Chapter 155: Crafting Spirit-Stone Aggregates

Taking someone by force and borrowing someone are two different things.

He was willing to lend personnel if needed.

He smiled: “Fine, but these men will be lent to you for about ten days, and you’ll have to pay them overtime.”

“Agreed.” Jiang Jili nodded in acceptance.

“If you get any news or leads, just let me know,” Li Lin said after a moment’s thought. “If you need me to step in, say the word—I’ll help if the situation calls for it.”

“Isn’t helping guaranteed?” Jiang Jili chuckled. “We’re allies now.”

Li Lin shook his head: “What if it’s a power I can’t afford to challenge?”

Jiang Jili snapped: “You’re Huang’s son-in-law, an eighth-rank Spirit Hunter yourself, and your Li family’s ancestor is enshrined in the True Lord Temple—you’re already a major power. Don’t you have any sense of that?”

Li Lin truly had no such awareness.

After all, the Huang family was merely a supporting tree, not his own true strength.

If pressed, the Tree Immortal Lady counted as half—why only half?

Because she wasn’t yet Li Lin’s woman, but she was nearly there.

That “nearly” only counted as half.

To truly make her his woman, Li Lin still needed to work hard—to reach at least third-rank.

But then he realized something was off: the Tree Immortal Lady had clearly stated back in Shangtikou Village that one needed third-rank to unite with her.

Now she was the Great Lord of Yulin County, her power surely growing constantly—how many ranks would he need to unite with her now?

First-rank Spirit Hunter?

That would be difficult.

How old would he have to be?

He’d heard that in the entire Daqi Empire, there were only two first-rank Spirit Hunters.

And both were old men.

Then he remembered: he had cultivated the Foundation Establishment scripture and now absorbed spiritual energy—perhaps he didn’t need first-rank to draw near the Tree Immortal Lady.

After all, the “quality” of spiritual energy was far higher than that of yin energy or yuan energy.

Seeing Li Lin lost in thought, Jiang Jili asked: “What are you thinking about?”

Li Lin smiled: “Nothing much. Just keep me informed of anything—after all, we’re on the same rope, grasshoppers together.”

“That’s a disgusting way to put it. We’re not that desperate.”

Li Lin chuckled twice: “That day at the tavern, if not for me… you’d have died right there. Oddly, where were your guards?”

“I neglected to bring them along.”

“Tomorrow I’ll go to the county office and have the Second Squad’s government office runners temporarily placed under your command.”

“Thank you,” Jiang Jili said, clasping his fists.

After some idle chatter, the two parted ways.

Li Lin returned home and began crafting spirit-stone aggregates.

He first gathered wooden planks and made molds for over a dozen brick-sized forms, then poured Spirit-Repelling Powder into them and mixed in well water.

Different ratios of well water.

He wanted to see whether the water-to-powder ratio affected the speed of solidification, quality, hardness, and so on.

The results were successful: among all ratios, the one with roughly one-third well water produced the most beautiful bricks—translucent blue, pure and smooth like crystal, and with the strongest repelling effect against foreign “energies.”

“Success. This is the one,” Li Lin said, holding a spirit-stone aggregate, delighted.

Huang Qing came over too; women naturally favored such gem-like objects. She glanced at it, then smiled: “A house built with these treasures must be stunning.”

“Not too stunning,” Li Lin said. “When building the house, you must lay an outer layer of ordinary bricks and tile the roof to conceal its appearance.”

“True. We must prevent others from finding out.”

Only the three of them were in the back courtyard now; servants had been ordered to stay away.

Moreover, the female wraith Li Jingyan was watching—under normal circumstances, no one could spy on this place.

“So we’ll build the brick house ourselves from now on?” Hong Luan asked.

Li Lin nodded: “Regardless, never let your guard down. No matter how effective these spirit-stone aggregates are, just their appearance alone makes them treasures—extremely valuable. If anyone found out we had a small house built from such treasures, they’d covet it far more than a golden palace.”

“True,” Hong Luan nodded, then pointed to the less successful aggregates nearby: “What do we do with these? Destroy them? Seems a shame.”

The other spirit-stone aggregates, though not as translucent as those in Huang Qing’s hands, were still quite beautiful.

Huang Qing smiled: “Keep them for now. Who knows? Maybe someday we’ll need to give them as gifts to impress someone.”

“Won’t that attract envy?” Hong Luan asked.

Huang Qing looked at Li Lin, her eyes glowing with admiration: “By then, Master will no longer need to be so discreet.”

She was indirectly flattering Li Lin’s boundless future.

Li Lin laughed twice.

Huang Qing had always liked Li Lin; after dual-cultivation, she liked him even more.

