Chapter 181 - The Outbreak of Restrictions

Ancient Emperor’s body was motionless as he took a careful look. He couldn’t help but curse out, “This is another series of restrictions. This person is devious beyond all reason!”

He waved his right hand and four white flags appeared. They rotated once and landed on his four sides.

His eyes suddenly darkened. Under the direction of his hands, the four flags suddenly started to enlarge. The flags moved around as they produced white snakes that floated to Wang Lin’s location.

Those white snakes circled around for a while, until one of them pointed at a rock nearby.

Wang Lin was calm as he sat within his many restrictions. He wasn’t nervous or surprised at all. He felt very confident in the restriction techniques he’d been developing for the past ten years. If the restrictions were laid last minute, they might not fool the target. These restrictions took him a year to set up though.

Because of this, even though Ancient Emperor was using such a unique method, Wang Lin wasn’t nervous at all. He only sneered and stayed motionless.

The spot that Ancient Emperor had noticed was a deliberate weak point left by Wang Lin, and if he didn’t notice that, then he would suffer.

The white snakes twisted themselves together, moving faster and faster, and in the blink of an eye they landed on one of the many restrictions Wang Lin had placed.

The rock looked very ordinary, but under the white light, it slowly disappeared, revealing a small trail for one person to pass.

Ancient Emperor stared at the small trail, but he didn’t head toward it. He waved his right hand, retrieving the white snakes, then started to carefully observe the area.

Given Ancient Emperor’s years of experience breaking restrictions in this mountain, he deduced this restriction must have some devious killing method hidden within. If he wasn’t careful, he might set off some larger restrictions.

As he was very close to the top of the mountain, he would already be struggling with the current restrictions if not for his thousand years of studying them. After this point, it would only get harder.

Ancient Emperor was very careful. He sat down on the ground and used his hand to control the white snakes to slowly break into the restriction.

Wang Lin let out a snort. The distance between him and Ancient Emperor was less than ten feet, but Ancient Emperor didn’t notice him. Even with his divine sense, it would be difficult to notice him. Besides Wang Lin himself, no one else knew how many restrictions he had set up here.

However, given Wang Lin’s temperament, there must’ve been many restrictions set up in the vicinity. In fact, it could be said that all the knowledge he had obtained in the past ten years had been placed here.

After a year, Ancient Emperor was sitting in front of the open trail with an ugly look on his face. He originally thought that the restriction was very complex because it was set by that devious person, but after a month of careful study, he was surprised to find that the restriction was very simple. The sudden change caused him to feel very annoyed. Good thing he had encountered these situations before. He took a deep breath and looked at the top of the mountain. He decided that if he ever met this mysterious person, he would definitely teach them a lesson. His hatred for his man had already turned into an obsession.

But nevertheless, Ancient Emperor was still very careful and still held his breath. That mysterious person was best at sudden changes. Many times what looked to be true would turn out to be false, but every moment he let his guard down, what was false was in fact true.

As a result, Ancient Emperor put all his focus on his surroundings as he walked forward.

He walked toward the trail, but after he moving not even five feet, the rocks around him started shifting. One by one, stone spikes shot toward him like lightning.

When Ancient Emperor saw the stone spikes, he wasn’t surprised, but relieved. He waved his right hand and a blue light surrounded his body. The moment the stone spikes hit the blue light, they turned blue as well.

Looking from a distance, one could see a long trail of intertwining blue stone spikes.

Then, a wind suddenly blew by and all the stone spikes shattered and fell to the ground. The trail was now filled with shards of broken frozen rocks.

Ancient Emperor raised his foot and walked toward the exit. As he was about reach the exit, deep in the restriction, an illusionary circle appeared in Wang Lin’s hand. As long as he threw the circle, he could trigger all the nearby restrictions to attack.

Although the chance of killing Ancient Emperor was low, it would at least be able to wound him.

After musing over the idea for a while, Wang Lin put away the illusionary circle and allowed Ancient Emperor to leave the restriction. The reason why he didn’t set off the restrictions was because he didn’t want to tip the balance. If Ancient Emperor was wounded, he would look for a place to heal, and unless something threatened his life, he wouldn’t move. This wouldn’t adhere to Wang Lin’s best interest.

