Chapter 5: Dan Tong

  After Zhao Chun was also taken away by other disciples, the once lively hall suddenly became quiet, leaving only Yang Mu, Yang Ling and Lin Feng. The two men did not speak, nor did anyone else dare to open their mouths, making the quiet hall feel somewhat oppressive.

  Lin Feng was only ten years old, but he wasn't stupid. From Yang Ling's reluctance in the previous selection to the various immortal masters fighting over Zhao Chun and ignoring him just now, he roughly understood that he wasn't being looked at favorably. Seeing the two immortal masters not speaking for half a day, Lin Feng knew that whether or not he could enter the Immortal Realm depended on the outcome of this moment. He hastily stood up straighter, not even daring to breathe loudly. The great hall was quiet to the point of being terrifying, with an intangible pressure permeating it, making Lin Feng feel stifled in his chest and almost unable to breathe.

  "What's your name?" After a while, Yang Mu finally spoke up and asked, the invisible pressure in the hall suddenly dissipated.

  Lin Feng secretly let out a sigh of relief. If this intangible pressure continued for another moment, he didn't know if he could still stand firm. Upon hearing the words, he hastily replied: "Greetings, Master Xian, my name is Lin Feng." His voice wasn't loud, but it was full and steady.

  Yang Mu and Yang Ling exchanged a glance, both of their eyes revealing a satisfied expression. The invisible pressure earlier was actually intentionally created by the two of them, with an added hint of intimidation, testing the human mind. An ordinary child in this scenario would either be left breathless and weak-willed, unable to speak, or have their willpower collapse, bursting into loud wails and tantrums, or even fainting unconscious.

  Lin Feng was able to remain calm, which meant that his mental state was still good. This made the two of them slightly satisfied. It's worth noting that cultivating the truth is a path that goes against heaven, and the difficulties that come with it can be imagined. Having a good spiritual root can indeed allow one to quickly improve and avoid many difficulties, but for someone whose mental state is not strong, even if their spiritual root is good, it would still be difficult to achieve great success. Lin Feng's spiritual root was originally not very good, and cultivating was extremely difficult. If his mental state were also poor, wanting to cultivate successfully would undoubtedly be a pipe dream. This was also the reason why Yang Mu specifically tested him in this way.

  Lin Feng passed the test, and a hint of smile appeared on Yang Mu's face. He turned to Yang Ling and said, "Since Second Brother has chosen him, are you planning to take him as your apprentice or what?"

  Yang Ling is Yang Mu's younger brother. At this time, there was no outsider, and he didn't exchange pleasantries with Yang Mu either. He said: "Although the Five Spirits Root is a miscellaneous spirit root, it has both fire and wood properties, which can be of great help in refining elixirs. Isn't Fifth Brother always looking for a fire-wood dual-spirit-rooted Dan child? I think Lin Feng is quite clever and should be able to satisfy him."

  Yang Mu obviously had expected Yang Ling's intention, so he didn't have a big reaction, and just said lightly: "In that case, take him to let the fifth brother see, first help out there, and let the fifth brother teach him some basic skills. Whether his cultivation can be successful depends on his luck. I'll go take a look at Zhao Chun, you lead him over yourself." After finishing speaking, he didn't wait for Yang Ling's response, and turned to leave the hall with two attendants.

  Yang Ling knew he was in a hurry to see Zhao Chun, this rare genius, and didn't pay much attention to these tedious formalities. He just smiled faintly and said to Lin Feng: "Follow me." After finishing speaking, he turned around and walked out of the main hall. Lin Feng saw that he finally had a place to go, his heart was greatly settled, and he hurriedly followed up.

  Don't look at Yang Ling's cold and indifferent appearance, he is actually a pretty good person. He doesn't put on airs just because Lin Feng has a poor spiritual root. Although they don't talk much along the way, every time they pass by a building, he will introduce it briefly. Where is the servant's quarters, where is the transmission hall, the martial arts hall, the scripture pavilion, where is which master's residence, how to address them, and so on. It can be said that he has begun to give Lin Feng an introductory education.

  Lin Feng was clever and quick-witted, nodding his head as he secretly took note of everything. At the same time, he asked about things he didn't understand. Yang Ling patiently answered him in simple terms, explaining even the more complicated parts one by one. For example, regarding the issue of cultivating the truth, since Lin Feng didn't have a master, he could ask his master's uncle for clarification on things he didn't understand. Moreover, the Yang family designated the first day of every ten-day period as "Transmission Day", when a special transmission master would explain and answer questions from disciples in the Transmission Hall. This was undoubtedly great news for Lin Feng, who was an inexperienced beginner without a master.

