Accompanying Ying Lian on her final journey, Song Lin used the Eye-blocking Technique and then ascended into the skies with the Dragon Control Technique to leave the palace.
This place was never safe for prolonged stays. Over the years, he had been evading the Jixia Academy.
Being in the wilderness was fine, but appearing in the Mortal World would invite trouble; within three days, someone would find him.
For over twenty years, Huan Yuan had pressed forward step by step without giving him a single day of peace, further confirming Song Lin's suspicion: this man harbored a monumental secret.
Thinking this, Song Lin found a secluded spot and set up the Eye-blocking Technique.
Afterward, his gaze swept across the surroundings.
Under the cover of night, a faint black mist lingered within the forest.
This was yin energy. Without the Yin Yang Eyes, one wouldn't perceive it. The yin energy here was weak, suggesting that no demons or malevolent ghosts dwelled nearby.
Song Lin dug a cave into the mountain to hide and ordered his Ghost Soldiers to guard the entrance.
He was preparing to return to the Real World.
This time, he might be gone for three to five years.
Back in the Real World.
Inside his residence.
Song Lin opened his eyes, the glint of melancholy flashing across them.
The sudden shift in time zones felt utterly disorienting.
He had to endure this extraordinary state almost daily.
"If I succeed in passing the three trials, everything will be easier."
Song Lin thought to himself.
Disciples who passed the three trials would become Inner Sect Disciples, with lighter workloads, sparing them the constant back-and-forth transitions.
After consuming a Fasting Pill while in the Real World, he could easily stay there for ten or even fifteen days at a stretch.
This time, upon returning to reality, Song Lin planned to refine pills for selling, first purchasing twelve sets of corpse bones and then researching materials on Taiyin Refining.
Starting here, Song Lin headed to the Dharma Altar Warehouse.
Deep within the warehouse, he remembered an abandoned pill furnace being stashed away.
Carrying the furnace and medicinal materials back to his quarters, Song Lin began refining pills.
Once he prepared the materials, he didn't rush into the process but instead sat down to meditate and regulate his breath.
Before him appeared the Monster Chronicles. As he flipped to the second page, the top line displayed his information.
Name: Song Lin
Realm: Fetal Breathing Stage
Taoist Realm: Three Years
Divine Skills: "Lao Mountain Five Skills," "Guang Chengzi Beidou Red Dragon Qi Gong," "Red Scale Skill," "Simple Yellow and White Skill."
This was his cultivation in the Real World.
It was vastly inferior to his cultivation in the story realm, though with his accumulated experience, progressing now was relatively simple.
Song Lin closed his eyes in contemplation as a crimson glow emerged from his right hand. The luminescence faintly formed into the shape of a Jiao-Dragon.
Then, he cast the Alchemy Formula.
Whoosh!
The pill furnace suddenly erupted into flames.
Once the fire stabilized, he began incorporating materials such as gold, lead-mercury, saltpetre, and more.
No matter what type of pill was being refined, these materials were indispensable.
In Taoist alchemy systems, these substances were crystallized representations of Yin and Yang in heaven and earth. Gold, in particular, was imbued with the property of eternal life and immortality.
Following his cultivation of Red Dragon Qi Gong, Song Lin's mastery over flame control had become even more precise, akin to having a switch to adjust the fire's intensity at will.
After five hours, two Mica Ganoderma Pills were successfully refined.
Next came the Jiachen Yang Qi Pill.
This pill was exceedingly popular and sold well; no matter how much of it was produced, it would never go unsold.
Somewhere else, at the Yin Yang Altar.
Taoist Wude and his disciple sat in a dark chamber, next to the blood-stained Ghost Cultivation Altar.
"What is going on? Didn't I instruct you to kill Song Lin? Why hasn't the plan been executed yet?" Wude said in a low voice.
If Song Lin continued to progress unchecked, he might genuinely consolidate his influence.
"Master, I am utterly helpless. That brat has not left his home; finding an opportunity is virtually impossible," Li Xuan said with a bitter smile. He couldn't very well storm into Song Lin's residence and murder him, especially since the man was the warehouse manager and under Lord Dianzao's protection.
The only option was to resort to cunning schemes to deal with him.
But Song Lin never left his home, only moving between the Yin Yang Altar and his residence daily.
Knock, knock!
At this moment, a Taoist disciple knocked on the door.
"Master, Song Lin has left his house."
