Martial Immortality: Starting with the Spirit Beast Scroll

Chapter 329: Chapter 317: Merit Hall

Zhao Lin said gratefully, "Elder, your words have been a revelation and cleared away all my confusion."

Lu Yuanxiu dismissed it. "You would have figured this out on your own sooner or later. I merely gave you a reminder, that’s all."

After he spoke, he lightly patted his robes at his waist, and a jade slip suddenly appeared in his hand.

Zhao Lin’s gaze fell upon a round, octagonal beast-skin bag beneath Lu Yuanxiu’s robes. Strange Array Patterns were etched on its surface, and it emitted faint fluctuations of Spiritual Power. Zhao Lin’s eyebrows jumped.

’That’s not a storage pouch... it’s a Qiankun Bag!’

Although he had never seen one before, Lu Yuanxiu’s beast-skin bag was exactly like the Qiankun Bags described in rumors.

In the year since he’d joined the sect, this was his first time seeing a Qiankun Bag in person. Such spatial treasures were incredibly rare and expensive—not even Dean Zhou or the two elders possessed one.

Lu Yuanxiu placed his jade slip next to Zhao Lin’s personal one. He formed a hand seal, cast a duplication spell, and then handed the slip back to him.

"Take a look. It should be of some use."

Zhao Lin was puzzled. He accepted the jade slip and swept his Divine Sense over it, his eyes widening in shock.

His personal jade slip was now filled with a massive amount of new information: a dense, detailed record of Lu Yuanxiu’s own journey through the Qi Refining Realm. It included every mission he had undertaken, the rewards granted by the sect, and a log of his merit exchanges.

"This... this is too valuable!"

Zhao Lin stood up, straightened his robes, and gave Lu Yuanxiu a deep, formal bow.

Cultivation records from a Body Stone were a cultivator’s deepest secret, not something to be shared lightly, let alone copied in their entirety like this.

Lu Yuanxiu was a Purple Mansion Realm cultivator, and a Martial Cultivator at that. By using his experience as a reference, Zhao Lin could avoid countless pitfalls. This was a priceless treasure, more valuable than any Spirit Stone or pill.

This also showed that Lu Yuanxiu already considered him one of his own.

Lu Yuanxiu gestured with his hand, pressing down, for Zhao Lin to sit. He said in a gentle voice, "Everyone has their own path of cultivation. Mine might not necessarily be suitable for you."

"But you must understand one thing. For us Martial Cultivators, our greatest strength is our combat prowess, not some auxiliary art. ’Diligence compensates for a lack of talent’—that saying doesn’t apply to us!"

"If you want to break through as quickly as possible, you must leverage your own advantages. Otherwise, time will wait for no one. I hope you can reach Foundation Establishment within ten years."

A warmth spread through Zhao Lin’s chest. He said in a solemn voice, "I will strive to not disappoint you, Elder."

Lu Yuanxiu nodded with a smile. "It’s about time. I have business back at the prefecture. I hope you’ll be true to your word. The next time we meet, I expect to see you in a new light."

Without waiting for Zhao Lin’s reply, he walked straight out of the quiet room.

...

That night, Zhao Lin returned to his residence and carefully read Lu Yuanxiu’s cultivation records. The more he read, the more shocked he became.

Lu Yuanxiu was a man of stunning talent. He had become a Martial Grandmaster at thirty-five and was already thirty-six when he joined the sect—five years older than Zhao Lin.

At such a "high age," he successfully reached Foundation Establishment in less than ten years after joining the sect. His speed was astonishing.

Lu Yuanxiu cultivated at the Spirit Dao Institute for one year, and from the second year on, he frequently undertook sect missions.

After completing his missions, he would use the merit points he’d earned to exchange for pills and access to cultivate in the Spirit Caves.

Repeating this cycle over and over, he fueled his cultivation with battle, forging a path straight to the Purple Mansion Realm.

Zhao Lin gave it a quick scan. The missions Lu Yuanxiu took were all high-risk, such as entering dangerous minor worlds, or pursuit and escort missions.

No wonder people said Lu Yuanxiu was blessed by fortune. Many of his missions were incredibly dangerous, the kind where one barely escapes with their life.

