Chapter Thirty-Five: Obstacles in Cultivation

The rear garden of Songyan Peak had been requested by Lin Xiaobao from Lin Tian to serve as his own place of cultivation, a place even Lin Tian himself could not enter at will. Upon entering the garden, Lin Xiaobao immediately invited Elder Wu into the room and had him plant the seeds he had exchanged from the Task Hall in each chamber, carving sigils to seal the aura within each room.

It wasn’t that Lin Xiaobao lacked contribution points to exchange for mature herbs; rather, Elder Mo looked down upon those ready-made herbs. He was more enthusiastic about the herbs Elder Wu could accelerate to maturity with his arrays. In Elder Mo’s words, these herbs absorbed spiritual energy far more thoroughly; though not perfect, their efficacy far surpassed that of the Snow Pavilion’s own stock.

Once again, the gravity array at twenty-five times normal strength enveloped Lin Xiaobao. Now that he was more affluent, the spirit-gathering array on his body was no longer drawn with cinnabar, but with fourth-grade spirit jade, ground into powder and brushed out with wolf’s hair. As soon as the array was completed, Lin Xiaobao could faintly sense a strange power constantly permeating into his body, a sensation that the cinnabar-drawn array had never produced.

Lin Xiaobao had once proposed using even finer spirit stones for the array, but Elder Wu had only said, “With your current constitution, if you raise the quality of the spirit jade any further and take in too much spiritual energy, the only outcome will be your body bursting apart—there is no other path.”

Lin Xiaobao had immediately replied with righteous indignation, “I was only testing you! Actually, cultivation should be taken step by step, without cutting corners!”

With all preparations complete, Lin Xiaobao began a new round of cultivation. Perhaps the last battle had given him a sufficient foundation, for in only half a month, he advanced to the eighth stage of the Warrior rank, and by then, the various herbs he’d planted had matured one after another.

Body training, herbal soaks, sword practice, and the cultivation of his mental wave became once more the main themes of Lin Xiaobao’s life. Two months passed, during which Lin Xiaobao barely slept a full night; for him, the most pleasant time each day was at night, soaking in medicinal liquid while cultivating his mental wave—only in these moments did he feel truly relaxed in both body and mind.

Hard work brings reward. Two relentless months of cultivation saw Lin Xiaobao leap in a single bound from the eighth stage to the very peak of the ninth stage of Warrior rank.

At first, Lin Tian would come to check on Lin Xiaobao every few days, but upon discovering the miraculous pace of Lin Xiaobao’s progress, he was forced to enter the sacred grounds of the Snow Pavilion once more, hoping to obtain a Meridian-Molding Pill from the Supreme Elder. At Lin Xiaobao’s current speed, he would soon step into the Postnatal Warrior rank, but without the pill to open his meridians, no matter how hard he tried, it would be impossible to take that final step.

Lin Xiaobao himself had felt this recently. After several days of cultivation, he realized his strength had reached a peak, yet no matter how he strove, he could not cross that crucial threshold. Each time he felt a breath of energy arise, it was severed by some unknown force, a sensation that left him increasingly agitated.

“Put all the herbs away and head to the Alchemy Hall!” Just as Lin Xiaobao was feeling unsettled, Elder Mo spoke up.

“Does the Alchemy Hall have pills to open my meridians?” Lin Xiaobao was well aware of his own predicament, and now, with Elder Mo’s suggestion, his interest was piqued.

“The Alchemy Hall doesn’t have the pill you need, but it does have the Heavenly Spirit Flame. Though the quality isn’t high, it’s more than sufficient to refine a Meridian-Molding Pill,” Elder Mo explained.

“Alchemy?” Lin Xiaobao immediately grew excited. Legends spoke of pills that could raise one’s cultivation directly. Ever since witnessing Lin Tian’s battle with the Grand Elder, Lin Xiaobao had yearned every day for the chance to wield such power himself.

“Enough talking, let’s move!” Elder Mo seemed unwilling to waste more words.

Lin Xiaobao had once wondered why Elder Mo had him grow herbs he didn’t seem to need—now he understood, it was to refine pills for himself. No sooner had Elder Mo finished speaking than Lin Xiaobao hurriedly gathered the herbs from each room and dashed excitedly toward the Alchemy Hall.

“Who are you? The Alchemy Hall is off-limits—leave at once!” Because Lin Tian didn’t care for formalities, he hadn’t given Lin Xiaobao an inner disciple’s robe; thus, Lin Xiaobao still wore his outer disciple’s attire and was stopped immediately by the guards at the entrance.

“Greetings, senior brothers! I am Lin Xiaobao, a disciple wishing to enter the hall for alchemy practice!” Since he needed their help, Lin Xiaobao was all politeness.

“Alchemy?” The two guards seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world. “You, an outer disciple, claim to know alchemy? Besides, entering the hall requires a hundred contribution points—do you have the fastest updates from Six Nights Romance?”

When he first entered the Snow Pavilion, Lin Xiaobao had felt it prudent to keep a low profile, but now, as the son of an official, being mocked by two gatekeeping disciples was intolerable. He lifted his wrist and produced the Snow Order from his storage bracelet. “Please, senior brothers, take a look!”

The moment the two guards spotted the storage bracelet on Lin Xiaobao’s wrist, their expressions changed. Even among the Pavilion’s direct disciples, not everyone possessed such a ring. When they received the Snow Order and saw the contribution points—over twenty thousand—they were left dumbfounded.

After one became a formal disciple, the Pavilion did issue some contribution points monthly, but never more than two hundred. As disciples of the Alchemy Hall, they had seen direct disciples before, and those with seven or eight thousand points were already considered wealthy. Yet Lin Xiaobao had casually tossed over a token with more than twenty thousand—such a sum was rare even among elders.

“Brother Lin… Brother Lin! We deeply offended you just now, please forgive us!” One of them finally recovered and stammered, “Brother Lin, please come in! You are magnanimous, pay no heed to our earlier rudeness!”

The Snow Order served as proof of identity in the Pavilion, recording not just contribution points but also the name and status of its owner. When the two guards saw that Lin Xiaobao was a direct disciple of Songyan Peak, they nearly cursed out loud. Why would a direct disciple show up in an outer disciple’s robe, trying to act mysterious—was it fun? Of course, these thoughts could only be kept to themselves; they dared not show any hint of it on their faces.

With his identity confirmed, all the necessary formalities for entering the Alchemy Hall became mere trivialities. Lin Xiaobao exchanged three thousand contribution points for a Heaven-grade alchemy chamber and promptly entered.

Still, he felt a pang at the cost of renting such a high-grade chamber.

“There’s no need to be stingy. The quality of the Heavenly Spirit Flame varies from room to room. Would you want to risk a defective pill?” Elder Mo couldn’t bear Lin Xiaobao’s penny-pinching ways.

“Of course, of course! With you two elders helping me, earning more contribution points will be a breeze!” Lin Xiaobao was quick to flatter.

“Enough empty talk. I’m about to start refining. Watch closely and try to comprehend the process—next time, you’ll have to refine your own pills.” As soon as Elder Mo finished, he took control of Lin Xiaobao’s body.