Luoyun Cave had temporarily returned to peace.
Lin Xue entered the dungeon and saw Zhang Zongnian’s corpse.
Even though she was mentally prepared, seeing Zhang Zongnian lying on the ground with his eyes closed, never able to speak to her again, she still felt a sharp pain in her heart, as if something had stabbed it.
Laifu, beside her, was trembling with fear, blaming himself repeatedly for failing to protect Zhang Zongnian.
Lin Xue said calmly, “It’s fine. Find someone to give him a proper burial.” Then she turned and left the dungeon.
She knew that this body was just an empty shell, no longer Zhang Zongnian.
After returning to the upper level, Lin Xue saw the Lesser Beasts working hard to clear out the piles of rat corpses in the cave.
At her request, the few surviving rats were gathered together and kept aside.
Lin Xue knelt down in front of these rats, picking up each of the dying creatures, looking into their eyes, hoping to recognize Zhang Zongnian among them.
But all these rats were barely alive, on the verge of death, their eyes lifeless—there was nothing to be seen.
And it wasn’t long before they, too, died one after another.
Looking at the ground covered in rat corpses, Lin Xue recalled her last meeting with Zhang Zongnian, remembering how that one rat stumbled over to her, spat out a piece of paper, then looked up at her intently, as if trying to engrave her image in its eyes, before vanishing into the swarm of rats.
Her chest felt tight and uncomfortable.
Had Zhang Zongnian really died?
If he hadn’t, wouldn’t he have come to find her after turning into a rat, with nowhere else to go?
Yet, up to now, not a single rat had come to her on its own.
She wondered—was it because, after becoming a rat, he felt like a burden and dared not approach her?
She also thought about the last words she shouted to the rats: “Brother! I’ll wait for you here! You must come find me!” Did he hear her?
Lin Xue glanced at the Teleportation Ring, noting the cooldown time for the Chuanyin Fashu—there were still eight days left.
Honestly, if she wanted to leave now, as a Foundation Establishment cultivator, she could go anytime; she hardly needed the spell anymore.
But she had made an agreement with Zhang Zongnian that once the spell on the ring was ready, they would leave together.
Lin Xue thought, even if he had turned into a rat, he should still remember their promise.
So perhaps she would wait here for him for eight days.
If, after eight days, Zhang Zongnian still didn’t appear, she would leave on her own.
Hong Yanzhi had said that next month, Zong Biao Yao Jiang, a subordinate of Hei Pi Yao Wang, would come to Xixia Mountain to select a demon consort.
She needed to leave for a while, go hide somewhere else, and avoid being chosen by that demon general and taken away as a sacrifice for Hei Pi Yao Wang’s longevity.
As for what came after, Lin Xue had decided to return to Luoyun Cave, rely on upgrading her stats to push her cultivation to mid Foundation Establishment, and then go with Hong Yanzhi to the Meishan Secret Realm.
The requirement to enter the secret realm was mid Jindan, but mid Foundation Establishment was equivalent to mid Jindan; she wanted to try to see if she could get in.
If she could enter and obtain the Demon King Legacy, she would have a cultivation level comparable to a Jiedan-stage cultivator.
Once she became a Demon King, she could go to the Xichuan Yang Clan and kill the clan’s Ancestor in Foundation Establishment and the clan head, Yang Deguang, to avenge Zhang Zongnian’s mother.
When Zhang Zongnian had become a rat and brought her that piece of paper, he had used his own blood to write the character “Yang” and drawn a big red “X” over it.
Lin Xue understood—Zhang Zongnian was asking her for help with revenge.
This was something she had to do.
Having made her plan, Lin Xue returned to Hong Yanzhi’s bedroom, opened her panel, and prepared to study her System.
After reaching Foundation Establishment, the System had gained a new function—”Refine”.
Previously, she had been too busy fighting to examine it closely.
Now, with some free time at last, she could sit down and take a good look at this new function.
She focused her attention on the “Refinable” note beside the Experience column.
Next to the word “Refinable” was a small line of text: “Consume 1,000 Experience to refine one Crystal Stone.”
Lin Xue was even more confused.
Crystal Stone?
What was this? What could it be used for?