However, Wang Lin still decided to act against Ancient Emperor. He created another illusionary circle and sent it out. The circle spread out, creating a myriad of afterimages. At this moment, all the restrictions Wang Lin had placed were activated.

Due to Ancient Emperor’s extensive study on restrictions, he noticed something was amiss when he was more than half way out of the trail. He detected layers and layers of restrictions going off. The amount of restrictions was enough to numb his skull. His face suddenly turned very ugly as he dashed toward the exit.

Meanwhile, all the restrictions activated.

Rays of colorful lights appeared on the mountainside. They all flew toward Ancient Emperor.

Ancient Emperor’s face looked pale. He knew that the colorful lights had no attack power. However, the moment he gets hit, he will be teleported to wherever the person who set the restriction wanted him to be.

Ancient Emperor quickly waved his right hand and four small flags appeared. He regrettably looked at the flags and spit out a mouthful of spiritual energy. The four flags started to rotate and a black tunnel appeared before them.

Right before the colorful light had arrived, Ancient Emperor jumped into the dark tunnel and appeared ten feet away.

After he left the restriction, he suddenly accelerated forward, sweat glistening on his brow. He turned around with a sullen face and saw that the restriction had already returned to normal.

He stayed silent, then turned around and walked away as the four flags revolved around him.

Wang Lin’s eyes were on the flags the entire time. The reason he attacked was because all these old fellows were extremely crafty. If they pass by without any obstruction, they would grow suspicious at the change.

Might as well attack and put him in some danger to avoid any suspicion. After all, this mountain was full of restrictions. It was only natural to break them in order to pass.

Only, Wang Lin didn’t realize how powerful the flags were. They were able to create a hole in the restrictions to escape from the lights. Those flags must be Ancient Emperor’s trump card in passing restrictions.

Wang Lin thought for a moment and continued to sit there. His eyes were focused on the giant whirlpool at the top of the mountain.

Six Desire Devil Lord was currently 100 feet away from the top of the mountain, his face dark. If it wasn’t for that youngster, he would have arrived at this point two years ago.

Even for him, he wouldn’t dare to trigger the restrictions at this point. Before, there was a failure in breaking a restriction that triggered a teleportation light to shoot at him. This type of thing was what he hated the most. If he had been teleported, it would be hard to survive. With no time to dodge, he used the youth he brought with him as a shield to escape.

Six Desire Devil Lord didn’t care whether or not the youth lived. However, he had spent much sweat and blood on him. So when the youth was taken away by the light, he chased after him, and after much trouble, was able to recover the youth.

The youth was standing next to him, eyes closed with no sign of life. In fact, the moment the teleporting light hit him, he was already killed by the restriction.

But strangely, the youth still followed Six Desire Devil Lord. Six Desire Devil Lord looked back and sneered as he felt another one of his restrictions broken by the person behind him.

This person had continuously broken through the restrictions he had set up. They had already become the greatest enemy in his heart. He licked his lips and thought to himself, “This must be Ancient Emperor. If it wasn’t for all these restrictions around here, this would be a good time to kill him. But I have placed a few super strong restrictions in these hundred feet. I want to see if you can break them.” He looked at the youth at his side and sneered.

His eyes shifted back to the restrictions on the whirlpool. Even with his abilities, it was impossible to break through. Even his master was stopped at this point.

This time, Six Desire Devil Lord had the confidence to come here. How could he not be more prepared. He looked at the youth beside him, let out a proud smile, and said, “I spent hundreds of years creating this killer. You’ll definitely allow me to enter the ancient god’s body.”

He sat down cross-legged. With a wave of his left hand, the youth also sat down cross-legged. Six Desire Devil Lord moved both his hands to form a spiral restriction that surrounded both of them.

On Ancient Emperor’s side, the restrictions got harder and harder as he progressed. If it wasn’t for his current strength, he would already have died.

Even so, he hand to spend a lot of his treasures to come out of those restrictions alive.

Some of the restrictions couldn’t just be cracked anymore, some required massive amounts of spiritual energy to pass through. Ancient Emperor was very gloomy.

As Ancient Emperor walked out of another restriction, he was less than 200 feet away from the top of the mountain. Because there were no more restrictions blocking his sight, he saw Six Desire Devil Lord, who wore a gloomy expression. Behind him was a black whirlpool that lead to who knows where, and in the middle of the whirlpool was the youth that had been following Six Desire Devil Lord.

