Qingshan Town

Night fell once more over Wutan City. Lin Hai's figure, like a ghost merging with the shadows, returned to Xiao Yan's small courtyard without a sound.

Inside the room, the scene was different from the day before.

The dense medicinal fragrance had almost condensed into a physical substance, swirling and lingering above the floor.

Yao Chen's soul body was several times more solid than before, appearing almost indistinguishable from a living person. His face glowed with a healthy, ruddy luster, and the powerful fluctuations of soul energy around him rose and fell like the tide. Clearly, he had absorbed most of the medicinal power from the three primary soul-nourishing herbs, and he was not far from fully recovering to his peak.

Xiao Yan sat cross-legged to the side, his body surrounded by violent fluctuations of spiritual energy. His face was flushed, and white mist swirled above his head. It was evident that under Yao Chen's guidance, he was working hard to cultivate using the pure energy radiating from those high-grade medicinal materials, and his progress was rapid.

Seeing Lin Hai return, Yao Chen immediately ended his meditation and floated forward, his face filled with joy and absolute confidence: "Excellency, you have returned! Thanks to your grace, this old man's soul has recovered ninety percent. By tomorrow at the latest, I will be able to open the furnace and refine pills!"

Xiao Yan also opened his eyes and respectfully called out, "Uncle."

Lin Hai nodded slightly, satisfied with Yao Chen's recovery speed.

His gaze swept over the pile of dazzling medicinal herbs and magical beast cores in the corner of the room, and then his finger brushed across his storage ring once more.

Hum—

A pressure, far heavier, more terrifying, and more heart-palpitating than any previous time, instantly filled the entire room!

Twenty magical beast cores, each the size of a goose egg and unique in shape, yet all radiating energy fluctuations that felt capable of destroying the world, hovered in mid-air like twenty miniature stars!

Ice blue, crimson, golden yellow, emerald green, earthy yellow... the light of various elemental energies intertwined, casting a surreal and kaleidoscopic glow over the room, causing the very space to emit faint, strained hums!

That vast energy made even Yao Chen, who had just recovered ninety percent, feel as though his soul were suffocating. As for Xiao Yan, who was only at the Spirit Disciple stage, his face turned deathly pale. He retreated repeatedly until he collapsed onto the edge of the bed, his eyes filled with sheer horror!

"E-eight-rank magical beast cores?! So many?!" Yao Chen's voice cracked, his phantom body trembling violently, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets! The total number of eight-rank cores he had seen in his entire life likely didn't add up to what was before him! These were the life cores of Spirit Venerable-level magical beasts! Each one was enough to serve as the grand finale item at the continent's top auctions! And there were twenty of them here?!

This Excellency... did he go out for just one day... and raid the treasury of some ancient magical beast clan?! This efficiency is too terrifying!

"Mm." Lin Hai remained as indifferent as ever, as if he had merely produced twenty common stones. "These should be enough for your subsequent refining of eighth-rank, or even attempts at ninth-rank pills."

With a wave of his hand, he placed these twenty terrifying cores, which were enough to trigger a war across the Central Plains, alongside the previous pile of "low-grade" cores.

In an instant, the energy fluctuations in that corner became so dense they were nearly liquid!

Yao Chen looked at the pile of cores, his old face flushed with excitement, his breathing rapid (though a soul body had no need to breathe). He rubbed his hands together, speaking incoherently: "Enough! More than enough! It's plenty! Hahaha! With these treasures, this old man even has the confidence to attempt to challenge the legendary Nine-Colored Pill Lightning!"

He was brimming with confidence, feeling as though his life had reached an unprecedented peak.

Lin Hai nodded, seemingly satisfied with the results of his trip.

He glanced at the ecstatic Yao Chen and the still-shocked Xiao Yan, then suddenly spoke: "You two carry on. I am going out for a while."

Going out for a while?

Yao Chen and Xiao Yan were both stunned.

Medicinal herbs, magical beast cores... weren't all the top-tier resources already gathered?

What else could this omnipotent Uncle/Excellency possibly need to go out for? Could there be something even rarer than eight-rank magical beast cores?

Yao Chen asked subconsciously: "Excellency, where are you going...?"

Lin Hai did not answer. Instead, the corners of his mouth seemed to hook into an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible arc. A look flashed in his eyes that was completely different from his usual decisive, cold, and indifferent demeanor—it seemed to carry a hint of... anticipation?

He offered no explanation. His figure flickered just as it had when he arrived, rippling like water before vanishing completely from the room, leaving behind a chamber filled with treasure-light and an old man and a youth staring at each other in utter confusion.

"Teacher... what did Uncle go out for again?" Xiao Yan swallowed hard, looking at the pile of eight-rank cores, feeling as if he were in a dream.

Yao Chen was equally at a loss, stroking his beard as he guessed: "Perhaps... he went to visit an old friend? Or to search for some... hmm, even more special medicinal herbs that only exist in legends?" He pondered for a long time, unable to fathom what else could be worth this man's special trip.

They could never have imagined that this Peak Spirit Saint Uncle, who could slaughter magical beasts, suppress lion kings, clear out underground ruins, and toss out twenty eight-rank magical beast cores with a wave of his hand, was not heading toward some dragon's den, tiger's lair, or ancient ruin.

His figure traversed space, and within a few breaths, he had left Wutan City and arrived near a beautiful mountain range—Qingshan Town.

Moonlight, like water, spilled over a quiet courtyard filled with medicinal herbs.

In a simple yet clean wooden hut within the courtyard, various herbs were drying outside, and the air was filled with a faint, comforting medicinal fragrance.

A young girl in a pale white dress was crouching by the herb field, carefully checking the growth of a Moonlight Grass.

Her temperament was fresh and ethereal, untainted by dust, like a pure white lotus. Her slender fingers brushed over the leaves, her eyes focused and gentle.

It was Xiao Yixian.

Lin Hai's figure appeared silently at the mouth of the valley. He did not enter immediately, but leaned against a tree, watching the busy, graceful figure from afar.

The cold indifference on his face melted away like snow in the spring breeze, and a rare, soft tenderness and affection flowed deep within his eyes.

He had crossed mountains and rivers, crushed all living things, and plundered endless resources to pave a path to the heavens for his nephew.

But at this moment, he only wanted to temporarily set aside his heaven-defying cultivation and mountainous responsibilities to find this girl—who had suffered such a difficult fate yet remained pure and kind—and have a quiet conversation.

He straightened his unwrinkled robes, restrained all the aura that could have caused the heavens and earth to change color, and like an ordinary traveler, with a gentle smile on his face, he slowly walked toward the girl and the wooden hut under the moonlight.

Tonight, there would be no talk of cultivation, no talk of slaughter, only... warmth.