On a small path, the fat man asked the thin man, "Brother, what do we do about our assignment?"
"What assignment? Our lives are about to be lost, and you still care about an assignment?" the thin man said with the tone of someone disappointed that iron had failed to become steel.
"How so?" The fat man scratched his head, confused.
"I know that kid. A few months ago, he was merely an ordinary man who had never practiced martial arts," the thin man said. "And now? He can actually kill a Third Layer cultivator. Do you think there's no one behind him?"
"Even if there isn't, do you know how terrifying either that talent or the external help needed to achieve it would be?"
The fat man also realized the gravity of the situation. "What should we do?"
"Run!" the thin man snapped. "That kid has a grudge against the Xiang family. If we stay, we'll definitely get dragged into it. Do you want to die?"
"No." The fat man shook his head.
"Exactly." The thin man said, "Let's go to another prefecture. We can't stay in this one."
He had also noticed that the imperial qi had yet to gather, as though even more external forces were influencing it.
"But what about the savings we built up in the Xiang family?" The fat man was reluctant to let them go.
"Savings, my ass!" The thin man smacked the fat man on the head. "That kid said the Xiang family was connected to the Demon Race. If things go wrong, who knows whether we'll be fed to demons? Do you want money or your life?"
"My life!" The fat man covered his head.
"Right. As long as the green hills remain, there'll be no shortage of firewood. It's only a few hundred taels of silver. Look at how miserly you are." The thin man dragged the fat man away.
Within the small courtyard, Lin Le looked at the Human Dao lotus seed in his inner landscape and rubbed his chin. Clearly, the scale of each salvation had differed, yet whenever it involved someone he had killed, the total after salvation was always ten points of Earthly Dao merit.
Is that a restriction? Lin Le thought.
Kill first, create ghosts afterward, then save the ghosts. The Heavenly Dao clearly could not leave such an obvious loophole for people to exploit. Otherwise, wouldn't those demonic cultivators who walked the ghost path all be wrapped in merit?
So I can only receive the full merit by saving the sins of others? Lin Le recalled saving the Lu Family. Although he had gained thirteen points then, he estimated that some of it had come from the mass graveyard.
The Human Dao lotus seed dissipated. A thought became a year, and Lin Le devoted himself to cultivating the Golden Light Divine Mantra.
When he came back to himself, Qingli had already bent gracefully toward him and pressed her head close to his ear.
"Lin Le, it's time to hand over today's yang qi."
"Got it." Lin Le placed his hand beneath Qingli's chin and separated true yang qi from the Huangting Secret Realm, transferring it into her body.
The yang qi from before could only be called inner qi; it merely possessed the properties of yang qi. The yang qi he could now draw out was true yang qi.
As the yang qi entered her body, it swiftly dissolved the accumulated yin qi within Qingli like blazing fire meeting ice.
Tempered by yin and yang, Qingli felt her Bloodline power improve ever so slightly.
The cultivation paths of the Demon Race and the human race differed somewhat. Though their overall direction was the same, the Demon Race did not use only true qi to lay its foundation in the Qi Refining Realm. It also relied on the power of its bloodline.
Qingli had already reached the Twelve-Storied stage, and her Dao Foundation had long since been completed, yet she was unwilling to enter the Foundation Establishment Realm just like that.
Though she possessed a spirit-grade bloodline, she was only a low-grade Profound Water Yin Python.
To strengthen or evolve her bloodline, she either needed higher-level demon Essence Blood or Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures with suitable effects.
Yet Qingli knew that within the Qi Refining Realm lay an opportunity for low-level demons to soar to the heavens in a single step: Star Picking.
Standing upon the Twelve-Storied stage, one leaped into the air, shattered the limits of the secret realm, and plucked that unimaginable fortune.
Many outstanding figures and great demons began their rise from this very step.
Originally, Qingli had only a thirty percent chance of succeeding at Star Picking. But with him...
Qingli looked at the youth before her. With him, she held an eighty percent chance of success.
"Why are you looking at me?" Lin Le noticed the change in Qingli's gaze and asked curiously.
"You're good-looking." Qingli said bluntly, "At least among the humans I've seen, you rank near the top."
"Thanks for the compliment." Lin Le coughed dryly, somewhat embarrassed.
After finishing the transfer of yang qi, Lin Le withdrew his hand. "All right. That's all the balance I have."
"Here's your yin qi." Qingli still exhaled a pellet of qi. Unlike its usual gray color, this one was a pure black.
Lin Le swallowed it in one gulp as usual.
"Don't you use jade bottles to store it?" Qingli could not help asking in confusion.
Ever since Lin Le broke through, she had seen him swallow the yin qi directly instead of storing it away. By rights, he should have saved it for building the Seventh Layer.
"No." Lin Le shook his head. "I have my own way of storing it."
"All right, then." Qingli did not ask further. "I'm going to rest first."
"Mm." Lin Le nodded. After watching Qingli sink to the bottom of the well, he sat down again.
