Chapter 71: Another Clash

  For the next dozen or so days, Lin Feng refined several top-grade pills every day, obtaining three to five top-grade pills each time. The excess was temporarily stored away, while he continued to take one pill per day himself. His cultivation speed increased dramatically, like transforming from running on land to flying on a sword, and it was unknown how many times faster it had become.

  The barrier of the sixth layer of Lianqi, which was originally expected to be encountered in two months, arrived in less than half a month. Although it was only a small improvement in his realm, Lin Feng still planned to nourish himself for a few more days before making another attempt to break through. However, unfortunately, the power of the high-quality Qigathering Pill did not give him this opportunity. Just as he swallowed a high-quality pill and prepared to slowly nourish his body's meridians, the barrier at the sixth layer suddenly broke through without warning. The air vortex spun wildly for a few circles before shrinking and expanding in an instant, then returned to its normal rotation.

  "It's that easy, this is the power of the top-grade elixir?" Lin Feng couldn't believe it, because he knew that even for a small realm, breaking through each layer was somewhat difficult. Some people would be stuck in front of the barrier for several days, and some would be blocked for over ten days due to difficulties. This was related to the individual's cultivation method and the quality of their spiritual root, as well as being influenced by the cultivator's emotional state. But Lin Feng had broken through six layers without even feeling like he had pierced a layer of paper, which was extremely rare. Moreover, when Lin Feng broke through previously, he could feel the resistance, so he could only attribute his success to the powerful spiritual energy and medicinal effect of the top-grade elixir.

  Cultivation advancement is a good thing, no matter what it's worth being happy about. It's just that recently, every time he runs into Zhu Yan, it makes him feel somewhat uncomfortable. He notices that the way Zhu Yan looks at him is strange. Thinking about it, I didn't owe him any spiritual elixirs this month! Ignoring him, he turns around and heads towards the Golden Cauldron Auction House.

  Since the last time he made a deal with Jin Ming to sell Dan, Lin Feng has been coming to Jindeng Auction House almost every half month. Each transaction is about 30 bottles of medium-grade Dan, and all are exchanged for medium-grade Ling Stone. Now he probably has nearly four hundred medium-grade Ling Stones, which is equivalent to forty thousand low-grade Ling Stones. This shows that once the refining of Dan is successful, the profit will be huge.

  "Huh! Congratulations, Lin Big Brother, on advancing to the sixth layer of Qi Refining!"

  As soon as he entered the door, he met Jin Luyu. Lin Feng was not surprised that she saw his cultivation improvement at a glance, otherwise he wouldn't have said her eyes were poisonous. He just nodded lightly and said: "I'm three or four years older than you, and I reached the sixth layer of alchemy later than you, shouldn't there be anything to be happy about?" The two had always cooperated smoothly in business, but because of the unpleasant memory of their first contact, they almost argued a few words every time they met.

  "Lin Ge, Lu Yao is so heartbroken. You never come to our place unless you're selling elixirs and don't even bother to visit me." Seeing Lin Feng's indifferent response, Jin Lu Yao didn't mind either. In the cultivation world where foundation stage cultivators were everywhere, reaching the sixth layer of Qi Refining wasn't anything worth congratulating about. She changed the subject and led him towards a small hall.

  "You only believe in ghosts, I don't know how many times you have to say that every day, at such a young age and not learning well." Although Lin Feng and Jin Luyu had to bicker every time, they couldn't help but be drawn to her natural business acumen. After several encounters, the two gradually became familiar with each other and their conversations became more casual.

  "What is not learning well? The way of doing business, naturally needs to be able to speak and explain, and what we Jin Ding do is the auction business, even more need to cultivate a pair of sharp eyes. My greatest ideal is to collect all the treasures in the world and then sell each one at the highest price... Hmm, is this your new elixir?" Lin Feng's words were ignored by Jin Luyu, who rolled her eyes and began to boast about her own ideals and life.

  Lin Feng didn't pay attention to her nonsense, and instead took out the dan one by one, placing them on the table. Jin Luyu initially didn't think much of it, because Lin Feng did this every time he came, but soon she realized that this time's dan was significantly better than before, almost reaching the limit of mid-grade dan.

