After returning to Yellow Maple Valley, Lin Yun went straight back to the Hundred Herb Garden to wait for his reward, which would be distributed in a few days.
Everything in the Hundred Herb Garden was as it had been. Martial Uncle Ma and Han Li were already waiting there.
"Tsk, tsk! You really are a lucky brat. Not only did you come back alive, you didn't even get hurt." Seeing Lin Yun safe and sound, Martial Uncle Ma clicked his tongue in wonder, though a trace of concern still seeped into his voice.
"Just luck. Thank you for your concern, Martial Uncle," Lin Yun said with a smile.
Once Martial Uncle Ma saw that Lin Yun was fine, he did not linger. He picked a few medicinal herbs in the Herb Garden, then left.
After Martial Uncle Ma departed, Han Li immediately walked over, a gleam of eagerness flashing through his eyes. "Senior Brother Lin, you..."
At the sight of Han Li, Nangong Wan's face suddenly flashed through Lin Yun's mind. Unbidden, the image of her embracing him with her clothes in disarray surfaced in his thoughts.
Feeling somewhat awkward, he could not help muttering inwardly, Damn! Why does this feel like the guy who stole someone's girl meeting the poor bastard he cuckolded?
He shook his head, cast aside his stray thoughts, and smiled faintly. Dropping the concealment over his cultivation, he fully revealed his Foundation-Building Stage power.
"Senior Brother Lin, you really reached Foundation Establishment?" Han Li asked in surprise.
Lin Yun smiled. "You should get ready too."
With that, Lin Yun seemed to remember something. He raised a hand, and twenty or thirty spirit herb seedlings appeared before him, held aloft by his magic power.
Then he casually took out a Storage Bag he had picked up in the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land, put the seedlings inside, and handed it to Han Li with a smile. "Junior Brother Han, I'll leave these to you. Remember to save me a share."
Following the principle of letting nothing go to waste, Lin Yun had picked these seedlings whenever he came across them. He had planned to bring them back for Han Li to grow to maturity, then take a share for himself.
Although Han Li was a little surprised, having no idea where Lin Yun had produced the spirit herbs from, he still accepted the Storage Bag with a delighted expression. With these herbs, he would have a reliable supply of pills even after reaching Foundation Establishment.
Then he sent his spiritual sense into the Storage Bag and discovered quite a few magic artifacts and other items inside.
"Senior Brother Lin, these..."
"I picked them up along the way in the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land. Take them and use them," Lin Yun said casually.
These magic artifacts might be useful to Han Li, but to Lin Yun, who already possessed the Clearvoid Invisible Sword, they were of little use.
Besides the magic artifacts, the Storage Bag also contained a silver page recording the Azure Origin Sword Art. Lin Yun had obtained it from a Giant Sword Sect cultivator who had tried to kill a Yellow Maple Valley disciple.
When Lin Yun first discovered the silver page, he had been somewhat surprised and taken an interest in the Azure Origin Sword Art. After reading it, however, he realized that while it might be important to Han Li, to him it was nothing but chicken ribs-hardly worth eating, yet a shame to throw away.
Leaving aside all the Zu Mountain sword arts in Lin Yun's mind, the Azure Origin Sword Art itself seemed to him more like a method for casting spells through a sword than a pure sword cultivation method. It held little value for him.
Thus, after only a moment's consideration, Lin Yun decided to toss it to Han Li.
He simply did not know whether Han Li would have the chance to obtain the other page, the golden one concerning the Green Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword, from Li Huayuan in the future.
A few days later, a steward came to Lin Yun and handed him a Foundation Establishment Pill. This was his reward for his harvest in the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land.
Once he received the Foundation Establishment Pill, Lin Yun casually tossed it to Han Li. It was useless to him now. He had already obtained samples of the spirit herbs, so the pill no longer held even any value for researching them.
Before Lin Yun entered seclusion, Han Li came to him with a small vial of green liquid, brimming with anticipation.
Naturally, Lin Yun knew what Han Li wanted.
With little effort, he separated one drop of Cosmic Light True Water and three drops of Three Lights Divine Water from that small vial of green liquid.
Seeing Lin Yun take out a gold bottle to hold the drop of Cosmic Light True Water, Han Li's expression shifted. He suddenly asked, "Senior Brother Lin, that bottle is only made of ordinary gold. Is it really all right to store Cosmic Light True Water in it?"
Lin Yun smiled at his question. "Junior Brother Han, do you know that gold is imperishable by nature? Don't look down on it just because it's an ordinary material. When it comes to containing Cosmic Light True Water, other spiritual materials simply won't do. Only gold will!"
