Chapter 1244 - Flowing Time
Time slowly passed, and three days went by in the blink of an eye. Wang Lin sat on the giant, stone gate in that mysterious state similar to dao-seeking as he pursued the ninth law.
The mosquito beasts scattered and surrounded the area but didn’t disperse. They were wary of of the surroundings. The mosquito king was simply lying down beside Wang Lin on the stone gate, and its cold gaze slowly swept the area. Whenever, its gaze fell on a mosquito, that mosquito would reveal an extremely respectful demeanor.
Only when the mosquito king’s gaze fell on Wang Lin would it change. The indifference would change to a kind of attachment, like how a child felt about their parents.
In truth, in the mosquito king’s heart, Wang Lin was its parent.
There were four mosquito beasts that were deep blue. They flew beside the mosquito king as if they were guards. An aura matching that of peak Nirvana Cleanser cultivators spread out from them.
With the mosquito king leading a group of 5,000 mosquito beasts, a powerful force was forming. The mosquito beasts had gradually accepted Wang Lin’s existence, but this was only an acceptance. The moment the mosquito king was gone, it would immediately collapse.
As the roars echoed, Wang Lin still sat there and felt the laws on the stone gate. There were eight laws on the stone gate, but the marks left by time had turned into the ninth law.
Compared to the first eight, the ninth was the strongest! Wang Lin didn’t have time to comprehend them all and could only give up the first eight to choose the ninth.
The loneliness within this ancient, stone gate, combined with the strange wind, resonated with Wang Lin’s heart. As he sat on top of the stone gate, he seemed to become the stone gate. He watched the world age, watched ages pass, watched the sky transform over tens of thousands of years, and watched the mountains rise and fall.
His heart also seemed to become ancient.
His almost 2,000 years of cultivation were really insignificant compared to this stone gate. However, as his mind merged with the stone gate, he slowly found the feeling of the passage of time in his heart.
Just like how when painters see mountains, seas, and life, a vague framework would first appear in their heart. This was like the fuzzy existence in Wang Lin’s heart. Wang Lin was sitting on top of the stone gate, but he didn’t look down at it. Instead, he opened his eyes and looked straight ahead.
This gaze was as calm as the surface of a well. Although his gaze was calm, there was a trace of reminisce within it that unconsciously turned into a ripple that brought back Wang Lin’s buried memories.
At that instant, he saw a cultivation planet. On there, a father was walking with his child through the mountains and rivers. They were talking and laughing as they pointed at various mountains and rivers.
The father took the child and they continued to conquer mountain after mountain and cross rivers and lakes. He also took the child and roared next to the ocean, making it look like their roar was causing the giant waves in the ocean.
All these memories containing the passage of time flowed before Wang Lin’s eyes. These were memories filled with pain and happiness. They were part of his life; these were indispensable memories.
At this moment, as Wang Lin sat on the stone gate, he watched the world while recalling these memories. He slowly put everything inside his heart.
“Seeking dao… In truth, it is bringing the dao into your heart, this is dao-seeking. The so-called comprehension and domain are the same. You keep a comprehension in your heart and slowly experience it until it merges with your dao. Eventually, it will become a domain, an ideal.”
Wang Lin seemed to be talking to himself, and his eyes closed as he continued to murmur. Although his eyes were closed, he could still see the world, and the magnificent door was standing in this heart.
The only difference was that he wasn’t the only person sitting on the stone gate. Beside him was a figure of a child that could never grow up. Perhaps, in Wang Lin’s heart, Wang Ping would always be just… a child.
Wang Ping wasn’t real, but an illusion formed by Wang Lin’s memories. He sat beside Wang Lin and silently accompanied his father just like he did during his childhood. He watched the sun rise and set with his father and watched the world change with his father. He accompanied his father’s loneliness.
“If all of this could become eternal, perhaps there wouldn’t be so many regrets and choices in life.”
In Wang Lin’s heart, he and Wang Ping were still sitting on that giant, stone gate. Originally, it was a vague void below them, but now it gradually changed as the sound of waves echoed.
A boundless sea appeared under the stone gate. From afar, it looked like the stone gate had broken out from the sea and pierced into the sky. No matter how much the sea raged, it remained towering.
The sound of the waves became the only sound in the world. Even further away, the sun began to rise, emitting an orange glow that shined on the father and son, causing their shadows to elongate.
