"Crack~"
Lin Dong sat cross-legged in the Stone Pool, cultivating. A crisp crack suddenly rang through his bones as a burst of heat rose from them, and his body grew slightly sturdier.
"First Stage of Body Tempering, achieved!"
Lin Dong opened his eyes, his face bright with surprise. He sensed the new strength within his body and felt a surge of joy. He knew he had firmly taken the first step on his martial path: the Body Tempering Stage.
“It seems the Ancestral Stone Spirit Liquid in the Stone Pool is still abundant—enough to last until I enter the Earthly Yuan Realm.”
Lin Dong glanced down at the pool water, whose color had not changed at all, and felt reassured. Breaking into the First Stage of Body Tempering had consumed almost none of the Stone Pool’s energy.
“Oh no, it’s already late. If I go back now, Mother will scold me again.”
Lin Dong suddenly remembered something and looked up. The sky outside the Mountain Cave had grown mostly dark. He shot out of the water like a nimble fish, dressed at lightning speed, and dashed down the mountain.
When he arrived home, Liu Yan did not scold him. Instead, she handed him a bowl of deep-red Medicinal Liquid. “Here, this Medicinal Liquid was brewed from red ginseng, a First-grade spiritual medicine. Drink it while it’s hot. Your father gathered it from the mountains himself. He said that now you’ve begun cultivating, you should drink a bowl like this every day.”
"Thank you, Father. Thank you, Mother."
Warmth spread through Lin Dong's heart at those words, and he immediately took the bowl of Medicinal Liquid with both hands.
"Dong'er, hurry and drink it, then come eat. Once you break into the Body Tempering Second Stage, your father will teach you a First-Rank Martial Art called the 'Penetrating-Back Fist.'"
A soft chuckle drifted over from inside the room.
Lin Dong downed the Medicinal Liquid in one gulp, hastily wiped his mouth, and quickly stepped into the room. Looking at Lin Xiao's ruddy, healthy complexion, his heart stirred and he said, "Father, since your injuries have fully healed, why don't we return to the Inner District?"
“Go back? What for? It’s peaceful here, far from the clan’s clamor. I like it here—it’s a good place to raise you two, brother and sister.”
“Besides, don’t you find it amusing that, since I was injured, some clansmen have mocked our family? They’ve completely forgotten how fawning and two-faced they were toward me before. This gives me the perfect chance to see their true colors.”
Lin Xiao shook his head and took a leisurely sip of wine, looking completely at ease.
Seeing Lin Dong fall a bit silent, Lin Xiao couldn't help but laugh. "Hey, why am I telling you all this? Let's eat. Get some rest early after dinner — you've got to wake up early tomorrow to cultivate again."
After dinner, the siblings, Lin Dong and Qing Tan, obediently returned to their room to rest.
"Mm—"
Qing Tan had been skipping along and chatting with Lin Dong when she let out a soft whimper. Her body swayed, and she collapsed toward the ground, unable to control herself.
Cold Qi covered her delicate, jade-carved face. Shards of ice scattered across the nearby ground, while Yin-Cold Aura filled the surrounding air.
"Qing Tan, is the Cold Qi in your body acting up again?"
Lin Dong's expression changed, and he instinctively reached out to catch Qing Tan, who radiated a bone-chilling cold.
Lin Dong knew this was the doing of Qing Tan's Fiend Demon Body. Until Qing Tan could condense a Yin Core within her body, this dense Yin-Cold Aura could erupt at any moment, wracking her with agony.
No one had been able to do anything about it. They could only watch, helpless and powerless.
No — now there was!
"Yes, brother, hurry and help me back to my room. I don't want Father and Mother to worry."
Qing Tan gritted through the pain, clutching tightly at Lin Dong's wrist as she pleaded.
"Alright."
Lin Dong said nothing more and quickly helped Qing Tan back to her room. By then, Qing Tan's eyes were squeezed shut from the pain, her delicate little face scrunched up in agony.
