章節 65: The Eleventh Stage Of The Body Tempering Realm
Lin Mu had left the town center and was now walking towards his house. He took in the sights and the sounds from the surroundings. Most of the streets had become rather empty except for the guards that would patrol at every few intervals.
Lin Mu knew that this was due to the assassination. Hei Wan had already ordered the guards to take the people to safety, so they were most likely in their homes now. He knew that now that the matter had been resolved on a certain level, the people will most likely get the notice by evening.
Lin Mu looked up at the sky and saw the sun, which was just about to reach the top of his head. He estimated that it should be eleven am right now and knew that he had plenty of daylight left. The days had finally started to get short, and the clouds were starting to get dense.
There were three more months to the end of the winter, and in another month the sun would be completely hidden till the start of spring. That would be the time when the cold would be the harshest and the snow the deepest.
Lin Mu could still remember the last year's blizzards clearly. The snow was knee deep and people could not open their doors as the snow was piled up against their doors. Lin Mu knew that some people would start to run low on supplies and would have to ration them.
He hoped that this time since Hei Wan was here and the town head was dead, the things would be different.
"And if they are not, I will make them..." Lin Mu muttered to himself as another fluctuation in his aura appeared.
Lin Mu kept on walking and eventually reached the residential district. He could now see some people here discussing with each other. He could hear them gossip about the incident from before and the announcement. Lin Mu understood that they seemed to be slightly more satisfied this time.
'At least the people have hope this time.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
Soon Lin Mu reached his house and saw someone standing in front of it. He looked at the man's attire and understood that it was a guard. But the suspicious thing was that he hadn't seen the guard before, and he seemed to be someone new.
Lin Mu extended his spirit sense and was surprised to find out that the guard was actually a cultivator. He instantly became alert and ideas started to run in his mind.
'Is he one of the culprits? Are they disguising as guards now?' Lin Mu wondered as he withdrew his sword and continued forwards silently.
The guard was facing the other way thus he had not seen Lin Mu yet, and he had not even sensed it when Lin Mu's spirit sense had probed him.
'Hmm, it seems like he hasn't experience spirit sense before. He's also at the early stage of the qi refining realm, this will be easy. Seems like we will have another culprit to interrogate.' Lin Mu thought to himself.
Lin Mu looked around one more time and confirmed that no one was watching him. Once he was sure of that, he used blink and appeared right behind the guard. He then put up his short sword against the man's neck.
"Don't even try to move. One move and I'll slice your neck. Now tell me who are you?" Lin Mu spoke in a threatening manner.
The guard who had been carefree this entire time felt as if he was doused with cold water. He had not expected for someone to suddenly seize him. But then the next instant he recognized the voice and his eyes went wide.
"Wait! Sir Lin Mu! It's me, Hei Ping!" The guard hurriedly spoke.
Lin Mu tilted his head upon hearing the guard and then suddenly recognized the voice. Though he still didn't move as he was still feeling suspicious. The guard saw this and knew that Lin Mu was still wary of him.
"Sir Lin Mu, I was assigned by leader Hei Wan to guard and serve you. If you needed anything, I was asked to be there for you. I was assigned the position of a guard so that it would be easier for us." The guard explained.
Only after hearing the man's explanation did Lin Mu withdrew the sword from the man's neck. Lin Mu then remembered the man named Hei Ping's voice. He had seen him before, but because the man was wearing the mask, he could not recognize him. Hei Ping was one of the other members of the Hei Corps that had recently returned to the safe house.
"Hmm, should have informed me before." Lin Mu spoke.
Hei Ping took a deep breath and touched his neck, ensuring that it was safe.
"That's what I was here for sir, to inform you." Hei Ping spoke in a helpless tone.
"Okay then. So where are you going to stay?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Since I've been assigned the duty of a guard, I'll be here most of the time. There are more of my companions who will be patrolling the street and neighborhood too. But if you need anything, just call for me. I will also be informing you of any report that comes from the leader." Hei Ping explained.
"I understand, for now I'm going to be resting inside." Lin Mu replied and then unlocked the gate of the courtyard.
He then walked inside and entered the backyard. He came to stand in front of the graves that were situated there. He kneeled down and closed his eyes.
"Father, Mother, please bless me with strength. I know the journey in front of me is long and is going to be difficult, but know this that I will prevail." Lin Mu muttered with determination.
Lin Mu then stayed there in the same position for a couple of hours before he stood up and returned to the inside of the house. Unknown to Lin Mu, his aura that had become slightly unstable since the morning had finally become calm after visiting the graves of his parents.
Lin Mu could feel his stomach rumble and then realized that he had not eaten anything for a while.
"Hmm, I'll eat some food before cultivating." Lin Mu muttered to himself.
