Yan Tianhen scrunched up his small face in distress, “But one of our tiger cubs is already called Ah Bai. If we call him that, we would be repeating it.”
Lin Xuanzhi, “…you can call him Ah Gu.”
Yan Tianhen clapped once, “That’s a good name.”
Lin Xuanzhi, “……”
Lin Xuanzhi held his forehead, “Then, just let his name remain as Chigu. If you usually call him Ah Gu, no one should be able to detect that something is amiss.”
Yan Tianhen sighed, “That’s true. Though he’s about to turn into a heap of white bones, I still hope that he can maintain his current state.”
Chigu is a better name after all.
Very soon, they arrived at the Cultivation Method pavillion.
Aside from Yan Tianhen and Lin Xuanzhi, the other Lin family pupils selected for the Hundred Families Gathering had already arrived. The two of them were the latest ones.
When she saw Lin Xuanzhi, Lin Yaer walked over with an ashen face, then hissed angrily in a low voice, “What did the two of you do to my Gege?”
Her words attracted the attention of others.
Yan Tianhen uttered a ‘hng‘, “You should go around asking what your Dage did to us.”
Lin Yaer glared at Yan Tianhen and spoke with some hatred in her voice, “Both of you better be wary. Once my Dage comes out, he definitely won’t let you guys off, and the sect behind him won’t let this matter rest easy either!”
Yan Tianhen turned his cheek away and said to Lin Xuanzhi, “Dage, I heard that the Reflection cliff is ten thousand feet high. A bitingly cold wind blows through it every day, and the spiritual Qi there is extremely sparse too. There are even vultures there that have been starving for who knows how many years; there’s nowhere to settle down there, and if you’re just slightly careless, you’ll fall off the cliff. Moreover, you won’t be able to fill your stomach or keep yourself warm there….”
“Shut the hell up! You damn crippled little bastard!” Lin Yaer let out an angry roar. She really wanted to hack this bastard to death right now!
Suddenly, a hand pressed down on Lin Yaer’s hand.
“Yaer Tangjie, why get this angry with them?” A girl with a cold face adorned in a light gray muslin stood elegantly beside Lin Yaer, “Let him say what he wants to. The more exasperated you get, the more it would suit their wishes. Also, we are all Lin family pupils, so we should all work as one for the Hundred Families Gathering. There’s not much use for such verbal disagreements, so don’t give others a chance to take advantage of us.”
Lin Xuanzhi’s line of sight fell upon that girl.
Lin Yufan.
Water and Wood elements, dual spiritual roots, Refining Qi stage’s sixth layer. The daughter of Lin Ruhai, a direct descent of the Lin family, Lin Yurou’s half sister who shares the same father but has different mother.
Lin Ruhai married a total of two women. One of them was Lin Yufan’s mother, but she left the the Lin family in a fit of fury, leaving just the young Lin Yufan behind, because she knew that Lin Ruhai had an affair with another woman.
Afterwards, Lin Ruhai married Lin Yurou’s mother, who became the Lin family’s Fourth Madam.
Now that this was mentioned, Lin Yufan seldom appeared in front of others. She usually dwells in her own abode and rarely came out, and wholeheartedly devotes herself to her cultivation. She has never bothered with the disputes within the family. Within Lin Xuanzhi’s memories, he seems to have never met this younger sister.
Although Lin Yufan and Lin Yurou were sisters, the two of them looked completely different. Lin Yufan has gentler, slimmer and more exquisite features than Lin Yurou, and was slightly thinner too. She looks both gentle and weak, and doesn’t seem to have much offensive power.
But the words she had just uttered weren’t as simple as they seemed.
Lin Xuanzhi glanced at Fifth Elder, who had a gratifying look on his face as he stood in front of Cultivation method pavillion, and didn’t say another word.
Lin Yaer took a deep breath, her chest heaving. She clenched her teeth, shut her mouth, and didn’t spare Yan Tianhen another glance. When they noticed that Fifth Elder had already arrived, the others stopped talking as well.
Fifth Elder slowly said, “Everyone here is a the talented pillar of our Lin family. Today, we will be opening the Cultivation Method pavillion to all of you. Everyone can go in to pick the cultivation method you need, then bring it to the cultivation room at the back mountains to cultivate.”
“Cultivation room!”
