Practice starts with skill points.

Chapter 171 Return
"You little brat, you're the one with the most cunning ideas. I'm not that pedantic. Of course, I'll keep such a treasure for myself first."

Yin Daoyan naturally saw what Zhong Lin was thinking and scolded him with a smile.

Zhong Lin scratched his head and chuckled, still maintaining his childish side.

"Pack up and go home."

"Ah."

This time, they not only got two Tianyuan fruits, but also a batch of spirit stones. The harvest was huge, and the master and disciple had smiles on their faces all the time.

He was in a hurry when he came, but he walked slowly when he went back. Zhong Lin always held a magic stone in his hand, and used the "Five Elements Hunyuan Gong" to draw the energy in it, like a trickle, constantly increasing the amount of true energy.

With the help of these spirit stones, Zhong Lin's martial arts cultivation can be said to have advanced by leaps and bounds. In just half a month, he had reached the middle stage of the first-grade pure essence realm.

The so-called early, middle and late stages are not strictly divided. It is mainly based on the amount of true qi in the dantian. If the true qi can fill half of the dantian, it can be said to be in the middle stage.

One day, Zhong Lin, who was practicing, heard a clear sound coming from his palm. He subconsciously lowered his head to look, only to see that the fist-sized spirit stone had turned into a handful of white powder, which fell to the ground when the breeze blew.

Although he had a premonition, Zhong Lin still felt a little regretful.

Some time ago, when he used spirit stones for cultivation, he never dared to absorb all the energy in the spirit stones at once. Instead, he only absorbed a part of it and then changed to another spirit stone. His purpose was to see if these spirit stones had the function of automatic recovery.

Unfortunately, it was still too fantastical. No matter whether it was placed under moonlight, sunlight, water, or fire, the energy in these spirit stones did not change at all. Once absorbed, it was absorbed and could not be restored.

In other words, these spirit stones are all non-renewable resources. Once the energy in them is exhausted, they will turn into a pool of powder like the one in front of you.

Yin Daoyan also took in this scene and sighed, "No wonder I haven't seen such a treasure in books. Even if it was obtained by our predecessors, it would have been used up long ago."

After saying that, he seemed to have thought of something, reached out from his arms and took out the five spirit stones that Zhong Lin had given him, and then stuffed them all back into Zhong Lin's hands.

"Master, what are you doing..."

"Although the spirit stones are of great use to me, they are more useful to you. With these spirit stones, I can only break through to the first-grade pure Yuan realm at most, but you can quickly reach the peak of the first grade. The barrier-breaking pill is about to be refined. I don't want neither of us, the master and disciple, to be unable to protect it, and then it will be given to others for nothing." Yin Daoyan said.

"Not really! After all, there is still the Sect Master."

Zhong Lin looked puzzled.

Yin Daoyan said solemnly, "Zhong Lin, remember, never test people's hearts. People's hearts are the most unpredictable things. The Barrier Breaking Pill is the key to breaking through to the Grandmaster level. If we, master and disciple, really refine it, neither the three supreme elders nor the other eight elders will sit idly by. Even with the suppression of the sect master, some dirty tricks are inevitable. If you hadn't cultivated to the first level of pure essence, your master wouldn't have refined it so early. Now, with the help of these spirit stones, you will soon reach the peak of the first level. When the time comes, as long as you refine the Barrier Breaking Pill, you will first help you enter the Grandmaster level, and then you can also protect your master."

Even though Yin Daoyan was extremely loyal to the sect, he did not dare to use the Barrier Breaking Pill to test the three supreme elders and the other eight elders. This was no longer just an elixir, but the supreme road to the strongest master. Anyone who faced the Barrier Breaking Pill would go crazy.

Having said that, Zhong Lin no longer refused and nodded.

"The disciple understands."

Now that he knew that these spirit stones were non-renewable, Zhong Lin no longer absorbed them cautiously, but directly stepped up his efforts. The growth rate of his true energy was several times faster than before, and he hoped to reach the first level of perfection before leaving the Black Wind Forest and arriving at the sect.

After a few more days, the two were still walking slowly in the jungle, but there was an obvious path under their feet, and they no longer needed to open a path manually as before. The presence of a path meant that they were about to get out of the forest.

The master and disciple had been looking at this monotonous scenery for days and were almost sick of it. They just wanted to leave here quickly, go back and wash up, have a good meal, and get a good night's sleep. Zhong Lin's ears suddenly perked up, his expression unchanged, his eyes as sharp as a knife, looking to the right front.

Yin Daoyan quickly became alert when he saw Zhong Lin's reaction. His disciple's cultivation was far superior to his, and there must be a great danger that could cause him to react like this.

A few screams were heard, and a moment later two blood-covered figures fled hurriedly from the jungle. The two men were covered in wounds, and their faces were full of fear.

"It's them?"

The two young men were actually the Xu father and son whom they had met a few days ago. However, compared to their previous elegance and composure, they now looked like dogs that had lost their home, and their aura was extremely disordered.

Suddenly, the leaves in the jungle ahead shook, and then a two-meter-long black arm, as thick as an adult's thigh, slowly stretched out.

Upon seeing this arm, Yin Daoyan's face changed and he blurted out, "Long-armed golden-backed ape."

The voice was full of surprise, and it was clear that he knew the identity of this thing.

The next moment, a three-meter-tall ape with a pitch-black body and golden patterns on its back jumped out of the jungle.

Information about this beast quickly emerged in Zhong Lin's mind.

Strange beast, the long-armed golden-backed ape.

It got its name from the golden patterns on its back. It is extremely powerful and agile, and has a pair of iron arms. A third-rank warrior once fought with it, and was smashed into a pulp by this beast with its iron arms.

The Xu family father and son in the distance also saw Master Zhong Lin and his apprentice. Although they were very surprised, Xu Kelin still shouted loudly: "Run, run!"

Having said that, Xu Kelin showed a hint of joy on his face. He grabbed Xu Sijin's arm and ran towards Yin Daoyan.

He had already determined that Yin Daoyan was a top-three warrior. Now that he was in danger of life and death, he naturally did not want to miss this only opportunity.

Yin Daoyan glanced at Zhong Lin, and Zhong Lin understood what he meant.

As the saying goes, "When there is something to do, the disciples should do the hard work." Isn't this the time?

The muscles on his back shook, and the saber flew into the air and fell into Zhong Lin's hands.

Clang!
There was a faint sound of a long sword being unsheathed, and a hazy blade light suddenly shone brightly.

With a knife in hand, Zhong Lin's originally calm aura instantly became sharp and dazzling.

"Total Annihilation."

The sword light suddenly appeared, and a golden sword energy nearly a hundred meters long appeared in the air. The air around it was forced to separate under the sword light, and the airflow brought by it was like a violent gale sweeping across the four directions.

Amid the clanging sounds of swords, a visibly crack appeared in the sky, and the air was suddenly split in two.

(End of this chapter)