Chapter 29: Inner Sect Assessment

"Absurd!"

The news of Lin Jing eating and drinking in the outer sect cafeteria reached many people's ears, including Elder Li Hai, who formed the Demon Hunting Hall.

Learning that it was indeed Elder Yu who was opening the green light, he said: "This Lin Jing is a special physique, right? Even if it is a special physique, this preferential treatment is too much."

"The more talented disciples like this, the more they should grow in huge training. Even if they go out to practice, the missions are chosen by the disciples themselves. He feels that such a method cannot cultivate strong people at all."

"So, he founded the Demon Hunting Hall. Every few years, he will recruit a batch of disciples from the outer sect to join."

"These Demon Hunting Hall disciples will not cultivate in the sect, but are thrown into the wild wilderness by Elder Li, letting them grow in the slaughter with demon beasts, life and death depending on fate."

"Because they cannot cultivate in a comfortable environment, their cultivation might not be very high, but in terms of life-and-death slaughter, they are indeed very powerful. Senior Brother He Yiming is no match at all."

"Why is Senior Sister telling me this?" Lin Jing said: "They wouldn't want to come and trouble me, would they... If so, Senior Sister can help me convey that I also feel Elder Li's method can cultivate stronger people."

"But it might be a bit wasteful of disciples and pet beasts."

Senior Sister Caixin smiled bitterly: "No. Junior Brother Lin Jing, what you said is actually correct. How can closed-door cultivation be better than life-and-death training to improve strength? The death rate... Elder Li took dozens of people three years ago, and only four people came back alive now."

"Our Beast Taming Sect is not a demonic sect, it is impossible to promote this cultivation method on a large scale."

"And I am visiting Junior Brother today... actually, I want to ask Junior Brother, can the red flying leaves you took out when fighting the bamboo dragon be sold to this little girl?"

"My contracted pet beast is a tree bear, and it also masters the flying leaf technique. We have tried using leaves of various spirit plants as flying leaves, but none of them have the destructive effect of the red flying leaves used by your Pine-Needle Mouse at that time."

"There are still a few months until the annual inner sect assessment. The return of these Demon Hunting Hall disciples will inevitably increase the difficulty of the inner sect assessment significantly. I want to increase my strength as much as possible before the inner sect assessment."

After Senior Sister Caixin finished speaking, Lin Jing understood, but he said regretfully: "I'm very sorry, because of some special reasons, those red leaves can only be used by ourselves."

Lin Jing didn't lie. The red leaves synthesized by the Pine-Needle Mouse have an effect of "heart-to-heart connection" with it, so it can "control as it wishes." Under this "mind control," the power and speed of the flying leaves are also greatly improved. Even if it didn't practice much, at Qi Refining Level 5, it could control 10 red leaves at the same time, but if changed to other demon beasts, there is no such binding effect.

"Is that so..." Senior Sister Caixin sighed and said: "Sorry to bother you, Junior Brother Lin Jing."

After speaking, she left. Lin Jing closed the courtyard door, intending to continue reading.

"Hehe." Who knew, at this time, a strange laugh came from the courtyard.

A black bear monster wearing a white Taoist robe appeared in Lin Jing's courtyard at some point.

"I remember that girl, she seems to come from a small cultivation family. She was born weak and not suitable for normal practice, so her family sent her to the Beast Taming Sect."

"Kid, your Dao heart is very firm! A beautiful Senior Sister asks for help, and you are completely unmoved! I think you will definitely be able to achieve something in cultivation!"

"The most important thing is that as a Longevity Body, you are indeed not suitable for finding an ordinary Taoist companion. In the future, try to find a female cultivator with a high realm, so at least she won't hang up too early before you!"

Lin Jing looked at Elder Black Bear speechlessly and said: "You suddenly came over, is there anything?"

"The Pine-Needle Mouse hoarded a box of red leaves, and it couldn't use them all. If they could be sold, I would have wanted to sell them long ago. They really can only be used by itself."

"Nothing important." Elder Black Bear looked at the mechanical gears, parts, and crooked turtle toys in the courtyard, and said: "Learning Mechanical Art these days? Not bad, it looks like it."

"I'm here to remind you."

"Didn't that little girl just say? There are still a few months until the inner sect assessment. Although you are still a bit far from Qi Refining Level 7, that Pine-Needle Mouse, with its aptitude, if the resources are sufficient, it might be able to reach Qi Refining Level 7 and take you to participate in the inner sect assessment!"

"After entering the inner sect, you have to choose a mountain peak to join. Different mountain peaks of the Beast Taming Sect represent different directions, such as the Danxia Peak that supplements alchemy, the Jiulong Peak that specializes in cultivating dragon-blood demon beasts, the Qintan Peak suitable for water-type spirit beasts..."

