Volume 1, Chapter 336 – Reunion

“How much have you recovered?”

Samsara’s voice was so weak that Shi Lan could not help but worry a little.

“I’m only barely able to stay conscious. The energy loss was too great. Soul power is not source power, after all. It can only serve as a slight supplement.”

As soon as Samsara finished speaking, Shi Lan felt a faint coolness in her palm as a pitch-black orb the size of a longan slipped into her hand.

“What is this?”

“The crystallized essence of surplus soul power. It’s the part I have no use for. It can speed up the growth of your soul.”

After stepping into the Myriad Phenomena Realm, Shi Lan’s cultivation speed had slowed considerably. The growth of the soul was unlike the accumulation of true qi; talent had a much smaller influence on it.

Of course, when she said her cultivation speed had slowed, that was only in comparison to her previous rate of advancement. Compared with ordinary people, it was still terrifyingly fast.

At this level, that vague and elusive thing called comprehension became far more important. One’s grasp of the laws of heaven and earth often determined the strength of one’s cultivation after the Myriad Phenomena Realm, and Shi Lan’s comprehension was nowhere near as heaven-defying as her innate bones and natural gifts.

Shi Lan rubbed the soul crystal and extended her divine sense to wrap around it completely. An incomparably soothing, gentle warmth enveloped her sea of consciousness, which began to expand at a slow but steady pace, a hundred, a thousand times faster than through her own cultivation.

The Spirit Infant seated atop the nine-layer Dao foundation suddenly opened its eyes, stretched out its tiny hand, and drew the soul crystal into its grasp from afar.

The longan-sized soul crystal rapidly dissolved in the Spirit Infant’s hand. In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the Spirit Infant grew from the size of a five- or six-year-old child to that of an eight- or nine-year-old.

Shi Lan’s immortal cultivation instantly surged to the late stage of the Spirit Infant Realm, and her magic power swelled severalfold.

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Shi Lan opened her eyes and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air. This soul crystal was not only remarkably effective in expanding the sea of consciousness; for immortal cultivation, it was practically a peerless immortal pill. Its mysterious efficacy was enough to leave one speechless.

If she had an adequate supply of soul crystals, Shi Lan was confident she could step into the Spirit Transformation Realm in a short time.

“Will condensing soul crystals affect you in any way?”

Although the effects of the soul crystal were astonishing, Shi Lan did not want Samsara to pay any price for it. That would not be worth the cost.

On the path of cultivation, even without relying on external things, she could still walk it on her own with what she possessed now.

“It won’t affect me much,” Samsara replied. The so-called soul crystal was nothing more than leftovers from what the system had devoured.

“What level of spirit bodies can the All-Heavens Samsara System handle at most?”

“They can’t exceed the Heaven-Man Realm by too much. That’s because of me. When I first came to this world, it was only by accident. The world level of Xuanyang Continent wasn’t this high, and the preparations I made back then were only enough to deal with figures around the first or second heaven of the emperor level in this world.”

Headquarters was far too strict with energy control. Every mission’s energy allotment was determined only after a comprehensive judgment based on the world’s level and the mission itself, and then only partial permissions were granted.

Samsara felt somewhat wistful. If it had known in advance that it was coming to the Lingyang Realm, it would at least have prepared several trump cards capable of dealing with Supremes.

“The Heaven-Man Realm is enough.”

Shi Lan let out a breath and looked toward the pitch-black forest in the distance. No longer hesitating, she strode forward.

The strongest of those people from Purple Lightning Manor had only been at the great perfection of the Nascent Soul Realm. Since they had come out alive despite making such a commotion, it was obvious that this forest probably did not contain any yin spirits at the Ghost King level.

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As long as she was careful, there should not be much of a problem.

When Tianbai saw Shi Lan stride straight toward that terrifying forest, she froze for a moment, steadied her somewhat panicked heartbeat, and hurried after her.

