After walking a few hundred meters, Lin Chuan's mouth twitched as he watched Qin Lang roll around on the ground, laughing. He could only fall silent.
"Believe in me and you'll attain eternal life... Hahahaha... Can you come up with anything more ridiculous than that?" Qin Lang roared with laughter.
Bu Lianshi stood obediently to one side, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth as she looked at Lin Chuan.
Girls really are better. From now on, I'll have to keep Qin Lang away from Bu Lianshi. What if he leads her astray? Lin Chuan thought to himself.
"Enough. If you're done laughing, get up. We still haven't finished today's Spirit Beast hunt!" Lin Chuan said. He grabbed Bu Lianshi's hand and walked away with a smile, leaving Qin Lang behind to let out a wail.
"We already got more than enough Spirit Cores from Yan Kang!"
"But you didn't hunt those yourselves!"
"..." Someone was left wanting to cry but having no tears.
Over the next two days, the three of them trained and hunted Spirit Beasts, without encountering any other groups.
Later, while Qin Lang was looking through the things they had taken from Yan Kang, he was delighted to discover that they included three Foundation Strengthening Pills for cultivators at the Qi Refining Stage.
These pills weren't particularly valuable, but for orphans like them, who had neither power nor influence, they were still extremely precious. They could purge impurities from the body's meridians, allowing spiritual energy to circulate more smoothly. The medicinal and botanical energy they contained could also increase one's cultivation after an alchemist refined it.
Though these were the most basic pills, Bu Lianshi and Qin Lang still benefited greatly from taking them for the first time. In just two days, both of them broke through.
Qin Lang reached the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Stage, while Bu Lianshi reached the third. It was the result of all their previous accumulation finally paying off.
Lin Chuan, however, didn't seem so lucky! The pills had little effect on him. Aside from a slight increase in his spiritual energy, nothing much changed. Still, he used the pill's power to break through to the second layer of the Qi Refining Stage a few days early, reaching it two or three days sooner than he had expected.
"Hahaha, it feels great to get stronger! By the way, Lin Chuan, now that you've advanced a layer, does that mean you can handle someone at the seventh layer of the Qi Refining Stage?" Qin Lang asked excitedly.
He knew that reaching the second layer of the Qi Refining Stage was nothing like reaching the seventh. But Lin Chuan was someone who defied common sense, so he was very curious about just how strong Lin Chuan had become.
"Yeah. If I run into someone at the seventh layer now, I can beat them easily," Lin Chuan said with a nod.
Though it seemed that his spiritual energy had only increased by one layer, over these two days his body had also absorbed a good deal of the Spirit Cores he had eaten. Both the quality and quantity of his chakra had increased. It was an all-around improvement, far more powerful than an increase of just one layer in spiritual energy.
"Wow! That's great! We don't have to keep worrying anymore. Even if we run into the top-ranked group, we can handle them!" Qin Lang cried out happily. "It feels great to do whatever we want!"
Bu Lianshi shook her head helplessly. "There are still powerful Spirit Beasts, you know."
"Lin Chuan has the Byakugan, so we don't have to worry about running into powerful Spirit Beasts!" Qin Lang said nonchalantly.
"There's only one day left. The cultivators who passed the assessment but haven't reached the Foundation Establishment Stage will be coming in. How good a chance do you think we'll have?" Lin Chuan asked, spreading his hands and looking at Qin Lang as if he were an idiot.
"Uh... Well... Even if our group only ranks first for today, I'll still be happy!" Qin Lang chose to ignore the powerful people who would arrive tomorrow. He was content to live in the moment.
Ignoring Qin Lang's idiotic reaction, Lin Chuan went back to training.
For the past few days, he had been practicing his chakra control. He had mostly gotten the hang of tree climbing and walking on water, but he still wasn't very skilled. He needed more time to master these delicate techniques, which were crucial to his future training in ninjutsu.
Of the two types of chakra transformation—nature transformation and shape transformation—Lin Chuan had already learned nature transformation. With the Rinne Sharingan, he had a natural mastery of every chakra nature transformation: the seven elements of water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, yin, and yang.
As for shape transformation, Lin Chuan still couldn't use it. It required a great deal of chakra to practice. Sasuke's Chidori Spear and Naruto's Rasengan were both examples of chakra shape transformation. To learn them, he would have to keep training after this assessment ended.
Now that I've mastered chakra nature transformation, I meet the requirements for using ninjutsu—the kind of magic that can only be used by cultivators at the Foundation Establishment Stage in this world. The only problem is that I still need more chakra. I have to train harder during this time and absorb more power from Spirit Cores so that my chakra keeps growing!
Thinking as he went, Lin Chuan walked slowly across the surface of a small river, constantly practicing his chakra control.
When the fifth day of the assessment arrived, Lin Chuan stopped hunting Spirit Beasts and led Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi toward the center of Hunting Ground No. 44. The powerful cultivators would enter the hunting ground in another day, so they had to reach the Underground Magma Lake and gather Crimson Flame Lotuses before then.
As they drew closer, Lin Chuan had to keep his Byakugan activated. He needed to stay alert to danger all around them. Powerful Spirit Beasts were already common here; some were even at the tenth layer of the Qi Refining Stage. One careless mistake could cost them their lives.
And those weren't the only dangers. The other groups posed a threat to Lin Chuan, too. He wasn't afraid of them, but Qin Lang and Bu Lianshi weren't strong enough to protect themselves. If they encountered those people, they could be in danger. So Lin Chuan tried to avoid everyone, to prevent needless battles from wearing down their strength. This cost them more time, but they still managed to reach the center of the forest safely.
The towering trees were gone. In their place lay a lake—or, more accurately, a vast hot spring. Dense steam rose from its surface, and a pungent smell hung in the air. All of it told them they had reached the edge of the Underground Magma Lake.
"There's an underground passage around here. Let's go." Lin Chuan glanced at the lake and led the other two toward the entrance he had spotted with his Byakugan.
It was a Lava Cave that plunged straight underground. Even within the Byakugan's one-kilometer range of vision, he couldn't see the end. Its densely packed caverns formed a natural maze. Ordinary people who entered to gather Blazing Red Lotuses could easily get lost, or even be trapped there until they died. That made gathering them far more difficult, and meant hardly anyone could reach the depths of the cave.
But under Lin Chuan's Byakugan, none of that was a problem!
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