Chapter 350 - 312: Star-Quenching Land, Peach Blossom Spring

Chapter 350: Chapter 312: Star-Quenching Land, Peach Blossom Spring

"Greetings, Martial Uncle!"

"Greetings, Martial Uncle!"

"Hello, Martial Uncle..."

"Junior Martial Uncle, you’re back..."

Lin Yi arrived at Dragon Tiger Mountain.

All the Little Daoists who saw him greeted him one by one.

Even some of the middle-aged Daoists had to address him as Junior Martial Uncle.

Smiling the whole way, Lin Yi made his way up the mountain.

"This disciple greets you, Master!"

He hurried forward to pay his respects the moment he saw the Elder Celestial Master.

The Elder Celestial Master smiled and glanced back at him. "What brings you back today?"

"Master, this disciple is confused about something and came specifically to ask for your guidance!"

Lin Yi said, his brows deeply furrowed.

He had returned to Dragon Tiger Mountain today because of his cultivation realm.

His Qi and Blood were stagnant, unable to advance an inch. He wanted to ask his master what the reason was.

The Elder Celestial Master smiled, stroking his long beard. "Is it about the Qi and Blood in your body?"

"Master? How did you know?" Lin Yi asked in surprise.

The Elder Celestial Master tilted his head back and laughed. "HAHAHA... If I couldn’t even see that, I wouldn’t be worthy of being your master!"

"The formation of the Seven-Star Realm is merely the beginning of the Martial Arts!"

"Only by completing the star tempering process can you be considered to have truly stepped onto the fundamental path of the Martial Arts!"

"However, completing the tempering of the seven stars isn’t something that can be done just by having enough Qi and Blood!"

"Even with your talent, you will still need a method to break through your shackles!"

"But I am quite curious. When you left the mountain, you had only just broken through to 6-star. In the half a month since, you’ve actually reached the peak of the Seven-Star Realm!"

"Could it be that you had some sort of fortunate encounter after leaving the mountain?"

The Elder Celestial Master said with a light chuckle.

A fortunate encounter? Lin Yi thought back on everything that had happened over the past half-month.

If he had to explain how he’d rushed to the Seven-Star Realm so quickly and even reached its peak...

...it was because of the Daoist who had suddenly appeared before him within the Star River Qi Transformation Technique.

He had personally imparted the Dao to Lin Yi face-to-face.

This caused his Qi and Blood to surge, and it had all been converted into Source Qi.

Moreover, it had continuously opened many acupoints to accommodate this Source Qi.

That was what allowed his realm to shoot up directly from 6-star to 7-star.

Although it was just a single realm, for other Martial Artists, it was a leap that might take several years, decades, or even a lifetime to complete.

But Lin Yi had used just a few days to reach the peak of the Seven-Star Realm.

Rather than attributing it to Lin Yi’s exceptional talent, it was better to call it a stroke of serendipity.

Lin Yi nodded. "Yes, I did indeed have a fortunate encounter!"

"Mm..."

The Elder Celestial Master nodded with a smile, but he didn’t press for details.

"That you could have such an opportunity is a joyous occasion!"

"But wanting to break through your shackles and enter the Star Tempering Realm is by no means something that can be done overnight!"

"Opportunity is important, but talent is the root of it all!"

"I have already prepared the Star Tempering Room for you. Stay there for the next few days and focus on breaking through your bottleneck!"

"However, breaking through this bottleneck could take a few months at the shortest, or as long as several years!"

"You must be mentally prepared..."

When Lin Yi heard it would take so long,

he nodded with a deep frown. "Yes, Master. I’m ready!"

"Mm, that’s good. But I must also tell you!"

"Even reaching the peak of the Seven-Star Realm doesn’t guarantee you can break through the bottleneck!"

"Ever since the Martial Arts flourished and everyone began to practice, how many people have been stuck at the Seven-Star Realm, unable to advance? How many reached the peak of the Seven-Star Realm long ago, yet could never step into the Star Tempering Realm?"

"It’s not a breakthrough that will happen naturally just because you’ve reached this level!"

