Gou Refining Essence into Qi in the Dharma-ending Age

Chapter 37 Moonlight

Lin Yuan spent the next day inspecting the area around Qingshui Village again.

He was just being cautious, but he actually found something.

"Moonlight... How could moonlight appear in a place like this?"

The so-called moonlight is a kind of essence of heaven and earth, said to be formed by the condensation of the power of the moon, which has the effect of improving cultivation and physical condition.

Legend has it that it can also cause a slight change in one's own spiritual power—of course, this can only be done with the highest quality moonlight.

The moonlight before him was not much, only a handful, and judging from the dissipated spiritual energy, its quality was not very high, only the most ordinary kind.

Even so, it is still a rare opportunity.

If Lin Yuan obtained this handful of moonlight at the third level of the Fetal Breathing stage, he could easily reach the fifth level of the Fetal Breathing stage after refining it.

I've already reached the fourth level of fetal breathing, and reaching the fifth level shouldn't be a big problem.

He recalled what Wang Qiudao had said when he accepted the mission.

'Any Sword Sect disciple who accepts the mission and patrols the vicinity of Qingshui Village will surely obtain this handful of moonlight... but he seems to have known this all along.'

"Knowing this news but not yet arriving, then there must be an even greater opportunity... An immortal's cave, huh? Speaking of which, Wang Qiudao just happened to choose the Azure Water Kingdom as his mission location."

All of Lin Yuan's ideas were speculations, without any evidence whatsoever.

But once doubts arise in one's mind, one can't help but overthink.

A reborn person? Or something else...?

Lin Yuan collected the moonlight, intending to take it back to his sect for further refinement.

He then inspected the area again for a while, staying for several days. Only after finding no problems did he prepare to leave.

"Village Chief, your problem most likely stems from an extraordinary figure in your ancestors. I will inform the sect and have its experts help you cover it up. During this time, if any further incidents occur, immediately report to the Sword Pavilion."

Village Chief Hong Shan nodded immediately. It was actually the first time he had asked the Sword Pavilion for help, and he hadn't expected that the Sword Pavilion and the immortal behind it would be so willing to help. His trust in them increased greatly: "Immortal Master, I understand. Also, these are some gifts we would like to give you as a token of our gratitude. Please don't find them too offensive."

As he spoke, some people behind him picked up some items.

One of them was carrying a plate with a lot of silver on it.

The other person was carrying several packages containing some fruits.

Lin Yuan chuckled; he hadn't expected to be given fruit as a gift, which was rather novel.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Village chief, I will accept the fruits and vegetables, thank you. But I don't need the money, as these are useless to me."

Ordinary silver coins are of little use to a sect.

Seeing that Lin Yuan had accepted the melons and fruits, Hong Shan did not insist and immediately had someone bring some more melons and fruits.

Lin Yuan could only be thankful that the space inside the sect token was large enough; otherwise, he might not have been able to fit it all in.

……

After leaving Qingshui Village, Lin Yuan did not return directly to the sect, but instead went to the Sword Pavilion in Longshan City.

He feared that the same problem might exist within the Sword Pavilion, given that Liang Ce had encountered issues.

With the arrival of the celestial master, the Sword Pavilion naturally attached great importance to it, and everyone was present.

Lin Yuan checked and found no cultivators, then felt relieved and briefly explained Liang Ce's situation.

He didn't mention that Liang Ce became a cultivator through evil magic, but only that Liang Ce colluded with thieves and was afraid that evil magic would arouse the covetousness of other people in the Sword Pavilion, causing bloodshed.

The temptations of spiritual practice are too great.

The people of Jian Ge were filled with trepidation, and only relaxed when they saw that Lin Yuan did not blame them.

After doing all this, Lin Yuan returned to the Sword Sect.

……

Upon returning to the Sword Sect, Lin Yuan immediately went to the Mission Hall.

