Unexpected (1)

The Azure Blood Demoness Pearl was all right, but many of the other manuals could not be read. Some of the manuals Pu Dusheng had given him earlier, however, were written in Netherworld Script and could be read.

After entering the room, Lin Xin casually picked up a copy of the Nine Mornings Song and began reading it. The pages were densely packed with notes he had made before.

"Body refining arts may take different paths, yet all roads lead to the same destination. They mainly temper the body after birth to stir its potential, mobilize the Innate, and draw spiritual energy back to nourish the body. Their method is to use all the reversed-flowing spiritual energy to strengthen the flesh, which is why their bodies are so powerful and ferocious."

Pondering carefully, Lin Xin leafed through the Nine Mornings Song.

"A powerful body can give rise to many derivative attack techniques. This manual, which cultivates through pure sonic attacks, is one such example. The nine melodies correspond to different escalating realms, intertwined with one another. But each requires immensely powerful strength and aura to sound."

Having already memorized the manual by heart, Lin Xin slowly began integrating all the manuals he had studied before.

"From Qi Refinement to the Foundation Establishment Realm, the key lies in an even, balanced aura, using it to lay down an Innate Dao Foundation. The corresponding realms of body refining, meanwhile, involve gathering and refining different proportions of spiritual energy to flood the body, forming different Dao bodies. The former develops in balance, while the latter takes one path to the extreme..."

"Perhaps I can try cultivating them together?" His heart stirred, and he decided to give it a try.

If he could cultivate both the Returning Origin Art and a body refining art, his cultivation would surely rise to another level and advance even faster.

"Most importantly, my constitution should receive further tempering, allowing it to resist worsening hallucinations..."

Lin Xin carefully sorted through the levels of the Nine Mornings Song.

The first layer was Heavenly Wave, the second Earthly Peace, and the third Human Heart. The later levels had names that were too long, so Lin Xin simply changed them into shorter ones: the fourth layer, Wind Sound; the fifth, Jade Echo; the sixth, Fire Fate; the seventh, Rain Breath; the eighth, Yin Wail; and the ninth, Yang Raiment.

Many parts of the Nine Mornings Song had originally been tailored to the constitution of the Two-Faced People, and Lin Xin corrected them one by one. But since he had never experienced realms beyond the Foundation Establishment Realm, many places were merely copied rigidly or slightly altered according to his own understanding. Whether they would truly work remained unknown.

"Iron Wall Cross Current, Giant Manta Ray Wan Sha Art, Feast Art." There were also several manuals he had acquired in previous trades, but he had yet to translate them completely. He was teaching himself the language of the Two-Faced People, and some of the manuals were written in ancient Netherworld Script, so he could understand them as well.

"I hope Pu Dusheng brings the teacher he promised as soon as possible. Then I can make proper revisions and officially begin cultivating."

Setting the book down, he took out what he had arranged for today—the Azure Blood Demoness Pearl.

The blood-red pearl looked exceptionally bewitching under the faint light. A pale white ring revolved within it, and he could vaguely see someone continuously peering toward this side from the other side of the pearl.

"Above ground, this is called a Yin Spirit Pearl. The Bell Sound Great Art inside is entirely written in Netherworld Script. Perhaps I can cultivate a thing or two from it."

Lin Xin took out the pearl. This sort of precious treasure was close to the fourth rank. A ghostly being at least at Foundation Establishment Late Stage was sealed within it; if he carelessly released it, the danger would be immense.

He picked up the Yin Spirit Pearl and began copying the Bell Sound Great Art onto prepared sheets of white paper.

Before long, he discovered that the rotating Bell Sound Great Art inside the pearl contained tens of thousands of words. When a long section of the art was copied onto the paper, the entire sheet gave a hum and shimmered with silver light.

The talismanic characters of the art within the pearl then vanished without a trace.

"A unique art?!" Lin Xin was startled. Only the most supreme arts could display such uniqueness.

Such an art could only exist in a single copy in the world. Once it was transcribed, the original would vanish, and its recorded contents would naturally transfer to the new location.

"It's actually a unique art..." His heart shook. Arts with such properties were generally incomparably powerful supreme arts, whether cultivation methods, secret arts, or divine abilities.

His interest in this art soared at once. He began carefully studying the transcribed words. The paper itself seemed to glimmer with silver because it bore the Bell Sound Great Art, and it faintly took on a metallic texture, becoming much harder.

After studying it carefully, Lin Xin found that the Bell Sound Great Art primarily recorded methods of using sound to attack, disrupt, and influence opponents. It had the same wondrous effect as the Nine Mornings Song, though reached by a different path.

The Nine Mornings Song placed greater emphasis on cultivating both inside and out, while this secret art was mainly a divine ability, purely for attack and application, with endless wonders.

"It actually has no constitution requirement!" Lin Xin suddenly noticed a detail, and his heart faintly trembled.

The Bell Sound Great Art had no requirements whatsoever for one's constitution. Any living being capable of making sounds could cultivate it. It had only three realms: Spirit, Illusion, and Truth.

As he carefully read its mysteries, Lin Xin gradually felt that many of his prior understandings and insights suddenly connected. It was as if he had been enlightened by a splash of enlightenment. Many principles explained in this secret art and divine ability were interconnected with the path of formations, the Returning Origin Art, and more.

But if he wished to cultivate it, the time required might be extremely long.

Although the Bell Sound Great Art did not restrict one's constitution, divine abilities centered on sound were exceedingly obscure. Coupled with the immense time required, it was clearly intended for the Demon Race.

