This maid is a bit too much!

They walked out of the deepest part of the Demon Falling Valley and entered the relatively safe peripheral area.

Lin Yuan searched for an uninhabited hillside and, with practiced ease, carved out a temporary Immortal Cave.

The continuous battles over the past few days had greatly depleted his mind and spirit, and he truly needed a good rest.

Inside the Immortal Cave, Lin Yuan sat cross-legged, his gaze falling upon Ji Hanyou, who stood respectfully with her hands lowered, not daring to make the slightest movement.

“What is your specific Cultivation?”

“Reporting to Master, Slave Girl is at the Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment Early Stage,” Ji Hanyou replied.

Lin Yuan's eyes flickered.

He scrutinized the former high and mighty Princess of the Yan Yang Kingdom, who now stood before him as docile as a lamb waiting for slaughter.

Her figure, her Bloodline, her Cultivation... all were top-notch choices.

A meaningful curve appeared at the corner of Lin Yuan's mouth.

He spoke slowly, his voice low.

“Lie down.”

Ji Hanyou's delicate body trembled slightly. Immediately, her exquisite face showed no trace of hesitation or shyness, only absolute, devout obedience.

Obediently, she untied her sash and removed her outer robe, revealing the tightly fitted undergarments beneath, whose breathtaking curves were dimly visible in the firelight.

Then, slowly and docilely, she lay down on the Stone Bed... A day and a night later.

Inside the Immortal Cave, the firelight flickered.

Lin Yuan opened his eyes.

He felt completely relaxed and refreshed, his spirit full of Qi. The fatigue and Divine Soul depletion accumulated from the previous continuous battles had been completely swept away.

Deep in his eyes, the small golden characters that only he could see quietly refreshed.

[Cultivation: Ninth Layer of Qi Refining: 900/900 (Perfection)]

[Fifth-Grade Alchemist: 0/500 (Can add points)]

[Fourth-Level Fire Control Art: 0/400; Illusion Transformation Art (Perfection)]

[usable attribute points: 812]

[special attribute points: 1]

It truly increased.

Lin Yuan silently calculated in his mind.

He cultivated face-to-face with Ji Hanyou twice and gained forty attribute points, twenty points each time.

Lin Yuan secretly calculated that cultivating face-to-face with Lan Caier, who was at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, yielded thirty points, so would the Late Foundation Establishment Stage yield forty points?

“Master...”

A voice, profoundly languid, flirtatiously alluring, and carrying a hint of strange satisfaction, drifted softly from his side.

Ji Hanyou leaned languidly against Lin Yuan. Her eyes, once cold and arrogant like an Ice Phoenix, now only held the rippling tenderness of affection, and a pathological fervor and adoration stemming from the depths of her Soul.

“Can this servant... serve Master once more?”

Lin Yuan glanced at her, a playful curve forming at the corner of his mouth.

“What, are you addicted to being a maidservant?”

“To be able to dedicate everything to Master is Hanyou's greatest honor in this life.”

An unnatural blush appeared on Ji Hanyou's pretty face, and her voice became increasingly humble and devout, as if she were expounding some supreme truth.

The effect of the Nether Soul Slave Seal was even more overbearing than Lin Yuan had imagined.

“You'll have plenty of opportunities to show your devotion later.”

Lin Yuan said calmly.

“The Demon Falling Valley will close in a few days. How do you... plan to handle this servant?”

Ji Hanyou's eyes dimmed for a moment.

“I will not keep you by my side.”

Lin Yuan knew very well that the identity of the Princess of the Yan Yang Kingdom was still a huge source of trouble.

Taking the Princess of an enemy nation with him was tantamount to slapping the Yan Yang Kingdom's face.

The Yin Corpse Sect could not possibly start a war with the Yan Yang Kingdom just for a small Qi Refinement Stage Cultivator like him.

He would let her return and continue being their high and mighty Princess, while he secretly controlled everything.

“Do you have netherworld grass on you?” Lin Yuan suddenly asked.

Ji Hanyou shook her head and replied respectfully, “Reporting to Master, Slave Girl's goal this time was to venture deep into the core of the Demon Falling Valley to search for clues regarding a heaven-piercing spirit treasure. I did not linger much in the peripheral areas, so I did not gather any Spirit Medicine.”

