I offered sacrifices to the gods

Having advanced to the late stage of the Spirit Guidance Realm, it means he can begin preparing to ignite his life flame.

For the vast majority of ordinary cultivators, preparations basically begin at this point in time.

There are no more bottlenecks in the cultivation of the Spirit Guiding Realm. All you need to do is meditate and cultivate diligently day after day, breathing in and out the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and you can cultivate step by step to the peak of the Spirit Guiding Realm.

It just takes a little more effort to polish the surface; it's not that difficult.

Once you reach the late-stage peak of the Spirit Guidance Realm, the only option left is to try igniting your life flame and advancing to the Illumination Realm.

Failure can result in severe damage to one's vitality and shortened lifespan, or even death.

If successful, one's cultivation will greatly increase. With the flame of life burning eternally, living to 180 or even 200 years old will not be a problem.

"From now on, I should focus more on the practice of magic. I haven't even mastered the Stone Skin Technique yet, so I need to work harder on it."

Inside the cave, Lin Mo murmured to himself.

He didn't intend to make any preparations for igniting the flame of life, because the abbot would surely pave the way for him, so he only needed to cultivate step by step.

Throughout the entire Golden Sun Temple, the abbot probably hoped more than anyone else that he could successfully ignite his life flame and advance to the Candle Illumination Realm.

Thinking of this, Lin Mo closed his eyes again, recalling the cultivation techniques of the Stone Skin Technique.

"I do not practice earth-based techniques, so practicing this art will be fraught with difficulties. The first challenge I will face is how to draw upon the power of earth elements."

The "Dragon Breathing Technique" transforms other types of spiritual energy into attribute-less spiritual power, while the key to cultivating the "Stone Skin Technique" is to draw upon the power of earth element.

Using his attribute-less spiritual power to activate the Stone Skin Technique would greatly reduce its power.

After racking his brains for a while, Lin Mo finally came up with a solution.

He planned to dig a hole and bury himself in it.

"The earth elemental power contained in the rocks is the most abundant. I can first bury myself in the pit to maximize the contact area with the earth elemental power in the earth."

With this in mind, Lin Mo immediately took action and began digging a pit in the cave.

However, the rocks in the cave were extremely hard, so he had to activate the string of gold pendants on his wrist.

As the spiritual energy was activated, the leftmost gold bead of the golden bracelet flashed with a dazzling light.

Lin Mo felt a sharp pain in his cheek as a surge of sharp, metallic power erupted from him.

boom!

In an instant, the spot he had just aimed at was blasted into a crater, with sharp metallic energy still remaining around it.

Seeing this, Lin Mo swallowed hard and said cautiously, "Senior Brother Cui really didn't lie to me. The power of this magic weapon given by the Abbot is indeed far beyond that of ordinary magic weapons."

A magic weapon refined multiple times by a cultivator at the Contemplation Realm is naturally incomparable to ordinary magic weapons.

It's hard to imagine how powerful a true cultivator at the Visualization Realm would be.

And what kind of powerful being is that Golden Sun Daoist who has broken free of his shackles and torn apart his own chains?

For a moment, Lin Mo felt a sense of powerlessness.

However, this feeling only lasted for a short while before he regained his fighting spirit.

"At least there's still a glimmer of hope. I hope the Hall of Punishments hasn't lied to me."

After saying that, Lin Mo jumped into the pit, used his pure spiritual power to dispel the surrounding sharp metal energy, and then buried himself in the pit, with only his head sticking out.

Then, by activating the Stone Skin Technique, he clearly sensed the rich earth elemental power around him.

Such abundant earth elemental power!

While activating this earth-based spell, Lin Mo noticed that he was enveloped by a thick layer of earth elemental power.

So he began to activate the Stone Skin Technique, but he could only mobilize an extremely weak amount of earth elemental power.

"Earth Elemental Armor! Condense!"

A faint earth elemental force covered his body, condensing into a layer of pale yellow earth elemental armor.

It's not even at the beginner level; its defensive capabilities are so weak that it can't even withstand attacks from someone in the early stages of the Spirit Guiding Realm.

However, he was not discouraged. Lin Mo knew that he was not the kind of genius who could cultivate. He had just obtained a spell and it was impossible for him to master it immediately.

Fortunately, he still has time!

Thus, Lin Mo devoted all his energy to the practice of the Stone Skin Technique, even burying himself in the stone pit to sleep.

As time went by, by the sixth day, he had been able to condense a fairly thick layer of earth elemental armor.

"Burying it in the pit was indeed effective, but once it leaves the pit, will it still be able to mobilize so much earth elemental power so smoothly?"

