Chapter Thirty-Five: Secluded Cultivation of the Elixir

  "Lin Shixiong, wasn't it said that two inner disciples would come to the imperial palace for guard duty? Why is it only you who has arrived now?" Ma Liu asked with some surprise.

  "I and Yi Shimei encountered an ambush on the road, unfortunately, Yi Shimei fell. So only I came here!" Lin Tianyang didn't mention the purple-robed man, although he knew that the purple-robed man was definitely sent by Yun Haitian. But considering Yun Haitian's status in Leiyan Sect, without direct evidence, Leiyan Sect would never do anything to Yun Haitian for just one of their low-ranking disciples, so Lin Tianyang decided to hide his hatred in his heart.

  Lin Tianyang arrived at the capital of Lei Yan's country seven days later. As soon as he got here, he immediately found Ma Liu, a outer door disciple in charge of specific affairs.

  Ma Liu heard Lin Tianyang's explanation and was somewhat surprised, asking: "Lin Shixiong, who is so bold as to sneak up on our Leiyan Sect disciples?"

  "I don't know, maybe he was just a rogue cultivator trying to make a quick fortune. He saw that my and Yishimiao's cultivation levels were lower than his, so he wanted to take advantage of us. In the end, he ended up losing his own life. Unfortunately, Yishimiao didn't dodge his sneak attack!"

  The immortal world is not peaceful, and it's not uncommon for loose cultivators to sneak up on the disciples of major sects. Upon hearing Lin Tianyang say this, Ma Liu followed the principle of "one less thing is better than one more" and stopped asking questions, directly leading Lin Tianyang into the imperial palace through a side door.

  This is the first time Lin Tianyang has been to a place like the imperial palace. The imperial palace of Leiyan Country, which is one of the larger countries in the entire Southern Continent, was naturally built with great grandeur. Lin Tianyang was quite interested and walked while comparing it to the Forbidden City from his previous world.

  "Master Ma!" Halfway through his journey, a young man in his early twenties suddenly appeared before him and gave Ma Liu a respectful greeting.

  Ma Liu nodded slightly with a hint of arrogance and said: "So it's the Third Prince, what brings you here?"

  The three princes seemed to be used to Ma Liu's attitude, and with a smile, said: "A new batch of dancers has arrived at the small Wang Fu, each one as beautiful as a flower, and they are all virgins who have not been married before. So, I'd like to invite several masters to come to the mansion for a drink."

  As soon as he heard this, Ma Liu looked at Lin Tianyang with some embarrassment and smiled: "Brother Lin, I'm sorry to have made you laugh!"

  Lin Tianyang's face also showed a hint of a smile and said: "I understand, everyone has their own path to choose!"

  This horse is nearly fifty years old, and his cultivation is still stuck at the ninth layer of Qi Refining. He has no hope of building a foundation in this life, and he probably knows that his path to greatness is hopeless. So, he might as well enjoy the worldly glory and wealth for now.

  The three princes heard Ma Liu call Lin Tianyang "Shixiong" and immediately smiled at Lin Tianyang, saying: "So you're the new Lin Xian Shifu! What a coincidence! If you don't mind, please come to our mansion with Xiao Wang tonight, and I'll host a welcoming dinner for you!"

  If there wasn't the matter with Yi Xiu Ya, Lin Tian Yang felt that he would probably go to their residence to play for a while with these three princes. However, now he shook his head and said: "No need, I'm not interested in this kind of thing, thank you Third Prince for your kindness!"

  Lin Tianyang directly refused, and the Third Prince did not get angry either. He also knew that these immortal masters were not all fond of pleasure-seeking, just like those three seniors who came to the imperial palace and had been cultivating in Qingxu Temple ever since, not even letting the Emperor see them.

  "Since Lin Xianshi isn't interested, Xiao Wang won't bother him either!" The Third Prince said, glancing at Ma Liu as if waiting for his opinion.