Within the inner landscape of his Inner Vision Divine Ability, he looked toward the second lotus leaf. Ever since the Sun Moon Spirit Nectar had transformed into the Yin-Yang Sword, no more Sun Moon Spirit Nectar had formed here, because all the absorbed essence of sun and moon was used to nourish the Yin-Yang Sword's growth.
Yet although the Sun Moon Spirit Nectar was gone, another kind of spirit nectar had appeared here after Lin Le entered the Qi Refining Realm. It was called Primordial Spirit Nectar, formed by gathering the Qi of Heaven and Earth.
With a single thought from Lin Le, the Primordial Spirit Nectar divided evenly into seven portions. Each portion further separated into yin, yang, and the Five Elements Qi, all of them of the finest grade.
After mixing them back into Primordial Spirit Nectar, Lin Le did not touch it again, intending to save it for building layers in the future.
From the Second Layer to the Eighth Layer, one had to refine qi and true qi into one. To forge the most solid foundation, one needed to use the best qi.
As for where the best qi came from, cultivators had to refine it themselves. Moreover, the refinement methods of the Huangting and Spirit Platform paths differed.
The Huangting path emphasized the mutual generation and restraint of the five elements. One's spiritual root attribute determined which kind of qi was best to refine.
For example, a Wood Spiritual Root was best suited to refining Wood Qi. A low-grade Wood Spiritual Root could easily refine mid-grade Wood Qi, while achieving Minor Accomplishment in the Qi Refining Technique allowed one to refine high-grade or even finest-grade qi. Yet a low-grade Fire Spiritual Root would face difficulty upon difficulty refining even low-grade Wood Qi; even at Major Accomplishment, it might not be able to refine mid-grade Wood Qi.
The Spirit Platform path lacked the enhancement of spiritual roots, so the Qi Refining Technique proceeded step by step. At entry level, one refined low-grade qi; at Minor Accomplishment, mid-grade qi; at Major Accomplishment, high-grade qi; and at completion, finest-grade qi. As for great completion, it was said that someone had achieved it, seemingly allowing them to refine finest-grade qi with a hundred percent success rate.
However, Lin Le did not need to divide his attention to learn this, since the Lotus divine ability had already refined it for him.
As for special Five Elements Qi, Lin Le did not seek it. The Dao Induction Qi Refining Chapter stated that building layers with finest-grade Yin-Yang Five Elements Qi was already optimal, capable of awakening a person's potential in the most comprehensive manner.
Using special Five Elements Qi meant specializing one aspect of one's potential at the expense of the rest. For example, transforming the Nine-Segment Wood Spiritual Root into a Nine-Segment Lightning Spiritual Root. Though both were Nine-Segment Spiritual Roots, the cultivation efficiency of an acquired Lightning Spiritual Root was inferior to both an Innate Lightning Spiritual Root and the original Wood Spiritual Root; it merely held a greater advantage in combat.
Another example was replacing ordinary Five Elements Qi with balanced yin and yang with yin-dry Five Elements Qi for building layers. While this benefited the cultivation of yin-attribute techniques, one's lifespan would be shorter than that of ordinary cultivators.
Turning his gaze to the lotus, Lin Le consumed two One-Patterned Human Dao Lotus Seeds. With one thought becoming six years, he focused on cultivating the Dao Induction technique.
When he came back to himself, Lin Le exhaled. The Dao Induction Qi Refining Chapter had reached Major Accomplishment.
Yet to reach completion, he would need another ten years of painstaking effort.
The next day, Lin Le went out beneath the rising sun. The golden light within his body had grown stronger, and the Universe Ring had developed its fourth minor restriction.
He took out stack after thick stack of papers. They were land deeds.
Holding the deeds, Lin Le followed the addresses written on them to a small courtyard and called inside, "Li Dashan."
A woman emerged, supporting her frail body. "Dashan has gone to chop firewood. Young master, what business do you have?"
Seeing that Lin Le's appearance was like that of an immortal cast down to the mortal world, the woman could not help speaking respectfully.
"Are you Madam Zhang?" Lin Le glanced at the land deed, where it was written:
The seller of this irrevocable land deed, Li Dashan, whose wife Madam Zhang has fallen ill and lacks funds, willingly sells one mu of ancestral fertile land for five taels of silver.
"Yes." Madam Zhang nodded.
"Take it." With a flick of Lin Le's finger, the paper shot like a sword into the dirt before Madam Zhang. "Tear it up."
Madam Zhang froze. She bent down and pulled out the paper, inspecting it carefully. Wasn't this the very land deed her husband had used to sell their field?
Tear it up? Madam Zhang's heart leaped. If it was gone, there would be no evidence left. Especially since Gentry Cai, the buyer, was already dead. No one would know that his household had ever bought their land.
Wait—Madam Zhang suddenly thought of a horrifying fact. Wasn't the one who had destroyed the Cai family the young master standing before her?!
She looked up, only to find that Lin Le had already gone far away.
"Thank you for your immense kindness, young master! Thank you for your immense kindness, young master!" Madam Zhang bowed and kowtowed toward the direction Lin Le had gone.
Scenes like this continued to unfold.
Of course, there was more than just this.
Before you continue