Cultivating immortality begins with discerning the secrets of heaven.

Inside the cave dwelling where Lin Yun resides on Huangzhu Mountain.

He has been in seclusion for nearly a month, and the Lin family has been in turmoil over the clan soldiers issue this month.

Anyone could see that this clan army would become an important force for the Lin family in the future.

Even some members of the main lineage hoped to join as soon as possible.

Lin Yun knew nothing about these matters and was still in seclusion cultivating.

Seven days passed in the blink of an eye, and a strong fluctuation of spiritual energy came from his cave.

The wood-attribute spiritual energy in the world suddenly became restless, and then, as if drawn by something, it rushed into Lin Yun's body.

boom!

At the same time, his aura also became even stronger.

The moment Lin Yun opened his eyes, a glint of emerald green light flashed in his pupils.

Fourth level of Qi Refining!

After enduring so much hardship, I have finally reached the mid-stage of Qi Refining!

"Finally, I've been promoted." Lin Yun breathed a sigh of relief.

He sighed, then opened his hand, and a rich, pale green spiritual energy surged from his palm.

It is much stronger than the magic power at the early stage of Qi Refining, and the total amount of magic power has also increased significantly.

"Not bad, a Qi Refining Level 4 cultivator at under twenty years old."

Lin Yun was very satisfied with his progress in cultivation, especially now that he had mastered a weapon-refining technique, his future path looked very bright.

  

"Thanks to the Nourishing Spirit Pill."

With his four spiritual roots, even with the resources provided by his family, if he were to cultivate normally, he would probably have to wait until he was at least thirty years old to advance to the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

After all, the Lin family's cultivation resources didn't come out of thin air. Even those of the main branch couldn't enjoy the family's resources without limit.

After consolidating his cultivation and stabilizing his breathing, Lin Yun slowly stood up, loosened his muscles and bones, and then activated the Book of Insight to review some information.

The earth's vein fire in the Cangxuan Domain is flourishing, and metal and wood elements are sprouting, making it ideal for alchemy and weapon crafting.

[In the Zhong family of Xiangnanling, Zhong Wu failed to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage and died.]

[In Jinye Plain, the Qi family caravan suffered heavy losses after being attacked by raiders.]

[In the Great Qian Dynasty, a blessed land for cultivation has been discovered in Jingzhou, where spiritual herbs grow abundantly.]

In the northern region of Cangxuan, the Wooden Dragon Immortal City has crumbled, its former prosperity gone, and order completely lost.

Elder Sun of Qingyuan Peak in the Taiyuan Sect urgently needs a Heavenly Sun Flower to heal his spirit beast.

[In the southern mountains and Ningfeng City, the demonic cultivator Guan Kou, severely wounded, secretly hides in a merchant's house, plundering the blood essence of mortals every night to heal his injuries.]

"A demonic cultivator has actually infiltrated the Southern Ridge. I wonder what level of cultivation he possesses."

"Judging from this person's performance, his cultivation level is probably not very high."

Lin Yun muttered to himself, Ningfeng City was quite far from Huangzhu Mountain, a place that the Lin family had absolutely no connection with.

Therefore, he decided to pay more attention to it, but kept the matter in mind.

There was nothing particularly noteworthy in today's intelligence. After thinking for a moment, Lin Yun decided to go out for a stroll and see what changes had occurred in the family.

The Lin family remained peaceful and quiet, with little change except for the addition of a clan army to guard the family.

So, Lin Yun decided to climb the mountain to visit his grandfather and tell him the good news of his breakthrough, so that he could share in his joy.

When he arrived at his grandfather's cave, he saw an elder of the Zhongmai clan walking out angrily.

"Come in, Yun'er."

Upon hearing this, Lin Yun strode into the cave, where he saw Lin Jing sitting there with a livid face, clearly not in a good mood.

But soon, after Lin Jing sensed the fluctuation in his grandson's aura, his expression quickly improved.

"Hahaha, Yun'er has broken through?"

"That's really impressive. In just over two years, he has progressed from the second level of Qi Refining to the fourth level."

Lin Jing stroked his beard with a pleased expression, then patted his storage bag and took out a porcelain bottle embroidered with blue bamboo patterns.

"Here you go. This is a bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills, best suited for cultivators in the mid-stage of Qi Refining."

"It can not only improve cultivation and enhance magical power, but also stabilize one's own vital energy."

Cultivation pills for the mid-stage of Qi Refining!

This stuff is far more precious than the Spirit Nourishing Pill; even the Lin family doesn't have many of it.