The disciple delivered the news.
"Good, Li Xuan. Now it's your chance."
"This time, he must die, and I plan to have Tongshou Taoist personally kill him," Li Xuan said with a malicious grin.
Then, he took out a vial of pills.
"Low Grade Spirit Pill — Feather Transformation Pill. Should this vial go missing and somehow appear in Song Lin's residence, we'll have ample justification to eliminate him."
The pills were offerings from the temple master to Taoists annually.
Practitioners like Taoist Wude, who were still cultivating Qi, particularly relied on these pills. If they vanished, it would become a legitimate reason for punishment, in accordance with temple regulations.
Taoist Wude paused in thought and then approached a bookshelf. He pulled back a concealed panel behind the shelves, revealing a staircase leading underground.
Navigating through a damp, shadowy passageway, he lit flickering green lights along the walls.
In the shifting light, the faint outline of a mummified corpse came into view.
The corpse's skin was shriveled and black, its bald head marked with nine scorched scars left by incense burns.
Before it lay offerings of bloodstained human hearts and livers alongside demon talismans drawn on white paper.
The corpse was a Corpse Arhat belonging to the Foreign Buddhist Sect.
"I shall have the Corpse Arhat aid you; ensure no loose ends are left undone," Taoist Wude said, placing the bottle of pills into the mummy's hand.
Chanting mantras under his breath, Wude activated the dark puppet.
Whoosh!
The Corpse Arhat transformed into a shadow and sank into the ground.
Outside the Xuanke Taoist Temple.
Song Lin navigated through the bustling streets of Shanyin County before arriving at a dead-end alley.
Stopping before the wall, he began chanting an incantation under his breath.
"Soul, oh soul, reveal your true form!"
Whoosh!
With that said, Song Lin smashed into the wall, passing straight through it.
The scenery around him underwent an eerie transformation.
The sky turned dark and crimson, with flocks of red-eyed crows occasionally flitting through the air.
Ahead stood a massive stone gateway, inscribed with four large characters: Shanyin Ghost Market.
Song Lin donned his cloak and trekked through the forsaken forest toward the gate.
Beyond the gate lay dense, greenish ghost fog, flanking rows of stalls piled with items. Among the wares were Divine Incense and Ghost Candles, Beast Bone Demon Pills, and much more.
There were even stalls dedicated to pill refining.
Hordes of people came and went, most cloaked like Song Lin.
Others didn't bother to conceal themselves: snarling zombies, skeletal figures with flaming eye sockets.
Song Lin even spotted a talking crow haggling with a stall owner.
If his guesses were correct, many of these entities were Taoist avatars rather than their true forms.
The Ghost Market constantly hosted clashes; those with exceptional skills and bravery usually employed avatars for transactions.
After surveying the scene briefly, Song Lin approached a stall specializing in pill refining.
"Refining pills? Provide triple the materials yourself, processing fee is five dharma coins per batch, successful or not, you still pay," the stall owner, an elder, stated curtly.
"Goodness, refining pills really is a lucrative business,"
Song Lin muttered, amazed. Preparing extra materials was manageable, but the five Taoist merit processing fee? That seemed steep.
If he weren't pressed for time, Song Lin might have set up his own stall as a pill refiner.
"Do you buy pills? How much for these two types per piece?"
Song Lin presented four Mica Ganoderma Pills and five Jiachen Yang Qi Pills.
"Yang Qi Pills are six dharma coins each. As for this... hmm, interesting."
The elder's gaze suddenly lit upon examining the Mica Ganoderma Pills. Its efficacy toward True Qi surpassed that of Yang Qi Pills.
"Eight coins per piece, how does that sound?"
"Not possible."
Without hesitation, Song Lin retrieved the pills, making a gesture to leave.
This was his exclusive creation, deserving of a higher price.
"Wait, don't go!"
After negotiating, they settled at ten coins per pill for the Mica Ganoderma. The stall owner owed Song Lin seventy dharma coins—that equated to seventy Taoist merits.
"Fellow Taoist, should you have more pills like these in the future, sell them to me directly at the original price. Seek me out here," the elder urged.
"Alright,"
Song Lin agreed before promptly purchasing twelve remnants of corpse bones from an Extremely Yin Land.
Cultivating ghosts and gods came with the benefit of summoning them anytime, without the forty-nine-day restriction, only requiring monthly offerings of incense sticks.