Chapter 209: Luo Yue

The wine was not spicy; instead, it was slightly sweet, distinctly different from the tasteless Heaven Defying Spirit Liquid. However, upon entering the stomach, the wine immediately transformed into waves of heat that circulated throughout the entire body in the blink of an eye.

Wang Lin could clearly feel that the spiritual power within his body had actually increased, causing him to be momentarily stunned.

Cheng Xian laughed heartily. As he bounced along on the Spiritual Ape nearby, he turned back and said, "This is Spiritual Spring Water that my Master specifically prepared for Alchemy. Looking across the entire Chu State, this kind of water is rare. I stole quite a bit of it and used the fruits these two Spiritual Apes have treasured for years to brew this wine. Brother, if it were anyone else, I wouldn't let them drink such a good thing."

As soon as he finished speaking, the two Spiritual Apes immediately roared several times, showing intense indignation, clearly dissatisfied with Cheng Xian's actions.

Before long, with the Spiritual Apes taking a detour, the Eastern Courtyard, which should have been quite far away, slowly appeared before Wang Lin's eyes.

This entire Eastern Courtyard was completely different from the Southern Courtyard. It floated entirely in mid-air, covered by clouds. If one didn't look carefully, they wouldn't be able to see the towers and dwellings within, which were made entirely of white jade.

Immortal Cranes danced in the clouds, soaring between the white mist. Waves of wonderful sounds, like celestial music, drifted out from within the Eastern Courtyard. Moreover, upon approaching the Eastern Courtyard, bursts of fragrant aroma slowly dispersed from the sky.

Cheng Xian gazed blankly at the Eastern Courtyard in mid-air. After a long time, he sighed and muttered to himself, "Almost all the female Cultivators of the Cloud Heaven Sect are in this Eastern Courtyard. How many beauties must be inside? If I, Cheng Xian, could live in the Eastern Courtyard for a year or two and get close to them one by one, my life would be complete."

Wang Lin's eyes flickered slightly, disregarding Cheng Xian's muttering. He instantly noticed that beneath the floating Eastern Courtyard, there was an extremely powerful Restriction. The purpose of this Restriction was clearly to make the Eastern Courtyard float, and it also included a certain Illusion Technique.

Just then, a group of Immortal Cranes flew out from the clouds, carrying seven or eight young girls. These girls were all beautiful as flowers with shapely figures. Especially the girl leading them, whose appearance was even superior. She rode her Immortal Crane and, upon arriving in front of Cheng and Wang, sternly shouted, "Eastern Courtyard Forbidden Land! Entry is strictly prohibited!"

After saying this, she glared fiercely at Cheng Xian and said menacingly, "Cheng Xian, why are you here again? I'm warning you, if you dare to pester Senior Sister Tong again, don't blame this girl for being impolite!"

Cheng Xian curled his lips. While casually stroking the fur of the Spiritual Ape beneath him, he said leisurely, "Cheng Ling, we're from the same village, why be like this? I even held you when you were little, don't you remember? I clearly recall that when I held you, you even peed on me."

Upon hearing this, Wang Lin immediately patted the Spiritual Ape's head. The ape, being intelligent, immediately retreated a few steps backward.

The young girl in mid-air immediately blushed, but her face quickly turned green. Her eyes erupted with raging fury. Her trembling hand slapped her Storage Pouch, and instantly three Flying Swords flew out. The girl angrily shouted, "You dare mention that again? I'm not done with you!"

The three Flying Swords sped toward Cheng Xian like lightning.

Cheng Xian leaned back, dodging the Flying Swords. He flipped his right hand, pulled out a Jade Slip, and slightly released spiritual power, immediately forming a Light Screen for defense around himself. At the same time, he continued to tease, "Don't be angry, it was just a little pee, no big deal. Your Xian Gege doesn't mind. If you like, you can pee now…"

This time, before he could finish, the girl was already furious. She gritted her teeth, and her left hand suddenly moved. Three bells were tied to her wrist, and as she shook her hand, bursts of crisp bell sounds immediately rang out.

Wang Lin's gaze sharpened. This time, the Spiritual Ape beneath him retreated several steps immediately without waiting for his command. Simultaneously, Wang Lin secretly moved his right hand and deployed a Restriction horizontally in front of himself.

All of this was completed in an extremely short time; Wang Lin finished everything almost the instant the girl surnamed Cheng waved her wrist.

