"Now in the Earthly Grotto Realm, the speed of progress isn't as bonkers as it was initially. Absorbing so much life energy has led to a bit of advancement, man, if only I had something yummy to scarf down."
Little Tree Sprout clutched his tummy, sporting an exaggerated disappointed expression on him.
Lin Chen swiftly scrambled to gather these nobles' ring finger.
Given these young males' status, there must be a ton of goodies in the ring's pouch, and spirit jade is definitely not a rarity.
Spirit jade, a mineral that's as uncommon as hen's teeth, only thrives in spirit mines absorbing celestial breath.
It's teeming with sinful energy, and beast tamers use spirit jade for cultivation, or they can be used as currencies to procure a raft of resources.
Spirit jade is categorized by spirit pattern, basic spirit jade sports only one spirit pattern, but high-grade spirit jade boasts nine of them!
The more spirit patterns, the more sinful energy it contains, which checks out in terms of value!
After a round of scavenging, Lin Chen scrounged up a thousand One Pattern Spirit Jades.
This is quite a tidy cache, you could buy half a block in the city!
Unfortunately, there was no martial art, method like leftovers, a tad of a letdown.
"What on earth is this?" questioned Little Tree Sprout, his curiosity nearsighted, snatching up a One Pattern Spirit Jade and chucking it into his mouth.
"Don't nibble, this is spirit jade!"
Lin Chen attempted to intervene, but it was entirely too late.
"Nutcracker, nutcracker."
Little Tree Sprout chewed on it for a bit, scoring and evaluating, "There's barely any taste to it, the sinful energy within it is also light, but thankfully the number is peppy enough to fill my belly."
Having extolled his discourses, he suddenly flung his cavernous mouth open.
In a dramatic fashion, a sea of spirit jades flew toward his mouth.
Zip zip zip.
One by one, spirit jades jump into Little Tree Sprout's mouth. In the end, even the chewing process is cast aside.
Lin Chen wrinkled his eyebrows.
For someone to take spirit jade, it's to trigger off the sinful energy inside, then suck it up to refine within their body.
But who's seen anyone chowing down on spirit jade?
Then he remembered his terrifying river within the dantian, and everything made sense again.
This little tree sprout, his background must be the crème de la crème.
After gobbling down about 500 odd One Pattern Spirit Jades, Little Tree Sprout finally clutched his slightly bloated stomach and plopped down on the ground.
He burped, emanating satisfaction from head to toe, "How surprising it is to feel full after tucking away only this little bit, my appetite seems to have magically taken a nosedive."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Subsequently, explosions and thunderous sounds boomed from Little Tree Sprout's body. The blare of energy was as dazzling as a disco ball.
Grade three of the Earthly Grotto Realm!
Has the promotion occurred?
"Huh, my friend maple vaguely remembers something. Here, toss you a spell."
Little Tree Sprout fished around the green foliage atop his head, then grunted a voice. He bestowed a tiny light sphere onto Lin Chen.
He slipped the luminous sphere into Lin Chen's hand. "Give it a whirl."
Lin Chen encased the luminous sphere in his hand.
The next instant, the spine-chilling message suddenly exploded in his brain!
In the void, there was a papyrus that didn't quit giving off golden sparkles -
"Emperor Resolution - Volume One"
Breaking free from the shackles of the six pathways, mortality is as exciting as a root canal without anesthetic!
Obviously, this is a horrifying magical art like a chainsaw to the nerves, frightening enough that even this piece of heaven can't hold it back.
The dazzling golden light seemed to transcend time and space, plunging into the soul as deeply as a chainsaw to the back.
Opening up the book, it was covered with a series of detailed cultivation techniques.
When Lin Chen woke up from the foggy confusion, he was aghast to discover that Emperor Resolution - Volume One had been meticulously scratched into his brain, just like it was engraved in the deepest recesses of his soul, no need to play Trivial Pursuit, just reach out and snatch it.
"This magical art..."