Six Desire Devil Lord looked at Ancient Emperor. He hadn’t expected him to get up here so quickly. If he had enough time for one incense stick to burn, he could have finished the whirlpool restriction. Although it would only last three breaths, it was more than enough for him.

But at this moment, Ancient Emperor appearing was outside of his expectations. This forced him to change his plan.

Ancient Emperor’s eyes shrunk when he saw the whirlpool. He remembered that this was exactly the same technique that Six Desire Devil Lord’s teacher, Sky Devil, used. It was a restriction technique that could bypass hundreds of restrictions.

“Six Desire…” Ancient Emperor’s eyes were dull as he suppressed his anger. Compared to Six Desire Devil Lord, he wanted to find the mysterious youth even more. His eyes swept the area and landed on the youth. He frowned and said, “Is he the mysterious youth? However, there is no feeling of life coming from him…”

The corner of Six Desire Devil Lord’s mouth twitched and he gently said, “I never expected brother Ancient Emperor would arrive here as well. This is a cause for celebration!”

Ancient Emperor smirked. While suppressing his anger, he said, “It was all thanks to the “help” that you and this youth left behind that this old bag of bones was able to make it here.”

Six Desire Devil Lord looked at the youth, his eyes turned cold, and said, “Brother Ancient Emperor, what do you mean?

Ancient Emperor’s face was sullen, eyeing the restrictions set up by Six Desire Devil Lord, he didn’t say a word.

Six Desire Devil Lord sneered in his heart, but there was no change in his expression, he laughed. “Brother Ancient Emperor, in this place there is only two of us. With our strength, if both of us were to fight, we would definitely trigger many larger restrictions.”

Ancient Emperor stayed silent, then said, “First, remove the restrictions and let me come over.”

Six Desire Devil Lord faltered a bit as he saw the four flags rotating around Ancient Emperor.

Ancient Emperor gave the whirlpool a quick look and sneered, “This tunnel restriction doesn’t seem to be complete. If I were to trigger the nearby restrictions, would the passage close permanently?”

Six Desire Devil Lord’s face didn’t change at all. He nodded his head and smiled. He waved his hand and the restrictions split in half. Since these restrictions were broken by him, he would naturally be able to set them up again.

Ancient Emperor walked forward without saying a word. His eyes never left Six Desire Devil Lord. After he walked more than half way through the restrictions, Ancient Emperor suddenly moved his body. The four white flags created a tunnel, and Ancient Emperor quickly entered it.

The moment Ancient Emperor suddenly made a move, Six Desire Devil Lord closed his hand and the restriction were set up again and activated.

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

But he never thought that Ancient Emperor’s flags were so powerful. The moment the restrictions were set up and activated, Ancient Emperor came out of the tunnel and was only ten feet away.

The moment he appeared, Ancient Emperor didn’t hesitate. A ray of light shot out from his mouth. The light wasn’t aimed at Six Desire Devil Lord but at the youth in the middle of the whirlpool. The reason Ancient Emperor showed his life saving treasure was because his hate for the youth was just monstrous.

Six Desire Devil Lord’s expression changed. Both his hands clapped onto a printed paper and he yelled, “Desire!” Suddenly, yellow light came out of the stomach of the youth, turning into a sword. It slammed into the light shot by Ancient Emperor.

A wave of spiritual energy rippled outward and instantly activated some of the restrictions nearby. With the pressure of the restrictions activating, Ancient Emperor could no longer attack. He quickly set up his own restriction to stop the activations.

Six Desire Devil Lord did the same thing. After a while, the nearby restrictions finally calmed down and were sealed again. Six Desire Devil Lord’s face was very pale as he stared at Ancient Emperor. He savagely said, “If you want to die, just charge into the restriction right now!”

Ancient Emperor had a dark face. He pointed to the youth and said, “I, Ancient Emperor, swear to the heavens that if you give me that youth, I won’t fight you until we reach the third trial.”

Six Desire Devil frowned and thought to himself, “Did he see through it?” However, with his face pale, he said, “He is a dead man. How did he offend you?”

Ancient Emperor let out a loud laugh. “Dead man? Even if he is a dead man, this old man still wants to have a go.”

