Ascending to Immortality by Slaying Spirits

Chapter 17: Digesting the Gains
Under the night sky, by a campfire, Lin Le slowly ate his roasted meat.

After killing the minor official and a few members of the Wolf Gang, Lin Le took advantage of the dusk and managed to leave the city just in time.

Whether it's that minor official, Hu Zigui, or Zhao Lang, their identities are all quite complicated.

Leaving aside the fact that the minor official was a government official, Hu Zigui was probably a black glove for someone at the Wohu Martial Arts School, and Zhao Lang was probably a black glove for some powerful family.

If he kills them, the people behind them will probably hold a grudge against him.

To avoid being attacked by martial arts masters with second or even third-level restrictions, he naturally wanted to leave Baishan County as soon as possible.

As expected, plans can't keep up with changes. He had planned to stay in Baishan County for another month, but fortunately, he had a good experience.

Lin Le internally visualized the inner landscape of his supernatural powers, where seven lotus seeds shone with golden light within the lotus flower, and two sections of lotus root lay beneath the lotus whip.

He killed a total of eighteen people. Zhao Lang and Hu Zigui each provided two points of karma for killing, which made up a total of twenty points.

This also suggests that the higher a person's level of spiritual cultivation, the greater their karmic burden of killing.

Then the ordinary thugs contributed fifteen merit points, which was exactly one point for each of them. Zhao Lang contributed fifteen points, which was worthy of being the gang leader, as one person was worth a whole group.

That clerk who provided twelve points must have done a lot of dirty work.

The most notorious one was Hu Zigui, who was in charge of thirty points and had done countless dirty deeds.

After finishing the barbecue, Lin Le flipped through the books, which contained martial arts manuals he had collected from the dead men under his command.

There are four books in total: Five Tigers Breaking the Gate Knife, Eagle Claw Kung Fu, Thirteen Protectors Horizontal Training, and Great Food Technique.

The first three books were all very common martial arts manuals, with only training methods but no cultivation methods. The last book, however, was quite interesting; he found it on Hu Zigui's person.

Lin Le took a closer look, a hint of joy appearing in his eyes, because although this Great Food Technique was simple, it would eventually provide a rare form called the Bashe Belly.

The Bashe is a giant snake that can swallow an elephant whole; naturally, the creature named after it is believed to greatly enhance a person's appetite.

This also suits Lin Le perfectly, since in order to increase the production of Qi Blood Treasure Liquid, in addition to eating better food, eating more is also a way for him.

"Practice it first!" Lin Le made the decision.

But before that, let's eat some lotus root.

With a thought, Lin Le's two lotus root sections turned into red threads and disappeared. At the same time, a heat rose up from his spine again.

The heat grew hotter and hotter, like a flame heating a block of iron.

This time it took a little longer than last time, but it still subsided quite quickly.

'It should have two spiritual roots by now,' Lin Le said, touching his spine.

Next up are lotus seeds.

A lotus seed transformed into golden mist and dissipated. In a single thought, a year passed. Lin Le continuously practiced the Great Food Technique throughout the year until it reached perfection.

Lin Le snapped out of his daze, patted his stomach, and a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes. The fact that the Great Food Technique had reached perfection so quickly was beyond his expectations.

However, considering the environment for enlightenment, Lin Le wasn't too surprised. After all, a year of unlimited blood and energy for practice was equivalent to ten years for a martial art like the Great Food Technique, which relied heavily on blood and energy.

Then came the Five Tigers Severing the Gate Saber and Eagle Claw Kung Fu. Lin Le consumed two lotus seeds each before pushing them to perfection.

As for the Thirteen Protectors' Horizontal Training, Lin Le didn't plan to use lotus seeds to accelerate it, because this martial art is purely resource-intensive. If there are enough resources, an ordinary person can complete it in a year.

However, even wealthy families felt the pinch from that expense.

Therefore, there is no need to comprehend it.

Finally, the White Ape Spear, with a lotus seed smashed down, also reached its perfection.

Looking at the last lotus seed, Lin Le wondered whether he should smash it down.