The Lin family does not have any alchemists. Generally speaking, if you want to obtain pills, you have to go to Zhongling Market and either commission some alchemists to refine them or buy pills from the Hundred Pill Pavilion run by the Zhong family.

A bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills is worth around sixty or seventy spirit stones, and sometimes it can sell for even more.

"Thank you so much, Grandpa!"

This time, Lin Yun did not refuse. Now that he has entered the mid-stage of Qi Refining, with his four spiritual roots, his cultivation speed would be like a tortoise without the help of pills.

The bottle of Spirit Gathering Pills in front of him was indeed very important.

"Yes, that's right!"

Seeing that Lin Yun accepted it, Lin Jing's smile became even more satisfied.

Soon, Lin Yun asked, "By the way, Grandpa, what happened just now? I saw one of the elders from the Zhongmai clan leave with an unhappy expression."

Upon hearing this, Lin Jing couldn't help but angrily retort:

"What else could it be? The clan is preparing to recruit a batch of clan soldiers, with a tentative number of thirty."

"Each of the three branches will send five people in for training, and the remaining fifteen will be selected from the disciples of the branch branches."

"The clan army will expand in size later. Everyone thinks it's a hot commodity. The third son of the Zhong clan wants to include his thirteen-year-old grandson in the army as well."

"That's understandable, but there are only five spots available for Zhongmai. Since his grandson didn't get selected, he naturally turned his attention to me."

Lin Yun quickly understood the key point.

The Ji lineage is indeed declining, but its population is still quite large.

Although Lin Jing only had two sons and one grandson, the Ji lineage had more than just him as an elder.

Another elder in the clan was Lin Yun's second grandfather, named Lin Kang. He was quite prolific, having married six wives and concubines in his early years, and had many children and grandchildren.

Moreover, besides the two elders, the Ji clan also has many other clan members, but their cultivation level is not high enough to reach the late stage of Qi Refining.

"So we don't even have enough spots for our own clan soldiers, and the Zhongmai clan wants to take one of our spots?" Lin Yun asked.

Lin Jing nodded helplessly and said, "That's exactly right!"

"Don't be fooled by the fact that the treatment of these clan soldiers is currently quite ordinary. In the long run, the thirty people selected in the initial stage will all be able to command a lot of cultivators in the future."

"This is what it means to have absolute power!"

Such power struggles are unavoidable even for the Lin family, or rather, they exist in every family.

However, these are just internal competitions. With the clan elders and ancestors around, these competitions will only be contained internally and will never escalate into deeper conflicts.

"Yun'er, the Ascension Ceremony is just around the corner. I'm afraid the spots for the family's recommended disciples will once again be split between the Zhong and Bo branches."

"If you really want to join the upper sect, then wait another ten years. I guarantee you'll be selected for the next round of recommendations!"

As a cultivation family affiliated with the Taiyuan Sect, the Lin family can recommend two disciples to join the Taiyuan Sect at each Ascension Ceremony.

However, in recent years, the two spots have mostly been taken by the eldest and middle branches, and it is rare for the youngest branch to be assigned one.

Lin Yun's lips twitched slightly, and he chuckled dryly, "It's alright, Grandpa. I'm quite confident about the weapon-refining assessment at this Ascension Conference."

"If all goes well, I should be able to join the upper sect."

Hearing this, Lin Jing nodded in satisfaction and said, "That's good, as long as you're confident."

"Actually, it doesn't matter if you fail. Once Hongye successfully establishes her foundation and becomes a foundation elder of the upper sect, the family will be able to have three recommendation slots."

"I can give you one of everything you say!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Yun sighed inwardly, thinking that it would be best to directly join the Taiyuan Sect this time.

The earlier you enter, the sooner you can start accumulating sect contributions and queue up to exchange for Foundation Establishment Pills.

After all, in the Taiyuan Sect, one's seniority is also a factor in exchanging Foundation Establishment Pills.

"Don't worry, Grandpa, I will do my best," Lin Yun said confidently.

Lin Jing didn't really take it seriously.

Because they only recruited ten weapon-refining disciples in total, while how many cultivators are there in the entire Cangxuan Southern Region?

Even if there are only a few people who understand the art of weapon crafting, it would still be a difficulty level of one in a hundred.

"With your words, Grandpa can rest assured."

"By the way, the family has started mining purple-veined copper ore. Although we don't have much stored yet, we still have a certain amount."

"I plan to have the family allocate some purple-veined copper for you to practice with."

Lin Yun smiled upon hearing this, for this was precisely the purpose of his visit today.

Purple-veined copper ore is a genuine spiritual material, and he plans to get some to practice and familiarize himself with its properties.

