Chapter 179 - Studying Restrictions

It was not that Wang Lin didn’t think about going back the way he came after he got his hands on the top quality spirit stones, it was that the situation was too dangerous back in the first trial, and without Hunchback Meng to open the path for him, he didn’t even know if he could make it back. Even if he were to spend all that effort to make it through, the vortex wouldn’t take him back. The only path that would be left for him was death, because there was no way for him to be lucky enough to pass through the first trial again.

Wang Lin’s personality wouldn’t allow him to make bets easily, especially when things he couldn’t afford to lose were on the line.

However, according to Wang Lin’s analysis, if Hunchback Meng and them were able to leave this place 1000 years ago, that means there was a transfer array out of here. Otherwise, there was no way those four would dare to come here again.

Unfortunately, Hunchback Meng didn’t have anything in his bag of holding that contained information about this place. The inheritance item they had was not in Hunchback Meng’s possession.

Wang Lin’s eyes lit up. He believed that if he could get his hands on that inheritance item, he would be able to find a way out of here.

After carefully looking around, Wang Lin walked forward. Before long, he suddenly stopped while looking at a large rock in the distance. This rock was emitting waves of spiritual energy. Wang Lin took a few steps to the side and walked around.

The sky was dark. It gave off a feeling of oppression like a giant rock on someone’s heart. Wang Lin carefully walked through the gap between two restrictions before letting out a sigh of relief.

He looked around. A mere 300 feet took him several hours to get through. He had to make sure that there was no problem with each step before he took it.

He looked up toward the mountain that seemed to never end. He wondered how many years it would take for him to reach the top if he kept going at this pace.

He let out a heavy sigh. On the first trial, he managed to get through it by luck, but it seemed he would have to rely on himself for this second trial. After Wang Lin pondered for a bit, his face darkened. With his mere Core Formation cultivation, it was simply too dangerous here, but if he were go to back, it would be even more dangerous.

If he wanted to live, he would have to force his way forward. Wang Lin pondered for a bit and then his eyes lit up. He didn’t continue forward but instead turned back and carefully went through the gap between the two restrictions. He continued to go back until he was at the foot of the mountain again.

At the very bottom of the mountain, where the first restrictions appeared, he knelt down and carefully studied the restriction.

This was a patch of grass about a dozen feet wide. There were many patches of grass like this here at the foot of the mountain, but there were less patches of grass higher up the mountain. At first glance, there was nothing special about it, but when Wang Lin took a closer look, he could see that the grass here contained a mysterious order.

Wang Lin carefully examined each blade of grass. When he finished, he recorded his thoughts in a jade.

Using three days of time, he record details of every blade of grass. He wanted to use this to find a way to break through the restriction.

Wang Lin knew that if he were to try to break through by force, there would be no hope for him to reach the top. It would be an impossible task for him.

Also, the higher one climbs, the more powerful the restrictions become. There will be a point where there will be no way to get around the restrictions. If he didn’t prepare ahead of time, he would die for sure.

If he wanted to pass this trial, he would have to learn to control the restrictions on this mountain. The more he understands about restrictions, the higher his chance for survival. There was no other way.

This was why Wang Lin came back down and began to study the first restriction in detail.

Restrictions are very different from formations. Formations use very specific methods to create a very specific effect. The components used in a formation are very complex. If one tries to study it by force, they will only gain an elementary understanding.

Restrictions are considered a type of formation, only they are much more versatile. They can change based on the will of the user. Restrictions are much like divine sense in a way.

Powerful cultivators can place down restrictions with just their divine sense. Even after hundreds of thousands of years, as long as the divine sense isn’t destroyed, then those restrictions will still be active.

Sometimes even if the user is dead, the divine sense in a restriction will form its own consciousness and continue to maintain the restriction.

Restrictions are always changing. Almost no one but the caster can completely see through them. There are two ways to get through a restriction. The first is to break through by force, but that is not something ordinary people can do.

The second method is to research it. Once you understand the principle and rules of the restriction to a certain degree, you will naturally be able to open the restriction.

Wang Lin was using the second method.

After recording the first restriction onto the jade, he carefully studied what he had recorded. Luckily, he learned the basics of formations during the time he was a soul devourer, so he wasn’t completely lost when studying this.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Time slowly passed. Ten days later, when Wang Lin was staring at this area, his right hand suddenly grabbed the grass. The grass then started to move. However, Wang Lin seemed to have already seen this coming and moved with the grass.

His right hand moved to the left, then it moved to the right, and his other hand joined in as well. At a glance, it looked like he was moving without any pattern, but upon closer inspection, he was moving in sync with the grass.

In just a few breaths of time, the speed at which his right hand was moving had reached some kind of limit and started to create afterimages. Most of the time, when one afterimage appeared, the previous one had already disappeared.

Ten breaths later, sweat appeared on his forehead and he was completely focused. He quickly pulled back his right hand and a ray of red light appeared. It was chasing his right hand.

While Wang Lin pulled his hand back he suddenly began to move his hand once more. The red light became weaker and weaker until it finally disappeared.

When he withdrew his right hand, it was completely numb. Wang Lin looked toward the grass. It had already returned to normal without anything out of place.

