Outside the grand hall, the space in midair rippled slightly as the figure of Medusa Queen appeared in the sky.
Her beautiful eyes swept across the surroundings. Immediately, her jade-like hands rapidly formed a series of intricate seals, and her expression gradually turned solemn.
As her hand seals danced, leaving behind afterimages, the space within several hundred meters around the alchemy hall suddenly began to writhe in a strange manner. Moments later, that entire region of space twisted into a distorted state.
"Spatial Lock!"
With a sharp cry, Medusa Queen's hand seals abruptly changed. The surrounding space instantly solidified, and a peculiar fluctuation spread out rapidly, finally enveloping the entire alchemy hall.
After completing all this, she looked downward. The alchemy hall still stood firm, but Lin Yuan's aura could no longer be sensed, and even the aura within the hall had been completely sealed off.
"The first layer of the seal is complete. Still, that little man is truly cautious, just what exactly is he trying to do, to require me to set up multiple barriers to isolate the aura?"
Thinking of Lin Yuan's instructions, Medusa Queen felt a trace of doubt, but she did not stop her actions.
"Forget it. There's no point overthinking—I'll just continue. I can ask him later anyway." After resting briefly, Medusa Queen prepared to set up the second layer of sealing.
Meanwhile, inside the alchemy hall, Lin Yuan continued advancing his cultivation and research while waiting for Medusa Queen to complete the spatial barriers and seal off the area.
He formed several hand seals, and four shadow clones separated from his body.
Soon, each clone began performing its assigned task according to Lin Yuan's plan.
The first clone flipped through materials, contemplating and refining a method to resolve the soul-related issues of Qing Lin's "Little Cai" and Medusa Queen.
Little Cai's issue was essentially the same as Medusa Queen's, only differing in severity, since both had split from the same original entity.
The reason Medusa Queen had not shown any abnormalities so far was because she had inherited the majority of the powerz but the hidden danger still remained. If left unresolved, it could become a major obstacle at a critical breakthrough in the future, which would not be worth the risk.
Thus, Lin Yuan intended to resolve both of their problems in one go.
At the same time, he was well aware of the importance of the soul in the later stages of cultivation. Therefore, while solving this issue, he also planned to lay a solid foundation for their future soul cultivation.
The second clone continued studying the numerous alchemy inheritances he had obtained.
Lin Yuan had gained enormous benefits from Han Feng, not only a large number of pill formulas, but also many alchemist inheritances collected by Yao Lao.
He had even obtained the portion of alchemist inheritance that Yao Lao had taught Han Feng, by using a Dou Qi Continent version of a "Great Memory Restoration Technique" on him. Unfortunately, certain unique techniques like "Spiritual Ascension" had not been inherited by Han Feng, so Lin Yuan had not acquired them either.
Over the past two months, Lin Yuan had absorbed this knowledge like a starving man, constantly expanding his understanding and strengthening his foundation.
Thus, even though he had not personally refined pills during this time, he could clearly feel his alchemy skills improving at an astonishing rate.
The third clone operated the improved Heavenly Heart Soul Art at full capacity, gathering spiritual energy.
Now that his soul strength had reached the late stage of the Seventh-Grade, Lin Yuan was already within sight of the Spiritual Realm.
After months of cultivation, he had become thoroughly proficient in the Heavenly Heart Soul Art. Moreover, through careful research and inspiration drawn from the alchemy inheritances he had acquired, he had successfully deduced and completed part of the technique, significantly increasing his efficiency in absorbing spiritual energy.
According to his estimation, he had a chance to elevate his soul to the peak of the seventh tier within one to two years, allowing him to glimpse the Spiritual Realm.
The fourth clone focused on studying and cultivating the soul techniques obtained from the Soul Hall's envoys.
This clone was noticeably different from the others, its body contained a much higher proportion of soul power. When Lin Yuan turned his gaze toward it, he saw it forming several mysterious hand seals. A mass of black mist spread out from its body, quickly enveloping its figure completely.
"Heh heh heh No matter how glorious or powerful you were in life, once you become a soul body, you are nothing more than prey for our Soul Hall."
A sinister laugh echoed from within the black mist, as a cold and eerie aura at the level of a Dou King spread outward, filling the entire alchemy hall with a chilling atmosphere.
Seeing this, Lin Yuan's main body nodded in satisfaction, his eyes filled with approval.
