Dare to Fight and Dare to Retreat to Rise

"Many thanks, fellow Daoist."

After putting away the map of the black market's location that the old man had given him, Lin Xiye bought five stalks of ten-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass and some ordinary pills at the Immortal-Seeking Pavilion before leaving without delay.

After leaving the Immortal-Seeking Pavilion, Lin Xiye rented a room at an inn in the Three Origins Immortal Market.

But out of caution, Lin Xiye did not use the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror at the inn. Instead, under cover of night, he took the mirror and quietly left Guyuan City.

Spirit Nourishing cultivators stood guard in Guyuan City, and an array covered it... Even at the inn, there might have been spies planted by the Qian Household.

Even if there weren't, Lin Xiye did not dare gamble on it.

As the saying went, "A carefully steered ship sails for ten thousand years." Only by remaining vigilant and prudent could he preserve himself and travel farther on the path of immortal cultivation...

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Under the dim moonlight, Lin Xiye braved the wind and snow, wandering outside Guyuan City for a full day. Only after he was absolutely certain no one was following him did he enter a cave and carefully take out the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror.

By selling the hundred-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass at the Immortal-Seeking Pavilion, Lin Xiye had obtained a total of four low-grade Spirit Stones.

But buying five stalks of ten-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass and two bottles of pills to improve his cultivation had cost him fifty Spirit Stone fragments.

Lin Xiye now had three whole low-grade Spirit Stones and fifty Spirit Stone fragments left.

After taking out the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror, Lin Xiye first used one low-grade Spirit Stone to try upgrading and enhancing the Five Thunder Talisman Treasure.

As the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror consumed the low-grade Spirit Stone, a soft, mysterious light immediately poured from its surface!

Perhaps because a low-grade Spirit Stone was valuable enough, the light the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror emitted this time was brighter than ever before!!

Holding the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror, Lin Xiye aimed its surface at the Five Thunder Talisman Treasure. In an instant, the light radiating from the mirror enveloped the treasure.

The moment the light covered it, the Five Thunder Talisman Treasure changed shape once again!

The Five Thunder Talisman Treasure had originally resembled an ordinary-looking token, but after this upgrade and enhancement, it transformed into a fist-sized object resembling a golden dragon pearl!

All kinds of intricate runes were engraved on the golden pearl's surface! Those runes contained the power of lightning!

The Five Thunder Talisman Treasure had now reached the threshold of a Foundation Establishment Talisman Treasure!!

To be precise, it had not yet been upgraded and enhanced to the level of a low-grade Foundation Establishment Talisman Treasure...

The Five Thunder Talisman Treasure could now unleash, at most, half the power of a low-grade Foundation Establishment Talisman Treasure!

But even so, it was more than enough to deal with Spirit Nourishing Realm cultivators.

Even half the power of a low-grade Foundation Establishment Talisman Treasure was equivalent to a quarter of an Early Foundation Establishment cultivator's strength...

Unless Spirit Nourishing cultivators also possessed Talisman Treasures or were protected by an array, they were really little different from ants before Foundation Establishment cultivators.

For an Early Foundation Establishment cultivator to kill someone at Spirit Nourishing Perfection, there was no need even to draw on their Law Power. Their physical strength alone was enough to wipe out a Spirit Nourishing Perfection cultivator with ease!!

In immortal cultivation, even the geniuses of top sects and ancient Aristocratic Clans could, at most, kill enemies across minor realm boundaries.

The gap between major realms, however, was a gap in the level of life itself. No matter how great one's talent or aptitude, to dream of using one's own strength to fight and defeat a being a whole major realm above oneself was nothing more than a fool's dream!

After upgrading and enhancing one Five Thunder Talisman Treasure, Lin Xiye did not hesitate. He took out another low-grade Spirit Stone and upgraded and enhanced the other Five Thunder Talisman Treasure to the level of a quasi-Foundation Establishment Talisman Treasure as well!

Two low-grade Spirit Stones for two quasi-Foundation Establishment Talisman Treasures-overall, Lin Xiye had made an absolute killing!

Once he returned to Zichuan City, if he used these two quasi-Foundation Establishment Talisman Treasures to successfully trap and kill one or two Spirit Nourishing Realm cultivators from the Blood Wolf Hall, he would surely be able to obtain quite a few resources from them as well!

To contend for the silver vein and utterly overawe the various forces, Lin Xiye had never intended to let the Blood Wolf Hall retreat unscathed.

Killing one or two Spirit Nourishing Realm cultivators from the Blood Wolf Hall would both establish the Lin Household's fearsome reputation and let the various forces fully see its strength!!

Although doing so would put the Blood Wolf Hall and the Lin Household in an irreconcilable struggle to the death, the rise of a force required constant fighting in the first place!

For a force to keep rising, it had to be able to endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens, but it also had to dare to fight others...

Even with the matter of the silver vein, Lin Xiye would find an "enemy force" for the Lineage! The Lin Household now needed an external threat; its members needed to feel a sense of crisis at all times!

Over the past hundred years, Lin Xiye had cultivated in the Falling Rosy Clouds Sect, and under the protection he afforded as a disciple of the sect, the entire Lin Household had almost never faced a crisis.

Quite a few of the Lin Household's younger generation had even lost all will to fight because they had been shielded from the dangers of the outside world for so long, and they could not see the truth of the world!!

In this cruel, dark world where the strong preyed on the weak, if a force lacked the resolve to kill decisively and the mettle to dare to fight and dare to retreat, it was destined to become meat on someone else's chopping block and ultimately be eliminated!

In the pitch-black cave, after upgrading and enhancing both Five Thunder Talisman Treasures, Lin Xiye also enhanced the two bottles of pills he had acquired and all five stalks of ten-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass.

The two bottles of pills were called Origin Stabilizing Pills! They could not only aid cultivation but also be taken during battle to help one quickly recover!

After using a full twenty Spirit Stone fragments, Lin Xiye enhanced both bottles of the lowest-grade Spirit Stabilizing Pills into Spirit-Nurturing Grade pills!!

Lin Xiye did not intend to trade these two bottles of pills away, but planned to use them himself.

As for the five stalks of ten-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass, Lin Xiye did not use Spirit Stone fragments to upgrade and enhance them.

Using Spirit Stone fragments would very likely upgrade and enhance these five stalks of hundred-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass directly into two-hundred-year-old major medicinal herbs!

Selling hundred-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass would, at most, draw some attention, but not enough to invite the covetous eyes of Spirit Nourishing cultivators...

But if Lin Xiye dared to produce two-hundred-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass, he might attract the attention of Spirit Nourishing cultivators, or even Foundation Establishment cultivators!!

A two-hundred-year-old major medicinal herb could already be called a Foundation Establishment treasure herb!

Even in the Falling Rosy Clouds Sect, with its deep foundations, two-hundred-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass was exceedingly rare!

For a treasure herb to grow to a sufficient age, it needed not only time, but also favorable timing, favorable terrain, and blessings upon the herb itself...