Chapter 2837 Realm of Exile

In the third year of Lin Xun’s confinement...

Within his secluded abode, a spacetime portal no larger than a foot hovered silently before him. It was the Gate of Exile, condensed and refined to its utmost limit. Years ago, through endless trials, Lin Xun found that the smaller the gate’s size, the longer it could endure.

Thus, for the past few years, he had devoted himself to unravelling its mysteries, studying, deducing and perfecting this innate divine power. After countless trials and refinements, he had finally compressed the Gate of Exile, inch by inch, until it was no larger than a foot across.

As a result, the Gate of Exile could now remain open for seven and a half minutes! Moreover, he could now control its size at will and even shift its position, making it appear wherever he wished.

It was also done as naturally as moving his own arm! This was progress beyond imagination. Originally, he had pursued this refinement in order to enter the world within the Gate of Exile to uncover its hidden truths.

However, through this process, his mastery over the art had undergone an astonishing transformation. His control over this forbidden power had advanced by leaps and bounds, beyond anything he had imagined. This was an unexpected harvest.

Now, gazing at the one-foot-wide Gate of Exile, a bold and dangerous idea surfaced in Lin Xun’s mind.

If one day this gate could be compressed to the size of a speck of light and unleashed like a sword, would it not exile anything it touched instantly, even through an enemy’s defense? Conversely, if the Gate of Exile were to expand without limit...could it swallow mountains and rivers, engulf whole cities, or even devour a region of heaven and earth and an entire world?

Unfortunately, he remained confined. Were he free, he would have long since tested how vast an expanse the Gate of Exile could truly envelop.

Seven and a half minutes passed. The Gate of Exile slowly unraveled, dissolving into a soft rain of light.

Lin Xun exhaled deeply and sat cross-legged in meditation. Sustaining the gate demanded an enormous toll on his cultivation. Fortunately, he had Sun Moon Immortal Pills to replenish what was spent.

Otherwise, with his monthly allowance suspended for ten years, it would have been impossible to practice the Gate of Exile so often, let alone maintain his daily cultivation.

A day later, with his strength returned to its peak, Lin Xun opened his eyes and drew another deep breath.

Buzz!

With a single thought, the one foot Gate of Exile quietly appeared. Without hesitation, Lin Xun dissolved into a streak of light and dived straight into the gate. In the blink of an eye, he vanished. Within the dwelling, only the Gate of Exile floated quietly in the air.

As though the heavens had turned and the stars had shifted, he had crossed into another world. In an instant, a dark and murky world unfolded before his eyes. The earth below was crisscrossed with ravines and bottomless chasms that stretched beyond sight.

The heavens were smothered beneath a heavy, ink-black gloom that pressed down upon the heart. The horizon faded into a gray, endless blur, the vast earth stretching on without boundary or end. Standing amid it, Lin Xun felt as insignificant as a grain of sand in an endless desert. Apart from that faint sense of insignificance, he felt no discomfort at all.

“So this is the world inside the Gate of Exile?” He swept his gaze around.

The forbidden divine power Gate of Exile was shrouded in mystery, utterly unlike the Omega Lord’s divine power Blade of Time. For years, Lin Xun had wondered what lay beyond this door, and whether the enemies he had exiled here were still alive or long dead.

Now, he would finally see the answer with his own eyes. Without hesitation, he strode forward. The Gate of Exile could only stand for seven and a half minutes. He had to return before then. Once that time passed, even he himself had no way to leave.

Shua!

Like a streak of light, he swept through the vast, gray expanse, his spirit sense spreading out to probe every corner of this world. Before long, a thunderous rumble echoed from the distant dark heavens.

He shot toward the sound and saw two millstones suspended above a colossal ravine, one black, one white. Each was a thousand feet across, revolving in opposite directions, grinding against one another with deafening force. The void around them buckled and shattered beneath the crushing power.

Lin Xun’s pupils contracted sharply. The moment he saw the pair of black and white millstones, information flooded his mind: Corpse Severing Millstones! They were manifestations of the Principle of Annihilation.

All who were exiled to this world would have their bodies and souls ground to dust beneath the Corpse Severing Millstones!

“So all those enemies I’ve cast into exile over the years were ground to dust by this?” A chill crawled up Lin Xun’s spine. At the same moment, his spirit sense quivered with a strange resonance, as though the Corpse Severing Millstones were now an extension of his own being.

A thought stirred.

Boom!

The black and white millstones surged into the air, whirling madly between heaven and earth. The crushing force they unleashed twisted the very fabric of space until the surrounding void buckled and collapsed. From the point where the millstones met erupted an even more terrifying devouring force, as if to drag all existence into their grinding annihilation!

Unbelievable...

“Stop!” At Lin Xun’s command, the Corpse Severing Millstones halted midair, then slowly drifted back to hang above the vast ravine once more. However, when he attempted to stow them away, he found he could not. In other words, the Corpse Severing Millstones could only function within this realm and could not be taken beyond it.

“Interesting.” Lin Xun murmured.

After a brief thought, he pressed onward. Before long, a radiant mountain emerged in the distance, haloed by auspicious clouds. On its cliff face, a dazzling host of divine weapons danced in the air: dao swords, battle blades, divine seals, scrolls, horsetail whisks, gourds, vases, halberds... There were hundreds in number, each brimming with divine light.