In addition, the weapon crafting assessment of the Ascension Ceremony is coming soon. For this assessment, which is themed "Breaking the Ice," Lin Yun plans to deepen his proficiency in crafting spear-type and bow-type magical weapons.

Purple-patterned copper is also quite compatible with fire-attribute spirit patterns, making it very suitable for him to practice inscribing some fire-attribute spirit patterns.

...

The family quickly approved the request.

Not only that, the Lin family also gave Lin Yun a task: to refine ten low-grade magic artifacts, using purple-patterned copper as the main material.

After completing this task, you can enter the third floor of the family's scripture pavilion to select cultivation techniques for inheritance.

Of course, all of these purple-patterned copper pieces were provided by the family, and any losses incurred were also borne by the family.

A few days later, Lin Yun received the first batch of purple-veined copper ore sent by his family, which filled three large baskets.

"Normally, after refining these purple-veined copper ores, you can get a little over 100 jin of purple-veined copper."

"If we can refine two or three low-grade magic artifacts from one hundred catties of purple-patterned copper, the family should be able to accept it."

Lin Yun muttered to himself, his eyes shining.

In other words, as long as his success rate is high enough, any extra purple-patterned copper can end up in his pocket.

"Being a weapon refiner is truly a lucrative job..."

At this moment, Lin Yun discovered another good way for weapon refiners to make money.

Of course, this is all on the premise that he has the skill. If the failure rate is too high, and all these spiritual materials are only used to refine a low-grade magic weapon, then the family will probably take back the job.

"To earn this money, you still have to rely on your own abilities."

Lin Yun muttered to himself and began smelting the purple-veined copper ore.

He spent two full days and two nights forging three large baskets of purple-veined copper ore into pure purple-veined copper.

Around him, he saw stacks of purple-patterned copper ingots, radiating a pure spiritual energy.

As for the styles of crafting magical artifacts, there's not much to say; we'll only consider bows and spears.

The purpose was to increase my proficiency through specialized practice for the weapon crafting assessment.

Ding ding ding!

Lin Yun was forging purple-patterned copper in his cave, sweating profusely, and soon he had forged a purple copper spear.

But he soon discovered that using pure purple copper to forge magical artifacts was still somewhat lacking in hardness. While its ability to channel spiritual energy might be excellent, its offensive capabilities were insufficient for use against enemies.

After thinking for a while, he added some iron essence and smelted the purple-patterned copper and iron essence together.

This was used to forge a dark purple spear, which possessed both the rigidity of iron essence, making it extremely durable, and the ductility and energy-conducting properties of purple-veined copper.

"Sure enough, the quality after this melting and casting far surpasses that of pure iron concentrate or purple-veined copper."

Lin Yun muttered to himself, thinking to himself, "No wonder weapon refiners often have to use a variety of materials to forge a magical artifact."

"Aside from a few rare materials, most materials can actually complement each other."

"The art of weapon crafting is truly profound and complex!"

After the casting was completed, Lin Yun tried to temper his spirit and refine his nature, but he soon realized that the properties of the magic weapon made of mixed materials were more complex.

The initial tempering of spirits is manageable, but the difficulty of inscribing spirit patterns later on will likely skyrocket.

After completing the spirit tempering, Lin Yun began to inscribe spirit patterns on it.

As expected, the spiritual patterns he could easily inscribe on refined iron artifacts in the past were now difficult to extend and quickly dissipated and collapsed.

"That's interesting. Iron essence and purple-veined copper have different properties, which is why this situation occurs."

Faced with such difficulties, Lin Yun instead developed a challenging mindset.

And so, he studied in his cave, looking through his weapon-refining heritage, searching for a solution.

Seven days passed in the blink of an eye. Inside Lin Yun's cave, a dark purple spear floated in the air, absorbing the spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

Snapped!

Before long, the dark purple spear landed in his palm. Its heavy weight made Lin Yun realize that the power of this magical artifact was probably even greater than he had imagined.

With this thought in mind, Lin Yun channeled his magic power into the spear.

hum!

Several spiritual runes flashed by: Fire Gathering Rune, Fire Accumulation Rune, Blazing Fire Rune, and Wood Growth Rune!

The four spirit patterns, three fire and one wood, are all connected by a guiding pattern.

"go!"

Lin Yun whispered something, and the dark purple spear in his hand shot out swiftly, leaving a trail of flame.

In an instant, the temperature inside the cave suddenly rose!

"stop!"

Soon, the spear stopped in front of Lin Yun's fingertips, and the flames burning on the surface of the spear disappeared instantly.

"Although this spear is still a low-grade magic weapon, its power is probably already among the top of low-grade magic weapons."

...