Lin Er froze. He didn’t even bother putting on an act, he really had become a demonic cultivator.

To be honest, the two demonic cultivation paths were both very tempting. They might be able to solve his problem of having extremely scarce cultivation resources.

But Lin Er noticed one problem. Longevity had been singled out on its own.

Meaning, these two demonic cultivation paths couldn’t solve the longevity issue. After a hundred years, he would still end up as a handful of yellow dirt.

Lin Er fell silent.

He realized the key to cultivating immortality was cultivating immortality.

Lin Er quickly made his choice.

* * *

After Lin Er finished dealing with the bounty matter, he turned and was about to leave.

At this moment, Ellie suddenly spoke.

“Lord Lin Er, do you have time in the next few days?”

Lin Er raised his head to look at Ellie. Her expression was shy and her words were a little halting.

So he asked, “Do you need something?”

Ellie gathered her courage and answered, “Lord Lin Er, I want to treat you to a meal.”

Lin Er was slightly surprised, then suddenly realized something. Could it be that Ellie had been planning this all along, that she was willing to help him for this reason?

He vaguely guessed what was going on, but it really was necessary to maintain a good relationship with Ellie. After all, she was a staff member of the Adventurers’ Guild and the internal information she knew was definitely more than his. Maybe one day it would come in handy.

So he answered, “Thank you. I’m free these next few days. When are we going to eat?”

Ellie’s expression lit up and she hurriedly said, “Tom… no, the morning after tomorrow. We’ll meet right here at the Adventurers’ Guild.”

Lin Er nodded and agreed.

After saying goodbye to Ellie, he turned and headed for the Shattered Sword Tavern.

This time, Lin Er rented a room for three days. He entered the room, closed the door and couldn’t wait to take out his reward.

A jade slip appeared in his hand, smooth and rounded, exquisitely made.

He could clearly feel that the jade slip contained a trace of extraordinary spiritual energy.

[The Turbid-Expelling Qi-Gathering Method: Exhale first, then inhale. Close your eyes and still your mind, banish stray thoughts. Cultivate like this for several minor cycles and you will be able to take in spiritual energy and fill your dantian.

Grade: Yellow Grade. After injecting spiritual energy into the jade slip, you can master it. Suitable for the Foundation Establishment stage. You cannot rely on this method to break through to the Golden Core stage.]

After reading the description, Lin Er followed the steps and injected spiritual energy into the jade slip.

With a crackling shatter, the jade slip exploded into pieces, turning into a pile of white powder that dispersed.

At the same time, a streak of light shot out from the jade slip and drilled into the top of his head.

Lin Er felt dizzy and overheated. In an instant, a massive amount of cultivation knowledge poured into his mind, leaving him dumbstruck.

He reflexively sat cross-legged on the bed and sorted through it carefully.

So, to cultivate, spiritual energy was crucial. Spiritual energy existed between heaven and earth and it was best to find an environment rich in spiritual energy. Cultivating there would be like a fish in water and progress would be rapid.

Up to now, Lin Er had not sensed spiritual energy in the outside environment at all. Last time, the system had even triggered a heaven-and-earth phenomenon just to absorb spiritual energy, so that method could be ruled out for now.

Second, items like pills, demon cores, spirit stones and heavenly treasures also contained spiritual energy and could be used when spiritual energy was thin.

Lin Er took out his only spirit stone. The method for using it was already given in the technique.

Crush it or swallow it.

Crushing was more convenient and absorption was faster, but there would be a slight loss.

Swallowing allowed full absorption, but low-grade spirit stones contained impurities. You would need to circulate a minor cycle to expel them.

Lin Er naturally chose the second option. Without hesitation, he swallowed the spirit stone and at the same time circulated a minor cycle according to the method’s steps.

This low-grade spirit stone quickly turned into powder and a large amount of spiritual energy erupted.

He immediately suppressed his body’s agitation and continued circulating the minor cycle.

Because it was his first time, he wasn’t very familiar with it. He was extremely cautious, afraid of making mistakes. A minor cycle that should’ve taken half an hour ended up taking a full hour.

