157: Chapter 157 Breakthrough to the Late Stage of Fourth Rank

Lin Tian had traveled through the night to return to Yunhai Fishery.

After emerging from the pool, he changed into a clean set of spare clothes in the dense forest, folded the old garment—whose hem had been torn by the palm wind—and tucked it into the very bottom of his bundle.

He wiped the bloodstains off the Autumn Moon Sword before sheathing it, then coiled the two azure cold iron chains tightly around his waist, hiding them beneath the hem of his outer robe.

He crouched by the stream to wash his face. The icy water splashed onto his skin, dispelling the last traces of fatigue, and he stood up to look at his reflection in the water.

Apart from his complexion being a shade paler than usual, there was nothing amiss. The trace of blood at the corner of his mouth had long since been wiped away, and the turbulent Qi and blood in his chest had been calmed during his journey; only the spot on his back where he had been grazed by the palm wind felt faintly tight, but it was nothing serious.

He returned to Yunhai Fishery before dawn.

The morning mist was thick, and a thin layer of white vapor floated on the surface of the lake. Several guards on night duty were dozing off while leaning against the pillars of the bamboo building with their swords in their arms.

Lin Tian walked back to his bamboo cottage along the gravel path by the lake, his footsteps light and steady, without alerting anyone.

He pushed open the bamboo door and closed it behind him. The soft click of the door latch falling into place finally allowed the tension he had been holding for an entire day and night to relax.

He placed his bundle on the table and, without rushing to light a lamp, sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion for half an hour, circulating the Purple Qi Diagram from beginning to end three times.

His Internal Energy flowed slowly through his Meridians, nourishing the fine Meridians that had been strained by the palm wind. By the third cycle, the faint discomfort in his back gradually dissipated.

When he opened his eyes, most of the morning mist outside the window had dispersed, and the surface of the lake was blanketed in a layer of morning light that looked like scattered gold.

Only after his condition had leveled out did he take out his items one by one and place them on the table.

First were the seven Spirit Medicine plants.

The three Jade Marrow Ganoderma were milky white throughout, with complete roots, and a drop of milky white sap still congealed at the broken ends. Their medicinal fragrance was sweet and refreshing, enough to invigorate the spirit just by smelling it.

The two Red Sun Ginseng roots were as thick as a child's arm, with scarlet skin that felt warm to the touch, like holding a stone heated by the sun. One Purple Patterned Ganoderma had natural purple cloud patterns on its cap, with fine and regular concentric rings.

There was also a Spirit Medicine whose name he did not know; its leaves were dark green, with a ring of fine golden fuzz along the edges that shimmered with a faint fluorescence in the morning light.

These seven Spirit Medicine plants were all in excellent condition and had been carefully preserved, wrapped layer after layer in oil paper, with moist soil still clinging to their roots.

Jin Ze and his sister had spent years gathering herbs in the mountains; this was likely the entire harvest from their trip into the mountains, and now it all belonged to Lin Tian.

He re-wrapped the seven Spirit Medicine plants in oil paper, set them aside, and then took the water lotus from his bosom.

Its nine petals were transparently blue in the morning light, each petal so thin that one could see the grain of the tabletop through it. It had been plucked for a day and a night, yet the edges of the petals remained full and firm, with no sign of wilting; the faint blue fluorescence on the surface was even brighter than when it had been underwater.

This was the difference between wild Treasure Medicine and artificially cultivated Treasure Fish—the ninety-year-old water lotus's medicinal power had condensed to the point where it could circulate internally on its own, allowing it to remain potent for a long time even after being separated from its roots and water.

Lin Tian held it in his palm for a long while before taking a clean jade box. He lined the bottom with fragments of Spiritual Plant he had requested from the fishery's pharmacy, gently placed the water lotus inside, and closed the lid.

Then there was the scroll he had picked up beside the white bones. He hadn't had time to examine it closely then, so he unfolded it now in the morning light.

The scroll was made of a pale blue silk fabric that felt cool and smooth to the touch; he did not know what material it was.

What was drawn on it was not mountains or rivers, but a floor plan of a building complex—pavilions, corridors, underground palaces, and secret doors, all densely annotated in extremely ancient scripts.

A piece had been torn off the top left corner of the map. When the jagged edges were compared with the tear marks on the sheepskin map from Zhao Mingyang, they fit together perfectly.

Lin Tian raised an eyebrow. Only when the two fragments were put together did they form a complete map.

