Although he had a plan for his next move, Lin Yuan wasn’t in a rush to leave. Since it was a trial, the stronger he was, the more rewards he would likely obtain in the end. He took out the Cleansing Spirit Pills he had previously gathered, along with the Spirit Awakening Pill gifted by Shen Lixin.
Then he sat cross-legged and began circulating the Bloodburn Technique.
Within a few breaths, all the Cleansing Spirit Pills were fully absorbed. To him, these low-grade pills now had barely any noticeable effect.
“Since Shen Lixin is a Blood Demon Sect elder, this Spirit Awakening Pill might have some hidden problem. Otherwise, why would he be so generous to give it to me?”
Thinking this, Lin Yuan still swallowed the pill in one go. At most, there’d be some side effects, which he could simply transfer to someone else.
[Consumed Spirit Awakening Pill (Blood Puppet Pill). Gained side effect: Mind Control.]
“Blood Puppet Pill? So he intended to use this pill to control me?”
Seeing the side effect, Lin Yuan immediately understood, then thought of something else.
“There’s nothing about me worth Shen Lixin coveting. If there’s anything, it would be Sang Xiaoya. Looks like he wants to manipulate me into kidnapping her or using me for some unspeakable scheme.”
The Blood Demon Sect had yet to reveal itself, so even after consuming the Blood Puppet Pill, he would be safe for a while. As for the mind control effect, he could transfer it to someone else—or even to a beast.
Once he understood the situation, Lin Yuan began absorbing the medicinal power with full focus.
The spiritual Qi within the Blood Puppet Pill far exceeded that of the Spirit Awakening Pill. If not for the side effects, it would have been an excellent pill for rapidly increasing spiritual power.
Even Shen Lixin probably never imagined someone would use a Blood Puppet Pill to improve their cultivation.
Half an hour later, spiritual power surged around Lin Yuan. The barrier of the 8th stage Qi Refining Realm felt as thin as a fragile sheet of paper—one touch, and it shattered completely.
“8th stage Qi Refining Realm. Time to check out that so-called inheritance.”
Leaving behind a letter of farewell, Lin Yuan set off for the Zhou Tian Bewildering Illusion Formation.
He didn’t know how long he’d been walking when a familiar message suddenly appeared before his eyes:
[Entered Bewildering Illusion Formation. Gained side effect: Sensory Confusion.]
Without hesitation, Lin Yuan transferred the side effect to Lai Ren.
Ever since the referee had annulled his match results, Lai Ren had become the default recipient of transferred side effects.
Anytime Lin Yuan ran into trouble, he would shift it onto him.
Once free from the illusion’s interference, everything before his eyes cleared up. Around 50 kilometers ahead stood a five-story wooden building. If his guess was correct, that should be where the Nascent Soul Realm inheritance lay.
Calming his thoughts, Lin Yuan headed toward the wooden building.
…
Meanwhile, at the Servant Quarters—
Lai Ren staggered off his wooden chair, looking dazed. Across from him, a middle-aged man stared in confusion. Find the original chapter at g.com.
“Lai Ren, what are you doing?”
Lai Ren raised his wine cup and walked outside, smiling as he went, “Uncle, I mean no harm. I just want to toast you with this cup.”
“Please drink, please drink! This wine cost me 200 spirit stones!”
The middle-aged man looked at him strangely, watching as Lai Ren stepped out of the main hall and headed for the courtyard pond.
Splash!
Lai Ren suddenly dove headfirst into the pond, water splashing everywhere.
The man was shocked and rushed forward to pull him out.
But the other servant disciples were already used to it. Lately, Lai Ren had jumped into the pond several times—it was nothing new to them.
Soaking wet, Lai Ren remained clueless as he downed the wine in his cup—all that was left now was pond water.
Finally sensing something wrong, the middle-aged man pulled out a yellow talisman.
“Calm down!”
He injected spiritual power into it, and the talisman floated above Lai Ren’s head.
He had hoped it would calm him down.
Unexpectedly, the moment the talisman stuck, Lai Ren began spinning in circles like a headless fly.
Helpless, the man had no choice but to knock him out with a palm strike. He then channeled spiritual power into Lai Ren to examine his condition.
After checking, his brows furrowed deeply.
“Spiritual power is unstable. Lifespan is shortened… Could this kid be cultivating some demonic technique?”
That thought made his face twitch and turn grim.
If Lai Ren was truly practicing demonic cultivation, he might get implicated as well.
“I’ll question him thoroughly once he wakes up.” He exhaled slowly, his eyes turning cold.
…
At the same time, Lin Yuan had already arrived in front of the wooden building.
At the entrance stood a strange figure—neither wood nor metal.
“A robot? No, more like a puppet.”
Sensing someone approach, the puppet slowly rose. It creaked all over, like an old rusted door left unoiled for decades.
As it stood, two large characters appeared on its body—Qi Refining.
“Even after hundreds of years, this thing can still move. It must be a treasure.”
“That’s… a top-grade spirit stone!”
His heart trembled.
Spirit stones were divided into low, middle, high, and top grade. One high-grade stone was equivalent to 10,000 low-grade ones.
Top-grade spirit stones were priceless.
“With a top-grade spirit stone as its energy source, no wonder it could stay active for centuries. Looks like the first trial is to defeat this guy.”
Taking a deep breath, Lin Yuan activated the Nine Yin Condensation Technique.
A bone-chilling wave of yin energy gathered around him.
“Final Slaughter: Soul Sever!”
A surge of icy Qi coated his blade and shot toward the puppet.
Soul Sever was designed to suppress opponents with cold energy, plunging them into icy despair, slowly dulling their senses.
The yin energy generated by the Nine Yin Condensation Technique perfectly enhanced the blade’s effect.
Lin Yuan had just discovered this synergy.
The frost-laced blade slashed hard into the Qi Refining puppet. It didn’t do much damage, but left a thick layer of frost behind.
Seeing this, Lin Yuan was overjoyed.
“Thankfully, it’s a mindless puppet. As long as I hit it enough times, I can keep stacking cold energy until its body is completely frozen.”
One strike, two strikes, three strikes…
Soon, countless blade shadows enveloped the puppet.
As more and more frost accumulated, its movements slowed.
Finally, after one more strike, the puppet froze completely and could no longer move.
Lin Yuan rushed forward and pried out the top-grade spirit stone from its chest with a single slash.
With its energy source removed, the puppet was no longer a threat.
Stepping past it, Lin Yuan pushed open the door.
[Defeated Qi Refining Puppet. Reward obtained: One low-grade magical artifact (random), one top-tier level-one martial technique (random).]
The moment he stepped inside, a voice echoed in his ears.