Five Hundred Years of Cultivation

Lu Lin's figure moved like the wind, darting rapidly through the mountain forest as he dodged every sharp sword light shooting down from above.

High in the sky, the young man kept driving the painted scroll to attack, yet he could not even touch the corner of Lu Lin's clothes, and his expression grew darker and darker.

From several hundred meters above the ground, his attacks needed time to arrive, and that gave Lu Lin plenty of chances to dodge.

However, if he descended and fought Lu Lin at close range, he had no confidence at all.

He had seen the scene of Lu Lin shooting his junior sister to death just now with perfect clarity.

"This man must have cultivated some bizarre demonic art. When Junior Sister Lin's treasured sword fell into his hands, it actually dimmed at once and turned into scrap iron. I must capture him and bring him back to the Sword Sect. If I can force out this bizarre demonic art, I'll definitely receive a heavy reward."

Greed flashed through his eyes. Then he gritted his teeth and took out a round ball the size of a chicken egg.

This was a Sword Pellet, and sealed inside it was a strand of Sword Qi from a great Foundation Establishment cultivator. It was a life-saving item he had begged for at an enormous cost.

"Brat, to die beneath the Sword Qi of a great Foundation Establishment cultivator means your death is worthy enough." The young man murmured, then waved his hand and shot out the Sword Pellet.

The Sword Pellet flew rapidly toward Lu Lin, then exploded in midair with a bang.

Swish!

A strand of incomparably sharp Sword Qi formed out of thin air and cleaved straight down toward Lu Lin.

It was unbelievably fast, as if it meant to split the entire night sky in two!

Danger! Extreme danger!

Lu Lin only felt his scalp go numb, and a cutting agony came from his skin.

There was no time for any hesitation. By instinct, Lu Lin hurled the Blood Demon Blade in his hand upward, while erupting with every ounce of his strength.

The qi and blood throughout his body surged like rushing rivers, gathering madly toward his right arm.

"Demonic Ape Dragon-Capturing Hand!"

Lu Lin's right palm clawed fiercely upward, and an enormous demonic ape's palm condensed into being, meeting that terrifying Sword Qi head-on.

The Sword Qi first struck the Blood Demon Blade, actually cutting it directly into two pieces. Its momentum did not lessen as it continued downward and collided violently with the demonic ape's palm.

Hiss!!

An ear-piercing friction shriek rang out.

The Sword Qi and the demonic ape's palm clashed fiercely, and the qi and blood were repeatedly vaporized by the Sword Qi, turning into black smoke and scattering.

After a stalemate lasting several breaths, the demonic ape's palm shook violently, and dense cracks appeared across its surface.

"What terrifying Sword Qi!" Lu Lin's expression was grave. He quietly executed Spirit Cat Step and rapidly retreated.

The next instant, the demonic ape's palm completely collapsed, and the Sword Qi howled down.

Although Lu Lin had retreated in time, he was still swept by the aftershock of the Sword Qi.

Bang!

Lu Lin's body was blasted dozens of meters away and crashed heavily to the ground, motionless.

High in the sky, the young man secretly let out a breath of relief.

It was finally over.

But the shock in his eyes was hard to dispel for a long time.

Lu Lin's strength had far exceeded his expectations.

He was at the ninth layer of Qi Refining, a core disciple of the Green Duckweed Sword Sect. Once his flying sword emerged, killing martial artists was like slaughtering clay chickens and pottery dogs.

But just now, even after using every method he had, he had not been able to do anything to Lu Lin.

Even a strand of Sword Qi from a great Foundation Establishment cultivator had been blocked by the other party for several breaths!

Could he be a martial artist of the Innate Blood Aura Realm?

No!

On Lu Lin, he had only seen ordinary qi and blood. There was not even the slightest trace of Innate Blood Aura.

But how could a martial artist in the Body Tempering Realm be strong to this extent?

There was a secret!

And it was a huge secret!

Excitement appeared in the young man's eyes. He rode his flying sword and descended quickly, drifting down beside Lu Lin.

He activated his spiritual power and made a grabbing motion through the air, intending to seize Lu Lin's "corpse" and pull it over.

As he wished, Lu Lin's "corpse" floated lightly toward him.

Yet just as it flew into midair, its eyes abruptly opened, carrying a trace of mockery and killing intent.

"Not good!" The young man was scared out of his wits and instinctively tried to retreat. At the same time, his right hand hurriedly reached toward his waist, wanting to summon a defensive magic artifact.

But it was already too late.

Lu Lin's right hand had already reached out, qi and blood condensing into a demonic ape's palm.

Demonic Ape Dragon-Capturing Hand!

Crack!

The demonic ape's palm seized the man's neck with perfect accuracy. With one hard squeeze, it snapped his cervical vertebrae with effortless ease.

Lu Lin skillfully felt around the man's waist and took the storage pouch into the inner space of the Martial Dao Melting Furnace.

Then his figure flashed repeatedly as he collected all the scattered magical artifacts on the ground, and with one flicker, he vanished into the mountain forest.

