Chapter 56: Lotus Heart Pill

It's the New Year; although facing the crisis of the Beast Tide, the year must still be celebrated. The Ancestral Mountain is brimming with joy, children are ecstatic—it is truly the time of greatest carefree happiness! The family has prepared abundant Spirit Meals, and everyone sits happily together, alas, only Grandfather is missing; who knows when he will return!

Chu Yi has not yet awakened since the first day of the New Year; Lin Zhangqing goes to check on him every day, though his size has indeed grown somewhat. Consuming two Vermilion Fruits at once might have made the medicinal potency too fierce; he is still sleeping and digesting! The three Heart Earth Lotuses have matured; Lin Zhangqing personally went to the family's Spirit Pill Pavilion to invite Sixth Grandfather to refine the Lotus Heart Pills himself, agreeing that Sixth Grandfather would provide the Auxiliary Medicine, and in addition to the refinement fee, they would split the resulting pills with Sixth Grandfather taking twenty percent.

Lin Zhangqing knew Sixth Grandfather was looking out for him; other Alchemists charge thirty percent of the pills, but Sixth Grandfather contributed both effort and Auxiliary Medicine yet took only twenty percent, which is truly very little; Lin Zhangqing could only keep this in his heart.

With two lotus pods containing twenty-four Heart Earth Lotus seeds in total, Sixth Grandfather refined day and night without stop, processing twenty-four furnaces of Lotus Heart Pills; the success rate was about fifty percent, equivalent to twelve successful furnaces, each yielding about five pills, resulting in a final total of sixty-two Lotus Heart Pills.

Sixth Elder provided the Auxiliary Medicine and the labor for refinement, ultimately taking twelve Lotus Heart Pills as his share.

Lin Zhangqing ended up with fifty Lotus Heart Pills; he kept fourteen for himself and exchanged the remaining thirty-six with the family at 120 Contribution Points each, hoping that more clan members would survive this Beast Tide.

The remaining lotus pod with twelve Spirit Seeds, plus three Pure Water Lotus Spirit Seeds, were all planted; the small pool inside the Space has now expanded to about three mu, thanks to Lin Zhangqing's several days of hard work.

There is another matter: before the New Year, Lin Zhangling officially advanced to the Qi Refining Third Layer; being a dual Spirit Root cultivator and cultivating while clutching a large Middle Grade Fire Spirit Stone, it would be strange if her progress weren't fast!

One early morning, just as Lin Zhangqing was preparing to begin cultivation, he suddenly felt something approaching him at extreme speed; he hurriedly prepared to deploy his Defensive Magical Artifact, but upon focusing his gaze, he realized it was none other than Chu Yi, who had slept for a full ten days and finally awakened.

Having just awakened from slumber, he immediately came to share his joy with Lin Zhangqing; now perched on the windowsill, fortunately he did not pounce directly, or else he might have knocked Lin Zhangqing straight to the ground.

He must have seen Lin Zhangqing preparing to cultivate and stopped his action in time; Lin Zhangqing stepped forward and picked him up.

He felt heavy in hand, somewhat heavier than before; Lin Zhangqing smoothed the feathers on Chu Yi's body and inspected his current breakthrough status.

He looked obviously much taller and stronger than before; his twin claws remained brilliantly golden, vigorous and powerful, while only some parts of his body were dark greenish-blue, the rest having turned golden yellow.

The dark greenish-blue areas are becoming fewer and fewer; will they all turn golden upon his next breakthrough? Does this count as a mutation? After all, the Golden Winged Bird possesses both Metal and Wind attributes!

The transparent golden hue in his pupils is richer than before, making him appear extraordinarily majestic, with a slightly fierce aura.

Spreading his wings to measure, they estimated about 160 centimeters, with a body height of around 100 centimeters; his overall size has increased by a full circle.

He has reached the standard recorded in the data, qualifying as a fully mature Golden Winged Bird; most importantly, Chu Yi is now a genuine First Stage Late Period Spirit Beast.

After feeding Chu Yi one Spirit Nurturing Pill, Lin Zhangqing let him go adapt to his new size first; Chu Yi is quite experienced in this regard.

Now that Chu Yi has awakened, everything is ready; all that remains is to await news from Grandfather.

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Grandfather still hasn't returned, and no news has arrived; however, on this day, Lin Zhangqing finally succeeded in opening his fourth Thunder Aperture, choosing the Golden Thunder Sword as its Town Object, thus making his Thunder Dharma Power even more abundant.

Under Lin Zhangqing's guidance, Ba Bai also smoothly mastered the Thunder Horn; the process went extremely smoothly, after all, he is the Artifact Spirit of the horn, so everything felt natural and fluid.

With Ba Bai's assistance, controlling the Thunder Horn became much simpler for Lin Zhangqing; he only needs to input Five Elements Spiritual Energy or Thunder Spiritual Energy, and with Ba Bai's help, Geng Metal Divine Thunder can be generated quickly, its power depending on the amount of Spiritual Energy input.

A few more days passed, and finally, amidst the anticipation of the entire Lin family, the Grand Elder and Grandfather returned, bringing confirmed news of the Beast Tide along with the conscription order from Qingyun Sect.

