Leaving the Grotto-Heaven

It was said that a grotto-heaven blurred one's perception of time.

Even after cultivating inside for months or years, the cultivators within would have little clear sense of how much time had passed. They only felt that it had vanished in the blink of an eye.

In this state, everyone became immersed in their cultivation and insights, unable to tear themselves away.

Everyone gained a great deal. The sword-shaped true qi surrounding the Young Swordsman had all withdrawn into his body. His heartbeat rang like a sword's song, and every inch of his skin shimmered with crystalline sword light. He must have made a breakthrough in the Sword Canon he practiced, taking another step toward the Sword Body he had spoken of.

While refining pills, the Female Alchemist also advanced her control over flames. The purple fire inside her cauldron formed nine layers of vortices, continually tempering the medicinal ingredients and refining every impurity out of the pills.

Even the Beast Taming Sect disciples who had not secured a Bodhi Tree found that cultivating qi here put their minds at greater ease and was exceptionally efficient. Time passed quickly, without the usual tedium.

By now, Lin Jing had returned to his original appearance. With the help of the golden-leaved Bodhi Tree, he had memorized the structure of the purple true qi and begun reconstructing it himself. Thousands of attempts and tens of thousands of repetitions made him increasingly quick at forming it.

In fact, without even realizing it, his cultivation had broken through from early Qi Refining to mid-Qi Refining, reaching the fourth level of Qi Refining!

Eventually, he was no longer satisfied with practicing only inside his body. He began releasing his true qi, directing the purple energy outward to form a similar dragon-shaped skeleton that enveloped his entire body, and observed the outside world from within the illusion.

The others were no longer surprised when Lin Jing "transformed" into a giant dragon again. They continued their immersive cultivation, and only the Pineleaf Squirrel suddenly looked toward him.

"Seems workable," Lin Jing murmured. He felt that he had perfectly replicated the Purple Dragonbone Flower's effect and could now count himself as having "entered the Illusion Path."

Unlike ordinary transformation arts, his current Illusion Path Spell was far more deceptive, powerful enough to fool those above his level.

However, Lin Jing felt that using such a top-tier illusion consumed quite a lot of energy. Even after his breakthrough, he still did not have enough true qi.

Most importantly, he was currently casting it with the Golden Bodhi Tree's enhancement, which made it relatively easy. Once he left, he would probably need considerably more practice before he could use it smoothly.

"This Illusion Path Spell really can take the forms of other demon beasts too. In that case, I'll name it 'Myriad Transformations.'" Lin Jing tried moving the enormous dragon claw, reaching for the Pineleaf Squirrel and drawing it inside the illusion as well.

Inside, the Pineleaf Squirrel saw Lin Jing transformed into a Black Bear Monster.

Only this Black Bear Monster was not wearing a Daoist robe like the squirrel's, but a monk's kasaya.

He looked as fierce as a fiend, with the imposing presence of a demon king.

Had the Pineleaf Squirrel not known what was going on, it would surely have clutched its Storage Bag protectively and fled.

Lin Jing dispersed the illusory true qi covering his body and looked at the Pineleaf Squirrel.

"How did it go?" he asked.

"Squeak!" The Pineleaf Squirrel sighed. Nothing. It had gained absolutely nothing. A world in a flower, a universe in a leaf-it was all a pack of lies!

"I told you to take it step by step. You didn't gain anything at all?" Lin Jing asked helplessly.

The Pineleaf Squirrel's talent was certainly not poor. With the Silver Bodhi Tree's enhancement, he believed it had most likely gained something.

Sure enough, the Pineleaf Squirrel took out a red leaf. If they were talking about gains, it had indeed made one.

"What is it?" Lin Jing asked.

"Squeak!" It tossed its new Storage Bag to Lin Jing.

Lin Jing caught the Snowfield Cultivator's Storage Bag.

The next moment, the Pineleaf Squirrel launched a Flying Leaf Technique at... the Storage Bag in Lin Jing's hand!

When the Red Flying Leaf touched the Storage Bag, it actually vanished.

When the flying leaf reappeared and flew away, a heap of Spirit Stones spilled out of the Storage Bag with a clatter, even though Lin Jing had done nothing.

It was as though the flying leaf had sliced a slit in an ordinary pouch.

The Pineleaf Squirrel's Flying Leaf Technique had actually mutated into a spell that could knock items out of a Storage Bag.

Lin Jing parted his lips, wanting to say something, but ultimately gave up.

"I only said it in passing. How did you actually pull it off?"

A spatial spell!

This was unquestionably even harder to learn than an Illusion Path Spell.

Yet it had comprehended one merely by repeatedly taking the red leaf out of its Storage Bag and putting it back in.

Had he known the Pineleaf Squirrel was such a monstrous prodigy, Lin Jing would have given it the Golden Bodhi Tree.

"Squeak!" Yet the Pineleaf Squirrel felt that this spell was not particularly useful.

What it wanted was its opponent's Storage Bag itself. What if it accidentally damaged its own Storage Bag by using this spell in battle?

Lin Jing ignored it. Whether because of its Flying Leaf Technique or its obsession with Storage Equipment, it had now become a Storage Bag killer.

"A spell that can pluck resources out of a Storage Bag... Let's call this upgraded Flying Leaf Technique 'Leaf Plucking Flower,'" Lin Jing said.

The Pineleaf Squirrel had no objections.

The spell's name sounded reasonably nice.

Lin Jing had previously come up with quite a few names for it, but the Pineleaf Squirrel had found them all ugly and halfhearted. In the end, it had simply let Lin Jing keep calling it Pineleaf Squirrel. Compared with those names that sounded like wailing ghosts and howling wolves, this spell's name at least seemed like something a human had come up with.

