Yin Luoling had an inexplicable feeling, a sense of being overlooked.
It had been a week since she was attacked by the Flowing Cloud Pavilion.
She originally thought that during this period, Ling Huan would surely make some sinister moves to harm her, but there had been no sign of activity at all.
There was only one possibility left—perhaps that assassination attempt wasn’t orchestrated by Ling Huan.
Maybe it was the person she had a conflict with at the Flowing Cloud Pavilion, someone with a strong thirst for revenge, who wanted to kill her to make Ling Huan heartbroken.
She hadn’t expected to survive that fatal blow, so perhaps the culprit had improvised and claimed it was Ling Huan’s doing.
Such speculation wasn’t without reason.
Firstly, if Ling Huan had been behind it, he wouldn’t have approached someone from the Flowing Cloud Pavilion—at least, not someone he’d clashed with before.
In that case, Ling Huan’s trip to the Flowing Cloud Pavilion was simply for shopping.
After all, if the culprit decided to inform the authorities, Ling Huan would be in serious trouble.
Planning a murder and inciting others to kill is a grave crime.
To outsiders, she was Ling Huan’s cherished younger sister.
Not only because of the announcements at the celebration, but more importantly, because he’d spent hundreds of spirit stones on her—each action underscoring just how much Ling Huan valued her.
For Ling Huan, having invested so much effort, there was no way he’d do something so pointless as “taking off his pants to fart”—an unnecessary and redundant act.
Furthermore, over this past week, Ling Huan hadn’t come to see her—not to mock, warn, or even check up on her.
All of this indicated that Ling Huan truly knew nothing about these events—otherwise, through the assassination attempt, he could have gauged her strength, making it easier to strike in the future.
Although this assassination was very likely unrelated to Ling Huan, Yin Luoling realized something important through this incident: she had to focus on improving her strength first; keeping an eye on Ling Huan should be secondary.
During this week, Yin Luoling hadn’t simply idled about.
She’d been diligently working to enhance her cultivation.
Combining her past life’s experience with top-level techniques, even in this barren land, Yin Luoling had raised her cultivation to the third layer of Qi Refinement.
But that was her limit.
If she were in the Central State, she could easily have advanced to the seventh or eighth layer of Qi Refinement within a week.
Yet, in this place, impoverished in resources and nearly devoid of spiritual energy, to advance quickly, she needed a precious artifact.
This treasure had once saved Yin Luoling’s life many times in her previous life, allowing her to escape from desperate situations, rapidly improve her strength, and face those constantly hunting her.
But now, that artifact was in the hands of a friend.
Yes, Yin Luoling had a friend in her previous life—the only one.
By the timeline of her past life, this friend had only recently arrived in Green Wood City, settling halfway up a mountain outside the city, and had opened a medical clinic there.
But in reality, it was not a clinic, but a Martial Arts School.
It was just that her father, possessing remarkable medical skills and a charitable nature, would often treat the poor for free.
Such compassion naturally earned him great fame.
Gradually, most people came to believe that the Martial Arts School halfway up the mountain was a clinic, and that its master was a skilled physician.
But no one would have guessed that this so-called miracle doctor was a cultivator, and more than that, he had mid-Foundation Establishment strength—and, unusually, he was a body cultivator.
Even without using protective spiritual energy, ordinary blades and swords could not harm him!
He could even take blows from cultivators of the same rank without suffering a scratch!
A boulder weighing a thousand catties would be as light as a basket in his hands.
Unfortunately, he suffered from a hidden illness that prevented him from advancing his cultivation any further, leaving him forever stuck at mid-Foundation Establishment.
Because his daughter had no talent for body cultivation, he traveled with his family in search of a successor.
This was to fulfill an ancestral promise—to pass the Nine Aperture Exquisite Pagoda to a worthy person.
It was a nine-tiered, exquisite white jade miniature pagoda, only three inches tall, with nine differently colored apertures on its body.
No one in their family could open the pagoda.