  Ma Liu's heart was a bit itchy, so he smiled and said: "Lin Shixiong, now that the three foundation-building elders are in seclusion, there is no important matter to disturb them. The younger brother has already prepared a room for Lin Shixiong at Qingxu Temple. Why don't I take you there first, and then introduce you to the other few younger brothers? How about it?"

  Lin Tianyang smiled faintly and said: "You can just take me to the residence, afterwards I also want to go into seclusion, don't come to disturb me unless it's something important!"

  Ma Liu knew that Lin Tianyang was a punished inner disciple who came here, and he was completely different from these outer disciples who came here for pleasure. So, since he wanted to retreat and practice, it was naturally the best, otherwise, having an inner disciple like him in charge would be unbearable, so he smiled and agreed immediately.

  Ma Liu said that he had prepared a room, but in fact it was a mansion, and there were even two palace maids with delicate features serving.

  Lin Tianyang immediately dismissed the palace maid and then instructed Ma Liu in a low voice before closing the courtyard door, setting up a warning formation array and starting his closed-door meditation.

  Lin Tianyang first spent a few days solidifying his cultivation at the 11th level of the Refining Qi stage, then went in and out of the Tongtian Tower several times to use up that month's quota.

  Although he didn't encounter another second-grade demonic beast, he found four more Purple Monkey Flowers, which gave Lin Tianyang a tenfold confidence in building his foundation.

  After this trip to Tongtian Tower ended, Lin Tianyang meditated for a day before starting to refine the elixir.

  Lin Tianyang directly took out his father's upper-grade dan furnace from back in the day, then patted his storage bag, and a fire-red gourd appeared in his hand.

  Lin Tianyang casually tossed the gourd into mid-air, and as he pointed at it, the gourd not only floated in mid-air but also began to spew out a stream of flames from its mouth towards the dan furnace below.

  Not long after, when the temperature of the Dan furnace rose, Lin Tianyang pointed at the Dan furnace again, and the lid floated up. Lin Tianyang then patted the storage bag, and dozens of spiritual herbs appeared around him. With a wave of his hand, more than ten spiritual herbs were sucked into the Dan furnace by him. After that, Lin Tianyang pointed at the lid again, and it slowly fell back down.

  After the lid of the furnace was covered again, Lin Tianyang stretched out his hand and grabbed the floating fire-red gourd. His divine sense entered the dan furnace and flames, beginning to control the flames while observing the spiritual medicine's refining situation inside the dan furnace.

  Less than half a time, Lin Tianyang opened the furnace cover again and threw in several spiritual grasses. At the same time, he put the heavenly spirit fruit into a cauldron and closed the lid, continuing to control the flames. After a while, Lin Tianyang threw the purple monkey flower and two other spiritual medicines into the alchemy furnace. Every now and then, he opened the lid and threw in spiritual grasses. When he had thrown all the spiritual grasses in, he waited for more than two hours before suddenly throwing the gourd into the air again. He then cast several spells at the alchemy furnace, and as his spiritual power poured in, the flames surged up instantly. At the same time, his divine sense sank into the alchemy furnace.

  Lin Tianyang's divine sense felt the various herbs being refined in the dan furnace, bit by bit. Before long, he discovered that the current refining speed was much slower than normal. This made Lin Tianyang unable to help but increase his magical power infusion. However, although this could make the refining speed accelerate accordingly, after more than half a time, Lin Tianyang felt that his magical power was starting to be somewhat insufficient. At this point, there were still several spiritual herbs that had not been completely refined, let alone merged with other spiritual herbs and condensed into dan.

  At this point, Lin Tianyang felt that giving up like this was clearly not worth it, so he directly bit his tongue and sprayed a mouthful of blood onto the dan furnace. The flames instantly surged again, but only for an instant before Lin Tianyang withdrew his spiritual power and his divine sense retreated. His face was filled with disappointment as he opened the furnace lid, and a burnt smell wafted out.

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