At this moment, bursts of crisp bell sounds suddenly appeared. The sound was initially faint, but it quickly grew louder, eventually transforming into thunderous booms, like spring thunder, crashing down.

The girl surnamed Cheng was clearly enraged and extended her hatred to Wang Lin, who was with Cheng Xian. In her opinion, anyone associated with Cheng Xian, one of the Cloud Heaven Sect's Three Scourges, couldn't be good. Thus, half of the attack swept toward Wang Lin.

Cheng Xian cried out in surprise and forced a smile, thinking that this time he had taken the joke too far. This little girl, forgetting the old favor of peeing on him as a child, actually used the Cloud Bell.

The Light Screen in front of him shook a few times under the thunderous bell attack before immediately collapsing. Cheng Xian took a deep breath and spat out a streak of yellow light. As soon as the yellow light appeared, it transformed into a small Pill Cauldron. Waves of medicinal fragrance emanated from within it, and almost instantly, it turned into a Spiritual Ape.

The body of this Spiritual Ape was not large, but a monstrous fierce Qi emanated from it. As soon as this creature appeared, the ape beneath Cheng Xian immediately roared, violently shook Cheng Xian off its back, and knelt down with a thud, kowtowing toward the Spiritual Ape formed by the Medicinal Fragrance Qi.

At the same time, the small ape beneath Wang Lin did the same, except Wang Lin was not thrown off like Cheng Xian but dismounted on his own.

The Spiritual Ape formed by the Medicinal Fragrance Qi of the Pill Cauldron paid no attention to the thunderous bell sounds. Its abdomen swelled, and it suddenly blew out a breath of air. Instantly, all the descending bell sounds were swept back.

The girl surnamed Cheng immediately turned pale and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, glaring fiercely at Cheng Xian. At the same time, her sisters behind her also shouted in anger and successively summoned their Magic Treasures.

As for the bell sounds that reached Wang Lin, they suddenly paused in front of him, then mysteriously dissipated silently. Although Wang Lin's cultivation was low, his eyesight and Restrictions remained. He could still block the Magic Treasure released by a mere Foundation Establishment Stage little girl using Restrictions. The points he chose for the Restriction were all the weak spots of the bell sound attack.

The Spiritual Ape formed by the Medicinal Fragrance Qi suddenly turned its head, looked at Wang Lin with surprise, and then its body dissipated again, finally reverting to the Pill Cauldron, which Cheng Xian sucked back into his mouth.

"Don't attack! I didn't come here to fight, I'm just accompanying him to find someone, alas." Cheng Xian said with a bitter expression, thinking to himself that it seemed he wouldn't be able to sneak inside this time. It was all because of his mouth. If he hadn't provoked that Cheng Ling girl just now, he wouldn't have this trouble.

"Who are you looking for? Don't tell me it's Senior Sister Tong!" Cheng Ling took a Medicinal Pill from her Storage Pouch and consumed it. Her complexion returned to normal, and she looked at Wang Lin, speaking coldly, a deep look of disgust visible in her eyes.

Wang Lin's expression was calm. He glanced at the girl and slowly said, "I am not looking for Senior Sister Tong."

"He's looking for Luo Yue!" Cheng Xian quickly interjected from the side.

The girl surnamed Cheng frowned, looked at Wang Lin, and said fiercely, "What business do you have with Junior Sister Luo Yue?"

Wang Lin chuckled, looked at her, and said, "What concern is it of yours?"

Fury surged in the girl's eyes, but she quickly suppressed it. After a soft snort, she slapped her Storage Pouch with her right hand, and a Jade Slip flew out. She held it, focused her Divine Thought briefly, and then threw it backward. The Jade Slip instantly turned into lightning and swiftly flew into the Eastern Courtyard within the clouds in the sky.

Having done this, the girl turned her gaze toward Cheng Xian and said viciously, "Cheng Xian, I'm telling you, if you mention those things again, I'll go home and tell your father that you bullied me!"

Cheng Xian was startled, his expression slightly changing. He quickly smiled obsequiously, "Why bother, Cousin? We're family, aren't we? When you were little, I…" He stopped himself quickly there, seeing Cheng Ling's expression change again, and hurriedly added, "I've always taken especially good care of you! Didn't I get you all the good food and fun things? Your Cousin really came today to accompany him to find Luo Yue… and, incidentally, to come see you, Cousin."