The restriction here was to kill anyone that tried to enter. If one had a high enough cultivation level to charge through by force, then that red light would appear and chase the person until it killed them.

After studying the restriction for a few days, Wang Lin gained a basic understanding of it. This time, it was just an experiment. He had conducted experiments like this more than ten times in the past few days.

He could only last three breaths the first time he tried, and he would be injured by the red light when he did. Now he could last ten breaths and was able to stop the red light. Wang Lin believed that if he had just a bit more time, he would be able to break through.

This means that if he were to completely enter the restriction, he could survive for ten breaths of time, and if he leaves it within that ten breath period, then even the red light couldn’t stop him.

Wang Lin became excited. Although this restriction was the simplest one on this mountain, he believed he had found the right path. As long as he continued down this path, then it wasn’t be impossible to leave this place.

If Wang Lin’s original purpose for learning restrictions was to leave this place, then now he had one more goal. The more he researched, the more he became interested in restrictions. He had never thought about how powerful restrictions could be.

For example, the restrictions in the grass here; although Wang Lin could safely pass through it, he couldn’t place one down himself because he hadn’t completely understood it yet. Once he completely masters the restriction and can make it his own, then he can place it down himself.

Although it wouldn’t be as powerful as this one, the strange nature of the restriction wouldn’t be any weaker.

Wang Lin took a deep breath. His face contained a hint of excitement while he became absorbed in his research. One month later, Wang Lin put away the jades and walked into the grass.

The moment he entered, the grass suddenly began to move and a red mist appeared. Every blade of grass began to move violently before flying up like sharp weapons and disappearing within the red mist.

At the same time, howls came from all directions while sharp weapons rained down on Wang Lin.

Wang Lin remained calm and paid no attention to the weapons at all. He continued to walk like it was his own backyard as all of the weapons closed in.

Wang Lin casually waved his right hand. Although it looked very slow, his hand mysteriously has already arrived before the weapons. If there was someone else looking in from the outside, they would be shocked. This was only possible if someone had gained full understanding of the restriction.

Wang Lin didn’t know any special techniques, but he knew that his hand would be faster than the weapons, and he became faster by thinking he was faster.

As his hand waved, he drew a circle. This simple action was the fruit of Wang Lin’s research. Although it looked like a simple circle, his hand made thousands of different seals all in one go without any pauses while he drew it.

After this circle was completed, all of those weapons slowed down, turned back into grass, and flew around Wang Lin.

Wang Lin’s expression was still calm. From the moment he entered, he always walked at the same calm pace, and even now it was no different.

As he walked forward, the patch of grass parted in the middle like it wouldn’t dare to block him. When he was about to leave the area, red lights appeared in the red mist around him. Wang Lin suddenly reached up with his right hand and grabbed.

All of the red lights stopped like they were all caught by a giant hand and crushed to bits. The red lights quickly gathered again, but this time they formed a road under Wang Lin’s feet that led to the outside of the restriction.

Wang Lin’s expression remained normal as he walked on the red road and out of the restriction.

He let out a laugh when he walked out of the restriction. After spending all this time, he finally completely understood this restriction and made it his own. His interest for restrictions had reached its peak. He looked back at the restriction with a mocking expression and moved his hand within it.

The restriction suddenly shook, and the movement of the grass changed. If one were to look at it closely, they would see that the movement was more complex than before.

Wang Lin muttered to himself, “If someone appears behind me, they will have to be careful!” With his understanding of the restriction, he added another layer onto it.

From now on, whenever someone enters that restriction, no matter what they do, they will trigger his second restriction. With the addition of that second restriction, there was a chance that someone will die in that patch of grass.

Of course, if they use the same method as Wang Lin, then the difficulty of researching the restriction would also increase.

Wang Lin looked around with a cold smile on his face. He suddenly moved to another patch of grass and increased the difficulty of the restriction in that one. He kept doing this until every patch of grass had been tampered with.

After doing all of this, Wang Lin pondered for a bit. He felt like this wasn’t enough and sealed all of the gaps between the restrictions. This means that if someone wished to enter, they would have to walk through the restrictions.

After finishing all of this, Wang Lin began to walk up the mountain.

At this very moment, Six Desire Devil Lord was staring at the thick cloud before him. This cloud had been there for three days. No matter what Six Desire Devil Lord did, he couldn’t make it scatter.

He expression was gloomy. On his side stood the young man who came with him. The young man stood there, dazed, and just stared at the fog.

Six Desire Devil Lord looked at the young man and then looked behind him before letting out a cold smile. The first trial he had entered was the ice trial, which he was very familiar with. Although he didn’t have Ancient Emperor’s treasure, how could he not be prepared after 1000 years?

Back then, he said that he was able to take everyone through the second half of the ice trial. If he said it, than he was 100% confident he could do it.

The truth was that 500 years ago, he obtained a treasure that allowed him to use the water escape technique, which had the same effect as Wang Qingyue’s earth boat.

As a result, with his cultivation and his understanding of the ice trial, he easily passed through it with the young man.

