As Lin Xiye traveled, keeping a wary eye on his surroundings, something happened.
Suddenly, a series of earth-shaking booms came from the distant mountains.
Even from dozens of li away, the booms were deafening, like rolling thunder exploding.
The booms carried wisps of spiritual power fluctuations. Cultivators were fighting...
Only cultivators at the Spirit Nourishing Realm or above could draw upon the spiritual power of heaven and earth and use various Law Techniques.
At that thought, Lin Xiye grew even more cautious and hurried away into the distance... A fight between Spirit Nourishing cultivators was no place for someone at the Bone Refining Realm to get involved.
A full-force strike from a Spirit Nourishing cultivator could cover an area hundreds of meters across! Before a Spirit Nourishing cultivator, let alone someone at the Bone Refining Realm, even someone at Organ Refining Perfection was no more than an ant...
As Lin Xiye picked up speed, the distant booms gradually faded.
Only when silence returned behind him did Lin Xiye breathe a small sigh of relief.
Normally, let alone Spirit Nourishing Realm cultivators, even cultivators of the Four Body Tempering Realms rarely appeared around Zichuan City, much less fought and killed one another in the wilderness.
After all, within several thousand li of Zichuan City, there were no top-grade Spirit Veins, nor could any heavenly materials and earthly treasures grow.
The two Spirit Nourishing cultivators who had begun fighting were most likely just passing through and had come into conflict over some competing interest.
In the cultivation world, fights between cultivators were as commonplace as eating and drinking.
Cultivators of the same realm might come to blows and fight to the death over some resources, a Cultivation Method, or a secret realm...
As for low-realm cultivators, all it took was a slight offense against a higher-realm cultivator for them to risk losing their lives, wiped out on the spot.
After crossing two more mist-shrouded mountain ranges occupied by ferocious beasts, Lin Xiye finally returned to the Qiao Town Lin Household before sunset.
Although he had encountered a minor incident on his way back from the cultivation market, the trip had gone very smoothly overall.
As soon as he returned to the Lin Household, Lin Xiye began taking stock of his belongings.
Lin Xiye now had nine Spirit Stone fragments, three Organ Refining Realm Cultivation Methods, twelve bottles of Body Tempering Pills, thirty-six pills in total, ten Flame Talismans, three Spirit Poison Bottles, and an extremely incomplete Foundation Establishment Grade Spirit Gathering Formation.
Besides those, Lin Xiye also had the Scarlet Flame Dao Scripture, which could be cultivated up to the Core Formation Realm, a century-old Spirit Tempering Grass with seven sprigs and leaves remaining, and a Spirit-Nurturing Grade Law Treasure—the Three Talents Formation Flags.
The Three Talents Formation Flags were also Lin Xiye's greatest trump card at present! He kept them hidden in his robes almost all the time...
Once the flags were activated, Lin Xiye was practically invincible against anyone below the Spirit Nourishing Realm.
Lin Xiye had no intention of using any of the nine Spirit Stone fragments for cultivation. He planned to keep them on hand to activate the Three Talents Formation Flags.
Before breaking through to the Spirit Nourishing Realm, if Lin Xiye wanted to use a Spirit-Nurturing Grade Law Treasure even briefly... he had to use Spirit Stone fragments. Otherwise, he had no way to activate the Three Talents Formation Flags.
After taking stock of his belongings, Lin Xiye carefully took out the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror, then brought over two chests of gold ingots and gently placed them on its surface.
In an instant, a mysterious immortal light began to overflow.
Lin Xiye held the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror and aimed it at a Flame Talisman.
Whoosh!!
Light imbued with a mysterious presence covered the area around the Flame Talisman.
In an instant, the formerly ordinary Flame Talisman gave off a faint spiritual pressure.
Under that spiritual pressure, Lin Xiye sensed boundless danger even from two meters away.
The Flame Talisman's power had increased by at least several hundred times.
Originally, it could have affected an Organ Refining Realm cultivator at most.
But now, the spiritual pressure it emitted was no weaker than that of an Early Spirit Accumulation Stage cultivator... and its true power had yet to be triggered.
If it were triggered, it might even pose a serious threat to a Spirit Nourishing cultivator.
After putting away the enhanced Flame Talisman, Lin Xiye took out chest after chest of mundane gold and silver and began enhancing his various belongings.
In the end, Lin Xiye spent a full half hour enhancing every item once.
But in doing so, Lin Xiye had also completely exhausted the gold, silver, and valuables accumulated by the Lin Household...
During the process, Lin Xiye had also tried using enhanced items as consumable resources, then using the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror to make an egg produce a chicken, and a chicken produce an egg... in an endless cycle.
Unfortunately, the attempt failed.
Resources enhanced by the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror could be enhanced a second or even a third time, but they could not be consumed to enhance other items.
Looking at the enhanced items in the secret chamber, Lin Xiye grew increasingly curious about the origins of the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror.
Still, the treasure ending up in his hands could be considered a matter of fate!! Or perhaps the Lin Household's fortune had not yet run out.
As the Lin Household's last cultivator, if Lin Xiye fell, or remained trapped at the Blood Refining Realm, it would only be a matter of time before decline set in.
However, as long as Lin Xiye lived and grew stronger... and protected the Lin Household for another century, a thousand years, or even longer, sooner or later a descendant with a Spirit Root would be born into the Lin Household.
When that happened, as long as it continued to accumulate its foundations, the Lin Household's reserves and overall strength might even rise several levels.
Obtaining the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror was a stroke of fortune for Lin Xiye and for the Qiao Town Lin Household.
"Unfortunately, the attempt to enhance and upgrade this Foundation Establishment Grade Spirit Gathering Formation failed..."
"To enhance and upgrade it, I'll probably need Spirit Stone fragments or complete low-grade Spirit Stones."
Looking at the Foundation Establishment Grade Spirit Gathering Formation on the ground, Lin Xiye shook his head slightly.
"Forget it. There's no hurry for now."
Lin Xiye put away the formation flags for the Foundation Establishment Grade Spirit Gathering Formation and made no further attempt to enhance and upgrade it.
The nine Spirit Stone fragments in Lin Xiye's hands were still needed to activate the Three Talents Formation Flags.
As for the Foundation Establishment Grade Spirit Gathering Formation, now that he had thirty-six Body Tempering Pills, Lin Xiye could use them to improve his cultivation in the short term. Doing without the formation for now would make little difference.
After putting away the Foundation Establishment Grade Spirit Gathering Formation, Lin Xiye also stored away all the talismans, Spirit Poison Bottles, and the rest...
The enhanced Spirit Poison Bottles were already potent enough to threaten Spirit Nourishing cultivators.
With these things in hand, if he made preparations in advance, let alone the Zhao Household having only one Organ Refining Realm ancestor, even if several more came... Lin Xiye still would not fear them.
Just in case, however, Lin Xiye decided to hurry and take the pills, doing his best to raise his own strength to the Organ Refining level.
Breaking through to the Organ Refining Realm would not only bring an explosive increase in strength, but also extend his lifespan by another twenty years.