Without hesitation, Lin Mo attempted to leave the pit and activate the "Stone Skin Technique".

As expected, the amount of earth elemental power he could mobilize this time was greatly reduced. He felt that the earth elemental power in the earth was as heavy as a thousand pounds and difficult to use.

After all, he wasn't practicing the Earth Path techniques, so it would be difficult for him to master these techniques as smoothly as Earth Path cultivators.

Just as Lin Mo was pondering a solution, a voice suddenly came from outside the cave.

"Junior Brother Lin, Master summons you!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Mo immediately ended his cultivation and hurriedly ran outside the cave.

Cui Donghao looked at Lin Mo, who was covered in dust and dirt, and was slightly taken aback. He asked in confusion, "Junior Brother Lin, what happened to you like this?"

Lin Mo was startled and quickly activated the dust-removing spell on his Taoist robe to get rid of all the dust on his body. Then he laughed loudly:

"Haha, I just broke through to the late stage of the Spirit Guidance Realm not long ago. I was so happy that I decided to carve a few stone sculptures to celebrate."

"I'm sorry to have offended you, Senior Brother Cui. By the way, what is the matter that Master summoned me for?"

Cui Donghao also sensed that Lin Mo's aura had become much stronger, and he was indeed in the late stage of the Spirit Guidance Realm!

"Congratulations, Junior Brother Lin! I never knew you had a hobby of stone carving."

"Let's go to the Golden Sun Palace together. This time, Master has summoned all his personal disciples. He will surely be happy for your progress in cultivation."

Upon hearing that the abbot had summoned all his direct disciples, Lin Mo was slightly startled, not knowing what had happened.

"Alright, please, Senior Brother Cui."

...

Inside the Golden Sun Hall, Lin Mo flew over with Cui Donghao.

The abbot was not in the main hall, but several people were already waiting inside.

When Cui Donghao appeared, the others greeted him.

"Greetings, Senior Brother Cui!"

Cui Donghao glanced around and nodded gently, saying, "Perfect timing, everyone's here. Let me introduce you all. This is Master's new disciple, Lin Mo."

"Junior Brother Lin, these people are also Master's personal disciples, and they are all your senior brothers."

"Greetings, fellow senior brothers!" Lin Mo greeted them with a polite fist and palm salute.

Besides him and Cui Donghao, the abbot also has four personal disciples, all of whom are at the Candle Illumination Realm!

Through Cui Donghao's introduction, he quickly got to know the other four senior brothers.

Three of them chose to minor in alchemy. Two of them spent all their time in the alchemy room and seemed somewhat dull. They were the temple's professional alchemists.

Another senior brother who also assisted in cultivating alchemy left the deepest impression on him. His name was Deng Kun. This man had a resolute face, a stern temperament, and deep, abyssal eyes.

Just by standing there, he exuded a menacing aura, truly a jinx, and his hands must have been stained with blood.

The last person was an obese Taoist priest, who was probably the oldest, but had the lowest cultivation level among them, only at the early stage of the Candle Illumination Realm.

The fat Taoist priest looked drowsy and lazy; it was hard to imagine how he had become a disciple of the abbot.

After the introduction, a burst of brilliant golden light appeared outside the main hall.

The abbot has arrived!

"Greetings, Master!"

The six disciples immediately bowed to the abbot, and even the lazy fat man trembled, but did not fail to show the proper etiquette.

The abbot waved his sleeve and said, "Well, now that everyone is here, I have a few things to arrange for you."

At this point, the abbot glanced at Lin Mo, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.

"Not bad, you've already broken through to the late stage of the Spirit Guidance Realm. It seems I should prepare some spiritual items for you to ignite your life flame."

Lin Mo quickly replied, "This disciple is terrified; how could I possibly trouble Master?"

The abbot shook his head and said, "This is what I should do. Igniting the life flame is also quite dangerous. If one is not careful, there is a great possibility that one could be burned to ashes."

"In the temple, quite a few disciples have fallen at this hurdle."

"Don't refuse. You should diligently cultivate and reach the peak of the Spirit Guidance Realm as soon as possible."

"In addition, the practice of the Blood Transporting Scripture should not be neglected. Vigorous blood and qi are of great benefit to igniting the life fire."

At this point, the other disciples couldn't help but glance at Lin Mo, a strange look in their eyes.

I never expected that Master would take such good care of this junior brother. I wonder what his background is.

They all became disciples of the abbot after advancing to the Candle Illumination Realm, so naturally they never enjoyed these privileges.

