Chapter 152: Chapter 152: Bad News from the Border
At the Qinglian Pond Cave Mansion in Fangmu Mountain, Lin Shiming had just returned when he took out a large wooden barrel, which was full of red medicinal liquid.
The Red-haired Demon Monkey followed him back, also howling, tugging at the corner of Lin Shiming's clothes.
Lin Shiming rubbed the head of the Red-haired Demon Monkey and then took out an even larger model of a wooden barrel. He filled this barrel with the same medicinal liquid to the brim.
This concoction in the barrel was a mixture using Blood Crocodile Flowers, and Lin Shiyi had sold some to the family. Lin Shiming therefore purchased some.
After completing his Body Refinement practice, he would soak in this medicinal bath, along with practicing breathing techniques, which would greatly increase his cultivation speed.
As for the Red-haired Demon Monkey, after witnessing Lin Shiming's bath on one occasion, it howled and jumped into the barrel. Lin Shiming had no choice but to prepare another barrel of medicine for the monkey.
The Red-haired Demon Monkey was addicted to soaking as soon as it tried, and so it became a routine for both to soak in their separate barrels.
Lin Shiming looked at the Red-haired Demon Monkey, quite content as it lay in the medicinal barrel, with only its red head and its fiercely burning tail sticking out.
At this moment, the tail was still ablaze, but the Red-haired Demon Monkey had learned to control the size of the flames, ensuring they did not burn the medicinal liquid away.
Lin Shiming closed his eyes and began to cultivate his breathing techniques.
Three hours later, the color of the liquid in the barrel slowly faded, and its medicinal properties were completely absorbed.
Lin Shiming changed into a fresh robe and went to the insect room, specially prepared for the Spirit-Absorbing Ants.
Inside the insect room were rows of eggs, amounting to over a thousand.
These eggs were white with a tinge of yellow, a clear sign they had been incubating for a long time and were about to hatch.
Lin Shiming immediately stepped forward, squeezing a few drops of essence blood from his fingertip, sprinkling them evenly over the eggs. Then, he cast the Spirit Contract once again.
The birth of the eggs was something he could not predict, and he could only establish the Spirit Contract in advance. Otherwise, by the time the Spirit-Absorbing Ants appeared and if he was not there, the whole cave mansion might be devoured.
He could not afford to encase the whole chamber with large amounts of Spirit Jade either.
After casting the Spirit Contract, Lin Shiming left the chamber and returned to his cultivation room. He sat on a cushion, beginning to meditate and practice the Purple Wood Heart Sutra to quietly recover from the loss of essence blood.
Three years of secluded training had made him seem more composed. In terms of cultivation level, he had unnoticeably made great progress from the early stage of Foundation Establishment.
To speak of it, because of his Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation level, he had no bottleneck in practicing Body Refining Techniques. Three years was all it took for him to reach a state comparable to the late stages of Qi Cultivation, and in turn, the Body Refinement fed back into his Qi Cultivation level.
Beyond that, his greatest achievement was the minor accomplishment of the Split Spirit Decision. It had allowed his Divine Sense to advance from being superior to average early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators to now vastly surpassing mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, and even being a match for late-stage cultivators.
Now, even when striking the Shocking God Drum, he was utterly unpressured.
Of course, the credit did not go solely to the Split Spirit Decision, but also to the Mingxin Tea Tree.
Since the wood spirit entered its body, each month it produced a cluster of tender Spiritual Tea leaves. Due to the nourishment from the wood spirit, the effects were significantly stronger than ordinary second-rank supreme grade Spiritual Tea.
This tea was surprisingly beneficial to cultivators' Divine Sense recovery, allowing for quicker replenishment and progress in his Divine Sense after each split.
However, this also harmed the wood spirit's vital essence, but fortunately, his Purple Wood Heart Sutra could compensate for it.
This made Lin Shiming value the wood spirit even more; a cluster of Spiritual Tea once a month felt rather insufficient.