The location marked on the sheepskin map was at the pool, and the white bones at the bottom of the pool were holding the scroll map.

This was no coincidence—the owner of the white bones had likely entered the pool with half a map, found the water lotus, but for some reason, had failed to make it out alive.

The other half of the sheepskin map had drifted away, eventually falling into the hands of the Zhao family. The Zhao siblings could neither understand it nor find the place, and in the end, they lost it to him as a wager.

He pieced the two fragments together and compared them on the table. Now that the two maps formed a whole, the location marked on the map was no longer the pool, but another place entirely.

Lin Tian did not rush to study what that place was; he rolled up the two maps again and placed them together with the jade box and the Spirit Medicine.

Then, he sorted through the silver banknotes and Medicinal Pill found on Jin Ze.

The silver banknotes were folded and flattened, totaling three thousand two hundred taels. There were three bottles of Medicinal Pill, all high-grade Qi Gathering pills, which were a grade higher than the Qixia Pills issued by the Sect.

He uncorked one bottle and poured out a pill to examine it in his palm. The pill was round and plump, its medicinal fragrance contained within—it was a good item.

He did not take out the two azure chains to examine them further, simply wrapping them in cloth and stuffing them under his bed.

After finishing all this, he sorted the items on the table, pushed open the bamboo door, and went to the lake to wash his face. The icy lake water splashed onto his face, and the morning breeze blew across the lake, carrying the faint scent of water plants and soil.

In the distance, at Fish Pond No. 6, Captain Ma was poling a bamboo raft to inspect the fish cages. Seeing him standing on the shore, he waved at him from afar.

Lin Tian waved back, then turned around to return to his room and closed the door.

What followed was a month of waiting.

The Cultivate resources he had accumulated were already plentiful—a ninety-year-old water lotus, seven high-quality Spirit Medicine plants, several bottles of high-grade Qi Gathering pills, and the Treasure Fish that would be issued this month.

If these items were consumed separately, the results would certainly not be bad, but Lin Tian wanted to make a big gamble.

By concentrating these resources and combining them with the spiritual power of the Treasure Fish, he might be able to directly Breakthrough the barrier from the Middle Stage of the Fourth Realm to the Late Stage of the Fourth Realm.

Half a month later, the Vicious Beast struck again. This time, the scale was not small; over twenty black wolves rushed out of the mountain forest, led by an exceptionally large black-furred Vicious Beast, its shoulder height nearly reaching a person's height.

Captain Ma pointed his sword forward as usual, the team members gripped their weapons and rushed forward, and Lin Tian stood in his old spot by the lake as usual, drawing the cold moon bow.

His Meteor Arrow Technique had now reached the proficiency Realm, and his arrows were even faster—when the arrow left the string, one could barely see the trajectory, only a straight, cold light extending from the bowstring to the eye socket of the Vicious Beast.

This time, he shot and killed fifteen of them by himself, more than any previous time.

The leading black-furred Vicious Beast was pinned to death by his three arrows—the first arrow pierced its right forepaw as it lunged at Captain Ma, the second arrow grazed its nose and forced it to retreat a step, and the third arrow shot into its open, roaring mouth, the tip piercing out through the back of its neck, pinning it to the tree trunk behind it.

After the battle, Captain Ma walked over and didn't say much, merely straightening the strap of his bow case on his shoulder that had been knocked askew by the recoil, and said, "Well done."

At the end of the month, when the steward guard delivered the bamboo tablet, Lin Tian was meditating in his room.

He took the bamboo tablet, took a deep breath, got up, went to the warehouse, and brought back a wooden basin.

The Treasure Fish in the basin was a size larger than last month's, the silver light on its scales more solid, and the current stirred by its tail fin swept up the fine sand at the bottom of the basin.

He closed the door, placed the wooden basin on the table, and then took out the jade box, Spirit Medicine, and Medicinal Pill from under his bed one by one, lining them up in front of him.

The morning light leaked in through the cracks of the bamboo window, shining on the azure petals of the water lotus, the silvery-white scales of the Treasure Fish, and the plump roots of the Spirit Medicine; the entire bamboo cottage was filled with a Spiritual Qi so dense it could almost be scooped up by hand.

Lin Tian sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion and first adjusted his state to the Peak.

Then, without the slightest hesitation, he picked up the water lotus, the Treasure Fish, and several Spirit Medicine plants—he was going to Breakthrough to the Late Stage of the Fourth Realm this morning.