Chapter 17: Breakthroughs for Both

Jin Zhuyuan, inside the bamboo forest.

Lin Jing and the Pine-Needle Mouse would meditate to rest whenever they were tired, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to recuperate. Once they recovered, they would immediately throw themselves back into the harvesting.

As the patrolling Senior Brother came to inspect, Lin Jing felt that time was running out for them. Both he and the mouse had a premonition that a great crisis might descend at any moment.

Sure enough, they hadn't been working long when two long rainbows streaked across the sky, descending into the bamboo forest and landing right before them.

The arrivals... one was a blue-robed elder with a dark face, the other a black-robed elder with a look of shock and suspicion.

"Elder Yu... and Elder Mo? You've returned?"

Lin Jing and the Pine-Needle Mouse were astonished to see them.

At this moment, Elder Yu felt a toothache upon seeing the ground covered in spirit bamboo.

Was this... something a Qi Refining Level 1 disciple and a Qi Refining Level 3 Pine-Needle Mouse could accomplish?

He wasn't really pained by the loss of spirit stones; it was just that... making a mechanical bamboo dragon didn't require this many materials at all!

"Did you... harvest all of this?" Elder Mo looked at the red flying leaf held by the Pine-Needle Mouse, let out an "eh," and immediately discovered the extraordinary nature of this leaf.

A special spirit plant!

Species unknown.

With this, for the Pine-Needle Mouse, it was like a cultivator picking up a magic treasure; it could indeed enhance magic power. But where did Lin Jing and the others get this leaf?

Moreover, throwing such a flying leaf must consume a massive amount of energy for a Pine-Needle Mouse with such low cultivation. This amount of bamboo was still too exaggerated. Had they been cutting it day and night without rest?

What perseverance.

Suddenly... Elder Mo thought of something, and his heart began to race!

"Reporting to the Elder... yes," Lin Jing said. "In order not to delay the activities of the Dragon Ascension Festival, the Pine-Needle Mouse and I haven't dared to slack off at all these past few days, sleeping only two hours a day."

"Hahahaha! Well done!" The next moment, Elder Mo laughed loudly, then patted Elder Yu on the shoulder. "Old Yu, see how diligent the disciple I brought back is? I estimate this much spirit bamboo is enough for you to build your mechanical dragon, so why not let him go back and rest?"

"Remember not to skimp on the mission rewards..." After saying this, he stepped forward and summoned a cloud to whisk Lin Jing and the Pine-Needle Mouse away, leaving only a bewildered Elder Yu behind.

"Damn it! That old scoundrel Mo Wuya must have given this Longevity Body some special treatment! Otherwise, how could a Qi Refining Level 3 Pine-Needle Mouse achieve this level?" Elder Yu cursed under his breath. "With this much spirit bamboo, it's enough to build a bamboo dragon at the Foundation Establishment level."

"No one is going to have an easy time at this year's Dragon Ascension Festival! I'm going to turn up the intensity for you all!"

Outer Sect courtyard.

Elder Mo brought Lin Jing back and kept sizing him and the Pine-Needle Mouse up, probing, "Where did you get this red flying leaf?"

Lin Jing said, "Elder Mo, this red flying leaf... was created by the Pine-Needle Mouse itself using a divine ability. Not long after I formed a contract with it, it underwent a racial mutation! The disciple guesses it might have mutated in the direction of the rare beasts you once mentioned!"

"Rare beast..." Elder Mo's breathing quickened, his face flushed red. "It really is so."

"Yes," Lin Jing nodded. "We have been waiting for you to return, Elder Mo. May I ask... is its condition normal?"

Elder Mo threw his head back and laughed heartily.

"Six pairs failed, but this time, it finally succeeded. Hahahaha..."

Damn!

Watching Elder Mo's crazed appearance, Lin Jing and the Pine-Needle Mouse both took a step back.

A moment later, Elder Mo stared at Lin Jing and the Pine-Needle Mouse again. "What is its innate divine ability?!"