  "Which time's Dan is not newly refined?" Lin Feng knew that Jin Luyu was saying that the quality of the Dan had improved a lot compared to before, but he didn't plan on picking up this topic.

  "This time's elixir is much better than the previous ones, congratulations to Lin Dage, your elixir-making skills have improved greatly." Jin Luyu pretended not to hear his words and continued with her own topic.

  "This is Master's own concoction, naturally better than the previous Dan. Hurry up and get the Ling Stone, I have something else to attend to." Lin Feng casually covered for him, now he was used to dealing with this little monster, and the two of them were also accustomed to speaking in this tone, each saying their own thing.

  "Lin Ge, little sister has some news recently, it's about the Golden Elixir! If you teach me how to refine a mid-grade Qi Gathering Pill, I'll tell you, how about that? The Golden Elixir!" Jin Luyu ignored Lin Feng's excuse and dropped a bombshell.

  "Jie Jin Dan! Really? —— Good, you've cheated me again. Hurry up and settle the bill, I have to leave immediately. Staying with a sly devil like you will get me into trouble sooner or later." Lin Feng couldn't calm down as soon as he heard the three words "Jie Jin Dan", but soon he realized he had been deceived again.

  "Haha, Lin Ge, your expression just now fully explains that the Zhongpin Dan was indeed refined by you. You can't deny it no matter how hard you try. However, the Jiejin Dan is a real deal, do you want to exchange?" Jin Luyu looked complacent, with an air of having caught Lin Feng's weakness.

  "Is there really news about the Golden Elixir?" Lin Feng neither confirmed nor denied Jin Luyu's words, and he was accustomed to her often exploratory remarks, completely ignoring them. However, when it came to news of the Golden Elixir, he had no resistance at all.

  It is well known that forming the Golden Elixir is a huge hurdle on the path of cultivating the truth, and forming the Golden Elixir is the best guarantee for top masters in the foundation-building period to reach the peak. However, the rarity of the Golden Elixir is even lower than that of high-ranking masters in the Golden Elixir period. Not only is it difficult to refine, but more importantly, spiritual herbs are hard to come by. The place where the Dry Land Golden Lotus grows is deep in the mountains, where even ninth-grade demonic beasts may exist.

  The nine-level demon beast is a force to be reckoned with, comparable to a late-stage Golden Elixir cultivator. It's said that the more powerful ones can even rival a high-ranking Yuan Ying cultivator. With such terrifying strength, how many people can harvest the rare and precious Dry Land Golden Lotus in its territory? Moreover, even in such a place, the Dry Land Golden Lotus is extremely scarce, and whether or not one can find it still depends on luck.

  It can be seen that the Golden Elixir is extremely rare and precious. Therefore, Lin Feng, who is still a Qi Refining stage cultivator, couldn't help but feel moved when he heard the news about the Golden Elixir. Whether it was for his own future preparations or to obtain this valuable information to sell at a high price, it was all very useful.

  But how much value does this news have? If she tells herself exactly where the Jin Dan or golden lotus is, then this news will be valuable. But if she says something vague like "it's said that on a certain year, month and day, someone might have brought something related to Jin Dan there"... how much value does such ambiguous talk have?

  But once he agreed, even if it was a prior agreement to exchange information about the value of the medicine, he had already acknowledged that the middle-grade elixir was his own. This move is really ruthless! Lin Feng suddenly understood Golden Lotus's true purpose. He had been in contact with Golden Lotus for so long and was very clear about her recent approach to him, which was to dig out the secret of his being the creator of the middle-grade elixir. And Golden Lotus had never concealed her purpose either. The two had been competing in a battle of wits all along, one refusing to admit it, the other determined to get to the bottom of it. It's not clear why, but this competition had unknowingly turned into a game between the two.

