The sun had climbed high into the sky by the third gong, and Lin Xianzhi, who had been recuperating in the cave, finally woke up. He called over Lin Shiming and the others, one by one.
Once again, he began the spirit calling. It was the sa unnad spirit plate that had, at so unknown ti, appeared in Lin Xianzhi's hands.
Just like the last ti, Lin Xianzhi executed the exceedingly complex spirit calling art. The spirit plate shone brilliantly, a dragon-like spiritual energy roaring like a dragon's chant surged towards the heavens.
Then, this dragon-shaped spiritual energy dived forcefully and burrowed into the ground where the spirit soil was located.
The surrounding spiritual energy began to climb again.
Compared to the Second Rank Superior Grade Spirit Vein, the spirit calling proved more difficult. Beads of sweat started to form on Lin Xianzhi's forehead, his furrowed brows betraying the challenge of the task.
Finally, another Spirit Art was cast. A dragon's cry was heard and the surrounding spiritual energy slowly began to diminish.
A yellowish-brown dragon-shaped spiritual energy, having grown significantly larger, flew into the spirit plate.
"Capture!" Lin Xianzhi put away the spirit plate. With this action, their journey to Qingyun was essentially concluded.
Without delay, the group of five continued on their spirit boat flying away from the Qingyun Mountain Range.
They joined the Great Elder and others by the side of an old hillock.
Lin Yuqi and Lin Houshou's injuries had improved slightly, but were still quite serious. They needed to return to Fangmu Mountain for quiet recuperation.
However, the emotions of the Lin Family mbers grew heavier on the return journey; there were fewer of the "Hou" generation now.
The scenes from the outward journey were still vivid in their mory, but upon returning, everything seed worlds apart.
Lin Shiming sat in a corner of the spirit boat, gazing at the distant clouds flickering across the blue sky.
He was overwheld with emotions.
When they returned to Fangmu Mountain, it was already two days later. Qingyun Mountain Range was closer to Qingyun Market than to the Lin Family, and it was only because Lin Xianzhi maneuvered the Third Rank spirit boat that they managed to arrive within two days.
As soon as they returned to Fangmu Mountain, Lin Xianzhi ordered a lockdown of the mountain and strictly forbade any family cultivators from leaving – even those with important tasks outside were to hide their identities.
With the debacle concerning the Huang Family, they could not possibly remain inactive. Even if they had covered up their tracks well in silencing their victims, the Huang Family would still suspect the Lin Family first; there was no doubt about that.
In addition, Lin Xianzhi instructed Lin Houyong to make a trip to Qingyun Market and deliver a storage bag to his senior fellow disciple, Xie An.
Then he ordered Lin Houyuan to handle the aftermath for the fallen cultivators. For those with direct cultivator relatives, their belongings and compensation would be handed over to their direct kin. If the direct relative had no spirit root, the details would be recorded. Should any descendants with a spirit root erge, they would be entitled to inherit the spirit stones and properties.
This was also crucial, for a family to have cohesion, winning the hearts of the people was a must!
Once the orders were given, the Lin Family once again plunged into a frenzy of cultivation.
Those who had been to Qingyun Mountain Range naturally felt a sense of urgency and devoted themselves fully to cultivation.
Those who had not, although unaware of the incident with the Huang Family, still envied the wealth of those who had returned, and their cultivation beca much more diligent out of a sense of competition.
Most notably, Lin Shimo and Lin Shijie almost simultaneously announced they were entering closed-door cultivation.
Lin Shiming, on the other hand, was not in a rush. Cultivation should be done in moderation, and having already engaged in arduous cultivation in Qingtao Mountain, he considered this a mont of hard-earned leisure.
His imdiate concern was to heal his injuries, and on the return journey, his seventh granduncle had already advised him not to be in a hurry to break through to the later stages of Qi Cultivation, but instead to wait for the surge of spiritual energy when the spirit vein advanced.