Han Li nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "Senior Brother Lin, could this green liquid also be stored in a gold bottle?"
He had tried preserving the green liquid in all kinds of containers, but he had never tried a gold bottle.
"Forget it. That won't work. This green liquid is extremely unusual. Unless it's separated into Cosmic Light True Water and Three Lights Divine Water, it won't keep for even a quarter of an hour," Lin Yun said.
At that, Han Li's eyes lit up. "Then couldn't we just separate the green liquid into Cosmic Light True Water and Three Lights Divine Water, and mix them back together whenever we need the green liquid?"
Lin Yun could not help rolling his eyes. "Junior Brother Han, you're getting ahead of yourself. I can't spare the time to separate the divine water for you every time. And don't come waving divine water in front of me every day, either. I'm afraid I might not be able to resist killing you and taking your treasure."
Han Li choked on his words, then gave an awkward smile. Instantly coming to his senses, he realized that he really had been indulging in wild fantasies.
After taking one drop of Three Lights Divine Water as his share, Lin Yun entered seclusion.
Three months later, Lin Yun emerged with Foundation-Building Stage cultivation.
During those three months, because of his innate five-element dao body, Lin Yun had chosen to practice the qi-refining method in the He Sha Marvelous Book for the time being, using it as his Foundation-Building Stage cultivation method.
As a supreme secret manual of the Zu Mountain World that recorded the highest methods of the innate five elements, the He Sha Marvelous Book suited Lin Yun better than Emei cultivation methods such as the Nine Heavens Profound Scripture.
Although the sparse spiritual energy of the Mortal Realm made it impossible to fully master the He Sha Marvelous Book, its sections on refining essence into qi and accumulating true qi were highly suited to Foundation-Building Stage cultivation.
The five-element Dao arts within it were also quite interesting. He should just barely be able to master them in the Mortal Realm.
Besides beginning his practice of the He Sha Marvelous Book, Lin Yun also cultivated the Purple Mansion Manual.
With the time he had left, he selected several spells he could currently practice from the Daoist texts in his mind, making no distinction between orthodox and demonic arts, and worked on mastering them.
After he emerged from seclusion, Martial Uncle Ma clicked his tongue in wonder that Lin Yun had reached Foundation Establishment with a fake spiritual root. Lin Yun said he had accidentally obtained an unknown spirit fruit in the forbidden land, which had increased his chances of success.
He also revealed that he had traded his remaining Foundation Establishment Pill to Han Li.
Finally, after Martial Uncle Ma repeatedly insisted that Lin Yun address him as Senior Brother Ma, Lin Yun formally took his leave and departed the Hundred Herb Garden for good.
After watching Lin Yun leave, Senior Brother Ma glanced at Han Li and said, "You're going into seclusion too, aren't you, brat? Heh, you're really working this old man to the bone. I'll have to tend the Herb Garden myself again. I hope you can reach Foundation Establishment too and join our ranks."
With an honest expression, Han Li chuckled and thanked
Senior Brother Ma for his blessing before hurrying off to enter seclusion.
Meanwhile, Lin Yun rode his Green Leaf Artifact to meet the sect master.
Foundation-Building cultivators already counted as mid-ranking members of Yellow Maple Valley. They could choose a place in the Taiyue Mountain Range to establish their own cave abode, and enjoyed considerably more freedom in their affairs.
Upon arriving at the Council Hall, Lin Yun was led by a Qi Refining Stage disciple stationed at the entrance to meet Sect Master Zhong Lingdao once more.
Although Sect Master Zhong was usually busy with administrative affairs, he still remembered Lin Yun. He marveled that Lin Yun had reached Foundation Establishment with a fake spiritual root, while also feeling gratified that the sect had gained another Foundation-Building cultivator.
After they chatted for a while, Zhong Lingdao fetched the register and entered Lin Yun's name, officially granting him the right to establish a cave abode.
After receiving the sect's reward for Foundation-Building disciples from Zhong Lingdao, Lin Yun took his leave.
Leaving the Council Hall, Lin Yun rode his magic artifact along the Taiyue Mountain Range. Using the Qi Observation Technique, he found an unoccupied peak with a decent spiritual aura.
"This will do."
Lin Yun summoned the Clearvoid Invisible Sword and used a sword art to carve a cave abode with three rooms and a main hall into a cliff on one side of the mountain.
After furnishing the cave abode simply, Lin Yun set up a Five-Element Strange Gate Formation in front of it.
Once he had finished, Lin Yun spent a night in his new cave abode, then headed straight down the mountain early the next morning.
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