Lin Chen couldn't believe this world could produce a magical art so terrifying.
The whole magic art, the heart and soul is about one word - swallowing!
Human spiritual realm, devouring subtle medicines.
Earth spiritual realm, swallowing spirit jade.
Heaven spiritual realm, swallowing lightning and fire.
Profound spiritual realm, swallowing bloodline.
...
As for the instructions at the end, the font was as blurry as your grandma's glasses on a cloudy day.
For shamans, magical arts are like having a sugar daddy throughout their life.
"What grade is this magical art?"
Lin Chen asked.
Magical arts fall into common, earthly, heavenly, profound qualities.
The stronger the magical art, the more imposing the strength.
"Don't know, this thing seemed to pop up in my head out of nowhere, but trust me, your tiny tree buddy definitely isn't going to turf you."
Little tree sprouts hastily explained, drooling again and nibbling on a few more spirit jade blocks.
Seeing this spectacle, Lin Chen's pupils narrowed slightly.
The instruction to swallow spirit jade at the Earth Spirit Realm displayed in the book, was that?
As for the after instructions to swallow lightning and fire, bloodline, Lin Chen's heart began to stir a never-ending appetite to learn more.
Moreover, the name of this magic art, Emperor Resolution - Volume One, indicated it wasn't the full story.
Even this incomplete magic art is as fierce as a lonely chainsaw at night.
Once complete, wouldn't it cause seismic waves across the cosmos?
Lin Chen recalled once again the silhouetted figure who ripped apart the void.
With just one sentence, he had imprisoned the Ancient Hundun Tree into a luminous sphere and sealed it in his own body.
Could this magic art be related to him?
"Lin Chen, you're still not kicked the bucket?"
From a distance, came a chilling voice.
Picking up all his scatterbrain thoughts, he turned towards the front.
Dancing in mid-air was a phoenix scorched by flames, with Lin Yiming on top of its tail.
Just like an onion, there were layers of complexity to Lin Yiming's face when he gazed over all the corpses. "You useless piece of junk, you've actually reappeared at the Earth Spirit Realm?"
"Rumble!"
As Lin Yiming finished speaking, eight others walked up, eyes icy.
As one of the four major clans in Dachang Kingdom, Lin's heritage is incredibly deep-seated.
These individuals are all butlers at the level of class character, with strength not lower than Earth Spirit Layer Three.
Coupled with Lin Yiming, it truly is a spider web from heaven to earth.
"So many people, they're really giving me a big hand."
Lin Chen clenched his fists, killing intent reappeared on his face, "Lin's heritage was all I achieved with my knife and gun, unexpectedly but it benefits you these ingrates, when I recover to my peak, I will personally destroy you!
"No kidding, no kidding, unfortunately, you don't get it!"
Lin Yiming's eyes flared with killing intent, "Get moving, kill him with everything you've got! Whoever chops off his head gets five hundred spirit spell jade!
Hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up like red lanterns.
Kill!
Suddenly, eight magical beasts were summoned.
The crowd charged like crazed lemmings, forming a siege mentality.
"Ah, it's not too hot for this kid."
Little tree seed was a bit scared, the enemy was a bit too numerous, with their current strength, it's difficult to counterattack.
But, circumstances didn't allow them to think much.
"Dust Prince, don't blame me."
A bearded man smirked, his hands arranging spiritual seal formations, crashed down hard.
Lin Chen lifted his fist and used his arm to block it.
"Bam!" The seal exploded.
The wrist of that bearded man bent in an odd angle.
In fact, even the bone had broken!
"Damn it, the kid has such a hard body!"
The bearded man winced, backed off ten meters, and was sweating profusely.
Lin Yiming was gobsmacked, images of Lin Chen's peak once again appeared in his mind.
Riding Red Wolf, ghostly and swift, killing intent as sharp as the wind!
He actually did recover?
This time, he definitely couldn't let him walk out alive!
Thinking about it, Lin Yiming fought his magical beast, crashing into the onslaught full force.