Cultivation begins with the Druid panel

After the gate was opened with the golden key, the restrictions on the thatched hut and the courtyard disappeared. Without the restrictions to block them, rainwater dripped into the courtyard without any obstruction, and the originally dry ground in the courtyard immediately became wet.

In the short time it took Lu Lin to walk from the courtyard gate to the house door, the ground in the courtyard had become muddy. Stepping inside, he left deep footprints with each step.

The door was unlocked. Lu Lin reached out and gently pushed it open, making a soft creak. As soon as the door opened, dust filled the room, covering the square table and the altar table with a layer of dust.

The offering table was placed directly opposite the door, and in front of it was a landscape painting. Perhaps because it was hung on the wall, the landscape painting was spotless.

In front of the offering table was a futon, and on the futon sat a skeleton. The Taoist robe on the skeleton had decayed under the erosion of time and was as brittle as white paper, crumbling at the slightest touch.

Lu Lin had only taken one step forward when a cool breeze blew in from outside, and the Taoist robe on the skeleton turned to dust.

"Judging from the state of decay of the Taoist robe, this senior must have passed away at least ten years ago, right?" Lu Lin estimated the time in his mind, then stepped forward solemnly. He first bowed to the senior before looking around the room.

The thatched cottage occupies about two rooms. To the left of the entrance is the bedroom, and to the right is a square table and a chessboard. In the middle are the landscape painting and altar mentioned earlier.

If there is any legacy here... Lu Lin searched the house briefly but found nothing. In the end, he stopped in front of the skeleton and the landscape painting in the middle of the house.

Of all the houses, this is the only one that seems to have been passed down through generations.

Lu Lin's gaze kept shifting between the landscape painting and the skeleton, finally settling on the right palm of the skeleton, where he saw a wooden box. The medicinal fragrance in the room was wafting from the wooden box.

"Is it a pill?" Lu Lin squatted down, took the wooden box from the skeleton's hand, and opened it. What he saw was a yellowish-brown pill. Although the pill had a strong fragrance, most of its medicinal power had been lost.

"Is this all the inheritance a Qi Refining Stage 8 cultivator has?" Lu Lin frowned, somewhat dissatisfied. If there were no signs of anyone else having been here, he would have suspected that he had been beaten to it.

"No, no."

But just after Lu Lin finished speaking, the skeleton who was sitting on the futon suddenly raised his hand and grasped Lu Lin's right wrist.

"!"

This guy isn't dead?!

Lu Lin looked up in astonishment, his gaze shifting from the pill in his hand to the skull. He saw that two vortexes had appeared in the skull's originally empty eyes, and the remaining soul light was flickering between its brows.

"Considering that you showed some respect for my corpse when you came in, I will grant you a chance." The skull's mouth opened and closed eerily, and the voice sounded strange and grating. Lu Lin was so frightened that he almost lost his mind, but before he could react to what the skull was going to do, he suddenly felt a blur before his eyes, and then he fell into the two vortexes in the skull's eye sockets.

Suddenly, Lu Lin heard the sound of rushing water. He opened his eyes and saw a tall mountain in front of him. Rushing water was cascading down from the top of the mountain, and a lot of white mist was swirling at the foot of the mountain, making it look like a fairyland.

Isn't this the scene from that landscape painting inside the thatched hut?

"hey-hey."

Just then, a strange laugh suddenly came from the side. Lu Lin quickly turned his head and saw a short old man, no more than 1.5 meters tall, walking out while stroking his beard, with a somewhat lewd expression.

"Senior." Lu Lin dared not be careless. The other party was able to pull him into this ink painting with just the power of his remnant soul, so his strength must be far superior to his.

The old man nodded slightly and pointed to the top of the mountain.

Lu Lin immediately looked up at the top of the mountain. At the top of the mountain, amidst the surging water, a flower was blooming. The flower was surrounded by a crystal-clear pale blue glow, as if it possessed a strange effect.

The old man spoke:

"That is the Awakening Spirit Grass. It is one of the rare spiritual plants. It was cultivated by me when I was on my deathbed. My original intention was to use it to break through to the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage. However, I never expected that my old injury would relapse and I would die an untimely death. That is why it has been preserved in this painting until now."

