Chapter 711: Vulnerability

Demon magic like a tide, continuously.

Evil aura, also continuously unrelenting.

The indoor Yin cold Qi, layer upon layer and rich in many changes, either violent, or strange, or insidious, or majestic, as if all kinds of evil spirits are emerging endlessly, and their offensive is like a great sea.

In such a surging sea of demon magic, Ink Painting's small body stands firm and unmoving.

Wen Ren Wei’s gaze was anxious, his palms already seeping with cold sweat.

He was worried for both Ink Painting and Yu Er.

After an unknown amount of time, just as Wen Ren Wei was burning with anxiety, all the evil and strange auras suddenly disappeared again.

The inexplicable cold Qi receded, the gloomy pressure suddenly decreased. Wen Ren Wei looked around again, although he still couldn't see anything, he felt that all evil spirits no longer existed.

Wen Ren Wei immediately looked towards the inner room, only to see that Ink Painting had already opened his eyes.

The divine authority tree had lowered its flag and stopped its drums, and the demon magic army had been completely swallowed.

At that instant, the divine thought suddenly became unobstructed.

Ink Painting felt that his sea of consciousness had broadened a bit more, and his divine sense was much thicker.

And with the foundation of his divine sense realm and the support of his divine sense amount, his derivation and strange calculations were also much more relaxed and abundant than before.

It was as if a river had broken its dike, surging and rolling, moving straight forward without stopping.

His attitude compared to the past was quite a bit more respectful.

Wen Ren Wei looked at Yu Er again.

The distance of his divine sense projection had also increased by quite a bit.

Ink Painting slowly exhaled a breath, his eyes brightening.

"Thank you, Little Ink Young Master!"

And the divine sense realm also couldn't be suppressed.

Ink Painting's divine sense also finally took another step forward, breaking through the divine sense bottleneck between the sixteenth-pattern foundation building mid-stage and the foundation building late-stage, successfully advancing to the seventeenth pattern!

Ink Painting also very politely returned the bow, then stood up and quickly left with light footsteps.

He could now finally learn the seventeenth-pattern array.

Within his sea of consciousness, Ink Painting carefully focused his spirit and began to refine the many evil thoughts that he had just swallowed whole and had not yet digested, one by one, removing their filth and taking their pure essence, then absorbing them one by one to strengthen himself.

"Young Lady Wan was right, Young Master Yu Er really met a kind person..."

Ink Painting's divine sense was rapidly climbing.

Wen Ren Wei seemed to be relieved of a burden and cupped his hands solemnly, saying:

"I have troubled the young master."

On the other side, Ink Painting had just returned to his room when he immediately sat down on the bed, meditated, and sank his divine sense into his sea of consciousness.

As long as he was given the opportunity to set up an array, even a foundation building late-stage cultivator would have to eat and couldn't walk away!

But the matter of the array could be discussed slightly later.

Wen Ren Wei thought of Wen Ren Wan's words and couldn't help but look gratified, sighing in his heart:

Although it was only a second-grade seventeenth-pattern array, it still had not reached the nineteen patterns and could not be considered truly "high-tier".

More important was the array!

Ink Painting felt that his waist was a bit straighter again.

Wen Ren Wei cautiously looked at Ink Painting, saw that his gaze was clear and positive, his expression was as usual, without any evil, strange, or madness, and slightly relaxed his breath, but still probed and asked:

It seemed as if all the gloomy and oppressive demon evil aura from just now was a sudden illusion.

Yu Er was still lying on the bed, his breathing was long, his small mouth was slightly open, and he occasionally smacked his lips as if he was eating something in a dream.

Wen Ren Wei again bowed to Ink Painting.

Really... there was nothing at all.

After Ink Painting left, Wen Ren Wei again raised his head and looked at the four walls inside the room, his heart shocked.

"Little Young Master, you..."

Although for the moment, the demon magic thought power after purification filled the flat gully of the divine sense realm and broke through the long-standing bottleneck.

He had eaten in a mess and "swallowed" too much demon magic, his sea of consciousness was too full and had to be quickly "digested".

From beginning to end, he had slept soundly.

But at least it counted as entering the high-tier array.

Foundation building initial stage, learning a second-grade high-tier array!

A seventeen-pattern array, even against an ordinary foundation building late-stage cultivator, would have decent killing power.

Strands of pure divine thought fused into Ink Painting's divine thought incarnation.

Ink Painting was not polite, nodded, and said:

"Yu Er is fine, it's not early, I'll go back and rest."

Because Ink Painting discovered that this time the "takeout" had not been finished.

