Chapter 253

The grassland they came through had already turned a golden yellow.

The group found a good place—

It was a large tree with lush branches and leaves; the ground under the tree was covered with fallen yellow leaves, forming a natural carpet. The group cleared a space of fallen leaves and started a fire to cook a meal on the spot.

Although they had no pots or bowls, they were not lacking in seasonings, and there was a small river nearby, making it very convenient to fetch water.

They took the chicken bought from the farmers, rubbed it with seasonings, stuffed a handful of wild sand-leeks into its belly, wrapped it in large leaves, tied it up with wild grass pulled at random, then wrapped it in wet mud to form a ball, and threw it into the fire to burn.

The fox stared at it without blinking; it felt that the oval mud ball in the fire looked like an egg.

Other chicken eggs and flatbreads were placed on the edge of the flames to roast.

Only then did the junior sister take out the things she had obtained from that Ancestor of Qin Mountain and carefully examine them.

There was a small white bottle with gold patterns, which was very beautiful and exquisite.

There were several pieces of gold jewelry, which had quite an exotic style.

And then there was the dharma seal on Lin Jue.

"Senior brother, what is this?"

The junior sister showed the bottle to Lin Jue.

"Wait."

Lin Jue first went to the riverside to wash his hands, wiped them dry on his body, and only then sat back by the fire and took the small bottle.

The bottle felt cool to the touch, and when shaken, there was a sound inside; there was a stopper on top with a simple seal.

He did not know how to break the seal, but a Daoist priest naturally has his own brute strength.

He held the bottle in one hand and the stopper in the other, exerting force.

"Pop~"

A burst of spiritual essence radiated out, turning into an alluring fragrance.

"Essence of Heaven and Earth..."

Lin Jue was an alchemist, so he naturally recognized it.

At the same time, he faintly felt that this bottle seemed to be absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth nearby at an extremely slow speed, gathering it in the bottle and condensing it into essence.

This did not require anyone to control it.

"A bit interesting."

Although Lin Jue could now also gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to condense into essence himself, that was the result of his painstaking practice of the gathering method until it reached great success, and gathering it also required some effort and energy. This bottle could actually gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth by itself and condense it into essence.

Although the speed was a bit slower, one did not need to worry about it.

It seemed somewhat like the bottle in the hands of the Mountain Lord on Langtou Mountain back then; that bottle also seemed to be able to automatically collect yin and yang spiritual energy and condense it into the essence of the sun and moon.

It was a pity that both of them were cultivators of yin and yang spiritual arts; this thing was useful, but in the end, it was not as suitable as the one in the hands of the Langtou Mountain Lord.

For Lin Jue, it was completely useless.

Lin Jue himself knew the gathering method, which was faster than it.

"This thing can absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth by itself, gather it in the bottle, and condense it into essence; perhaps it was one of the important means for that Ancestor of Qin Mountain to gather believers."

"Absorb by itself?"

The junior sister also instantly realized its preciousness.

"Yes, it is a rare and good thing." Lin Jue said, pausing for a moment, "However, junior sister cultivates yin and yang spiritual arts; although the essence of heaven and earth has benefits, it is ultimately a bit of a waste. Besides, junior sister has me; I will naturally gather spiritual energy, refine essence, and concoct pills for junior sister. If you take this, it would only be used to water flowers and trees. By comparison, it is more suitable for Lord Luo."

"Hmm?"

Luo Seng turned his head.

"Lord Luo, do not underestimate this bottle. That Ancestor of Qin Mountain very likely relied on the essence of heaven and earth gathered by this bottle to bestow upon believers, which allowed her to gather so many loyal followers. Lord Luo, didn't you notice? Most of the yellow-robed guards under her had very good skills and strong physiques."

"I noticed."

"The possible reason lies here. And this bottle is a rare dharma treasure that can be used without magical power, and it can also nourish the essence of heaven and earth."

Lin Jue paused:

"Although ordinary people drinking the essence of heaven and earth would waste more and have limited use, Lord Luo has practiced martial arts for many years and has profound martial skills. If you get this bottle, in your spare time, you can dilute a drop of essence in wine or water to drink. At the very least, it can help Lord Luo recover faster after practicing martial arts and smooth out hidden illnesses and old injuries. At the very most, Lord Luo is just a hair's breadth away from entering the Dao through martial arts, and this hair's breadth might just lie here."

"It actually has such a wonderful effect?" Luo Seng became interested.

"Naturally, all things in the world are born from heaven and earth; what thing does the spiritual energy of heaven and earth not benefit? Even if it is used to water flowers and trees, it is beneficial; it just depends on how much each person can absorb." Lin Jue said, "What's more, Lord Luo has now gathered the breathing and guiding techniques and has a method of nourishing qi."

"Then can ordinary people also take it?"

"The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is gentler and more moderate than the yin and yang five-element spiritual energy; taking too much will not be harmful, at most it will be useless."

"Hmm..."

Luo Seng nodded in thought.

The junior sister listened from the side without saying much, just picked up the jewelry again and asked Lin Jue: "Is this gold?"

"It is pure gold, and very pure." Lin Jue took it and looked at it, then he knew, and immediately said to them, "I only want Chen Niu's talisman; as for this bottle and these gold ornaments, see which one you and Lord Luo want."

"I want the gold!"

The junior sister then directly put away these ornaments.

"Then Luo will take this bottle." Luo Seng did not hesitate anymore, "Many thanks to Daoist Liu for your generosity."

