191: Nine Leaves Enlightenment

Nine Leaf City is extremely prosperous. Compared to the Disciples of Qingxuan Sect, the Disciples of Spirit Beast Sect consume even more natural treasures.

Although Nine Leaf City is the second largest city of the Spirit Beast Sect, due to the need for spiritual resources, its commerce is extremely flourishing, even surpassing Qingxuan City of the Qingxuan Sect in some aspects by one-tenth.

As Lin Shiming walked on the streets, Cultivators riding various Spirit Beasts were a common sight. Those riding Flying Swords were mostly Cultivators from Qingxuan Sect and Spirit Talisman Sect, who had come due to the war.

After a round of questioning at the city gate, the Lin Family members finally entered Nine Leaf City and settled into an inn.

And coincidentally, they were staying in a branch of Laiyue Restaurant.

Lin Shiming was currently in a room, pondering Xie An's words.

Initially, he was a bit confused when Xie An mentioned his age, but he didn't expect that the 'Nine Leaf' in Nine Leaf City held such significance.

The nine leaves of the White Cedar Spirit Tree actually formed a natural Enlightenment Platform.

There was an opportunity for enlightenment every ten years. Because the Three Sects of Zhao Country conspired together and always advanced and retreated in unison, the nine Enlightenment Platform slots in Nine Leaf City were allocated with three for Spirit Beast Sect, two for each of the other two sects, and the remaining two slots determined by a grand competition.

There was only one requirement for enlightenment: a Foundation Establishment Cultivator under sixty years old.

Lin Shiming naturally met both of these requirements. He could also understand that for those over sixty, their talent was already set, and Qi Refining Cultivators couldn't even practice secret techniques, so enlightenment was out of the question.

However, he was hesitant about participating. The two fixed slots for Qingxuan Sect would naturally not fall to him. If he were to compete, he could only contend for the two additional slots.

To win one of those two slots from the young Cultivators of the Three Sects was incredibly difficult, and even if he succeeded, all his trump cards would be exposed, which was not what Lin Shiming wanted.

Lin Shiming shook his head. After thinking for a while without a solution, he stopped pondering.

With the current war, it was possible that the Nine Leaf Enlightenment might even be canceled.

The Heavenly Demon Sect and Corpse Refinement Sect were making such a big fuss; it was highly likely they wouldn't be satisfied with just Tianhe Province, plus the two provinces of the Spirit Talisman Sect.

After settling down for a moment, Lin Shiming went to check on Lin Shiyi. After five days of recuperation, Lin Shiyi's body had finally recovered, and he had even benefited from the misfortune, his cultivation advancing further. He only needed to refine his spiritual power to prepare for his Breakthrough to Foundation Establishment.

Moreover, consuming the Dragon Lizard's flesh and blood had made his vital Qi extremely powerful.

Such a Body Cultivator would have a much higher chance of success during his Breakthrough.

After Lin Shiyi expressed his gratitude, Lin Shiming took his leave. He then went to see Lin Xianzhi, but finding the latter still in seclusion, Lin Shiming chose to return to his room.

He took out a spirit beast pouch.

Inside the spirit beast pouch were the treasures obtained from slaying Old Devil Chen Chen Yunlai this time.

Among the treasures, Xie An took the Heavenly Demon Banner that contained the Nether Tiger. Although he couldn't use it, what was truly valuable wasn't the Demonic Banner itself, but the Nether Tiger's spirit. When Xie An breaks through to Purple Mansion and refines his Magic Treasure, he can refine the Nether Tiger's spirit into an artifact spirit.

At that time, the power of the Magic Treasure would increase by a full three parts. Even if he didn't reach Purple Mansion, Xie An could still sell the Nether Tiger spirit, which would still be an astonishing fortune.

Because he took the Nether Tiger spirit, the remaining Crushing God Plate and the Heavenly Demon Banner containing the Yin Yang Demon Child's spirit were given to Lin Shiming and Lin Xianzhi.

Lin Shiming, at Lin Xianzhi's strong insistence, received the Crushing God Plate.

