A mortal cultivating immortality can nurture spirit beasts.

Seeing the enormous fireball hurtling towards him, Lin He snorted coldly and immediately steered his flying spirit boat to the left to dodge it.

Just as he was preparing to change direction and continue flying, seven or eight fireballs emitting billowing heat and six or seven ice spikes emitting chilling cold air came one after another from below. This wave of attacks was extremely fierce, almost covering all the areas where Lin He could dodge, leaving him with no way to avoid it.

Lin He's face darkened upon seeing this. He chose to avoid a fight, but the other party did not seem to intend to let him go, which aroused his anger.

"Since you insist on fighting, then let's fight!"

Lin He took out the fire-repelling armor and put it on. A red protective shield immediately appeared around him. The seven or eight fireballs that landed on the red shield had no effect whatsoever; they only made a few muffled sounds.

"As expected of the Fire-Repelling Armor, its fire-attribute defense is indeed very high."

Seeing this, Lin He felt much more at ease. As for the next six or seven ice spikes that landed on the red shield, although the reaction was stronger, they did not shake the shield at all. This scene made Lin He happy, but it surprised the two people who were attacking from below, and their attack slowed down.

"Heh heh, now it's my turn!"

Seeing this, Lin He erected a red protective shield, and with a sudden surge of magic power, he steered his flying spirit boat directly into the lower right corner, braving the opponent's attacks, as all the sneak attacks came from that direction.

As a high-grade flying magic artifact, the Flying Spirit Boat was far faster than any leaf-shaped flying magic artifact. In a short while, Lin He had already rushed to the two people who were attacking from below. He raised his hand and sent out a pair of Fiery Claws, which flew towards the two people respectively.

As soon as the Fiery Claw was unleashed, it emitted a burst of intense heat that enveloped the two of them. The scorching temperature made them feel parched and burning hot, clearly indicating that this was no ordinary magical artifact.

One of them was a burly man with a Qi Refining level of ten. He was someone invited by Senior Brother Liu to help him fight. The burly man was startled when he saw the power of the Fiery Claw.

He frantically pulled out a water-attribute shield, hoping that water could overcome fire and save his life. However, his shield was only a mid-grade defensive magic artifact. Even if the attributes were mutually exclusive, the difference in grade between the two artifacts was too great, so it was useless.

As expected, the intense heat of the Fiery Claw caused the water-attribute shield to vibrate violently, as if boiling water. Then, the Fiery Claw struck, tearing through the already crumbling shield.

The burly man, who was about to activate his escape talisman, hadn't even had time to utter a sound when the claw grabbed his head and crushed it like a watermelon, instantly splattering his brains all over the ground—a truly disgusting sight.

Lin He didn't even glance at the man, instead focusing all his attention on another person. The reason was simple: he recognized this person. He had visited the Qilin Pavilion many times before, and this Senior Brother Liu, as a disciple in charge of the Qilin Pavilion, had naturally met him before. However, Lin He never expected that the other party would actually try to kill him.

At this moment, Senior Brother Liu's face was extremely pale. He guessed that Lin He might have a top-level magic weapon, which is why he spared no expense to invite a helper with a cultivation level comparable to his own to assist him.

In his view, even with the help of top-tier magical artifacts, the opponent's cultivation level was still low, only at the eighth level of Qi Refining. With two against one and a sneak attack, they had the initiative and the advantage was in their hands.

Unexpectedly, Lin He reacted so quickly after being attacked, and he even had two top-tier magic artifacts that were both offensive and defensive, leaving the two of them in a flurry of activity. Their helper died inexplicably.

Senior Brother Liu was filled with regret, regretting that he had been driven by greed. He didn't know where he had gotten a high-grade iron shield, which transformed into an iron wall, struggling to withstand the attack of the Fiery Claw.

"Senior Brother Liu!" Lin He suddenly said in a deep voice, "I have no grudge against you, so why did you attack me without even showing your face? Isn't that a bit too cruel?"

