Chapter 198 – Body Reconstruction
There were many blue ice crystals flowing in the clouds, each of them about ten feet wide. Wang Lin scanned the area and found a total of 94 ice crystals.
After scanning the area, he discovered that one of the ice crystals was smaller than the rest. Wang Lin immediately recognized it as the ice crystal that Sky Devil Magician tried to get when he opened that tunnel.
Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. He finally understood that the ancient god’s inheritance of knowledge wasn’t just one ice crystal, but 94 of them.
The part that Wang Lin had absorbed wasn’t even 1% of it.
Wang Lin was here as his soul. After pondering a little, his soul landed on top of that ice crystal.
The moment his soul touched it, the ice crystal suddenly melted and fused with Wang Lin’s soul. Waves of majestic memories entered Wang Lin’s soul. As time passed, the memories came to him faster and faster. Wang Lin’s soul became like an expanding cloud.
Countless complex chants, countless strange technique, and countless fragments of memories stormed into Wang Lin’s mind like roaring dragons. His soul was torn apart, then reassembled.
As that cycle continued, tidal waves of pain completely engulfed Wang Lin.
In reality, Wang Lin shouldn’t have been able to feel anything in his soul form, but he was feeling pain all over his soul, as if there were countless insects devouring him.
This feeling stayed with him. Even when he absorbed the first part of the inheritance back then, he didn’t have this feeling. Little by little, he lost control of his soul. Part of it flew out in thin lines and eventually surrounded him to form a cocoon.
The cocoon formed by his soul glowed blue like the ice crystals. In fact, it looked just like a slightly larger ice crystal.
While this process took place, Wang Lin’s soul entered a state of chaos. He had experienced this feeling before, when he first absorbed part of the inheritance. Even after experiencing it once before, the first time could be compared to a trickling stream, while this time it was like a raging river.
He feel like a leaf on the raging river, helplessly being swept with the ups and downs of the rapids. Every wave would make his pain worse.
Suddenly, he saw a light in front of his eyes. Soon, a familiar scene appeared before him. There was an empty space with countless specks of light glowing before him.
This scene, Wang Lin had seen before. Upon seeing the scene again, he suddenly gained a bit of understanding. The moment he gained that little understanding, the pain that he had been experiencing disappeared without a trace.
Soon after, a feeling of numbness immediately began to spread from every part of his soul. The countless chants, techniques, and memories moving in his soul finally calmed down and completely integrated into it.
Slowly, Wang Lin felt his soul move forward, and those specks of light became larger and larger. Eventually, they became giant planets. Soon, he saw the large body of the ancient god.
Wang Lin already knew that the youth he saw before was the Ancient God Tu Si when he was a child, and the giant before him, who was the size of a planet, was the adult Tu Si.
Tu Si’s face looked very normal. The only exception was that there were eight stars in a circle between his eyebrows. In addition, his skin was very rough and contained countless cracks. However, the cracks were barely visible. They were hard to notice if you didn’t examine Tu Si very carefully.
But after carefully observing him, there were countless cracks. His skin looked like a cracked shell.
At this point, Tu Si’s eyes were bursting with light, staring at a planet in the distance with a thoughtful look on his face. Soon after, his large hand lightly reached out and made a grabbing motion, causing that planet to shatter into dust and disappear among the countless specks.
From the dust cloud flew out a golden light. With a wave of his hand, the golden light changed directions and flew toward Tu Si. Soon, the golden light landed in his hand and became a golden nugget.
The object was clearly some sort of material. It looked like gold, but wasn’t. It was stone, but not stone. It had sections of black lines on it. While holding it, Tu Si made another grabbing gesture with his other hand and another planet exploded.
And so, just like that, after an unknown amount of time, more than 30 planets had been destroyed. At this point, many different colored materials lied in his hands.
Next, both of Tu Si’s hands moved, and all of the materials fused together. He became focused and recited some chants that fused into the material.
Soon after, he closed and reopened his eyes. The moment he opened them, the eight stars on his forehead started to spin, as of they were alive. The stars shot out rays of golden light into the material.
After a long time, a square pyramid that glowed with rainbow colors appeared in his hand.
This square pyramid gave of a look of majesty. A feeling of being able to destroy the world escaped from the pyramid as countless vortexes appeared near it. Wang Lin’s soul felt a sucking force when he saw the pyramid. He had a feeling of terror in his heart as he nervously looked at it.
Tu Si looked at the pyramid and shook his head with a look of pity on his face. He grabbed it and examined it some more before throwing it at a planet. It disappeared into the planet.
Tu Si sighed. His body moved, and after a few steps, he disappeared into the void.
Wang Lin witnessed all the events that had just occurred. Tu Si was clearly trying to create a device. After using more than 30 planets as resources, Wang Lin would expect the square pyramid to be some sort of legendary artifact, but he would never have expected Tu Si to only look at it for a bit, then throw it away because he wasn’t satisfied with it.
If such a treasure landed in the hands of a cultivator, then that person would be almost unstoppable. He stared at the planet that the square pyramid went to and secretly sighed.
