Chapter Fifty-Nine: Mounting Pressure

“Hurry, go after her!” As Nie Feiyan hurried away, quite a few onlookers egged Wang Dasha on, urging him to give chase.

From the moment Wang Dasha confessed, Lin Xiaobao had been closely watching Nie Feiyan’s every reaction. Seeing the situation unfold, he quietly appeared at Wang Dasha’s side and whispered, “Go after her. Maybe she’ll say yes!”

“Really?” Wang Dasha had always trusted Lin Xiaobao’s words above all others, and today was no exception. Without hesitation, he dashed out of the hall in pursuit.

“Your match is over for today. Why don’t we go for a walk, too?” After Wang Dasha left, Cen Shuya, who stood beside Lin Xiaobao, spoke up.

Noticing the faint furrow in Cen Shuya’s brow, Lin Xiaobao nodded quietly and followed her out of the hall.

“Hua Xiaotian and Ao Wuchen have left the Holy Land,” Cen Shuya said as they strolled through the forested mountains, far from prying eyes.

“They were bound to emerge sooner or later, weren’t they?” Lin Xiaobao replied. Although he’d always known he would eventually be forced to face those two, hearing that they had finished their seclusion brought an invisible pressure. He also understood, then, why only the Grand Elder had attended today’s match.

“Both of them have reached the fifth stage of the Spirit Path,” Cen Shuya continued, her gaze fixed on Lin Xiaobao—only to find he showed not the slightest change in expression.

Lin Xiaobao simply nodded and kept walking, undeterred. That those two would reach the fifth stage upon emerging from the Holy Land was within his expectations. After all, being chosen as candidates for the position of Pavilion Master required exceptional talent. Five years in the Holy Land, breaking through from the peak of the ninth innate stage to the fifth stage of the Spirit Path, was entirely plausible. Yet Lin Xiaobao felt the distance between himself and that inner elixir had grown even wider. If only he had more time, perhaps things would change.

“Senior Sister Cen, Senior Brother Lin, please wait!” Suddenly, two formal disciples appeared before them, bowing slightly. “The Hall Master and several elders are discussing important matters in the Hall of Wind and Snow. No one is allowed near. We ask for your understanding.”

Unconsciously, the two had wandered close to the Hall of Wind and Snow. Stopped by the sudden appearance of the disciples, they hesitated only briefly before heading in another direction.

Neither of them knew what great matters were being discussed in the Hall of Wind and Snow, but it was surely connected to those two emerging from seclusion.

After hearing Cen Shuya’s news, Lin Xiaobao lost the mood for a leisurely stroll. Taking his leave, he went to the Mission Hall to exchange some items, then returned to Songyan Peak, plunging straight into the rear gardens.

If he’d still harbored any illusions about Hua Xiaotian and Ao Wuchen’s strength, Lin Xiaobao now had no choice but to face the harsh truth. Both had reached the fifth stage of the Spirit Path. Perhaps in three or five years, with the guidance of his two elders, he might surpass them, but as things stood now, there was simply no way to turn the tables.

To defeat his opponents, he would have to make use of his greatest advantage—formations.

A single palm-sized hide from a first-tier spirit beast had cost Lin Xiaobao nine thousand contribution points. Add to that a pea-sized lower-grade spirit stone, and he found himself back where he started, with nothing left.

A spirit stone held over a thousand times more spiritual energy than a piece of spirit jade; even the lowest grade spirit stone contained more than a thousand times the energy of a first-grade spirit jade. According to the records in the “Wind and Snow Primer,” spirit stones were every cultivator’s dream. For this reason, in the world of cultivators, spirit stones were virtually currency.

Yet to think that more than eight thousand contribution points had only bought him such a tiny piece of lower-grade spirit stone—Lin Xiaobao couldn’t help but sigh: masters are made by burning through mountains of wealth!

If he were to exchange this spirit stone for gold in the mortal world, Lin Xiaobao was certain that even back in Howling Moon City, he could ensure his next three generations lived as the wealthy elite.

Looking over his gathered materials, Lin Xiaobao took out a wolf-hair brush from his storage bracelet and shook his head ruefully. The only thing lacking was a true formation carving pen.

A formation carving pen was an auxiliary tool—not at all useful in combat, but invaluable for inscribing formations, greatly improving their quality and success rate. It was the dream of every formation cultivator. Yet, according to Elder Wu, even the lowest grade artifact-level formation carving pen required nearly a hundred top-grade spirit stones to obtain.

Spirit stones were divided into four grades: top, upper, middle, and lower. A single mid-grade spirit stone could be exchanged for a thousand lower-grade ones. With such numbers in mind, Lin Xiaobao moistened the wolf-hair brush in his mouth and prepared to begin.

As for magical artifacts, in this world, they were ranked as Celestial, Dao, Treasure, Spirit, Magic, and Mortal, each with upper, middle, and lower sub-tiers.

The Heaven-Thunder Disc that the Grand Elder once wielded was only a lower-grade spirit artifact—the highest level Lin Xiaobao had ever seen. As for treasure artifacts, he had only heard that the Pavilion of Wind and Snow possessed one or two, but these would never be used unless the sect faced annihilation.

As for celestial artifacts, not just Lin Xiaobao, but everyone in the Pavilion of Wind and Snow regarded them as near-mythical, for such items were never meant to exist in this world.

Drawing a deep breath, Lin Xiaobao sent spiritual energy surging from his dantian through his meridians and into the tip of the wolf-hair brush. The soft bristles, hardened by spiritual power, became as sharp as a blade, and he began to slowly draw across the spirit beast hide.

The process was painfully slow. Under the force of Lin Xiaobao’s spiritual energy, the wolf-hair brush could pierce the hardest stone, yet here it moved like a dull blade slicing meat. After the time it took an incense stick to burn, he had only managed to make a chip the size of a grain of rice in the hide.

He needed the hide to craft talismans, so he could not use a knife or sword to cut it. To preserve the talisman’s quality, this was the only way. Had he a formation carving pen, it would have been much easier.

But with every bit of his focus locked on the brush, Lin Xiaobao had no time to dwell on what he lacked. He could only inch the wolf-hair brush forward, bit by painstaking bit.

Through it all, Elder Wu did not offer a single word of guidance. What he needed to teach Lin Xiaobao, he had already done; now, the younger man had to rely on himself. Only when faced with great danger could a person truly unlock their full potential. Elder Wu recalled his own past—how many times had he faced life and death to reach his current heights?

At dawn, the first rays of sunlight pierced through the window. Lin Xiaobao drew a deep breath and slumped into his chair. After a night’s effort, the beast hide had finally been split in two, the cut so neat it seemed to have been severed by a sharp blade in an instant—yet only those who knew would realize it had taken Lin Xiaobao the entire night to achieve such precision.

The immense drain on his mental strength left Lin Xiaobao looking pale, and the spiritual energy in his dantian was nearly depleted. Yet he did not stop. After resting for the time it took an incense stick to burn, he stored the hide in his bracelet and immediately began arranging dozens of first-grade spirit jades around the room to set up a formation.

Compared to the labor of the previous night, laying down the formation came easily. Within moments it was complete. Placing the pea-sized lower-grade spirit stone at the formation’s center, Lin Xiaobao felt a surge of power flow into it, at last allowing him to concentrate on cultivating the Mindwave Technique.

As for the spiritual energy consumed, his body’s Spirit Gathering Array would naturally replenish it—a small mercy he was happy to enjoy.