A mortal cultivating immortality can nurture spirit beasts.

Little Huan Island

Lin He arrived at the island in his Divine Wind Boat. The island's current master was merely a Qi Refining cultivator, making it incredibly easy to slip past his detection.

He used the Earth Escape Talisman to descend underground, and then released some insect eggs that he had previously purchased in Kui Xing City. The aura emitted by these insect eggs was the best bait to attract the Gold-Eating Insects.

While waiting, Lin He began to tally up the spoils of his trip.

This trip resulted in the annihilation of the Black Fiend Cult, the acquisition of Lan Chou's external avatar, the Black Blood Blade, the Void Heaven Remnant Map, a simplified version of the Profound Yin Scripture, a pitch-black alms bowl, the Blood Spirit Diamond, and the Blood Condensation Five Elements Pill.

Then they destroyed the Blood Jade Spider, obtaining two spider eggs, a Great Teleportation Token, and a Heaven-Mending Pill. They used the spider materials to craft several top-grade magic artifacts.

In Kuixing City, help Sect Master Wang subdue the giant ape, obtain two Dust-Reducing Pills and a baby Earth Ape, and sell the level 5 monster materials for a large sum of spirit stones.

Afterwards, they purchased two servings of Heavenly Fire Liquid and Snow Spirit Water from the Six-Linked Palace.

Lin He had already taken the Heaven-Mending Pill, but refining it was extremely difficult and would take a considerable amount of time.

During this month-long wait, Lin He not only broke through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, but also nurtured the Earth Ape cub to level four.

The size of the Level 4 Earth Ape was already similar to that of the giant ape they had seen before. This Earth Ape was quite intelligent, and Lin He taught it language whenever he had free time. After a month, it was able to understand many words.

Lin He's attitude towards spirit beasts is completely different from that of other cultivators. Even for a Core Formation stage cultivator, a level four spirit beast is a very important help.

For example, in order to help the level-three demon beast Silver Horned Python advance, Li Huayuan risked making a bet with Fuyunzi to win the Bloodline Dragon Pill.

However, Lin He can nurture spirit beasts. He can obtain a level four spirit beast in just two months, while other cultivators would need hundreds of years to do so.

Therefore, other cultivators cherish these spirit beasts and are afraid of hurting them. However, Lin He obtained them too easily, so he used them as tools. The spirit beasts were mass-produced by him like products on an assembly line.

Moreover, because there were too many spirit beasts, it was difficult for him to spare time to cultivate relationships with them. However, Lin He valued this giant ape very much, not only because it had true spirit bloodline, but also because the giant ape could understand his language, was quite intelligent, and could even act as a qualified listener.

So Lin He not only talked to it, but also practiced and played with it. He even gave it a name, Yuan Yi, and had a great time playing in his personal space.

On this day, Lin He was holding the ancient book that Xin Ruyin had given him when he suddenly seemed to see something unbelievable. He carefully rubbed his eyes, looked at it again, and confirmed that he had not seen it wrong. He was overjoyed and could hardly contain his excitement.

"Excellent, excellent, Ruyin has truly made a great contribution!"

After the initial joy, Lin He noticed something unusual. The scent of the insect eggs had finally attracted the attention of the slumbering Gold-Eating Insects underground.

The silver beetles rushed over and devoured the eggs. Seeing this, Lin He decisively took action, releasing two Blood Jade Spiders that sprayed out streams of white liquid, which transformed into spider silk and surrounded the insects.

At the same time, Lin He took out his green Ruyi, which emitted a green light screen that trapped the group of silver beetles.

The trapped silver beetles were even less able to escape the spider silk attack and were all wrapped up tightly. Lin He took the opportunity to take out the spirit beast bag and put them all away.

With the Blood Jade Spider counteracting them, and with the addition of jade treasures like the Green Ruyi, they were naturally easily subdued.

After subduing the demon, Lin He didn't delay any longer. He immediately used the Earth Escape Talisman to return to the ground, and then used the Divine Wind Boat to travel at full speed. Soon after, he returned to the old stone house. He took out the Great Teleportation Token and teleported back to Tiannan.

