Earthly Yuan Realm Late Stage

Qing Tan's cold aura was becoming more and more severe, causing the two of them to spend increasingly long periods of time in the Alchemy Furnace.

Their long hours of intimate contact also quietly deepened their feelings for each other. It could be said that if Lin Dong were not around, Lin Yun and Qing Tan were like a young couple who were as close as could be.

As the cold aura intensified, Chi Ling also refined more Yin Pearls from it.

However, Lin Yun had the Innate Yin Sha Qi rewarded by the system, and its effect was even better than Qing Tan's cold aura. In other words, the Yin Pearls were no longer very useful to Lin Yun.

As for Qing Tan, she herself already had an excess of cold aura, so she had even less use for the Yin Pearls.

After thinking it over, they ultimately decided to give the extra Yin Pearls to Lin Dong.

Their current relationship was, in truth, only short of having the secret of their cheats spelled out. Other than that, they knew practically everything about one another.

Lin Yun, in particular, understood Lin Dong so deeply that he was probably even clearer about him than Lin Dong was himself.

On top of that, because of Qing Tan, an invisible layer of closer connection had formed between Lin Yun and Lin Dong.

Although Lin Yun and Qing Tan had not officially announced anything yet, his parents had already tacitly accepted this relationship in private.

Aside from being Lin Yun's younger clansman, Lin Dong might even become his future brother-in-law!

An hour later, Lin Yun and Qing Tan came out.

"Lin Yun, Brother, how is Qing Tan's cold aura now?"

"Do you know the reason behind her cold aura?"

"Is there any way to cure it completely?"

The moment he saw the two of them come out, Lin Dong immediately went over and asked with concern.

His legs had gone numb from waiting outside! "No need to worry. Qing Tan's cold aura isn't necessarily a bad thing. Haven't you seen that Qing Tan's cultivation speed is actually no worse than yours? This is the benefit brought by her Physique."

"As for a complete cure, there should be a way. I just haven't figured it out yet."

Lin Yun supported Qing Tan and unhurriedly answered Lin Dong's questions.

After speaking, he pulled Lin Dong aside and said, "Right, let me show you a treasure!"

"What treasure?" Lin Dong asked in confusion.

Lin Yun spread out his palm, revealing seven icy-white Yin Pearls.

"Yin... What is this?" Lin Dong quickly changed his words.

Little brat, you're pretty good at pretending... Lin Yun looked at Lin Dong's forced calm expression and found it somewhat amusing. Perhaps this was the thrill of having a god's-eye view. No matter how Lin Dong tried to hide it, nothing escaped Lin Yun's eyes. "These are 'Yin Pearls' formed from the condensation of the cold aura inside Qing Tan's body. They're a kind of extremely powerful Yin Sha Qi. I've tried them before, and they're very useful for cultivation in the Earthly Yuan Realm. Here, take them."

Lin Yun deliberately emphasized "Yin Pearls." This was the name Lin Dong had come up with himself.

"This many?" Lin Dong was slightly surprised... Lin Yun, Brother couldn't have forcefully absorbed the cold aura inside Qing Tan's body just to obtain a large number of Yin Pearls, could he?

Back when he used the Stone Talisman to help Qing Tan, one bout of cold aura had only condensed into three or four pearls.

"There weren't this many originally. In the past, there were only three to five at a time, but Qing Tan's cold aura has grown stronger and stronger, so the number of condensed Yin Pearls has increased as well." Lin Yun explained this on purpose to avoid Lin Dong getting any other ideas.

Although in the original work Lin Dong had not taken Qing Tan in, he had always treated her like a younger sister, and his care for her had never lessened.

"Lin Yun, Brother, how did you do it? You can actually condense the cold aura into Yin Pearls?" Lin Dong could not help asking curiously, even subconsciously glancing at Lin Yun's palm.

They both condensed Yin Pearls. Wasn't this the same as his Stone Talisman?

"Could it be that there's more than one Stone Talisman, and Lin Yun obtained one too?" Lin Dong could not help letting his thoughts run wild.

"Little Brother Lin Dong, this concerns my secret. I've already told you enough. It's because I trust you that I'm willing to share the Yin Pearls with you. I hope you won't tell anyone else." Lin Yun handed the Yin Pearls to Lin Dong and said this in a slightly cold tone.

He was deliberately warning Lin Dong not to keep prying into his secrets.

If Lin Dong wanted to know his secret, he would have to exchange it with his own!

Lin Yun still had a task to subdue Lin Dong, which had yet to be completed. If he wanted to succeed, he would probably need Lin Dong to be completely unguarded around him and willing to reveal the existence of the Ancestral Stone to him.

Lin Yun had to pry open Lin Dong's heart step by step.

"Yes, thank you, Lin Yun, Brother!"