Lin Xin was unwilling to give up. If he missed such a unique cultivation art and divine ability, it would truly be too great a pity.

Almost without hesitation, he began attempting to cultivate the Bell Sound Great Art.

Unknowingly, time hurried past...

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, several years had passed.

Everything at the manor had entered the right track. After suffering heartbreak, Lin Zhen fell silent for a time, then returned to his flirtatious ways and became even more dissolute. He drank and made merry every day, yet his cultivation continued rising step by step.

After Lin Luo went out on a mission and returned, he became even more taciturn, and his cultivation grew increasingly impossible for others to gauge.

As for Nan Shunqing, after heading out to encircle and suppress the Insect Mother, there had not been a single word from him.

Lin Xin also opened the box Nan Shunqing had given him. The note inside listed locations where Nan Shunqing had hidden wealth accumulated over many years. There was also a treasure in the box, apparently a sword pellet coiled into a ball. Once unfolded, it formed a snow-white blade woven like a silken net, engraved with a name in Netherworld Script: Thousand Silk Illusion Snow.

Lin Xin carefully put it away and hid it.

Every day, apart from refining talisman swords, he secluded himself in the Alchemy Room and cultivation chamber.

Over at the Radiance Society, the Porcelain King came looking for him several times and asked him to help inspect formation disks. Lin Xin gladly agreed to go, and they got along quite well. He made the other party owe him quite a few favors.

He occasionally visited the branch as well, gradually making a name for himself there. He used the same alias for himself—Red Flower. Before long, he had nearly become the branch's resident formation master.

Dugu Lin also frequently came to the manor to wander around. She had been collecting materials, though she was still missing some. She intended to ask Lin Xin to forge her weapon only after gathering them all.

The two often discussed the shape, functions, and other details of the weapon she wanted. Their friendship steadily deepened. Later, Huang Shan joined them as well, and the few of them faintly came to regard one another as peers.

Those were developments above ground. What Lin Xin truly cared about and poured great effort into was still the Nether Prefecture.

Over the years, he traded with Pu Dusheng several times, bringing vast resources and wealth to the manor and the Bright Sun Sect. Though he did not find many more Demon Talisman Seeds, only occasionally obtaining a few to barely sustain consumption, Lin Xin's greatest gain was truly the accumulation of knowledge.

He studied their written language under the teacher Pu Dusheng had found for him, then read and memorized every manual he had obtained.

With these complete, supreme manuals stored in his mind, and his increasingly profound research into the constitution and meridians of the Two-Faced People, Lin Xin gradually conceived of perfecting his own body refining cultivation art.

After years of arduous cultivation, the Bell Sound Great Art had gradually reached the entry stage. By using sword cries every day to shake his internal organs, he had already preliminarily mastered several attacks using sonic divine abilities.

Yin Manto also grew larger and larger, becoming ever more colossal. It branched into countless leaves and vines; whenever summoned, it could blanket the entire dark courtyard.

Over the years, it successively devoured many experts among the Two-Faced People, including Foundation Establishment Realm experts. Lin Xin came to understand that its so-called reciprocation was like the Demonic Path: it purified the cultivation and essence blood it devoured, then gave him an extremely small portion.

With this method, the aid of the Yin Spirit Pearl, his continual slaughter in the Nether Prefecture, and his own daily bitter cultivation, Lin Xin finally broke through the fifth layer and entered the sixth in the fifth year.

Hiss...

Lin Xin seriously tossed several precious materials into the pill furnace, quietly watching as the flames inside surged and burned, nearly spraying from the furnace mouth.

Pu Dusheng watched him nervously from the side.

"Red Flower, if you fail, don't force yourself too hard. Once these materials are used, there won't be any more. Wouldn't it be too great a pity to waste them like this?"

Without even blinking, Lin Xin said, "You've been throwing money around these past few years. Do you really need to care about such a small amount of materials?"

"These are priceless supreme medicinal ingredients! They can't be bought with money!" Pu Dusheng argued. "Even as a prince, I might not be able to get much of them. It took me more than thirty years to obtain just these few plants!"

"Be careful!"

"Hey! Careful! Don't put in too much!"

"If you keep making noise, your priceless treasures will be gone." Lin Xin's expression did not change.

Pu Dusheng immediately did not dare make another sound.

Over the years, he and Lin Xin had formed a stable trading partnership. They had developed some friendship and become far more familiar with one another. Under their mutually beneficial arrangement, the two grew increasingly wealthy through price differences between regions, and could practically be called extravagantly rich.

Pu Dusheng even recruited a Golden Core Realm expert as an Attendant, rather than relying on one dispatched by the imperial court to cooperate with him as before.

Lin Xin was likewise immensely wealthy. Rare materials were continually brought out from the Nether Prefecture, and he mainly placed them in the Bright Sun Sect to develop the assassin platform he had previously wanted to establish.

At the same time, he began recruiting Attendants from outside. Unfortunately, there were not many highly cultivated Rogue Cultivators. He only found several Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators to serve as Attendants of the Bright Sun Sect and receive its provisions.

Furthermore, all the equipment on his person had now been replaced with the very best.

His clothing was the Mist River Treasure Robe made by the Gold Jade Sect, woven from extraordinarily precious fire silkworm thread and painstakingly refined over twelve years by a Golden Core Realm expert. It was a true Principal Third Rank supreme treasure that even Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators would covet, the finest item available on the market.

Its defensive power exceeded that of the Spirit Light Shield many times over. It could withstand Foundation Establishment Realm attacks without damage, possessed formidable resistance to flames, and naturally carried a terrifying price.