After consuming this flower, one can open their spiritual sea, awaken their spiritual consciousness, and enter the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage.

The Qi Sea and the Spirit Sea are the two seas of a Qi Refining stage cultivator.

The Qi Sea is in the Dantian, and the Ling Sea is in the space between the eyebrows.

After opening the four meridians, cultivators in the Qi Refining stage are able to open their spiritual sea and awaken their spiritual consciousness. In the early stages of the Qi Refining stage, the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage is the first watershed.

Listening to the old man beside him, Lu Lin asked curiously, "Senior, are you going to give me this opportunity?"

"Is there anyone else here?" the old man asked with a smile. "My old wounds are hard to heal, and now only this remnant soul remains. This painting and this flower are of no use to me."

Lu Lin's eyes flashed, wary of this old guy possessing another's body and being reborn.

The old man was a veteran cultivator who had been in the cultivation world for decades. Seeing Lu Lin's behavior, he knew what Lu Lin was thinking and said, "If I wanted to harm you, I wouldn't have waited until now. Although I am a remnant soul, I would not have stooped to using schemes to kill a Qi Refining Stage 3 cultivator like you and then possess his body."

Upon hearing this, Lu Lin looked at the old man in front of him with disbelief. The old man had no aura at all, and in Lu Lin's eyes, he was no different from an ordinary person.

The old man frowned slightly, his wrinkles deepening. Then, the surging waterfall suddenly stopped, and Lu Lin's pupils contracted, unable to move.

After doing this, the old man pulled away again: "You little rascal, you just had to be mischievous."

Lu Lin believed it this time.

That old guy definitely has the ability to kill him.

The old man continued, "That flower was cultivated by me on my deathbed, containing the fruits of half my life's labor. For someone as lowly as you at the third level of Qi Refining, it's a great opportunity. But of course, the prerequisite is that you can go against the current and pass through this turbulent waterfall before you."

At this point, the old man's lips curled up slightly, revealing a smile of great interest.

Lu Lin paused for a moment, looked up, and thought, "This waterfall isn't low, but for a Qi Refining Stage 3 cultivator, couldn't they just use the Wind Control Technique to climb it? This test is far too easy."

Thinking of this, Lu Lin leaped into the air, but only then did he realize that he had no spiritual power at all.

"This!" Lu Lin was shocked.

The old man said, "Spiritual power is not allowed in this painting, but spiritual sense can be used."

Spiritual power… Lu Lin twitched the corner of his mouth. That’s a power that only those at the fourth level of Qi Refining are qualified to possess. Isn’t this making things difficult for people?

"Senior, I was indeed offended just now, but... without using spiritual power, how can a mortal climb this mountain with only human strength?" Lu Lin humbly asked for guidance.

The old man chuckled and pointed towards the waterfall.

The old man's strength tore a hole in the waterfall, revealing a protruding rock beneath it that formed a vertical climbing wall.

Lu Lin was taken aback.

The old man said, "If you climb this wall against the surging water, you'll make it to the top, won't you?"

Lu Lin was shocked when he took a look; the protruding stones had become very smooth from the impact of the water flow.

In addition, there's the force of the water flow.

If they went in, would they even survive?

Lu Lin said quietly, "Senior, you may not know this, but I possess an innate wood spirit root."

The old man was taken aback, not understanding what Lu Lin meant: "What do you mean? A single spiritual root is an innate talent, it has nothing to do with you, is it something to be proud of? If that's what you think, then I regret bringing you in."

Lu Lin quickly waved his hand: "No, no, senior, you misunderstand. I'm never arrogant because of this."

Lu Lin couldn't help but complain in his heart, why does it feel like people in the cultivation world don't care much about innate talent?

Is that right?

The old man was somewhat displeased: "So, do you want this opportunity or not?"

"Yes, I'll go up right now." How could he refuse something that was offered to him so readily? Lu Lin decisively jumped into the water.

Seeing this, the old man's brows furrowed, and he chuckled speechlessly:

"This kid has a good temperament and talent, but he sometimes likes to be a little too clever for his own good. He might end up being too clever for his own good."