Douluo: Starting from the Nine-Curved Vine Dragon

Chapter 398 The Realm of Transcendence
The vast universe, the boundless Milky Way.

Lin Rong didn't know how many years had passed, perhaps a hundred years, perhaps a thousand years, because he couldn't sense the flow of time here.

His once black hair had turned snow-white with the passage of time, along with the several feet of white beard that had grown on his chin and his deeply lined, aged face, making Lin Rong look like a real old man.

His eyes were no longer clear; his murky gaze showed no trace of the youthful spirit he once possessed.

"Young Master, you must succeed!"

Suddenly, Lin Rong heard the old housekeeper's concerned voice echoing in her mind.

"Grandpa Yu?"

His voice was so low and weathered at that moment, even more so than the old butler's.

Lin Rong closed her eyes and looked inward.

In his heart, each dot of light represents a person loyal to him; this is the ability bestowed upon him by the Marrow Cleansing Classic upon breaking through the third major realm of revealing and manifesting to save all sentient beings.

Of all the points of light, the largest and brightest represents the old butler, and his voice comes from this point of light.

"Grandpa Yu is worried about me. Besides, it's impossible for hundreds or thousands of years to have passed in the outside world like it is here. In other words, Grandpa Yu has only just discovered my situation in the outside world, which is why he said those words of concern for me."

"What happened in the outside world was only a moment, but here at least several hundred years have passed."

"The fourth realm of the Marrow Cleansing Classic: A snap of the fingers transcends the beginningless past, surpassing the constraints of time and reaching a state of transcendence..."

"Yes, if you want to transcend time, you must at least have the courage to not fear time and the mindset to not be bound by time. Is my current state of mind sufficient?"

Regardless of what happens in the outside world or how much time has passed.

But Lin Rong truly spent this incredibly long period of solitude all by herself.

Such an experience, even for any mentally sound person, as long as they didn't go mad or die from the long, lonely loneliness, and instead managed to live to this day with just a bit of willpower, would have made their mindset incredibly resilient over the long years.

However, no matter how resilient one's mind is, if one loses oneself, one is destined to fail the test of the fourth stage of the Marrow Cleansing Classic.

How can someone who has lost himself transcend the constraints of time and reach a state of detachment?

The old butler's concerned voice awakened emotions that had been dormant in Lin Rong's heart for a thousand years.

Memories of my childhood kept flooding my mind, and warm scenes flashed before my eyes one by one.

Gradually, the aloofness that Lin Rong possessed, stemming from her millennia of solitude, gradually disappeared.

His cloudy eyes began to brighten, and his demeanor gradually transformed from that of a frail old man to one radiating a vibrant energy.

Lin Rong stood up. He had lost track of how long he had been sitting there and had forgotten what it felt like to stand up and walk.

"Sitting for so long, my joints are all rusty."

After stretching and loosening his muscles, Lin Rong felt a long-lost sense of ease and comfort.

A surge of youthful energy emanated from him, his long, snow-white hair visibly turned black, smooth and glossy, and the deep lines on his face quickly disappeared, transforming him back into the face of a boy of about fifteen years old in no time.

Lin Rong stroked his beard with one hand, and with a slight effort, it all fell off.

As he watched the large clump of white beard in his hand gradually turn into specks of light and dissipate, he couldn't help but recall the time when he was a child and plucked a few hairs from the old butler's beard. His eyes filled with reminiscence as he smiled.

"If I hadn't traveled through time, I wonder if I would ever have the joy of having my children and grandchildren around me when I'm old."

Passing on the family line was the most important thing in the previous world, and as a commoner, he could hardly escape this custom.

But since he has already traveled through time, some things should be left to drift away with the wind.

In the universe, a ray of light slowly appeared before Lin Rong.

The appearance of this door meant that he had passed the test of the fourth stage of the Marrow Cleansing Scripture. Lin Rong walked through the light, his consciousness was initially blurred, and after a while, he gradually began to perceive bits and pieces of information from the outside world.

……

Outside, in a broken valley.

The old butler and Lin Rong sat cross-legged facing each other on the ground, their faces full of worry and their expressions downcast.

In the pool beside it, the Deep Sea Demon Whale King had no idea what was going on, but its limited emotional intelligence told it that the best thing to do now was to play dead, say nothing, do nothing, and be a quiet, dead fish.

"If you can't see me, I know nothing..."

On the contrary, the floating island turtle, unaware of what had happened on its back, resumed its journey towards the Douluo Continent after the terrifying pressure disappeared.

"Hurry up, go faster while ensuring stability. The sooner we get to Douluo Continent, the sooner we can send these three ancestors away and return to my easy and comfortable life of laziness."

"Bang! Bang!"

A faint heartbeat reached the old butler's ears.

"Young Master!"

A glimmer of hope flashed in his eyes, and he trembled as he placed his hand on Lin Rong's wrist, finding that he had indeed heard correctly; the young master's pulse, which had stopped beating, had resumed.

Then place your hand under your nose, and a faint breath will travel through your fingers to your brain.

"That's wonderful! May the ancestors of the Lin family bless the young master! He has succeeded!"

A heartfelt joy welled up from the bottom of his heart, and tears of happiness streamed down his face, dripping onto Lin Rong's face along with his beard.

"Hmm? What is this? It feels steady and warm."

As soon as Lin Rong regained consciousness, she felt some warm liquid dripping onto her face.

He instinctively wiped his face with his hand, but his still numb limbs wouldn't obey him, causing the warm liquid to flow down his cheeks to the corners of his mouth.

It tastes salty, is it tears? He didn't cry.

Lin Rong tried to open her eyes, and after a moment the darkness in front of her gradually became clear.

He saw the old butler pressed close to him, tears streaming from his moist eyes.

Who says gods have no feelings? At least his grandfather Yu wasn't that kind of god.

"Grandpa, don't cry, your grandson is here."

As blood circulation returned, Lin Rong regained feeling in her hands and feet. She raised her right hand, gently touched the old butler's eye socket with her index finger, and carefully wiped away the tears that welled up in her eyes.

"Okay, Grandpa, don't cry."

Overwhelmed with emotion, the old steward momentarily forgot the distinction between master and servant and instinctively responded with this statement.

The most precious emotion in this world is losing something and then getting it back.

Lin Rong was about to say something when she heard the sound of rushing water.

Click~ Click~ Click...

The rubble scattered throughout the valley was instantly crushed into dust by a powerful shockwave. Lin Rong turned his head sharply, his eyes filled with an intense, almost tangible killing intent that rushed straight towards the Deep Sea Demon Whale King in the pool.

This damn thing! What a lovely, heartwarming scene, ruined by that tiny splash of water.

(End of this chapter)