"Brother Lin Yi, go ahead and use the Millennium Spirit Balm to cover your whole body. Let's see if it works as miraculously as the legends say," Lin Yi said directly.
Lin Yi, the fish demon, clasped his hands and said, "I'll do so with gratitude."
Reverting to his demon form, Lin Yi's body immediately expanded several times. After a quick contraction and a dip in the pool, he returned to his original size.
After this immersion, Lin Yi's entire body was evenly coated with the Millennium Spirit Balm. The pool of spirit balm was mostly used up, but there was enough left for Jiang Xiao.
Using some jade boxes, Jiang Xiao packed the remaining spirit balm into small containers. The pool of spirit balm was now empty.
Jiang Xiao removed all his clothes, applied the Millennium Spirit Balm to his entire body, and immediately activated the Taiyi Pure Spirit Technique to absorb and transform it. Lin Yi, to balance the two sources of spiritual power within him, had shifted his focus to the Taiyi Pure Spirit Technique.
The translucent green spirit balm slowly penetrated his muscles, bones, and, following the meridians and acupoints, flowed into his dantian. Under the absorption of the Taiyi Pure Spirit Technique, numerous strands of fine green spiritual power entered his dantian and quickly converted into internal energy.
As time passed, having just advanced to the ninth layer of the Taiyi Pure Spirit Technique, Lin Yi immediately progressed to the tenth layer without any obstacles.
After the breakthrough, rather than pushing on to the next realm, Lin Yi consolidated his current state with the remaining spiritual power.
Feeling a qualitative leap in the strength of his bones, muscles, and tendons, his dantian was enveloped in a thin green film until it absorbed the last trace of energy.
Opening his eyes, clenching and unclenching his fists, Lin Yi felt the increased strength in his hands. He almost couldn't resist punching the walls of the secret room but thought better of it. One never knew if triggering some restriction would be more trouble than it was worth.
Seeing that Chang had not yet awakened, a dense layer of black grime appeared on his surface.
Thinking to himself, Lin Yi pondered, "It seems that Chang's physical strength can be greatly enhanced this time."
He had previously transformed his body through the infusion of mysterious energy and the thunder and lightning power of a minor celestial tribulation, leaving almost no impurities in his physical form.
This time, the body refinement with the Millennium Spirit Balm was an internal change that couldn't be discerned externally.
After waiting for a while, Chang also woke up. Silver fish scales all over his body glittered with specks of golden light, showing a tendency to transform into golden fish scales.
"Big brother, you've absorbed it so quickly?" Chang, the fish demon, asked.
"I just woke up a little earlier than you. We haven't had a detailed chat between us brothers. Let's introduce ourselves. I'm Lin Yi from the Taiyi Sect. What's your name, Brother Chang?" Lin Yi asked.
"I don't have a name. Since big brother is named Lin Yi, I'll go with Lin Chang. It sounds smooth enough," self-proclaimed Lin Chang, the fish demon, said with a cheerful smile.
"Alright, I'll call you Brother Chang. Has the Millennium Spirit Balm been helpful for your cultivation?" Lin Yi asked with concern.
"Haha, I've smoothly crossed the early stage of the Demonic Transformation and entered the middle stage. Look, because of the Millennium Spirit Balm, my fish tail can completely transform into legs now."
Jiang Chang transformed into a human form, a naked man standing before Lin Yi.
Lin Yi tossed a set of clothes to Jiang Chang, saying, "Put these on; it's too indecent."
Jiang Chang laughed, "Haha, it feels a bit unusual to transform so thoroughly for the first time." Jiang Chang put on the clothes Lin Yi threw to him, but the fish scales on his back were still quite noticeable.
"If I don't look at your back, I really can't tell the difference between you and me," Lin Yi remarked.
"Big brother, with my cultivation, I wouldn't be able to transform so thoroughly. It's all thanks to the Millennium Spirit Balm. Now, only the scales on my back are left," Jiang Chang happily said.
Lin Yi handed a box of Millennium Spirit Balm to Jiang Chang and said, "Take this box; it will be useful in future battles." At the same time, he retrieved the Heartmark Sword he had left in Jiang Chang's heart.
"Thank you, big brother," Jiang Chang felt the warmth of brotherhood for the first time.
"No more idle talk. Let's see what treasures the next secret room holds," Lin Yi said, and Jiang Chang naturally followed him to the secret room behind the third pillar.
As soon as they stepped into the secret room, a black three-foot-long sword flew directly at Lin Yi. Seeing the sword flying towards Lin Yi, Jiang Chang thought it was meant to harm him. He used two steel forks to defend himself.
"Swish, swish!" After two sounds, the two steel forks were instantly broken. Jiang Chang tried to block the trajectory of the black sword with his body.
"Chang, be careful!" Lin Yi sensed that the sword had no malicious intent and used one hand to stop Jiang Chang, who was trying to block the path of the black sword with his body.
Jiang Chang was shocked. Big brother's single hand held him in place, immobile. Such immense strength was nothing like that of a human cultivator.
Because of the cleansing and refining of his body with the Millennium Spirit Balm, the originally robust demonic beast was now even more formidable. Jiang Chang, caught in his big brother's grip, found him to be a true monster.
