Chapter 36 – How Can You All Sleep?

The proficiency of his Mindscape – Sky Burial City also increased during the confrontation between the Heart Lamp and the Sky Burial Power, which Mu Lin had not anticipated.

However, this was a good thing for Mu Lin, and thus, he did not dwell on it too much.

Feeling slightly mentally fatigued, Mu Lin rested briefly before quickly embarking on his next cultivation session—refining the Blackwater Profound Serpent Essence Blood.

Thus, over the following days, Mu Lin once again immersed himself in arduous cultivation.

When his spirit was full, he would draw down the Sky Burial Power to contend with his Heart Fire, allowing his Heart Lamp and Mindscape – Sky Burial City to grow through tempering.

When mentally exhausted, if it was daytime, he would refine the Blackwater Profound Serpent Essence Blood to enhance his physical body and Black Mist Magical Power.

If it was nighttime, he would cultivate the Taiyin Life-Nurturing Scripture.

Days of relentless cultivation led to progress in all of Mu Lin’s cultivation methods, especially the Blackwater Profound Serpent Mortal Shedding Art.

With ample resources, Mu Lin’s progress in this cultivation method advanced by leaps and bounds. In just two or three days, Mu Lin discovered that his physical strength was on the verge of reaching the Qi and Blood Martial Artist realm.

The so-called Qi and Blood Martial Artist is a realm within martial arts.

Sensing, Qi Drawing, Spirit Awakening (Daoist Novice), Gushing Spring, Spirit Pool, Spirit Sea (Feathered Scholar), Sha Refinement, Gang Condensation, Gang Sha Unity (Spell Master)… These are the realms of a Qi Refiner.

Naturally, martial arts also has its own realm divisions.

Skin Refining, Flesh Refining, Bone Refining, Marrow Refining, Internal Organs Refining—these are the five realms of a Martial Disciple. Only after the entire body has been tempered and Qi and Blood have been nurtured does one become a true martial artist, also known as a Qi and Blood Martial Artist.

To reach this stage, martial artists typically require several years. Yet, Mu Lin had achieved such a physique in less than a month—this was the power of cultivating immortality.

More crucially, although Qi and Blood Martial Artists are said to be on par with Spirit Awakening Cultivators, martial artists possess only Qi and Blood, without Mana or various innate Spells. Consequently, in most cases, martial artists are easily overpowered by Qi Refiners.

“However, although martial artists have fewer techniques, their physical bodies are indeed formidable. With such a physique, I have gained another means… More importantly, a Spirit Awakening-level body should be able to withstand the absorption of Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi.”

Thinking this, a bitter expression appeared on Mu Lin’s face.

Since advancing to Spirit Awakening and opening his dantian, Mu Lin’s progress in various cultivation methods had been quite smooth, but one issue troubled him greatly.

Among the Three Treasures of Essence—Essence, Qi, and Spirit—his Essence (physical body) did not match his Qi and Spirit.

The Blackwater Profound Serpent Mortal Shedding Art was, after all, only an Earth Grade low-tier cultivation method.

What frustrated him even more was that the condensation of Taiyin Life-Nurturing Qi required the participation of Essence and Qi.

This meant that every time Mu Lin circulated the Taiyin Life-Nurturing Scripture, his Qi and Blood would diminish slightly.

The members of the Paper Crafting Lineage all had pale, paper-like complexions, and this was not without reason.

Unwilling to become a “Young Master with Kidney Deficiency,” Mu Lin had been consuming over twenty bowls of Spirit Rice Meal daily to replenish his Qi and Blood.

But this was only a temporary solution. Continuing like this would definitely not…

“Wait, if I persist for a while, it seems there might be a turning point.”

This turning point lay, first, in the Blackwater Profound Serpent Essence Blood. By refining just one more drop of essence blood, he could elevate his physical body to the Spirit Awakening stage. At that time, with his Qi and Blood surging, he might be able to withstand the absorption.

Second, it lay in the progress of the Blackwater Profound Serpent cultivation method itself.

A low grade also meant that this cultivation method required less proficiency to level up.

Soon, he would be able to elevate the Blackwater Profound Serpent Mortal Shedding Art to the third realm, Expert. By then, new characteristics might solve Mu Lin’s problem.

“First, raise my physical cultivation level, then tackle the progress of the cultivation method!”

