Chapter 1447 - Who is the Yellow Finch?
Looking at the red mist, the middle-aged scholar smiled. He was born cautious and was as cunning as a fox. In the Ancient Star System, he was called the Sly Fox.
Although he was only at the third Heaven's Blight, he always believed his schemes could make up for it. This was indeed true; many times he relied on his schemes to walk between life and death, only to come out as the winner.
This time he was scheming to acquire a treasure Esteemed Ling Dong wanted, so he had to be even more careful.
He still wasn't confident after faking his death once, so he had used the jade to stop the restriction from moving. This was equal to opening the door into the fog, and then he faced his own death once more. If there was someone else like him here, they wouldn't give up this chance and would've rushed out already.
Once someone actually appeared and entered the fog, he would immediately launch a counter attack and trap that person inside the fog.
This person was also very confident in his fake deaths. Early in his years, he learned a spell that would allow his death to look very real. Even his origin soul would collapse, and it would be impossible for others to tell the difference.
In addition, he had made it look like he was rotting. Now that the middle-aged scholar was certain, he walked up to the red fog and waved his hand. The red fog was pushed back, revealing the nine jades. He pointed at the jades, causing six of them to collapse, and black gas came out. This gas causing the red fog to freeze once more.
Among the nine jades, six of them were used to kill and had nothing to do with stopping the restriction. There was a hint of pride on his face as the middle-aged scholar walked into the portal formed by the three jades.
He put all his heart into what he was doing and began to calculate. Then his right hand pulled at the red fog before him and he slowly ripped it open.
Shortly after, a few layers of fog were peeled by him. The middle-aged scholar was filled with excitement and he raised his hand once more. As soon as his finger touched the fog, the corner of his mouth moved and he unconsciously revealed an extremely bizarre smile.
The moment the smile appeared, his expression suddenly changed. He quickly retreated while his right hand swiped over his face and his eyes filled with terror.
However, the strange smile was still on his face, making a clear contrast with the fear in his eyes. "Impossible… Impossible…" The middle-aged man's body trembled and the fear in his eyes reached a limit. He frantically raised his hand and squeezed his face to get rid of that smile. However, no matter how hard he tried, the smile was still there, and it became even stronger.
Blood came out of his mouth, but he didn't seem to notice. He continued to rub his face, but it was no use… "How can this be!?!" The middle-aged man's mournful cry echoed, but it came through that strange smile. He gradually lost control and began to laugh out loud.
However, the fear in his eyes was drowning him like a tide.
"Don't laugh, don't laugh!!" As he laughed, he quickly retreated. However, he only retreated a few dozen feet before his body trembled and he coughed out a large mouthful of blood. Then his eyes turned pale and he soon fell to the earth.
The strange smile was still on his face as he looked at the sky… His origin soul also had that same smile, and he died… Life and Death Restriction! There was a flash of light on the ground and Wang Lin walked out. Others couldn't understand the restrictions the middle-aged scholar had shot out while moving around the red fog; even grandmasters of restrictions would find it difficult to find any clues. If not for the fact that Wang Lin knew three of the four great restrictions and was a grandmaster, he wouldn't have noticed the problem.
The restrictions the middle-aged man had sent out at the start would indeed break the restriction, but when the countless restrictions combined, the opposite would happen. Not only would it not break the red fog, it would stimulate it to activate it. Then he had borrowed Esteemed Ling Dong's Joss Flame to trigger the red fog, causing it to erupt with several times more power than before to kill or drive everyone away.
In order to avoid suspicion, he had taken the risk and used some known method to hide in the fog. He had let out that miserable smile and made everyone think he had died.
He had successfully killed most of the people here and had even driven the rest out. He had also caused the red fog to seal all the spatial rifts so others couldn't enter through them anymore. After all his scheming, he was the only one here. Doing all of this took guts. Wang Lin looked at the body with the strange smile and waved his right hand. The body collapsed into dust and dissipated.
"This way, even if you're cheating, there is no chance of you resurrecting!" He had long seen through the middle-aged scholar, so he had left a restriction to teleport back here.
With his mastery over restrictions, he was not afraid the middle-aged man would find his restrictions, given the middle-aged man's cultivation level. After going through a rift in the sky, Wang Lin had teleported back using the restriction. He didn't kill the middle-aged man, but the middle-aged man hadn't noticed that aside from the Ancient Soul Restriction and the Time Restriction, the Life and Death Restriction was also present within the fog. As for the middle-aged scholar faking his death, Wang Lin naturally saw this, but it was useless before him.