On the contrary, over these three years, he hadn't spent much time on refining tools.
After three cycles of breathing, Lin Shiming opened his eyes and walked toward the Heavenly Spirit Fruit Tree and Minor Divine Ability Tree outside the cave mansion.
These two showed little change, and the Mingxin Tea Tree was also unchanged; however, the Golden Thunder Bamboo's Spirit Root had sprouted two shoot tips, one of which was a full three inches long, while the other had just poked out a tip.
Both shoots were still entirely covered with husks, which, like the main body of the Golden Thunder Bamboo, were of a golden thunder color.
Moreover, lightning continuously coursed over the husks, and should it rain, lightning would fall from the sky and strike down upon the two golden shoots.
Not far from the golden shoots, a Wood Demon showed its ancient face, and its cloudy eyes stared unwaveringly at the Golden Thunder Bamboo.
Lin Shiming, too, was extremely surprised by this and tried to inquire using his Divine Sense, but the Wood Demon's Spirit Intelligence was still lacking and unable to provide sufficient feedback.
Lin Shiming could only give up and hoped that the Wood Demon might undergo some new changes.
After tending to all the Spirit Plants one by one, another three days passed.
At that time, a Spirit Talisman flew in from outside.
Lin Shiming captured the Spirit Light, and the next moment, his brows furrowed involuntarily.
Indeed, it had finally come!
…
In the Fangmu Mountain Council Hall, at this moment, the Lin Family's elders were gathered.
Lin Xianzhi had also already taken his seat at the high table.
To the right of the high table sat Xie An from the Qingxuan Sect.
At this moment, everyone's expressions were somber; even Xie An's face did not look good.
"Shiming has arrived."
"Shiming pays his respects to Seventh Great-Uncle and greets Senior Brother Xie!" Lin Shiming also greeted the two men.
"Shiming, this time, Yan Country has joined Chu Country and Zhao Kingdom in the crusade, and the front line is retreating steadily. All of Zhao Kingdom's families are being forcibly summoned to battle. My task is to notify all the major Foundation Establishment families in Yunzhou," Xie An said solemnly. Find your next read on M-V-L
At this moment, Lin Shiming could only feel a great headache. The Demon Sect of Chu Country was already causing the Three Sects of Zhao Kingdom enormous trouble, and with Yan Country getting involved, especially the Corpse Refining Sect, which was even more powerful than the Spirit Beast Sect!
"Each Foundation Establishment family must dispatch at least seventy percent of their Foundation Establishment cultivators and another fifty percent of their late-stage Qi Cultivation cultivators.
Of course, if the Lin Family needs to guard its sect gates with its Foundation Establishment cultivators, then eighty percent of the late-stage Qi Cultivation cultivators and fifty percent of the Foundation Establishment cultivators will suffice," Xie An stated, offering some flexibility, but Lin Shiming could see from Xie An's eyes an unmistakable determination.
Granting the Lin Family a choice already spoke to the gravity of the situation.
"All right, our Lin Family will choose the former option," Lin Shiming nodded. Since there was no avoiding it, they had to join the great battle.
The Three Great Sects would not allow anyone to retain ample strength behind the scenes within their domains.
Xie An, seeing Lin Shiming had made a decision, promptly took his leave, not even sipping a drop of Mingxin Tea. Lin Shiming and Lin Xianzhi escorted him away.
Clearly, he was on his way to notify other families in Yunzhou.
Lin Shiming and Lin Xianzhi then returned to the Fangmu Mountain Council Hall once more.
All faces were grave; following the beast tide, the Foundation Establishment cultivators of Yunzhou had five years to catch their breath. A year later, the cultivators might have had some preparation, but now they faced two Immortal Cultivation nations, Chu and Yan Countries, one of Demon Cultivators and heretics, the other of Corpse Cultivators.
Zhao Kingdom's chance to hold them off was extremely slim unless the neighboring countries of the Righteous Alliance came to Zhao Kingdom's aid.