Cultivation Technique?

Lin Yi examined the grayish-black stone in his hand, turning it over and over several times.

In the view of his Spirit Eyes, he could see the dense mass of spiritual energy inside the stone—but how was he supposed to use it?

"Just break it open."

Lin Yi weighed the stone in his hand, gripped each end with both hands, and began to exert force.

With the baseline strength of one hundred thousand jin in the Dragonlike Realm, breaking open a fist-sized stone should not have been difficult. Yet this stone was far harder than he had imagined.

He gradually increased his strength, the muscles in his arms tightening as blood-gold patterns flickered beneath his skin.

Crack.

The stone finally split down the middle, its fractured surface jagged and uneven.

Then Lin Yi froze.

The dense spiritual energy he had seen so clearly scattered from the fracture the instant the stone broke apart, like water that had suddenly lost its container.

Though invisible to the naked eye, within the vision of his Spirit Eyes, it was a milky-white mist of light dispersing at a visible speed.

"Holy shit!"

His mind reacted even faster than his mouth. Spiritual energy! His brain could absorb spiritual energy!

Almost instinctively, he pressed the two halves of the broken stone against both sides of his forehead, their fractured surfaces snug against the skin near his temples.

His brain seemed like a savage beast that had caught the scent of blood, abruptly awakening.

A powerful suction force surged from inside his skull. The spiritual energy drifting outward was violently dragged back, pouring through his temples and flooding deep into his brain.

Then he sensed a change that made his heart nearly stop. The slow, steady increase in comprehension he usually felt was now like a sports car with its accelerator floored, suddenly shooting ahead.

The speed of his thoughts, the efficiency with which he processed information, the sharpness of his senses—all of it was accelerating rapidly.

The process lasted roughly several dozen breaths.

Only after the spiritual energy had been completely drained did that cool sensation slowly fade. Lin Yi lowered his head to inspect the two stones in his palms. Their outer shells were still grayish-black, but their insides were empty, and their broken surfaces were covered in fine powder.

He silently estimated the total amount of spiritual energy he had absorbed.

"This one stone... actually equals three days of my natural comprehension growth?"

Lin Yi stared at the empty shells in his hands, his heart beating faster and faster. Three days.

He did not need to do anything. Just by absorbing one such stone, he could gain the equivalent of three extra days of comprehension growth out of thin air.

If he could find more... Countless images flashed through his mind in an instant. Lava Divine Markings, Gilded Divine Markings, deductions of even higher-tier cultivation techniques—things that had originally required long years of accumulation to overcome would all have a chance to be accelerated.

Unfortunately, that young man had said he picked it up in the Great Wilderness. He probably did not have any more.

Lin Yi temporarily suppressed the greed in his heart, casually set the stone shells aside, and closed his eyes to feel the current state of his brain.

At its original pace, he would have needed around six more days to completely master the Lava Divine Markings. Now, that time had been reduced to four days.

"If I can keep at it without sleeping..." Lin Yi calculated swiftly in his heart. "Two days. I can finish it in two days."

He abruptly opened his eyes, leaped off the bed, shoved open the door, and rushed outside.

At the entrance of the neighboring wooden hut, the village chief was squatting on the ground sorting a bundle of beast hides. Hearing the hurried footsteps, he looked up just in time to see Lin Yi charging over with an excited expression.

"Village Chief, I'm going to cultivate for a while. Call me once the Trade Gathering officially begins."

The village chief had barely opened his mouth when Lin Yi spun around and darted back into his own wooden hut, slamming the door shut with a bang.

The old man stood there with his mouth open for quite some time before helplessly shaking his head. Muttering, "That little bastard," he lowered his head and continued sorting his beast hides.

Inside the hut, Lin Yi had already returned to the bed and sat cross-legged, his eyes closed.

Within his mind, the incomplete dark-red Lava Divine Mark Diagram slowly unfolded. Nourished by the accelerated boost of spiritual energy, his comprehension was now operating at high speed. The pattern nodes that had previously stumped him began to loosen one after another, break down, and be understood anew.

Time blurred amid his contemplation.

Until the village chief's voice came from outside the door.

"Kid Lin, the Trade Gathering has begun."

The village chief was not particularly loud, but his voice carried through the wooden door, just enough to pull Lin Yi out of his deep state of comprehension.

He slowly opened his eyes. The pale gold gleam in his pupils faded, and he let out a long breath of stale air.

"...A day and a half already?"

He lowered his head to look at his palm, swiftly running through the Divine Mark Diagram in his mind. The incomplete Lava Divine Markings still lacked the final fifteen percent before he could fully comprehend them.

Lin Yi rose and stretched his stiff shoulders and back. His bones cracked several times as he called out, "Coming!"

He glanced around the wooden hut and picked up the things he had prepared long ago: several bundles of processed beast hides, dried herbs, and the six long spider legs of the Gloom Spider. He wrapped them all in beast hide, held them in his arms, and pushed the door open.

The village chief was already waiting outside. He looked Lin Yi up and down once. "Your complexion's not bad. Let's go. Everyone else has already gone over."

Lin Yi followed the village chief through the encampment. When they reached the familiar clearing, the scene before him was utterly different from yesterday.

It was a sea of voices. Goods filled every wooden stall from all directions. Vendors' cries, haggling arguments, and the footsteps of people jostling through the crowd mixed together, making the place feel as lively as though heaven and earth had been replaced.

Lin Yi quickly spotted Mang and the others among the crowd.

The Bluestone Tribe's stall had a good location, beneath the third wooden shed on the right after entering. At the moment, people crowded around it three layers deep inside and three layers deep outside, most of them asking about the Bluemane Horses.

Mang stood beside the horses, shouting as he bargained with customers. Several hunters helped beside him, all busy enough to sweat profusely.

They had discussed it last night. Everyone would keep one horse for personal use, while the remaining sixteen Bluemane Horses would all be brought out for trade.

Judging by the current situation, the market response had far exceeded expectations. People came one after another without pause to ask about the price.

Lin Yi squeezed behind his own stall and stuffed the beast hides, herbs, and spider legs in his arms into Mang's hands all at once. "Brother Mang, help me sell these too. Set the prices as you see fit. Just don't let me take a loss."

Mang accepted the bundle of spider legs. "Alright, these are good stuff. They'll definitely sell well. Go handle your own business!"

Lin Yi patted Mang on the shoulder, turned, and plunged into the flow of people.

Using the same method as before, he slightly activated his Spirit Eyes and dimmed the pale gold glow over his eyeballs to avoid drawing attention. Following the crowd's flow, he swept his gaze over the stalls one by one.

When he came yesterday, the place had been empty. Today, it was loaded with goods. What if there was something valuable hidden among them?

As he walked, he absentmindedly pondered that Spirit Stone. If he could find more stones like that, forget the Lava Divine Markings—even the Gilded Divine Markings might be within reach.

Just as he was thinking, a conversation from several people beside him suddenly drifted into his ears.

"They're trading cultivation techniques over there!"

"Seriously? Someone actually brought cultivation techniques out to trade?"

"Why not go take a look? There's a huge crowd gathered up ahead. They all went to see that."

"Come on, come on!"

Several young hunters squeezed excitedly past Lin Yi and hurried toward the other end of the clearing.

Lin Yi halted.

Cultivation techniques? Those people sounded so certain, and there were quite a few of them. It did not seem like smoke without fire.

"I should go take a look."