Chapter 3616: Why Not Say It Sooner

When Wu Bolin was surveying the Antarctic ice cap using the most primitive method, Ye Chen had already been in seclusion for twenty days at the Nordic research station.

During these twenty days, he almost never stopped circulating the Great Sun Tathagata Hand Seal.

To his delight, as he became increasingly proficient with the Great Sun Tathagata Hand Seal, his circulation speed increased rapidly, and the growth rate of his spiritual energy was already much faster than before.

In Yun Ruoge and Song Ruyu's view, Ye Chen's hand seal circulation speed had already surpassed theirs by more than one level; when Ye Chen completed a full round of eighty hand seals, Yun Ruoge had just finished fewer than thirty, and as for Song Ruyu, her speed was even slower, possibly not even having completed twenty.

For Ye Chen, once these hand seals became proficient, they seemed etched into his mind, even surpassing muscle memory; often, as soon as one hand seal was formed, another four or five hand seals were already preparing in his subconscious.

Gradually, Ye Chen discovered that he seemed to possess some inexplicable talent for these hand seals, and there seemed to be some inexplicable energy within his body helping him to go faster, and then even faster.

In twenty days, the spiritual energy within his body had already recovered to an unprecedented state of fullness.

When the spiritual energy within his body had become so full that there was nowhere left to place it, Ye Chen opened his eyes, saw Yun Ruoge and Song Ruyu still sitting cross-legged circulating hand seals, and silently rose from the seclusion room and walked out.

With his internal spiritual energy already at its limit, he began to consider trading again with that mysterious entity.

Thus, he came to the window and looked outside; outside was endless polar night, and the fantastical aurora that stretched all the way to the horizon, having endured half a lifetime with the endless night.

Currently, the climate in Antarctica has become increasingly cold, the aurora has become increasingly frequent, and its coverage has also expanded; now, the aurora almost appears 24/7 and then does not stop for several months.

Thus, he decided to call Yun Ruoge and Song Ruyu, bring them to wait under the aurora again, and see if any new hand seals would appear.

Lin Wan'er saw him, happily stepped forward and asked: "Young Master, you've emerged from seclusion! How have you been feeling these days?"

Ye Chen smiled and said: "Quite well; I seem to be becoming increasingly proficient with the Great Sun Tathagata Hand Seal, though I don't know how long this seclusion has lasted."

Lin Wan'er crisply said: "Young Master has been in seclusion for twenty days and three hours."

"That long?"

Ye Chen was actually somewhat surprised.

For him, a single seclusion was like a great dream—sleeping, dreaming, waking—making it difficult to perceive or recall exactly how much time had passed.

The next moment, he could not hide his concern as he asked Lin Wan'er: "You've lived alone in this polar polar night for twenty days; you must be very lonely, right?"

Lin Wan'er's expression was surprised and bewildered, with a hint of being moved.

She had not expected that, upon learning so much time had passed, Ye Chen's first thought would be concern for her.

Deeply moved, she affected composure and said: "Thank you, Young Master, for your concern; I've spent these twenty days quite well, after all, having lived so many years, I've long grown accustomed to solitude."

"Not at all." Ye Chen without hesitation exposed her lie, earnestly saying: "If you were truly accustomed to solitude, you wouldn't have adopted so many orphans, nor kept Old Zhang by your side."

Lin Wan'er was suddenly struck in her soft spot by these words; her eye sockets unconsciously reddened, and unconsciously filled with tears.

Fear of solitude is real.

After all, she is a body of seventeen or eighteen years old, carrying a heart of seventeen or eighteen years old, having lived four hundred years.

A girl of seventeen or eighteen, alone at home, would still fear solitude; let alone her, who has wandered for hundreds of years.

Feeling her tears about to overflow, she only turned her back to Ye Chen and wiped her tears.

Ye Chen could not help but step forward, gently embrace her shoulders, gazing at the aurora outside the window, and asked her: "Unable to cultivate yet granted longevity—such longevity for you must surely be very hard, right?"

Lin Wan'er's delicate frame trembled slightly, then she silently rested her head lightly against Ye Chen's embrace; the magnificent aurora, refracted through her tears, felt even more dreamlike; she lightly parted her vermilion lips and earnestly said: "Young Master, longevity for me is a daily dose of excitement; four hundred years, over a hundred thousand days and nights of sunrise and sunset, the sky brightening and dimming again—I have never missed a single day; by comparison, the vast majority of cultivators spend most of their time in long seclusions; even if they live several thousand years, the actual sunrises and sunsets they truly experience may not even match what I have experienced."

Ye Chen suddenly froze.

He originally thought that his twenty days of seclusion were merely a great dream, while she needed to endure twenty days of hardship here, which must surely be agonizing for her; he never expected Lin Wan'er to view this issue in such a way.

