Huang Xiao's Next Opportunity

At this moment, Ye Lin noticed another stroke of fortune manifesting on Huang Xiao, which couldn't help but make him sigh.

Name: Huang Xiao

Cultivation: Qi Refining Level 6

Fate Grade: White

Fate: [Heavenly Baleful Lone Star]

Destiny: In four months, he will be ordered to descend the mountain to eliminate demons, only to have his essence and blood drained dry by a fiend and perish.

Recent Opportunity: Feeling bored and restless, he will descend the mountain the day after tomorrow to seek excitement in Tianfeng City. After carousing at the Wind and Flower Pavilion, he will encounter a dying Level 9 Qi Refining demonic beast in Moon Reflection Valley on his way back up the mountain the following day. He will slay it and obtain a Profound-grade low-tier spiritual herb, the Nine-Death Soul-Returning Grass, from the beast's carcass before it could be digested, which he will keep as a trump card.

[Heavenly Baleful Lone Star]: The closer one is to you, the more misfortune they suffer. Those who possess this fate are destined to be lonely for a lifetime.

Watching Huang Xiao's opportunity, Ye Lin clicked his tongue. That future event of descending the mountain to carouse the day after tomorrow was already set in stone.

He had snatched away his previous opportunity, yet the unseen forces of fate had compensated him with another.

What is destined to be yours will come; what is not, do not force it.

"Nine-Death Soul-Returning Grass? That is a rare treasure indeed."

Even though Ye Lin had not been in the cultivation world for long, he had heard of the Nine-Death Soul-Returning Grass's reputation. It was a holy medicine for healing that required no refinement into pills.

No matter how severe the injury, it could pull one back from the brink of death.

Of course, this healing medicine was only effective for cultivators below the Nascent Soul Realm.

"It is time to verify the authenticity of this sword manual."

With that, Ye Lin headed down the mountain. He could never practice this sword manual within the Azure Cloud Sect; if discovered, the consequences would be unimaginable.

As a disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect, practicing the core technique of another sect would lead to immediate execution if caught.

Arriving at a secluded spot, Ye Lin took out the Sword Control Art and began to study it carefully. The further he read, the more shocked he became.

A full hour passed before Ye Lin closed the book, his heart filled with immense awe.

"It really is the Heavenly Sword Sect's Sword Control Art."

Ye Lin muttered to himself. The grade of this sword manual was definitely Profound-tier, and a Profound-tier Sword Control Art was the signature technique of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

He did not know how a loose cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Realm had managed to get his hands on the Heavenly Sword Sect's core technique, but at this point, it no longer mattered.

After burning the book, Ye Lin began to practice.

The Sword Control Art was divided into three levels. The first level, Sword Control, allowed one to take an enemy's head from a thousand miles away.

The second level, Sword Mastery, meant that the sword became an extension of one's own body; it moved according to one's will, striking wherever the mind reached.

The third level, Ten Thousand Swords Return to Sect, was exactly as it sounded: the ability to summon ten thousand swords. However, this third level could not be mastered without reaching the Golden Core stage.

Because whether in the Qi Refining or Foundation Establishment stage, one needed sufficient spiritual power to drive the Ten Thousand Swords Return to Sect.

"Begin practice."

Ye Lin closed his eyes, carefully recalling the various sword techniques in his mind as his spiritual power surged wildly.

Cultivation time was always monotonous. Under Ye Lin's deliberate restraint, two days passed in a flash, and in the blink of an eye, it was the night of the second day.

"Hah, strike!"

That night, amidst the absolute silence, a sudden shout rang out. The next moment, a streak of sword light tore through the darkness.

As a ten-meter-tall tree in front of him collapsed with a thunderous crash, Ye Lin nodded with satisfaction. A long sword hovered in the air behind him, ripples of Sword Qi flowing around it.

"I have now mastered the first level and can briefly control the sword, though the consumption of spiritual energy is extremely rapid."

Watching the spiritual energy in his dantian plummet, a flash of helplessness crossed Ye Lin's face.