  As they spoke, the two had already arrived at the back yard of the Yang family, and as they walked further, the terrain became higher, gradually climbing up to the middle of the mountain behind the Yang family's house. Lin Feng turned his head to look back, scanning the path they had taken, and was shocked in his heart. The residence of this Yang family actually occupied more than a third of the land of Fei Ling City, which showed that the power of a cultivation family was indeed extraordinary. Seeing this, Lin Feng's confidence in cultivating the truth became even stronger.

  Two people picked up the stairs and went up, in the blink of an eye they entered a gate after turning around, suddenly a flat piece appeared in front of their eyes, a magnificent and spacious great hall appeared before them. Through Yang Ling's introduction, Lin Feng knew that this was where the Yang family's alchemy room was located. The great hall was quiet and soundless, although there was plenty of light outside, it seemed somewhat gloomy inside.

  Yang Ling shouted out for his fifth brother, but when no one replied, he walked towards the back of the hall with ease, clearly familiar with the surroundings. After passing through the grand hall, there was another scene behind it - a small path leading to a dark cave, with two rows of low houses on either side, filled with all sorts of herbs in front and on top of them, whole, broken, sliced, and round, scattered everywhere, and in various colors, looking messy and disorderly. As the mountain wind blew by, a refreshing medicinal fragrance wafted into Lin Feng's nostrils, making him feel invigorated and refreshed, and suddenly curious about these herbs.

  Yang Ling saw Lin Feng's curious expression and smiled, saying: "These are all spiritual herbs. They look no different from ordinary medicinal herbs, but their effects are vastly different. They're not something that ordinary people can compare to. You'll understand when you take care of them in the future."

  Lin Feng hastily said, "I will definitely use my heart and do my best." After Yang Ling's explanation on the way here just now, Lin Feng already knew some things about the Cultivation Realm, and his address to Yang Ling also changed to a more formal term used in the Cultivation Realm.

  The Xiu Zhen realm is divided into nine major realms according to the level of power, from low to high: Qi Refining Stage, Foundation Building Stage, Golden Elixir Stage, Nascent Soul Stage, Spirit Refining Stage, Void Refining Stage, Body Integration Stage, Tribulation Transcendence Stage, and Mahayana Stage. Except for the Qi Refining Stage and Foundation Building Stage, which are further divided into nine layers, and the Mahayana Stage, which has no divisions, all other stages are also divided into three major phases: Early, Middle, and Late.

  Due to the significantly increased lifespan of cultivators compared to ordinary people, combined with various factors such as cultivation methods and innate talents, it is very difficult to judge a person's age from their appearance. In addition, in the cultivation world, they follow the principle of "respecting the accomplished as teachers". Therefore, in the cultivation world, except for direct disciples who have inherited the teachings of their master and address each other according to their seniority at the time of entry, everyone else addresses each other based on their level of cultivation.

  They are at different levels in the same boundary, generally referred to as Shifu brothers, while those who are one higher level than themselves are generally called Shishu, and those who are two or more higher levels are called Shizu. Of course, this refers to people within the same school or family, while outsiders with no relationship at all generally refer to those with a higher boundary as seniors.

  The Yang family only had two levels of cultivators, the Qi Refining stage and the Foundation Building stage. Lin Feng was a newcomer and was considered a Qi Refining stage disciple, while Yang Ling was a high-ranking master in the fourth layer of the Foundation Building stage, so Lin Feng addressed him as Shifu (Master Uncle).

  Yang Ling nodded and didn't say much, continuing to walk towards the entrance of the cave. When he reached the entrance, he didn't go in, but instead stood outside and shouted: "Fifth brother, fifth brother, are you there?" But inside, there was no response for a long time.

  Lin Feng arrived at the entrance of the cave, and a wave of heat immediately rushed towards him from the dimly lit entrance, forming a stark contrast with the clear and serene atmosphere of the grand hall just now.

  Yang Ling saw that there was no movement inside for half a day, and he had nothing to do, so he casually explained: "There is a vein of earth fire in here, which is specially used for refining elixirs, so it's several degrees hotter than outside. If you have the opportunity in the future, you might be able to use it too."

  Lin Feng nodded silently, his heart filled with gratitude. He understood Yang Ling's meaning - whether he could enter and use the Fire Pulse to refine the elixir depended on his own cultivation achievements. This was also a kind of encouragement.