The order conscripts two Foundation Establishment Cultivators and one hundred Qi Refining Cultivators of Mid Stage or above from the Lin family, specifically noting that if the Lin family provides one additional Foundation Establishment Cultivator, the requirement for Qi Refining cultivators can be reduced by twenty.

Upon receiving the conscription order, all must gather and report at Qingyun City, located at the foot of Qingyun Sect's mountain, within the specified timeframe.

After concluding the family meeting, Grandfather immediately returned home, informed everyone of the situation, and instructed Father and Second Uncle to prepare for departure.

Then he called Lin Zhangqing into the Spiritual Sense Enhancement Success Location.

As soon as the grandfather and grandson were seated, Grandfather spoke first: "Qing'er, this time is too dangerous; you should not go."

"Grandfather, for the safety of Father and Second Uncle, I must go; please say no more," Lin Zhangqing said with firm resolve.

Then he patted his Storage Bag, taking out ten prepared Attack-Defense Magic Tools, various Pills, eighteen One-time High-Power Dharma Treasures, and the twelve Lotus Heart Pills he had specially set aside. "Grandfather, these are the items I've prepared; please wait a moment, take them out and distribute them to my parents, Second Uncle, and Aunt; remember to give two Lotus Heart Pills to my sister as well!"

Grandfather widened his eyes, asking in surprise: "Did you spend all the Spirit Stones I gave you?"

Lin Zhangqing grinned and said: "Spent them all; there are only a few Spirit Stones left in my Storage Bag; please give me another ten thousand Spirit Stones later!"

Helpless, Grandfather could only hand over ten thousand Spirit Stones to Lin Zhangqing, then carefully stored the items Lin Zhangqing had taken out.

He spoke again: "Since you insist on going, I have also prepared a set of Dharma Artifacts for you." Saying this, he took out one offensive and one defensive Dharma Artifact, both First Stage Upper Grade Metal Attribute Dharma Artifacts.

Lin Zhangqing hurriedly thanked Grandfather, then accepted them and put them away.

After a moment's thought, Grandfather added: "Give me some more Vermilion Fruits; I'll see if I can handle some matters flexibly."

Lin Zhangqing shook his head: "Grandfather, at a time like this, you must not take risks; safety is paramount."

Grandfather said with unwavering determination: "Rest assured, I know my limits; nothing will go wrong!"

Lin Zhangqing had no choice but to give Grandfather two more Jade Boxes, containing a total of forty-eight Vermilion Fruits.

"How do you plan to tell the family about your decision to accept the conscription?" Grandfather asked, frowning.

Lin Zhangqing thought for a moment and said: "Better to tell them directly; anyway, I am definitely going! This cannot be hidden."

Grandfather said helplessly: "Very well, just be careful in everything; come back alive!"

Lin Zhangqing said with full confidence: "I will definitely bring Father and Second Uncle back alive; just rest assured!"

Subsequently, the two returned to the living room; summoning everyone, Grandfather gave the four Earth-Wood Attribute Attack-Defense Dharma Artifacts to Father, Lin Maosheng.

He gave the four Metal-Fire Attribute Attack-Defense Dharma Artifacts to Second Uncle, Lin Maobin.

He gave the two Water Attribute Attack-Defense Dharma Artifacts to Mother, Xu Wenying.

Of the eighteen Heavenly Thunder Beads and Yin Thunder Beads, Father and Second Uncle each took six, while Mother and Aunt each received three.

The Pills were mainly distributed to Father and Second Uncle; since Mother and Aunt would be guarding the Ancestral Mountain, which is relatively safe, they didn't need as many pills; however, everyone received two Lotus Heart Pills each, including Grandfather and my sister.

My sister is still young and is a key focus of the family's cultivation; the Clan Leader would never allow her to go into battle.

Moreover, should the Ancestral Mountain fall, she would certainly be evacuated first, making her far safer than Lin Zhangqing; there is absolutely no need to worry about her; giving her the Lotus Heart Pills is merely a precaution.

With the distribution of items complete, everyone was urged to refine their treasures immediately, and the news that Lin Zhangqing would also participate in this conscription was announced.

As expected, parents, Second Uncle, Aunt, and even my sister—everyone in the family opposed it.

But Lin Zhangqing's mind was made up; his stance was firm, and he declared that he possessed the means and ability to ensure his own safe return.

With no other option, the family reluctantly agreed; Mother and Aunt were especially worried about Lin Zhangqing's safety and even tried to give him their share of Heavenly Thunder Beads and Yin Thunder Beads, only stopping when Grandfather intervened.

For this Qingyun Sect conscription, the Clan Leader, Grandfather, and Fourteenth Uncle—three Foundation Establishment Cultivators—will lead eighty Qi Refining stage clan members; they will gather at the Family Square tomorrow to depart.

"Due to the tight schedule, everyone must quickly refine your Dharma Artifacts, then hurry to familiarize yourselves with them; this time, you three must be extremely careful; when facing the Beast Tide, try to act together as much as possible; absolutely do not separate," Grandfather instructed again, unable to feel at ease.

The three hurriedly agreed, with Father and Second Uncle promising to take good care of Lin Zhangqing.

Since departure is confirmed for tomorrow, and there is still some time, Lin Zhangqing decided to first return the Jade Slip of 'Shuowen Jiezi' to Second Grandfather; thinking thus, he acted immediately, informed his family, and flew directly toward the Scripture Pavilion.

(End of Chapter)