They believed it was merely a symbol of their secret family art, that accepting the pagoda meant accepting the family inheritance.
But in truth, it was nothing of the sort.
This pagoda was a magical treasure—a top-tier magical treasure.
A treasure with many functions combined in one.
The pagoda had nine levels.
One could enter the pagoda to cultivate within!
But each level had its own requirements to unlock.
First, the First Level: Essence Gathering Layer.
To open it, one had to draw spiritual energy into the body and reach the Qi Refinement Stage.
Only then could one enter the first layer.
Basic spirit gathering and energy conversion.
The pagoda’s nine apertures produced a faint suction force, drawing in all forms of energy within a hundred meters and converting it into pure five-element spiritual energy.
The efficiency was more than three times that of normal cultivation, with no upper limit.
Even enemy attacks could be absorbed!
Even in areas starved of spiritual energy, where there was no usable energy around, the Nine Aperture Exquisite Pagoda could still draw in and refine spiritual energy from the surroundings, constantly accumulating it—without limit!
Most importantly, as one’s cultivation advanced, the range the pagoda could absorb from would increase as well.
Second Level: Time Reversal Layer
To unlock it, one had to successfully establish their Foundation and solidify spiritual energy into true essence.
Then one could enter the second level.
Inside the pagoda, the flow of time was ten times faster than the outside world.
Ten days of cultivation inside equaled only one day outside.
This space could simulate an “Endless Corridor” or “Martial Arts Illusion,” dedicated to honing spell proficiency, combat instincts, or repeatedly practicing alchemy, tool forging, or talisman formation, consuming only spiritual sense and true essence.
Third Level: Profound Cavern Layer
To unlock it, one had to form a Golden Core and establish an independent domain, thus enabling spatial expansion and resource circulation.
Most notably—an exclusive pocket world.
A true miniature world, one mu in size, where one could grow spirit plants, raise low-level spirit beasts, and build a simple dwelling.
Time flowed at the same rate as the outside world, but the spiritual energy density was more than ten times greater.
One could even use a large number of spirit stones to forge a spiritual vein beneath the land, accelerating the growth of spiritual herbs.
Yin Luoling had calculated before—a hundred low-grade spirit stones could advance the age of spiritual herbs by ten years.
The higher the quality of the stones, the greater the effect.
As for the higher layers of the pagoda—they were even more astonishing!
One could say, as long as one gained the Nine Aperture Exquisite Pagoda’s recognition, early-stage cultivation would be twice as effective with half the effort!
The most important thing now was to join that Martial Arts School, gain the master’s approval, and become the successor.
Yin Luoling had not practiced any spells, nor taken up the sword again, just so the master would notice her potential.
Now, with Qi Refinement Third Layer strength and no martial techniques, she was a pure, unpolished gem in the eyes of a body cultivator!
How could he not want to take her as his disciple?
Since that was the case, she needed to arrange a chance encounter ahead of time.
Come to think of it, what day is it today…?
Suddenly, a memory from her previous life surfaced in Yin Luoling’s mind.
She quickly calculated with her fingers—wasn’t today the day she first arrived at Green Wood City and was bullied?!
And the culprit… was Ling Huan!
Heaven truly helps me!
If she could enter the Martial Arts School because of this, she wouldn’t even fear falling out with Ling Huan!
She remembered clearly how to open the Nine Aperture Exquisite Pagoda from her previous life.
As long as she could unlock it, she was confident she could reach the eighth layer of Qi Refinement within just a few hours!
No—even higher!
Qi Refinement Ninth Layer, or even breaking through to Foundation Establishment, was within reach!
After all, the Nine Aperture Exquisite Pagoda at her friend’s house had not been opened for thousands of years—the spiritual energy stored inside must be incomparably rich and pure!
In this way, she would truly become the strongest in Green Wood City!
Without further delay, Yin Luoling sprang into action!
She began searching for her friend’s whereabouts!
This time, it was her turn to have Ling Huan at her mercy!
The Empress couldn’t wait—she dashed out of the room and sped straight for Green Wood City.