Chapter Thirteen: The Great Peng Spreads Its Wings

  Blue sky and white clouds, green grass and clear water, the gentle breeze was like a mother's hand, stroking Tang Lin's head again and again.

  "What a crappy place, this river is so deep, how can I catch fish? It's come to this day, not even a rabbit, let alone a single rabbit hair has been seen. Xiao Nan, I curse your grandfather!"

  At this time, Tang Lin Guang was barefoot and sat by the river, staring at the big fat fish swimming back and forth in the water. His mouth was watering profusely. This was his second day entering the Tian Jian Men, from morning till now, Tang Lin hadn't eaten anything, his two eyes were so hungry they were shining brightly. So he came to the place Xiao Nan told him about, preparing to catch a couple of fish to eat.

  As soon as Tang Lin arrived, he was stunned. It turned out that the small river Xiao Nan mentioned was incredibly deep and had a lot of fish, but he couldn't catch any. Although he knew how to swim, trying to grab fish in the water was as difficult as climbing to heaven!

  "The Heaven Sword Sect doesn't have a single good person. They said they'd take me in as an apprentice, but even the most basic food and clothing are a problem. Cultivation? What's the point of cultivating if I'm going to starve to death before I can even make progress?"

  Looking at the big fat fish in the water, Tang Lin's temper flared up, and he picked up a stone from beside him and smashed it into the school of fish. These few strikes were originally to vent his anger, but unexpectedly, like a blind cat hitting a dead mouse, several fish were hit by the stones and knocked unconscious, floating belly-up to the surface.

  Looking at the few fish in front of him, Tang Lin was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing and quickly scooped them up onto the shore with both hands.

  "Haha, this young master's skills are not ordinary, casually throwing a few stones can hit so many fish, what a genius!"

  Carrying the fish and humming a tune, Tang Lin walked towards his residence. As he passed by a medicinal garden, he hesitated for a moment before finally walking in with the fish.

  The garden wasn't big, and inside were planted all sorts of small grasses that Tang Lin didn't recognize. He knew these were cultivated by people, so he was also extremely careful to avoid them, afraid of trampling on someone else's things.

  The medicine garden is not far from Tang Lin's residence. On the first day, Xiao Nan brought him here and Tang Lin had already discovered this place. Today, he wanted to come here early in the morning to take a look around, but unfortunately his stomach wasn't cooperating, so he could only go find something to eat first.

  As soon as Tang Lin stepped into the medicine garden, its owner noticed. A white light flashed by, and a young man in white clothes appeared before Tang Lin. The young man looked only slightly older than Tang Lin, with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, his face cold and detached, staring at Tang Lin.

  "This junior brother, why are you trespassing in my medicine garden!" The white-clothed youth said coldly.

  "Hey, big brother, you misunderstood me. I'm the new one, my name is Tang Lin. I live next to you. Today, I came to get familiar with the place. I don't know anyone in Tianjian Gate, so since we live close by, I thought I'd come check you out!"

  As soon as he heard that Tang Lin was new, the white-clothed youth's face relaxed a lot, and seeing that Tang Lin had a kind expression, he opened his mouth to say:

  "Oh, it's actually Tang Shidi, I'm Zhang Dapeng, and all these spiritual herbs were planted by me."

  Zhan Dapeng's meaning is very clear, you can come to my door, but don't think about messing with my Lingcao, Tang Lin is who, that's a master more cunning than a monkey, how could Zhan Dapeng not understand his meaning.

  "Big Brother Zhang, I'm not here to steal your spiritual grass. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to defeat you anyway. I just arrived yesterday and came here today with no other intention than to get to know you. By the way, haven't you eaten yet? I caught a few fish by the river and we can roast them together."

  Looking at Tang Lin's harmless expression, Zhan Dapeng put down his guard after probing the other's cultivation and smiled:

  "Tang Shidi, don't think too much, our Tianjian Gate has this rule, if you need something, grab it yourself, that's why I'm treating you like this, don't take it to heart."

  "It's okay, after all, it's our first meeting, having some guard is normal."

  From the moment they met, Tang Lin's face had a smile on it, which was not a hypocritical smile, but a sincere one. This made Zhang Dapeng have some good feelings towards this new junior brother, and after eating Tang Lin's roasted fish, the two of them suddenly became good friends.

  "Zhan Shixiong, what kind of grass have you planted in this garden? Are they very delicate?"

  "These are all heavenly spirits grass, the main medicine for refining the heavenly spirit pill. I have planted over a hundred of them in this garden, and in about a couple of months, these spiritual grasses will be almost mature. At that time, use them to exchange for contribution points, and exchange some pills or something."

  "What's Tianling Dan? How can we exchange contribution points for it?" Tang Lin munched on his fish, mumbling to himself.