  Actually, Lin Feng's heart had moved when he heard the Golden Elixir, and his tone and expression had already declared that Jin Luyu's guess was correct. In other words, in this game, Lin Feng had actually lost. However, the rules of the game in their hearts were obviously to make Lin Feng admit it himself or be unable to explain himself before they could determine victory or defeat. So even though Jin Luyu had almost 100% confirmed her judgment, the game still had to continue. Perhaps in both of their hearts, facts were no longer important, and the game itself was key.

  "Jin Shimai's investment this time is really huge, almost got me to spill the beans." Lin Feng stubbornly refused to admit it.

  "Haha, close call?"

  "Of course, it's just short of that little bit."

  "It's almost there, I won't argue with you either, but Lin Ge will have to thank Lu Yao!"

  "Why?" Lin Feng automatically ignored Jin Luyu's first half sentence.

  "Because I've trained Lin's face skin thicker than a monster's hide, your defense has greatly increased, hehe!"

  "Haha, mutual benefit, your defense has also increased a lot, helping each other out!" Lin Feng's face was indeed thick enough to say this without changing color. However, he was clearly more concerned about the Golden Elixir, so after laughing for a while, he asked: "Jin Shi Mei, what you said earlier about the Golden Elixir, is it true?"

  "Of course it's true!" Jin Luyu said with a smile.

  "So... can you tell me?" Lin Feng knew that what he said now was the real deal, no more beating around the bush. At this time, Jin Luyu said if there was a way, then there definitely was one, as for what price needed to be paid, everything could be discussed from a business perspective.

  "Of course I can, otherwise why would I tell you?" Jin Luyu smiled again.

  "Speak up, how many spirit stones do you want? As long as it's worth it, I'm willing to pay the price." Lin Feng suddenly gained momentum. The Golden Elixir was something that could be encountered but not sought after. Spending some spirit stones was nothing compared to what he had now.

  "This time I don't want spiritual stones, just a word from Brother Lin." Jin Luyu thought for a moment and said with a cute expression.

  "Ah! So it's about this again! Alright, I admit it. This medium-grade elixir was indeed refined by me. Are you satisfied now?" Lin Feng feigned a dejected expression, but who knew whether he was telling the truth or not.

  "I had already figured it was you, did you think Miss would be so smart and still not see through this? What I want is not that sentence, but..." Jin Luyu said, her voice suddenly becoming softer.

  "What is it? You'd better say it!" Lin Feng had never seen Jin Luyu speak so hesitantly before.

  "Lin Ge, do you think we are friends?" Jin Luyu suddenly asked seriously.

  "Alright, alright. Although you're being unreasonable and stubborn, I, Lin Feng, won't hold it against you. Let's just consider this friendship settled." Lin Feng thought for a moment and felt that Jin Luyu, apart from being nosy, didn't seem to have any other bad habits. Moreover, since she had already spoken like this, he couldn't very well refuse her. As for whether they could truly become good friends in the future, only time would tell.

  "Alright then, from now on don't call me Jin Shi Mei anymore, call me Lu Yao instead. And should I call you Lin Da Ge or Lin Feng? Hmm, let's just go with Feng Ge!"

  "Luoyao! Fenggou!?" Linfeng was stunned, staring at Jin Luoyao with wide eyes. Wow, just made friends and you're taking advantage of me?

  Jin Luyu's face turned red as she was stared at, and she didn't know what she was thinking of. She let out a soft cry and said: "Ah, no random thoughts allowed!"

  "Daydreaming?" Lin Feng saw Jin Luyu's face turn red and immediately reacted, realizing that his appearance had led her astray. He hastily said: "Who's daydreaming? I think it's you who's daydreaming!"

  "How can you be sure I'm thinking wildly if you don't think wildly?" This sentence is crucial, whoever speaks first will take the initiative. Jin Luyu reacted quickly.

  "How would you know I'm thinking wildly if you don't think wildly?" A certain man shamelessly mimicked someone.

  "You...!"

  "Ah......! You dare to lay a hand on me...... A real man doesn't fight with a woman, I'm leaving first."

  "Bang!" The sound of the door closing.

  "No! Open the door, you haven't given me the spirit stone yet! Bang bang bang!" The sound of pounding on the door.