The guardian of the Mission Hall was He Dong, a deacon at the ninth level of the Nascent Soul stage from the Sword Sect. Upon seeing Lin Yuan, he was somewhat taken aback and said, "If you want to submit a mission, you don't need to come looking for me. Just go to the disciple in charge."

Lin Yuan shook his head, took out the scarecrow he had obtained from Qingshui Village, and said, "Steward He, I encountered some problems during this mission. The people of Qingshui Village were killed, not by demonic beasts, but by evil cultivators..."

He rearranged the order in which the tasks were reported.

First, during the investigation, I obtained the Moon Essence, which helped me successfully break through to the fourth level of the Fetal Breathing Realm.

Later, they waited patiently for the evil cultivator to reach the fourth level of embryonic breathing.

With the blessing of the Spirit Forging Blade, they managed to kill the evil cultivator through a sneak attack and finally found the scarecrow.

Even if the sect asked the villagers, they would get similar information, since everyone who knew everything was dead.

After listening, He Dong frowned and said, "You're being a bit too arrogant. If you hadn't obtained the Moon Essence, you would most likely have been in trouble with your current cultivation level of the third level of the Fetal Breathing Realm. If you encounter something like this again in the future, seek help from your sect first, and don't rush in headfirst."

Lin Yuan was taken aback, then sincerely replied, "This disciple has learned much."

Thinking about it carefully, if he really is at the third level of the embryonic breathing stage, then he was indeed very impulsive this time.

"You know you're getting better." He Dong nodded in satisfaction. It was good that you recognized your mistake. Then he said, "Of course, this is also a problem with the sect. The mission information was unclear. The sect will provide special compensation for this."

"Originally, the reward for this mission was 500 sect contribution points. However, because a heretical cultivator at the fourth level of the Nascent Soul stage appeared and you successfully killed him, according to the rules, the reward has been tripled to 1500 sect contribution points."

"Actually, there should have been more, but the sect was afraid that disciples would deliberately do so for the reward, so there was a limit."

Lin Yuan had no objection to this.

Sword Sect contribution points are still quite valuable.

A bottle of Spirit Replenishing Pill costs only 100 contribution points, while a bottle of Vitality Cultivation Pill costs 300 contribution points.

He obtained five bottles of Qi-Nourishing Pills in one go. Theoretically, even with his current refining speed at the fourth level of the Fetal Breathing stage, he could use them for three or four months.

But the story doesn't end there.

"Steward, what exactly is this scarecrow? Is it related to the strange occurrences of the people of Qingshui Village?" Lin Yuan continued to inquire.

Upon hearing this, He Dong said, "The situation of the people of Qingshui Village is probably as you guessed. However, I will inform the sect elders of the specifics later, and they will investigate and help conceal their abnormalities."

"Then there is this scarecrow. It is a good spiritual object. This spiritual object does have the effect of cursing and can interfere with the enemy. It may play a miraculous role in combat. Of course, to achieve this, it may require something from the enemy or something else."

"You'll only know what it is after you refine it. Keep it safe and don't use it on your fellow disciples."

He then returned the scarecrow to Lin Yuan without any greed.

"I will remember this." Lin Yuan carefully put the scarecrow away.

He Dong continued to look at Lin Yuan and said, "You have indeed reached the fourth level of the Fetal Breathing stage. You are quite lucky. Not only did you obtain a spiritual item, but you also encountered the Moon Essence. Even among the many opportunities obtained by disciples who leave the sect to carry out missions, this is considered to be above average."

"Elder, is my opportunity only considered above average?" Lin Yuan asked curiously.

He Dong nodded slowly: "That's right. The sect should have sent you the message by now. A great cultivator's cave, on par with the sect leader, has appeared in the Azure Water Kingdom. Many disciples have obtained good things there and made considerable progress."

"It's a pity you didn't go, but as a member of the Sword Sect, you did very well. If you had left back then, many more people in Qingshui Village would probably have died, or even all of them."

"Don't worry, the sect will not forget this matter."