Although Ling Feng had passed the cultivation assessment of True Lord Lishui Dieshan, Shen He was still undergoing her assessment in the grotto-heaven. Since they had come together, Ling Feng naturally couldn't leave Shen He alone and return to Mount Aocang. Thus, Ling Feng sat by the lake, waiting for Shen He to emerge while refining the earth fire.
He had already refined more than half of the earth fire during his free time over the past few days, with only a little left.
Five minutes later, the earth fire was completely refined by Ling Feng and slowly absorbed into his dantian.
"Seven days, finally refined! Let's quickly test its power." Feeling the power of the earth fire in his dantian, Ling Feng waved his hand, and the three-star spiritual artifact he had refined a few days prior, the Spirit Infusion Pot, appeared in his hand.
The exterior of the Spirit Infusion Pot was unremarkable, much like a wine gourd. However, its interior contained a considerable space, rich in spiritual energy, capable of storing living beings, brewing spiritual wine, preserving spiritual items and weapons, and more. Its functions were numerous, but it had a capacity limit; the space inside the Spirit Infusion Pot was only three cubic meters.
"Come." Ling Feng waved his hand again, and the Xingxian Longyin shot out from the bottleneck, transforming from toy size back to its original dimensions.
"Blazing Strike!"
With the Xingxian Longyin in hand, Ling Feng looked at a large tree. His true qi surged, and with a single slash, a fiery red, scorching sword energy cut through the tree trunk, instantly splitting it in two.
Simultaneously, flames erupted from the trunk, spreading towards the branches. The scorching heat compressed the air, and soon that section of wood was completely consumed by fire.
"Not bad, the fire-burning ability of Blazing Strike has been greatly enhanced," Ling Feng nodded in satisfaction.
"Ling Feng!" Suddenly, True Lord Lishui Dieshan appeared behind Ling Feng, his voice startling him.
Ling Feng turned his head, "Master, what is it?"
"What is it? Today you shall face the wall and reflect on your actions, and go hungry for a day."
"No way, Master. It's just a tree, it doesn't warrant this."
"When did I mention a tree? Look behind the tree," True Lord Lishui Dieshan pointed behind the tree.
Ling Feng looked over with confusion. There, lying peacefully on the ground with a large bloody gash from the sword energy, was a crane. It had no breath left, and its feathers were completely scorched by the flames.
"This!"
Ling Feng was dumbfounded. How could he have accidentally injured a crane?
However, it was indeed his fault. He acknowledged his mistake. After using the earth fire to cremate the crane, Ling Feng honestly went to the wall with the stone tablet to face the wall and reflect on his actions.
Since he had nothing else to do, Ling Feng learned the four-star alchemy hand seal he had obtained from the lottery. Inside, there were exactly three pill recipes: the Blood Qi Pill, the Qi Restoration Pill, and the Body Tempering Pill. With the recipes, Ling Feng began to attempt alchemy. The alchemy furnace, medicinal ingredients, recipes, and flames were all present.
His supply of pills was severely lacking and needed replenishment.
It wasn't until the afternoon that Ling Feng stopped alchemy. As it was his first attempt at alchemy, he had only managed to refine one furnace of Blood Qi Pills from ten sets of materials.
He had only succeeded once out of ten opportunities, and it was only after learning from the failures of the previous nine attempts and gradually experimenting, finally succeeding on the last try.
However, the quality was not very good. Compared to the top-grade Blood Qi Pills he had obtained from the lottery, this batch was only of lower grade. Still, it had an effect, just slower in restoring qi.
One furnace contained ten pills. Ling Feng took out the porcelain bottle that originally held the Blood Qi Pills and stored them all.
In the evening, Ling Feng was practicing the Blazing Flame Saber Technique when he suddenly heard light footsteps. He stopped cultivating and fixed his gaze in the direction of the sound. After discerning the appearance of the arrival in the moonlight, Ling Feng put away the Xingxian Longyin and said, "Senior Sister, why are you here? I'm supposed to be reflecting on my mistakes."
"Bringing you food."
"Ah? Didn't Master say I should go hungry for a day to make me remember?"
"I know. I'm bringing this to you behind True Lord Lishui Dieshan's back. Here, eat." Shen He handed Ling Feng a pile of Qingxin and Glazed Lilies.
Ling Feng felt embarrassed but accepted them nonetheless. After all, eating a little wouldn't kill him, and he couldn't let Shen He's kind intentions go to waste.
After finishing the "delicacies," Ling Feng stretched and lay down on the grass. Then, he beckoned to Shen He beside him, gesturing for her to do the same.
Gazing up at the starry sky, Ling Feng and Shen He lay side by side on the grass. A gentle breeze wafted by, and Ling Feng felt the day's fatigue dissipate with the wind, leaving him much more relaxed.
This was also why Ling Feng enjoyed lying on the grass at night, feeling the night breeze. It helped him relax his taut nerves and made him feel liberated, wanting only to quietly enjoy this peaceful time.
After an unknown amount of time, Ling Feng and Shen He fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, at dawn, the two bid farewell to True Lord Lishui Dieshan and returned to Mount Aocang.
They didn't stay long before Ling Feng and Shen He descended the mountain again. This time, the cultivation task given to them by True Lord Liuyun Jiefeng was to gain experience in the outside world. Since it was an experience-gathering trip, Ling Feng and Shen He did not use the teleportation array.
"Senior Sister, where are we going?" Ling Feng asked after descending the mountain. They couldn't just wander aimlessly; they needed a direction.
"North. There are more monsters there, a good place for experience," Shen He said after a moment of thought. She had been adopted by True Lord Liuyun Jiefeng since childhood and was very familiar with the Jueyun Cliff area.
Based on her twenty years of experience, she could point out very specific coordinates for where the monsters were more or less numerous.
To the north of Jueyun Cliff, the terrain was complex, with undulating mountains and even naturally formed mountain labyrinths. If one was not familiar with the terrain, they were very likely to get lost. At the same time, there were a considerable number of monsters in this area.
Ling Feng and Shen He stood on a high ground, looking down at the land of Liyue.
Soon, they spotted a group of people being pursued by a large number of Hilichurls. Seeing this, Shen He did not hesitate to leap from the high ground and rushed towards them.
"Senior Sister?"
Ling Feng noticed that Shen He seemed a bit anxious, though he didn't know why. But if he didn't chase after her, she would soon be far away. So, he also leaped down without hesitation. For ordinary people, a drop of thirty meters to the next flat ground would surely result in a fracture, or even death in severe cases.
But Ling Feng and Shen He were no ordinary people. This height was perfectly fine for a safe landing. Moreover, Ling Feng was now a Foundation Establishment stage Qi Refiner and could already walk on air. Although he couldn't fly too high, he could manage low-altitude flight, albeit slowly and unskillfully.
The group being pursued by the Hilichurls, at this moment, were holding their weapons and looking at the Hilichurls surrounding them with terror. Their bodies trembled uncontrollably from fear.
"Uncle He, what do we do? There are too many Hilichurls. Why don't we abandon this batch of medicinal herbs? If we can keep our lives, we can find more later," said a young man holding a silver sword.
There were at least sixty Hilichurls surrounding them, while their side had only thirty people, with even fewer capable of fighting, only twenty. The numbers were completely unequal.
They could handle a one-on-one fight, but the sheer number of Hilichurls, coupled with an Anemoboxer Acheron leading the rear, and the absence of any Vision holders, meant they were utterly unable to resist. It would only be a one-sided slaughter.