"I must guard the secret of this treasure."
"If outside cultivators learned of it, the consequences would be unimaginable..."
After looking around the courtyard, Lin Xiye carefully shut its wooden gate. Then he drew a longsword, and the power of Mid-stage Blood Refining erupted.
He swung his sword again and again, unleashing a tremendous force of a hundred thousand jin. As time passed, Lin Xiye carved out an underground secret chamber inside one of the courtyard's rooms.
Next, Lin Xiye placed the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror in the secret chamber and set up a low-level illusion array around the courtyard... one that served as a warning.
Even with the entire Lin Household included, Qiao Town's population was only a little over forty thousand. Cultivators rarely passed through here... so it was relatively safer than the sect.
Even so, Lin Xiye did not dare let his guard down in the slightest.
In the world of cultivation, danger lurked at every step. One moment of carelessness could cost him his life.
With the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror in hand, Lin Xiye was destined not to join any other power again, lest he expose the precious treasure he possessed.
Lin Xiye had decided to lie low in his Lineage, developing it step by step into a force of his own. Then, starting by earning worldly gold and silver... he would proceed steadily, cultivating and growing stronger over time.
As long as he kept a low profile, Lin Xiye firmly believed that one day, he would stand at the very pinnacle of the immortal path.
After Lin Xiye finished altering the courtyard, the long night gradually faded...
The bright moon sank, and the blazing sun rose.
After a whole night of work, Lin Xiye, as a cultivator, still felt no fatigue.
Sitting cross-legged in the secret chamber, Lin Xiye looked at the Body Tempering Pill in his hand. He decided to swallow it first and improve his strength as much as possible.
If he succeeded in advancing to the Bone Refining Realm, he could be called an expert among low-level Rogue Cultivators! If he could break through to the Organ Refining Realm, Lin Xiye would have complete confidence even when facing the Purple River City Zhao Household.
The Zhao Household could occupy Zichuan City, with its population of 150,000, because it had an Organ Refining Realm cultivator among its members.
Although that Organ Refining Realm cultivator spent most of his time cultivating in seclusion and rarely involved himself directly in the Zhao Household's affairs, the cultivators permanently stationed there... still numbered in the dozens.
Over the years, the Zhao Household had also been expanding in every direction, steadily encroaching on the territory within a hundred li of Qiao Town.
The Zhao Household had not directly moved to annex Qiao Town before because Lin Xiye was still cultivating in the Falling Rosy Clouds Sect.
As long as Lin Xiye remained in the Falling Rosy Clouds Sect cultivating, the Zhao Household would have reservations, even if he was only an outer disciple at the very bottom of the sect's ranks.
Openly attacking the Lineage of a Sunset Glow Sect disciple could very well incur the sect's displeasure.
Before the Sunset Glow Sect, let alone the Zhao Household, even Lineages with Spirit Nourishing Realm cultivators were nothing to speak of.
But now Lin Xiye had left the sect, and his status as an outer disciple had naturally been revoked...
Without that status to protect him, the Zhao Household would have no more reservations about moving against Qiao Town!
Perhaps all the Zhao Household needed was an excuse to descend upon Qiao Town and force the Lin Household to submit... or even wipe it out outright!
Compared with the Falling Rosy Clouds Sect, conflicts in the outside world were crueler and bloodier.
If he did not quickly improve his strength, the Lin Household would face one of two fates: submit completely to the Zhao Household and surrender all its interests in Qiao Town...
Or... face annihilation.
The weak were prey to the strong, and the strong survived. This was a Principle that had never changed since time immemorial!
Had Lin Xiye not obtained the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror, with only ten years left to live, he would naturally have had no choice but to lead the Lin Household in submission and retreat.
But now, he wanted to rouse himself in his twilight years and strive for the immortal path once more!
"Phew..."
Lin Xiye let out a breath of turbid air, gradually holding his breath and focusing his mind as the distracting thoughts in his heart slowly dispersed.
Cultivation was a process of the utmost profundity.
In the Four Body Tempering Realms, one drew in and expelled Spiritual Qi, using the essence of heaven and earth to temper the skin, blood, and bones... and finally the five organs!