’So that’s how it is. Elder Lu has shown me a clear path.’

Zhao Lin had also planned on taking missions to earn Spirit Stones, but the idea hadn’t been fully formed, nor had he felt any urgency. After seeing Lu Yuanxiu’s records, he suddenly understood that following a moderate path was simply courting death.

There was more than one Martial Cultivator in the sect, and Lu Yuanxiu was the most outstanding among them, which proved that this path was the correct one.

However, Zhao Lin still decided to study Arrays, but he wouldn’t invest too much energy into it.

Until they were mastered, auxiliary arts offered little benefit to one’s cultivation; they were just a trade for earning Spirit Stones and merit points. Combat was the quickest way to get rich.

Just as Lu Yuanxiu had said, once he reached the Foundation Establishment Realm or Purple Mansion Realm, he would have plenty of time to study auxiliary arts. If he couldn’t even reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, there was no point in mastering Arrays, no matter how proficient he became.

The next morning, Zhao Lin headed straight for the Merit Hall.

He decided to take on a mission first as a trial. If this path was feasible, he would follow it for his cultivation from now on.

From their second year, disciples of the Chenghua Sect received a monthly stipend of three Spirit Stones, as well as a bottle of Nourishing Essence Pills and Fasting Pills each quarter.

To rely on this meager stipend to gain a foothold in the sect was, in a word, difficult!

Zhao Lin had one hundred and sixty merit points on hand. He had treasured them before, reluctant to use them, but now that he thought about it, this amount was truly nothing.

During the Qi Refining Stage, there were many types of pills that could aid cultivation. The most common were Nourishing Essence Pills, Yin Yang Pills, Yellow Valley Pills, and so on.

Nourishing Essence Pills could nurture Primordial Qi and improve one’s cultivation.

However, Nourishing Essence Pills were only the most basic type of pill. They needed to be taken frequently, and their effects were average. A step above the Nourishing Essence Pill was the Essence Enhancing Pill, and a step above that was the Yuan Condensing Pill.

Yuan Condensing Pills had outstanding effects, but they couldn’t be bought with Spirit Stones alone. They weren’t sold on the open market and could only be exchanged for with merit points. A single pill cost thirty merit points, plus thirty Spirit Stones.

It was the same for Yin Yang Pills. There were even higher-level pills above them, all of which required merit points for exchange.

This wasn’t because the sect was stingy; good things were always scarce, and it was impossible for everyone to have them.

For another example, disciples practiced at the mountaintop every morning just to cultivate during the time when Spiritual Qi was most abundant.

But in reality, there was a better place to cultivate in the county: the Spirit Caves.

Spirit Caves were created by directly guiding a Spirit Vein into a cave-residence and then using a Spirit Gathering Array to concentrate the Spiritual Qi. The Spiritual Qi was extremely dense, and cultivating within them was far more effective than outside.

There were seven Spirit Caves in Han Chi County. Depending on their grade, they required three to ten merit points per day. Most cultivators couldn’t afford them, only using them for a period of time when they reached a critical juncture in their cultivation.

’Elder Lu was right. Merit points are only valuable when you use them. If I had cultivated in a Spirit Cave back when I was taking the Jade Marrow Pill, I might have opened one or two more Spiritual Acupoints.’

With this thought in mind, Zhao Lin arrived at the Merit Hall.

The Merit Hall was not on Wendao Peak, but on Yingchun Peak, the easternmost of the seven peaks in Han Chi County.

At the Merit Hall, cultivators could use merit points to exchange for various items. At the same time, new missions were posted here every month.

Walking into the Merit Hall, he saw that the walls on both sides of the main hall were covered with mission postings.

Most of these missions came from the sect and the various prefectures. There were also personally posted missions, and even a small number from other sects. Every half a month, notice was sent to all the counties via Communication Talismans.

There were many types of missions, such as gathering Spirit Grass, hatching beast eggs, clearing out Demon Beasts and demonic insects, searching for Spirit Veins, assassinating enemies of the sect, and so on.

Some missions required the undertaker to have certain auxiliary arts, others required a great deal of time and effort, and still others were extremely dangerous.

The missions were varied and diverse, and the rewards differed greatly depending on their difficulty and level of danger.

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