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Time flew by swiftly, and months passed silently.
In the secret chamber, Lin Tianming sat motionless on the meditation cushion.
Bits of star-like spiritual energy wandered around his body, slowly entering through the Sky Spirit Cover or his fingertips, gradually permeating his entire being.
An hour later, Lin Tianming ended his practice.
Opening his eyes, a flash of brilliance streaked across his pupils, his body's aura stable and profound.
Several jade bottles lay scattered haphazardly inside the chamber, as empty as can be, with only faint traces of spiritual energy and medicinal fragrance lingering within.
By this time, Lin Tianming had been in closed-door cultivation for several months.
During this period, he fervently engaged in alchemy and cultivation, practicing alchemy until completely exhausted and his spiritual power was depleted before stopping.
Afterward, he would perform breathing exercises to recover his spiritual power and divine sense.
Prolonged alchemy not only consumed a great deal of spiritual energy but also placed a tremendous strain on the divine sense, leaving him extremely weary each time he overused it.
He always pushed himself to the limit, spending days bitterly polishing his practice without ever resorting to Spirit Essence Pills or Restorative Elixirs.
Though arduous, the rewards were incredibly rich.
Over the months, fifty-five sets of Spirit Essence Pill materials were completely refined.
The difficulty of producing Spirit Essence Pills was not minor, being several times harder than making Fasting Pills.
Out of fifty-five sets of Spirit Essence Pill materials, only sixteen batches were successfully alchemized, barely reaching a thirty percent success rate.
The number of pills per batch varied between three and four, ultimately resulting in fifty Spirit Essence Pills.
Combined with the fourteen remaining pills after his successful breakthrough to the Sixth Level of Qi Refinement, he had a total of sixty-four pills.
Throughout these months, he never relaxed his regimen of alchemy or cultivation, consistently taking two Spirit Essence Pills each month, leaving fifty-four pills remaining.
Fortunately, the effort spent on alchemy also played a part; otherwise, it might have been impossible to reach the Medium Stage of the Sixth Level of Qi Refinement so soon based solely on the pills.
Although he had no shortage of pills for his practice, Lin Tianming chose not to continue his closed-door cultivation.
Instead, he prepared to leave seclusion to temper himself in the mountains near Qingfeng Town, to refine his realm further and solidify his gains before seeking another opportunity for a breakthrough.
Cultivation itself is an act of defying the heavens and changing one's fate. Although Lin Tianming had excellent talents, he was not a Cultivator with a Sky Spirit Root or a Hetero-attribute Spirit Root but merely one with above-average potential.
Even those with Sky Spirit Root or Hetero-attribute Spirit Root need to temper and consolidate their experiences to avoid encountering too many bottlenecks.
Overreliance on elixirs could add significant obstacles during Core Formation and Nascent Soul stages; to journey further on the path of Immortality, stepping out for real-world experience was a necessity.
During these months, Lin Tianming always completed the monthly inspections as expected.
Now, the time had come for the eighth inspection, and Lin Tianming emerged from seclusion, appearing in the courtyard outside the loft.
The Lin Family's Mortal Race brothers, Lin Shan and Lin Hai, tasked with awaiting his orders, had taken turns keeping vigil outside the loft for over half a year, never once leaving their post.
Seeing Lin Tianming emerge from the grand hall, Lin Shan ran up to him, bowing respectfully.
"Lin Shan greets the old ancestor with respect, congratulations on the grand achievement of your divine abilities."
These brothers were indeed thoughtful. Aside from the first time they came to Qingfeng Town, they had not received any specific instructions, yet they continued to wait diligently day and night, anticipating orders.
Lin Tianming spoke nonchalantly,
"No need for formalities. Take these discarded pill residues; they still contain quite a bit of elixir essence. Though they're of no use to Cultivators, if common folk stew them into a medicinal soup, it can strengthen the body, improve health, and eliminate chronic illnesses. There is enough here for dozens of your people to use."
With a wave of his hands, a mass of elixir residues flew towards Lin Shan, landing firmly in his palm, a full handful.
Lin Shan was overjoyed but also visibly apprehensive as he thanked Lin Tianming!
Although useless for Cultivators, even the small amount of remaining essence in these discarded pill residues was a significant tonic for Mortals. Having collected many such residues from pill production, they could be gifted to the Lin Family's Mortal members, an effortless act of generosity.
