Cultivation begins with the Druid panel

The protruding rocks on the waterfall's cliff face had become incredibly smooth from the erosion of the waterfall, and coupled with the immense force of the waterfall, Lu Lin felt tremendous pressure as soon as he arrived at its base.

The waterfall water felt like someone was punching him, and in no time, Lu Lin was covered in bruises. He tried to use the rocks to climb.

But every time he climbed just a few feet, he would fall down, his whole body aching. But after several attempts, Lu Lin gradually found the technique, using both hands and legs, and soon climbed to the halfway point. Only then did Lu Lin realize that the higher the height, the smaller and smoother the protruding rocks became.

After falling several times, Lu Lin felt like his whole body was about to fall apart. If it weren't for the Druid's Wood Resilience, Lu Lin would have given up long ago.

Not far away, the old man watched Lu Lin climb up again and fall down again and again. The displeasure on his face finally disappeared, replaced by a look of satisfaction.

Lu Lin's clothes were torn to shreds by the turbulent water, revealing his bright red skin underneath.

Fortunately, hard work pays off.

After struggling for an hour, Lu Lin finally climbed to the top of the mountain and broke free from the turbulent water. Looking at the Jue Ling Flower so close to him, he breathed a sigh of relief and slumped down on the mountaintop.

The old man flashed and appeared behind Lu Lin: "Did you gain anything?"

Lu Lin, panting heavily, nodded repeatedly upon hearing the old man's question: "Yes, yes, I think I can try to break through to the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage now."

In fact, Lu Lin had already sensed the old man's intentions during the rock climbing process. The scouring of the waterfall during the rock climbing was actually a process of physical training.

The old man chuckled. If he could gain something from this, then his painstaking efforts would not have been in vain.

The old man said, "You have a good foundation. When you were training your body before, you must have been carefully taken care of, with medicinal baths and top-quality ingredients."

I am but a dead man, my remnant soul clinging to life. I cannot offer you such favorable conditions, so I can only use this simplest method to help you strengthen your body. Please do not blame me.

The old man was also a man of strong emotions. After hearing the old man's words, Lu Lin couldn't help but recall what the scholar had said to him.

In the cultivation world, almost every cultivator with some skill has a decent temperament.

Now it seems that this is indeed the case.

"Thank you, senior." Lu Lin let out a long breath and then looked at the Awakening Flower.

He recalled the knowledge he had read in books and said to the old man before him:

"Senior, while this Spirit Awakening Grass can certainly help those at the fourth level of Qi Refining awaken their spiritual consciousness, it can also nourish the soul. If you absorb it with your remnant soul power, it's not impossible that you might be able to transform into a spiritual cultivator, is it?"

The term "spiritual cultivation" refers to cultivators who follow the path of the soul. There are two types of spiritual cultivation: one is the path cultivated by the servant who refined soul power that Lu Lin met before, and the other is spiritual cultivation that abandons the physical body and focuses on cultivating the soul, also known as ghost cultivation.

Ghost cultivators are unpredictable and difficult to deal with. Although they are rare, it is still a good path of cultivation.

The old man was clearly taken aback when he heard Lu Lin say that, and turned to look at him.

Lu Lin's face showed some hesitation; he was actually reluctant to part with the Spirit Awakening Grass, but his words just now were sincere. Greed is human nature, and if one can break free from this nature, that is what is called "immortality."

This sincere heart moved even the old man in front of him.

The old man chuckled, his lewd expression softening somewhat, and asked, "You're willing to part with that, kid?"

Lu Lin scratched his head. If he were to give him the Spirit Awakening Flower, it would allow him to condense his spiritual consciousness, which would increase his strength by more than three times. How could he possibly give it up?

"I'm a little reluctant to part with it."

"However, compared to a stroke of luck, I think it would be better if you could live," Lu Lin explained.

The old man was both amused and exasperated, but he was also touched by Lu Lin's sincerity:

"I planted this Spirit Awakening Flower, so I know its effects. If I wanted to continue my cultivation, I would have used it long ago. Why would I wait for you? Don't try to be clever with me. I'm giving you this opportunity, so just accept it. Why say so much?"