Because of the White Ape Arm bone, he mastered the White Ape Spear technique to perfection within six months. However, to reach the pinnacle and achieve ultimate perfection, even two or three lotus seeds wouldn't be enough. In the end, Lin Le chose to use it because he wanted to go home, and his combat strength should be as great as possible.

The last lotus seed dissipated, but it wasn't a matter of a single thought or a year; rather, my senses increased several times over, and my mind became much clearer.

Looking at the campfire in front of him, Lin Le couldn't help but follow the flickering flames, becoming more and more mesmerized.

But this feeling came and went quickly; in less than ten breaths, Lin Le felt his head become muddled.

As if divinely inspired, Lin Le suddenly grabbed a long spear from the side and began practicing the White Ape Spear, trying to recapture the feeling he had just experienced while watching the campfire.

This training lasted for an hour. As Lin Le swung his spear for the last time, his blood energy surged into the spear, and then a spear beam pierced the air, hitting a tree trunk three zhang away, carving out a crack three inches deep and three feet long, with scorch marks around it.

Holding the gun, Lin Le felt a surge of excitement. The White Ape Gun was now at its perfect state.

"Let's call this move 'White Ape Splitting the Sun,'" Lin Le named the move.

Sitting down again, Lin Le couldn't help but look at the lotus flower. He hadn't expected that the lotus seeds could have such a use, temporarily and greatly enhancing his comprehension and creating a state of sudden enlightenment.

'This supernatural power is truly human-like.'

Lin Le couldn't help but sigh.

'However, if someone wants to achieve mastery of martial arts and comprehend the Dao next time, they'll need to find suitable references beforehand,' Lin Le thought to himself.

This time it was a stroke of luck. The White Ape Spear is inherently domineering, which goes well with fire, allowing him to break through easily.

If it were the moon or a tree, you probably wouldn't understand anything even with just two or three trees.

Lin Le glanced at the sky and entered a meditative state. When he was in a meditative state, his senses would be extremely sharp, so he didn't need to worry about not being able to react when danger came.

The dark clouds parted, thunder rumbled, and suddenly, lightning bolts danced wildly, startling Lin Le awake.

"Second Zen?" Lin Le's tone was a mixture of surprise and uncertainty.

The wildly dancing lightning serpents are a phenomenon that only appears in the third stage of the Refining Fire and Refining Soul Diagram.

This also means that Lin Le has entered the second stage of meditation.

Is it because of the saying "a single thought lasts a year"?

Lin Le guessed that although he did not suffer to the point of fainting from the torment of practicing for a year due to his supernatural powers, his soul and temperament should have been tempered to some extent in the process.

'Or perhaps it was through a sudden enlightenment, a communion between the soul and the universe, that one achieved a certain level of spiritual growth?'

Lin Le shook his head, not thinking about it any further. He knew that using more lotus seeds would help with spiritual cultivation.

This made Lin Le subconsciously look at the lotus leaf that had not yet produced a third sap, and he was stunned when he saw that there were specks of starlight floating on the lotus leaf.

It seems that because they are so sparse, they can only float on the lotus leaves.

It is formed from concentrated nectar, collected from scattered soul energy.

Lin Le received the information and, after a moment's thought, understood why it had occurred; he had just briefly entered the third dhyana.

If body refinement is a staircase where you can stay on each step, then soul refinement is a slope where you can only climb from the bottom to the top, otherwise you will slide down.

Therefore, every time Lin Le enters a meditative state, he has to progress from the first dhyana to the second dhyana, and he has just reached the third dhyana.

The Third Zen is also the formal beginning of soul refining. In the Third Zen, a person's soul and body interact, actively refining essence into soul energy to strengthen the spirit.

However, Lin Le was kicked out as soon as he entered, and his dissipated soul energy was so little that it could not even condense into dew, and could only drift as mist.

To verify this conclusion, Lin Le entered a meditative state again, until he was kicked out during the third dhyana. When he looked at the third lotus leaf again, there were indeed more specks.

(End of this chapter)