Cheng Ling snorted softly. After glaring at Cheng Xian, she ignored him and spoke in a low voice with the sisters beside her, occasionally glancing toward Wang Lin.

Cheng Xian sighed inwardly. He walked over to Wang Lin, gave him a wry smile, and whispered, "Brother, it's all my mouth's fault, alas. I can't help myself; whenever I see this girl, I just can't resist mocking her. I didn't realize it was her on duty today. If I had known, we should have just come tomorrow."

Wang Lin's expression was calm. He slowly said, "I've done all the helping I can. Whether Luo Yue comes out later or not, I consider my promise to you fulfilled."

Cheng Xian sighed, slapped his Storage Pouch with his right hand, took out a Voice Transmission Jade Slip, and threw it to Wang Lin. He was about to speak, but just then, an Immortal Crane suddenly flew out from the Eastern Courtyard in mid-air. A stunningly beautiful young girl sat upon it, her eyes wide open, staring incredulously at Wang Lin on the ground.

After flying closer, the girl leaped off, descending from mid-air, and asked Wang Lin in surprise, "You came to find me?"

At this moment, the girl surnamed Cheng frowned and said, "Junior Sister Yue, do you know this person?"

Luo Yue quickly turned and said, "Yes, I know him, Senior Sister. He entered the School at the same time as me."

The girl surnamed Cheng glanced at Wang Lin again, then warned Cheng Xian with her eyes, before leaving far away with her sisters. On the ground, only three people remained.

"How did you know my name?" Luo Yue blinked her eyes, not even looking at Cheng Xian, only staring at Wang Lin as she asked again.

Wang Lin pondered for a moment, then said plainly, "If it is convenient for you, take this person into the Eastern Courtyard. If you can see Senior Sister Tong, that is best. If not, then forget it." After speaking, he turned and left without looking back, leaving Cheng Xian and Luo Yue standing dumbfounded, staring blankly at Wang Lin's retreating figure, unable to speak for a long time.

"What the heck? You called me out just for this?" Luo Yue stamped her foot and complained loudly. Unfortunately, Wang Lin did not look back, and his figure gradually disappeared into the distance.

Cheng Xian sighed inwardly, thinking that Brother Wang Lin was indeed an expert. To completely ignore such a little beauty right in front of him—such a Realm was likely something he himself could never reach in this lifetime.

“Junior Sister Yueyue… Senior Sister, do you have time right now? Wang Lin and I are great buddies. After he joined the School, I took good care of him. Could you perhaps lend a small hand regarding what he just said?” Cheng Xian took a deep breath and asked Luo Yue with a forced smile.

“You're the old person, hmph.” Luo Yue glanced at Cheng Xian and said discontentedly. After speaking, she glared fiercely in the direction Wang Lin had disappeared, muttered a few words under her breath, then turned and shook the bell on her wrist. Immediately, an Immortal Crane flew down from mid-air and landed beside her. The woman lightly leaped onto the crane and soared into the sky.

Cheng Xian wore a bitter expression and sighed. But just then, Luo Yue's melodious, silver-bell-like voice came from the air: “Follow me yourself. This is the only time; don't expect it again.”

Cheng Xian was immediately overjoyed, quickly got up, and followed the Immortal Crane, heading toward the Eastern Courtyard.

As for Wang Lin, after leaving the Eastern Courtyard, he returned all the way to his Northern Courtyard residence. Upon entering the courtyard, nothing inside had changed, and the Restriction he had set before leaving showed no signs of being triggered.

After returning to the courtyard, Wang Lin took out the Pill Furnace Li Muwan had given him, placed it inside his room, and once again began his life of Alchemy and cultivation.

He knew time was pressing and he had to raise his cultivation as quickly as possible. He was unwilling to acknowledge Li Muwan, as so many years had passed, and Wang Lin could not analyze how much of their past affection still remained.

Before reaching the Nascent Soul, Wang Lin did not plan to reveal his identity. Otherwise, if something unexpected happened, the Cloud Heaven Sect identity he had painstakingly acquired might be destroyed in an instant.

That was why Wang Lin had not acknowledged her earlier. Furthermore, in his view, 200 years had passed, and people and things had changed; there was truly no need to forcibly alter anything. It was best to let things take their natural course.

As for Li Muwan knowing the name Ma Liang, the identity of his previous Physical Body, this was easily explained. After all, 200 years was enough time for anyone dedicated enough to investigate and find out anything, and a mere name was not a matter of great importance.

