Chapter 165 - 4 Changes in Yin's Government^
Foundation Establishment Competitor.
In the East Saint Sect, it’s already an existence second only to the Sect Master and the six Chief House Masters.
If one’s cultivation base is a bit deeper, they can also assume the position of a regular Elder.
Even in the Tianmen Cult, a Foundation Establishment Competitor is undoubtedly a pillar of strength.
Even though he still holds the identity of a Heresy Cultivator, he is now accepted by the cultivators within the cult.
In other words, from this moment on, he has finally deviated from the status of the lowest-level cultivator.
Although he is still a minor figure among cultivators, he is at least a figure now.
But he didn’t have time to be happy.
Immediately afterward, he felt an invisible wind coming from all sides, seeming to blow him away in an instant.
He quickly sank his consciousness into his body.
Shortly after, he opened his eyes to find that his soul had returned to his physical body.
With a thought, it was as if he had grown an additional eye with a 360-degree field of vision at his brow point; every detail of the cultivation room was visible to his ‘eye’.
That was his Spiritual Sense.
Previously it could only envelop his body and very nearby surroundings, but now it could cover a few meters around him, or even more.
However, due to the formidable formation of the cultivation room, his Spiritual Sense couldn’t break through and could only see the inside of the cultivation room.
Wang Ba didn’t mind, he just faintly felt something unusual at his brow point.
He deftly conjured a water mirror, and his reflection promptly appeared.
His skin, pure as jade, emitted a faint glow in the water mirror, and at his brow location, there was clearly a fiery red mark of a lotus flower!
However, the red lotus mark was squirming and struggling like a living being at his brow point, even attempting to spread around it.
Wang Ba was extremely startled!
He quickly reached to touch his brow point, only to find that his finger touching the lotus yielded no reaction.
“What is going on?”
After experiencing many tumultuous events, Wang Ba had developed a calm disposition. He remained unflustered amidst this surprise and began pondering meticulously.
After thought, he lightly transferred his mana into his finger and cautiously let his mana leave his body, making contact with the skin on his brow point.
However, to his disappointment, the lotus mark was still continually squirming and it seemed to be completely unaffected by his mana.
After attempting several more times, he eventually confirmed that his mana had no effect on the lotus mark.
“Wait… I remember the cultivation method rubbings I acquired from an Incense-burning Dao Cultivator mentioned that during the formation of the Yin’s Government, a mark of Yin God will enter the Spiritual Government.”
“Could this be a mark of Yin God?”
After much deliberation, the only thing that could be related to this lotus mark was probably the “Book of Yin God’s Grand Dream”.
“Right, I guessed before that I could only continue to improve this cultivation method after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage. Might as well take a look.”
With this thought, Wang Ba immediately summoned his Lifespan Panel.
He was then astounded to discover that his lifespan had shrunk significantly.
These past few years, due to frequent visits from Bai Yu, Wang Ba didn’t dare to openly cultivate lower-grade Spirit Chickens.
Even so, he had accumulated almost a hundred thousand years of lifespan.
A few years ago when he broke through the 13th stage of the Strong Body Sutra, he consumed over thirty thousand years.
He should have over seventy thousand years left now.
However, he now had less than ten thousand years left.
“Is it because of the transformation of the life stage?”
Wang Ba did not quite understand the reason for this change.
However, such a change didn’t significantly affect him, as he wasn’t lacking lifespan at all. Given a safe environment, he could survive till the end of time with the help of these Spirit Chickens.
His gaze quickly moved down and soon saw a word that filled him with joy.
[Deductible item: Second layer of ‘Book of Yin God’s Grand Dream’, taking into account the overall qualification and constitutional bones, requires 278.7 years]
“Requires only 278.7 years of lifespan?”
Wang Ba couldn’t help but pause.
He remembered that when he was in the first layer, he needed over a hundred years.
Furthermore, the rubbings that recorded the ‘Book of Yin God’s Grand Dream’ also noted that it would take at least one millennium to cultivate to the second layer.
According to this, the second layer should require over a thousand years.
However, being able to save some lifespan was good news for him.
Thereupon, he pondered for a while before choosing this item.
[Current Lifespan – 278.7 years]
In an instant, with the aid of the water mirror, Wang Ba clearly saw the fiery red lotus mark at his brow point twist into a ball!
Soon, this ball, no longer retaining the shape of a lotus mark, quickly condensed into a mysterious fiery red figure.
The figure had indistinct features and sat cross-legged in an incredibly elusive posture.
The moment Wang Ba saw this figure, he immediately recognized it – it was the ‘Yin God’ he had been visualizing day and night!
Finally, he confirmed that the lotus mark at the brow point was indeed related to the ‘Book of Yin God’s Grand Dream’.
As time passed, the face of the faceless fiery red figure gradually revealed some irregular contours.
Just when Wang Ba thought he could finally see the face of the Yin God clearly.
The fiery red figure abruptly turned into a streak of light and shot into his Yin’s Government.
At this instant, the Yin’s Government shattered with a bang!
It transformed into numerous fiery red fragments.
Innumerable drops of Yin God’s power enveloped the fiery red fragments, quickly fused, and reconstituted, gradually morphing into a grand temple!
The temple was vast and boundless, just like his former Yin’s Government, where he could see the floor and roof but was completely unable to gauge the distance inside.
