Chapter 182 Closed Door Meditation (Please Subscribe)
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The Dragon Lizard's cave was deep within the crevice, featuring a circular entrance about thirty feet high, and the inside was full of traces from the Dragon Lizard's crawling.
Outside the cave, numerous animal bones had accumulated, clearly leftovers from the Dragon Lizard's meals, casually spread across the entrance in heaps both large and small, forming a kind of bone mound.
These mounds of bones also served as the Dragon Lizard's warning to other Demonic Beasts.
The entrance wasn't deep, and soon, the bottom of it could be seen, where a larger stone hall lay at its deepest part.
Upon entering the cave, one could see the Golden Winged Mantis flying straight to a tricolored Spirit Plant and taking a big bite out of it right away.
At this moment, Lin Shiming was also stunned. It seemed the Golden Winged Mantis had picked up bad habits from the Red-haired Demon Monkey, as it started eating without hesitation.
And now, he had finally spotted those Spirit Plants; they were all tricolored Dragon Blood Grass.
This type of Dragon Blood Grass was said to only grow where there were Spirit Veins, and it was the best kind of Spiritual Medicine for Body Refinement.
In front of him was a large patch, at least thirty plants, which greatly delighted Lin Shiming.
With these Dragon Blood Grass plants, improving his Body Refining Cultivation to the level of Third Rank Foundation Establishment would be no problem at all.
Of course, in that moment, he didn't forget to put the Golden Winged Mantis into the Storage Bag. However, since the Golden Winged Mantis had contributed, he took out another Dragon Blood Grass and gave it to the mantis, to calm its incessant squeaking that was starting to annoy him.
He then continued to survey the entirety of the stone hall within the cave.
The Spirit Vein obviously originated from here. At the center, where the Dragon Blood Grass was thickest, Lin Shiming discovered a large patch of yellow soil. This soil, compact and distinct, glowed with faint Spirit Light and was brimming with vitality.
It was the Third Rank Spirit Soil he was extremely familiar with.
Moreover, there was quite a lot of it, at least thirty to forty jin, which meant that the Spirit Soil he was running low on due to the Golden Thunder Bamboo, Heavenly Spirit Fruit, and the Minor Divine Ability Tree was plentiful again.
At this point, Lin Shiming was beside himself with joy; he hadn't expected such a grand harvest simply from one outing.
It was just unfortunate that he wasn't a Spirit-Seeking Master, unable to transplant the Spirit Vein himself. He could only call his great-uncle later to transplant it together.
This place belonged to the Heavenly River State, the territory controlled by the Spirit Beast Sect, so it was out of the question for the Lin Family to use it as an asset for the clan's development.
Lin Shiming collected the Spirit Soil and the Dragon Blood Grass, stowing them all safely within the Cave Heaven World.
He then took out a Jade Box to place the Dragon Lizard's corpse inside, preventing the loss of blood essence and Spiritual Energy.
After ensuring everything was settled, he checked the entire crevice again and found several more Spiritual Medicines, though not a single Guardian Spirit Beast.
Apparently, the Spirit Beasts had either fled or become one with the whitened bones.
Before leaving, Lin Shiming reorganized the contents of his internal Storage Bag, making sure not to keep Superior Grade Spirit Stones and Supreme Grade Magical Treasures in the Storage Bag after the experience of inspecting the Spirit Beast Bag earlier.
He also brought out the remaining eighty-one Spirit Ants.
These eighty-one Spirit Ants, perhaps due to ingesting Wind Fire Star Sand, now displayed some golden speckles of starlight on their bodies, had doubled in size, and exuded a fierce presence.
This piqued Lin Shiming's curiosity, and he placed the Spirit Ants into the Cave Heaven World, taking out some Wind Fire Star Sand for the ants to devour.
With the current number of ants insufficient to form a large swarm, if their individual strength could break through to the Third Rank, they might be able to assist him.
After handling the Spirit Ants, Lin Shiming took out his Flying Sword and began to hurry towards Heavenly River City.
Upon arriving at the city gates, the guards conducted the customary check, using an Inquiry Spirit Talisman to pose questions, specifically targeting spies of the Heavenly Demon Sect, before allowing Lin Shiming to enter.
