Chapter 690: Choice (II)

After leaving the great hall, Lin Zheyu returned to his courtyard. Facing Jing Xinyue had placed him under considerable pressure. She was, after all, a Deity Transformation realm expert.

"In the future, I should avoid appearing before these Deity Transformation realm experts whenever possible," Lin Zheyu told himself.

Jing Xinyue bore him no ill will, but there was no guarantee that other Deity Transformation realm experts would be the same. He turned his attention to the data in his consciousness. It was time to optimize and upgrade the Heaven-Deceiving Art. During his time in the demon cave, his mastery of formations and restrictions had advanced by leaps and bounds, and he had gained a wealth of insights from the formations and restrictions outside the space-time node.

Originally, he had planned to wait until he had accumulated enough knowledge of demonic patterns, then optimize the structure of his martial cultivation divine patterns once more before improving the Heaven-Deceiving Art. Now, however, it seemed necessary to upgrade the Heaven-Deceiving Art first.

An unknown crisis is approaching... If I incorporate the profound insights into the Dao of formations that I gained from studying formations and restrictions into the Heaven-Deceiving Art, I can enhance its effects and improve my chances of surviving the coming crisis, Lin Zheyu thought.

After activating the courtyard's protective formation, Lin Zheyu took out a formation disc and laid down another layer of formations within the courtyard. With a thought, he entered the void inside the Primordial Chaos Pool. Looking at the increasingly foul and terrifying mass of energy suspended there, he felt it was time to replenish the demonic lake energy.

Most of the useful energy within the original demonic lake energy had already been absorbed by the Origin Force, leaving behind only useless, filthy, and malevolent energy. It was terrifying, violent, corrupt, and evil. Even Lin Zheyu felt somewhat uncomfortable upon entering it.

I'll optimize the technique first, then cultivate it with Origin Force, Lin Zheyu thought.

With a thought, he vanished from the void containing the demonic lake energy and appeared within the void specifically used for cultivation. He floated cross-legged in the emptiness as countless insights into formations and restrictions flashed through his mind. Innumerable thoughts and ideas collided, producing a flood of inspiration concerning the Heaven-Deceiving Art.

As time passed, these flashes of inspiration gradually coalesced into one new version of the Heaven-Deceiving Art after another. With a thought, Lin Zheyu used the data in his consciousness to test the feasibility of each version.

In the blink of an eye, more than ten days passed. During that time, Lin Zheyu paused three times to cultivate, push his body beyond its limits, and obtain Origin Force. He spent the rest of the time immersed in repeatedly refining and optimizing the Heaven-Deceiving Art.

Lin Zheyu let out a long breath and slowly opened his eyes, a trace of exhaustion flashing through them. Although the data in his consciousness allowed him to determine the feasibility of a technique in an instant, repeatedly refining and optimizing one still placed an astonishing burden on his mind.

"I'll cultivate according to this version for now," Lin Zheyu murmured.

The newly optimized Heaven-Deceiving Art had only one stage. Lin Zheyu had deliberately left room for further improvements in the future.

[Heaven Rewards the Diligent]

[Name: Lin Zheyu]

[Origin Force: 864]

[Skills: Heaven-Deceiving Art (Dormancy), Martial Divine Pattern Secret Manual (Dormancy), Seven Absolute Sabers (Seventh Stage: 100%), Eight Desolations World-Suppressing Art (First Stage: 0%), Primordial Chaos True Art (Sixth Stage: 100%), Earth Shrinking Technique (Third Stage: 100%), Primordial Golden Body (Fourth Stage: 100%)]

Lin Zheyu glanced at the data in his consciousness. With a thought, he arrived within the void containing the demonic lake energy. Immersed in the violent energy, he issued a command with his mind. Use 1 unit of Origin Force to cultivate the Heaven-Deceiving Art.

In an instant, a vast surge of mysterious energy welled up from deep within his body. Lin Zheyu's mind blurred briefly before he entered the space of consciousness and began an endless cycle of cultivation.

