Cultivation Begins with Daily Intelligence Reports

88: This is a precious herb.Lin Jingyu finished reading the intelligence word by word, his face so dark it could drip water, a cold fury rushing from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

”Lin Chengyuan... you old dog.” He almost squeezed these words through his teeth, his knuckles cracking and his nails digging deep into his palms.

Sure enough, this old thing not only sold out the entire Lin Family as a scapegoat but also didn’t hesitate to reveal the secret of the underground hidden chamber he had always wanted to seize to the Black Wind Stockade.

This was for fear that the Black Wind Stockade wouldn’t care about the lives of Chen Biao, the Grand-Uncle and the others, so he used blatant treasures to lure them here.

This was no longer just selfishness; it was simply insane, worse than a beast. To save his own life, he wanted to push the entire clan into the fire pit.

He stood up abruptly, fury churning in his chest, and walked a few steps to the edge of that small, bone-chillingly cold, deep, and quiet pool.

The pool water was crystal clear, but it was bone-chilling to the touch, as if it could freeze the Soul; it was definitely no ordinary mountain spring.

”Is this the so-called ’eye of the spirit spring’?” He crouched down, brow furrowed, his heart full of doubt.

The intelligence hyped it up to the heavens, saying it was more precious than a spiritual land, but why had he Cultivated here for so long and felt no massive dissipation of Spiritual Qi, other than feeling the water was particularly cold?

Instead, it’s unremarkable, like an ordinary cold pool?

”Could it be... it needs a special trigger to activate? Or... is it a Seal?”

He murmured to himself, his fingers unconsciously tracing the cold pool water, the bone-chilling cold making him quickly withdraw his hand.

He temporarily suppressed the doubt in his heart; this secret would have to be explored later.

Then he returned to the prayer mat; there was no rush for this matter for now.

The key was how to safely survive the disaster of the Black Wind Stockade four days from now.

Judging by the Fourth Leader’s attitude, he simply wanted to wash the entire Lin Family in blood, not even planning to let that old dog Lin Chengyuan go.

Fortunately, his greed also gave the Lin Family a breathing space, and even a chance to turn the tables.

If he had told the other leaders about the ’eye of the spirit spring’, or even the Qi Refining Perfection First Leader...

Then the Lin Family would have no power to resist. A Qi Refining Great Perfection is much more terrifying than a few Qi Refining Seventh Layer Cultivators.

The Black Wind Stockade Fourth Leader still wants to use the Lin Family’s alliance to extort the Liu Family; he’s truly a greedy snake trying to swallow an elephant.

But it’s normal; after all, in his eyes, a small family like the Lin Family could be wiped out with a flip of a hand.

He didn’t take them to heart at all.

Lin Jingyu’s finger lightly tapped on the brick Jade Slip as a bold plan slowly rose in his heart.

It must be said, the craziness of the plan made even him feel numb in his hands and feet.

If it failed, the entire Lin Family would be buried with him.

But at least there was some chance to turn the tables.

Then his gaze turned to the two plants by the cold pool that he had always treated as ”weeds”.

One was a Mutated Dogtail Grass with six fluffy ”tails,” and the other was a strange plant hanging with three small ”lanterns” squeezed together.

Although they looked strange, based on the basic knowledge of Spiritual Plants he had skimmed through in the ”brick” Jade Slip, he could determine these two things were non-toxic.

”Try it? What if there’s a surprise?”

Adventurous spirit and a thirst for power overrode caution.

He carefully plucked a few plump seeds from the foxtail grass and picked one small fruit, which looked like a miniature tomato with three chambers squeezed together, from the lantern fruit plant.

Taking a deep breath as if making a major decision, Lin Jingyu tossed a foxtail grass seed into his mouth and bit down lightly with his back teeth.

”Pfft—”

A sudden change occurred.

Inside that seemingly unremarkable seed, it was as if a miniature high-pressure water gun was hidden.

A burst of sweet juice mixed with rich Spiritual Qi exploded.

Caught off guard, the juice almost choked him through his nostrils.

His mouth was stuffed full.

He hurriedly swallowed it with a ”gulp,” and a scalding heat flow instantly rushed from his throat to his stomach, then swept through his entire body like a lit wildfire.

His Meridians instantly swelled as if something had been forced into them, bringing bursts of stinging pain and a burning sensation.

”Holy crap,” he cursed under his breath, his face flushing red. Not daring to delay, he immediately sat cross-legged in the five-point-to-heaven posture and fully operated the Evergreen Art to guide this violent Spiritual Qi.

Half an hour later, that rampaging heat flow was gradually tamed and absorbed, slowly calming down.

He opened his eyes and let out a long breath of turbid air with a faint spiritual glow, his face full of a mix of surprise and joy.

”One seed... the Spiritual Qi it contains is actually comparable to a qi gathering pill.”

He felt the spiritual power in his body clearly grow a bit stronger and his Meridians become tougher, finding it hard to believe.

What was even better was that his Physical Body seemed to have been tempered slightly by this Spiritual Qi. He clenched his fist and felt his strength had vaguely increased by a bit.

Looking at the six ”dogtails” gently swaying in the dim light of the secret chamber, his gaze became incredibly fervent.

Is this grass?

This is simply a mobile qi gathering pill warehouse!

One tail bears at least a hundred seeds!

Added together, it’s enough for him to Cultivate to Late Stage Qi Refining; this is simply a windfall from heaven.

He had greatly misjudged Lord foxtail grass before.

Next, he looked intently at the red, round, and cute lantern fruit in his hand, grinning with a bit of expectation and ruthlessness:

”Your turn. Let’s see what ’surprise’ you can give me.”

Without hesitation, he took a bite.

”Blegh—”

In the next second, Lin Jingyu’s entire face instantly twisted and deformed.

An indescribable, extreme bitterness that seemed to condense all the suffering in the world exploded in his mouth like a nuclear bomb.

Bitter.

So bitter that even his Soul was trembling.

So bitter that the crown of his head felt like it was being blown off. His tongue instantly went numb, and tears and snot streamed out completely uncontrollably.

”Bitter... it’s so bitter it’s killing me, arghhh!” He let out a non-human wail, like a fish thrown onto the shore, rolling, twisting, and twitching frantically on the ground.

His limbs flailed wildly against the ground, wishing he could pull his tongue out.

If the bitterness of Chinese medicine was a one, this thing was at least a nine-nine-eight!

That bitterness seemed alive, rushing up his throat to his forehead and then spreading down his spine to his entire body; every cell was screaming in protest.

He felt like his body was no longer his own, leaving only a head that was thoroughly pickled by bitterness and about to explode.

After an unknown amount of time, just when he thought he would become the first Cultivator in history to be killed by the bitterness of a fruit...

...within the torture of extreme bitterness, a trace of cool, strange power, like a spring in the desert, quietly rose.

This power was pure and gentle, ignoring the physical pain and heading straight up the spine into his mind.

Buzz.

The lake of Mental Energy in his Sea of Consciousness, as clear as a mirror, was suddenly hit by a giant rock, instantly kicking up a massive wave.

The basic vibrational ripples of the Spirit Refining Art began to operate frantically at an unprecedented speed without needing to be driven, like a thirsty sponge greedily absorbing and fusing this cool, strange energy.

Mental Energy grew and condensed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The originally calm ”lake surface” was expanding, and the ”lake water” became deeper and more viscous.