He thus took out the spirit beast meat from his spatial ring and started to cook it in the kitchen. Twenty minutes later the roast meat was ready and Lin Mu started devouring it. With his current appetite, it didn't take long for Lin Mu to completely finish it.
Lin Mu then returned to his bedroom and sat down on his bed cross-legged to cultivate. But just five minutes later, a surprised expression appeared on his face as he was awakened from his session. A wave of energy emanated from his body for a brief moment, and it almost seemed like one could see his bones shining through his flesh.
"I broke through..." Lin Mu muttered.
Indeed, Lin Mu had just broken through to the eleventh stage of the body tempering realm and had entered the peak tier of body tempering stage experts. His vital energy was flowing into his bones and was even touching his bone marrow.
A refreshing feeling washed over his mind as he felt his entire body relax. It was as if his body's cells were exhilarating in joy and had become extremely active. In fact, a minute later, faint wisps of steam could be seen emanating from his body.
"Wha-What!?" Lin Mu spoke with surprise.
"FOCUS! Feel the vital energy within you and guide it on its path. Let it flow to your bones and wash your marrows." Xukong guided in a stern tone.
Lin Mu did not speak and just followed the instructions. He continued chanting the calming heart sutra and focused on the flow of the vital energy. He could sense the vital energy that was filling his skin, muscles, and blood.
This vital energy had been at an extremely saturated stage and was close to breaking out at any moment. Lin Mu's current situation just turned out to be the most suitable, thus it broke through. The vital energy from these three layers started to seep into his bones.
Even though the energy was flowing into his bones, Lin Mu couldn't actually feel any decrease in the energy from those three layers. It was as if the energy was instantly replaced the moment it flowed away.
This cycle of replenishment and consumption continued for an hour until finally, Lin Mu felt as if his bones were saturated as well. He had just reached the peak of the eleventh stage of the body tempering realm in one attempt.
~Huuu~
Lin Mu let out a breath and expelled a wisp of gray gas from his mouth. This gray gas traveled forward and touched the wooden wall of the room. But when it touched it, the wall suddenly started corroding.
章節 66: Late Stage Of The Qi Refining Realm
A sizzling sound was heard as the corrosion on the wall spread out for a few centimeters before stopping. Lin Mu heard the sound and felt shocked at this. He didn't know what had just happened and felt confused at that.
He stood up and walked closer to inspect the wall and saw that a depression about half a centimeter was formed and it was about two inches in diameter. The gas that had touched the wall had dissipated and no traces of it could be seen.
The only thing Lin Mu could sense on the wall was the shallow depression and nothing else.
"What was that Senior Xukong?" Lin Mu questioned.
"..."
"Umm, Senior?" Lin Mu reiterated.
"Hmm, I do not know exactly. It seems to be the impurities being expelled from your body, but they shouldn't be this corrosive." Xukong answered.
"What's wrong here?" Lin Mu asked, feeling more confused.
"You see, by tempering your body, not only do you increase its strength and toughness but also improve its quality. This improvement in quality is brought about by removing the impurities from your body." Xukong replied.
"But how do these impurities appear in my body, though?" Lin Mu questioned.
"They are the result of you consuming sustenance. This can be in any form whether it be food or spirit qi. Everything has faint traces of impurities in them. These impurities slowly accumulate in your body over time and hide within it. For mortals, it does not matter as much, since their life span is not that long, but for cultivators, it is very important as it dictates the improvement in their cultivation and longevity." Xukong explained.
Lin Mu finally started to feel like he was understanding it on some level, but he was still confused about the volatility of the impurity that he had just expelled.
"But senior are the impurities really as dangerous as the one from now?" Lin Mu questioned.
"No, while they can be threatening to a cultivator, that is only in terms of hampering and restricting their cultivation but not actually directly harming them. The gas that you expelled was spirit qi impurity, but it seemed to be corrosive. I do not know the reason for this, but know that it's only good for you since it's being expelled." Xukong answered.
"I understand senior." Lin Mu replied.
After this, Lin Mu went back to sitting in a cross-legged position on the bed and continued his cultivation session. He closely observed his body and realized that he was already at the border of the twelfth stage of the body tempering realm.
"Senior, I'm already very close to the twelfth stage of the body tempering realm somehow." Lin Mu informed.
"I think I can deduce the reason, perhaps. It seems to me that the impurity that you expelled may have been restricting your vital energy from breaking into the next stage. The vital energy within your body kept on being stockpiled and only now when it couldn't store anymore did it breakthrough and pushed you to the border of the twelfth stage of the body tempering realm. That impurity was quite likely the barrier that was restricting you." Xukong explained.
"So does this mean that if I want to progress to the next stage, I'll need to expel more of those impurities?" Lin Mu questioned.
