Chapter 179. Studying Restrictions (1/2)

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.

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.