“The cultivation room known to have the thickest concentration of Qi in the Lin family?”
Fifth Elder nodded, “That’s right. Normally, using the cultivation room requires an exchange with family contribution points. But, in order to reward everyone, we decided to let everyone use it for free in the next two months after much discussion.”
That was really generous ah! You must know, staying in the cultivation room requires 10 gold or 100 family contribution points. Although the rate at which cultivation could progress in that room was a few times quicker than at other places, it wasn’t like they could squander away their money so easily!
A few pupils couldn’t help but reveal longing looks.
Fifth Elder continued, “As for the cultivation method, everyone can select one by yourself. But don’t bite off more than you can chew. Don’t focus on pursuing a high-level method that has strong offensive abilities, but find a cultivation method that’s suitable for yourself, and can improve your cultivation level and offensive strength within a short period of time.”
“So, as long as the cultivation method is within the Cultivation Method pavillion, we can pick it even if it is a profound-level high grade one?” Lin Yao asked with clenched fists.
“You could give it a try. Getting a profound-level high grade cultivation method depends on your own capabilities.”
Fifth Elder revealed a meaningful smile. He waved and gave each of them an entry pass.
“This kind of entry pass can only be used once before it becomes invalid. It cannot be used for a second time.”
“Okay, you can all go in now. Your time limit is 4 hours, don’t go over the limit.
Under Fifth Elder’s orders, a few Lin family pupils entered the Cultivation Method pavillion in succession.
Lin Xuanzhi and Yan Tianhen were walking behind.
Lin Xuanzhi whispered, “Later on, I’ll pick an alchemist’s cultivation method. Take a fire elemental cultivation method out.”
Yan Tianhen blinked, “Dage has no need for that, right?”
Since it’s a fire elemental cultivation method, Lin Xuanzhi naturally wouldn’t need it.
Lin Xuanzhi said, “The true, precious cultivation methods of the Lin family won’t be placed within the Cultivation method pavillion. Profound-level high grade cultivation methods will have an extremely strong prohibition array set up around it, and with our current standard, we won’t be able to take it out. And we won’t need to try either.”
Yan Tianhen nodded pensively and looked at Lin Yan, who was standing in front of them in a red robe, “Dage intends to give it to Lin Yan?”
“To thank him for his help yesterday ba.” Lin Xuanzhi didn’t give him an affirmative answer.
Lin Yan never showed how familiar he was with Lin Xuanzhi outside. After he entered the Cultivation method pavillion and threw the entry pass away, he began choosing a cultivation method that would suit him.
The Cultivation Method pavillion was so tall that you couldn’t see its top. The pavillion had an extensive selection of cultivation method scrolls, and there were too many of them to count. But if you take one out, you’ll be able to tell at a glance that most are cultivation methods of the primary-level low grade and mid grade level, so they weren’t worth much.
“What’s the level of the cultivation methods you guys found?” Don’t tell me that we can only look for those low level cultivation methods ba?” Lin Yao asked impatiently.
Lin Dong, who was beside him, said, “Fifth Elder might have said all that at the start, but who would really do that? We’re all here for the high level cultivation methods. I’ve really had enough of cultivating the low level cultivation methods.”
Lin Yaer strode with haughty steps towards the last bookshelf at the back.
Of course, aside from one profound-level high grade cultivation method, the rest were either profound-level low or mid grade, and there were only 3 mid grades and 7 low grades.
Lin Yaer’s beautiful eyes swept their gaze across the scattered scrolls on the shelf. Her spiritual root wasn’t as pure as her older brother’s — hers was a dual spiritual root, Metal and Wood elements, but one of the cultivation methods on the shelf was《Return of Spring Manual》. Coincidentally, it was a profound-level high grade cultivation method for Metal and Wood elemental cultivators.
Lin Yaer’s eyes lit up and reached out for it.
“Don’t touch it.” Lin Yufan suddenly said and walked over, “There’s a very strong prohibition on it. Once you touch it, it will injure you in a counter-attack.”
Lin Yaer was taken aback, then frowned, “Then what should I do?”
Lin Yufan shook her head, “Yaer Tangjie, only Foundation Stage cultivators can get their hands on profound-level cultivation methods. Otherwise, others wouldn’t even be able to withstand one hit from the prohibition.”