"It’s possible that the peak of the Seven-Star Realm will be with you for the rest of your life. You must be prepared for that!"

The Elder Celestial Master told Lin Yi the worst-case scenario first.

This was to prevent Lin Yi from collapsing in despair if it really happened.

Lin Yi quickly nodded. "Yes, Master, this disciple will remember!"

The Elder Celestial Master gave him a deep look.

There was more he wanted to say, but the words died on his lips.

In the end, he didn’t say it.

With Lin Yi’s talent and comprehension, he was far superior to all of his other disciples, including Zhong Yan.

’Perhaps even if I don’t say it, Lin Yi will be able to figure it out on his own.’

Following this, the Elder Celestial Master called Zhong Yan over.

"Greetings, Master!"

The moment Zhong Yan saw Lin Yi, his expression changed slightly.

After giving him a subtle look, he quickly bowed in salute.

"Take Xiaoyi to the Star Tempering Room!"

"Yes!"

Zhong Yan bowed again and led Lin Yi out of the small courtyard.

After they left, Lin Yi asked curiously, "Senior Brother, what kind of place is this Star Tempering Room?"

"You’ll understand when you get there. I can’t explain it clearly in just a few words!" Zhong Yan shook his head.

Hearing this, Lin Yi didn’t press the matter.

As they walked, Zhong Yan looked Lin Yi up and down a few times.

"Junior Brother, you aren’t some kind of monster born for cultivation, are you?"

"Huh? What’s wrong?"

Lin Yi gave Zhong Yan a strange look.

Zhong Yan’s brows furrowed in thought. After a long moment, he began to speak slowly. "Take me, your Senior Brother, for example. I’m thirty-eight this year. To have cultivated to the Seven-Star Realm is already considered exceptionally talented!"

"Let me tell you, I grew up on Dragon Tiger Mountain!"

"I’m not afraid of you laughing, but when I was born, my parents abandoned me at the foot of the mountain!"

"If Master hadn’t stumbled upon me and taken me in, I’m afraid I would have been eaten by demonic beasts long ago!"

"From then on, Master and the senior brothers took turns looking after me!"

"My senior brothers told me that I had my awakening at three, entered the Daoist Sect at five, began practicing the Martial Arts at seven, and reached the first-tier realm at eight!"

"By the time I was twelve, I had cultivated to the fourth tier. Back then, many people called me a Martial Arts genius!"

"When I turned sixteen, I had already reached the Two-Star Realm!"

"I broke through to 4-star at twenty, 5-star at twenty-five, and by thirty, I was already a 6-star Martial Artist!"

"At this rate of cultivation, no one on all of Dragon Tiger Mountain was faster than me, aside from Master himself. Reaching 6-star by thirty is something that ’exceptionally talented’ isn’t even enough to describe!"

"How many people are only at 3-star or 4-star by the age of thirty? Those who can break through to 5-star are few and far between!"

"After that, it took me six years to push into the Seven-Star Realm!"

"Which is my current realm... But after reaching 7-star, it became incredibly difficult to advance!"

"Two years have passed since then, and I’ve only barely managed to reach the first tier of the Seven-Star Realm!"

"Honestly, before I met you, I thought my talent was pretty damn good!"

"In everyone else’s eyes, I was a favored child of heaven, a monster of the Martial Arts!"

"Who cultivated faster than me? Who had better comprehension?" ℯℯ𝑙.

"Until I met you..."

Zhong Yan glanced back at Lin Yi.

A look of envy and jealousy could be seen in his eyes.

"You’re not even twenty, and you’ve already reached the Seven-Star Realm!"

"And you’ve even reached the peak! Isn’t that infuriating? You’ve saved yourself a whole eighteen years of detours compared to me!"

"No, wait, I haven’t even reached the peak. I don’t even qualify to attempt breaking into the Star Tempering Realm..."

As Zhong Yan said this,

he deliberately put on an expression of someone about to cry but having no tears left.

Seeing this, Lin Yi smiled and said to him, "Senior Brother, this isn’t something you can really compare!"

"Cultivation is purely a matter of serendipity and opportunity!"