Of course, if Li Muwan had investigated and found out his name was Wang Lin, then that would be strange.

Wang Lin felt a complex emotion toward Li Muwan. In fact, from the moment he stepped onto the path of cultivation until now, although he had met many female Cultivators, Li Muwan was the only woman who had lived with him for several years.

In fact, Wang Lin had once felt a stirring in his heart for this woman, but that feeling was forcibly erased almost as soon as it appeared.

At this moment, meeting an old acquaintance again, Wang Lin's heart was extremely complicated. After a long silence in the room, Wang Lin sighed softly, put aside all distracting thoughts, and began to Cultivate peacefully.

Time slowly passed; months flashed by once more.

Zhou Lin's secluded cultivation still hadn't ended. During these few months, Wang Lin's Alchemy technique had made significant progress. However, perhaps he truly lacked much talent for Alchemy, as it took ninety-three uses of the Pill Furnace gifted by Li Muwan before he successfully mastered the control of the Earth Fire.

Therefore, he began to refine Medicinal Pills according to some of the Pill Formulas left in the Jade Slip. All the Pill Formulas recorded in Zhou Lin's Jade Slip were for Half-Grade Spirit Pills.

Using the Spiritual Plants from the courtyard, Wang Lin tried them one by one, but the failure rate for Alchemy was too high. He only succeeded once in almost every ten attempts, and sometimes not even once.

If this continued, no matter how many Spiritual Plants and Materials were in the courtyard, they could not withstand such wasteful usage.

Finally, because one type of herb had run out, Wang Lin pondered and substituted it with Spirit Liquid. To his surprise, the Alchemy was successful.

Moreover, it wasn't just successful once. As long as Spirit Liquid was included in the Alchemy process, the success rate would rise to an incredible level. Almost nine out of ten attempts would succeed. After multiple trials, Wang Lin confirmed another function of the Spirit Liquid: it increased the success rate of Alchemy.

Because of this, coupled with the combined effect of the Spirit Liquid and the Heaven Defying Bead, his cultivation continuously climbed, already reaching the Fifteenth Layer of Qi Condensation, just a hair's breadth away from Foundation Establishment.

Wang Lin now clearly remembered that when his main body attempted Foundation Establishment back then, every attempt ended in failure. Situ Nan eventually said there were only three methods: first, obtaining a Foundation Establishment Pill. Second, using the Demonic Path Divine Ability technique, the Great Base Seizing Technique. Third, requiring a Cultivator of the Nascent Soul Stage or higher to personally infuse and transmit power to help achieve Foundation Establishment.

Foundation Establishment Pills were too rare, and a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator would certainly not help him establish his base. Therefore, Wang Lin, at the time, chose the Demonic Path Divine Ability, the Great Base Seizing Technique.

Due to various coincidences and mishaps, the target for his base seizing was Teng Li, the grandson of Teng Huayuan!

Now, his Clone was once again at this stage. However, this time, he did not need to use the Great Base Seizing Technique, nor did he need a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator to help him establish his base, because he had already mastered the art of Alchemy.

However, the Pill Formula for the Foundation Establishment Pill was not so easy to obtain. Originally, this pill should have been refined by the Master and gifted to the disciple, but Zhou Lin was currently in secluded cultivation. He could never have imagined that Wang Lin, in less than half a year, would leap from a beginner at the Third Layer of Qi Condensation to the Great Perfection Realm of Qi Condensation.

On this day, Wang Lin remained silent in the courtyard for a moment, then flipped his right hand, taking out the Sound Transmission Jade Slip Cheng Xian had given him previously. Over these months, Cheng Xian had visited several times, chatting at length with Wang Lin on each occasion.

According to Cheng Xian, under Luo Yue's subtle guidance that time, he finally saw Senior Sister Tong again and had a rather pleasant time interacting with her.

Wang Lin submerged his Divine Thought, left a message inside the Sound Transmission Jade Slip, and then tossed it out. The Jade Slip immediately flew away. Wang Lin was not anxious; he sat cross-legged quietly in the courtyard, waiting for Cheng Xian.

Not long after, several beast roars came from afar. Immediately following, a Spirit Ape moved quickly, leaping rapidly from the distance and jumping directly into the courtyard from outside. Cheng Xian, sitting on the Spirit Ape, immediately smiled upon seeing Wang Lin and asked, “Brother, what do you need me for?”