Lin Yaer clenched her teeth and said with a face full of reluctance, “There’s not even one Foundation Stage cultivator amongst everyone here. If only my Dage were here, then it would’ve been perfect.”
As she spoke, Lin Yaer revealed a resentful look towards the Yan Tianhen and Lin Xuanzhi, who were chatting happily at the other shelf.
Lin Yufan took in this sight and said lightly, “Why doesn’t Yaer Jie select a manual that has a slightly lower level? Primary-level high grade manuals aren’t too bad either.”
Lin Yaer looked at the scroll and reluctantly said, “I can’t bear to.”
Lin Dong walked over and rubbed his hands together, looking eager to try. He was part of a side branch of the Lin family, and could be considered to have amazed everyone with a single feat during the testing this time. As of now, he was at the fifth layer of his Refining Qi stage.
“Let me try!” Lin Dong had just spoken when he immediately reached out to the bookshelf.
“Boom一” With this one loud blare, Lin Dong was knocked all the way to the back by a tremendously strong Qi and smashed straight into a black, circular pillar in the room. His eyes rolled up and he almost fainted on the spot.
Lin Yaer was standing beside Lin Dong, but she was not affected by the Qi at all. As such, she completely perceived the disparity between the prohibition and herself.
Lin Yaer gulped with some difficulty. The corners of her mouth twitched, “Forget it, let’s choose other cultivation methods ba.”
Lin Xuanzhi was in the middle of picking a cultivation method that would be most suitable for Yan Tianhen to cultivate with.
It’s just that, after he browsed through a few shelves and used his soul force to feel through them, he couldn’t find even one manual with a righteous cultivation method that would be suitable for someone who has a lot of Yin Qi to cultivate with.
“Dage, Dad used to say that there isn’t even one cultivation method suitable for me within the entire Lin family. So Dage, I think it’s better to just give up ba.” Yan Tianhen moved closer to Lin Xuanzhi and muttered softly.
The corners of Lin Xuanzhi’s mouth twitched. He looked at Yan Tianhen and thought, Lin Zhan really did make use of his status as the head of the family to turn the pavillion upside down to search for a cultivation method.
If Lin Zhan couldn’t find a cultivation method suitable for Yan Tianhen, then it would mean that there really won’t be any here.
Lin Xuanzhi ruminated for a short moment before saying, “Ah Hen, are you interested in the alchemist path?”
Yan Tianhen nodded, “I wasn’t able to refine pills because I had no Qi in my body in the past. But since I do have it now, then I definitely don’t want to waste my talent.”
Actually, there was still one more reason. Although more investment is required during the earlier stages of being an alchemist, it was still much better than a craftsman. Also, the more he advances, the more money he will be able to earn in the later stages. You could say that he was thoroughly frightened by poverty, and when he thought about how he still had a super spendthrift Dage at home, he was always bogged down by an invisible sense of urgency.
Lin Xuanzhi nodded and was about to wholeheartedly look for an alchemy manual when he heard Soul Bead tsk with disdain in his consciousness, “What kind of trash are all these cultivation manuals here? Benzun wouldn’t take a fancy to even one of them,”
Lin Xuanzhi paused, then said slowly, “You’re a very knowledgeable person, so of course you wouldn’t regard these manuals highly. But the problem is, we can’t get any other manuals for Ah Hen to cultivate with right now.”
Soul Bead said, “Just one look at a kid like you and I can tell that you’re someone who pays no regard to worldly affairs. Isn’t it simple if you want to get a manual? The easiest way to find high level manuals would be to go to a place like an auction house. There should be some in major sects and families as well, of course.”
Lin Xuanzhi didn’t invite humiliation for himself by asking ‘is the Lin family not considered a major family’. He thought about it for a bit. Since Yan Tianhen wants to cultivate, then he should do it with the best manual. He didn’t hold these Lin family manuals in high regard right now.
However, even though it wouldn’t be easy to find manuals from major sects and families, it wasn’t impossible to find them at the auction house.
Wouldn’t he just need to spend a little more money?
Lin Xuanzhi revealed a faint smile as he felt comforted with this knowledge. When Yan Tianhen saw this, he asked, “Dage, what are you thinking about to be that happy?”
Lin Xuanzhi said, “Nothing much, just thought of a better solution.”
“What is it?” Yan Tianhen asked curiously.