Chapter 471 – In the Sky: Floating Mountain

Luo Chen… convinced Mu Lin.

Or rather, he already had the desire to participate in the competition.

After all, while the former was young, Mu Lin was also a young man, full of vigor and ambition.

As for the danger, in Mu Lin’s view, it wasn’t that great.

First, he wouldn’t go with his main body. Even if his clone were destroyed, the danger to Mu Lin would be minimal.

Second, Mu Lin had no intention of directly bearing the divine position with his own divine soul.

If he succeeded in seizing the divine position, Mu Lin planned to integrate the God of Life divine position of the Celestial Spirit Clan into the True Spirit Karma Diagram, allowing it to become nourishment for the Lord of Mount Tai. After all, the Lord of Mount Tai also held the authority of the Revival of All Things.

This way, even if there were issues with the God of Life’s divine position, at worst, he would only have to relinquish the Lord of Mount Tai’s divine position, which wouldn’t significantly affect Mu Lin’s foundation.

And if there were no issues, then Mu Lin’s gains would be immense.

A complete divine position could save Mu Lin countless years of effort. The accumulated treasures and knowledge of the Celestial Spirit Clan could broaden his horizons and deepen his reserves.

He could even take control of the Twin Sacred Trees and transplant them into his world.

The more he thought about it, the more Mu Lin felt he had to compete for this divine position.

Once his mind was made up… Mu Lin didn’t act immediately. Instead, he contacted Celestial Master Zhang Hetian to inquire about the extraterritorial realm, especially the situation of the Celestial Spirit Clan.

“I’ve had dealings with the Celestial Spirit Clan once. They are a long-lived race with a slow pace of life and a somewhat arrogant temperament. But precisely because of their arrogance, they disdain transforming into abominations. In the celestial realm, the Celestial Spirit Clan mostly keep to themselves and rarely interact with us. At most, they engage in trade with the royal families of our Human Race.”

“As for the divine position inheritance you mentioned… that is indeed something they might do. However, that applies to the normal Celestial Spirit Clan. As you know, their God of Life and the Twin Sacred Trees have been corrupted. Once corruption occurs, no one can predict what might happen.”

“In short, you can compete for that divine position, but be cautious in all matters.”

After learning from Celestial Master Hetian that the divine position could be contested, Mu Lin made further preparations before finding Yue Ling. Together with her, he flew toward the celestial realm.

“Huff…”

Flying all the way, it took the two a full three days to traverse the Gang Wind Layer, the Thundercloud Layer, and the Boundless Void, finally reaching the World Barrier.

Then, with a soft “pop,” Mu Lin passed through as if penetrating a thin film, easily arriving outside the world.

Upon initially leaving, Mu Lin’s first feeling was one of lightness and freedom. His second feeling, however, was… dread.

Leaving the world, Mu Lin felt as if he were standing naked in the dangerous void.

The rootless emptiness filled Mu Lin’s heart with an uncontrollable sense of dread.

At the same time, Mu Lin also realized that, without the protection of the world, his strength had greatly diminished.

First, his domain… Within the world, Mu Lin and others were all children of the world. They could easily mobilize the spiritual energy inside the world with their will, making the various laws of the Heavenly Dao move according to their intentions.

The influence of this domain allowed cultivators at the Mortal Shedding Stage to cast spells that could affect dozens of kilometers.

But outside the world, Mu Lin instantly went from being a favored child to an adopted one… no, more accurately, an outsider.

The energy of the external void was no longer as easily manipulated as before; Mu Lin needed to expend far more mental effort to command it.

What made Mu Lin frown even more was that the energy outside was extremely chaotic, not solely composed of spiritual energy. This caused all of his spells to lose more than a fraction of their power.

—Apart from the difficulty in mobilizing and absorbing spiritual energy, Mu Lin also discovered that his strongest ability, the Avatar of Heaven, was almost entirely sealed.

In the void, there was no Heavenly Dao from which Mu Lin could borrow power.

Even if there were, those unfamiliar with him would not lend it.

…

Upon first entering the external world, Mu Lin experienced various forms of discomfort.

Just as he frowned, adjusting his adaptability to the outside world, Yue Ling spoke.