Wang Lin looked up and slowly asked, “Do you have the Pill Formula for the Foundation Establishment Pill?”

Cheng Xian was stunned and replied, “The Foundation Establishment Pill is a First-Grade Spirit Pill, not something people like us can refine. I don't have the Pill Formula for that thing.”

Wang Lin frowned slightly, sighed inwardly, and thought that he would have to go find Li Muwan again.

“However, since you asked, Brother, I must help, right? Although I don't have it, my Master definitely does. Wait for me for three days! I can certainly steal it within three days!” Cheng Xian smiled proudly. After chatting with Wang Lin for a while longer, he looked up at the sky and immediately said, “Senior Sister Tong invited me out to meet today, so let's stop chatting, Brother, I'm leaving! Don't worry about the Foundation Establishment Pill Formula; leave it to me.” With that, he excitedly rode the unwilling Spirit Ape and hurried away.

The time did not take three days as Cheng Xian had claimed. At noon the next day, Cheng Xian didn't come; instead, the larger Spirit Ape arrived. After roaring a few times outside Wang Lin's courtyard, it dropped a Jade Slip and turned to leave.

When Wang Lin came out, he only saw the back of the Spirit Ape. Suddenly, Wang Lin's eyes narrowed. Staring at the ape's quickly disappearing figure, he immediately noticed something was wrong: the ape's right foot was clearly injured, and its movements were unnatural, as if it dared not exert force.

Wang Lin lowered his head, picked up the Jade Slip, pondered for a moment, then turned and returned to the courtyard.

Over the next ten days, Wang Lin spent almost all his time on Alchemy. The Foundation Establishment Pill was a First-Grade Spirit Pill, and with Wang Lin's current Alchemy technique, the failure rate for refining it was extremely high.

However, after adding the Spirit Liquid, the success rate immediately improved significantly, though it was still inferior to refining the Great Yuan Nurturing Pill. When Spirit Liquid was added to the Yuan Nurturing Pill, nine out of ten attempts succeeded, whereas for the Foundation Establishment Pill, only five or six out of ten attempts succeeded.

Wang Lin pondered for a moment, analyzing that the higher the quality of the Spirit Pill, the less effective the Spirit Liquid was in increasing the success rate of Alchemy.

However, the Heaven Defying Bead itself did not possess complete Five Elements. Over these past few hundred years, Wang Lin had searched for the missing Five Elements, but these types of Five Elements were extremely hard to find. One must remember that achieving Great Perfection in the Fire attribute back then required absorbing an entire Desolate Beast.

Consequently, it was too difficult to complete the remaining three attributes: Metal, Wood, and Earth. At least so far, Wang Lin had not discovered any relatively effective method.

Among these, only the Water attribute was relatively easy. Besides that, the Wood attribute was also acceptable. At the very least, although the Wood attribute had not yet reached Perfection, seven leaves had appeared on the Heaven Defying Bead so far.

Aside from those, the Metal and Earth attributes showed no signs of movement whatsoever. Wang Lin had tried several methods, but ultimately they were useless.

Wang Lin already had a deep understanding of the Spirit Liquid produced by the Heaven Defying Bead. Before the Water attribute reached Perfection, the quality of the Spirit Liquid differed greatly from when the Water attribute was perfected.

Furthermore, after the Fire attribute was also perfected, the quality of the Spirit Liquid instantly doubled, a stark difference from before.

Thus, as long as the Five Elements were complete, setting aside what changes the Heaven Defying Bead might undergo, the Spirit Liquid it produced would likely also increase the success rate for high-quality Medicinal Pills.

Only two Foundation Establishment Pills could be produced per furnace, and the refining time required a full day. Ten days later, Wang Lin had collected all the Spiritual Plants and Materials for the Foundation Establishment Pill in the entire courtyard, ultimately refining thirteen Foundation Establishment Pills.

The innate talent of Wang Lin's Clone was similar to that of Wang Lin's main body—both were mediocre and lacked any special qualities. Therefore, if he only had one Foundation Establishment Pill, Wang Lin truly could not be sure of success. That was why he prepared so many, to continue using them in case of failure.

After all preparations were complete, Wang Lin took a deep breath, touched his right hand to his brow, and entered the Heaven Defying Space. Not long after he entered the space, a Spirit Ape anxiously arrived outside the courtyard. It was covered in blood, bearing multiple sword wounds. After roaring several times, it hurried away in disappointment.

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Short by a few hundred characters, I really can't write any more.