Li Lin had recently studied the characteristics of dual-cultivation techniques and discovered that not only did they allow the two parties’ “energies” to merge, achieving the wondrous harmony of yin and yang, but they also had a unique effect: resetting the pleasure threshold.

Human nerves develop tolerance to dopamine.

Those who frequently indulge in pleasure grow accustomed to it over time, requiring stronger stimuli to feel joy.

Eventually, they might even descend into self-destruction.

Resetting the pleasure threshold was therefore crucial.

This meant that no matter how often the three of them practiced dual-cultivation, each session would feel as fresh, joyful, and thrilling as the first time.

No stronger or more frequent stimulation was needed.

Thus, for cultivators, dual-cultivation techniques were never a burden, but always a reward and a source of joy.

A joy that never faded.

“The person who created this dual-cultivation technique was a true genius.”

This was Li Lin’s most sincere praise.

In the following days, Li Lin had servants purchase materials; to avoid suspicion, he even bought several unrelated—and even conflicting—materials.

If anyone discovered something and extracted the material list from the servants, the extra materials would confuse them, making it impossible to know how to use or handle them.

After his morning shift, he kept refining elixirs, kept refining elixirs.

After several days, he had filled an entire room with spirit-stone aggregates.

The room storing the spirit-stone aggregates, when approached, gave off a feeling of unusually “fresh” air.

Li Jingyan loved this atmosphere, but she dared not get too close.

“Why?” Li Lin asked.

Li Jingyan said: “This spiritual energy is harmful to us. Do you understand?”

Li Lin understood her meaning.

“Only after being refined by a cultivator like you can we absorb it,” Li Jingyan said, placing her hand on Li Lin’s chest, seductively. “So, considering how obedient I’ve been… ah!”

A scream rang out as Li Jingyan was flung backward, landing several meters away.

Then a long serpent tail slowly vanished into thin air.

Huang Qing, watching from the side, covered her mouth and laughed.

Such simple, fulfilling days passed for several more days, then, on this morning’s shift, Li Lin was summoned to the courtroom.

“Li County Warden, Fuxin Village has suddenly lost contact. You must lead a team to investigate what happened,” Zhang Guangqi said calmly.

“When did contact stop?” Li Lin asked.

“We received word yesterday afternoon.”

“Understood,” Li Lin nodded. “I’ll assemble two hundred village soldiers and depart.”

“Thank you,” Zhang Guangqi said, expressionless, strictly official.

Li Lin didn’t mind; he turned and left the courtroom.

Back home, Li Lin gathered all his tools for the job, then spoke in the main hall of the back courtyard: “Though this is official business, I’m worried Zhang Guangqi is scheming behind the scenes—he’s clearly lost all goodwill toward me.”

“Because we didn’t give him the True Lord Temple’s location?” Hong Luan muttered angrily. “He’s still a Huang family man, isn’t he?”

“He’s only half a Huang family man,” Li Lin smiled. “We’re the same.”

Hong Luan sighed: “True enough.”

Then she brightened: “But here, I feel happier than anywhere else. Huang family or not—I don’t care.”

Huang Qing playfully tapped Hong Luan’s head: “Don’t pretend I’m not here.”

“Miss, you’re now Lady Li.”

Huang Qing smiled, offering no rebuttal.

On the other side, Li Lin said to Li Jingyan: “I’m counting on you to safeguard the household.”

“No problem,” Li Jingyan smiled. “I love it here, and I especially love Miss Qing and Sister Hong Luan.”

Seeing this, Li Lin extended his left palm: “Take a sip.”

Li Jingyan froze, cautiously glancing at the phantom peach tree in the sky, then around her.

She had braced herself to be flung away—but nothing happened.

Then she understood, and smiled: “So the Lady also…”

She didn’t finish; some things were better known than spoken.

She leaned close to Li Lin and gently sipped.

Then, her face flushed crimson, she sank into deep rapture.

After a long while, she opened her eyes and smiled at Li Lin: “Don’t worry about home—I’ll watch over it well. As long as I’m alive, Qing’er and Hongluan won’t suffer the slightest injustice.”

After leaving home, Li Lin arrived at the northern city gate.

Two hundred village soldiers had already assembled there.

Su Huafang was among them.

Since this was a reconnaissance mission, no large force was needed—two hundred men were sufficient.

Given the urgency, Li Lin did not waste time with words but gave the direct order to march out.

Fuxin Village was not far from here; they arrived after half a day’s march.

The entire village was eerily quiet.

Aside from the calls of birds, there was no sound at all.

Normally, during the day, one would see people working outside.

Li Lin said: “Fang Commandant, take fifty archers and secure the nearby high ground. If anything happens, shoot immediately to support us.”

“An Commandant, take your fifty shield-bearers and fifty spear-bearers, advance steadily into the village, and determine the situation.”

“The rest of you, set up camp here.”

(End of Chapter)