“You can feel it too, can’t you? Once we leave our world, we become like rootless duckweed. Not only is it difficult to continue advancing and developing, but even survival becomes a challenge.”

At this point, Yue Ling sighed and warned Mu Lin.

“If possible, you should do your utmost to protect your world and avoid leaving it lightly… A life of wandering in the void is not easy.”

“No need to tell me.”

Within a few breaths, Mu Lin had adjusted his condition.

If the surrounding spiritual energy could not be commanded effortlessly, then he would use his powerful Dominating Will to force it to submit to his command.

The external energy wasn’t spiritual energy and hard to digest?

The purification of the Source Rune could remove all impurities, leaving only pure energy.

Moreover, having left the world and now standing in the void, Mu Lin could finally act without restraint.

Thus, he directly activated his Mahakala Secret Method, causing countless energies to surge toward his body like tidal waves.

“Hum!”

The torrential influx of energy made Mu Lin feel as if he were about to swell.

Of course, Mu Lin did not actually expand; he didn’t even grow larger… After absorbing the various energies from the void into his body, he directly transferred them into the True Spirit Karma Diagram, using them to develop the secret realms within the diagram.

Although Mu Lin had expanded the True Spirit Karma Diagram beneath Northern Wastelands Tianshi City, the diagram was not permanently fixed to the Northern Wastelands.

Like the legendary Rivers and Mountains Divine Map, it could be rolled up and closed once more.

And once rolled up, Fengdu City, the Blood Prison, the Other Shore Flower Sea, the Salt Prison… all the perilous places Mu Lin had constructed would be gathered together.

These were the foundation of Mu Lin’s power.

He had expanded the True Spirit Karma Diagram in the Northern Wastelands to utilize the spirit veins and faith power of the Northern Wastelands to construct both his True Spirit Karma Diagram and his Divine Kingdom.

However, while inside the world, Mu Lin dared not act recklessly, and he certainly did not dare to absorb the energy of the spirit veins indiscriminately.

If he were to disrupt the earth veins or cause an energy shortage, even though Mu Lin had shed blood and performed meritorious deeds for the Heavenly Dao, it would not accommodate him.

In such a case, the supreme Heavenly Dao would, at best, deduct Mu Lin’s merit, causing him to lose the world’s favor.

At worst, it would cause the world to reject him, even striking him with heavenly thunder.

Given such severe consequences, Mu Lin exercised great restraint while within the world.

But now, in the cosmos, although the energy here was chaotic, he dared to absorb it freely.

While transforming into a simulated black hole and absorbing vast amounts of energy, Mu Lin also surveyed his surroundings.

Then, he discovered that his world resembled a massive sphere, standing firm within the void.

Beside the spherical world, numerous bubbles floated… those were Secret Realms attached to the world.

Beyond the bubbles, it was not empty either—there were giant trees, ancient and shattered great ships, colossal beasts, or floating mountain peaks… all sorts of massive entities radiating powerful auras circled around his world.

Moreover, numerous gazes, filled with malice and greed, were fixed upon his world.

At the same time, within Mu Lin’s world, several colossal Deities, standing tens of thousands of kilometers tall, either stood or sat cross-legged in the Void, confronting the Extraterrestrial Evil Gods.

The standoff between the Dharma Image of Heaven and Earth and the various massive entities left Mu Lin in awe.

He also noticed that the number of Celestial Masters and True Lords on the human side was actually fewer than that of the outsiders.

However, humans had the world as a source of replenishment. When injured, they could retreat into the world to rest; when their Mana was depleted, they could absorb the world origin to recover rapidly.

As for the Evil Gods or Foreign Realm Divinities, injury meant death for them.

Thus, despite their numerical advantage, the opposing side could only maintain a standoff with the Celestial Masters and True Lords of the human faction.

…

The Dharma Images standing tens of thousands of kilometers tall, the towering giant trees, the ships large enough to carry an entire province, and the Floating Mountains resembling continents—all of these left Mu Lin in awe.

While he marveled at the scene beyond the heavens, his appearance was also noticed by some individuals, or rather… Deities.

“Is that… the human brat?”

“Mu Lin… it was him who ruined all our plans!”

“Hum!!”

(End of Chapter)