  "Tianling Dan is a great thing, it's the dream of Qi-refining period cultivators. With this pill, the speed of cultivation can be increased several times. Take you for example, with just one Tianling Dan, you can reach the peak of Qi-refining first layer, and the distance to Qi-refining second layer is only a step away. For those below Qi-refining fifth layer, it's almost like one pill per layer, how terrifying is that?"

  "What? So powerful! If there were a few hundred such pills, wouldn't that be enough to establish the foundation?"

  As soon as Tang Lin's words came out, Zhan Dapeng was shocked and stared at Tang Lin like a monster, saying: "Several hundred? Brother Tang, you really dare to say that. This garden of Tianling grass, if not damaged, can only be exchanged for one Tianling Dan, you know that this Tianling Dan requires 500 contribution points."

  "Isn't it expensive? What level of Qi cultivation have you reached now, Master Zhang?"

  As soon as Tang Lin heard about his own cultivation, Zhan Dapeng's face lit up with pride and he immediately said: "Brother, I'm now at the peak of the fourth layer of Qi Refining. As long as I get the Tianling Dan this time, I'll be able to advance to the fifth layer of Qi Refining. By then, entering the inner sect will be a sure thing."

  Qigong five layers? That's even more formidable than Qin Feng that kid! This big tree is good, no matter what, it has to rely on the master!

  Thinking of this, Tang Lin opened his big mouth and laughed:

  "Brother Zhang is indeed a true master who doesn't show off his skills. I didn't understand anything when I first came, but from now on, I'll be relying on you, Brother."

  Who doesn't want to listen to flattering words? Who is Tang Lin? He's the ancestor of those who deceive people, a genuine businessman. Others think they can deceive him? That's impossible! If he wants to deceive someone, that person won't be able to escape. Although Zhang Da Peng is older than Tang Lin, his wit is not on the same level. After a round of flattery, he has already been deceived by Tang Lin and is in a daze.

  However, Zhang Dapeng's cultivation was indeed not to be underestimated. Among the outer sect disciples, he was a top-notch existence. Except for those inner sect disciples, there were not many who dared to provoke him among the outer sect disciples.

  "Ah! Zhang Shixiong has a good life and great talent, unlike me. Xiao Nan Shixiong said I'm a Five Elements miscellaneous spirit root, if I can build my foundation at the age of 50, it's already a huge blessing! It's really a matter of who you are and what your fate is!"

  Looking at Tang Lin's worried face, Zhang Dapeng comforted him:

  "Junior brother, don't be discouraged. As the saying goes, 'Heavenly Dao rewards diligence, and diligence can make up for clumsiness.' I'm just a Water-Fire Dual Spirit Root, and I started cultivating at the age of three. It's already been twelve years, but I've only reached the fourth layer of Qi Refining. I'm still far from building my foundation. So don't lose heart! Let me tell you, in our Tianjian Sect, there's a disciple who built his foundation at the age of fifty and is now at the peak of the late stage of foundation building. His status among inner sect disciples is quite high. Once you enter the inner sect, it's like taking a shortcut to heaven! The resources are endless, and with the support of Tianjian Sect, advancing your cultivation will be a piece of cake."

  "Big brother, what you said is easy, even you need to cultivate for ten years before having the opportunity to enter the inner door, then I won't have a chance until twenty years later. Such a long time, how can I get through it!"

  "Tang Shidi, don't worry, as long as I enter the inner gate, no one will dare to bully you in the outer gate. At that time, I'll find some elixirs for you, and I believe it won't take more than ten years for you to enter the inner gate too."

  I've been waiting for you to say that!

  Farewell to Zhan Dapeng, the sky had also darkened. Tang Lin returned to his own residence, lay on the bed feeling extremely bored, and then picked up the storage bag given by Long Xuetian, dumping all its contents out in one go.

  A jade plaque, a book of qigong techniques, and a yellow dan medicine pill, all that's left.

  He picked up the jade plaque, took a look at it, and then was thrown aside by Tang Lin. As a member of a family that had been dealing with jade for generations, how could Tang Lin not know the good or bad quality of this jade plaque?

  "Not even worth a penny, the prestigious Xianmen Sect uses this broken jade to make identity tokens, what a joke, not even as valuable as the jade on my neck."

  He threw away the jade token, and Tang Lin picked up the cultivation manual again. It turned out that cultivating the first layer was not difficult at all. Anyone could achieve it, regardless of their spiritual roots. As long as they took the marrow-washing pill, they would be able to expel the impurities from their body and complete the first layer. At this stage, everyone's body would retain a wisp of spiritual energy, which would remain in the body for a very long time. As soon as the body absorbed this wisp of spiritual energy, it wouldn't be far from reaching the second layer of cultivation.