The Pineleaf Squirrel planned to travel to the Literary Domain with him once they had money. There, it would find a learned feng shui master and ask for a good name that could help it become an immortal.

"Speaking of which, although we both gained quite a bit, neither the 'Myriad Transformations' I created nor the 'Leaf Plucking Flower' you improved seems to have made the stone tablet's rankings." Lin Jing rubbed his chin.

He dispersed all his illusions and looked at the stone tablet between the three trees.

100th place.

Feng Jiutian, who created his second cultivation physique, the Wind Emperor Body, in Bodhi Heaven while in the Foundation Establishment Realm.

He did not know who Feng Jiutian was, nor did he know what the Wind Emperor Body was, but possessing two special physiques in the Foundation Establishment Realm was impressive.

I wonder whether I'll be able to cultivate a second physique besides the Longevity Body when I reach the Foundation Establishment Realm...

Lin Jing shook his head. Unfortunately, he could not see the rankings below one hundredth place. He was quite curious where the potential of the spells he and the Pineleaf Squirrel had created ranked among all the cultivators who had ever entered Bodhi Heaven.

No extra rewards for us, then.

Hopefully, we'll have another chance to enter Bodhi Heaven someday.

Just as that thought passed through his mind, the grotto-heaven rumbled, as though it was about to close.

The Sword Domain.

The outer sect of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the foremost sword cultivation sect in the Heavenly Origin Ancient Kingdom.

As an enormous pillar of light dispersed, the Heavenly Sword Sect outer sect elder who had been waiting there all along looked toward the Young Swordsman holding the Demon-Slaying Sword.

"Yuan Jing!" Seeing the Young Swordsman emerge, the Heavenly Sword Sect elder breathed a sigh of relief before his face lit up with delight.

"Excellent! You're the fourth genius from our sect to be chosen by a grotto-heaven in the past ten years!"

"Greetings, Elder." The Young Swordsman, Yuan Jing, grew slightly nervous at the sight of the outer sect elder.

Elder Swordbeard asked, "Yuan Jing, which grotto-heaven did you enter?"

"Elder, it was the Bodhi Grotto-Heaven."

"The Bodhi Grotto-Heaven? The one for comprehending the Dao? It actually pulled Qi Refinement cultivators into the Bodhi Grotto-Heaven..." Elder Swordbeard was speechless. The higher the cultivation of those entering the Bodhi Grotto-Heaven, the better. Only then could they draw on a lifetime of accumulated knowledge to create something best suited to themselves.

At the Qi Refinement Realm, they had not even fully grasped the fundamentals taught by their sect. What a waste!

Still, entering a grotto-heaven was a good thing. A free opportunity was not something to turn down.

He looked at the Young Swordsman. Although this disciple possessed no earth-shaking physique, his comprehension of sword cultivation methods was exceptional, and he had quickly risen to first place among this year's outer sect disciples.

Having no special cultivation physique was no obstacle. With a Sword Canon that could develop an acquired Sword Body, he still had a bright future. The grotto-heaven's arrival this time was excellent proof of his potential!

"Who else entered the Bodhi Grotto-Heaven besides you? Did you manage to claim the Golden Bodhi Tree?" Elder Swordbeard asked again.

The question that made the Young Swordsman most nervous had finally arrived.

"This disciple was incompetent and only managed to share the Green Bodhi Tree with one other person. I have disgraced the sect. I will certainly cultivate diligently from now on. Please punish me, Elder."

Elder Swordbeard froze. Although Yuan Jing did not possess a special physique like the top outer sect disciples of previous years, his accomplishments in the sword were outstanding. Yet he had only secured the Green Bodhi Tree?

"Punish you for what? Beyond every heaven lies another heaven; beyond every expert stands someone greater. I see you've already cultivated a Sword Heart, so you must not be far from forming a Sword Body. As long as you gained something, that's what matters. This was only one victory or defeat." Elder Swordbeard comforted him. "Which sect's Qi Refinement cultivators claimed the golden and silver Bodhi Trees?"

"Twelve people entered the Bodhi Grotto-Heaven this time: a scholar from Heavenly Fortune City in the Literary Domain, a Female Alchemist from the Pill Cauldron Sect in the Fire Domain, eight people from the Beast Taming Sect in the Desolate Domain, seven of whom were swept in by coincidence, and one more... a Snowfield Cultivator."

The Young Swordsman said, "A Beast Taming Sect disciple claimed the Golden Bodhi Tree. As for the Silver Bodhi Tree..."

"His pet beast claimed it."

"What?" Elder Swordbeard froze. The Beast Taming Sect? Was that the same Beast Taming Sect he knew?

"You lost to a Beast Taming Sect disciple?"

"Elder... everything I know... his pet beast knows too. Everything they know... I don't." The Young Swordsman did not know how to explain.

In the Fire Domain, at the Pill Cauldron Sect, the same scene played out.

The narcissistic Female Alchemist was a somewhat renowned alchemy prodigy within her sect, and her trip to the grotto-heaven brought her even more attention.

The name Tang Seng of the Beast Taming Sect also became known among a small circle of cultivators from these major sects.

In the Literary Domain, a Green-Robed Scholar dragged a Snowfield Barbarian along as he looked at his colleagues gathered around the pillar of light in the city. He wiped the blood from his face and firmly clasped his hands in salute.

He all but had "I want a promotion" written on his face.

In the Desolate Domain, at the Beast Taming Sect.

Numerous elders stood watch outside the grotto-heaven. When Lin Jing and the others all returned unharmed, the elders were overjoyed.

However, seeing the other seven people and their seven beasts seemingly treating Lin Jing and the Pineleaf Squirrel as their leaders, following behind Lin Jing like guards and looking at the pair with awe, the elders desperately wanted to know... just what had happened inside the grotto-heaven.