"Basically, every outer sect disciple will choose one suitable for themselves to join, and learn spells there."

"Elder Mo and Elder Yu you are familiar with, one is already retired in the Lotus Peak and does not ask about sect affairs, and the other is in charge of the outer sect and does not ask about the inner sect, so you will not be able to rely on them at that time, and you have to think about which inner peak to join."

"After you decide, I will go and help you say hello, let the other party pay attention to you in advance. Not to mention anything else, in this Beast Taming Sect, those Golden Core elders have to give me some face."

Lin Jing was more interested in Danxia Peak, mainly because he had invested a lot of energy in learning alchemy.

"Elder Black Bear, you came over this time, there should be other things, right?" Lin Jing didn't quite believe it. Doing favors for no reason is not Elder Black Bear's style.

"Hehe." Sure enough, Elder Black Bear laughed: "Don't tell Elder Mo, I actually loved to eat a kind of spirit fruit 'Dragon Bone Flower' since I was a child. However, after forming the demon core, the nutrition in that low-level spirit fruit is no longer useful to me. I just eat a few occasionally to satisfy my appetite."

"Recently, my mother traveled far to the Beast Taming Sect to see me and brought me a lot of Dragon Bone Flowers from my hometown, so I suddenly thought, since that squirrel can synthesize spirit rice and spirit beans, can it synthesize 'Dragon Bone Flower'?"

"After synthesis, will it make it not only satisfy my appetite but also have other values! And it's impossible that everything is an explosion."

"Help me, I will give you rewards, but mention it again, don't tell Elder Mo. If he knows I disturbed your cultivation, it will be miserable!"

Lin Jing nodded: "But Elder Black Bear, this Dragon Bone Flower, what is it? It doesn't seem to be recorded in the complete collection of plants... will the grade and quality be too high? In that way, the Pine-Needle Mouse can't synthesize it."

"Very normal, because besides being delicious, it has no special value. Don't worry, it's just a relatively rare low-level spirit fruit." As he said, he took out a fruit shaped like a dragon fruit in Lin Jing's impression from his storage bag, took a bite, and then, because the fruit flesh was bright red... Elder Black Bear looked like his mouth was full of blood, very terrible. ===== CHAPTER 30 =====

Neither Lin Jing nor the Pine-Leaf Rat had expected that the dull life of cultivating immortality... could actually be this happy.

Time flies like a shuttle, years pass like an arrow.

In the blink of an eye, another two-plus months passed. Lin Jing had grown increasingly accustomed to his new life at the Beast Taming Sect. After several months of living together, he and the Pine-Leaf Rat had become more in sync and mutually dependent. He didn't know if it was because he had been influenced by the Pine-Leaf Rat, but even Lin Jing wanted to hoard some resources.

Over the two months, the Pine-Leaf Rat's cultivation successfully reached the seventh level of Qi Refining, while Lin Jing's cultivation also arrived at the third level of Qi Refining, mainly because the resources they enjoyed every day were enough to rival those of a direct disciple.

With such massive resources, if it were any other pet beast or cultivator with outstanding talent, they might have already reached the peak of Qi Refining. But on their side, it was purely because the Pine-Leaf Rat put a massive amount of energy into hoarding goods... Although its cultivation didn't improve much, it had filled the storage bag that Elder Black Bear had sent later to the brim, without a single gap.

Taking out any one item would be a trump card for other Qi Refining cultivators, and it... had a whole bag full.

In the Pine-Leaf Rat's view, this was more important than cultivating to the ninth level of Qi Refining; it was full of a sense of security and peace of mind.

As for Lin Jing, he was purely restricted by his Longevity Body. Even with abundant resources and the feedback from the Pine-Leaf Rat, he was still a bit short of the fourth level of Qi Refining. Although moving from the early stage to the middle stage is more difficult than breaking through small levels, regardless... he was still in the Qi Refining stage, which is the easiest to cultivate among the many realms.

Lin Jing estimated that if he didn't obtain a complete Beast Taming cultivation technique and contract more pet beasts, relying solely on the Pine-Leaf Rat might not be enough to carry him.

"Let's go."

Today is the registration day for the Inner Sect assessment. Once registration is complete, they will likely head to the assessment location.

Lin Jing called out to the Pine-Leaf Rat.

"Squeak!" The Pine-Leaf Rat stretched out its arms and put on its Daoist robe—not the one from Elder Black Bear anymore, but one Lin Jing had made himself as a replica... He hung the storage bag inside the robe for easier carrying.

"Right, bring this too." Lin Jing walked over to the spirit rice, picked up a palm-sized mechanical bamboo turtle watering can that was carrying a cannon barrel and spraying water.