The old man, on the contrary, started blaming him.

Wasn't he trying to be kind?

However, it's also clear that this senior seems to have seen through life and death.

"Well... alright, I thank you very much, senior." Lu Lin cupped his hands to the old man, reached out, held the Awakening Flower in his hand, and suddenly pulled it out.

The old man smiled and said to Lu Lin, "In my previous life, I was a cultivator at the eighth level of the Qi Refining stage, who called himself the Flower Garden Hermit. I was a cultivator who loved appreciating flowers and scenery. My inheritance is all in this landscape painting. After we leave, you can refine this landscape painting and use the contents to cultivate."

Upon hearing this, Lu Lin quickly shifted his attention away from the Awakening Flower in his hand and turned to look at the old man. He saw that the old man's remnant soul had begun to dissipate spontaneously, merging into the world within the painting from bottom to top.

Lu Lin quickly stood up, bowed, and clasped his hands above his head, saying, "Junior Lu Lin respectfully bids farewell to senior."

After Lu Lin finished speaking, he looked up again, but the old man was no longer in sight.

At this moment, the scenery in the painting began to tremble. Lu Lin felt ripples spreading in the space in front of him, and then he was sucked into it and quickly spat out, but outside the landscape painting.

'Bang!'

Lu Lin fell out of the landscape painting and crashed heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. He rubbed his backside and looked around; he was back in that thatched hut.

Then Lu Lin turned to look at the skeleton in front of the altar, only to see that the skeleton's brow was cracked and its soul light had disappeared. Lu Lin was about to reach out to test it, but then a gust of wind blew in from outside, and the skeleton of the senior was scattered by the wind and mixed into the air, and could not be touched.

Lu Lin paused for a moment, then slowly withdrew his hand that was outstretched in mid-air.

"Let's focus on breaking through to a higher realm first."

Having just undergone body tempering, Lu Lin is now just one step away from reaching the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage.

"And this flower and this painting in front of me." Lu Lin looked up and saw that the landscape painting was still spotless, just as it had been when he first arrived. But Lu Lin now knew that this landscape painting must be his senior's natal treasure.

Lu Lin raised his hand and channeled a stream of spiritual energy into the landscape painting on the wall. The original scroll, which was ten feet tall and three feet wide, immediately shrank and rolled into a scroll about one foot long, which landed in Lu Lin's hand.

Looking at the painting in his left hand and the spiritual plant in his right, Lu Lin took a deep breath and sat cross-legged on the futon in front of the offering table. He calmed his mind and began to mobilize the spiritual power in his dantian, circulating the Shennong Codex to break through the bottleneck of the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage.

You activated the Shennong Codex, and a surge of spiritual energy began to flow through your meridians. You discovered that after the waterfall tempering, your meridians had become much stronger, making breaking through to the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage a natural progression...

Shennong Codex Proficiency +10, Heart of Nature Experience +10, Divine Intervention Experience +10

After consuming the Awakening Flower, you immediately felt your mind clear and your comprehension greatly increased. You began to attempt to open your spiritual sea and condense your spiritual consciousness.

Nature's Heart experience +10, Divine Enlightenment experience +20

[If you continue this behavior, your proficiency and experience points will continue to increase...]

The power of the Awakening Flower merged with Lu Lin's body and Qi Sea, then flowed upwards to his brain. In that instant, Lu Lin felt as if someone had hit the back of his head with a wooden stick, making him somewhat dizzy, but his five senses were amplified at the same time.

The pain of opening up the meridians was magnified several times. In no time, Lu Lin was covered in sweat, and his back was soaked with sweat.

Fortunately, his Qi Sea was steadily expanding, and his Spirit Sea was also opening up from nothing.

The fourth level of the Qi Refining stage truly lives up to its reputation as the first insurmountable barrier in the Qi Refining stage; breaking through it is indeed not easy.

Lu Lin took out a scroll, and immediately a white power floated out from the scroll and merged into Lu Lin's body. It was the original power of the calamus.