These twenty days of seclusion and Lin Wan'er's words made him understand even more why cultivation is a matter spanning hundreds or even thousands of years.

Actually, heaven is fair; cultivators may be long-lived, but they are merely like sea turtles, having slowed down every rhythm.

If one is destined to live a hundred years in life, one can only witness thirty-six thousand five hundred sunrises and sunsets; if one stretches each sunrise and sunset to ten days, it seems as if one has lived a thousand years, but the actual excitement experienced is no more than a hundred years.

Once a cultivator begins cultivation, no matter how long this life may be, they have lost the joys, angers, sorrows, and pleasures that humans ought to have, and have even fewer of the wonderful experiences of wandering through the mortal world; like Meng Changsheng, who seeks a cave dwelling to cultivate for hundreds of years, one would imagine he would have no pleasure at all.

Meng Changsheng lived a thousand years; the number of sunrises and sunsets he truly experienced in person is probably still less than thirty-six thousand five hundred.

Even if a thousand years of cultivation granted him strength beyond that of ordinary people, what then? Having missed so much excitement, in the end, wielding heavenly abilities only to turn to dust—is that not also a kind of waste and torment?

Fortunately, Ye Chen does not truly seek longevity.

His greatest motivation for cultivation is to completely eradicate the Break the Clear Society and avenge his parents.

Once the great enemy is defeated, he would rather spend his remaining time like Lin Wan'er, experiencing life day by day, than imprison himself in endless cultivation.

The two leaned against the window for a long time; Ye Chen then softly sighed and said: "If one day the great enemy is defeated, I will absolutely not seclude myself even for a single day; I also want to be like Miss Lin, not missing a single day's excitement."

……

At the same time, several hundred li outside in the Antarctic wilderness, Wu Bolin continued his special survey.

Over the past twenty days, he has searched for clues all over Antarctica, yet found nothing of value.

He speculated that the so-called Ascension Gate should not truly be some formation allowing people to fly up from flat ground; a more reasonable idea is that, after the Dharma-Ending Age arrived, the strongest sect on Earth at that time brought their cultivators to this continent, where they made their final struggle.

Some cultivators from here caught the last train to ascension; another part could only remain on Earth, lonely and awaiting death.

After those left behind died generation after generation, this sect was erased from traces; some left the Antarctic continent, returned to the mundane world to spend their remaining years, and also brought legends of the Ascension Gate to the mundane world.

If my speculation is correct, then that original sect must have had its dojo in Antarctica.

As the strongest sect on Earth before the Dharma-Ending Age arrived, this place must certainly have left behind a large number of techniques, magical artifacts, and high-end cultivation materials.

As long as I can find the relics of that sect, the path of cultivation will surely become clear and open.

However, in the vast Antarctic continent, searching for such a little bit is like looking for a needle in the ocean; after suffering twenty days of fruitless searching and yet wasting not a little spiritual energy, his mind finally opened, and he called over Jingdi Hangping, asking: "You are a scientist; you should know quite a bit about Antarctica, right?"

Jingdi Hangping humbly said: "I should know somewhat more than ordinary people."

Jingdi Hangping probed: "If I want to know what lies beneath the Antarctic ice cap at a depth of over two thousand meters, how do you think it could be achieved?"

Jingdi Hangping asked him: "What exactly does the True Person want to know about, and roughly what volume of object? If it's looking for something with relatively small volume, we also don't have any good methods."

Wu Bolin then said: "I want to find the architectural complex buried beneath the ice cap; if such an architectural complex, or man-made construction, exists beneath the ice cap, do you have a way to find it? I know this is certainly very difficult; as scientists, do you have any ideas you could try to solve it?"

Having spoken these words, Wu Bolin still secretly thought: "It seems these scientists also probably don't have any good solutions."

As a result, Jingdi Hangping, upon hearing this, responded as if answering one plus one equals how many, and blurted out: "If searching for such a large target as an architectural complex, simply use ice radar; whatever lies beneath the ice cap, one sweep and you'll know—don't even mention pure ice layers of several thousand meters; even if it's several kilometers of rock layers, seismic surveying can be used, generating seismic waves artificially, and the geological layer structure within ten kilometers can basically be seen clearly; if there is a large-scale architectural complex, it can also be found this way."

Wu Bolin was greatly surprised and asked him: "Are these two technologies difficult to implement?"

Jingdi Hangping shook his head: "Not difficult at all; we have ice radar on our vehicle, and the base has higher-power, wider-range equipment; if seismic surveying is needed, the base also has explosives and surveying equipment."

Wu Bolin's expression was stunned, recalling the hardships of the past twenty days, and in his anger and embarrassment, he slapped Hikohira Kōhei across the face, cursing: "Damn bastard, with such great skill, why didn't you say so earlier?!"