“With his body, even if I have to use up all my strength, I’ll drag his soul back here. Offend me? The hatred this old man has for him can’t even be described!”

Six Desire Devil Lord frowned. He looked at the youth and said, “Brother Ancient Emperor, this has to be a misunderstanding…”

Ancient Emperor sneered, “Misunderstanding? Ever since this old man entered the second realm, I have encountered two types of restrictions. One was set by you. If the other wasn’t set by him, then who else could have? Also, this old man has been breaking through many of his restrictions and knows that his strength isn’t beyond the Nascent Soul stage, so you tell me, who, besides him, who else has entered this place that hasn’t already passed the Nascent Soul stage? And if you want to tell me it’s that kid Wang Lin, both of us saw him sink into the void. Even if he didn’t die, do you think that someone only at the Core Formation stage could pass the first trial and the bridge and be in front of me?”

Ancient Emperor quickly let out all that he had thought for the past few years. He had been analyzing who this mysterious youth could be, and in the end decided that it was the youth beside Six Desire Devil Lord. Only he had the qualifications.

Six Desire Devil Lord carefully analyzed what Ancient Emperor said, and realized that if what Ancient Emperor said was true, then within this realm there wasn’t just the three of them, but a fourth as well.

If this was true, it would cause a lot of misfortune in the future. This person also didn’t come up himself, but allowed Ancient Emperor to pass him. His motive was obvious.

As he was thinking this, he secretly cursed at how stupid Ancient Emperor was. Without saying a word, he charged toward the whirlpool. Ancient Emperor let out a cry, waved his hand, and produced a light that blocked Six Desire Devil Lord’s path.

Six Desire Devil Lord hated him from the bottom of his heart, but this wasn’t the place to fight. He glanced at what was behind Ancient Emperor and sent a mental message.

Ancient Emperor’s face changed and he replied, “Are you sure?”

Six Desire Devil Lord didn’t speak, but cut his finger to let out a drop of blood. He waved his finger and the blood emitted a flame. The flame slowly drifted toward Ancient Emperor.

Ancient Emperor was silent, then he too sent out a drop of blood. As the two collided, they formed a symbol and flew back to their respective owner’s hand.

This was the Sea of Devil’s highest vow, known as the Devil Heart Oath. Ancient Emperor’s face darkened as he said, “Is it really him? Impossible!”

Six Desire Devil Lord also had a sullen look. He sneered, “It doesn’t matter if it’s possible, it’s better if the two of us quickly leave this place.”

Right as his finished speaking, his face suddenly changed. Not caring about Ancient Emperor, he suddenly appeared next to the youth, grabbed his arm, and was about to step into the whirlpool.

“Too Late!” Said a cold voice from all sides. Suddenly, within 300 feet of the mountain top, numerous illusionary circles appeared. They smashed through all the restrictions nearby.

Wang Lin was sitting on a boulder 500 feet away. For the past year, he had been storing up illusionary circles within his many restrictions. Now he suddenly released his restrictions and all the illusionary circles came out of them and crashed into all the restrictions within 200 feet of him.

One could even say that every restriction Wang Lin had set up was to store illusionary circles. Under all the pressure caused by the illusionary circles, Six Desire Devil Lord and Ancient Emperor were suddenly put into a disadvantage.

Six Desire Devil Lord was very good at tricking people, but in the end he was tricked by someone else. As for Ancient Emperor, he was mislead from the beginning because he thought deep down in his heart that Wang Lin was just too weak. It was no wonder this misunderstanding happened.

At that moment, he finally came to a realization. There was deep hatred in his eyes.

All the restrictions within 300 feet of the mountaintop were activated. Suddenly, rays of light, giant fireballs, magic swords that would even cause immortal gods to have a headache, and spots of colorful light that gave off very strong death auras came from all sides.

With all the widespread restrictions going off, it even triggered the restriction in the sky. Suddenly, massive black clouds appeared, descending to the mountain top. Flashes of lightning could be seen.

Even more, there was a ring of black light formed 300 feet around the mountain top that shot upwards and contracted. Everything that the black ring touched was destroyed, even the restrictions set up by the mountain.

Even Wang Lin was stunned by what happened. He never imagined that setting off so many restrictions would have such a weird effect, especially that black ring that contained very strong destructive power.

Once the restrictions near the mountain top were triggered, they had only one mission: to kill every living thing within the area.

