Wu Ling took a small sip of Vast Sea Jade Nectar and carefully savored the flavor of one of the Ten Famous Wines. "Not bad. Not bad at all. The effect sits somewhere between an ordinary potion and an immortal-herb potion, but the important part is that it tastes good."
He set down the wine cup and asked Rose, who was studying a magic core nearby, "Rose, how long have we been out?"
Rose thought for a moment while grinding the magic core. "Almost five months, I think. Half a month from Soul Land to the Qin Emperor world, more than two months there, then another half month from the Qin Emperor world to the Yin Yang Crown world. After that, we spent over a month here sightseeing and wandering around."
Wu Ling stretched, rose from the lounge chair, and walked to the window. Looking down at the people passing through the street below, he suddenly said, "Mm... I'm getting a little bored."
Rose understood what he meant. If he said he was bored, it meant he wanted to go home.
Wu Ling then continued speaking to himself. "There were three reasons I wanted to travel through different worlds. First, I wanted to see different worlds. Second, I wanted to obtain things that did not exist in my original world to improve my strength. Third, I wanted to study different cultivation systems so I could break through my own upper limit."
After saying that, Wu Ling sighed and sat back down on the lounge chair. "When I read multi-anime crossover novels, that was how it always went. But in the end, I forgot that I am in a fantasy cultivation world."
"Fantasy cultivation worlds are not like certain Japanese anime worlds, where eating a fruit or replacing a pair of eyes makes you stronger. These worlds have precise cultivation systems. Every portion of strength is cultivated one step at a time. External items are useful, but most of their effects are not ideal. Or rather, for the worlds around Soul Land, I should not have held too many fantasies in the first place."
"Still, the harvest barely counts as acceptable. From the Qin Emperor world, we obtained the Dragon Frame, a humanoid soul tool made from the bones of the Sacred Giant Dragon, with combat strength comparable to a Venerate-level Titled Sage. We obtained two Golden-Armored Forbidden Insects that can release an ordinary Titled Sage's full-power strike at once. From the Yin Yang Crown world, we got some wine."
"Do not forget the ordinary dragon bones and dragon souls," Rose added from the side. "Those are excellent materials for making dragonbone soldiers. After we go back, not only can we upgrade the main workshop, but we can also finish the final step of renovating Spirit City."
"Mm. In any case... let's go back."
When Rose heard Wu Ling make the decision, she kept working on her experiment. "You are the boss. Your call. But I still need one night to engrave that portable Magecraft array, so wait one more night."
"One night, huh." Wu Ling raised the wine cup and took a sip. Looking at the moon already visible on the horizon before the sky had even darkened, he sighed. "If I were some protagonists, a whole lot could happen in one night. I remember once seeing a novel that spent two hundred chapters on one night. But if I am the protagonist, this night will probably pass in one line. So, as expected, I am not the protagonist."
Rose did not indulge his melancholy at all. She struck straight at the root. "If you had helped that woman three nights ago, you probably would not be sitting around saying things like this now."
"...But I did not know that woman. She was not my type. She did not look rich. Most importantly, every hair on her body gave off the smell of trouble. So I might as well let her live or die on her own."
"Mm-hm. You do not meddle in other people's business. Now you know why you are this bored."
"Fine, fine. My fault. Happy?"
In the void, Rose, who was on duty, woke Wu Ling while he was resting with his eyes closed.
"Main body."
"What is it? Are we almost there?" Wu Ling asked, rubbing his eyes.
"Yes. We should reach Soul Land in a few hours. But a small situation suddenly came up."
Wu Ling snapped fully awake. If something went wrong in the void, even surviving might still leave them crippled.
"Explain. What situation?"
Rose transmitted the aura she had detected to Wu Ling. "When we passed through a region of distorted space-time, I detected a trace of a powerful aura. The quantity is very small, but the quality is extremely high. I am afraid its quality is already not weaker than Lucius Cross. Most importantly, its direction of travel is Soul Land."
Wu Ling frowned. He did not remember any outsiders appearing in Soul Land I. Unless... it was a transmigrator like him.
"A soul with low quantity but quality comparable to Lucius Cross. Could it be some Long Aotian-type transmigrator with a system inside him?"
"And transmigrating near the start of the plot means there is a high chance of direct soul possession into some existing person."
"Most importantly, as a fellow transmigrator, whether he sides with Tang San or with Spirit Hall, he could disrupt my plans at any time."
"One mountain cannot hold two tigers. All the more so when both are transmigrators."
As that thought rose, Wu Ling's eyes gradually turned ruthless.
"Rose, can you still track him?"
Without another word, Rose gave Wu Ling a route. She had already guessed what he wanted to do the moment she detected that existence.
"Good. Follow him. At maximum output, the Dragon Frame can temporarily match a Ruler-level Titled Sage. Add my Domain to that, and even if he possessed Lucius Cross himself, I will still kill him."
"And if even those two are not enough, then for the sake of being fellow transmigrators, spending one of my lives is worth it."
When he said this, Wu Ling was more solemn and serious than ever before. The coldness in his tone made it sound as if the life he was prepared to throw away did not belong to him at all.
In the southern region of the Star Soul Forest, a vast burst of spiritual power erupted.
Just then, the sky, which had been clear a breath earlier, suddenly darkened. A thunderous roar exploded high above. Darkness blotted out even the sun's radiance. A crushing pressure descended from the heavens, heavy enough to make breathing difficult.
Tian Meng Iceworm, who was working hard to merge himself into a young girl's body, trembled violently when that thunderous roar sounded. His two small golden eyes rolled upward to look into the sky. Shock filled them, along with a trace of confusion. Clearly, the pressure in the sky had nothing to do with him, and it exceeded his understanding.
A stream of gray air descended from the heavens as if dragged down by an enormous force. It landed at the back of the girl's head and quietly drilled inside.
"What dares steal someone from Brother?" Tian Meng Iceworm roared in fury. A massive spiritual wave surged out, trying to drive that gray airflow from the girl's body.
A very blurry figure appeared behind the girl. An aged voice, carrying indescribable dignity, rang out. "With sun and moon in my hands, I pluck the stars. In this world, there is none like me. I never expected that this old man would still have a remnant soul preserved."
Facing Tian Meng Iceworm's enormous spiritual impact, the vague illusory figure seemed completely unaffected. With a whoosh, it entered the back of the girl's head and vanished.
Tian Meng Iceworm did not dare increase his spiritual assault further, because blood was already seeping from the girl's seven apertures. He also discovered that after the gray airflow entered the girl's mind, it immediately transformed into a gray bead only the size of a soybean. Then it fell silent. It neither clashed with his power nor could it be affected by his power.
The next second, the sky darkened again. With another heaven-shaking rumble, Wu Ling followed close behind and stepped out of the void.
End of Volume 4.