153: Chapter 153 Another six months later

Half a year later.

On the one-hundredth floor of the Trial Tower, Lin Qing sat cross-legged on a prayer mat, his eyes tightly closed.

He was practicing an eighth-Rank Cultivation Technique, which he had obtained half a year ago by scouring the souls of those three Demon Seeds. He was now practicing the second part, and his Realm had finally broken through to the eighth-Rank Unity Realm a few days ago.

The Breakthrough process was as natural as ever. In his Dantian, within his Spirit Sea, the Medicinal Pill absorbed the power of the Five Elements emitted by the World Core above. During the process of the Spiritual Qi condensing into a solid state, the volume of the Medicinal Pill constantly expanded, and in the end, its diameter even reached half of the entire Spirit Sea.

When the Medicinal Pill grew to this point, it seemed to have finally reached its limit. Its surface began to crack, and then it collapsed piece by piece toward the center, until the Medicinal Pill completely vanished, and a pitch-black space appeared in Lin Qing's Spirit Sea.

Lin Qing probed the pitch-black space with his Divine Thought, but the space was like a bottomless pit; Lin Qing could still feel the existence of his Divine Thought, but he could not sense the boundaries of that space.

The World Core, which had been located above the Medicinal Pill and slowly releasing the power of the Five Elements, suddenly increased the speed at which it released Spiritual Qi, and the five-colored glow became brilliant once again, reaching the level it had been in the underground space.

At that time, Lin Qing was refining a seventh-Rank spirit sword. Over these past six months, Lin Qing had trained all his skills, except for Artifact Refining, to the seventh-Rank Perfection. As for Artifact Refining, he only needed to grind a few dozen more proficiency points to reach the seventh-Rank Perfection state.

However, since he was already at the eighth Rank, Lin Qing immediately began practicing the eighth-Rank Cultivation Technique, putting aside Artifact Refining to make up for it when he had some spare time later.

As the Rank of his skills increased, the time required to gain a single point of proficiency became longer and longer. To improve efficiency, Lin Qing even developed techniques for simultaneous practice, such as using his Divine Thought to control two Talisman brushes to draw Talismans at the same time, or refining three cauldrons of Medicinal Pills simultaneously.

It was this high-intensity training method that allowed his skill cultivation to reach its current level.

Just as he was diligently grinding proficiency for the eighth-Rank Cultivation Technique, the communication token in his Storage Ring began to vibrate. Lin Qing took it out, and the ethereal voice of his Grand-Masters Aunt, Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao, came through.

"Lin Qing, are you not on Juechen Island?"

"Grand-Masters Aunt, I am in seclusion in the Trial Tower in the Disciple area. Is there something the matter?"

On the other end of the token, Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao sighed and said with a hint of helplessness:

"What else could it be? The six-month period has arrived; it is time for us to depart."

"Is your seclusion at a critical juncture? If not, come out and prepare; you can continue practicing on the Flying Boat."

Lin Qing suddenly realized:

"Alright, Grand-Masters Aunt, I will return immediately. But didn't Master say a few months would be enough? Why are we leaving so early? Is there something else going on?"

Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao's tone was somewhat annoyed:

"Your Master only needs a few months to go back and forth because he is strong! Are you satisfied now?"

"Uh... alright!"

Looking at the somewhat messy environment around him, Lin Qing stood up and shook his head; these were all his masterpieces from the past six months. After casually casting a few small Spells, Lin Qing walked down the stairs.

When he reached the sixties floors, Lin Qing encountered two people who had been in Ling Shu's team. They chatted briefly, and Lin Qing learned that Ling Shu had successfully achieved a Breakthrough to the eighth Rank and was now a member of the Yunyin Sequence.

After leaving the Trial Tower, he flew toward Juechen Island, with whispers trailing behind him.

"Senior Brother Lin Qing has come out of seclusion. I heard he stayed in the tower for half a year. As expected of him!"