According to Wang Lin’s analysis, there were many restrictions set up between him and the other two. If Ancient Emperor and Six Desire Devil Lord gave up on the mountain and came down to find him, then around him he still had hundreds of illusionary circles, enough to trigger all the restrictions in the mountain.

If anything, he could just leave the mountain and wait for all the restrictions to quiet down before ascending the mountain again.

But now, it seemed all his preparation was pointless. Unless Six Desire Devil Lord and Ancient Emperor were crazy, they would never consider coming back here as the ring of black light that was quickly flying up and contracting was far too intimidating.

According to Wang Lin’s plan, whether Six Desire Devil Lord or Ancient Emperor made it past the second barrier was of no importance. The reason why he let Ancient Emperor pass was because the restrictions up ahead were simply too hard for him to crack. He also wanted to test just how powerful the restrictions within the last 500 feet were to help him crack them in the future.

Although Wang Lin’s objective was complete, he couldn’t help but stare at the ring of black light. The ring of black light was completely outside of his expectations. He couldn’t help but stare at it.

“What is that thing?!” Six Desire Devil Lord only took one look at the black ring and his scalp tingled. Without saying another word, he grabbed the youth. The moment his body was about to touch the whirlpool, it was hit by all the surrounding restrictions and collapsed the whirlpool. He was dumbfounded as he stared at the collapsing whirlpool. He turned his head in fury, looking at Wang Lin’s location. However, the area was covered in a fog, so he was unable to see who was within.

He knew that he was running out of time. He quickly threw out five stones from his bag. They quickly formed five curtains of light around him as he charged toward the mountain top.

As for Ancient Emperor, he also saw the black light and became extremely wary. He took out four more flags. Adding on to the four flags from before, there were now eight flags rapidly rotating around his body. The attacks from the restrictions nearby were absorbed by them. His thought was the same as Six Desire Devil Lord, to charge forward and not turn back.

The two started rushing toward the top almost simultaneously.

Six Desire Devil Lord was very fast with the five stones forming a light screen around him, protecting him from the restrictions. However, a few attacks still passed through the light screen and hit him, causing him to be in a sorry state as he charged forward a few dozen feet.

Ancient Emperor was in the same situation, only whenever the attacks hit his flags, his face would turn uglier.

The black light was just one step behind, rapidly contracting. The clouds in the sky also thickened as a ball of purple lightning was sent flying.

Lightning suddenly appeared in the cloud and then it crashed down toward the mountain top.

A thunderous noise resonated as the ball of purple lightning rapidly approached Six Desire Devil Lord. The light screen was unable to withstand the blow, and the five stones started to break one by one.

Six Desire Devil Lord’s eyes were red. He grab the youth next to him with his right hand and raised him up to block the purple ball of lightning. As the lightning was about to strike, the youth’s eyes suddenly opened. There was no light in these eyes. He opened his mouth and swallowed the lightning ball.

Shortly after, there was a thunderous roar coming from inside the youth as his skin cracked. Six Desire Devil Lord was very excited as he didn’t expect this thing to be able to block the purple lightning. He quickly continued forward.

Wang Lin’s pupils shrank as he stared at the body of the youth. He felt a flash of fear in his heart. Six Desire Devil Lord was clearly afraid of the purple lightning, yet this youth’s body was not destroyed by it.

Wang Lin sighed. He once again looked at the black light. He clenched his teeth and produced more than ten illusionary circles that he sent toward the black light and began his analysis.

Ancient Emperor shot one look at the youth, and fear filled his heart. It seemed Six Desire Devil Lord didn’t lie to him, and the youth was really that thing…

A look of greed appeared in his eyes. He was only 50 feet from the mountain top. He took a deep breath and waved his hand. The eight flags started to spin faster and suddenly a black tunnel appeared before him.

He moved into the black tunnel and appeared at the top of the mountain. He let out a laugh. As he was about to enter the exit of the second realm, Six Desire Devil Lord arrived as well.

How could the restrictions within 100 feet of the peak be so easily passed? The only reason those two were able to rush here was not only because of their own cultivation level, but also the treasures that they held.

These two things were the two secret weapons the two brought this time to break through the realms.

Not to mention the body of the youth, the flags Ancient Emperor had were from a sect in the rank 5 country of Xiu Zhen famous for its restrictions.