"Thank you, Master!" Lin Mo didn't bother to refuse and readily agreed.

The abbot nodded, then looked at the others and said, "I have recently been feeling restless and am preparing to leave the mountain gate. However, before I leave, there are a few important matters I need to tell you."

"Deng Kun, a force called the Five Poisons Sect has appeared in the southern border of Yu Kingdom at some point. Go and investigate it. Once you have the results, return to the sect immediately."

Upon hearing this, Deng Kun nodded and said, "Disciple obeys."

"He Bao!"

"Disciple is here!" The lazy, fat Taoist priest jiggled his fat.

"While I'm away, you'll be in charge of taking good care of the medicinal herb field. If anything goes wrong, you'll be held responsible."

"Your disciple obeys!"

After giving his instructions, the abbot looked at the other two dull-witted alchemy disciples and said calmly, "You two, how are you doing with the pill formulas I gave you some time ago?"

"This disciple is confident in starting the alchemy process!"

"This disciple is somewhat confident, but the Qi-Nourishing Pill is extremely potent and may damage one's foundation. This disciple believes its value is far less than that of the Spirit-Enhancing Pill."

Two taciturn disciples answered one after the other.

The abbot, however, was completely unconcerned and waved his hand, saying, "This is not something you need to worry about. I will give you a batch of spiritual herbs later, so use them to practice."

Finally, he looked at Lin Mo again and said, "Lin Mo, it may take me some time to go down the mountain. After that, you will be responsible for watering the Ancestor's Dragon Blood Tree yourself."

"Remember, you must not mess this up, otherwise, if the Ancestor blames you, even I, your master, will not be able to protect you."

The time has come!

Lin Mo took a deep breath, bowed his head and clasped his hands, saying, "This disciple understands, but this disciple cannot break the restriction on the back mountain."

"It's alright. With this token, you can freely enter and exit the restricted area behind the mountain."

As he spoke, the abbot took out a dark gold token and tossed it into Lin Mo's hand.

Receiving the cold, heavy token, Lin Mo was overjoyed, but outwardly remained calm, saying, "Disciple obeys!"

"Well, the Dragon Blood Tree hasn't been watered yet this month. You should go and try it on your own. I won't go with you this time."

"This disciple will go now!" Lin Mo took the token and left the Golden Sun Palace alone.

He walked steadily toward the forbidden area in the back mountain, but his heart was in turmoil.

Do not get excited, remain calm, and act as usual.

A cultivator at the Visualization Realm can project their divine sense, but he, with only the Spirit Guidance Realm cultivation, would never be able to detect it.

At this very moment, the abbot may have extended his divine sense to the top of his head, observing everything about him.

Upon arriving at the forbidden area behind the mountain, Lin Mo channeled a wisp of spiritual energy into the dark golden token in his hand.

Immediately afterwards, a layer of dark golden light enveloped his body.

The strict restrictions that could block cultivators in the visualization realm were now useless to him.

Lin Mo took a step forward, and a layer of water-like spiritual light rippled in the air as he easily arrived in front of the Dragon Blood Treasure Tree.

As usual, he took out the lapis lazuli dagger and slowly walked to the roots of the Dragon Blood Tree.

He could sense the immense vitality contained within this precious tree, as if a giant beast were sleeping before him.

Lin Mo slashed his wrist with the lapis lazuli dagger, and bright red blood gushed out instantly.

The roots of the Dragon Blood Tree absorbed all the blood with great thirst, continuing for quite some time before the tree finally stopped.

Upon seeing this, Lin Mo immediately activated the Blood Transfusion Scripture to stop the blood flowing from his wrist.

After this ordeal, his face turned even paler.

He had only cultivated the "Blood Transporting Scripture" to the beginner level, and with so much essence and blood spilled out, he was still finding it difficult to cope.

"If it weren't for the abbot providing nourishing elixirs, I'm afraid I would never have been able to ignite my own life flame in this lifetime," Lin Mo murmured to himself.

Igniting the flame of life and stepping into the realm of illumination requires consuming a large amount of life essence.

Even the most talented and gifted cultivator would not be able to ignite the flame of life if they bled like this once a month.

After doing all this, Lin Mo didn't look at the Dragon Blood Tree in front of him again.

Let's wait a little longer. Once the abbot leaves the mountain, when he comes back next month to bleed the tree, we should be able to plunder the spiritual essence of the Dragon Blood Tree.

Of course, this matter also carries certain risks.

If too much is extracted, causing the Dragon Blood Tree to exhibit an overly obvious abnormal state, then even ten lives wouldn't be enough to kill it.

...