"Exchange it for me!" Lu Lin willed.

What he held in his hand was none other than the flying sword that had been beneath the young man's feet.

The next moment, the flying sword turned into scrap metal, and Lu Lin gained twenty-two years of cultivation time.

The Martial Dao Melting Furnace's inner space is still too small. It's only one meter in length, width, and height. Even placed diagonally, it can't fit an item two meters long. If only it could be upgraded again, Lu Lin thought to himself.

He swiftly threaded through the mountain forest, especially cautious this time, looking up at the sky from time to time to avoid being targeted by immortal cultivators again.

Not one of these immortal cultivators could be underestimated. Their methods were strange, their killing moves endless; with the slightest carelessness, one could capsize in a gutter.

Just now, he had nearly capsized.

He could not help reaching out to touch his chest.

A terrifying sword mark had appeared on the Blood Demon Battle Armor, and it had been completely pierced through.

Fortunately, that streak of Sword Qi had been blocked by him layer after layer, and by the time it landed on his body, there was almost no power left. Added to his abundant qi and blood and his powerful fleshly body, he had managed to withstand it without so much as a scratch.

"That Sword Qi was definitely not something a Qi Refining cultivator could release. Could it have been the Sword Qi of a Foundation Establishment great cultivator? Just a single streak of Sword Qi was already so terrifying. The strength of a Foundation Establishment great cultivator truly makes one's heart tremble."

Lu Lin sighed again and again, warning himself inwardly that from now on, when facing any immortal cultivator, he absolutely could not be careless.

If he could outwit them, he must never meet them head-on.

The rest of the journey had scares but no danger. Though escaping lights flew overhead from time to time, no one ever discovered him.

He left the mountain peak where the Red Gold Mine was located and rushed into the distance. Only after crossing three peaks in succession did he find a hidden cave and slip inside.

With a thought, several magical artifacts fell to the ground: a scroll, a flying sword, and two storage pouches.

Lu Lin picked up one of the storage pouches, and his thick qi and blood surged wildly into it, colliding with the lingering spiritual power on the pouch and letting out a "sizzle, sizzle" sound.

Before long, the spiritual energy on this storage pouch had been completely worn away.

Lu Lin upended the storage pouch onto the ground. After a burst of clattering and rattling, a pile of bottles and jars appeared on the floor.

After taking inventory, it was nothing more than pills, magical artifacts, and Spirit Stones.

Lu Lin kept the Spirit Stones and exchanged all the other treasures that contained spiritual energy into cultivation time.

He dealt with the second storage pouch the same way.

Before long, other than the Spirit Stones, all the treasures in the pouch had also turned into cultivation time.

With a glance at the display above the Martial Dao Melting Furnace, his cultivation time had already reached five hundred seventy-two years and two months.

The two immortal cultivators from the Green Duckweed Sword Sect had contributed one hundred ninety years of cultivation time to him.

Of course, there were quite a few Spirit Stones too. Altogether, there were one hundred thirty Low-grade Spirit Stones and three hundred eighty-five Inferior Spirit Stones.

After taking inventory, Lu Lin discovered that the Spirit Stones on him had already become rather abundant.

Two hundred seventy-seven Low-grade Spirit Stones and seven hundred eighty-five Inferior Spirit Stones.

"More than five hundred years of cultivation time. Very good. I'll continue raising my cultivation." A resolute look appeared on Lu Lin's face.

He had originally planned to save up his cultivation time and wait until he returned to the Demon Sect to purchase a large batch of pills before improving himself.

Simply piling on cultivation time was truly not worth it.

But right now, he could no longer care about that.

The Blood Baleful Demon Sect had suffered a crushing defeat this time, and the Green Duckweed Sword Sect would never let such a perfect opportunity slip by. It was easy to imagine that at this very moment, the immortal cultivators of the Green Duckweed Sword Sect were hunting down members of the Blood Baleful Demon Sect everywhere.

Wanting to leave the Floating Splendor Mountain Range safely was no easy matter.

The urgent task was to raise his strength and escape this area.

If his life was gone, what use would even more cultivation time be?

"There are still sixty Bone Refining Pills left. I'll raise the Iron Elephant Body first." Lu Lin stuffed a handful of Bone Refining Pills into his mouth. Immediately, with a thought, cultivation time poured into the Iron Elephant Body like a tide.

The Iron Elephant Body's realm rose rapidly. Unfortunately, the sixty Bone Refining Pills were soon used up.

Without pills to assist him, relying purely on piling up cultivation time, the consumption of cultivation time instantly became as swift as running water.

After a full fifty years, the Iron Elephant Body finally broke through again, reaching the ninth level.

Lu Lin did not stop, continuing to pour cultivation time in.

More than one hundred ten years of cultivation time flowed away rapidly, finally raising the Iron Elephant Body to the peak of the ninth level.

Next came the assault on the tenth level.

A faint light flashed in his palm, and several pills appeared there.

They were none other than Essence-Solidifying Organ-Protecting Pills!