As for the Road of No Return between the first and second trials, it was also no problem for him. Although he almost died the first time he came here, he had now mastered the Six Desire Demonic Cultivation Method. The thing he was least afraid of now were things that messed with his emotions. He had researched a lot about emotions.

The Road of No Return was like child’s play to him. If it wasn’t for him having to protect the young man, it wouldn’t have taken any time.

Although protecting one person made it a bit slower, the result was still the same.

The one thing that made him worry was this second trial, the so called Restriction Mountain. The reason it was called Restriction Mountain was because the entire mountain was covered in restrictions, and the higher up one climbs, the more powerful the restrictions become.

Back then, the four of them arrived here with other powerful cultivators and were able to get through. However, many died because they were forced by the powerful cultivators to test the power of the restrictions.

If Six Desire Devil Lord hadn’t come with his master, it probably would have been hard for him to escape death in this place.

However, his master was the main force in breaking the restrictions. His master was a master of restrictions and formations who had studied and broke the restrictions until 1000 feet before the exit. However, he wasn’t able to get any further. In the end, he placed down a restriction on top of it. Then he worked together with the other Soul Formation cultivators to kill a mid stage Soul Formation cultivator. Only by using that cultivator’s body were they able to open a 1000-foot-long tunnel to get through.

This tunnel would only last three breaths of time. The lucky survivors all charged into the tunnel. In the end, only a small group of them made it. Everyone else died.

Every time Six Desire Devil Lord thought about this, he would feel how dangerous it was. Only now that he had finally reached the mid stage of Soul Formation himself did he dare to come here again.

The luck he had in the first trial made Six Desire Devil Lord very confident again. He considered himself lucky because the key to get through the third trial was in his hand. Based on Six Desire Devil Lord’s years of observation, he believed that this person could get him through the third trial, but the price would be the young man’s life.

However, Six Desire Devil Lord didn’t care about this person’s life at all.

What he was worried about was how he would get past those last 1000 feet at the top of the mountain. Although it had been 1000 years and he had prepared, he was only 50% confident.

He had spent most of the last 1000 years studying restrictions, and with his extraordinary memory, he was able to memorize most of the restrictions here. Only after 1000 years did he feel confident in coming here. Along the way, he easily broke through all of the restrictions, but right after he broke through them, he returned them to normal.

He also added more restrictions on top of them. His goal was the same as Wang Lin’s.

However, the restrictions on Restriction Mountain got progressively more complicated as he climbed higher, so Six Desire Devil Lord’s pace gradually became slower. At this point, he had to study the restrictions for a long time before taking one step.

For example, this cloud wasn’t here 1000 years ago, but it was here now, which surprised him.

As for Wang Lin, after 1000 feet, the number of grass patches decreased. What he saw now were black rocks. Wang Lin took the jade out and began to record again.

The restriction on this rock was completely different from the one in the grass. The restriction on the grass was formed by the movement pattern of the grass.

However, this rock was different. Besides some patterns on the rock, there was nothing notable about it. If it wasn’t for the faint spiritual energy it was emitting, it would be impossible to tell that it was a restriction.

Wang Lin looked around and found many similar restrictions nearby. If he wanted to, he could get through them by walking through the gaps between each restriction. However, compared to leaving, Wang Lin preferred to gain a complete understanding of these restrictions instead.

He knew that passing through this area was easy, but he also knew he had to spend a lot of time and effort here if he wished to reach the top of the mountain.

Wang Lin began to carefully research the restriction.

There was no sense of time in the mountain, so in the blink of an eye, seven years had passed. On this day, Wang Lin drank some spirit liquid as he stood on a rock on the side of the mountain. In these past seven years, half of Wang Lin’s hair had turned white.

He had devoted himself to studying restrictions, causing him to be mentally stressed all the time. Four years ago, his hair started turning white at the root.

However, his divine sense also became more powerful under this stress, and he unknowingly entered the mid stage of Core Formation. He was now one step closer to the Nascent Soul stage.

His eyes were even more sharp, and his temperament had changed greatly. If Wang Lin was like never-melting ice seven years ago, then now he was also impossible to see through.

This feeling came from his eyes. His eyes seemed to be able to see everything, and there were stars within them that would sometimes flash. If Duanmu Ji saw Wang Lin now, he probably wouldn’t believe it. These were the divine sense eyes that were only obtained once someone had reached a certain level of mastery in restrictions.

Wang spent these past seven years refining his eyes. In these seven years, he had encountered countless restrictions. All of them required him to carefully study and examine them. He was almost killed by those restrictions many times.

This was especially true for some restrictions that clearly had other restrictions added onto them. Luckily, Wang Lin had always been cautious, so he noticed that these restrictions were different than the ones from the mountain. After carefully studying them, he realized that the person above him was also an expert in restrictions.

Just from looking at the restrictions, Wang Lin could see that this person’s understanding of restrictions was much deeper than his.

However, Wang Lin wasn’t scared at all. His interest in leaving the second trial had decreased a lot. From his point of view, this was the dreamland for learning restrictions. The way the restrictions became progressively more complex meant that a person could start at the basics and work their way up

This kind of place was almost impossible to find. The restrictions went from simple to difficult. It was a very valuable place.