Senior Brother Liu looked at the teetering iron shield with a gloomy expression and hurriedly pleaded, "Junior Brother Lin, I was just greedy for a moment, please forgive me."

"Greed?" Lin He suddenly realized. "I sensed someone spying on me in the market. I didn't expect it to be you. In that case, you've dug your own grave."

As he spoke, Lin He had already activated his other Fiery Claw to join the battle. One Fiery Claw was already keeping Senior Brother Liu busy, and now with the addition of another, the momentum was unstoppable. The iron shield was on the verge of breaking and was about to be destroyed.

Seeing this, Senior Brother Liu became very anxious and quickly begged for mercy, "Junior Brother Lin, please forgive me this time. I will never dare to do it again."

However, Lin He ignored it completely and instead intensified his attack. With just one grab of his two fiery claws, the iron shield artifact finally gave way, and the shield was torn apart and shattered on the ground.

Without the protection of the iron shield, two fiery claws descended, aiming straight for Senior Brother Liu's head. Seeing that Senior Brother Liu was about to meet the same fate as the burly man, he panicked and hurriedly said...

"Junior Brother Lin, don't kill me! I have a token on me that can obtain the treasures left behind by Jin Yuan Sanren. If you kill me, you will lose a tremendous opportunity!"

"Jin Yuan Sanren? Explain yourself carefully. If you're lying, I'll send you to meet your companions immediately."

Upon hearing this, Lin He slowed his attack. The two menacing fiery claws hovered above Senior Brother Liu's head, causing him to break out in a cold sweat. He then poured out his grime as if beans were spilling from a bamboo tube.

"My Liu family was originally a prominent family in the Yuanwu Kingdom, but unfortunately, our family has declined, and I had no choice but to flee and join the Yellow Maple Valley. However, my Liu family ancestors had some connection with that Jin Yuan Sanren. Jin Yuan Sanren was a Nascent Soul cultivator. After he passed away, he left behind three tokens. When the relics are opened, only Foundation Establishment cultivators can enter. Those tokens are the keys to obtaining certain special treasures. My Liu family obtained one, which I have kept in a secret place. If you spare me, I will retrieve it and give it to you."

"Heh, the day the relics will be opened? How do you know the exact date? Are we going to have to wait another hundred years?"

Lin He scoffed at this completely inaccurate information. Before long, the demonic path would invade, so how could he possibly stay here waiting for some vague and illusory relic?

Senior Brother Liu, somewhat embarrassed by this, quickly explained, "When this relic is opened, the token will sense it. We just need to activate the token to detect the direction. Junior Brother Lin, I'm telling you the truth. When the time comes, if we join forces, we can seize the relic of the Golden Yuan Hermit and then roam the world together. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

As soon as Senior Brother Liu finished speaking, a fiery claw descended from above, grabbing his head and then crushing it with a gentle squeeze, just like squeezing a watermelon, shattering it into pieces on the ground, meeting the same fate as his companion who had come to help.

"I have no interest in waiting for something that's neither here nor there, especially not with someone like you. Just go ahead and relax."

After Lin He finished doing all that, he took out all the items from the two people's storage bags, then used a fireball spell to destroy the evidence. After quickly leaving the place and getting far away, he found another place, dug a deep pit, buried the two people's storage bags in it, and then returned to Huangfeng Valley.

Upon returning to Yellow Maple Valley, Lin He immediately retrieved the items taken from the storage bags of the two of them earlier. There were only forty low-grade spirit stones, a few mid-grade and low-grade magic weapons, and the only high-grade iron shield had been broken during the battle.

Lin He only managed to get two Earth Escape Talismans from the burly man and a dark token from Senior Brother Liu. As for the other items, they were no longer of any interest to him.

"Still trying to fool me? The token is clearly on you. You should find a time to deal with these magical artifacts. Right now, we need to prepare for the upcoming forbidden area trial. First and foremost, we need to improve our cultivation level; that's the key."

With this in mind, Lin He resumed his cultivation journey.

Time flies, and ten months have passed in the blink of an eye. There is only a little over a month left until the forbidden area trial.