"Not bad, not bad. That laugh, that line—perfect. This authentic flavor, this eerie atmosphere, this evil demeanorno matter how you look at it, it's a genuine Soul Hall envoy."
"Heh heh heh With this, I have another useful disguise. There are things that the genius of Jia Nan Academy, Lin Yuan, cannot do, but if a Soul Hall envoy takes action, there's no problem."
After that, Lin Yuan took out a Dou Emperor-level corpse from a storage ring and threw it onto the ground.
"Soul Chain."
A black chain shot out from the mist in perfect coordination, instantly piercing into the corpse. After passing through it, the chain jerked backward, causing no damage to the body instead, it forcibly dragged out a soul from within.
It was the soul of Fan Lao.
"Excellent. This method is very authentic as well," Lin Yuan said with satisfaction.
After being pulled out, Fan Lao's soul saw the familiar black mist and shouted angrily, "Why me again?! How many times has it been already? I'm already dead, can't I rest in peace? Why do you keep tormenting me?!"
Hearing this, Lin Yuan smiled calmly. "Sect Master Fan, thank you for your hard work during this time. Don't worry you'll be able to rest soon."
As he spoke, a powerful suction force came from within the black mist. The chain tightened at the same time, dragging Fan Lao's soul into the mist amid his miserable screams, where it fell silent.
"The effect of this soul pouch is quite impressive as well. Even a Dou Emperor's soul cannot stir up the slightest disturbance after being stored inside. As expected of Soul Hall techniques truly top quality."
"Next, I can continue cultivating and comprehending other Soul Hall secret techniques. The corpses and souls I obtained earlier from wiping out those factions in the Black-Corner Region can finally be put to use."
"Unfortunately, the methods possessed by mere envoys are still limited. It seems I'll have to find an opportunity to capture a few Protectors or even higher-ranking members for further research."
All four clones were progressing smoothly. Lin Yuan let out a long breath. With another change in his hand seals, yet another shadow clone separated from his body.
Closing his eyes, he carefully sensed the changes before revealing a satisfied smile.
"Just as I expected after my soul power broke through to the late Seventh-Grade, not only has the number of clones increased significantly, but the connection between the main soul and the split souls has also strengthened."
"In that case it's time to test my earlier idea—real-time communication between the main body and the clones."
A hint of anticipation appeared in Lin Yuan's eyes.
At present, in order to obtain the knowledge and information gathered by his soul clones, Lin Yuan needed to recall them into his body and integrate their memories.
However, he was not satisfied with this. He had higher ambitions, he wanted to achieve real-time communication between himself and his clones, allowing rapid information exchange even while they remained separated.
In this way, the clones could become extensions of his senses. Even over long distances, he could make real-time adjustments and execute more complex tactical maneuvers.
This idea had first come to him while helping Qing Lin design the "Heavenly Network." As his soul power and mastery of soul research improved, many of his earlier concepts had now become feasible.
He decided to utilize the unique connection of soul power to construct a simplified version of a "Mini Heavenly Network" between himself and his clones.
With Qing Lin's assistance, Lin Yuan had analyzed part of the information transmission process between the host of the Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils and its bonded subordinates. Although he had only grasped a superficial understanding, it was more than sufficient for his simplified concept.
During this period, with Qing Lin's help, he integrated techniques such as illusion-based information transmission and the use of soul imprints in scroll creation, ultimately completing a soul communication secret technique capable of transmitting vast amounts of information instantly.
Soul Bridge.
However, due to the previously weak connection between the main soul and the split souls once the clones left the body, it had been unable to support the operation of this technique.
Now, with Lin Yuan's soul power having broken through to the late seventh tier, the connection between his main soul and split souls had strengthened considerably alongside the growth of his soul power, and was now sufficient to sustain mid- to short-range soul communication techniques.
"Pure Spirit Art · Void Clarity."
After calming his mind, Lin Yuan's thoughts shifted, and he entered a state of Void Clarity.
In this state, his computational ability operated at full capacity as he precisely controlled his soul power, attempting to construct a stable soul bridge between his main body and his clones.
After hundreds of attempts and failures, Lin Yuan finally sensed a subtle change. In a certain instant, it felt as though he could "see" the environment around his clone and even "hear" the sounds it perceived, as if his main consciousness had been projected onto the clone.
A vast amount of information flowed between the main soul and the clone's soul, with the enormous data contained within the clone being received by the main body.
At that moment, Lin Yuan knew that the first step of his concept had been realized. In the Void Clarity state, free from joy or sorrow, he engraved all these insights deeply into his mind.