"It's a pity he didn't activate the Spirit Gathering Array inside the tower, so no one knows which floor he was in seclusion on."

"It must be above the seventieth floor anyway. Last month, before Senior Sister Ling Shu had her Breakthrough, she went to the seventieth floor and didn't see him."

When he returned to Juechen Island, Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao, still dressed in a green dress, was already waiting in the plaza.

"Grand-Masters Aunt."

Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao walked around Lin Qing with her hands behind her back, but couldn't see anything; with Jue Chenzi's Storage Ring present, even Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao couldn't see through him.

"Hmm, I heard you asked for a large number of high-Rank Pill Formula and such before you went into seclusion. You haven't fallen behind in your Realm, have you?"

Lin Qing nodded and proactively released his aura.

"Rest assured, Grand-Masters Aunt, I achieved a Breakthrough to the eighth Rank a few days ago."

Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao's expression stiffened.

"Alright, put it away! I know you're a freak."

"Take care of whatever you need to handle in the next few days. We depart in five days; there are quite a few people this time."

Quite a few people?

Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao saw Lin Qing's confusion and continued to explain:

"Your Master is not the only Dongxuan Cultivator in the Central Continent. The matter regarding that Secret Realm this time has caused quite a stir; it is said that it has not opened in ten thousand years."

"Cultivators from other Sects have also sent the news back. Now, the six major powers of Dongxuan all know about this, and they have all indicated that they will send eighth-Rank Prodigies out to explore. We have simply decided to arrange for some Yunyin Sequence to go along as well."

"The distance from Dongxuan to the Central Continent is too far, and one must cross the endless ocean in between, where many Divine-Grade Yao Beasts lurk. Therefore, for the sake of mutual support, we will be acting together with the Duchuan Sword Sect and the Qingyuan Sect this time."

"Alright, go attend to your business. We depart in five days."

Grand Aunt-Master Qing Yao seemed a bit impatient at the end because she had spoken so much at once, and after finishing, she turned and flew away. However, Lin Qing finally understood the whole story.

Since so many people were traveling together, they would likely be taking a Flying Boat. The journey would be long; would he have to go into seclusion again? Thinking of this, Lin Qing felt a headache coming on.

Regardless, time could not be wasted, so Lin Qing hurriedly ran to the Scripture Pavilion and recorded three more eighth-Rank Cultivation Techniques.

Remembering that it would still be a year before the Secret Realm opened, and not knowing how long it would take to return, he was a bit worried about the people from Luoxia Valley. Without his protection, given that the highest-ranked members of Luoxia Valley were only at the sixth Rank, it would be difficult for them to survive in Chuyun City.

So, he prepared several generous portions of resources and found Ling Shu's team.

"Senior Brother Lin Qing, is there something you need from us?"

Lin Qing did not beat around the bush.

"It is like this: before I came to the Immortal Sect, I had spent some time in a Sect. Later, this Sect was implicated because of me, so I brought them over and settled them in Chuyun City below."

"Now I am going to the Central Continent, and I do not know when I will return. While I am away, I am afraid that someone might bully them, so I would like to ask you to lend a hand when necessary."

After hearing Lin Qing's words, they all solemnly cupped their hands and said:

"Senior Brother Lin Qing, rest assured. We will never forget the sight of you drawing away the God Realm expert from the Demon Court all by yourself. As long as we are alive, we will never let them be bullied in any way."

Lin Qing also solemnly cupped his hands in return.

"Thank you all. However, you do not need to risk your lives for this. If you encounter trouble that you cannot resolve, just contact me."

If they really encountered something they couldn't resolve, Lin Qing still had many communication tokens from eighth-Rank Elders in his possession. If the situation were even more serious, he could contact Jue Chenzi and have a God Realm expert from the Sect intervene. As long as the people from Luoxia Valley weren't mute, nothing would go wrong.

Afterward, Lin Qing exchanged communication tokens with them and forcefully placed the cultivation resources he had brought into their hands.