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The mayors of the Lin Family's five major Mortal Towns all descended directly from ancestors who were cultivators, though their bloodlines had become extremely diluted over dozens of generations. Nevertheless, the probability of a cultivator emerging from their lineage was still higher than that of average mortals, and leaving a good karma for oneself was certainly not improper.
Lin Tianming no longer paid attention and, summoning the Qingfeng Sword, flew towards the outskirts of Qingfeng Town.
In half a day's time, he carefully patrolled the area within a hundred miles around Qingfeng Town and had already slain more than ten Mortal Beasts.
Releasing all his Divine Sense, every animal and plant within ten miles flashed through his mind.
"Huh,"
After almost half a year stationed in Qingfeng Town, he had never encountered Demonic Beasts. However, today, he ran into a Striped Crocodile.
The Striped Crocodile was a Middle Stage First-Order Monster Beast. Adult Striped Crocodiles were Second Order Middle Stage beasts, so this one must only be a juvenile.
Striped Crocodiles were gregarious creatures, with smaller groups numbering over ten and larger ones having over a hundred. It was strange to see just one in this place.
This place was over a hundred miles to the west of Qingfeng Town, less than a hundred miles from the outer periphery of the Purple Cloud Mountain Range. Logically, Monster Beasts shouldn't appear here.
Having discovered one, there was naturally no reason to let it go. It would serve as an opportunity to temper himself since it was the first time he had encountered a Monster Beast and thus was also the first time he would duel with one.
He drove the Qingfeng Sword at full power, turning it into a streak of cyan escape light, heading straight for the Monster Beast several miles away.
In less than a quarter of an hour, Lin Tianming appeared in a small valley. The valley stretched for more than ten miles, with dense forests on both sides and a river more than thirty feet wide flowing across the valley floor.
The river flowed from west to east, with the upstream being precisely the Purple Cloud Mountain Range. This Striped Crocodile must have come downstream along this river.
The calm river occasionally rippled slightly, making it very difficult to notice anything unusual without careful observation.
A Striped Crocodile, three zhang wide and over ten zhang long, was hiding at the bottom of the river, swimming quickly upstream.
The creature must have sensed Lin Tianming's formidable presence and, knowing it could not match him, had decided to hide under the water and flee.
"Hmph,"
Do you think you can get away by hiding? I won't be able to deal with you?
This expedition for cultivation experience might last as short as half a month or as long as several months, with no way to determine an exact time.
He must clear out the beasts within a hundred miles. If during his journey of cultivation one of them ran toward Qingfeng Town, countless mortals would surely be met with tragedy.
Summoning the Qingfeng Sword, he infused it with a large amount of Spiritual Energy. The sword became a streak of cyan light and moved with incredible speed.
"With a loud boom,"
The cyan sword light split the river, a few dozen zhang deep, and without any hesitation, rushed towards the Striped Crocodile.
The Striped Crocodile moved its massive body quickly and agilely at the bottom of the river, likely aware that it couldn't evade Lin Tianming's attack.
Suddenly, it turned its head and shot a water sword from its vast mouth. The water sword was half a zhang thick and rapidly shot towards the cyan giant sword.
The two attacks collided with a thunderous roar and only held for the briefest of moments before they exploded.
The river churned continuously, and the powerful shockwave threw fish and shrimp onto the banks, while many were torn to pieces.
With a single easy strike deflected by the Striped Crocodile, Lin Tianming was not irritated. He made three more swift sword slashes, attacking the Striped Crocodile once again.
The Striped Crocodile did not attempt to dodge; instead, it spat out water swords while rapidly moving towards Lin Tianming.
All three water swords exploded in front, blocking the attacks released by Lin Tianming. As the explosions covered its movements, the Striped Crocodile opened its gaping maw and charged directly at Lin Tianming.
Without any panic, Lin Tianming quickly executed the Technique Secret Art, Huoyuan Slash, turning it into a fiery sword, heading straight for the Striped Crocodile's gaping mouth.
With a loud bang, the Striped Crocodile's body twisted wildly, rolling dozens of times in the river before floating motionless on the surface.
Lin Tianming's unrestrained strike had sent the fiery sword straight into the maw of the Striped Crocodile, pulverizing its insides completely, thus ending its life.
Lin Tianming quickly tidied up the battlefield, skinned the Striped Crocodile with haste, extracted a pure white Demon Core from its body, then cut off its four sharp claws and the whole tail before leaving on his sword.