On the second day, with his beast nurturing pills exhausted, Lin Shiming returned to the Pill Pavilion. In the Earth Fire Hall of the family, just like before, Lin Yuqi was educating a few alchemy apprentices.
The stern expression silenced the few apprentices, who hung their heads without saying a word.
"Second Grandpa!" Lin Shiming called out softly.
As the latter turned his head and saw Lin Shiming, he waved his hand again, and the apprentices, like grasping at straws, quickly packed up the spiritual dicines and went to the adjacent hall.
"Shiming, are we out of Beast Rearing Pills again?" Lin Yuqi replied to Lin Shiming in an even tone. After seeing Lin Shiming nod, he took out several jade bottles from his storage bag, which contained the Beast Rearing Pills.
"It's the sa as before, I'll deduct from your contribution points!"
Lin Shiming nodded, took out his family token, which currently had over ten thousand contribution points. He wasn't worried about the deduction.
When the points were deducted, Lin Yuqi asked Lin Shiming another question:
"Shiming, what are your thoughts on alchemy?"
Lin Shiming was sowhat puzzled by the question, but without much thought, he answered:
"Of course, becoming an alchemist is a dream co true. After all, cultivation cannot be separated from the four words: wealth, companions, Dharma, and location. Becoming an alchemist ans you don't have to worry about spirit stones and can also create value for the clan. And what's more, you have the guidance of an alchemy master?"
Deep down, Lin Shiming still harbored the desire to beco an alchemist.
And he had system prompts that could help him avoid taking many detours.
However, due to the slow speed of his cultivation and the fear that he wouldn't reach Foundation Establishnt by the age of sixty, Lin Shiming had put off considering it for now. Once he had established his foundation and had sufficient lifespan, he would learn and master all that was necessary.
After hearing Lin Shiming's response, Lin Yuqi nodded appreciatively, feeling sowhat moved. Then, he sighed again, and suddenly spoke:
"What do you think about Shitao becoming an alchemist?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Shiming imdiately realized that there was more to his second grandpa's words.
It seed that in the past two years, Lin Yuqi had probably been urging Lin Shitao to learn alchemy without much success.
However, to his understanding, although she was a talented alchemist, Lin Shitao, who was already at the third level of Qi Cultivation, was not keen on alchemy. Instead, she had a passionate love for spirit plants and had been following Lin Shiqi in taking care of the Spirit Peach Trees on Fangmu Mountain.
The fragrance of peach blossoms over the mountain and the sea of flowers in full bloom during spring had drawn much praise from the Lin Family elders.
Lin Shiming hadn't answered yet.
On the other side, Lin Yuqi took another long breath, feeling a sense of weary helplessness:
"Shiming, your second grandpa is getting old. In twenty more years, I don't know if I'll be able to see the day our family concocts a third-rank elixir!"
Having said that, he looked towards the Earth Fire.
The Earth Fire burned vigorously, and without anyone controlling it, the flas would sotis leap very high and sotis fall very low.
In that mont, Lin Shiming saw helplessness in the old man's eyes, as well as his worry about the family's future alchemists.
Alchemy was a difficult skill for Qi Refinent Realm cultivators, especially those without talent. It's possible that years or even decades would pass without any achievent in the art. Such delays could potentially ruin one's path to Foundation Establishnt, leaving no possibility to reach it. This was generally why cultivators were not enthusiastic about alchemy.
Aside from those with excellent talent, fast learners, or those with Dual or Third Spirit Roots who were confident about their speed of cultivation, generally only those with Quintuple or Fourth Spirit Roots, who knew there was no hope on their path and were looking to find a different way, would consider it.
But for higher-level cultivators, those in the Foundation Establishnt or Purple Mansion Realm, having a skill was much more common. After all, by this ti cultivators had enough lifespan, and seeking further breakthroughs required more resources and experience.
"Second Grandpa, Shiming will try to persuade Shitao!" Lin Shiming, looking at Lin Yuqi's barely open eyes gazing at the Earth Fire and thinking of the family's situation, spoke out.
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