Chapter 619: Destined Connection (I)
"Hiss... Ahhh! Mmph..."
Outside the hall, Wu Di listened to the bloodcurdling screams echoing from within, still feeling a lingering sense of dread. At first, Kong Yujing had managed to endure through sheer force of will, refusing to cry out. But as time passed, she gradually reached her limit. Her agonized screams came one after another, as shrill as a pig being slaughtered, leaving Wu Di, standing guard outside the hall, thoroughly shaken.
Fortunately, I never chose the path of demonic cultivation... otherwise... Wu Di thought with a trace of relief.
It was hard to imagine just how unbearable the pain had to be for someone with Fellow Kong Yujing's iron will to break down and scream so miserably.
Inside the hall, Lin Zheyu pressed his right hand against Kong Yujing's forehead. With the assistance of the golden Heavenly Eye, he carefully guided the golden energy within his body into Kong Yujing's sea of consciousness. After all, it was someone else's sea of consciousness.
Lin Zheyu had to control the golden energy with the utmost precision to avoid damaging Kong Yujing's sea of consciousness or soul while eradicating the yao will. Even for him, the entire process imposed considerable strain. As for Kong Yujing, she was in a far worse state. Her face was deathly pale, and her form-fitting garments had long since been soaked through with sweat, outlining her alluring figure in exquisite detail.
After enduring the ordeal for nearly an entire day, Kong Yujing's physical strength and mental will had both been completely exhausted by the agonizing pain. She lay limply on the floor, screaming hoarsely as her body writhed involuntarily in a strangely seductive manner.
About two hours passed. Kong Yujing no longer even had the strength to scream. A peculiar flush spread across her pale skin, while her exhausted eyes sparkled with an unprecedented excitement. Though she was utterly drained, she had never felt so light and comfortable in her life.
"That's enough. This is as far as I can go for now. If we continue any further, even your soul will begin to suffer damage," Lin Zheyu said calmly as he abruptly withdrew his hand.
At this point, nearly all of the yao will permeating Kong Yujing's sea of consciousness had been erased. Aside from her soul form, the entire sea of consciousness was empty. However, the void of her sea of consciousness, which had already been corrupted and tainted with a sinister Yin aura, could not be restored. For now, Lin Zheyu's golden energy could only erase the yao will within her sea of consciousness.
All it accomplished was slowing the rate at which the yao will could erode her. It treated the symptoms, not the root cause. As the yao will and demonic qi continued to corrode her sea of consciousness, more and more holes would appear within it, like the openings of a sieve, and those holes would only continue to grow larger.
When that happened, the yao will would invade her sea of consciousness at an ever-increasing pace. Unless a true solution could be found, death remained inevitable. Even so, Kong Yujing was more than satisfied with the current outcome. This treatment alone had extended her life by at least another twenty to thirty years.
Kong Yujing struggled to her feet and bowed respectfully. "Thank you, Master."
At that moment, she had submitted wholeheartedly. The last trace of hesitation in her heart had completely vanished.
"Go and rest for a while. Once you've recovered, I want you to return to the Evilheart Sect and recruit as many powerful demonic cultivators as possible to work for me. Any cultivator willing to offer their soul blood and acknowledge me as their master, I'll help eradicate the yao will within their sea of consciousness and slow its erosion," Lin Zheyu said calmly.
This was the very reason he had gone to such lengths to help Kong Yujing. If he could gather a group of powerful demonic cultivators under his command, they could handle countless matters on his behalf, saving him an enormous amount of time and effort.
"Yes, Master," Kong Yujing replied weakly, without the slightest hint of surprise in her eyes.
After dismissing Kong Yujing with a wave of his hand, Lin Zheyu called Wu Di, who had been standing guard outside.
"Continue staying here and gather as many formation manuals as you can. If you come across any texts related to demonic patterns, shamanic patterns, or totems, collect those as well. If you run into trouble, ask Little Jing for help. If that still isn't enough, crush the jade talisman I gave you," Lin Zheyu instructed calmly.
Before his own organization had truly taken shape, Wu Di did not have many other responsibilities.
"Yes, my lord. These are some formation manuals I've collected over the past few years. Most of them are incomplete ancient formations." Wu Di respectfully took several aged parchment scrolls and damaged formation disks, all bearing the aura of time, from his storage pouch.
Lin Zheyu accepted the items with a smile. "Very good. You've done well."
He casually took out a jade slip and, with a slight movement of his spiritual sense, imprinted some of his own insights into the fusion of Immortal Dao runes and demonic patterns. Then he tossed the jade slip over.
"Study it well. Serve me diligently, and you won't be lacking in rewards," Lin Zheyu said calmly.
As soon as the words left his mouth, his figure dispersed like smoke, melting into the void before disappearing without a trace.
"Yes, my lord!" Wu Di caught the jade slip, overjoyed. When he looked up again, Lin Zheyu had already departed in complete silence.
"My lord is becoming more and more formidable..." Wu Di murmured softly, his eyes gleaming with excitement.
He was utterly devoted to the Dao of formations, and even his pursuit of higher cultivation existed primarily to further his mastery of formations. While listening to Lord Xiao Zhe and Senior Xu Chi's discussion earlier, he had been deeply astonished by Lin Zheyu's ideas on integrating formations with demonic patterns. The man had only recently begun studying formations, yet his insights had already reached such a level. It was nothing short of astounding.
"There's a small exchange gathering next month. Hopefully I'll be able to acquire more powerful formation manuals..." Wu Di murmured softly.
His eyes sparkled with excitement as he looked toward the future with renewed hope. With the astonishing comprehension this senior possessed in the Dao of formations, even without joining the Heavenly Derivation Sect, his future achievements would surely be beyond imagination.
By following someone like him, Wu Di felt that he might one day have a chance to shatter the barrier between the False Core and Golden Core realms and truly attain the Golden Core realm.
***
Having casually made another strategic move, Lin Zheyu was in an excellent mood. Not only had he secured a path to the Heavenly Derivation Sect's Formation Dao Exchange Conference, but he had also recruited two subordinates. Before long, even more people would be working for him. When that happened, he would no longer have to handle everything personally and could devote far more time to cultivation.
After returning to Yanwu City, Lin Zheyu sent a message to Tu Mingzhen. He had kept her waiting long enough, and it was finally time to fulfill his promise. Besides, his cultivation had reached another bottleneck. Although he had accumulated more than eight hundred units of Origin Force, he had lost a clear path for further advancement.
The shackles had become the greatest obstacle to Lin Zheyu's progress. Unlike ordinary martial artists, who only needed to break one shackle at a time, he had to withstand the combined resonance and pressure of all seven shackles while attempting to break just one of them.
Such overwhelming restraint could never be overcome through ordinary means. No matter how many martial cultivation techniques he cultivated, the shackles suppressed their effects so severely that the resulting increase in strength was almost negligible.
Likewise, they offered almost no help in breaking the shackles themselves. Sometimes, having a foundation that was too deep, far beyond that of even ordinary geniuses, was not necessarily a blessing.
Without Origin Force, Lin Zheyu would have been completely powerless before the seven massive, solid golden Heavenly Dao shackles. Then again, without Origin Force, he never could have built such an unimaginably profound foundation in the first place. Such was the strange nature of cause and effect.
Upon entering the library, Lin Zheyu respectfully saluted the senior on duty. "Greetings, Senior."
The one overseeing the library today was Senior Nie Zhiyu. Martial artists above the Shackles realm often secluded themselves for years at a time in order to forge their own martial cultivation paths. Lin Zheyu had not seen her in a very long time.