At this moment, the Crushing God Plate had transformed back to the size of an ordinary millstone, entirely crafted from unknown black profound iron. It felt incredibly substantial to the touch, and its surface was covered with spiritual runes.

Lin Shiming had also studied artifact refining, though he could only refine Low Grade second-tier Magical Artifacts, which were almost useless. However, from an artifact refiner's perspective, he could understand how terrifying this Crushing God Plate was.

To be fair, if it weren't for the Crushing God Plate not having the potential of the Nether Tiger's spirit, this Crushing God Plate would truly be the primary gain.

Besides Chen Yunlai's three Magic Treasures, Lin Shiming also discovered many other Magical Artifacts, all of which Chen Yunlai had plundered from the Zhao Country Cultivators he had slain.

The three of them divided these one by one. However, after Xie An consumed some more of the Dragon Lizard's flesh and blood, he proactively suggested only taking thirty percent.

Of course, ordinary High Grade Magical Artifacts no longer caught Lin Shiming's eye.

However, a considerable amount of Spirit Stones and qingming iron were divided again. Old Devil Chen had plundered a qingming iron mine in Tianhe Province and a Spirit Stone mine in Cloud Mirror Mountain.

Inside the Storage Pouch were a full one hundred High-Grade Spirit Stones. The three of them each took thirty, and the remaining ten were exchanged by Xie An for other smaller Spirit Stones.

But Lin Shiming alone had obtained one million Spirit Stones, and now he had a massive three million Spirit Stones at his waist. After accounting for consumption, he still had a full forty-two High-Grade Spirit Stones.

At this moment, his wealth was enough to purchase a war treasure ship!

After settling the Spirit Stones, Lin Shiming took out a Jade Slip. The Jade Slip recorded a Mystic-Grade Low-Rank wood-element Cultivation Technique, the Three Cyan Return to Origin Art.

By now, the Lin Family had five Mystic-Grade Low-Rank Cultivation Techniques, having gathered the fire, lightning, wood, and water elements, plus the Mountain Ape Body Refining Art, a earth-element Cultivation Technique.

Xie An naturally didn't need this Jade Slip Cultivation Technique, so Lin Shiming took it. This Cultivation Technique was clearly the prized heirloom of a Foundation Establishment Family, plundered after Old Devil Chen killed its owner.

As for the remaining Jade Slips, they were all cultivation methods and techniques for refining Heavenly Demon Banners and Devil Heads. However, these were almost useless to the Lin Family, as the Lin Family couldn't possibly practice Demonic Techniques. The Heavenly Demon Banners they refined would be completely useless. For example, the Yin Yang Demon Child Heavenly Demon Banner they seized could only be sold at an Auction in the end.

Besides the Jade Slips, Lin Shiming also took out two sheepskin maps. Inside Old Devil Chen's Storage Pouch, there were a total of three sheepskin maps. Lin Xianzhi, Lin Shiming, and Xie An each took one, and the extra one was taken by Lin Shiming after he killed a Corpse Refinement Sect Cultivator.

These sheepskin maps were clearly treasure maps, but the routes recorded on them left Lin Shiming utterly confused. He had consulted maps of the entire Zhao Country, Chu Country, and Yan Country, but found no place similar to what was depicted on the maps.

Even Xie An was unaware.

Lin Shiming's research yielded no results, and the System's prompt didn't appear, so he knew that he probably wouldn't find this place anytime soon. He could only put the maps away again.

Then, after activating the spirit-isolating Formation, Lin Shiming entered the Grotto-heaven World.

Inside the Grotto-heaven World, the Red-haired Demon Monkey was curled up in a corner, both its arms missing. It was surprisingly quiet, curled into a ball, and its emotions were exceptionally low.

Seeing this, Lin Shiming couldn't help but sigh. He had already fed the Red-haired Demon Monkey a small portion of Dragon Lizard meat and then took out three Dragon Blood Grass plants for it to consume. Its entire body glowed red from the spiritual energy, and the strange fire on its tail grew larger and larger, but its arms did not regrow.

As if seeing Lin Shiming arrive, the Demon Monkey looked up at Shiming, then quietly lowered its head again, its eyes filled with melancholy!