Once the body had been tempered to a certain level, one could return Qi to its innate state and open Spirit Veins... thereby breaking through to the Spirit Nourishing Realm.
Compared with those in the Four Body Tempering Realms, Spirit Nourishing cultivators had a lifespan of more than two hundred years.
And after breaking through to the Spirit Nourishing Realm, cultivators could also begin to command spiritual power and use some basic Law Techniques.
After Lin Xiye swallowed the Body Tempering Pill, strands of power gradually dissolved within his body.
This power followed his blood, tempering his entire body from the inside out.
Under its tempering, Lin Xiye's cultivation rose rapidly.
Mid-stage Blood Refining...
Late Blood Refining...
Blood Refining Perfection...
Crack!! At the peak of Blood Refining, one would begin to nourish the bones throughout the body... the very sign of advancement to the Bone Refining Realm.
Skin Refining, Blood Refining, Bone Refining, Organ Refining... every breakthrough from one of these four realms to the next was exceptionally painful.
Advancing to the Skin Refining Realm felt like being cut by a thousand knives, almost unbearable!
Advancing to the Blood Refining Realm was like having one's meridians and blood vessels burst open... the agony was worse than death!
Advancing to the Bone Refining Realm was like having broken bones grow anew, both itchy and painful. If one's will wavered even slightly, it would be hard to endure, and the breakthrough would ultimately fail.
As for advancing to the Organ Refining Realm, it was said that all five organs would shatter before being remade! The process could be called torture on earth.
Everyone said it was wonderful to be an immortal, but how many could endure even the process of cultivating toward immortality and attaining the Dao?
Mortal beings who sought longevity were defying the heavens to begin with. In the Four Body Tempering Realms, they had to endure the agony of reforging their bodies! After Foundation Establishment came the three calamities and nine tribulations... until either death extinguished their Dao, or they ascended to immortality amid rosy clouds!
Intense pain swept through Lin Xiye's entire body, but his weathered face remained remarkably calm.
What was pain? If he could attain the Great Dao, Lin Xiye would not hesitate even to stake his life.
To become an immortal and attain the Dao, one had to be sufficiently resolute, sufficiently mad!
Besides, in this world of cultivation, there was never a place for the weak.
Even if Lin Xiye could not become an immortal, he would pursue strength and become as strong as he could.
Dignity, status, power, wealth... these intoxicating things all depended on one's own strength.
Time passed bit by bit.
Lin Xiye sat cross-legged in the secret chamber.
When he grew hungry, he swallowed a Grain Avoidance Pill he had exchanged for at the sect!
When he grew tired, he still dared not slacken for a moment.
Lin Xiye did not have much time left.
Beyond the Lin Household stood the ambitious Purple River City Zhao Household, expanding in every direction.
Lin Xiye had only ten years left to live to begin with.
Even if he successfully broke through to the Bone Refining Realm and extended his lifespan by another twenty years, he would live for thirty years at most.
Crack... crack!!
Every inch of bone in Lin Xiye's body rang with explosive cracks.
The process was long and grueling.
But he had to endure.
Only by thoroughly tempering every bone could he truly advance to the Bone Refining Realm.
During this process, if he failed to hold on and thoughts of giving up arose in his heart, he would move step by step toward failure.
If Bone Refining failed, his cultivation might regress at best; at worst, he would die on the spot...
Neither outcome was one Lin Xiye could bear.
He was already 110 years old... If his breakthrough failed, even if he ultimately kept his life, it would be difficult for him to make another breakthrough in this lifetime.
The intense pain lasted for seven whole days.
Only when Lin Xiye had endured to his limit and was holding on almost entirely through sheer will... did the pain of bones breaking throughout his body gradually fade.
When the pain had completely receded, a gentle, warming power slowly wrapped around Lin Xiye's body, enveloping him...
Covered by this power, Lin Xiye felt an unprecedented comfort, while the Qi and Blood, strength, and vitality within him... also grew wildly.
On the path of cultivation, after bitterness came sweetness.