71: Firebeard Turtle

Returning to his residence, Lin Feng handed over the Qi Condensation Pills he had refined earlier. Lin Feng found this very troublesome, having to submit a batch of Qi Condensation Medicinal Pills every month. He renegotiated with the shopkeeper, agreeing that Lin Feng would submit his task once every six months, and the shopkeeper would simply provide him with enough Medicinal Pills each time.

Lin Feng guaranteed to complete the six-month quota within one month and submit the task, allowing him to handle personal matters and arrange his Cultivate time for the remaining period.

Initially, the shopkeeper was unwilling to agree to Lin Feng's request, but he couldn't refuse Lin Feng. Moreover, Lin Feng promised to complete the task on time the first time, asking the shopkeeper for a chance. If he failed, Lin Feng would never make such a request again.

Seeing Lin Feng's insistence, and knowing that Lin Feng was one of the pillars of his shop's Alchemy, the shopkeeper naturally didn't want to create a rift with Lin Feng. He decided to let Lin Feng try. Lin Feng accepted the six months' worth of Spirit Medicine and began Alchemy.

With his current Alchemy skills, not only was his refining speed high, but while rapidly refining Medicinal Pills, Lin Feng could also maintain a 50% pill formation rate. In the blink of an eye, a month passed, and Lin Feng completed his task.

After Lin Feng completed the task, the shopkeeper acknowledged Lin Feng's request and readily agreed. In fact, as long as Lin Feng and others could complete the shop's quota tasks, and with the shop still having inventory, a semi-annual submission was completely fine.

After Lin Feng and the shopkeeper reached an agreement, Lin Feng had more free time. He had recently encountered a Bottleneck in his Body Refining Cultivate and began searching for methods to Breakthrough. Lin Feng accidentally discovered in an ancient text that a Medicinal Pill called the Body Tempering Pill could help with Breakthrough.

However, Lin Feng had never heard of this Pill Formula. While gathering information and earning Spirit Stones, Lin Feng, under the guise of Foundation Establishment cultivator Wang Sicong, met a fellow Cultivator at an Alchemist exchange meeting. From him, he learned that he possessed the Body Tempering Pill Formula.

This Pill Formula, due to the current unpopularity of Body Cultivator in the Cultivation World, seemed somewhat useless. Lin Feng purchased it from that Cultivator for the price of one Foundation Establishment Pill and fifty thousand Spirit Stones.

After obtaining the Pill Formula, Lin Feng discovered that it was different from other Pill Formulas. Most Pill Formulas required Spirit Medicine for Alchemy, especially the main ingredients, which were often Spirit Medicine of extremely high age.

This Medicinal Pill actually required Yao Beast essence blood and fire crystals, which troubled Lin Feng a bit. Although this Yao Beast was not difficult to find, it required him to travel outside. After some thought, Lin Feng decided to first gather some information about this Yao Beast.

The Fire Beard Turtle is massive, with an outer shell as hard as iron, adorned with irregular patterns resembling ancient runes. This beast was precisely the Yao Beast Lin Feng needed to gather information on, and he found details about it in a Yao Beast compendium.

Its most prominent feature is its slender, silken beard. These whiskers are no ordinary things; they are a fiery red, like burning flames, flickering with dazzling light in the darkness, hence its name, Fire Beard Turtle.

The Fire Beard Turtle is naturally endowed with powerful defense. Its shell can withstand the attacks of most Spells and Magic Treasures; even the quite powerful Spiritual Artifacts among Cultivator would only leave a shallow mark on its shell. When it senses danger, it retracts all its limbs, head, and tail into its shell, forming an indestructible fortress that leaves enemies helpless.

Besides defense, the Fire Beard Turtle also possesses unique offensive capabilities. Its whiskers are not only peculiar in appearance but also powerful weapons. The Fire Beard Turtle can control the flame power within its whiskers, spewing out scorching flames. These flames are extremely hot; wherever they pass, rocks are instantly melted, and trees are incinerated into ash.

Moreover, these flames seem to contain some mysterious power that can scorch a Cultivator's spiritual energy, interfering with their ability to cast Spells.