This time the demon magic he "ate" was even more than he thought.

His divine sense was already seventeen patterns, even a bit stronger than seventeen patterns.

But there was still continuous refined demon magic thought power being swallowed by it, fusing into his divine thought incarnation.

Ink Painting's divine sense was still growing continuously...

"It won't... go directly to eighteen patterns, right?"

The bottleneck from seventeen patterns to eighteen patterns was a small realm bottleneck, not as big as the one from sixteen patterns to seventeen patterns.

Ink Painting's careful heart trembled, and then he couldn't help but have a face full of smiles.

Eighteen patterns!

One step across two ranks!

Ink Painting was extremely jubilant in his heart, then immediately calmed his mood, concentrated on meditation, swallowed thought power, and enhanced his divine sense.

His divine sense, as he wished, gradually became strong at a visibly clear speed, improving step by step.

Finally, it was only a tiny bit short of reaching the eighteen-pattern realm...

Even, Ink Painting could clearly feel that the eighteen-pattern divine sense bottleneck was slightly loosening, disintegrating...

Ink Painting's face was overflowing with smiles.

But just at this moment, everything suddenly stopped.

In the dark, it seemed as if something had trembled once.

This feeling was actually somewhat similar to the Dao Stele, a bit like...

Heavenly Dao?

Ink Painting's heart was shocked, then he vaguely felt as if some kind of supreme will had glanced at him from among the myriad things in heaven and earth, and then discovered that he seemed...

There was a bit of a problem.

Then a temporarily generated rule descended on Ink Painting's body.

His divine sense was still growing, but the bottleneck had not loosened, and all the grown divine sense seemed to flow to who knew where, directly sinking and disappearing.

The divine sense realm also no longer elevated.

Ink Painting was stunned.

"What's the matter..."

"My eighteen-pattern divine sense?"

"Clearly it was only a little bit short..."

Ink Painting looked around and discovered that in his sea of consciousness, a strange crack had appeared out of nowhere at some point.

This crack was pitch black and deep, containing a deep golden color.

As if it was a manifestation of some materialized great Dao rule.

This rule was generated out of nowhere, but it was fused with his sea of consciousness as one.

And all the grown divine thought that he refined from demon magic and swallowed from thought power was swallowed and disappeared by this crack.

It was just as if Heavenly Dao would not allow his divine sense to become strong again, so it temporarily added a rule and supplemented a loophole...

This rule was materialized as a pitch black void crack containing golden color.

Once Ink Painting's divine sense grew, it would "confiscate" these grown divine senses, thereby suppressing the enhancement of his divine sense.

It would limit his divine sense within a certain limit and prevent his divine sense from breaking a certain limit...

Ink Painting was dumbfounded.

What did this mean?

Was he now equivalent to a "loophole" in Heavenly Dao?

So Heavenly Dao temporarily added a rule to repair himself as this "loophole"?

It wasn't that serious, was it...

Ink Painting couldn't help but feel a bit resentful.

He was just a small foundation building cultivator, he shouldn't be so "targeted", should he...

This seemed to be the second time.

Ink Painting remembered that when he first broke through to the foundation building stage, his divine sense then rapidly soared, but later it seemed to exceed the limit and was suppressed by some Heavenly Dao rule.

Coupled with the mysterious great array of the Heaven Derivation Art, which restructured his divine sense, he had no choice but to change from "quantity" to "quality" and was suppressed into a "quality" change.

The result was like this again now...

He was at the door, seeing the eighteen patterns right before his eyes, but the result was a temporary rule limitation again.

Ink Painting couldn't help but pout, inwardly complaining:

"Heavenly Dao is really stingy..."

After complaining inwardly, Ink Painting sighed again.

His sea of consciousness "ingredients" had become very complex now.

The sea of consciousness was his own, with his divine thought incarnation.

In addition, there was the mysterious Dao Stele, the calamity extermination thunder patterns, and now another inexplicable Heavenly Dao rule.

Especially this Heavenly Dao rule...

Ink Painting's head hurt a bit.

He ate some more demon magic thought power, and then consumed his divine sense and manifested an array to try it out. After trying several times, he roughly understood the function of this rule in his heart.

This rule was used to deduct divine sense.

His divine sense could be used normally, consumed normally, and recovered normally, but it could not "grow" again.

Once it grew, it would be "deducted" by this void crack-like rule.

Ink Painting was a little worried.

Deducting some divine sense was fine, but exactly until when would it deduct?

It wouldn't deduct for a lifetime, would it...