As the first minor cycle finished successfully, he absorbed a strand of spiritual energy into his dantian.

Lin Er’s minor-cycle circulation also became more skilled. He found that for some reason, once he understood how it worked, it became oddly natural.

‘Could it be I’m a genius? Or is this Yellow Grade cultivation method so simple that even an elementary school kid could master it?’

Lin Er couldn’t figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it.

First cycle, second cycle, third cycle…

Each time Lin Er successfully circulated a minor cycle and absorbed a strand of spiritual energy, he felt an inexplicable urge to cheer.

It was like being thirsty in the desert for more than ten days, then suddenly getting a sip of ice-cold lemonade. Once you drank, it was sip after sip and you couldn’t stop.

Cultivating immortality feels great for a moment.

Cultivating immortality nonstop feels great nonstop.

Before he knew it.

Lin Er had completed ten minor cycles.

He let out the final breath of turbid qi, which also meant all the spiritual energy had been fully absorbed.

Lin Er suddenly discovered he had gained inner vision. At this moment, not only had his dantian filled the deficit, the amount of spiritual energy had doubled as well.

At this rate, in less than a month, he would definitely break through to Qi Refining Second Layer.

And that would require 30 low-grade spirit stones. He didn’t have enough spirit stones.

Lin Er sighed, then took out the reward from the side quest.

A dirt-yellow inner core appeared in his palm, looking very crude.

[Inferior Bear-Demon Inner Core: Contains the essence of the bear demon. It holds spiritual energy, but is also full of impurities. It can be absorbed.]

Holding the bear-demon inner core, Lin Er could clearly feel that the spiritual energy contained within it was far, far more than a low-grade spirit stone.

The only downside was that the impurities in the inner core were plentiful, so absorbing it likely wouldn’t be easy.

But he couldn’t afford to be picky now.

Lin Er swallowed the inner core and continued circulating the minor cycle. Several strands of spiritual energy overflowed from the inner core, not very much.

This inner core wasn’t like a spirit stone, which could be crushed to release all its spiritual energy at once.

As he expelled turbidity while absorbing spiritual energy, the minor-cycle circulation slowed sharply.

* * *

Time flew by.

Lin Er found his absorption speed growing slower and slower. His focus also began to scatter, far less concentrated than at the start.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked up. Outside, it was already completely dark.

Lin Er stopped circulating the minor cycle. With inner vision, he looked at the bear-demon inner core in his abdomen. He had only absorbed a small portion so far.

This inner core was harder to absorb than he’d expected. There were simply too many impurities. It would take at least several weeks to fully absorb it.

‘I’ll stop cultivating here for today. Cultivation is not something you can rush.’

Lin Er stopped cultivating and turned his attention to the method’s contents.

Besides the main cultivation method, the Turbid-Expelling Qi-Gathering Method also came with a few basic minor spells:

‘Flying Sword Art,’ ‘Wind-Control Art’ and ‘Body-Protection Art.’

He had already tried the Flying Sword Art in a rough way. But this kind of self-taught sword control was extremely crude. Against a real Flying Sword Art, it wouldn’t stand a chance at all.

Fortunately, he now had an orthodox spell inheritance. In this area, all he needed was diligent practice and sooner or later he would master it.

As for the remaining two spells.

Wind-Control Art, as the name implied, was a low-grade escape technique and was also relatively simple to cultivate.

Body-Protection Art was a defensive spell. Depending on one’s spiritual root attribute, it would form different protective golden light.

All three spells required a strand of spiritual energy to drive them. A cultivator could actively control how much spiritual energy was used and the power would fluctuate accordingly.

Because these three spells were too basic, different cultivators would produce completely different effects from the same spell due to different ideas and techniques.

That had to do with a cultivator’s lineage.

But none of that was something Lin Er could consider right now. He was only at Qi Refining First Layer.

For these three basic spells, Lin Er quickly made his decision.

‘I’ll start by practicing the Flying Sword Art. Offensive methods are more important.’