Once Lin Shiming returned to the Lin Family's loft, he informed Lin Xianzhi with a message, then once again entered seclusion.
This time, his seclusion was to break through to the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment.
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The door was tightly shut, the formation fully activated.
Lin Shiming, having brewed Mingxin Tea, sat on a meditation cushion below him and cultivated the Split Spirit Decision for half a day. He restored the essence, energy, and spirit within his body to their peak before retrieving Superior Grade Spirit Stones from the Cave Heaven World.
Exactly five Superior Grade Spirit Stones surrounded him, forming a specific formation.
The dense Spiritual Energy turned into a fierce wind that surged towards the inside of his body.
And he, with utmost concentration, controlled the Purple Wood Heart Sutra, transforming all the Spiritual Energy into True Yuan.
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Spring left and autumn arrived, a year passed by. The countless battles had revealed the decaying state of Heavenly River City, its hundred-zhang tall walls now riddled with holes.
Even the Purple Mansion cultivators in the sky had let loose their true power.
This year alone saw several battles involving Golden Core cultivators.
The great battles fought by Golden Core True Persons made all cultivators feel the overwhelming power of heaven and earth, too daunting to directly face, and names like Heavenly Beast True Person and Heavenly Sword True Person resonated far and wide.
Upon the city walls, there were now even fewer members of the Lin Family Clan. Fortunately, all the main family members were still present. Lin Xianzhi stood firm on the ramparts, gazing into the distance.
His full head of white hair had lost its previous luster.
This old clan leader of the Lin Family seemed increasingly aged under the pressure of the great battles. At this moment, Lin Xianzhi no longer maintained his youthful appearance but reverted back to looking like an old man.
On that day, all the Lin Family members were shocked, and Lin Houyuan even sighed.
He understood that the wielder of the Qinglian Sword might have lost his sharpness and will.
Fortunately, it was evident that Lin Xianzhi still had plenty of life left in him and had not reached the point of dissipating his spirit.
However, after this display, the cultivators from the Heavenly Demon Sect and Corpse Refining Sect lost interest in Lin Xianzhi. For more than a year, there had been no sneak attacks from demon cultivators or members of the Corpse Refining Sect; instead, they were repeatedly suppressed by their opponents.
It was Lin Houyuan, however, who had suffered serious injuries during this time.
Just then, the black fog rose again over the Tongtian River.
"Enemy attack!" Bells rang out in quick succession throughout Heavenly River City.
Countless cultivators flew towards the city walls.
This time, the black fog was noticeably thicker, with demon heads darting about. At the forefront, a demonic banner magical treasure turned into a flagstaff dozens of zhang long; when waved, several Purple Mansion demon heads within it showed their ferocious claws and fangs.
What was revealed was just the tip of the iceberg, for in the black fog lay other methods unseen by the Three Sects.
On the side of Zhao Kingdom, the Hermit of the Black Jiao immediately led numerous Purple Mansion cultivators to meet the enemy, with the most prominent being the Hermit of the Golden Light from the Spirit Talisman Sect rushing to the forefront. This year, their sect had lost the most Purple Mansion cultivators—three in total—
One of which even got successfully turned into a Fourth Rank Corpse General!
This had him boiling with rage.
Yet this was not the end of it. Suddenly from the midst of the black fog, a red coffin flew out. As it emerged from the black fog, the coffin lid fell, revealing an old man who looked over sixty.
"Corpse Refining True Person, Heavenly Sword, I am at your service!" In the sky above, from Zhao Kingdom's side, a towering sword flew out as well, with an old man in blue robes atop it, pointing his sword to the heavens.
Beyond that, the Sea Demon True Person from the Heavenly Demon Sect, the Heavenly Beast True Person from the Spirit Beast Sect, the Thousand Talisman True Person from the Spirit Talisman Sect, and the Liu He True Person from the Heavenly Demon Sect simultaneously made their appearances.
All six Golden Core powerhouses emerged at the same time, completely igniting the atmosphere of the battlefield.
The decisive battle had arrived!