The intense aftermath of the arena matches was unknown to Jiang Lin.
After the Southern Palace Yama's defense of the arena concluded,
Many ghost envoys, their blood boiling with excitement, immediately jumped onto other small and medium-sized competitive stages.
Forming pairs, they began to spar.
Having watched the top figures compete before, their hands had long been itching.
But...
Not every ghost envoy had the courage to face a Yama-level lord directly.
As some ghost envoys put it: "Just seeing them made my legs go weak. I couldn't move at all."
Let alone fight.
Going up would only bring shame.
It would also be a waste of the Yama's time.
If they became impatient, they might just swat them away.
Didn't they see the Black Impermanence Captain get instantly killed in one move?
"Holy crap! This arena really does suppress cultivation levels!"
"My ghost qi was already low, and they actually halved it!"
"So fighting here is this difficult!"
"Has the eighteenth team always trained like this? Amazing!"
Amidst the astonished exclamations of the ghost envoys,
The high-level ghost envoys also dispersed.
Some went to cultivate, some to meditate, some to work...
Jiang Lin also headed to the advanced cultivation room.
Firstly, to digest what he had seen, heard, and felt during the arena matches.
Secondly, to integrate the three wisps of divine power within him.
After witnessing the power of the Southern Palace Yama, Jiang Lin was now filled with motivation.
It wasn't just him...
It was likely that many high-level ghost envoys would be unable to sleep tonight.
...
"Open an advanced cultivation room."
"Certainly, here is your access card, please keep it safe."
While checking in at the cultivation room front desk, Jiang Lin couldn't help but recall the last time.
He had stayed for over five days.
Directly consuming over sixty advanced cultivation cards.
To avoid repeating the same mistake,
This time, as soon as Jiang Lin entered the cultivation room, he placed an hourglass in the corner for timing.
In case he lost track of time.
With all preparations made, Jiang Lin then sat cross-legged in the center of the cultivation room.
Closing his eyes, he introspected the various powers within his body.
—Ghost qi, divine power, and the gray gas.
As before, amidst the vast ghost qi, the three newly acquired divine powers and the gray gas,
The three coexisted harmoniously yet remained entirely independent.
You are you, I am me.
Like roommates living in the same house.
Jiang Lin took a deep breath, first calming his excitement from the recent arena matches.
Then, he carefully recalled the process of integrating divine power and ghost qi.
'Whether it's divine power or ghost qi... at their core, they are all a form of 'qi' in the heavens and earth.'
'One is spiritual energy, the other is Yin energy.'
'Their essence is energy bodies.'
As he savored the feeling from that time, he drew out a wisp from the vast ghost qi.
It materialized on his left hand.
He then mobilized a wisp of divine power, condensing it in his right hand.
Under his gaze, that wisp of divine power gradually changed.
As if it were being deconstructed, revealing its most primitive, most essential form before Jiang Lin's eyes.
Divine Power - Spiritual Energy - [Qi].
Jiang Lin reached out and drew out the [Qi].
He merged it into the wisp of ghost qi in his left hand.
In an instant,
The two forces, like two streams of clear water, naturally combined.
Forming a chaotic gray gas.
It appeared contained, yet was incredibly dominant.
It directly expelled all the Yin energy lingering in the entire advanced cultivation room to the corners.
They dared not approach.
As if... the Yin energy was unworthy of being in its company.
Subsequently, Jiang Lin followed the same procedure.
He fused the other two wisps of divine power into gray gas and absorbed them into his body.
The four wisps of gray gas, combined, appeared to have more substance than before.
But... was it an illusion?
Why did it feel like the ghost qi within his body was shifting to the sides?
As if the gray gas were the boss of this shared living space.
Jiang Lin carefully sensed it.
The vacuum zone around the gray gas had indeed expanded.
Why hadn't he noticed it before?
"Is it because the amount of gray gas has increased?"
As Jiang Lin pondered these questions, the familiar scene reappeared in his mind.
It was as if a door to another world had opened.
...
...
"Waaahhh—"
High in the sky, two figures plummeted downwards.
The whistling wind filled their ears.
Due to the extreme speed of the fall, the scenery before their eyes was a blur.
The fierce wind poured in from their eyes, nose, mouth, ears, and every other opening.
The descent continued for an unknown duration.
With a 'thud',
A child, appearing to be seven or eight years old, created a crater upon hitting the ground.
His vision went black, and he lost consciousness.
Whoosh—
Whoosh—
In the forest, the branches and leaves of the trees swayed in the gentle breeze.
After an unknown period of time.
In the sky, a fiery red figure flew past.
Human in appearance and build, small and exquisite.
But its ears and two arms were covered in fiery red bird feathers.
Huo Ling'er intended to fly straight past, but after flying a short distance, she made a sharp turn.
Returning to the spot she had just passed.
Looking down, she indeed saw someone below!
'Is it a human slave?'
She tilted her head, flapped her wings, and cautiously descended.
From a distance, she carefully observed the child lying in the crater below.
Because he was lying face down, she couldn't see his features clearly.
But that aura... it seemed to be that of a human slave.
'Is it dead?'
'Is it dead?'
Huo Ling'er moved closer and poked him with her fiery red wings.
The child in the crater remained motionless.
She poked him again, "Is it dead?"
Seeing the child's lack of movement, Huo Ling'er suddenly became excited.
She looked around; there were no other demons.
What good luck!
She happily raised her two wings, stared at an empty spot beside her, and began to dig.
Rustle—
Rustle—
The flying sand and soil landed precisely on the child.
Burying him bit by bit.
Just as the little fire sparrow was diligently digging, the child in the crater suddenly moved.