She looked at the number of Experience points on her panel.
After using Lang Buping’s fan to wipe out that Yuanying-level Yuhun, the System had given her 2,000 Experience.
Together with her original 1,080 points, she now had 3,080 Experience.
With so much Experience suddenly on hand, Lin Xue decided to try refining.
A line appeared on the panel: “Consumed 1,000 Experience, refined one Crystal Stone.”
The numbers on the panel changed to:
Name: Lin Xue
Race: Snake
Experience: 2,080
Crystal Stones: 1
Focusing her attention on the Crystal Stone, she saw its description: “Can be used for upgrading, or to complete Gongfa already recorded in the System.”
Lin Xue was overjoyed.
This Crystal Stone could actually be used to complete Gongfa?
Wouldn’t that mean her Changsheng Jue could be completed using Experience?
She immediately used the Crystal Stone on “Changsheng Jue (Upper Section)”.
The number of Crystal Stones immediately became “0”.
At the same time, “Changsheng Jue (Upper Section)” changed to “Changsheng Jue (Middle Section)”.
Lin Xue glanced through the contents and found that the middle section of Changsheng Jue actually included mantras for Jiedan and Yuanying stages.
She was overjoyed and elated.
This had solved a huge problem.
She had originally thought that she’d have to pretend to be a Foundation Establishment cultivator, join a sect or organization, gain the trust of the leadership, and only then obtain the subsequent parts of Changsheng Jue.
She hadn’t expected to be able to use Crystal Stones to supplement it directly, so she no longer had to worry about finding the follow-up for Changsheng Jue.
She was even tempted to spend another 1,000 Experience to create a second Crystal Stone and complete the “Changsheng Jue (Final Section)” as well.
But she held herself back.
Even if she completed Changsheng Jue now, she wouldn’t be able to cultivate it right away.
After all, she didn’t have enough Experience.
And there might be bottlenecks that would require pills to break through.
Previously, she’d been stuck at a bottleneck, and only after taking the Foundation-building Pill was she able to break through and reach Foundation Establishment.
This proved the System wasn’t all-powerful—the bottlenecks would only increase in the future.
So she decided to wait until she had more Experience before refining Crystal Stones to upgrade Changsheng Jue.
Lin Xue decided to first max out her Foundation Establishment cultivation.
She used 1,000 Experience, and Changsheng Jue’s status became “Foundation Establishment Early Stage—Perfect”.
However, the “+” after “Changsheng Jue (Middle Section)” turned gray and could not be used further.
A small prompt above the “+” read: “Can use Supporting Tool to break through bottleneck.”
Lin Xue was a bit helpless.
It seemed that the first bottleneck after Foundation Establishment had arrived.
Last time, she happened to have a Foundation-building Pill to break through.
This time, she didn’t even know what pill was needed.
She could only give up on adding more points for now.
Bored, she looked at her remaining 1,080 Experience, hesitating—should she save it for adding points to new Gongfa she acquired in the future, or just spend 1,000 Experience to refine a Crystal Stone and directly upgrade one of her existing skills?
After all, the description of the Crystal Stone said it could be used for “upgrading” or for supplementing Gongfa recorded in the System.
Through her recent battles with Mouse One, Mouse Two, and the Yuhun, Lin Xue had realized that her main attack, the Nine Swords of the Gale, was of too low a grade—it was a Qi-Refining-level Gongfa, and no longer suitable for her current strength.
If she could use a Crystal Stone to upgrade the Swiftwind Sword Manual to a Foundation Establishment-level Gongfa, she could use it right away and not be afraid when facing Foundation Establishment opponents.
Lin Xue hesitated for a long time, unable to decide.
She sighed, “There just isn’t enough Experience. If only I had more, I wouldn’t be struggling like this.”
As she was lamenting, a string of notifications suddenly appeared on the System panel:
“Your servant has killed a mid-body-tempering-stage demon, gained 150 Experience.”
“Your servant has killed a mid-body-tempering-stage demon, gained 180 Experience.”
“Your servant has killed a late-body-tempering-stage demon, gained 250 Experience.”
……
Lin Xue stared at the steadily rising Experience points in a daze.