……

……

Spring came and autumn went, and more than a year passed in the blink of an eye. On this day, the gate of Linhe Cave opened. After more than a year of seclusion, Linhe's cultivation had greatly improved, and he was in a great mood.

Senior Sister Chen from the neighboring cave also emerged from seclusion half a month ago. Upon seeing Lin He emerge from seclusion, she hurriedly left her cave.

Looking at the petite and charming Senior Sister Chen in front of him, Lin He smiled and said, "It seems that Senior Sister's cultivation has improved quite a bit."

Senior Sister Chen leaned against him, her face beaming with joy. She subconsciously checked him over and was astonished to discover that Lin He was already at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

"Junior brother, when...when did your cultivation level break through?"

Seeing this, Lin He joked, "Senior Sister, now that my cultivation level is higher than yours, according to the rules of the cultivation world, shouldn't I call you Junior Sister?"

"No, no!" Senior Sister Chen quickly objected. "I'm already used to calling you 'Junior Brother,' please don't change it, okay?"

Senior Sister Chen shook Lin He's arm frantically, looking determined not to give up. The latter could only say, "Fine, if you won't change it, then you won't change it. I'll let you take advantage of me."

Senior Sister Chen was overjoyed upon hearing this, her face beaming with satisfaction.

Lin He played with her for a while, then asked,

"You emerged from seclusion before me. Has anything happened in the valley recently?"

Senior Sister Chen thought for a moment and said, "It's nothing serious, it's just that one of my junior disciples suddenly reached the Foundation Establishment stage."

"Oh? Which junior disciple is it?" Lin He asked thoughtfully.

Senior Sister Chen quickly asked, "Do you remember that Junior Nephew Han who delivered medicine for Senior Brother Ma that time?"

"Of course I remember. Could it be that he's reached the Foundation Establishment stage?"

"Yes, it's really unexpected," Senior Sister Chen said with a strange look. "I heard from Senior Brother Ma that this Junior Nephew Han has the aptitude of four spiritual roots, yet he was able to successfully establish his foundation with just one Foundation Establishment Pill. His luck is so good that it makes people envious."

"One?" Lin He sneered inwardly upon hearing this. If Senior Sister Chen knew that Han Li had taken eight Foundation Establishment Pills in a row before he could successfully establish his foundation, he wondered if she would still be envious.

Of course, he wouldn't reveal this. Meanwhile, Senior Sister Chen started talking about some other interesting things. Looking at her beautiful face, Lin He naturally became very interested in chatting with her.

Not long after, a whooshing sound came from the air. Senior Sister Chen was in the middle of a lively conversation and was very annoyed to be interrupted. She quickly looked at the other person.

This was a young man with ordinary looks and dark skin—it was Han Li!

Han Li somehow acquired a top-tier flying boat, and now he arrived on it, making no attempt to conceal his Foundation Establishment cultivation level.

"Senior Brother Lin! It's been years!"

Han Li emphasized the words "Senior Brother Lin," indicating that the "Junior Nephew Han" from several years ago was indeed still fresh in the other party's memory.

After choosing his cave dwelling, Han Li originally planned to go out and purchase a formation, but unexpectedly, he came to Lin He's cave dwelling first.

"Congratulations on your successful Foundation Establishment, Junior Brother Han!" Lin He offered his congratulations.

Upon hearing the words "Junior Brother Han," Han Li felt that his trip had not been in vain. Recalling several years ago, Lin He was only at the seventh level of Qi Refining, while Han Li's cultivation had already reached the ninth level.

After that, Lin He's cultivation level soared like a rocket, increasing significantly with each meeting, leaving Han Li unable to catch up. Now, however, he had finally caught up. Han Li believed that with the mysterious bottle, he would soon surpass Lin He. Thinking this, Han Li subconsciously probed with his divine sense, and then his expression changed.

"Senior Brother Lin, your...your cultivation level..."