Or, would it self-disappear after his cultivation also caught up and his realm and divine sense were balanced, or roughly balanced—at least not that outrageous?

Or, would it disappear after enough divine sense was deducted to reach a certain limit?

The great Dao is high and cold, rules are silent, no one could tell Ink Painting the answer.

Ink Painting sighed deeply.

"Let's just leave it like this for now..."

People should know to be content.

Seventeen patterns are just seventeen patterns.

Moreover, his divine sense, by calculation, should be at the peak of seventeen patterns, only a tiny bit away from eighteen patterns...

This divine sense, in his current realm, was also "barely" enough to use.

As for what would happen later.

Ink Painting pondered for a while, feeling that no matter when this rule would "deduct", it was all irrelevant.

Because he had no way to take care of it...

Who could say accurately about matters of the great Dao rule?

Since this was the case, he would just follow the order, cultivate steadily, and temper his divine sense as always.

If his cultivation was high, or his divine sense was replenished, he could lift this rule limitation sooner or later.

Ink Painting again stared at the great Dao rule in the sea of consciousness, which looked like a void crack, and suddenly had some doubts.

"Rules... what exactly are they?"

"Why do rules manifest in this appearance?"

"Pitch black inside, with golden color, as if a crack in the void... why can it swallow divine sense?"

"Void, crack... perhaps it is related to the rules of the 'Cave Void Realm'?"

Ink Painting suddenly felt it was profound.

He decided to research this rule when he had time and see if he could research some ways and learn something.

Since this "uninvited guest" had come into his sea of consciousness out of nowhere, he had to find a way to pull some wool, otherwise it would be too much of a waste.

Thinking this way, Ink Painting's mood instantly improved.

Great Dao rule!

He had never seen it before.

Or rather, this was something that not even a foundation building cultivator, or even a general cultivator, could come into contact with.

Now a clear and obvious great Dao rule, after being materialized, was left in his sea of consciousness, continuously deducting his divine sense.

Although it deducted his divine sense and limited its growth, it also gave him an opportunity to personally see the manifestation and operation of the great Dao rule.

All things depend on fortune and misfortune, pros and cons coexist.

Ink Painting nodded, his spirit invigorated.

But temporarily he still did not have time to research, he wanted to first "eat" the demon magic.

He had quite a bit of the demon magic "takeout" ordered on the altar left, which couldn't be wasted.

Ink Painting continued to "eat" the demon magic thought power.

But this time when he ate, it was a bit "tasteless".

Because these evil thoughts fundamentally could not be "eaten" into his stomach, they were all deducted by Heavenly Dao.

Ink Painting felt a little wronged in his heart, but upholding the spirit of not wasting, he still ate all these demon magic evil thoughts.

After eating, Ink Painting could clearly feel that the Heavenly Dao rule limitation within his sea of consciousness seemed to have loosened somewhat.

It also seemed to be "full".

"Indeed..."

Ink Painting sighed, his heart more determined that he must pull more wool from Heavenly Dao in the future to vent his hatred for being "snatched from".

His "snacks" were not so easy to steal!

Ink Painting lightly hummed, then quieted his heart and began to review the array patterns on the Dao Stele.

He wanted to prepare.

In the following days, he was going to formally start learning the seventeen-pattern array!

Tai Xu Gate, back mountain forbidden ground.

A void crack appeared out of nowhere.

The white-haired Old Mister Xun walked out of the void.

He was in the elder residence, abandoning external matters and wholeheartedly calculating cause and effect, but just now he suddenly perceived a powerful sword intent fluctuation, and he couldn't ignore it.

But just as he calculated to the halfway point, the compass stopped.

Old Mister Xun could only endure his temper, finish deriving the compass, and then immediately rush here to check the situation.

Within the sword tomb, the long-bearded old man sat blankly in his original place.

Old Mister Xun didn't know what had happened, looked around, and said with a solemn expression:

"Senior Brother, did you move your sword again?"

The long-bearded old man touched the remnant sword beside his hand and shook his head slightly in thought.

"Half out..."

Old Mister Xun frowned.

What did half out mean?

The sword was drawn, but not swung out?

Old Mister Xun looked at the long-bearded old man again, saw that his mind was not present and he seemed worried, his heart slightly cold, and asked:

"Senior Brother, what happened?"

The long-bearded old man's sharp gaze revealed some thought, and he suddenly asked a strange question:

"Are we Tai Xu Gate not raising a divine beast?"

"Divine beast?"

Old Mister Xun was a bit stunned, extremely doubtful in his heart.