As for the process of refining the treasure, Wang Lin saw it all. Although he didn’t know what materials or chant Tu Si used, Wang Lin believed that once he absorbed all of the blue ice crystals, he would know it all.
After Ancient God Tu Si left, he clearly felt his soul begin to disappear from that place. Soon, all of his soul disappeared from there.
At the place that held the inheritance of knowledge, besides the 93 blue ice crystals, there was a blue cocoon. Soon, countless cracks appeared on the cocoon.
Countless colorful lights peered out from the cracks. As more and more cracks appeared, the colorful light became more and more intense. Soon, with a cracking sound, the cocoon broke open.
A half transparent figure that emitted colorful light appeared from the cocoon.
The person was Wang Lin.
Wang Lin opened his eyes and looked down at his body. His eyes revealed a questioning look. He could clearly feel that after absorbing the blue ice crystal, not only did he gain more memories, but his soul went from an almost completely illusionary state, to this half transparent state.
After contemplating a little, Wang Lin tried to move his soul, but his current body immediately collapsed and spread out into the surroundings.
Wang Lin moved his soul again, and once again it fused back into that half transparent state. He pondered silently for a while, then waved his right hand and formed a mirror made of the ice crystal.
After glancing at the mirror, Wang Li suddenly quivered. He stared at the mirror, unable to utter a word.
From the mirror, he could see the half transparent figure. Although it was half transparent, he could still see its features. It contained a very common looking face.
Wang Lin just stared at the mirror. His face revealed a very complicated emotion. He thought that, one day, he would be able to regain his old body.
He had forgotten how many years it had been since his body was destroyed by Teng Hua Yuan, but he had never forgotten about the body that was given to him by his parents. Everytime he remembered it, his heart would fill with hate for Teng Hua Yuan.
After a long time, Wang Lin sighed, and his mood was calm again. He moved his soul and quickly surrounded another blue ice crystal.
The extreme pain from before appeared again. This time, Wang Lin was prepared and he remained calm. All the information bursted into his soul and was absorbed by him.
Shortly after, his soul became unable to withstand it any longer. It collapsed and soon surrounded him in that oval cocoon again.
The empty space, filled with countless specks of light, appeared again. This time, he observed the ancient god refining a pill. It was made using the Ling Qi of countless planets.
This pill, in Wang Lin’s eyes, was extremely rough. It looked like a ball of mud that was releasing a horrifying amount of Ling Qi, but no matter how you looked at it, it didn’t look like a pill.
After Tu Si took the pill, the cracks in his body became much thinner, and, between the cracks, appeared countless patterns that emitted a very mysterious atmosphere. With the ancient god’s movement, the patterns created an illusion and looked as if they were alive.
When the giant cocoon broke again, Wang Lin’s body became a bit more solid.
Time slowly passed. Wang Lin continued to absorb Tu Si’s inheritance of knowledge. After absorbing one ice crystal, he would move on to the next.
When the 34th ice crystal was absorbed by him, his soul was solid. No matter how hard you looked, you couldn’t find any difference between his soul now and a real body. As for his hair, it was still white like before.
Wang Lin took a deep breath and began to carefully examine his body. No matter if it was his sense of touch, smell, sound, or taste, all were the same as a real body.
Gradually, Wang Lin’s heart became filled with more and more doubt. All he did was absorb the ancient god’s inheritance of knowledge. Why would his soul turn into a body?
This body, aside from not having a Jie Dan, was exactly the same as a normal body.
Wang Lin pondered a little and cut his left arm. From the wound, red blood dripped out. While staring at the blood, Wang Lin finally understood that he had really recovered his old body.
He closed his eyes, and after scanning his soul, he found that there were no changes to it. Within his soul, the circle of bright lightning around the core of the soul devourer spun, and every rotation sent out waves that expanded his soul.
Within his soul, no matter if it was the Heaven Revolting Bead or the Ji Realm, everything remained the same.
After he carefully explored his body, he opened his eyes and tightened his fists.
Wang Lin didn’t need any time at all to get familiar with the body his soul formed, since this was, after all, his original body. When he moved his fist, Wang Lin’s heart was filled with joy.
He raised his head and his eyes became cold. He said, “Teng Hua Yuan, you destroyed my body back then, but now I have managed to reform it. Once I reach Yuan Ying stage with this body, I’ll kill my way to the country of Zhao and kill the entire Teng Family! This hate can only be calmed by the blood of your entire family. Only the souls of the entire Teng Family can calm my heart!”
Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. When he first arrived in this place, he didn’t expect there to be 94 ice crystals. That disrupted his original plan.
He originally planned to absorbed the inheritance of knowledge and find the ink stone needed to make the Restriction Flag, then return to his body and leave the Land of the Ancient God that he had been trapped in for so many years.
If everything went according to his plan, then this time, Wang Lin’s harvest would have been great. Not only did he manage to learn the art of restrictions, he also learned the method for making the restriction flag and managed to obtain Hunchback Meng’s and Ancient Emperor’s bags of holding. Of course, there was still that beast trap and the 20 top quality spirit stones. If you include the 10 instruments as well, then he really did have a bountiful harvest.
In addition, there was still the more valuable inheritance of knowledge.