Fragments of the Yin’s Government, carried along by the power of the Yin God, quickly converged on the only high platform in the temple and slowly solidified into the shape of an idol.
“The second layer of the ‘Book of Yin God’s Grand Dream’ hasn’t been completed yet?”
Wang Ba was somewhat surprised.
After the consumption of lifespan, this speed of breakthrough was the slowest he had ever seen.
Yet at this moment, he suddenly heard a voice coming from outside the temple, as if it was from the heavens, piercing through his soul.
The sound was as thunderous as a heavenly thunder!
“Hmph!”
This voice echoed in his ears, even through the temple walls, it almost immediately exploded his soul!
No, his soul had actually exploded instantly!
Wang Ba didn’t even have time to feel the pain before he was reduced to a remnant of a soul!
Yet, he was still in the state of lifespan consumption.
Everything seemed to have had the fast-forward button pressed.
Wang Ba’s remnant of a soul was visibly reassembling. Shortly after, it gathered into a full-fledged soul.
Yet the aftermath of the cold hum shattered him once again, almost instantly, Wang Ba’s soul was torn apart like a fragile piece of paper.
However, lifespan consumption continued….
Constantly being torn apart and reassembled stronger each time.
Gradually, he wasn’t sure if the power contained within the sound began to wane, or if Wang Ba’s soul gradually became tougher.
The sound began to inflict less damage on Wang Ba, visibly decreasing at a rapid pace.
Until…there was no longer any damage.
“Whoosh!”
Wang Ba suddenly opened his bloodshot eyes, involuntarily curling up his body, his face extremely pale as he gasped for air.
It took him a while to recover and leaned against the wall of the cultivation room.
Nothing had changed in his surroundings from before he started cultivating.
It was as though the changes in the Yin’s Government were just a dream.
However, feeling the lingering extreme pain in his soul, Wang Ba was sure that this was certainly not a dream.
It was a real battle that took place in the Spiritual Government of his Yin’s Government.
Strictly speaking, the one who let out the cold hum might have just casually expressed his dissatisfaction.
Yet, that cold hum crossed tens of thousands of miles, bypassed the blockage between the Yin’s Government and his mortal body, and killed his soul thousands of times over.
Thanks to this, Wang Ba’s soul did not grow stronger, but through the cycle of life and death thousands of times, it became unbelievably resilient.
The cost was, his lifespan that was originally just over nine thousand years, is now less than three thousand years.
“So this is another effect of lifespan.”
Wang Ba was shocked and a bit terrified.
If his lifespan had prematurely depleted, he might have been killed by that inexplicable cold hum.
“Who on earth is that person? Why did this sound appear the moment I was about to cultivate the second layer of the Book of Yin God’s Grand Dream?”
“And how powerful is this being? Able to wield such power with just a sound?”
Wang Ba was filled with speculation but had no clue at all.
He was only sure that the “Book of Yin God’s Grand Dream”, the cultivation method he got from Old Sun, still held many secrets.
Hesitant, he once again entered the realm of his Spiritual Government.
He found out that the deity statue that was being built in the temple had already been completed unconsciously.
The statue was sitting cross-legged, with the vague facial contours of the Yin God.
After waiting for a moment, the cold hum did not reappear.
Despite the uncertainty, Wang Ba knew if the one who caused the hum intended to harm himself again, he had no power to fight back.
He then began to recall the cultivation method of the second layer of the “Book of Yin God’s Grand Dream”.
It was actually not much different from the first layer, both required visualizing the Yin God.
The only difference was the power yielded by the Yin God was greatly improved both in terms of cultivation difficulty and the quality of the power of the Yin God.
The critical difference lay in the way the power of the second layer of the Yin God would be used.
One needed to look at the associated powerful spell collection of the “Book of Yin God’s Grand Dream”: the “Divine Dream.”
The spell that corresponded to the second layer of the Yin’s power in the “Divine Dream” was ‘Dream Creation’.
With it, one could create illusions in the target’s soul and consciousness, influencing their thoughts.
Upon inspection, this spell also appeared on the lifespan panel, with a lifespan cost of 759.1 years.
After looking at his remaining lifespan of less than three thousand years, Wang Ba hesitated and decided to postpone learning it temporarily.
Although his drastically reduced lifespan should still be able to handle many situations, he didn’t feel secure enough.
Furthermore, he had already achieved his main objective for coming here: Foundation Establishment. Wasting spirit stones here was a pointless exercise. It was better to return to the chicken farm and replenish his lifespan first.
With a decision made, he didn’t hesitate anymore.
Only when he stood up did he notice the two Foundation Establishment Pills and several elixirs that he had dropped because of the pain.
These items were prepared for emergencies.
However, his process of Foundation Establishment was unexpectedly smooth, achieving the so-called ‘Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment’.
These items were then needless, he could keep them for Bu Chan’s use later.
After putting away the items, he examined the other storage bags and Spirit Beast Bags.
However, when he noticed one of the Spirit Beast Bags, Wang Ba was suddenly stunned.
In the Spirit Beast Bag,
a Class I top grade male Azure Spirit Turtle was hanging its head.
Its vitality was still there.
But from Wang Ba’s spiritual sense.
Its soul had already disintegrated, leaving it an empty shell.
The ‘Scapegoat’ divine skill had already been activated once..