Continuous Breakthroughs, Power Surges

"The mission is set for three days from now. At dawn three days later, everyone must assemble here. Anyone who is not present... dies."

The old steward at the tenth layer of Body Tempering swept his gaze like icy blades over the two hundred people who had been chosen. His voice was cold and hard, brooking no doubt. But immediately after, his tone shifted and eased slightly. "However, the immortal masters have shown mercy. In consideration of the mission you are about to carry out, you are specially permitted to forgo mining labor for the next three days and rest properly. If any of you wish to go to Blood Baleful City to relax, you may do so on your own."

"Three days off?"

When Lu Lin heard this, not only did he feel no joy whatsoever, his heart instead sank sharply.

No matter how he looked at this sudden "benefit," it carried the ominous air of a condemned man's last meal.

Clearly, he was not the only one with this premonition.

The other one hundred and ninety-nine chosen martial artists showed no trace of happiness on their faces. Instead, they grew even more terrified, despairing, and the atmosphere turned heavy.

"You may disperse and make your own preparations. Everyone else, continue cultivating. No slacking!" the stewards shouted loudly.

Lu Lin dispersed with the crowd, his mind weighed down, and strode quickly toward the communal bunkhouse, but his consciousness had already sunk into his sea of awareness.

Cultivation time: one hundred and three years and two months.

This was his harvest over this period, including another stroke of incredible luck when he had found a large spirit stone nest.

The enormous number brought him a little peace of mind, but facing an unknown sect mission, he still felt it was not enough.

After returning to the communal bunkhouse, he grabbed his iron pickaxe and slung the bamboo basket onto his back. He was not going to work, but needed an absolutely hidden mine tunnel to complete his breakthrough. The communal bunkhouse was full of people and prying eyes, and was definitely not a safe place.

Not long after, deep within a remote, deserted mine tunnel.

Lu Lin sat cross-legged and cleared away distracting thoughts.

"Which martial art should I improve first?" He rapidly considered his current choices: the Spirit Cat Art and the Iron Elephant Body.

If he wanted to continue improving the Iron Elephant Body, he would touch upon the checkpoint of the seventh layer of Body Tempering, "forging the bones."

However, breaking through this checkpoint required the support of a Bone-Protecting Pill. Without that pill, even relying on the Martial Dao Melting Furnace, he did not have complete confidence that he could safely get through the dangerous process of tempering his bones with qi and blood.

After weighing it over and over, Lu Lin decided to improve the Spirit Cat Art first.

Based on his experience with the Demonic Ape Blood Qi Art, breaking through from the sixth layer to the seventh was indeed a qualitative leap and could explosively increase his strength by two thousand jin. But from the fourth to the fifth layer, and from the fifth to the sixth layer, each breakthrough had also brought a significant increase of a thousand jin of force.

Although the amount of increase from other martial arts and cultivation methods differed, the scale should be roughly similar.

The total increase in strength brought by consecutively breaking through two layers of the Spirit Cat Art might not be inferior to forcefully attacking the seventh-layer checkpoint of the Iron Elephant Body, and it was undoubtedly far safer.

Once his mind was made up, he hesitated no longer. Vast cultivation time began pouring madly into the Spirit Cat Art!

[After one year of bitter cultivation, due to a lack of medicinal pill assistance, you can only rely on food and the thin energy between heaven and earth. The tempering of your fleshly body progresses slowly, but your will is firm, and not a single day of cultivation is neglected.]

[After two years of bitter cultivation, progress remains slow...]

[Winter comes and summer goes. Thirteen years quietly pass amid bitter cultivation. With no distractions in your heart, you devote everything to the martial dao. Heaven does not disappoint those with resolve, and you finally break through the checkpoint. The Spirit Cat Art successfully steps into the fifth layer!]

Boom!

The qi and blood within his body surged and roiled like a flood released through opened sluice gates. Warmth spread through his entire body, comfortable beyond measure.

A newly born power emerged from his four limbs and hundred bones. By rough estimate, it had explosively increased by more than nine hundred jin!

By now, his divine strength had climbed to a shocking, hair-raising level of more than seven thousand two hundred jin!

"Without the assistance of a Tendon Refining Pill, it took thirteen years to break through one layer... Not bad. Then, continue!"

With another thought, cultivation time continued to pour into the Spirit Cat Art.

From the fifth layer to the sixth, the difficulty increased significantly.

This time, it consumed a full twenty-five years of bitter cultivation before he finally succeeded in breaking through, and his strength increased by another nine hundred jin!

Remaining cultivation time: sixty-five years and two months.

"Next, prioritize improving Spirit Cat Step!" Lu Lin made his decision instantly.

As the first killing move of the Spirit Cat Art, Spirit Cat Step had no direct offensive effect. Rather, it was a footwork technique focused on dodging, shifting, leaping, and maneuvering, raising speed and flexibility to the extreme.

This sect mission's fortune and calamity were unknown, and it was filled with dangers on all sides. His ability to preserve his life had to be raised to the highest priority! Spirit Cat Step was undoubtedly an excellent reliance for creating a chance of survival and avoiding danger at a critical moment.

Cultivation time split off once more, pouring into the cultivation of Spirit Cat Step.