"It worked!"
After exiting the Void Clarity state, a trace of fatigue flashed through his eyes, but his face carried clear delight.
"This means my idea has achieved initial success."
"However, this is only the beginning. Although the basic functionality has been realized as envisioned, there are still many areas that need improvement," he muttered. "The efficiency of information transmission is not high enough and needs enhancement; this soul pathway is not stable enough and requires strengthening; the communication range is insufficient and needs optimization."
"But the path is now open. What remains is continuous refinement. I have more than enough patience to perfect all of this."
"However, before that…"
With a flick of his hand, a black scroll appeared in Lin Yuan's grasp. His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Flame Mantra (Incomplete Scroll)."
In the air outside the hall, Medusa had already arranged the five layers of spatial barriers as instructed by Lin Yuan.
She let out a long breath, her figure moving as she descended toward the hall below. As she reached a certain boundary, the space slightly distorted, and her graceful figure gradually merged into it, disappearing without a trace.
In front of the hall, Medusa wiped the sweat from her forehead. Even with her current strength, continuously setting up five layers of spatial barriers was no small expenditure.
After a brief adjustment, she stepped into the hall.
Upon entering, her gaze swept over the five Lin Yuan clones, each carrying out their respective tasks, before she walked toward Lin Yuan's main body, who was holding the black scroll.
At this moment, Lin Yuan's eyes were somewhat unfocused, as though he was deep in thought.
"What are you thinking about?" A calm voice sounded beside his ear.
Hearing Medusa's voice, Lin Yuan came back to his senses. He raised the scroll in his hand slightly and smiled.
"I'm thinking about this cultivation technique."
"A cultivation technique?" Medusa's eyes held a hint of confusion. "It doesn't look like anything high-level. What's so special about it?"
Lin Yuan lifted the scroll again and said in a low voice, "This is no ordinary technique. It's the most mysterious one I've ever encountered. Although it is currently the lowest tier, it is a technique capable of evolving by devouring Heavenly Flames."
At this point, Lin Yuan couldn't help but sigh softly.
The Flame Mantra, a miraculous technique that had given rise to several Dou God.
The more Lin Yuan studied it during this time, the more he felt its terrifying potential, and he developed deep admiration for its creator.
As a relatively inexperienced creator of techniques himself, Lin Yuan's unique experiences and perspective allowed him to vaguely grasp the intent behind its creation.
This was a technique engraved with the very principles of heaven and earth.
In Lin Yuan's view, the essence of the Flame Mantra was to plant a "Dao seed," then continuously absorb Heavenly Flames formed by the laws of the world, engraving those laws into the technique itself. Using the principles of heaven and earth as nourishment, it allowed the Dao seed to take root and grow, evolving the technique toward its most optimal state.
At the same time, the immense energy contained within the Heavenly Flames would refine and transform the practitioner's physique, bringing it into perfect harmony with the principles currently engraved within the technique.
Thus, after cultivating this technique and devouring Heavenly Flames, the practitioner could no longer be considered an ordinary body, but rather a special, evolvable physique that could be called the "Flame Mantra Body."
Such a technique truly deserved to be called one that defied the natural order of heaven and earth.
"An evolvable technique, huh? That is indeed fascinating." Medusa revealed a hint of surprise, though she did not dwell on it. "I've already set up the five layers of spatial barriers outside, as you requested."
"Mm, thank you!" Sensing the slight fatigue in Medusa's aura, Lin Yuan pulled her gently closer and said softly, "You've worked hard, Your Majesty."
"Is there a need for such words between us?" Medusa replied calmly.
"Haha, you're right. There's no need for excessive politeness between us," Lin Yuan chuckled.
"What do you plan to do next?" Medusa asked. "For you to require so many spatial barriers to conceal the aura, it must be something significant."
Lin Yuan nodded and said in a deep voice, "Indeed. Since it involves a Heavenly Flame, caution is necessary. I intend to extract the Heavenly Flame from his body."
As he spoke, his gaze shifted toward Han Feng, who lay unconscious in the distance, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
"Then, I'll use the extracted Heavenly Flame as material to study this Flame Mantra technique."
"Do you need my help?" Medusa asked.
"Stand guard for me," Lin Yuan replied solemnly. "Although the Sea Heart Flame within him has already been refined, it is still ranked fifteenth among the Heavenly Flames. It must be handled with care."
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