The Sword Control Art was immensely powerful. Now, he was one hundred percent certain he could take the life of a Level 6 Qi Refining cultivator within ten meters.

"Tomorrow is when Huang Xiao's opportunity arrives. After I snatch it, I will go into seclusion. There is less than a month left before Zhang Xiao comes out of his retreat."

"Once I absorb the demonic beast core and the three mid-grade spirit stones, I will surely break through to the seventh level of Qi Refining. With my various methods, I will have nothing to fear from Zhang Xiao."

"I must raise my cultivation quickly and strive to become an inner disciple before the inner sect secret realm opens. Then, I will be able to enter and hunt for treasures."

Ye Lin muttered to himself. The reason the Azure Cloud Sect could remain the hegemon for ten thousand miles was entirely due to this so-called secret realm.

No one knew what was inside the realm; presumably, only the high-level members of the Azure Cloud Sect knew. This realm only opened once every ten years.

According to rumors from the outside world, the Azure Cloud Sect's secret realm was filled with countless treasures, with spiritual herbs and fruits scattered everywhere.

Naturally, Ye Lin was extremely covetous of this realm.

"There are about four or five months until the realm opens. If I find good opportunities, I can definitely break through to the ninth level of Qi Refining. If not, at the very least, I will reach the eighth level."

"Level 8 Qi Refining is already enough."

Ye Lin thought to himself. Level 8 was already the cultivation level of some inner disciples, and with his various auxiliary methods, becoming an inner disciple would not be a problem.

After finalizing his plans, Ye Lin flickered and vanished into the night, heading toward Moon Reflection Valley to seize Huang Xiao's opportunity.

Arriving at Moon Reflection Valley, Ye Lin lay in the grass, watching the clearing ahead. There was no dying demonic beast to be seen.

Having experienced several opportunities before, Ye Lin was already well-versed in the process and began to lie there quietly, waiting.

About three to five hours passed when Ye Lin suddenly felt a jolt of alertness; ahead of him appeared a massive Tiger and a giant Bear two or three meters tall.

"Roar!"

At that moment, the two ninth-level Qi Refining demonic beasts began to clash violently within Moon Reflection Valley, causing the very ground to tremble intensely.

Countless boulders and trees in the vicinity were snatched up by the giant Bear, serving as weapons to fend off the giant Tiger.

The entire battle lasted for a full ten minutes, leaving Ye Lin trembling with fear; neither of these two demonic beasts was something he could withstand in his current state.

Ten minutes later, the battle concluded with the giant Bear on the brink of death.

Watching the giant Bear with its entrails spilled across the ground, the giant Tiger let out a series of roars before turning and departing.

Once the giant Tiger had left, the dying giant Bear let out a roar of unwillingness before its head finally slammed into the ground, and it fell completely unconscious.

However, at this moment, a golden halo suddenly appeared from the giant Bear's abdomen.

"Nine-Death Soul-Returning Grass?"

Hidden in the tall grass, Ye Lin suddenly leaped out, his hands forming a sword-finger gesture. In an instant, a flash of sword light streaked across, and the giant Bear's head was split in two.

The sharpness of a Yellow-Grade High-Tier Longsword was simply not something a Qi Refining stage demonic beast could withstand.

Eyeing the giant Bear's abdomen, Ye Lin reached his hand inside, grabbed the Nine-Death Soul-Returning Grass, and pulled the spirit herb out from the beast's belly.

"It's intact, not yet refined."

Looking at the complete Nine-Death Soul-Returning Grass in his hand, Ye Lin felt a surge of joy. The one Huang Xiao had obtained should have been half-refined, but the one in his own hand was still perfectly whole.

Not a shred of its medicinal potency had been lost.

Afterward, Ye Lin placed the Nine-Death Soul-Returning Grass into his Spatial Ring; another benefit of the Spatial Ring was that items placed inside would never spoil.

Because the space within was static, time did not exist there at all; even if you placed a steamed bun inside and took it out a thousand years later, it would look exactly the same as when it was first put in.