“The sundered night born from the seal, time flows like memories… It isn’t that there is no eternity, but that moment of eternity will intoxicate you. It will make your heart shatter. It will make you unwilling to awaken so you can continue pursuing it with a smile forever, until you disappear into eternity in a dream.
“Ping Er, your father’s second spell will be called ‘Flowing Time.’ Is that good?”
Flowing Time.
Time flowed like memories.
Because it was still flowing, time was eternal. However, if a force could cause that eternity to collapse, it would be a terrifying force.
Wang Lin’s comprehension continued. Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, seven days went by. He had been sitting on the stone gate for a full 10 days.
The mosquito beasts still surrounded the area. From afar, it looked like a red cloud that was slowly churning. The wind blew by, but it couldn’t take away the ancient aura from the stone gate or the red cloud formed by the mosquito beasts.
During these 10 days of time, the mosquito king lied there, awaiting Wang Lin’s awakening.
At the twilight of the 10th day, more than 10 rays of light flew across the horizon. The people in the rays of light were all elites of the rank 8 sects that weren’t participating in the competition.
Li Yuanlei was one of them. When they were waiting outside the Wind Celestial Realm for friends, they unexpectedly encountered Wang Lin. They also saw the scene of the mosquito beasts welcoming Wang Lin and were deeply shocked by it.
Then their friends arrived, and after debating for a bit, they waited for a few days before entering the Wind Celestial Realm.
However, along the way, although they were careful, strangely, they didn’t encounter any mosquito beasts. While shocked, this made them even more cautious.
As they continued forward, they still saw no mosquito beasts. If it wasn’t for the fact that they knew they were in the Wind Celestial Realm, they would begin to doubt if mosquito beasts were ever even here.
There were many ruins that they originally couldn’t enter due to the presence of the mosquitos, and they could only move around the outer region. This was the first time in countless years they had come this deep into the Wind Celestial Realm.
The deeper they went, they slower they moved, becoming even more nervous as they carefully observed their surroundings. However, their harvest was very good, far more than before.
On this day, they were flying when Li Yuanlei’s body trembled. At the same time, the pupils of everyone around him shrank and they all stopped.
They didn’t dare to spread out their divine senses here, but there was no need to spread out their divine senses. The red cloud that seemed to cover the sky and the buzzing sounds were enough to make their scalps go numb.
The mosquito beasts that seemed to have gone missing in the 10 days they were here appeared before their eyes.
However, what was strange was that in the past, if a mosquito beast appeared, they would immediately roar and give chase. However, these mosquito beasts didn’t even look at them and instead continued to hover around the stone gate.
This strange scene caused them to stop retreating. They were all vigilant and were prepared to escape if anything went wrong.
“Those mosquitos are surrounding…” One of them gasped as they saw a flash of the stone door being surrounded by the red cloud.
A youth in black softly said, “The elders of our sect that have come this far here must have seen this stone gate. Looking at its appearance, this stone gate must’ve been an important altar to the Celestial Realm before its collapse.”
“There is someone on the stone gate!” Li Yuanlei had the highest cultivation level, and he vaguely saw a figure sitting on the stone gate through the thousands of mosquitos.
After he spoke, it caused everyone’s minds to tremble, and they all looked over with looks of disbelief. They all focused, and one by one they faintly saw Wang Lin sitting on the stone gate!
“There really is someone sitting there!”
“Who is that person who can calmly cultivate while being surrounded by mosquito beasts?”
“What’s even more bizarre is that the mosquito beasts are not attacking this person. They seem to be guarding this person instead!”
“This is impossible. It is impossible to domesticate mosquito beasts. Every time they meet us cultivators, we get into a life and death battle. How could they guard someone?” At this moment, both their hearts and minds were in shock. Their eyes revealed horror and disbelief at what they saw.
Li Yuanlei suppressed the shock in his heart and whispered, “Don’t forget about the cultivator in white we saw outside the Wind Celestial Realm. If you look closely, although you can’t clearly see the person there, you can see that his clothes are white.”
“There is someone who can control a mosquito beast. This matter…” The surrounding cultivators all became silent. Those that came late didn’t see Wang Lin and only heard about him from the others. They originally didn’t believe it, but at this moment, they had no choice but to believe. The shock in their hearts was several times stronger than that of the others.