Against Heaven

Chapter 9

The pose in the third illustration was weirder than the first two. One could not sit but needed to stand while doing it.

With the body supported from the tip of the big toe, both arms wrapped around the body, and the other leg lifted and held close to the body; balance was by far the most challenging part for this strange pose. A slight lapse in focus would cause one to topple over.

After practicing for a long time, Wang Lin gradually got the sense of it. He had to focus all of his energy to control his body’s balance. This required him to control every single breath and movement of his muscles.

The training progression in the third illustration was also the slowest compared to the others. After spending almost half a month, he only managed to hold it for fifty-eight minutes.

Again and again, day after day he trained until it was midnight. Before one day, he finally managed to hold the pose for sixty minutes!

Based on his experience with the previous two illustrations, every time he trained to the sixty-minute mark, he would have an intense feeling. Surprisingly though, it was already sixty minutes, yet he did not feel a thing.

At sixty-two minutes, Wang Lin reached his limits. He went back to his resting position and started thinking.

“Why is the third illustration so strange? According to the record, it was stated that, for every illustration, if one managed to hold the pose for sixty minutes, he or she would be able to achieve the major accomplishment. The last two illustrations were exactly as stated. But now that I have managed this third illustration for sixty-two minutes, I still do not feel that I have reached the accomplishment. Does this have something to do with the Spirit Sensing ability? Or does this mean that I do not have the talent for Spirit Sensing?”

Actually, Wang Lin’s guess was basically correct. He did not possess the talent of Spirit Sensing.

Wang Lin hesitated a bit. According to the book, once one managed to hold a pose for sixty minutes, he or she could move on to the next illustration. So he was in a dilemma of whether to, continue his training in the third illustration, or ignore it and start training on the fourth illustration.

“If sixty minutes doesn’t make the cut, I will go for eighty. If eighty minutes is not enough, I will continue training until I reach the one hundred-twenty minutes mark. I believe that with perseverance, I should be able to achieve the major accomplishment.” In order to gain the Spirit Sensing ability, Wang Lin decided to give it his all. He would prefer not to start learning the fourth illustration yet in order to achieve the major accomplishment of the third illustration.

After deciding, Wang Lin once again stopped the other training exercises, and focused solely on training in the strange third illustration.

As the days went by, he managed to hold the pose longer; seventy minutes, eighty minutes, one hundred minutes, one hundred-twenty minutes, up to one hundred-fifty minutes. But to his dismay, Wang Lin found out that he still did not achieve the feeling of a major accomplishment. Spirit Sensing was still not acquired.

Soon, it would be time to prepare more medicine for San Xiao Jie. In despair, Wang Lin decided that if he still could not achieve the major accomplishment by two-hundred minutes, he would give up on it. His time was way too precious to be wasted like this. In regards to “Spirit Sensing”, it would remain a dream.

Three days later came the day he would need to prepare the medicine. Wang Lin extended the pose time to a hundred-and-seventy-nine minutes. Seconds went by slowly, ten seconds, thirty seconds, forty-five seconds, fifty-nine seconds.

Sixty seconds!

At this moment, Wang Lin suddenly felt something snap inside his head! From his body, thousands of specks of lights gradually appeared, filling the atmosphere around him. Wang Lin became shocked! All of these lights, they were actually the soul power which he had vigorously cultivated for the past two months!

These specks of lights then rapidly formed into layers upon layers of wavy silver radiance. Spreading out from all over his body, filling the air around him.

During the appearance of the radiance, Wang Lin felt small vibrations in his brain. He stared at the wavy radiance. An extremely familiar feeling appeared but disappeared in an instant. No matter how much Wang Lin tried to get it back, he couldn’t……

Following the appearance of the light specks, the layers of radiance that formed was seen going in and out of Wang Lin’s body continuously, as though orbiting him. The first thing affected was Wang Lin’s blood vessels and nerves, followed by his muscles and bones which slowly started to vibrate under the influence of the silver radiance.

After a wave of radiance disappeared, another would immediately come out.

Numbness, itchiness, aches, sores…… All sorts of indescribable, negative sensations were sent as feedbacks from Wang Lin’s body to his mind. The feeling of countless insects gnawing on the inside of his body was unbearable. At this time however, the part of Wang Lin that was filled with unswerving determination once again came alive. Clenching his teeth, Wang Lin vaguely felt that if he could not withstand this, all the soul power which he had gained through the two months of hard work would go to waste. This was a price which he could not afford to pay.

