Walker Of The Worlds

Chapter 3294: The Effects Of The Deep Nether Vitrolic Baptism Technique

Lin Mu’s thoughts raced.

When he had first cultivated the Mortal Strengthening Scripture, he had unknowingly merged it with the True Gold Body Forging Arts, which had been incomplete. Later, when he elevated it to the Immortal Strengthening Scripture, the flaws of the gold forging arts had been covered and corrected. With the addition of Gravity Dao, it became something new, something whole.

Even so, he had never considered that he had only taken the first step.

”Do you know how I can progress further?” Lin Mu asked, unable to hide the anticipation in his voice.

Xukong hummed in thought.

”I have an idea,” he said at last. ”But the actual path is something you must discover yourself. I can bring you to the crossroads. The path you walk upon must be chosen by your own will.”

Lin Mu straightened. ”What should I do?”

”The best suggestion I have is something I once refrained from giving you. I believed you were not ready for it. But now I think you are.”

Xukong’s many eyes gleamed with ancient light.

”The Deep Nether Vitrolic Baptism Technique,” he said. ”If you can cultivate it, you may uncover the combinations you need to move forward.”

”That technique...”

Lin Mu remembered it well.

Xukong had introduced it long ago, describing it as one of the greatest body cultivation techniques ever made. Its purpose and potential were astonishing. But its requirements were impossibly harsh, particularly the need for a Caustic Nether Spring. Without it, the technique could not be practiced.

Xukong had not even given Lin Mu the method itself, only its concept.

But now, Xukong seemed genuinely eager to have him attempt it.

”Your body is strong enough to withstand it now,” Xukong said.

Lin Mu felt both excitement and caution stir in him. He asked, ”Just what does this technique truly do?”

”The Deep Nether Vitrolic Baptism Technique allows you to purge all impurities from your body,” Xukong said. ”Not only physical impurities. It burns deeper. It removes Qi impurities and soul impurities as well. It purifies you beyond the limits of physical existence.”

Lin Mu’s eyes widened.

”Even the soul?”

”Yes,” Xukong said. ”The purification touches the soul’s roots. Doing so requires something beyond mortal materials. Even immortal-grade materials cannot accomplish this. Only the Vitrolic essence of a Caustic Nether Spring has the power to refine both body and soul.”

Lin Mu exhaled slowly.

”So it solidifies the foundation completely.”

”Indeed,” Xukong said. ”While the technique may not increase your current strength by much, it will widen the paths available to you. Your potential will grow. You will also gain resistance to poisons, toxins, and corruption.

If you had cultivated it before, you would have been unaffected by the Marshes of Silent Skies, even without the chandeliers you created.”

Lin Mu nearly stood up in surprise.

”That strong? It can resist Baleful Energies?”

”To a degree, yes,” Xukong replied. ”But the Marshes of Silent Skies would have posed no challenge to you. That environment was made to destroy mortal bodies and erode immortal spirits. The technique was made for beings who cultivated in the Netherworld.”

”The Netherworld...”

Lin Mu had known it existed. The legends described it as a place where souls went after death, either briefly or eternally. But he had never learned how beings could cultivate in a place meant for death.

The only known path to the Netherworld was death itself.

Xukong continued explaining.

”Depending on the state of a person’s soul and the karma gathered during their lifetime, they may directly enter the River of Reincarnation or be taken to the Netherworld first. The first is extremely rare. The second is the norm. Every being follows this cycle. Humans, beasts, insects, all go through it.”

Lin Mu listened in silence, absorbing every detail.

”But the Netherworld is not simply a holding place. It is a realm. A world. Life formed there despite its nature. Cultivators rose within it. Souls who chose not to reincarnate learned from them. They built their own methods. The Deep Nether Vitrolic Baptism was one of them.”

Lin Mu frowned slightly.

”Wait... but if they cultivated there, would not all their progress vanish when they reincarnated?”

”Indeed,” Xukong said. ”Which is why the ones who cultivated were those who could not reincarnate properly in the first place. They bore too much karma or sin to return cleanly. They gave up their chance to reincarnate and chose to live in the Netherworld instead, sustained by its energies.”

Lin Mu sat quietly for a moment, contemplating the path ahead.

The technique sounded powerful. Life changing. Dangerous. But also essential.

”Senior,” he said softly, ”when the time comes... I will try.”

Xukong inclined his head, his many eyes shimmering in approval.

”And I will guide you,” he said. ”When you seek mastery, I shall be there.”

For the first time in years, Lin Mu felt a deep warmth within his chest, like a familiar light rekindled.

The future felt uncertain, but with clarity. A new path had opened, vast and unknown, waiting for him to walk upon it.

And beside him, his teacher had finally awakened.

They continued to talk about more things that Lin Mu had faced. Whether it be the Hollows and shades of the Ephemera Sect, or the Xian Sword Sect and its ancestor’s image that Lin Mu had met.

He talked about the blessing of the Lotus Spirit, as well as Lin Mu becoming the Bearer of the White Jade Ruyi and his Calming Heart Sutra reaching the fourth stage.

It was all surprising even to Xukong, as the kinds of events Lin Mu had gone through would have killed millions of other immortals. And yet he had come out on top, and had even grown stronger through it.

There were things that concerned Xukong too, such as the Ephemera Tree that Lin Mu had killed. It was a being even Xukong had heard of, and to learn that it still existed and Lin Mu was the one who had defeated it was astonishing.