The Fire Beard Turtle prefers to inhabit areas near Volcanoes or where magma flows freely. The high-temperature environment here is an excellent habitat for them, allowing them to absorb the power of ground fire and enhance their strength. In these places, Fire Beard Turtles feed on various fire-attribute Ore and Spirit Medicine, and after a long period of accumulation, a precious treasure—the fire crystal—will form within their bodies.

Fire crystals contain rich fire-attribute spiritual energy, making them an invaluable treasure for Cultivator who Cultivate fire-attribute Cultivation Techniques. This item is the main ingredient Lin Feng needs for refining the Body Tempering Pill.

However, capturing a Fire Beard Turtle is not easy. Not only is it powerful, but it is also extremely vigilant. Once it detects a Cultivator approaching, it will quickly hide in the magma, using the magma as cover to escape. Many Cultivator, in order to obtain the fire crystals within the Fire Beard Turtle, risk venturing into dangerous areas, but only a handful succeed in capturing one.

A thousand li away from Zheng Yun Market, there is a place called Yanhuo Cave, where this beast resides. Lin Feng had completed his task two months ago. Since capturing this beast required a trip to Yanhuo Cave, Lin Feng simply found the shopkeeper, informed him that he needed to go out, and once again received six months' worth of tasks.

After spending one month completing the tasks for the latter half of the year, Lin Feng had nine months of free time. He decided to head to Yanhuo Cave.

Lin Feng initially planned to join a Yao Beast hunting team organized by Zheng Yun Market, but after some consideration, he found it unsuitable for him. Later, considering the convenience of acting alone, he set off for Yanhuo Cave by himself.

Lin Feng, as a Qi Refining Cultivator, brought Xiao Ying to Yanhuo Cave. Xiao Ying was very excited along the way; she had been cooped up in the Spirit Beast Pouch in the market for too long and was feeling incredibly stifled.

Released, Xiao Ying led Lin Feng through the mountains for a day, playing around everywhere along the way, until Lin Feng finally arrived at Yanhuo Cave the next day.

Yanhuo Cave has three massive Volcano Craters. Two of them are dormant Volcanoes that haven't erupted for an unknown number of years, while one erupts every one or two hundred years.

The Fire Beard Turtle is a second-tier fire-attribute Yao Beast that lives here. This place not only has Fire Beard Turtles but also many fire-attribute Spirit Medicine and some other Yao Beasts.

With Spirit Medicine and Yao Beasts living here, it is difficult for ordinary Mortals to approach. However, while this place is dangerous for Mortals, it has become a popular exploration spot for many Cultivator, and Lin Feng also became one of them.

Because Lin Feng came here alone and was a Late-Stage Qi Refining Cultivator, most of the Cultivator exploring this area were also Qi Refining Cultivator. There were some Foundation Establishment cultivator, but not many.

With Lin Feng's Late-Stage Qi Refining Cultivation, he naturally became a target for recruitment by the Yao Beast hunting teams formed here. Lin Feng did not accept these invitations, refusing them all on the grounds that he preferred to act alone.

Some Yao Beast hunting teams readily accepted Lin Feng's actions, but others did not, and thus Lin Feng offended several Yao Beast hunting teams.

While surveying Yanhuo Cave and searching for Fire Beard Turtles, Lin Feng was approached by three Late-Stage Qi Refining Cultivator. These three, seeing Lin Feng as a lone Cultivator, thought he would be easy to bully and deliberately sought trouble with him.

These three Cultivator, judging by their attire, did not seem to be Cultivator from Zheng Country but rather from Shui Yun Country. They were led by a Cultivator in a silver robe, with the two other Late-Stage Qi Refining Cultivator appearing to be his attendants.

One of them, a rather thin man with a pointed mouth and monkey-like cheeks, seemed to dislike Lin Feng. He walked up to Lin Feng, pointed at him, and shouted, "Hey, hey, hey, you there! My Young Master kindly invited you, and you actually refused his good intentions. Are you trying to make him lose Face?"