Luckily, the amount of soul power in Wang Lin’s body was not much. After it dropped down to a certain amount, the light stopped appearing. The vibrations from the silver radiance became weaker and weaker. Finally, all of the silver radiance gathered at Wang Lin forehead, forming a ripple of light, slowly being absorbed into his body.

It was then followed by formless and invisible waves of energy violently spreading out from Wang Lin’s body. Twenty metres, thirty metres, fifty metres, one hundred metres, one hundred forty metres, one hundred eighty metres……

It continued spreading beyond two hundred metres, then rapidly shrank. Two hundred metres, one hundred metres…… ten metres!

The energy force repeatedly moved in and out of Wang Lin’s body. Sometimes it shrank to a radius of thirty to fifty metres; sometimes it expanded to two hundred metres. After a few times of expanding and shrinking, it finally remained stable around a radius of one hundred metres.

At this time, Wang Lin opened both his eyes,where a silver light flashed. In an instant, he could sense the movement of the wind, every blade of grass moving within a one-hundred metre radius.

“Is this…… Spirit Sensing?” Wang Lin was stunned. He was still trepidatiously trying to process what just happened.

But Wang Lin felt strange as according to description of the Spiritual Enhancement Technique, Spirit Sensing could increase the ability to sense, but at most it would only be extended to fifty metres. Now though, he could actually sense everything within a hundred metre radius. Moreover, the silver waves of radiance formed from his soul power gave him a feeling of familiarity. He did not know why the soul power could turn into silver radiance, but it was as though a voice within him kept telling him that the silver radiance really belonged to him……

Suddenly, he got a strange idea.

If I can maintain the radiance formed by soul power, it would be a big leap for my power and level. He lifted up his right index finger, trying to project his soul power from it. Sadly, the wave of radiance was nowhere to be seen.

No matter how hard he tried, he could not manage to understand his power. Wang Lin decided to blame this on the crystal that he found at Jian Yu Island.

After that, Wang Lin tried measuring the soul power in his body. When the soul power turned into light and spreading out from his body, he was really worried that the power would be diminished. His qualm was only relieved when at last the radiance turned into a round light and was absorbed into his body. After checking, he found out that his soul power had not decreased.

At this time, Wang Lin became excited. He took out the metal ball and after attempting his experiment ten times, he became extremely delighted as he could maintain a twenty-two metres height for a period of seven to eight seconds. This meant that his control over his soul power had improved a lot as compared to previously.

“Looks like the increase in sensing ability can really improve the control of soul power.” Wang Lin took a deep breath and thought to himself, “Higher the risk, higher the return!”

According to the record of Spiritual Enhancement Technique, after attaining the Spirit Sensing ability, one would need to meditate for twenty-four hours to consolidate his or her senses. Even though his sensing ability slightly differs from what was described, Wang Lin decided to meditate for one day.

This day was the most relaxing day for Wang Lin since he left Jian Yu Island. He did not need to train his body strength, Spiritual Enhancement Technique or Soul Power control. He just had to quietly sit in his room, emitting all the senses and slowly grasping them.

Whatever was happening within a one-hundred metre radius; conversation between guards, gushing sound of water flowing, even the fragrance of the flowers — appeared in Wang Lin’s senses.

Suddenly, Wang Lin’s expression changed. There was very serious look on his face. He focused all his sensing ability on a rock garden in the southeast direction.

An unclear, shaking voice, full of despair sounded.

“Save me……. Save me My Honourable…… Please save me My Honourable……”

The voice was eerie, piercing into the heart, causing a ripple effect which lasted for a long time. It made one’s feeling uncontrollably rise and sink according to its tone.

In horror, Wang Lin immediate stopped his sensing ability. For the first time, there was fear on his face while he looked towards the direction of the voice.

“Hey? Save me…… Save me……” It was as though the voice managed to locate Wang Lin and started calling him again. Even though Wang Lin had stopped sensing, the crystal clear voice was projected into his ears.

Wang Lin did not know what to do. No matter how he tried to shut away his sensing ability, the voice kept bugging him in his head.

“Save me…… Save me My Honourable…… Save me……”

“Shut up!” After being disturbed by the voice for some time, Wang Lin grew impatient and shouted. He did not care whether the opponent was able to hear him or not.

“Save me…… I can give you a hundred Venus pills. I can pass down Grade A Spells to you. If only you save me……”