Lin Dong knew he could wait no longer. He took out the Ancestral Stone and brought it close to Qing Tan, who trembled beneath her quilt.
"Hmmmm~"
The moment the Ancestral Stone appeared, it unleashed a powerful pull that drew out every trace of the dense, almost tangible Cold Qi filling the room. Even the ice shards on Qing Tan's cheeks vanished completely, as if nothing had ever happened.
At the same time, three bean-sized, milky-white crystals appeared in the groove at the center of the Ancestral Stone.
“So these are Yin Beads, compressed from high-grade Yin Fiend Aura? Hm, they’re valuable. They’ll be useful when I push toward the Earthly Yuan Realm.”
Lin Dong studied the three Yin Beads for a moment.
As everyone knew, a Martial Artist entering the Earthly Yuan Realm had to absorb Yin Fiend Aura from heaven and earth and fuse it with Yuan Power. Entering the Heavenly Yuan Realm required absorbing Yang Astral Qi from heaven and earth and fusing it with Yuan Power. To reach the Yuan Dan Realm, the Yin-Yang Energies within the body had to merge and compress into a core.
A Yuan Dan had nine grades, from one star, the weakest, to nine stars, the strongest. Its final quality depended on the strength and quality of the Yin Fiend Aura and Yang Astral Qi that a Martial Artist absorbed in the Earthly Yuan Realm and Heavenly Yuan Realm.
For this reason, these stages of the martial path were also called "stealing yin and yang."
The Yin Fiend Aura between heaven and earth came in nine grades. The higher the grade a Martial Artist absorbed, the greater their combat strength upon entering the Earthly Yuan Realm and the greater their future potential.
The Yin Fiend Aura in these three Yin Beads ranked at least among the top three of the nine grades. Lin Dong had struck it rich. Others struggled to collect high-grade Yin Fiend Aura, while he had a “living” mother lode right beside him.
"Brother Lin Dong, has the Cold Qi subsided?"
Qing Tan had been writhing in pain on the bed. She opened her eyes wide and stared at the scene before her in disbelief.
How could the Yin Fiend Aura that had erupted moments ago have subsided so soon? In the past, each eruption had lasted at least half an hour, sometimes longer. It had been an agonizing ordeal every time.
"Mm, it's subsided. Get some rest now."
Lin Dong put away the Ancestral Stone without a trace and reached over to tuck the quilt around Qing Tan.
"Okay. Thank you, Brother Lin Dong."
Exhausted, Qing Tan gave it no further thought and soon fell into a deep sleep. The sweet smile on her delicate face suggested that she might finally enjoy a good night’s sleep.
"Qing Tan, trust me, you'll never have to suffer through the Yin Fiend Aura's torment again. Once I obtain that Extreme Yin Object, the Extreme Fiend Yin Dragon Saliva, I'll help you condense a Yin Core within your body and put an end to the troubles of the Fiend Demon Body once and for all."
Lin Dong sat a while longer by Qing Tan's bedside before finally turning and leaving.
.....
And so, with the ceaseless supply of Spirit Liquid from the Stone Pool and the spiritual medicine provided by Lin Xiao, Lin Dong's Cultivation began to surge forward at breakneck speed — Body Tempering Second Stage, Third Stage, Fourth Stage, Fifth Stage...
Soon, he entered the Earthly Yuan Realm and continued toward the Heavenly Yuan Realm.
Of course, as for the progress of his Cultivation, Lin Dong could only reveal so much to Lin Xiao.
Lin Dong also mastered more Martial Arts: the First-Rank Penetrating-Back Fist, the Second-grade Eight Desolations Palm, the Third-Rank Strange Gate Seal, and the Fourth-Grade Pure Yuan Finger. As the Ancestral Stone Space refined and perfected them, their power grew with each passing day.
After Lin Dong entered the Earthly Yuan Realm, Little Marten reminded him that he could begin cultivating his Spiritual Power.
Everything unfolded steadily and methodically, one step at a time……