The eight flags could form numerous different restrictions depending on the combination. If it wasn’t for Ancient Emperor not knowing many combinations, his trip up the mountain wouldn’t be as pathetic.

However, in terms of speed of comprehension between the three, Ancient Emperor was still the fastest. That in of itself presented a problem.

These flags took Ancient Emperor a great deal of effort to acquire.

If he had these flags a thousand years ago, then the death and injury rate wouldn’t have been so high.

But needless to say, the restrictions within 100 feet were no joke. As the two were about to step into the whirlpool, all the attacks came at once while the cloud in the sky sent countless lightning strikes down.

Even the speed of the black light increased, contracting even faster.

Wang Lin suddenly stood up and rushed forward. Originally, he didn’t plan on getting within 300 feet, but now was a rare opportunity, and if he missed it now, he might regret it forever. Wang Lin’s eyes showed extreme focus as he formed dozens of illusionary circles that surrounded him. But right after, he suddenly stopped and just stared straight ahead, then slowly allowed the circles to disperse.

Wang Lin forced himself to stop, because he knew that if he was struck by even one lightning bolt, he would be destroyed. It wasn’t worth the risk.

Also, Six Desire Devil Lord and Ancient Emperor were both at the soul formation. He must not rush out. Although time is precious, the hatred the two held for him was deep. He might not be able to escape death. There was also the fact that if that black light wouldn’t disappear on its own, he didn’t have the confidence that he could break it.

Wang Lin’s heart calmed down as he stared at the two. He decided that he must be very cautious.

As Six Desire Devil Lord was about to enter the whirlpool, more than 10 lightning strikes came down. He quickly used the youth’s body to block them, but was still hit by a few. He spit out a mouthful of blood. His cultivation was instantly decreased by one level permanently, and one of the arms of the youth body was sent flying by the lightning. However, Six Desire Devil Lord clenched his teeth and disappeared into the whirlpool.

As the arm flew out, it hit the black light and began to smoke. Once it landed outside the black light, there was no longer any flesh or blood on it. What remained was the bone with specks of golden light on it. However the bone was broken. It seemed the black light was even able to damage the bone.

Meanwhile, Ancient Emperor was also targeted by more than 10 lightning balls. His 8 flags scattered. He had to sacrifice four of the flags as he rushed into the whirlpool. However, one of the lightning balls followed him closely and hit him right as he entered the whirlpool.

Wang Lin felt a chill as he stared at the arm. He quickly slammed the bag he was holding on the ground. Roars could be heard as little beasts came out. They formed a tornado three feet tall.

Wang Lin pointed his right hand, directing the tornado to quickly leave the fog and fly up to the mountaintop. It followed closely behind the black light so there was no obstruction, then it picked up the arm that separated from the youth Six Desire Devil Lord kept by his side and quickly retreated.

However, before it could make it back, a bolt of purple lightning destroyed the tornado, leaving only the bone behind.

From the time Six Desire Devil Lord and Ancient Emperor rushed up to the mountain top and into the whirlpool, very little time had passed. In fact, it happened so fast that normal people couldn’t even fathom the speed. As the two entered the whirlpool, the surrounding area immediately began to calm down. The black clouds disappeared and the black light sitting at the top also slowly descended down the mountain. All the restrictions returned to normal. However, considering the fluctuation of spiritual energy, it would take at least a thousand years before they could return to their full power.

Wang Lin stared at the piece of bone. He knew that the piece of bone won’t be able to stand the black light a second time. He noticed the black clouds had disappeared, so he rush out and quickly grabbed the bone before the black light came back.

He quickly turned back without stopping.

The black ring diffused until 300 feet, then suddenly disappeared. Wang Lin’s forehead was full of cold sweat. He checked the restrictions at 300 feet from the top and immediately noticed the difference.

Wang Lin returned to his boulder and sat down. When he first saw the golden spots, he immediately thought of the golden bone that emerged from Beastmaster’s forehead.

He looked at the bone and applied a little pressure. The bone had already been damaged by the lightning and the black light, thus it was extremely weak. Under Wang Lin’s pressure, the bone cracked and shattered, leaving 8 grains of golden particles.

There wasn’t any sign of spiritual power on the bone. Wang Lin began to ponder.