With one hand holding Jiang Chang in place, Lin Yi flashed in front of Jiang Chang. A sword energy flew out towards the black sword. Surprisingly, the black sword effortlessly pierced through the sword energy emitted by Lin Yi's Mingyuan Technique.
This was completely unexpected to Lin Yi. Unable to help it, he had to aim for the hilt of the black sword.
What was even more unexpected was that the black sword actually rotated, with the blade turning, and after scratching Lin Yi's hand, it comfortably flew back into Lin Yi's hand. Ignoring the injury to his hand, Lin Yi grabbed it. The blood in his hand instantly wrapped around the sword hilt, and the most bizarre thing was that the black sword actually absorbed Lin Yi's essence blood.
Lin Yi's essence blood flowed along the sword hilt, sword body, directly to the sword tip. After merging with the bloodstains left by the previous cut, the black small sword rapidly spun, gradually fading away in Lin Yi's hand until it disappeared.
A satisfied smile appeared on Lin Yi's face because the black sword didn't truly disappear; it was absorbed into his body, turning into a black small sword suspended in his dantian.
Jiang Chang was startled by the scene before him. The black sword had scratched big brother's palm, then started to suck blood, and after finishing, it mysteriously disappeared. What kind of trick was this? Suck blood and run away?
"Big brother, where did that black sword go just now?" Jiang Chang asked in confusion.
Lin Yi replied, "Look at my palm." Lin Yi opened his right hand, and the black long sword appeared in his palm again.
"What's going on, big brother?" Lin Chang's confusion didn't diminish; instead, it increased.
"This sword is called the Nine Dark Soul-Cutting Sword. It is the weapon of the founder of the technique inside my body. It was probably attracted by the spiritual power in my body and flew towards me. Now it belongs to me," Lin Yi said happily. This time, he truly hit the jackpot, not only significantly increasing his cultivation strength but also obtaining two treasures, the Shu Mi Ring and the Nine Dark Soul-Cutting Sword.
Especially the Nine Dark Soul-Cutting Sword, matched with his Mingyuan Technique, was undoubtedly a perfect match.
"Congratulations, big brother! Congratulations, big brother! I thought big brother disdained weapons, but it turns out big brother was looking for divine weapons. Congratulations on fulfilling your wish!" Lin Chang's congratulations came from the bottom of his heart, genuinely happy for his big brother, Lin Yi.
"Brother, your opportunity is not bad either. Take a look at the remaining weapons and see which one you like," Lin Yi pointed to the other four treasures in the secret room.
Lin Chang then shifted his gaze to the secret room. The central shelf was now empty, as the Nine Dark Soul-Cutting Sword had just been placed there. The remaining items included a long knife with a broad blade, a length of about one zhang, three-sided, and a chilling radiance that reflected glaring light.
Lin Chang instantly fell in love with this long knife. As a heavy weapon, it was just right for Lin Chang, a strength-oriented demon beast.
"I want this long knife!" Lin Chang grabbed the long knife and held it in his arms, carefully examining it. The two small characters "Open Heaven" were engraved on the knife.
"What an imposing name, Open Heaven, not bad!" Lin Yi praised.
Lin Chang joyfully said, "A divine knife that opens the heavens, hahaha, I also have my own divine weapon."
The remaining three treasures were a Broken Sky Spear, a golden inner armor, and a purple-gold Meteor Bowl.
Lin Yi handed the golden inner armor to Lin Chang, saying, "After you imprint your blood on this inner armor and recognize it as the master, wear it." The Broken Sky Spear and Meteor Bowl were stored in his Shu Mi Ring.
"Big brother, my current fleshly body doesn't need to wear inner armor; it doesn't make much sense. You keep it for yourself; your fleshly body strength seems to be much greater than mine," Lin Chang said, suddenly realizing that big brother Lin Yi's physical strength was much stronger than his own.
He then continued to ask, "Big brother, how come your strength is even greater than mine? I thought that after I absorbed the Millennium Spirit Balm, my strength was rarely matched within the same realm. How is your fleshly body so formidable?"
"This is big brother's secret. Even if I tell you, you won't be able to imitate it," Lin Yi spoke the truth. After all, who else would risk their life at the bottom of the Devil's Pool, undergo the infusion of profound energy into their body, and die only to be resurrected? Only Lin Yi, this transmigrator.
"Big brother, you still keep these pieces of inner armor. Maybe you can give them to your future sister-in-law," Lin Chang joked.
Without further ado, Lin Yi put away the inner armor and brought Lin Chang to the last secret room. Inside the secret room was a jade slip. Lin Yi immersed his consciousness into the jade slip. Inside, there was a cultivation technique called "Dragon Force."
The Dragon Force cultivation technique was suitable for demonic cultivators, with the prerequisite being an extremely powerful physical body.
Both Lin Yi and Lin Chang met the conditions for cultivation. Lin Yi took out a blank jade slip, imprinted the Dragon Force cultivation technique on it, and handed it to Lin Chang, saying, "In the future, follow this cultivation technique. Your progress will be faster than natural cultivation."
(End of this chapter)