Chapter Nineteenth: The Gate of Gradual Progress

  Today is the third update, finally struggled to the starting point of recommendation, surprise!

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  Thinking of those gourds, he was so angry that he couldn't help but think about them all the way. He even deliberately poured out the gourd seeds and filled them with spring water. On the way, several senior brothers saw him and ridiculed him one after another.

  Wang Lin sneered inwardly, but on the surface he nodded and said: "I don't know what you mean by spiritual energy either. I heard you say that as long as I find the gourd, you'll give me a spiritual stone. Otherwise, can you tell me what spiritual energy is?"

  Sun Dazhu felt a dizzy feeling, he looked at Wang Lin for half a day with a serious expression, and for the first time in his heart, he had doubts. Was this gourd really as he guessed, having many, or was there only one that was picked up by this foolish kid unintentionally?

  After a moment of contemplation, he secretly acknowledged that Wang Lin's words were indeed reasonable. Only when one reaches the first layer of Qi Condensation can they sense the spiritual energy in the world. Thinking about this, he regretted putting the medicinal herbs that hinder cultivation into the food. This foolish kid originally didn't have good innate talent; cultivating the first layer of Qi Condensation was already extremely difficult. Now it's even more troublesome with those medicinal herbs added; perhaps in thirty to fifty years, there's no hope of succeeding.

  Heaving a sigh, Sun Dazhu's heart turned cold, but he was unwilling to give up. He hesitated for a moment, then took out a low-grade spirit stone from his storage bag and tossed it to Wang Lin, saying: "This is the spirit stone I promised you, take it and cultivate with it, hurry up and reach the first layer of Qi Condensation."

  Wang Lin hastily took it over, thanked him and returned to his own room.

  Sun Dazhu stood still, staring blankly ahead. After a long while, he let out a deep sigh and muttered to himself: "If you can't get rid of the wolf by sacrificing the child, then I have no choice but to use the last resort to test whether he's lying or not. Let him reach the first layer as soon as possible. As long as he cultivates the first layer, it counts as entering the realm of true cultivation. Even if my own cultivation regresses a level, I'll still use the Soul Search Technique on him. This way, I won't be violating the Heavenly Law's rule that True Cultivators cannot use the Soul Search Technique on ordinary people until they reach the Core Formation stage."

  Soul-searching technique is a simple immortal art, but it's too sinister. After being soul-searched, nine out of ten people will immediately die and their souls will scatter. The best outcome is also lifelong dementia.

  However, this Soul Searching Technique is also restricted in some ways due to its nature. It cannot be used on ordinary people until one reaches the Completion of Dan period; otherwise, one will suffer from sympathetic resonance.

  If they are also cultivators of the truth, then there is no such restriction, but in one's lifetime, one can only use it three times at most, and each time the cultivation will regress.

  Wang Lin sat cross-legged in the room, observing the immortal stone in his hand. No matter how he looked at it, he couldn't see anything extraordinary about it. However, when he held it, his mind became extremely clear. He closed his eyes and began to breathe in and out.

  One night passed, Wang Lin let out a sigh, and there was still no sign of any spiritual energy entering his body. He smiled bitterly, just as the door was pushed open by someone. Sun Dazhu walked in with a black face, holding a bowl of dark stuff.

  "Drink it!"

  Wang Lin was taken aback and cautiously looked at it without taking it, asking: "Master, what is this?"

  Sun Dazhu saw Wang Lin's expression and his anger suddenly rose, shouting: "I can still harm you, let you drink it if you want to drink it. If it wasn't for the sake of quickly helping you reach the first layer of Qi Condensation, do you think I would stay up all night and waste a large amount of precious medicine to make this bowl of medicine?"

  Wang Lin hesitated for a moment, saw Sun Dazhu's unpleasant expression, picked up the stone bowl, held his breath and drank it all in one gulp.

  After he finished drinking, a surge of heat suddenly rose from his stomach and spread throughout his body. He instantly felt dry mouth and tongue, as if there was a ball of fire burning inside him.

  Everything went black before his eyes, the stone bowl slipped from his hand and fell to the ground, he felt drowsy as if he was about to fall asleep.

  "Hurry up and spit it out, I'll help you absorb it." Sun Dazhu reluctantly placed his hand on Wang Lin's chest.

  A refreshing air came from his chest, and Wang Lin's mind cleared up immediately. He began to inhale and exhale without thinking. Sun Dazhu looked at the stone bowl on the ground with a pained expression, muttered a few words, gritted his teeth, and took out several low-grade spirit stones from his storage bag, placing them around Wang Lin. In his heart, he thought: "You little scoundrel, this time I've invested a lot of money, you'll have to pay me back in full later!"

  Before long, a creeping sensation of ants crawling appeared, and Sun Dazhu could clearly feel the spiritual energy of the herbs slowly condensing in his opponent's body, his face lit up with joy.

  Just at this moment, a turbid air burst out of Wang Lin's body and easily dissipated the spiritual energy that was about to condense, ruining his efforts.

  Sun Dazhu's face turned bitter, he recognized the source of the turbid air, it was the Huā Líng Cǎo (化灵草) that he had given to Wang Lin yesterday. He tried several more times, until all the medicinal spirit energy in Wang Lin's body dissipated, but still not a single thread of spiritual energy condensed.

  Sun Dazhu let out a long sigh and loosened his grip, staring at Wang Lin with a mix of emotions in his heart.

  Wang Lin opened his eyes, feeling light and comfortable all over, extremely pleasant. He was about to say some words of gratitude when, unexpectedly, Sun Dazhu's face turned sour, he flung his sleeve and left the room without looking back.

  Wang Lin was taken aback, unable to fathom what the other person was thinking. He shifted his body and walked out of the room door, loudly saying to Sun Dazhu's room: "Master, I'm going to Shanquan to see how my luck is today."

  Sun Dazhu didn't say a word, but the garden gate opened silently. Wang Lin hurried out and as soon as he left, Sun Dazhu secretly followed him without giving up.

  A month passed in a hurry, and during this month, Wang Lin went to the mountain spring every day to meditate. Sun Dazhu was secretly monitoring him each time, and his disappointment grew day by day, causing Sun Dazhu to gradually lose heart.

  For a month now, he had been getting some herbs for Wang Lin every day, but the spiritual energy still couldn't condense. Sun Dazhu's temper was getting more and more irritable by the day.

  The most important thing is that Sun Dazhu found that the gourd he had obtained before, the spiritual energy dissipated bit by bit, and in just one month, the spiritual energy was completely lost. The spring water inside was still the same after pouring it out, without a hint of spiritual energy.

  The calabaza finally became no different from the ordinary wild calabaza, Sun Dazhu couldn't help but feel greatly disappointed. After careful analysis, he thought of a guess. This calabaza was not extraordinary in itself, but it had undergone some special changes, which made the spiritual energy thick and rich. Wang Lin must have also obtained it by chance, and it's unlikely that he has other calabazas.

  He couldn't help but feel a great deal of heartache as he thought about it more and more, feeling that his guess was correct. For the past month, he had done almost nothing except for monitoring and taking medicine every day. Now, with the bamboo basket being empty, he was furious and scolded Wang Lin, finally banishing him from the main courtyard with a flick of his sleeve.

  He now gets annoyed as soon as he sees Wang Lin. Out of sight, out of mind, and before long, he had completely forgotten about this disciple.

  In his opinion, Wang Lin may have been taking medicine for a month, but even so, without ten or eight years of practice, it's impossible to reach the first layer of Qi Condensation, unless he is ruthless and doesn't care about wasting herbs, continuing to give this disciple medicine.