From a country cook to a master chef

At the market auction, Lin Jue witnessed the capriciousness of the wealthy for the first time.

A strange herb that is not particularly rare was sold at an extremely high price that did not reflect its true value, simply because it was given the title of a precious medicine.

More than a dozen medicinal herbs were auctioned off, but none of them met Lin Jue's requirements, which made him consider leaving halfway through the auction.

Fortunately, after a long and arduous wait, the heavens rewarded those who persevered, and the Golden Rock Fruit and the Long Arc Thousand-Knot Leaf appeared one after another.

After several rounds of bidding, Lin Jue finally acquired both medicinal herbs for a high price of over nine hundred taels of silver.

Having obtained the medicinal herbs, Lin Jue immediately turned and left before the auction ended. He left the market, changed back into his Tianwu Mountain disciple's robes, and went straight back to Tianwu Mountain.

Following the same route he had come from, he returned to the academy smoothly in less than a day.

Now that all the medicinal materials are ready, it's time to try to prepare the Soul Nourishing Formula. However, before that, Lin Jue still plans to consult with Uncle Cao to find out some things to pay attention to when preparing this medicine.

During his trip to the market, he was lucky enough to buy two of almost every kind of medicinal herb.

One portion can be used to prepare a formula for nourishing the soul.

The other portion is to be kept for later use in refining the Reversed Five Elements Pill.

The medicinal herbs were precious and had almost cost him all his money, so he had to ensure that the entire preparation process was meticulous to avoid any waste.

With a plan in mind, Lin Jue began to work hard to achieve his goal as soon as possible.

The first thing to do is to go to Master Cao's Hundred Herbs Garden to learn the complete method for preparing the Soul Nourishing Formula.

Although the prescription recorded the entire preparation process, it was still just cold text, far less easy to understand than Uncle Cao's explanation.

After learning the various tips and tricks for making the Soul Nourishing Formula, Lin Jue returned to his residence and began to wholeheartedly prepare it.

After carefully grinding all the medicinal herbs into powder, simply mix them together and let them sit for half a month to obtain a soul-nourishing formula that can heal soul wounds.

Of course, the premise is that the powder must not get wet at all during this period, and it must be roasted with osmanthus wood for three days and three nights without interruption.

In this way, while preparing the Soul Nourishing Formula, Lin Jue also took the time to consult the elders on duty at the Martial Arts Hall about the key points of cultivating innate physical techniques.

During this time, he did not forget to go to the Hundred Herbs Garden to get a portion of spiritual milk, which he used to consolidate his supernatural power realm strength with the remaining Qi and Blood Powder.

Most of the time, he stayed at his residence, watching the preparation of the Soul Nourishing Formula while practicing martial arts.

Time flies, and before we knew it, a month had passed quietly.

Half a month ago, Lin Jue had already taken the Soul Nourishing Formula to heal his soul injury and had also completed the initial cultivation of the Innate Body Technique in the Inner Court.

This technique allows martial artists to quickly become familiar with controlling their internal energy. In just half a month, with the help of Qi and Blood Powder and the academy's medicinal bath, Lin Jue had successfully trained the tenth level of the Innate Body Technique to the eighth level. His rapid progress amazed Uncle Cao of the Hundred Herbs Garden.

After his strength had improved considerably, Ding Xiangfei, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, found Lin Jue early that morning.

It brought him news that was neither good nor bad.

"Junior Brother Lin, the academy is preparing to select ten martial artists at the Divine Power Realm to carry out a special mission: escorting cultivators from the Six Sects Alliance of the Great Martial Cultivation World to the Netherworld Ghost Land."

The Netherworld Ghost Land is located in the heart of the Great Martial God's Mirror Palace, thousands of miles away from Pingzhou. It is said to exist in an extremely strange space, where only cultivators can break through the spatial barrier and forcibly enter.

Once a cultivator enters the Netherworld, all their magical power will be sealed, making them no different from a mortal. Therefore, they need to be escorted by us martial artists.

Junior Brother Lin's strength has improved rapidly recently, and he has just been selected as one of the ten martial arts protectors.