Lin Yuan nodded, asking no further questions.

The three main ingredients for the foundation establishment pill are dragon blood vine, purple firmament ape heart flower, and netherworld grass.

Currently, he still lacked netherworld grass, and he only had one stalk of purple firmament ape heart flower, making the margin for error too low.

Although the evil warding divine thunder pill allowed him to stay here longer, as the Energy Tide inside the Demon Falling Valley ended, the spatial rifts would become increasingly dense and violent, which was ultimately not a long-term solution.

“You, act as my Protector. No one is allowed to approach.”

“Yes, Master.”

Ji Hanyou lowered her head submissively, concealed all her emotions, and silently retreated to the entrance of the Immortal Cave.

Lin Yuan sat cross-legged and flipped his palm.

An ancient, worn-out Jade Slip, one that didn't even have the slightest Spiritual Qi fluctuation, appeared in his palm.

His consciousness sank into it, and a profound set of Hand Seals flowed through his mind.

To forcefully open up three brand new Meridians outside of the existing ones, using Sword Qi as a knife!

This method would allow him to instantly break through the constraints of the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining and reach the Twelfth Layer of Qi Refining.

Lin Yuan moved his fingers, and the Spiritual Power that had just reached Perfection within his body began to circulate according to an unprecedented trajectory.

“Chì!”

A low shout.

He held his fingers together like a sword, and strands of incomparably sharp Sword Qi condensed out of thin air before him, emitting a subtle hum.

A hint of astonishment flashed in Ji Hanyou's beautiful eyes as she guarded the entrance.

With her eyesight, she could naturally tell that Lin Yuan's Cultivation had reached the peak of Qi Refining Perfection, only one thin barrier away from Foundation Establishment.

But what was he doing now?

As she was puzzled, her pupils suddenly contracted the next moment!

Lin Yuan guided his sword-fingers, and those sharp strands of Sword Qi abruptly changed direction, pouring without delay, and forcefully gushing into his own crown!

*Hiss!*

Lin Yuan's body violently trembled!

His aged face instantly flushed purple-red, and the veins on his forehead bulged like twisting earthworms.

Excruciating pain!

The Sword Qi entering his body was like red-hot steel knives brutally stabbing into previously blocked channels, savagely tearing, widening, and carving them out!

It was a torture where flesh and blood were crushed inch by inch, and Meridians were torn apart one by one!

Lin Yuan clenched his jaw so tightly his bones creaked, but the divine light in his deep-set eye sockets became increasingly resolute, even carrying a hint of madness!

Time was infinitely stretched in the midst of extreme pain.

Who knows how long passed.

As the last trace of obstruction in his body was violently pierced through by the raging Sword Qi.

*Boom!*

It was as if some invisible shackles shattered within his body!

An Aura far surpassing the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining erupted from Lin Yuan's body!

His Aura surged dramatically at this instant!

Tenth Layer of Qi Refining!

Success!

Outside the Immortal Cave, Ji Hanyou's exquisite face was filled with indescribable horror and stupefaction.

She felt it clearly.

Lin Yuan's current Aura, in its magnitude, had surpassed any Ninth Layer of Qi Refining she knew of, yet... he genuinely had not stepped into Foundation Establishment!

This was not Half-Step Foundation Establishment!

This was a Realm... that only existed in ancient texts. She had thought it was merely an imagined Realm, but she never expected it to truly exist!

“Tenth Layer... of Qi Refining...”

Ji Hanyou's red lips parted unconsciously, and every word she uttered trembled.

“How... how... how did he do it?!”

Deep in Lin Yuan's eyes, the small golden characters that only he could see quietly refreshed.

[Cultivation: Tenth Layer of Qi Refining: 900/900 (Perfection)]

[Fifth-Grade Alchemist: 0/500 (Can add points)]

[Fourth-Level Fire Control Art: 0/400; Illusion Transformation Art (Perfection)]

[usable attribute points: 812]

[special attribute points: 1]

Lin Yuan slowly exhaled a mouthful of stale air.

The tearing pain had, at this moment, transformed into worthwhile joy.