"Yes, that's possible. This will also improve your spirit qi cultivation, in fact. You will soon notice the difference." Xukong answered.
Lin Mu inwardly nodded and focused on his cultivation session. He circulated the spirit qi in his meridians and completed a cycle. He then discovered that the speed of his circulation had increased by around thirty percent.
It was as if there were invisible obstructions that he couldn't see before, and now that they were gone he felt free. The spirit qi in his dantian flowed into his meridians and completed a cycle, returning back into the dantian. The cycle thus triggered the fine pores on his body to open up and absorb the ambient spirit qi.
With each subsequent cycle, more and more spirit qi would be added to his dantian. Such was the way of cultivation. In the blink of an eye, it was time for sunset. Lin Mu could not even sense the passage of time, as he was too engrossed in his cultivation.
He only woke up as he was feeling hungry again. In the past few days, he had been restricting his hunger and had been sustaining himself on qi, thus he did not feel hungry back then. But now that he was back to his normal routine, his hunger had returned as well.
Lin Mu thus cooked more spirit beast meat and then ate it. After that, he would assimilate the vital energy from it and once again return to cultivate. Only at midnight would he stop and sleep. Lin Mu had also not slept for the past few days, thus his lessons on the Dao script had fallen behind.
Now that he finally had the chance to learn it again, he didn't want to let it go. He thus laid down on the bed and fell asleep. His consciousness appeared in the Sleepscape, right in front of the spirit apple tree.
Lin Mu looked up and saw twelve spirit apples hanging from the tree.
"Looks like they will continue to accumulate if I don't pick them." Lin Mu spoke to himself.
He then walked towards the tree and plucked the twelve apples before storing them in the ring. After that was done, he called out to Senior Xukong for their lessons. He learned the Dao script from senior Xukong for the rest of the night and only stopped when it was time for him to wake up.
Lin Mu repeated this cycle for six days and only paused it when he was called out. The Hei corps member that had been working as a guard outside, Hei Ping had called out to Lin Mu.
Lin Mu walked outside and talked to him. From his conversation, he learned about the current developments and progress in the investigation. He was informed that they had learned nearly no clues from the culprit they had captured.
Since the culprit was a death warrior, he had kept all information to himself and had instead chosen to let himself die. Lin Mu didn't know how he died, but could guess that it was most likely due to torture. He didn't mind that since he knew that they were deserving of it.
Lin Mu was also informed that the first batch of reinforcements had reached the town and more would be coming soon.
"So am I needed there now?" Lin Mu questioned Hei Ping at the end.
"No. Leader has instead asked that you focus on your cultivation and not to bother with minor matters. She said that she will inform you when something important and deserving of your time happens." Hei Ping answered.
After hearing the answered Lin Mu nodded his head and bid the man farewell.
Lin Mu returned to his routine and continued his cultivation for three more days. On the fourth day, a wave of spirit qi spread out from his body. His eyes trembled, but he didn't open them. His chants were echoing in the room now, resonating with the waves of spirit qi.
If one were to look inside Lin Mu's dantian at this time, they would see that it was completely filled with wisps of spirit qi. There was no more space for additional wisps of spirit qi to enter. Right now, Lin Mu was at a very important point in his cultivation.
He was at the very cusp of entering the late stage of the qi refining realm. In order to enter the late stage of the qi refining realm, a cultivator had to completely fill his dantian with the spirit qi and then needed to refine those wisps into a liquid form.
As soon as the first drop of liquid spirit qi was produced, that cultivator would have successfully entered the Late stage of the qi refining realm. But this very step was hard, since refining spirit qi wisps into liquid spirit qi was a volatile process.
One small mistake and the spirit qi could go on a rampage through the cultivator's meridians, causing them harm and regressing their cultivation.
Lin Mu was currently in a deeply focused state. He did not even need to chant the severing heart sutra consciously anymore, as it had become like a second nature to him. His lips would move automatically and the chants would come out of them.
With incredible focus, he circulated more and more of spirit qi through his meridians. He kept on doing it until when finally it had reached a saturation point and his meridians could no longer accommodate more sprite qi.
It was at this point that he kept on pressuring the spirit qi and finally squeezed more in. Bit by bit he kept on adding, and the wisps of spirit qi became smaller and smaller. Eventually, they had become condensed enough to form a small globule.
This small globule flowed through his meridians and finally reached Lin Mu's dantian. As soon as it dropped down into it, another wave of spirit qi spread from his body and spread out in the surroundings.
But this time, the mysterious ring on Lin Mu's hand also started humming along with it. The waves of sprite qi started resonating with the humming of the ring and melded together. It was as if an esoteric harmony was being played and minstrels were singing hymns.
The harmony reached a crescendo, and Lin Mu's body disappeared from the room.
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