Wang Lin arrived next to the red fog. This simple restriction had taken so many lives. He had once more experienced the cruelty of the cultivation world.
Looking at the three jades that were stopping the red fog, Wang Lin slowly walked inside. He stood where the middle-aged man was and deduction light flashed in his eyes.
"It indeed is the Life and Death Restriction…" After a moment, Wang Lin raised his right hand and pointed forward. Popping sounds echoed and the fog before him began moving again, forming a vortex.
A faint, black line appeared inside the red fog. The black line entangled with the red fog was quite distinct. The key to breaking the Life and Death Restriction was finding the path to life within death. If one could find it and extract the life, the restriction could be broken. However, for people who didn't know the Life and Death Restriction, it was impossible to find it.
After observing for a while, Wang Lin's hand quickly formed seals and a restriction appeared in his hand. He took a deep breath and carefully pushed the restriction toward the red fog vortex. Popping sounds echoed and the fog seemed to absorb Wang Lin's restriction. The black line became even more clear. Wang Lin's eyes lit up, and without hesitation, his right hand reached out. He grabbed the black line and pulled it out.
The black line was completely pulled out by Wang Lin like a snake, then it dissipated. At this moment, the red fog collapsed like hot water being poured on snow. Large amounts of fog dissipated, creating a passage that led to the center of the platform. Wang Lin's eyes flashed but quickly returned to normal and revealed nothing. A burst of joy had appeared, but it was quickly suppressed by him. He was about to rush into the passage.
"Stop!" Just as Wang Lin was about to charge in, a cold voice appeared in this world.
"Now this is what they call 'mantis hunting the cicada and the yellow finch follows!'" As the voice echoed, a vague figure appeared in the sky. When the figure became clear, it was Esteemed Ling Dong, who was half a step into the third step. After he appeared, the 20,000 foot platform appeared as well.
At this moment, there was no emotion on his face, and his expression no longer contained that sense of stupidity. There was now a hint of mockery in his eyes.
Wang Lin stopped and slowly turned around. His expression was extremely ugly as he looked at Esteemed Ling Dong. He let out a bitter mile and panic appeared in his eyes.
"Junior… Greets Esteemed Ling Dong…" Wang Lin clasped his hands and was about to take a step back.
Esteemed Ling Dong said with a grim expression, "When your foot lands, this old man will kill you!"
"Esteemed Ling Dong's plan was flawless and well hidden. Junior admires you!" Wang Lin stopped moving and his face turned bitter. He suppressed the panic in his eyes.
"This old man already knew Xiao Jing's ambition. A mere junior thinking he can fool this old man, simply ridiculous! Although this old man is not good with restrictions, since the two of you excel at it and have opened it for me, then it cost this old man no effort!" Esteemed Ling Dong sneered. Wang Lin's subtle actions had made him even more certain, and he said, "Come out and wait on the side!"
A natural born dao spirit needed to be offered a complete soul that hadn't been soul searched. As far as Esteemed Ling Dong was concerned, Wang Lin couldn't cause a commotion and couldn't escape his palm. He was going to let Wang Lin live and use Wang Lin as an offering to the dao spirit.
Wang Lin's face was deathly pale. He seemed to hesitate, but a moment later, he let out a sigh and slowly walked out. The moment he walked out, Esteemed Ling Dong waved his right hand and a powerful force formed a bubble around Wang Lin, trapping him inside.
He didn't even look at Wang Lin, as he was very confident in his own methods. He stepped into the fog and looked like he was going to rush into the passage. Just as he was about to enter, he suddenly looked at Wang Lin with a gaze like lightning.
Wang Lin's expression was still bitter without any change. Although Esteemed Ling Dong's gaze was sudden, he didn't see anything.
"This old man changes his mind, you go in first!"
Wang Lin was startled. Before joy could appear in his eyes, he quickly suppressed it, but the old man still caught it. The old man laughed and walked in without any hesitation, no longer paying any attention to Wang Lin. He moved like a bolt of lightning and arrived at the center of the passage. However, at this moment, a miserable scream echoed. "There is still something left!!!"
Wang Lin suddenly looked up with a flash of killing intent in his eyes.