…

Inside the forest, gusts of yin wind blew without cease. Aside from the towering ancient trees, not a blade of grass grew there.

Tianbai was deficient in blood and qi, and the yin winds around her chilled her from head to toe. Her consciousness grew hazy, and she could only follow behind Shi Lan in a daze.

Suddenly, a warm hand grasped hers, sending streams of warmth into her and driving out the cold inside her body, leaving her comfortable all over.

The blood and qi within Shi Lan’s body roiled without erupting, shielding her entire person as wisps of yang energy flowed endlessly into Tianbai.

Whoosh—

After going nearly a hundred miles deep into the forest, several gusts of yin wind swept down above Shi Lan’s head, cold enough to pierce the bone.

Several hideous-looking yin spirits came howling toward them, madness written all over their faces.

No one knew how many tens of thousands of years this deathtrap had been sealed away. These yin spirits had not seen a living being for ages, and they were incomparably excited.

“Leave them to me.”

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Samsara’s voice sounded by her ear. Shi Lan relaxed her tensed body and kept moving forward.

The several yin spirits were swallowed in an instant, without even a trace of struggle.

The yin spirits farther away felt no fear at all. They still came one after another in a murderous rush, completely blocking Shi Lan’s path forward.

With her way obstructed, Shi Lan simply sat down where she was.

Hundreds of yin spirits flew toward her like moths drawn to a flame.

“Hee hee hee—”

“Kekeke—”

These yin spirits all had human forms. Some wore shattered battle armor, some were dressed in Daoist robes, and some were beautiful women clad in gorgeous palace attire. The expressions on their faces were mad and filled with pain, as if they were enduring unbearable torment. Even as they watched countless yin spirits being swallowed by Shi Lan, they still rushed forward, almost as though they were seeking death.

As Shi Lan watched this scene, she could not help but stare blankly. For some reason, a trace of sorrow rose inexplicably in her heart.

A full half hour passed before the violent fluctuations gradually subsided. All the yin spirits vanished without a trace, devoured cleanly down to the last one.

Bang!

A pitch-black sphere the size of an infant’s head fell to the ground and rolled to her knee. Inside it surged a vast ocean of refined soul power.

Shi Lan put the soul crystal into her Qiankun Bracelet without hurrying to absorb it. She remained seated on the ground and silently recited the Rebirth Mantra. The Rebirth Mantra was not some profound secret Buddhist scripture; anyone with even a little knowledge of Buddhism would recognize it.

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As the scripture of the Rebirth Mantra surfaced in her mind, lines of Sanskrit characters appeared in the void, radiating a faint golden glow. The phantom of a string of Buddhist prayer beads flickered in and out behind Shi Lan.

Shi Lan sat there for several days, silently reciting the rebirth scripture ten thousand times. The vast sound of Buddhist chanting covered the entire forest.

The accumulated yin evil and baleful aura, built up over the years, gradually dispersed. Within a hundred-mile radius around where Shi Lan sat, fresh green grass even sprouted, and a trace of life returned.

Shi Lan slowly opened her eyes. When she saw the surroundings, another layer of doubt rose in her heart. This was the first time she had recited the rebirth scripture, yet for some reason it had produced a phenomenon.

As her cultivation increased, the doubts in her heart only seemed to multiply. She did not know when she would finally come to understand the Dao.

After a brief rest, Shi Lan took Tianbai and continued on their way.

Tianbai had also been recuperating over the last few days and had recovered quite a bit of vitality, so traveling posed no problem.

They went straight ahead. Only after passing through the forest and traveling ten thousand miles did Shi Lan finally see signs of people.

Two groups were fighting there. One of them was the very party from Purple Lightning Manor that she had met only two days earlier.

As for the other side, there were only two people, a man and a woman.

The man wore a sky-blue long robe and looked to be around twenty-five or twenty-six. He stood tall and straight, and between his brows there was a faint thunder-shaped mark.

It was none other than Shen Tianlan!