Back at Lin Xuan's courtyard,
Lin Xia and Qing Tan were like two considerate little wives, helping him tidy up his room. Today, the two of them had bought him quite a few new items.
After they left, Lin Xuan began organizing his harvest of the day.
First were the mission rewards.
"Two bottles of fourth-grade Yuan Qi Pills."
These came separately from Xie Yingying and Lei Li.
Then, there were the traded items: fifteen third-grade spiritual herbs and two fourth-grade herbs.
Lin Xuan took out his alchemy furnace and threw all seventeen herbs in.
Chi Ling (the spirit within the furnace) automatically combined them into pills.
Chi Ling didn't need recipes. She could refine the herbs directly into pills of higher quality than the raw herbs.
Soon, the pills were done.
A total of thirty-two pills.
Among them: twenty-two third-grade, nine fourth-grade, and one that barely reached fifth-grade.
The pills refined by Chi Ling were all top quality, without impurities, and completely safe to absorb with no side effects.
Even if there were side effects, Lin Xuan didn't need to worry.
The divine-grade alchemy furnace had another function ..... it could be used for cultivation.
He could actually enter the furnace himself, treating his own body as the "herb" to be refined. The alchemy flames would purge impurities from within, making his body purer.
But currently, Lin Xuan's body couldn't withstand the furnace's flames. He would need to reach the Yuan Dan Realm first.
For now, he could safely consume the pills without worrying about overdosing.
There were just over four months left before the hunting competition.
Lin Xuan's next goal: break through Body Tempering Ninth Layer and charge into the Earth Yuan Realm.
Now, with enough pills, he could cultivate without restraint.
---
Time passed. Over a month later…
Through tireless cultivation, the seed of yuan power in Lin Xuan's meridians grew stronger, pressing against the barrier of his dantian.
The Body Tempering Ninth Layer required breaking open the dantian with yuan power.
After many attempts, Lin Xuan could faintly sense the once-solid barrier beginning to loosen.
Finally, after consuming the nearly fifth-grade pill, he broke through in one surge.
He stepped into Body Tempering Ninth Layer!
The yuan power seed flooded into his dantian like water into a dried-up pond. Lin Xuan felt his body transform from the inside out.
The sensation was like a hidden dragon soaring to the heavens, a fish leaping into the great sea!
> [Mission: Break through to Body Tempering Ninth Layer. Reward: Constitution +2, Bone +2. Completed. Claim reward?]
"Claim!"
> [Constitution 13 (Outstanding) → 15 (Outstanding).]
[Bone 21 (One in a hundred) → 23 (One in a hundred).]
The boost of attributes surged into his body, giving him another wave of growth.
To reach Ninth Layer from Eighth Layer in just over a month was shockingly fast. This was thanks not only to the pills but also to Lin Xuan's inherently high attributes — especially his "Bone," which represented cultivation talent for yuan power, already at the rare level of "One in a hundred."
Lin Xuan set his next mission: continue cultivating.
> [Mission: Break through to Earth Yuan Realm. Reward: Bone +2, Comprehension +2, Supreme Cultivation Technique Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill.]
This reward… a cultivation technique manuscript!?"
His eyes lit up. A cultivation technique was no small matter.
It could only be practiced after reaching the Earth Yuan Realm.
Unlike martial skills, which merely brought out the full strength of yuan power, a cultivation technique improved the very foundation of yuan power itself.
It was the difference between external techniques and internal arts.
Martial skills were ranked first through ninth grade.
Cultivation techniques were ranked third-class, second-class, and first-class.
The Lin family possessed only a single third-class technique.
And now, the system's reward was a supreme-level technique — obviously beyond first-class.
If Lin Xuan mastered it, dominating Qingyang Town would be no problem.
His motivation to cultivate grew even stronger.
After running low on pills, Lin Xuan went back to the underground market.
He first used his savings to buy batches of first- and second-grade herbs, then let Chi Ling refine them into pills. He resold these to trade for third- and fourth-grade herbs.
Fourth-grade herbs were scarce. Even after visiting multiple markets, he only obtained three.
Still, with Chi Ling's help, he could use quantity to make up for quality.
As long as he had enough variety of third-grade herbs, Chi Ling could combine them into many fourth-grade pills.
Besides pills, he also had another treasure: Yin Beads from Qing Tan.
Yin Beads were formed of pure Yin energy. Previously, their cold force was too strong for him to absorb. But now, at Body Tempering Ninth Layer and preparing for the Earth Yuan Realm, he could finally use them.
To reach the Earth Yuan Realm, one needed to fuse yuan power with Yin energy, making it stronger. At this stage, absorbing Yin energy from the world was crucial.
But Yin energy also varied in quality.
It was divided into nine grades — first being the weakest, ninth the strongest.
Most people could only absorb ordinary Yin energy from the environment, at best first- or second-grade.
But Yin Beads from Qing Tan were all fifth-grade or higher.
Such high-quality Yin energy was rare, not just in Qingyang Town but even in bigger Flame City
Lin Xuan swallowed a Yin Bead and began cultivation.
At once, his body froze as icy cold spread wildly inside. Frost crystals even formed on his skin.
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