Lin Dong held the Yin Pearls, feeling somewhat guilty in his heart.

He had never revealed his secret to Lin Yun, while Lin Yun, in order to help Qing Tan, was not only willing to say that he had a treasure, but was also willing to share the Yin Pearls with him. Lin Yun could have swallowed them all himself.

Yet he was always probing and had never shared anything.

By comparison, Lin Yun's charisma was far too great.

He really... I... Lin Dong felt a lot stirring in his heart.

Seeing Lin Dong looking both moved and guilty, Lin Yun secretly felt pleased... My foolish Little Brother Ou, think it over properly. See how good your big brother is to you. Try to figure it out sooner and be honest with me! That night, Lin Dong swallowed a Yin Pearl and cultivated.

"This Yin Pearl is a little different... Hiss, it's actually even easier to absorb than the Yin Pearls refined by the Stone Talisman."

Sensing the effect of the Yin Pearl, Lin Dong was secretly shocked.

The Yin Pearls Lin Yun provided were far better than the Yin Pearls he had obtained with the Stone Talisman before.

This could not help making Lin Dong even more curious... Perhaps Lin Yun, Brother's treasure is even more powerful than the Stone Talisman! ...

In the blink of an eye, more than two months had passed since the Hunting Tournament ended.

That day, a powerful fluctuation of Yuan Power suddenly came from Lin Yun's room.

Earthly Yuan Realm Late Stage—he had broken through!

Task: Break through to the Earthly Yuan Realm Late Stage. Reward: Physique +2, Root Bone +2. Completed. Claim?

"Claim!"

Physique 20 (one in a hundred) - 22 (one in a hundred)

Root Bone 29 (one in a hundred) - 31 (one in a thousand)

With this increase in attributes, Lin Yun felt the changes in his body were a little more noticeable.

His Physique had only been 17 before, but over the past two-plus months, he had cultivated the Dragon Elephant Prajna Art to the third layer and gained Physique +3. This breakthrough to the Earthly Yuan Realm had earned him another +2, bringing it to 22.

His Root Bone had risen from one in a hundred to one in a thousand, a qualitative leap.

Aside from his realm breakthrough, Lin Yun had not fallen behind in martial arts either.

He had successfully grinded two Second Grade Martial Arts and two Third Grade Martial Arts to max level.

His talents had improved greatly.

Fist Technique Talent (Intermediate +2)

Palm Technique Talent (Intermediate)

Movement Technique Talent (Intermediate +1)

Among Fourth Grade Martial Arts, he had gained Pure Yuan Finger as well, and Lin Yun had also grinded it to perfection, obtaining the reward "Beginner Finger Technique Talent."

He had talent in fists, palms, and fingers now, so Lin Yun's hands were incredibly nimble.

As for Mystic Gate Seal, Lin Yun had successfully learned the first through fourth seals, reaching Greater Mastery overall.

Mystic Gate Seal progressed relatively slowly. After all, it had reached the level of a Fifth Grade Martial Art, making it difficult to cultivate and extremely costly in terms of Yuan Power consumption.

In addition, Lin Yun had not cultivated the Lin Family's core cultivation method, Azure Yuan Art. Azure Yuan Art could only open four meridians, which was honestly pitiful, and those four meridians were all covered by the Dragon Elephant Prajna Art anyway.

By comparison, the Dragon Elephant Prajna Art truly lived up to being a peerless cultivation method. It could open over a hundred meridians, along with all the major acupoints and apertures, connecting every part of the body.

During this period, Lin Yun also went to the Underground Exchange several times and traded for many Spirit Herbs, ranging from First to Fourth Grade.

The low-grade Spirit Herbs were mainly prepared for the three little ones.

Under Lin Yun's extravagant nurturing, the three little ones improved at a shocking speed and were already as large as young calves.

Little Fire and Little Yan had reached the level of Body Tempering Fifth Layer.

Little Flame was even comparable to Body Tempering Sixth Layer.

The reason Little Flame was a step faster was not because of its mutated bloodline. Its body had not fully matured yet, so the effects of its bloodline had not become apparent. The main reason was Lin Dong's favoritism; he had secretly fed it quite a bit of Stone Talisman Spiritual Liquid.

Stone Talisman Spiritual Liquid had an excellent body-building effect on both people and Demon Beasts in the early stages of cultivation.

It was not just the three little ones. Mother Tiger Heroine had also made progress, and was now comparable to the Heavenly Yuan Realm Middle Stage.

Fire Python Tigers were only Heavenly Yuan Realm Demon Beasts, and after reaching the Heavenly Yuan Realm, it was very difficult for them to break through again. Without Lin Yun's help, if Tiger Heroine wanted to break through from the Heavenly Yuan Realm Early Stage to the Middle Stage, it would probably have taken several decades.