"Just like Master told me earlier, I have good luck and am blessed by fate. That’s the only reason I had such a fortunate encounter and was able to reach the peak of the Seven-Star Realm in just half a month!"

"Of course, not everyone has this kind of luck and fate..."

"By the way, Senior Brother, has Dragon Tiger City not been invaded by demonic beasts?"

"Lately, there’s been news from all the provinces and cities in the New District about demonic beasts invading urban areas!"

"How come I got to Dragon Tiger City and found there’s no sense of that kind of pressure at all?"

Lin Yi thought of the taxi drivers at the train station soliciting customers.

He couldn’t help but ask with a smile.

The words had barely left his mouth when Zhong Yan glanced at him and said, "Who told you there haven’t been any?"

"We sent out teams of students from the university to hunt those demonic beasts the very day they appeared!"

"It’s just that we were fast enough that the beasts didn’t have time to harm the citizens!"

"That’s why no news about it leaked out!"

As Zhong Yan finished, a trace of pride appeared on his face.

But it was indeed something to be proud of.

Currently, the other provinces and cities in the New District were constantly plagued by demonic beasts.

This was especially true for a place like Lishui City, which they had just returned from.

The demonic beasts there were on another level, all 5-star and 6-star.

If beasts like that were to infiltrate other cities, it was feared that even the local Demon Hunting Bureau wouldn’t be able to eliminate them.

Dragon Tiger City had been able to purge the demonic beasts without its people suffering any harm.

This was enough to prove that under the protection of Dragon Tiger Mountain,

Dragon Tiger City was the safest city in the entire New District...

Lin Yi nodded and gave Zhong Yan a thumbs-up.

While the two were talking,

they arrived outside a dense forest.

"We’re here!"

The moment Zhong Yan stopped,

Lin Yi looked up. "This is the Star Tempering Room?"

Zhong Yan nodded. "You don’t need to doubt it. This is the Star Tempering Room, the place for you to break through to the next realm!"

"And this place has long been sealed with a barrier by Master!"

"Ordinary people can’t get in at all. You just focus on your cultivation inside. I’ll personally bring you meals every day!"

Lin Yi gave Zhong Yan a hesitant look.

Facing the forest before him,

he still felt it was a bit strange, but he didn’t ask any more questions.

’Since the Elder Celestial Master arranged for me to cultivate here, he must have his reasons.’

Lin Yi nodded. "Then I’ll have to trouble you, Senior Brother!"

"HAHAHA... What trouble? When you come out again, I hope you’ll have reached the Star Tempering Realm!"

"Alright, hurry up and go in!"

After Zhong Yan finished speaking,

Lin Yi nodded and resolutely walked into the woods.

But just as he had walked less than three meters,

suddenly, the scene before him changed.

A moment ago, it was a dense forest.

In the blink of an eye, it had transformed into a waterfall.

A thunderous roar echoed, like the charge of a thousand troops and ten thousand horses.

A pool of water was so clear you could see the bottom, with fish swimming cheerfully inside.

The pool was surrounded by flowers and grass.

The fresh scent, a mixture of flowers and grass, was wonderfully refreshing.

The entire scene looked as if it had walked straight out of a painting.

And beside the waterfall on the cliff,

there was a thatched hut. That was where Lin Yi would live during his cultivation.

He looked back, but there was no dense forest behind him.

Instead, there was a vast, endless grassland.

Zhong Yan was nowhere to be seen.

A few butterflies danced in the air, and one of them landed on Lin Yi’s shoulder.

It slowly flapped its wings...

Suddenly, two rabbits, one white and one gray, came hopping across the grass.

Further in the distance, three sika deer—two large and one small—were grazing with their heads bowed.

The environment here was like a secluded Peach Blossom Spring, cut off from the rest of the world.

Quiet, beautiful, otherworldly...

The turmoil in Lin Yi’s heart instantly vanished.

He walked to the edge of the pool and looked up at the thatched hut on the cliff.

Then, with a single leap, he bounded up a few protruding rocks and reached the clifftop in the blink of an eye.

He walked towards the thatched hut.