“Crunch, crunch, gulp…”

While devouring the spirit rice meal in large mouthfuls, Mu Lin pondered.

Soon, a bowl of rice was finished. Seeing this, he immediately went to the front of the cafeteria and brought back three more bowls.

Practicing a body cultivation art, coupled with the major expenditure of qi and blood from the Taiyin Life-Nurturing Scripture, gave Mu Lin an enormous appetite. Moreover, after being rated as a B-Grade Elite, the Dao Palace provided spirit rice meals for free, which made Mu Lin very enthusiastic about eating.

Every day, he not only ate three meals in the cafeteria but also took some back as a midnight snack.

Because spirit rice was sweet, delicious, nutritious, and contained little impurity, Mu Lin didn’t even need side dishes when eating.

  Some ignored his behavior of dry-swallowing spirit rice like this, but there were also those who disliked him, calling him a glutton.

Just like Qi Xiu, who walked past Mu Lin’s table with his teammates and sneered.

“Eating desperately just because it’s free—you glutton are purely embarrassing our Formal Class!”

“Alright, Brother Qi, be more tolerant. Those from poor backgrounds just love taking advantage of small favors.”

“Hahaha…”

In the past, Mu Lin had no mood to bother with such mockery. Wouldn’t it be better to use that time for arguing on cultivation?

But now it was different. Having decided to be the “catfish,” he had dialed his aggressiveness to the max.

Thus, before the laughter of the three ended, Mu Lin’s voice rang out.

“Laugh at your mother’s cunt.”

The sudden curse left the three mocking Mu Lin stunned.

Before they could regain their composure, Mu Lin’s fully aggressive words followed one after another.

“You say I’m embarrassing the Formal Class? You cultivators with second-class spirit roots were actually caught up by someone like me with a third-class spirit root. If I’m trash, what are you? Garbage worse than trash?”

“And, how can you sleep at night?”

“If I were like you, caught up by those below, I’d have long been ashamed to death.”

“What about you? Laughing and playing nonstop—are you planning to give up on yourselves completely? If so, I suggest you get lost sooner rather than later. Don’t waste resources in the Dao Palace!”

“You…”

Mu Lin’s sudden cursing left Qi Xiu and his companions dumbfounded. Pointing at Mu Lin, he couldn’t utter a word for a long time.

Some even glared with reddened eyes, wanting to take action. Mu Lin showed not a trace of fear; instead, he calmly said:

“What, want to fight? Come on, hit me. Let’s see if Teacher Dongfang Ya punishes you or not!”

“Let me tell you, I have connections above!”

These words made Qi Xiu and the others wary.

Even prodigies like Ji Xue and Yan Yunyu would give Teacher Dongfang Ya face, so Qi Xiu and the others naturally didn’t dare provoke her.

And Mu Lin claimed to have a relationship with Teacher Dongfang Ya—because he appeared overly confident, and during their first meeting, Teacher Dongfang Ya had indeed praised Mu Lin highly. This made Qi Xiu and the others… believe it.

And this also made them dare not take action.

However, even though they didn’t act, Mu Lin had no intention of letting them off.

He had no intention of taking action, knowing full well that Teacher Dongfang Ya would not tolerate such rule-breaking behavior.

But not taking action didn’t mean he wouldn’t vent his anger. Seizing the opportunity, Mu Lin let loose a torrent of curses.

“What’s with the ‘you’? Not convinced? Even if my talent isn’t as good as yours, haven’t I caught up?”

“And I heard you three failures have tried climbing the tower multiple times but never succeeded once. How did you manage to be so useless?”

Qi Xiu: “You bastard, you have no idea how difficult the Tower of Illusory Heavens is. If you went, you wouldn’t even pass the first floor.”

“Is that so.”

Hearing this, Mu Lin wasn’t angered. Instead, he chuckled indifferently and said, “Perfect timing. Seven days from now, I’ll be attempting my first climb. Heh, I hope the first floor is truly as difficult as you claim.”

With that, Mu Lin said no more, merely chuckling softly. Yet the pressure this placed on Qi Xiu and the others was immense.

Already, Mu Lin had torn them apart with his insults. If he succeeded in climbing the tower while they remained stuck on the first floor, the mockery they would face was something Qi Xiu and the others dared not imagine.

(End of Chapter)