Cultivating 1 unit at a time allowed him to continuously refine and adjust the technique based on the feedback he received. At the same time, it allowed him to replenish the energy within his three great divine repositories and sea of consciousness. The recent invasion from the demon realm had depleted him considerably, so Lin Zheyu took this opportunity to rebuild his reserves.

Time passed unnoticed in cultivation. In the blink of an eye, more than ten days had gone by. Lin Zheyu consumed over two hundred units of Origin Force before finally cultivating the first stage of the Heaven-Deceiving Art to Perfection. The expenditure was immense, but the results were highly gratifying.

"Unexpectedly, it even incorporated this ability," Lin Zheyu said in surprise.

He hovered above the demonic lake energy. With a thought, surging demonic qi poured out of the demonic lake energy and flowed into Lin Zheyu's body. However, despite the influx of demonic qi, his body showed no signs of demonization, nor did his divine patterns turn purplish black. All the demonic qi entering his body gathered in his chest, compressing into a highly condensed mass of energy.

This was the principle behind formation energy pools that Lin Zheyu had comprehended from studying formations and restrictions. While optimizing the Heaven-Deceiving Art, he had experienced a flash of inspiration and incorporated the part of the formations and restrictions that absorbed demonic qi and stored it within an energy pool.

Feeling a sense of fullness in his chest, Lin Zheyu stopped absorbing demonic qi. "This is as much as I can absorb for now. Any more and I'll lose control of it."

He had not fully comprehended the principles behind formation energy pools. After all, Lin Zheyu had guarded the first formation defense line, not the core of the entire formation system. He had only grasped the barest surface of how formation energy pools worked, then combined it with formation principles for sealing demonic qi to devise an energy pool of his own.

More precisely, his energy pool was merely a small formation that sealed demonic qi. It could not yet supply energy to his divine patterns. However, that was the direction Lin Zheyu intended to pursue in the future.

Lin Zheyu sensed the demonic qi stored in his chest and shook his head slightly. "Unfortunately, it can still store far too little energy, not even 1% of the energy within a Martial Innate realm martial artist."

For now, this ability was still of limited practical use. However, if properly developed, it might produce unexpected results in the future.

"The potential of divine patterns is truly astonishing! As long as I continue perfecting them, I should theoretically be able to replicate the abilities of any formation through divine patterns," Lin Zheyu remarked.

His confidence in the cultivation path centered around divine patterns grew even stronger. However, to fully realize their potential, he would need to continually study other cultivation systems and integrate their principles into his divine patterns, gradually perfecting them.

Lin Zheyu shook his head slightly. "The Heavenly Derivation Sect would be a good choice. Unfortunately, there are still more than thirty years before its formation exchange gathering begins. That's far too long..."

Had joining the Heavenly Derivation Sect not been so difficult, leaving the formation exchange gathering as his only opportunity, he would have left Great Wei long ago. The mention of the Heavenly Derivation Sect suddenly reminded Lin Zheyu of Xu Chi, from whom he had received no news for over a year.

Xu Chi possessed a recommendation slot for the Heavenly Derivation Sect. Lin Zheyu had once reached an agreement with him that if he could alleviate his grandfather's condition and extend his life by several years, Lin Zheyu would receive that slot. However, more than a year had passed, and Xu Chi's grandfather was still in seclusion. Lin Zheyu could not help wondering whether the old man had failed to hold on and kicked the bucket.

I'll have Wu Di ask what exactly is going on, Lin Zheyu thought.

His figure blurred slightly as he left the Primordial Chaos Pool. He then took out a communication jade talisman and sent Wu Di a message. Although more than thirty years remained before the formation exchange gathering, that was enough time for countless unforeseen changes to occur and for Lin Zheyu to raise his strength to an astonishing level.

Even so, the Heavenly Derivation Sect represented the pinnacle of the Dao of formations in this world. If Lin Zheyu wished to perfect his divine patterns, joining the Heavenly Derivation Sect was his best choice and almost his only one.