72: The Bloodstained World of Cultivation

Lin Jingyu looked at his sister's happy expression, as if she had 'struck gold,' and felt a mixture of amusement and melancholy.

He reminded her helplessly, "Stop admiring yourself and hurry up and refine it."

"Refine it?" Lin Jingxia's smile froze on her face. She blinked her large eyes in confusion. "Refine... a mirror?"

She looked down again at the seemingly ordinary bronze mirror in her hand.

Her fingertips unconsciously stroked the cool edge of the mirror. That gentle touch seemed... a bit unusual?

An absurd yet heart-pounding thought flashed into her mind like lightning!

"This... this couldn't possibly be..." Her voice trembled with extreme shock and disbelief, stuttering so much that she could barely form a complete sentence. "A Magical Artifact?"

The two words, "Magical Artifact," felt as heavy as a thousand pounds!

Lin Jingxia felt the light little mirror in her hand instantly become immensely heavy, almost slipping from her grasp and falling to the ground!

Since she was young, she had never dared to dream of owning a Magical Artifact!

When their parents were still alive, the best they had was a chipped, semi-scrap, First Grade Low Grade dagger that their father had replaced and passed down to her brother.

That thing was, at best, comparable to a divine Sharp Weapon in the mortal world.

A genuine, intact Magical Artifact, even the most useless First Grade Low Grade one, would sell for twenty Spirit Stones or more outside the Southeast Market Town.

Twenty Spirit Stones!

An ordinary Qi Refining First or Second Layer Cultivator in the Lin Family would have to save diligently for over half a year by farming Spirit Fields and doing odd jobs, without eating or drinking, just to afford that amount.

To buy her a Magical Artifact that she would barely use?

This was simply... too extravagant! Too wasteful!

She snapped back to her senses and, as if burned, quickly stuffed the mirror and the porcelain bottle back into Lin Jingyu's hands, shaking her small head like a rattle drum:

"Brother! Are... are you crazy? If you have a Magical Artifact, you should use it yourself! Why give it to me? I don't go out; I just wander around the Clan lands and the Spirit Fields all day. It's perfectly safe! I don't need this! I really don't need it!"

Her tone was urgent, filled with unquestionable determination.

Lin Jingyu looked at his sister's tense appearance, as if she were afraid he would suffer a loss, and his heart felt like it was being fiercely squeezed by an invisible hand, both sore and swollen.

An indescribable feeling of pity and heartache instantly surged up.

His foolish little sister...

Her world was this small piece of territory belonging to the Lin Family, the half-acre of Spirit Field behind the house, and the familiar back mountain nearby.

She hadn't even been to the Southeast Market Town, and she knew almost nothing about the vast, exciting, yet perilous Cultivation World outside.

Lin Jingyu's gaze instantly turned sharp and icy.

He recalled the rumors he had overheard in the market shantytowns, the fragmented words spilled by Loose Cultivators when they were drunk.

Those stories about the brutality of Bandit Cultivators, the secret tales of missing female Cultivators...

In this seemingly orderly, yet fundamentally chaotic world governed by the Law of the Jungle where the weak are prey to the strong, danger lurked everywhere!

On the surface, the Qinglan Sect maintained order in the market town, and the Family protected its clansmen.

But in the shadows where sunlight could not reach, Bandit Cultivators roamed in packs like hyenas smelling blood.

They killed people for treasure and committed every evil imaginable.

And a lone female Cultivator, especially a young one with low cultivation, was in the eyes of those beasts a valuable 'commodity'!

Having all her wealth stolen was the least severe outcome.

What was more terrifying was being abducted and sold to those illicit brothels like the 'Myriad Flowers Pavilion' or the 'White Moon Tower,' becoming a plaything and suffering a fate worse than death!

Furthermore... there were rumors that some Sects practicing Evil Arts, such as the 'Six Desires Gate' or the 'Joyous Union Sect,' although not exactly bloodthirsty Demonic Sects.

They specialized in secretly gathering female Cultivators, or even male Cultivators, to use as cauldrons for energy replenishment.