Why would Senior Brother suddenly ask such an unserious question?

Perhaps...

Old Mister Xun's gaze condensed.

Polluted by evil thoughts, backlash from sword intent, injuries becoming heavy, his sea of consciousness already injured, his thoughts chaotic and unclear?

Old Mister Xun was silent.

He looked at his Senior Brother, who had exhausted his mind and poured his heart and blood into Tai Xu Gate for a lifetime, but whose body and mind were broken and who had to guard the sword tomb alone, buried with this full mountain of broken swords and scrap iron, his heart ached.

Old Mister Xun sighed deeply, suppressed the choking bitterness in his heart, shook his head and sighed lightly, saying:

"Divine beast, such things, where are there any now..."

The long-bearded old man didn't know what Old Mister Xun was thinking and was lost in thought, "Then recently, has there been a high-ranking person borrowing a stay at our Tai Xu Gate?"

Old Mister Xun recalled something and shook his head, saying:

"No."

There were people borrowing a stay, but none that Senior Brother would call "high-ranking".

The long-bearded old man frowned, deliberated for a moment, and slowly asked:

"Then... in recent years at our Tai Xu Gate, have we ever taken in any disciple with exceptional talent?"

Exceptional talent?

Old Mister Xun was a bit astonished and thought for a moment.

There had indeed been disciples with high talent in recent years, and this session had quite a few disciples with top-grade spiritual roots and excellent qualifications.

But spiritual roots, though good, were not necessarily put in Senior Brother's eyes.

To Senior Brother's realm, a cultivator close to the limit, the "exceptional talent" he spoke of was definitely not the general meaning of "exceptional talent".

It must be someone with stunning talent among the prodigies.

Old Mister Xun's mind moved, and he suddenly thought of Ink Painting.

Ink Painting, this child...

His talent in arrays was indeed stunning, but besides arrays, every other aspect was also good...

He was a bit biased.

And arrays... had nothing to do with Senior Brother.

Senior Brother was not proficient in arrays and should not care about array geniuses.

But to prevent any eventuality, Old Mister Xun still asked, "Exceptional talent... what kind of 'talent' are you referring to?"

The long-bearded old man's eyes revealed thought.

If it was a gate disciple... then this person must be extremely strong in divine thought killing...

The long-bearded old man said: "Is there anyone who has enlightened the sword Dao, born with sword intent, or born with divine thought manifestation, a disciple good at fighting..."

Born with sword intent, divine thought fighting...

Old Mister Xun nodded slightly.

That had nothing to do with Ink Painting.

That child was an array master, not a sword cultivator, he even struggled to wield a sword, and he was gentle and weak, where would he go to fight with people.

Other disciples, it seemed also not...

Tai Xu Gate had sealed the technique of turning divine thought into a sword as a forbidden technique.

Other sword methods were not considered how superior.

If there were truly top seedlings born with sword intent, where would they worship into Tai Xu Gate and learn these mediocre sword Dao inheritances?

Qian Xue Prefecture had a large pile of sword Dao sects for him to choose from.

Moreover, even if turning divine thought into a sword was not sealed, they would not dare to let this good seedling "born with sword intent" come practice, unless his life was truly hard to the extreme and he wanted to die but couldn't.

"No."

Old Mister Xun said affirmatively.

The long-bearded old man closed his eyes and sighed, somewhat disappointed.

Old Mister Xun frowned, "Senior Brother, what exactly are you asking about?"

The long-bearded old man opened his eyes and looked at his Junior Brother, whose hair was gray and who was worried for the sect, his mind recalled his youthful appearance, gentle and elegant, full of vigor, and finally couldn't bear to let him worry again.

"Nothing, just casually asking." The long-bearded old man said indifferently.

Old Mister Xun didn't believe it, but seeing that Senior Brother had already closed his eyes to nurture his spirit and seemed unwilling to say more, he sighed helplessly.

Stubborn for a lifetime, now half a foot in the grave, this temper still hasn't changed at all.

Old Mister Xun shook his head, complained and admonished quite a bit, "You leave one breath, don't draw your sword again..."

Then he turned and extended a finger, drawing a void crack, and then left directly.

After Old Mister Xun left, the long-bearded old man slowly opened his eyes again. He turned his head and took the entire ancient and grand Tai Xu Mountain into his eyes, frowning and murmuring:

"Exactly who..."

Tai Xu Mountain is vast, the forest green, covering everything.

The long-bearded old man's eyes revealed a sharp light, "Next time you make a move again, I will definitely catch you..."

(End of this chapter)