[After three months of bitter cultivation, Spirit Cat Step successfully reaches initial mastery.]

[After another two years of bitter cultivation, Spirit Cat Step reaches the minor accomplishment realm.]

[After another ten years of bitter cultivation, Spirit Cat Step reaches the major accomplishment realm.]

After pushing Spirit Cat Step to major accomplishment, Lu Lin did not stop. He knew full well that although only a single line separated "major accomplishment" from "perfection," they were as different as heaven and earth. With one sustained burst, he continued investing a massive amount of time!

[After another full thirty years of day-and-night comprehension, pondering, and practice... One day, fortune reaches your soul, and you finally catch that profound and mysterious opportunity for breakthrough. Spirit Cat Step suddenly becomes fully connected and at last reaches the perfection realm!]

Huff—!

Lu Lin slowly exhaled a long breath of turbid air. He felt an enormous amount of comprehension and experience flood into his mind in an instant, as if he truly had spent several dozen years bitterly cultivating alone in some desolate place.

It made his eyes go unfocused for a moment, actually carrying a faint trace of having weathered the vicissitudes of years. Only after a long while did his gaze refocus and regain clarity.

"As expected, cultivating a killing move to the perfection realm is incredibly difficult," he sighed inwardly. "Spirit Cat Step only took twelve years and three months from initial mastery to major accomplishment. But from major accomplishment to perfection, it actually consumed a full thirty years!"

But all of it had been worth it.

The perfected-level "Spirit Cat Step" was far more effective than the major accomplishment realm!

"I'll test it!" With a slight thought, Lu Lin quietly circulated the "Spirit Cat Step."

His blood and qi surged with it, the muscles and tendons in his legs trembling, deforming, and intertwining at a wondrous frequency, as if they contained countless powerful springs coiled and ready to release.

Whoosh!

The next moment, his figure drifted out like a phantom. His feet tapped lightly against the mine wall, his body almost parallel to the ground, and he actually sped along the steep rock face as if it were level ground, without making the slightest sound!

At last, the tips of his toes lightly borrowed force from a protruding stone. His body spun gracefully through the air several times before landing steadily. The entire process was light and soundless, exactly like a spirit cat moving in the dark, leaving no trace at all.

"With my current movement technique, if I fought someone, even if I didn't strike back, ordinary attacks could forget about touching so much as a hair on me with just this 'Spirit Cat Step.'" A satisfied smile finally appeared on Lu Lin's face.

Several decades of bitter cultivation time had been completely worth it.

Remaining cultivation time: twenty-two years and eleven months.

"Next, my cultivation direction can only be to work toward the seventh layer of Body Tempering, or raise 'Savage Elephant Charge' to perfection. But with the twenty-some years left, no matter which path I choose, it still won't be enough."

"If I can break any one of my main cultivation methods through to the seventh layer of Body Tempering before the mission begins, my strength will definitely rise another level, and my safety will have another measure of guarantee. But... where am I supposed to get cultivation time?" Lu Lin furrowed his brows and sank into thought.

By mining? There were only three days left. Even if he went without sleep or rest, how much could he dig up?

Wait!

A thought suddenly stirred in Lu Lin's mind, and he remembered that section lying quietly in his inner space... the Blood Flame Deer antler!

What the Blood Flame Deer antler contained was medium-grade spiritual energy!

After pondering and comparing things during this period, Lu Lin had roughly deduced that the magical artifacts used by Qi Refining cultivators, the spirit pills they consumed, as well as Inferior Spirit Stones and Low-grade Spirit Stones, all contained spiritual energy that largely belonged to the "low grade."

Only the spirit pills and miraculous medicines, heavenly treasures, powerful magical artifacts, and higher-grade Mid-grade Spirit Stones useful to great cultivators of the Foundation Establishment Realm contained spiritual energy that could be called "medium grade."

Once successfully absorbed, the cultivation time it could be exchanged for would definitely not be small.

Unfortunately... the Martial Dao Melting Furnace's level was insufficient, so it could not absorb and exchange it.

"I'm only short one last Low-grade Spirit Stone!" Lu Lin sighed inwardly.

In these two months, he had gone to Blood Baleful City twice and had already gathered a hundred catties of Copper Essence. He had also been lucky enough to obtain two Low-grade Spirit Stones.

He was only short the last one!

As long as he had one more Low-grade Spirit Stone and gathered three in total, he could immediately upgrade the furnace and absorb the mid-grade spiritual energy in the deer antler.

How could he get another Low-grade Spirit Stone within these final three days?

Thoughts spun rapidly through Lu Lin's mind. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration crossed it...

The stewards!

Those stewards who held authority secretly supported the major gangs and collected enormous tributes, while the Rich Ore Zones occupied by the gangs were precisely the places most likely to produce Low-grade Spirit Stones!

Then, could these stewards have secretly withheld and privately hidden Low-grade Spirit Stones?

The first person Lu Lin thought of was that Goatee Steward, who was used to skimming off the top and whose greed knew no bounds!

This man's cultivation was at the seventh layer of Body Tempering. Though he could not be considered weak, he was currently the most suitable target to make a move on.

It was him!