Wang Lin felt a tremor deep within his nascent soul, his gaze locked upon the orb in his hand. He, who had been bound to the Heaven Defying Bead since birth, could not be mistaken. In size, weight, and even aura, this thing mirrored the Heaven Defying Bead perfectly! Yet, a subtle difference existed. This orb lacked the five elemental patterns, bearing instead only shimmering, indistinct glyphs.

“The strange stone beads… I have gathered many before…” Wang Lin recalled the words from the jade scroll. “These beads are not of natural origin, but are crafted through arcane rituals. Their size and weight are identical, with no variance whatsoever… It is as though, in ages long past, someone incessantly used a unique and potent artifice to create these beads…” The words echoed in his mind. His rapid breaths slowed as realization dawned. “These are imitations of the Heaven Defying Bead! Someone, in a time long since forgotten, attempted to forge the Heaven Defying Bead itself!” Wang Lin closed his eyes, opening them again after what felt like an age. “To craft something so similar, they must have beheld the Heaven Defying Bead with their own eyes, perhaps even wielded its power!” Wang Lin stroked his brow, a glimmer of light flickering there.

“Such audacity, to seek to forge the very Dao of Heaven…” Wang Lin’s expression darkened. He felt, with a growing certainty, that he would soon cross paths with the Outsiders, and their mysterious Sovereign! “Perhaps… the Outsiders are already aware of my existence. After all, the Outer Realm Elder I faced did not truly perish…” A chill snaked through Wang Lin’s heart.

After a period of contemplation, Wang Lin swept his sleeve, collecting all ten orbs. Upon closer inspection, he discerned that each orb pulsed with arcane energy, each had sealed within them a unique and powerful technique.

“These beads are all flawed experiments, or they would not have been discarded here. Imperfect though they are, they seem to be able to contain spells and abilities…” Wang Lin murmured to himself. He branded the orbs with his own spiritual mark and stored them within his dimensional pouch.

His gaze swept across the first chamber, searching for any other secrets, but finding nothing. He exited, his heart heavy with a sense of foreboding. The battle against Azure Pine Daoist and his summoning of the Spirit of the Seventh Formation of the Sealed Realm, an ability that mirrored the powers of the Outer Realm Elder, had left him troubled.

“Who exactly *is* Azure Pine Daoist?” As Wang Lin emerged from the chamber, gazing at the iridescent sky beyond the Veil of Years, he was struck by a disturbing resemblance: the Outer Realm, when he had first encountered it within the Void, had been bathed in the same seven-colored light… The more he uncovered, the more his understanding of this place became both clearer and more profoundly bewildering.

Turning away, he approached the second chamber. With a wave of his sleeve, the stone door rumbled open, revealing the chamber’s interior.

A colossal alchemical cauldron dominated the space, surrounded by piles of herbs, most withered and decayed by the passage of time. Several storage pouches lay scattered nearby.

Despite the countless years that had passed, the ground was covered in a thick layer of dust, and even the cauldron was easily marked with a touch.

Wang Lin opened each storage pouch in turn, and his eyes widened in astonishment. Every pouch was filled with herbs, in quantities that defied imagination. He withdrew from the chamber and made his way toward the third.

This chamber’s entrance bore a ward, but it was not of the Veil of Years. After a long moment of careful scrutiny, Wang Lin weaved a series of hand seals, his fingers dancing in the air. The seals manifested as arcane runes, which he placed upon the stone door. With a series of resounding thumps, the stones shuddered and slowly slid aside.

Inside the third chamber, a circular array was etched into the floor, bordered by spirit crystals. The crystals powered the array, which allowed three jade vials to levitate within its boundaries, nourished by the flow of energy.

The array still functioned, though many of the surrounding spirit crystals had long been exhausted, barely maintaining the array’s operation.

Wang Lin approached the vials, his gaze fixed upon the array. He did not act rashly, for he sensed the faint trace of the Veil of Years woven into its design. This subtle connection amplified the array’s power.

More importantly, Wang Lin understood the array’s purpose. Beyond preserving the elixir within the vials at the peak of its potency, the array also served as a protective measure. Any forceful attempt to open it would instantly destroy the contents of the vials.

Frowning, Wang Lin sat down cross-legged beside the array, ignoring the remaining chambers. His eyes burned with a calculating light as he began to decipher its intricate workings. His gaze grew brighter, and he raised his right hand, summoning a spirit crystal from his dimensional pouch.

Grasping the crystal, Wang Lin crushed it, releasing a torrent of pure spiritual energy. With a rapid series of hand seals, he channeled and controlled the energy, then pointed toward the ground just outside the array’s boundary. The surge of power slammed into the earth, imbuing it with arcane energy.