Upon hearing this, Lin Jue was taken aback. In his opinion, this did not sound like a good thing at all.

"Don't worry, Junior Brother Lin. In the past, other senior brothers have also entered the Netherworld Ghost Land with the six sects, and they all returned safely. You can rest assured this time."

By the way, the Netherworld Ghost Land is rich in spiritual plants and precious herbs. If we could harvest them, it would greatly benefit Junior Brother Lin's future cultivation.

Ding Xiangfei smiled faintly, took the tea that Yuan Rou brought her and took a small sip. "Miss Yuan Rou is beautiful and intelligent, and she and Junior Brother Lin are a match made in heaven."

"..."

Upon hearing this, both Yuan Rou and Lin Jue were slightly taken aback, and then became embarrassed.

Seeing this, Ding Xiangfei stood up and said, "Alright, Junior Brother Lin, hurry up and get ready, then come with me to meet the two guests from the Yanxia Sect. After that, we will go with them to the Netherworld Ghost Land."

"So fast?"

Lin Jue was startled; this happened so fast that he was completely unprepared.

"Please wait a moment, Senior Sister Ding."

Lin Jue took a deep breath, turned around and went to the bedroom. He filled a water bag with the spirit-controlling gourd water he had been refining over the past six months. After a moment of contemplation, he took out the storage bag hanging under the bed.

Speaking of weapons, after the tiger-head saber was destroyed, he had been using the dragon-patterned ao, but he had never taken it out to use since entering Tianwu Mountain.

Now that he was heading to the Netherworld Ghost Land, Lin Jue planned to bring his storage bag along with the Dragon Pattern Ao.

Having a storage bag means you can hold a lot of things, and you can also hide some treasures that you don't want to show off.

Every cultivator has a storage bag, so it's unlikely that the cultivators from the six alliance sects traveling with him would target a mere mortal martial artist.

Thinking of this, Lin Jue went to the living room, told Yuan Rou not to wander around unless necessary, and then went with Ding Xiangfei to meet two Qi Refiners from the Yanxia Sect.

To his great surprise, one of the alchemists sent by the Yanxia Sect to pick them up was the second young lady of the Zhao family in Yulin Town.

Lin Jue and Zhao Xiaoyao were overjoyed to meet an old friend in a foreign land.

"Miss Yao, how have you been?"

"I'm fine, Brother Lin. I never expected to meet you again at Tianwu Mountain. I'm so happy to see you like this."

Upon hearing this, Lin Jue hesitated for a moment, and was about to speak when he was interrupted by the young man beside Zhao Xiaoyao: "You're the Lin Jue that Junior Sister Xiaoyao often mentions?"

"Who are you?"

"My name is Zhen Jian, a disciple of Elder Li, a Core Formation cultivator of the Yanxia Sect, and a Foundation Establishment cultivator."

The young man introduced himself and said in an unfriendly tone, "As a mortal martial artist, you should know the difference between immortals and mortals. Are you aware of this?"

Upon hearing the young man's words and observing his attitude towards Zhao Xiaoyao, Lin Jue suddenly realized that this guy regarded him as a rival in love.

Thinking about Zhao Xiaoyao's current identity, Lin Jue suddenly remembered the Yanxia Sect disciple he had met in Langyan Valley, Yucheng.

His name seems to be Shen Qing, and he is skilled in using a flying sword magic weapon.

Ding Xiangfei sensed the jealousy in Zhen Jian's words and teased him with a smile, "Senior Brother Zhen, don't wrong Junior Brother Lin. He already has a family, and his wife lives in Tianwu Academy now."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Zhen Jian was taken aback, but then his face lit up with joy, and he didn't dwell on the matter any further.

Upon hearing that Lin Jue had started a family, Zhao Xiaoyao was momentarily stunned. After regaining her composure, she quickly changed the subject: "Senior Sister Ding, there's no time to lose. Please ask the ten martial artists from Tianwu Mountain to prepare. We'll set off immediately."

After speaking, Zhao Xiaoyao pointed her finger, and wisps of spiritual light shot out from the storage bag, transforming into a huge spaceship that floated above everyone's heads.