Chapter 115: Eighth Rank

Seven people stayed at the bottom of the pit while Bai Liwei calculated their battle achievements.

"The caravan was almost entirely burned; without the ropes made of protective barrier powder, the enemy soldiers should all be dead. The Wild Abominations won't spare such flesh and blood. We've annihilated over two hundred enemies; this is a great merit."

Yan Han also smiled: "Thirty taels of gold, one hundred jin of blood rice."

Hearing these numbers, everyone burst into laughter.

That was a considerable sum of money.

Especially Zhao Xiaohu; upon hearing "thirty taels of gold," his eyes lit up.

After resting for a night, the group descended into the secret passage to verify their battle achievements once more.

Based on the white bones left at the scene, indeed over two hundred people had been devoured by the Wild Abominations, and more than thirty grain carts had been burned.

"Let's go back!" Bai Zhiwei smiled.

It was another arduous journey; after passing through the dense mountain forests that were almost like a tropical rainforest, everyone returned to Lianjiang Village.

Fan Shan invited them into the village to rest, but Bai Zhiwei refused.

The group set up camp in the wild to rest.

By the next day, Fan Shan arrived with a woman and three children to find Bai Zhiwei and the others.

"Take me back to Yulin County," Fan Shan said. "I never want to stay in this ghost place again."

Everyone naturally agreed.

Although bringing along a civilian woman and three children under ten would slow their pace, they had won now and could afford to move a bit slower.

Fan Shan's wife was an ordinary farm woman with nothing special about her.

However, his eldest son had lively, spirited eyes and looked very talented.

Carrying Fan Shan's family, it took nearly eight days for them to return to Yulin County City.

The moment they entered the city, Fan Shan couldn't stop his tears from flowing.

"Mmm, mmm, mmm, finally back..."

Everyone patted his shoulder to offer comfort.

Bai Zhiwei asked, "Is your old home still there? If you have no place to stay, I have a private courtyard in Chengxi; you can stay there temporarily."

Fan Shan wiped his tears and said, "Thank you. I have a home here; my parents are still alive and are just waiting for me to return."

"You actually had parents!" Zhao Xiaohu asked.

Ding Yingqiu walked over and slapped Xiaohu on the head: "Are you stupid? Who isn't born of parents?"

"I didn't mean that..." Zhao Xiaohu said, rubbing his head.

Fan Shan smiled: "My parents have always lived here. Thanks to the County Magistrate's care, otherwise that wealthy merchant might not have been willing to let my family go."

Hearing this, everyone finally understood.

"Then go and fulfill your filial duties properly," Bai Zhiwei said, patting Fan Shan's shoulder before leaving.

He had to return to report to the County Magistrate.

The others dispersed, each returning to their own homes.

Li Lin returned to his new home... Hong Luan saw Li Lin return, laughing and crying at the same time.

She had been truly worried, worrying every single day.

After crying for a while, she suddenly said, "Husband, the Master sent you a box. I didn't open it, so I don't know what it is. It's in the bedroom."

In this era, a woman could not tamper with a man's belongings.

Li Lin entered the bedroom and found that a box had indeed been added inside.

Opening it, he discovered it contained many irregular, transparent pieces of 'glass'.

Yin Qi Stones!

So many?

He remembered Ding Yingqiu saying she needed to be able to buy Yin Qi Stones from him; with this many, he could use some to exchange for the Dual Cultivation Method.

Su Huafang had also said that since Li Lin was intimate with the Tree Immortal Lady, he should try the Dual Cultivation Method.

In the profession of Spirit Hunter, cultivating with female ghosts was not something difficult to accept.

Of course, this matter should be put aside for now.

His relationship with Ding Yingqiu was still quite average; the Dual Cultivation Method was a family secret technique and would not be easily traded.

Besides... Li Lin felt his relationship with the Tree Immortal Lady was in a state above ambiguity, but to say it had reached that level of relationship, it seemed still a bit far off.

So no rush; wait a bit longer.

As for the Yin Qi Stones, after absorbing two of them, he felt the Yin Qi within his body surge greatly.

In one go, he forcibly pushed his Yin Qi realm from Ninth Rank up to Eighth Rank.

These things were originally formed from the purest Yin Qi of Taowu Zhenjun... absorbing them naturally increased Yin Qi.

With a whole box like this... if he absorbed it all, he estimated he could push his strength up to Sixth Rank.

Being number one in Jinmen was just around the corner.

That meant he owed the Huang family even more favors.

Realizing this, he stayed in his new home for two days, then bid farewell to Hong Luan and returned to Shangtikou Village.

As soon as he arrived outside the village entrance, he saw a snake-tail afterimage vanish.

He went to the altar site and saw that old tree now had a small canopy, lush and green.

"Tree Immortal Lady... I have come to offer blood and Qi."

The Tree Immortal Lady appeared; she looked at Li Lin coldly, seeming very unhappy.

If Li Lin hadn't seen her long snake tail vanish at the village entrance earlier, he would have truly thought she disliked him.

But some things are best understood intuitively; there is no need to expose them.

He extended his left hand: "Please use it."

The Tree Immortal Lady lowered her head, cupped the man's palm, and licked his palm with her long snake tongue.

Tiny bits of white essence were sucked away.

Li Lin had a feeling that the Tree Immortal Lady was gentler now; even when sucking blood qi, she was much slower.

What used to be finished in one stick of incense now took a full three sticks of incense.

"Liu Zhe..."

The Tree Immortal Lady rolled her eyes at him, seeming somewhat angry that he had called her by name.

"Why has my blood qi turned white?"

Li Lin had asked this question before; the Tree Immortal Lady only said it was a good thing, but he wanted to know why it was a good thing.

The Tree Immortal Lady hesitated for a moment, then said: "It tastes better."

Li Lin couldn't help but laugh.

Never mind; since the Lady is unwilling to say it, I won't press further.

Returning from the altar to the small hut, Li Lin took out blood rice and cooked a large pot for himself.

The Life-Generating Pill is indeed very useful, but it increases higher-level primordial qi, whereas essence... must be refined to become primordial qi; although it occupies a lower position, it is nonetheless indispensable to the human body.

Blood rice is the unparalleled choice for generating and refining essence.

After finishing the large pot of blood rice, Li Lin felt much more comfortable in his body, so he crafted three Soul-Guiding Paper Men and went up the mountain to gather herbs.

With the improvement of his Paper-Crafting Art and his Yin Qi realm reaching the Eighth Grade, he can now control three of them.

As for the small paper men, their number has even doubled.

Now, throughout the entire village, mischievous little paper men are everywhere.

The proficiency of his Paper-Crafting Art is steadily rising; after the three Soul-Guiding Paper Men gathered medicinal herbs from the mountain, Li Lin began refining pills.

This ability, Pill Refining Art, must also keep pace.

Regarding the marriage to Huang Damei, the Huang family stated clearly that no betrothal gifts were needed, but Li Lin felt he still had to offer a betrothal gift.

Otherwise, it would make him seem heartless.

The Huang family is a great clan, lacking almost nothing, so the only thing Li Lin can currently offer is pills.

He plans to devote more time to Pill Refining Art during this period, striving to develop a new 'pill' within ten days.

Hard work pays off; on the eighth day, he finally refined the new pill.

'Poison-Repelling Pill'!

A pill that allows the user to be immune to most poisons for twelve double-hours.

(End of this chapter)