With a flick of his wrist, Wang Lin shaped the energy flowing through the ground into a diamond-shaped array, about a foot across. In another swift motion, he drew a thin line of energy from the diamond array, connecting it to the potion array. With this done,

Wang Lin’s eyes gleamed. He swiftly reached his right hand into the potion array, making directly for the three vials. At that instant, the potion array burst with blinding light, bathing the chamber in radiance, as a wave of destructive power surged towards the vials. But, immediately, the destructive energy faltered. The light seemed to be drawn away, guided along the thin line of energy and channeled into the diamond-shaped array. In that brief moment of hesitation, Wang Lin snatched the three jade vials, pulling them away.

He lunged backward, exiting the chamber in a single bound. Emerging onto the grassy valley floor, he sat down cross-legged, his gaze fixed upon the three vials, his heart pounding.

He had taken a great risk. Had he made the slightest error, the vials would have shattered, their precious contents lost forever. “Elixirs left behind by Sima Mo and his sect, stored with such care… they must be incredibly valuable!” Wang Lin licked his lips and opened the first vial.

A wave of medicinal fragrance washed over him. Inside, he saw three scarlet pills, emitting a powerful aura of bestial souls that filled the air, drawing at Wang Lin’s nascent soul. He tipped out a single pill, pinching it between his fingers and examining it closely.

“An eleventh-order elixir?” Wang Lin ventured, recognizing it. After a moment of reflection, he reached for the second vial. As soon as he opened it, a cloud of mist billowed forth, divided into two swirling masses, one black and one white, hovering in the air. Within each cloud, there was a single pill.

“A twelfth-order Mist Soul Elixir, crafted from a Mistbeast!” Wang Lin’s eyes widened with elation. While he could only surmise the order of the first elixir, he recognized the unmistakable characteristics of this one. A Mist Soul Elixir was extraordinarily rare because few cultivators would sacrifice the long-term profit of selling Mistbeast yuan crystals to instead make these pills.

Wang Lin licked his lips and turned his gaze to the final vial. He scanned it with his divine sense but could not see anything inside. He hesitated for a moment, then carefully pulled the stopper from the bottle. The instant a crack appeared, an unimaginable surge of power erupted, carrying with it a soundless, yet powerfully felt, roar that resonated within his very soul!

The roar was far beyond that of a twelfth-order beast. It was earth-shattering. Wang Lin snapped the vial shut without a moment’s hesitation. This all unfolded within the blink of an eye. After sealing the bottle, Wang Lin’s face was ashen. He breathed deeply to recover, his gaze heavy as he looked at the vial. “A thirteenth-order elixir!” Wang Lin inhaled deeply and stored the last two vials with great care, retaining only the first. He rose and walked towards the chamber with the alchemy cauldron.

An eleventh-order elixir could only be consumed by those with a Cultivation at the middle Shattering Nirvana stage or above. Otherwise, their nascent soul would be unable to withstand the beastial essence within, resulting in the destruction of their soul and a grisly death for daring to swallow it. This was common knowledge among cultivators. Elixirs could aid in increasing Intent, but they had to be consumed carefully.

Wang Lin’s current Cultivation, if you neglected his Ancient God Body, was only Initial Nirvana. He could not consume the eleventh-order elixir directly. He would need to refine it!

Inside the chamber with the alchemy cauldron, Wang Lin paused. His left eye flashed with fire, and a burning flame erupted. The flames surged into the massive alchemy cauldron, which shuddered, its surface covered in runes that slowly began to turn.

Wang Lin retrieved the eleventh-order elixir and put it inside the cauldron. He struck the side of the cauldron with his hand, and the flames inside flared, continuously refining the pill.

Secondary Alchemy was a skill possessed by all of the cultivators of the Cloud Sea Domain. This method split the power of the elixirs. Its method, and its effectiveness, were tied to the quality of the alchemy cauldron. A stronger, more well-crafted cauldron would result in a smaller reduction in the elixir’s efficacy.

As Wang Lin worked on refining the elixir, deep within the Colored Realm, further than the place where Azure Pine was recovering, the mists became more concentrated, obscuring everything.

There was an altar covered by an obscuring mist. Suddenly, beams of light pierced through the mist, pushing it away and revealing a clearing.

A meter-long fissure appeared soundlessly on the altar. Lightning crackled along the edges as it grew wider. Three people emerged from within!

The clothes of these three people differed from the cultivators of the Cloud Sea. The thing that made them truly distinct was the distinct mark emblazoned on their foreheads. The leader possessed an image of lightning. One of his followers had a crescent moon and the other a flame. “So this is the spatial tear you discovered?” The man with the crescent moon looked around with excitement in his eyes.