Another seven days later, a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, deposited in a crystal card accepted throughout the continent, were personally escorted by a deacon of Spirit Hall's Nuoding City branch and delivered into Lin Yan's hands.
After seeing off the people from Spirit Hall, Lin Yan returned to the rear courtyard. His fingertips stroked the crystal card's smooth surface, and his mind settled.
"One hundred and twenty thousand Gold Soul Coins... that should be about enough for the auction."
With the funding settled, a great stone had finally been lifted from his heart, and Lin Yan's attention immediately returned in full to the profoundly mysterious "Withering and Flourishing Intent."
Since comprehending Withering and Flourishing Intent, he had deliberately cleared a patch of land roughly ten feet square in the quietest corner of the rear courtyard to serve as his "Intent experimental plot." The sunlight and humidity there were relatively even, making it suitable for observation.
His experiments began with the smallest things. He found several ordinary blood-staunching herbs of similar growth and planted them separately. Then he focused his mind and stilled his breathing, circulating the Supreme Purity Breathing Technique as he immersed his mind in yesterday's insight into the cycle of withering and flourishing. Gradually, that mysterious resonance enveloped him once more.
He carefully inclined his thoughts toward the "withering" aspect, focusing on one of the blood-staunching herbs. At first, nothing unusual happened. But after he continued channeling Soul Power and maintained this thought of "withered stillness" for about the time it took an incense stick to burn, a barely perceptible trace of withered yellow actually crept along the edges of its once emerald-green leaves at a speed visible to the naked eye! Though the affected area was tiny and the change extremely slow, this undeniable transformation sent a tremor through Lin Yan's heart.
He immediately stopped infusing the herb with "Withering Intent" and turned his thoughts toward the "flourishing" aspect instead. This time, he felt his Soul Power being consumed much more intensely, as though he were "sharing" the vitality within his own life origin. After nearly another incense stick's worth of time, the trace of withered yellow had not faded, but the herb's overall color seemed a little brighter, and its leaves stood slightly straighter.
"The effect is already much stronger than before. The direction is right." Lin Yan recorded his observations. "'Withering Intent' takes effect relatively quickly, but feels more aggressive and destructive; 'Flourishing Intent' is gentler, but consumes more, and feels more like nourishment and stimulation."
Over the following days, Lin Yan conducted more experiments. He used his Intent to influence plants at different stages of growth, observing their reactions during germination, growth, and withering; he even tried releasing extremely faint "Withering Intent" at a few small insects that wandered into his experimental plot, discovering that it could make their movements sluggish and leave them listless. "Flourishing Intent," meanwhile, could slightly accelerate the healing of wounds on some injured plants.
The greatest challenge lay in maintaining a balance between the two Intents at the same time. Within an extremely small area, he tried filling one side with "withered stillness" and the other with "flourishing abundance." This required extraordinarily delicate Soul Power control and a division of his mental focus. Several attempts failed because of an imbalance: either the "withering" aspect grew too strong and overwhelmed the "flourishing" aspect, causing a small patch of experimental seedlings to wither and die outright, or the "flourishing" aspect went out of control, causing several medicinal herbs to grow wildly and abnormally, depleting their own vital Qi instead.
However, during one attempt that nearly exhausted him, he finally succeeded in bringing the resonances of "withering" and "flourishing" into a brief balance within roughly a foot of his body, like yin and yang flowing in a cycle. In that instant, he felt his Soul Power consumption become steadier instead. That tiny area seemed to form a world of its own, with the breaths of life and death cycling endlessly through it, extraordinarily profound. Though it lasted fewer than ten breaths, it showed him the right path.
As he continued cultivating and experimenting with Intent, Lin Yan also noticed changes within himself. When he circulated the Supreme Purity Breathing Technique, his flowing Soul Power seemed to carry a trace of the resilience of the cycle of withering and flourishing. The minor bottlenecks he had occasionally encountered during cultivation now actually showed signs of loosening under this unique "breathing" rhythm of his Soul Power. The efficiency of his Soul Power condensation and conversion had increased by nearly five percent. That five percent was not to be underestimated; accumulated day after day, it would become an enormous advantage. More importantly, he discovered that his Soul Power recovery also seemed a little faster. Especially after excessive depletion, the Soul Power containing the resonance of "flourishing" seemed able to nourish his dried-out meridians more quickly.
With ten days remaining before the auction began, Lin Yan visited Nuoding City's Spirit Hall again. Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo was already waiting in his office. Seeing him arrive, he gave a warm smile and handed him an exquisitely crafted, gold-embossed invitation.
"My young friend Lin, this is the invitation to the Fasinuo City auction. Keep it safe." Grandmaster Ma Xiunuo stroked his beard, a note of caution in his voice. "The auction will be held in Fasinuo City, the provincial capital of Fasinuo Province. It is quite a distance from here. You must set out early and allow ample time so you do not miss it."
Lin Yan took the invitation. It felt warm and smooth to the touch, clearly made from an exceptional material. He nodded and replied, "Thank you for the reminder, Grandmaster. I'll arrange my journey accordingly."
Ma Xiunuo took out a booklet as well. "This is a partial catalog of the auction lots compiled so far. You can look through it first to get an idea. The provincial capital of Fasinuo is far more prosperous than Nuoding, with fish and dragons mingling together. Be careful in everything you do on this journey, my young friend."
"I understand. Sorry for the trouble, Grandmaster." Lin Yan thanked him again and carefully put away the catalog and invitation.
Returning to the Hundred Herbs Shop, he sat at his desk and leafed through the catalog carefully. Exquisitely produced, it listed dozens of treasures, a dazzling array ranging from rare minerals, Soul Tool fragments, and aged medicinal herbs to treasures with unusual effects.
Lin Yan's gaze swept swiftly over them before finally settling on several items:
Soul-Warming Jade: a type of warm jade produced in the Far North. Wearing it could gently nourish a Soul Master's meridians and gradually temper their constitution, with particularly remarkable effects in solidifying the foundations of low-ranking Soul Masters. This was precisely what Lin Yan currently needed.
Spirit-Clearing Spring: not actual spring water, but a milky-white spiritual liquid that condensed at the bottom of a thousand-year-old frigid pool. A single drop could clear the mind and brighten the eyes, nourishing the spiritual origin and greatly benefiting the comprehension of Intent and the improvement of spiritual power.
Thousand-Year Blood Ginseng: a potent tonic for Qi and blood. Combined with other mild medicinal herbs, it could be refined into powerful medicines for strengthening one's foundations and nourishing one's vitality, providing a direct and forceful improvement to physical attributes.
He listed these items as targets he had to compete for and, based on their estimated value and his available funds, tentatively established his price limits and bidding strategies.
He listed these items as priority targets and, based on their estimated value and his available funds, tentatively established his price limits and bidding strategies.
On the third day after receiving the invitation, Lin Yan began preparing for the journey. He purchased a detailed map of the province and planned his route to the provincial capital.
The journey from Nuoding City to the provincial capital of Fasinuo would take around five days by carriage if they traveled quickly. Lin Yan decided to set out early to ensure he had ample time.
Early the next morning, the sky had only just begun to brighten. After leaving instructions for the Hundred Herbs Shop's assistants, Lin Yan boarded the carriage that had already been prepared and set off for Fasinuo City, the provincial capital of Fasinuo Province.