Lin Jing said, "Glazed Immortal Pupils. It possesses the property of turning stones into gold, capable of synthesizing a certain amount of low-level resources into another type of high-level resource!"

"Glazed Immortal Pupils?" Elder Mo said. "This red flying leaf must have been synthesized by the Immortal Pupils."

"Yes!"

"Can you demonstrate it for me?" Elder Mo looked at the Pine-Needle Mouse.

At this moment, the Pine-Needle Mouse, upon hearing this, immediately put on a panting, exhausted look, its body swaying as if about to collapse, its eyes filled with fatigue as it looked at Elder Mo.

"That's right, harvesting spirit bamboo must have consumed a great deal of your energy." As he spoke, he took out a jade bottle, poured out a white pill, and tossed it to the Pine-Needle Mouse.

"This is a 'Spirit-Replenishing Pill.' After taking it, your state will be restored to its peak!"

"Zhi?!" The Pine-Needle Mouse happily caught it and crunched the pill down. The next instant, the power of the pill turned into a stream of spiritual energy, flowing throughout its body. Unexpectedly, after eating this pill, the Pine-Needle Mouse didn't just recover its spiritual power to its prime; green light swirled in its pupils, its aura surged, and it actually broke through to Qi Refining Level 4 in one go!

Furthermore, Lin Jing, who had a blood contract with the Pine-Needle Mouse, finally felt what the so-called beast-taming feedback was like. With the Pine-Needle Mouse's breakthrough, his blood began to churn, spiritual energy surged within his body, and his cultivation realm actually broke through the barrier of Qi Refining Level 1, reaching Level 2!

Both had broken through!

Regarding the Pine-Needle Mouse's breakthrough, Elder Mo wasn't very surprised. Not to mention its "cultivation" in the bamboo forest and its own talent, just the fact that it was a rare beast... he wouldn't be surprised by anything that happened to it!

Having broken through to Qi Refining Level 4, the Pine-Needle Mouse returned to a state full of energy. It wanted to synthesize another red flying leaf, but suddenly, it was surprised to find that the spirit beans planted in the courtyard were nearly ripe.

Seeing this, the Pine-Needle Mouse, very curious about what the effect would be after synthesizing the spirit beans, quickly picked and shelled them. Two, four, six... soon, a full pile of over a hundred spirit beans had been collected.

"Spirit beans, basic spirit plants, effects same as spirit rice. After eating, they can replenish a small amount of spiritual energy." Elder Mo nodded at the sight.

And the Pine-Needle Mouse began to use the Glazed Immortal Pupils on the spirit beans!

It didn't know if it would succeed.

But fortunately, it was very lucky. The Glazed Immortal Pupils shone with immortal light, and the pile of brown, peanut-like spirit beans on the ground was immediately wrapped in emerald light. Following that... they were synthesized into a single, fragrant, spirit-filled green spirit bean!

"Elder Mo, this is the Glazed Immortal Pupils. However, this is the Pine-Needle Mouse's first time synthesizing spirit beans, and we don't know what the effect of this new spirit bean will be." Lin Jing examined the green spirit bean, feeling... it seemed very fragrant and definitely highly nourishing.

Looking at its vibrant appearance, it might have healing properties, reminding Lin Jing of "Senzu Beans."

"Hmm." Elder Mo waved his sleeve, and a black bear appeared in the courtyard, looking dazed.

"Master, what for?" the Black Bear Monster asked, seemingly having just been sleeping.

"There's a good thing there, go taste it." Elder Mo pointed to the green spirit bean on the ground.

"What? Let me see!" The Black Bear Monster was startled, its nose twitched, and it immediately picked up the green spirit bean and put it in its mouth.

The next moment.

Boom!

The spirit bean exploded. Its power was not trivial; the mutated spirit bean actually had the effect of a spiritual energy bomb and could not be eaten. ===== CHAPTER 18 =====