He knew that although the two Daoist priests in front of him had not reached the point of completely disliking gold and silver money, by comparison, dharma treasures were more useful and precious to them. Since Lin Jue was willing to give up the dharma treasure and remind the junior sister to choose gold, it meant that this thing was truly more suitable for himself.

It was impossible for him to trick him, right?

"Many thanks to Lord Luo for your generosity!" The junior sister also thanked him.

"Ying?"

The fox on the side tilted its head and looked at them seriously.

"Oh!"

The junior sister then picked out a gold bracelet from the ornaments, handed it to the fox, and also solemnly said to her: "This one is yours!"

"Hmm~"

The fox was satisfied and went back to play with the bracelet in its mouth.

The flames crackled, and the mud ball inside had already hardened.

Luo Seng held the small bottle and fiddled with it for a while, poured a drop into his water bag, shook it a few times, and took a small sip first.

"How do you feel?" Lin Jue asked with a smile.

"I feel a bit refreshed, other than that there is no other feeling for now, but there is an obvious benefit." Luo Seng looked at the water bag, "Originally, when water was kept in this, it would have a taste after a long time. I didn't expect that after pouring a drop from this bottle, not only did the strange taste disappear, but it actually turned into a clear fragrance."

"Haha, Lord Luo, don't be greedy; one drop a day is enough, any more would be a waste."

"It's still better to be with you Daoist priests. If I were alone, not to mention whether I could eliminate that dog woman, even if I could, I wouldn't be able to get such a good thing, and even if I saw it, I would have thrown it away."

"Haha..."

Luo Seng drank a few sips of water and began to wipe his long sword again.

This sword of his had been passed down from generation to generation and already had malevolent energy, but it was in his hands that it had slain the most Yaoguai and demons, and it gradually developed supernatural qualities; however, since traveling with Lin Jue, it had slain even more Yaoguai and demons.

Originally he had been counting, but now, if he wanted to count, he would have to go back and think carefully and calculate.

The supernatural qualities on the sword naturally became more and more dense.

Now this sword not only became sharp enough to cut iron like mud, but it also faintly seemed to have spirituality; whenever he summoned it, the sword would actually tremble slightly and hum incessantly, as if it wanted to fly over.

Most treasures in the world are like this—

Some are born as treasures, while others become treasures from ordinary objects after experiencing certain events or being used by certain people.

A martial artist has a righteous spirit and uses this sword to constantly slay Yaoguai kings and eliminate divine beings; it is truly no surprise that this sword can obtain supernatural qualities.

The beggar's chicken took too long; Fuyao had originally been lying here watching, but as time went on, it felt bored and ran to the side to play with the colorful fox. After playing the colorful fox tired, it began to dig holes nearby to play.

It was both like digging holes and like practicing earth escape.

In any case, it stirred up some dirt and was drilling into the ground.

Lin Jue sat by the fire, watching from the corner of his eye, and it was only then that he knew the magical art it had obtained from the Rat Yaoguai was earth escape.

It was not the least bit surprising—

This fox loved digging holes so much that I'm afraid no magical art in its heart could compare to this earth escape.

However, although the fox had learned the magical art, it still needed to practice, just like when it first obtained the wall-walking technique, it also walked on trees and walls all day long before it became proficient.

It's just that its magical arts are often not deliberately practiced, but practiced enough during play.

After a long time, the fire went out.

The group took out the mud ball that had been burned until it cracked, and they all gathered around, seeing the junior sister reach out her finger and flick it lightly.

With a "pop"!

The outer layer of mud immediately cracked and scattered on the ground. Pushing aside the lotus leaves inside, first came a fragrance mixed with the clear scent of lotus leaves and the steam of chicken fat; the heat rose, and the chicken meat inside was so tender it dripped with juice.

The group had already been swallowing their saliva.

The fox was digging holes the whole way.

After walking forward for a few more days, they arrived at the border pass.

They took out their travel permits, stated their identities, only saying that Luo Seng was their guardian, and then entered the pass.

Lord Luo took them to the ancient battlefield again.

On the night of the crescent moon, the broken halberds were buried in the sand and the iron had not yet rusted away; the three walked slowly, with ghosts crying and wolves howling all around, and groups of souls dancing wildly; even the horses were frightened, but the group did not change their expressions.

It was a pity that although there were many residual souls and attachments here, some had already become muddled due to the long passage of time, having long forgotten the reason they were unwilling to leave. Others, although better, were also unwilling to leave, but their philosophies were fundamentally incompatible with Lin Jue's. In the end, after walking through, only a few who had the heart to slay Yaoguai and eliminate demons and uphold justice were willing to follow and assist Lin Jue.

Instead, they went to another battlefield between the human dynasty's army and the border's great Yaoguai, and obtained the assistance of more than a dozen heroes.

They also went to Longzhou to return the remains of the heroes.

The residual souls collected on the road previously immediately dispersed a few, and eight remained who were willing to assist Lin Jue. Together with those recruited at the border battlefield, there were a total of twenty-eight.

Lin Jue controlled it very well—

The spiritual wood he obtained from the Tu Long Wang was just about enough to carve more than twenty bean soldiers.

It didn't need to be too precise, just about right.

After all, the carving knife was in his own hands; if there were one or two fewer residual souls, he could be relaxed and casual when carving, and if there were one or two more, he would just carefully design and plan well.

They even went to Yubi County along the way and stayed at Lord Luo's house for a few days, eating a few good meals.

Chen Niu pointed the way, and they walked southeast all the way.

Riding a horse was ultimately faster than walking or riding a donkey. After six thousand li of travel, when the group walked near the capital again, autumn had just ended.

The skills of the three had grown by who knows how much.