mind, Wang Lin tapped his storage bag, and an ancient-looking scabbard flew out, floating in front of him.

This scabbard, which Wang Lin had obtained, had only been refined once during his seclusion after seizing the foundation from Feng Li. Although the refinement was not successful, he had learned some methods of using it. The effect was not optimal, and so far, it could only allow the flying sword to sink to about three-fifths of its length.

Wang Lin had studied the scabbard for a long time, and even Situ Nan had mentioned that the scabbard was quite peculiar, with a value far exceeding the blood-refined green small sword.

"Sun Hao mentioned that this flying sword and scabbard were discovered by his master in an ancient cave. Apart from his master, no one below the Core Formation stage could refine them. This statement is likely a mix of truth and falsehood. These items are not unrefinable, but the time and spiritual energy required for refinement below the Core Formation stage are too great. If one reaches the Core Formation stage, the process can be significantly shortened with the help of the Core Fire.

Unfortunately, the blood refinement technique can only be applied to one item. Otherwise, if it were also applied to the scabbard, everything would be much simpler." Wang Lin's eyes flickered as he thought to himself.

Wang Lin stared at the scabbard without blinking, pondering for a moment. To increase the power of the flying sword, the scabbard needed to be refined again. Although he did not have a Golden Core, he had the Cold Core obtained from practicing the Yellow Spring Ascension Technique.

The cold spiritual energy in his body was now centered around the Cold Core. He had studied it in detail, but after Situ Nan explained the Yellow Spring Ascension Technique, he had sternly warned Wang Lin that the Cold Core was vastly different from a Golden Core. One significant difference was that the Cold Core should not be easily released from the body unless absolutely necessary, as it would quickly dissipate if left outside for too long, requiring re-cultivation.

When he first refined it, he had just succeeded in seizing the foundation. Now, after practicing the Yellow Spring Ascension Technique, his spiritual energy had mutated, and his cultivation had reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, on the verge of breaking through to the mid-stage. This would likely make the refinement easier than before.

With this in mind, Wang Lin opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blue cold spiritual energy. The spiritual energy immediately turned into layers of frost upon touching the scabbard, quickly enveloping it.

Wang Lin pointed with his right hand, and the scabbard slowly rotated in the air, emitting a beautiful blue light.

Wang Lin's hands moved continuously, sending out several blue lights. Each time a blue light hit the scabbard, it would tremble. Gradually, his hands moved faster, and the blue lights, filled with spiritual energy, formed a continuous line. The scabbard's trembling frequency increased without pause.

Wang Lin's forehead was drenched in sweat, which immediately froze into ice beads and fell to the ground. He had no time to deal with this, focusing intently on the scabbard. After quickly sending out a few more blue lights, he quickly tapped his storage bag, took out a gourd, and drank from it before continuing the refinement.

Time slowly passed, and after the scabbard had been trembling for a long time, the blue light on its surface began to flicker. Slowly, a pentagonal pattern emerged on the scabbard.

Seeing this pattern, Wang Lin let out a sigh of relief and stopped sending out blue lights. He adjusted his internal spiritual energy and thought to himself, "My cultivation is nearly five times stronger than before. Using the method Situ Nan taught me, I previously used over 5,000 blue lights to force out the array formation within the scabbard, but I was exhausted and could not continue. Now, after sending out 1,000 blue lights, the array formation has already appeared. Although my cultivation has improved, it is still far from the Core Formation stage. Situ Nan once said that at the Core Formation stage, only a few blue lights are needed to force out the array formation."

Taking a deep breath, Wang Lin made a hand seal with his right hand and pressed it to his lower abdomen. Instantly, his chest tightened, and his face showed a look of pain. He slowly raised his right hand from his lower abdomen, then opened his mouth, and a blue Cold Core, the size of a baby's fist, floated out.

Wang Lin's face turned extremely pale. After a brief rest, he immediately pointed at the Cold Core, which began to melt at a visible speed, forming a pool of blue liquid. Wang Lin's face became even paler, devoid of any color, but he showed a serious expression, carefully controlling the liquid to slowly seep into the scabbard.