But after finding out that there were 94 ice crystals, Wang Lin became much more cautious. If he could enter this place, then others could as well.
But after waiting for a long time, no one else came. It was clear that some change happened.
More importantly, the place where Wang Lin hid his body was also where all of his bags of holding were. But that place was between the rifts, so he was not too worried about its safety, but if his body was without a soul for too long, then there might be complications. However, since Wang Lin formed a new body, he finally relaxed a bit.
As time passed, Wang Lin’s speed in fusing with the ice crystals became slower and slower. On the 57th ice crystal, after Wang Lin broke out of the cocoon, there was a faint star between his eyebrows.
Wang Lin quietly sat crossed legged within the cocoon. He closed his eyes. After a very long time, he opened them again. They exuded a mysterious light.
Although the Wang Lin now looked like that youth from the country of Zhao all those years ago, the atmosphere he emitted now was completely different. The him now, with his white hair flowing, gave off the feeling of an extremely dangerous stranger, just like a savage beast that caused people’s hearts to grow cold.
The star on his forehead appeared between his eyebrows after the 57th ice crystal. The moment the star appeared, it felt as if mind was struck by lightning and became clear.
He clearly remembered that on the Ancient God’s Tu Si’s forehead there were eight stars. He remembered that no matter it it was refining a treasure or a pill, they all required some mysterious power from the stars.
But the stars on Tu Si’s forehead were red, and the star on his head was only a faint outline. In fact, if you didn’t look at it carefully, you couldn’t even see it.
Even though he didn’t know how to get the rest of the stars on his forehead, Wang Lin believed that once he absorbed all of the ice crystals, he would have an understanding of it.
Although Wang Lin didn’t know much about the star, after absorbing more than 50 ice crystals, Wang Lin gained an understanding on why his body reformed.
The Ancient Gods focused on refining the body. Every Ancient God used all of the Ling Qi they absorbed to refine their body. As a result, even if they were Ancient Gods, their bodies would reach a limit and stop becoming stronger.
At that point, there was a need to expand the body, otherwise, one’s cultivation would stop. Only by expanding the body would one be able to reach higher cultivation. It could be said that the larger the Ancient God’s body, the more Ling Qi could be stored in it. Once the limit was reached, the Ancient God’s body would go through reconstruction. This could be considered reaching a new stage of cultivation.
Each Ancient God would experience countless body expansions, and also countless body reconstructions. The more they experienced, it the stronger they became.
And after each reconstruction, the Ancient God’s soul also increased in size. For the Ancient Gods, there were no stages of cultivation, there was only the soul and the body’s strength.
The inheritance of knowledge that Wang Lin had absorbed contained the lifetime memories of Tu Si. Even though Tu Si died in an early adult stage while practicing the Flowing Ink Transformation Divine Technique, he had experienced body reconstruction eight times.
Each body reconstruction was an unforgettable experience for the Ancient Gods. After all, each reconstruction was a step to becoming stronger. Before, Wang Lin only absorbed a small part of the inheritance, so there wasn’t much change.
After entering this area, he completely absorbed 1 of the 94 ice crystals, and the ability of reconstruction automatically started.
Therefore, Wang Lin’s body began to reform, using his soul as the core and his memory as the template. To Wang Lin, undergoing the process of body reconstruction wasn’t anything special. In fact, if anyone else received the inheritance, they would go through the same process.
But when Wang Lin’s body reformed, it allowed him to recover his original body.
Although this body looked very normal, compared to ordinary cultivators, it was much stronger.
If Wang Lin could experience 8 reconstructions, then his body would be like the Ancient God’s.
After understanding all of this, Wang Lin came to a wild conclusion. Maybe the 8 stars on Tu Si’s forehead had to do with his 8 reconstructions.
If that was really the case, then that would explain why there was a star on his forehead. After all, his body had reconstructed once.
But according to Wang Lin’s analysis, his body’s reconstruction wasn’t complete, otherwise, why would the star on his forehead still have no color and remain so faint.
This was all Wang Lin’s speculation, because he didn’t have that memory yet, but he believed that he would soon have the answer.
After absorbing 57 ice crystals, the broken pieces of chants, techniques, and memories were starting to become complete. This caused his soul to become very chaotic. Sometimes, Wang Lin’s soul would become confused, sometimes he would believe he was Tu Si, and sometimes he would remember that he was Wang Lin.
This chaotic feeling caused his heart to feel a strong sense of doom. Despite Tu Si being dead, and there not being any chance of being possessed, Wang Lin believed that if he absorbed all of the inheritance of knowledge, if one of them wasn’t properly handled, he would really think that he was Tu Si and forget his real identity.
Because of this, Wang Lin had slowed the speed at which he absorbed the inheritance. Only after he had completely absorbed one ice crystal would he move on to the next.
As a result, the chaotic feeling in his soul lessened by a lot. Although it still happened sometimes, Wang Lin was able to maintain his identity.
Although the speed had gone down, the key was to be steady. Wang Lin wasn’t in a rush and slowly absorbed the inheritance.
Time flew by. Wang Lin had completely lost his sense of time in this place. After every time he came out of his cocoon, his soul would be in a state of chaos for an unknown amount of time.