When Lin Xun extended his spirit sense, understanding dawned. Treasure Drop Cliff! All those who were exiled to this realm would have their bodies obliterated by the Corpse Severing Millstones, and every treasure they carried would be sealed within this cliff. Thus it came to be known as Treasure Drop Cliff.

As Lin Xun’s thoughts stirred again, a strange and terrifying power burst forth from Treasure Drop Cliff. Brilliant and multicoloured flames flared skyward, flooding the gray heavens with light. The Treasure Drop Principle! It was an unfathomable power that suppressed and restrained the spirit of every treasure beneath the heavens!

Feeling the surge of strange energy, Lin Xun couldn’t help but be shaken. A sudden thought surfaced.

Toady’s lifebound treasure, the Treasure Drop Coin...its essence is akin to the Treasure Drop Law!

Huh?

Then, his eyes lit up as he caught sight of a familiar treasure. It was a short blade, its edge as thin and clear as a cicada’s wing, radiating a faint, illusory aura of time. It flickered in and out of sight among the other treasures, subtle to the point of vanishing.

However, Lin Xun’s heart stirred with excitement. Blade of Light and Shadow! This was a treasure left by his great grandfather, the Omega Lord!

Back in the Sixth Heaven Domain, he had taken it into the Gate of Exile and sealed it away. Lin Xun acted at once, flicking his hand lightly.

Swoosh!

All the treasures suppressed beneath Treasure Drop Cliff surged like a tide, streaming into his grasp. Among them shone the Blade of Light and Shadow.

“Where’s the Divine Magnetic Mountain...” Lin Xun frowned slightly.

He still remembered that day in the Magnetic Wind Belt, one of the forbidden zones in the Rowdy Demon Sea, when he used the Gate of Exile to seize the thousand foot tall Divine Magnetic Mountain. By logic, it too should be found somewhere near Treasure Drop Cliff.

Pondering to himself, Lin Xun pressed on to investigate further. Time slipped quietly away. Even after traversing nearly thirty thousand miles, he still found nothing.

Lin Xun made a swift decision and turned back. Seven and a half minutes had nearly passed; he dared not stay a moment more.

......

Back in his dwelling...

Shua!

The moment he stepped out, the one-foot Gate of Exile expanded slightly, then dissolved into a rain of light. Lin Xun sat quietly, recollecting everything he had seen and felt within. Only now did he confirm it...beyond the gate lay a true secret world!

This was a world that could only be called the Realm of Exile. Within it, he had already discovered two mysterious domains: the Corpse Severing Millstones, imbued with the terrifying Principle of Annihilation, and the Treasure Drop Cliff, suffused with the rare Principle of Treasure Drop.

He now understood that dao principles were a power far higher than dao laws themselves. By now, he had comprehended that laws were born from the power of order, and that the power of order itself arose from the principles of heaven and earth.

In short, dao principles stood above both laws and order.

The Transcendence Realm was the state of breaking free from the restraints of the heaven-and-earth principles that governed an epochal world. Whereas at the Eternal Realm, one could command and wield the very principles of heaven and earth themselves!

This meant that both the Principle of Annihilation and the Principle of Treasure Drop were powers far beyond Lin Xun’s current comprehension. Despite that, within the Realm of Exile, he wielded them as though he were their sovereign!

He had a strong premonition that the Realm of Exile held far more secrets than these. Beyond the Corpse Severing Millstones and the Treasure Drop Cliff, countless hidden wonders were surely waiting to be uncovered. He resolved that in the days to come, he would delve deep into the Realm of Exile and uncover every secret it concealed.

With that thought, he sat cross-legged on the ground, closed his eyes and sank into meditation. At the same time, he took out the Blade of Light and Shadow and examined it closely. Years ago, Mister Lu had explained that the blade could channel the power of time because it was forged with a hundred thousand pounds of Divine Magnetic Iron! Without it, no treasure could possibly withstand the corrosion and destruction of temporal power.

Lin Xun clearly remembered what Mister Lu had told him back then: The Grand Abyss Heaven Devourer bloodline was deeply tied to the power of time. Only by awakening the fourth stage of that innate divine talent could one condense the power of time into laws and engrave them upon one’s life-bound weapon.

Then, with every motion in battle, he could wield the very power of time itself! Mister Lu had also left behind nine forbidden dao diagrams, designed to refine Divine Magnetic Iron and condense the laws of time!

Lin Xun currently had no shortage of Divine Magnetic Iron. When he explored the Rowdy Demon Sea, he took the Divine Magnetic Mountain and harvested one hundred thousand pounds of Divine Magnetic Iron.

Unfortunately, he had still not awakened the fourth stage of his innate talent, and thus could not transform the power of time into laws...

Even after three years of tempering the Limitless Abyss Sword Cauldron, he had been unable to imbue it with the power of time. Now, gazing at the Blade of Light and Shadow, he could only sigh helplessly.

What exactly is the fourth stage power?

For the past three years, he had pondered this question, yet the answer continued to elude him. Even now, having refined his mastery of the Gate of Exile to its utmost perfection, there was still no sign of change in his innate divine power.

Casting aside all stray thoughts, Lin Xun put away the Blade of Light and Shadow and sank wholly into meditation. Once his strength recovered, he would once again enter the Realm of Exile.