Once they fell into their hands, even death would be a luxury! They would be squeezed dry of their last trace of vital essence, resulting in the complete annihilation of body and spirit!

Thinking of the tragic fates of those rumored cauldrons, Lin Jingyu subconsciously tensed up, a chill running down his spine.

This damned Cultivation World was even crueler than the dark novels he had read in his previous life!

It appeared glamorous and full of Immortal Qi.

But underneath, it was the bloody Law of the Jungle, swallowing people whole!

Without strength and the means to protect oneself, nowhere was safe!

The Lin Family's meager strength truly wouldn't be able to protect anyone if they encountered a powerful gang of Bandit Cultivators or malicious Evil Cultivators.

He took a deep breath, suppressing the churning emotions, and deliberately put on a stern expression, speaking in an undeniably commanding tone:

"Take what I give you! Stop with the nonsense, hurry up and refine it! And take the Medicinal Pills in that porcelain bottle immediately and start Cultivating properly!"

He paused, looking at his sister's still stubborn little face, and softened his tone slightly, adding a trace of encouragement:

"Your brother is destined to become a great Master of Foundation Establishment, perhaps even an Immortal Master of Golden Core! If your cultivation lags too far behind, won't that be embarrassing for me?"

He deliberately swayed the "water-dividing sword" hanging at his waist, then flashed the thicker, more inwardly radiant "Green Turtle Spirit Shield" in his embrace, wearing a look that suggested, 'Your brother is very rich':

"Besides, I have so many Magical Artifacts now that I can't use them all! This little mirror, and these Medicinal Pills, are all leftovers! Obsolete goods! Understand? Take them quickly, don't let them take up space!"

Lin Jingxia had been pouting, wearing a stubborn look of 'I won't listen, I won't listen'.

But when the spiritual energy fluctuation belonging to the Qi Refining Third Layer on Lin Jingyu's body was released without reservation...

She suddenly widened her eyes!

Her small mouth formed an 'O' shape, large enough to fit an egg!

"Brother! You... you broke through to the Qi Refining Third Layer?"

She exclaimed in shock, her voice rising due to extreme delight, filled with disbelief!

How long had it been?

Her brother had actually broken through!

Back in the ancestral hall, when her brother faced the pressure from the Grand Elder and the Third Elder and could still speak eloquently, even subtly gaining the upper hand, she already felt her brother was different.

She hadn't expected her brother's cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds too!

The immense joy instantly swept away her previous hesitation and heartache.

She didn't press him on how he broke through, or where he got the Magical Artifacts and Medicinal Pills.

She only knew that her brother had become stronger!

And, her brother cared about her!

Seeing her brother's smug look of 'I'm awesome, I have too many things to use them all,' Lin Jingxia let out a soft chuckle, and the last bit of worry in her heart vanished.

She snatched the mirror and the porcelain bottle from Lin Jingyu's hand, clutching them tightly to her chest, as if protecting her most precious treasures.

A brilliant smile bloomed on her small face, her eyes curving into crescents, but she deliberately huffed:

"Hmph! So you only gave it to me because you had extras!... I... I don't want it! You keep it for yourself to eat!"

Despite her words, her hands holding the porcelain bottle did not loosen at all.

Lin Jingyu looked at her cute, contradictory appearance, and a warm smile involuntarily curved the corner of his mouth.

Silly girl, he thought silently.

With the Heaven-Defying "brick" of the Taihao Elixir Canon, plus the blessing of the Mental Energy State of Clarity, the path of a Trainee Alchemist was within reach.

It wouldn't be long before he became a formal Alchemist, and future Medicinal Pills would certainly not be lacking!

He would absolutely not let his sister fall behind on the path of Cultivation.

The siblings would become stronger together!

They would carve out a future in this cruel Cultivation World!

He would even lead the Lin Family to grow together, making the Family his support.

Lin Jingxia happily ran back to her room clutching her newly acquired treasures, eager to refine that 'little mirror'.