Fang Lin did not return to Rivercloud City.
After leaving the Demon Sealing Ruins, he moved for three days without stopping. He changed his face and robe seven times, and altered his aura whenever the terrain or passing cultivators forced him to do so.
At times, he looked like a wounded wandering cultivator.
At times, he became a young herb gatherer with dull eyes and a cautious posture.
At times, he appeared like a servant from some minor clan, the kind of person others glanced at once and forgot almost immediately.
He avoided main roads, merchant caravans, city gates, and sect patrol routes. Only after crossing two mountain ranges and entering a nameless valley surrounded by thick forests did he finally stop.
The valley had little spiritual energy.
That was good.
Places with rich spiritual energy attracted cultivators. Places without value were much safer.
At the far end of the valley, a small cave sat behind a waterfall. Moss covered the entrance, wild vines hung over the stone, and ordinary beasts moved through the nearby forest. No spirit beast had claimed the area, and there were no traces of cultivators.
Fang Lin stood before the waterfall and listened for a long time.
No human voices.
No hidden auras.
No formation fluctuations.
Only water, wind, and leaves.
He entered the cave.
Inside, the space was narrow but dry. Fang Lin cleaned it briefly, then used vines and broken stones to hide the opening even further. Only after doing all this did he sit down.
For the first time since entering the Demon Sealing Ruins, Fang Lin allowed himself to breathe slowly.
He had survived.
But survival alone was not enough.
The three Rivercloud sects had lost too much. Huo Lan, Lu Han, Yan Chi, Guo Zhen, and many other disciples had died. Many recruited cultivators had escaped. An unknown senior had appeared and stopped the three sects from silencing everyone.
Rivercloud City would not remain calm.
The three sects would search. Perhaps not openly at first, but they would definitely search.
A hidden cultivator with a cold sword. A suspicious survivor. A possible inheritance. A connection to the Demon Sealing Ruins.
All of those clues would spread.
Fang Lin had to disappear for a while.
Four months.
That was the time he gave himself.
Four months to consolidate Peak Qi Conjunction Realm.
Four months to refine his gains.
Four months to prepare for Spirit Foundation.
Fang Lin waved his hand, and storage rings and storage pouches appeared before him.
It was time to sort everything.
If he wanted to break through safely, he needed to understand every resource in his hands. His inventory was no longer small.
From the Green Bamboo Sect, he still had part of his official third-place reward: low-grade spirit stones, a few middle-grade spirit stones, Qi recovery pills, healing pills, the recommendation token, several ordinary robes, and the private resources Feng Jiu'er had given him before his departure. Those resources had already helped him cultivate the Frost Trace Sword Art, strengthen his body, and leave the sect.
Frost Wind rested beside him.
That sword remained one of his most important possessions. It was cold, sharp, stable, and suited his Frost Trace Sword Art perfectly. A sword did not need to be beautiful to be useful. In Fang Lin's hands, usefulness had always been more valuable than beauty.
From the earlier outer sect battles, he still had some gold, silver, and minor items obtained through bets and rewards, though most worldly currency no longer mattered much to him.
From Rivercloud City and the Demon Sealing Ruins, he had gained far more.
The ordinary sect disciples had given him more than two hundred low-grade spirit stones, several healing pills, Qi recovery pills, attack talismans, defensive talismans, a few low-grade storage pouches, several sect tokens, and minor maps of the ruins.
From Huo Lan, he had obtained fire pills, flame talismans, a small pill furnace, several flame jade slips, some middle-grade spirit stones, dangerous blood-red enhancement pills, and the red-black flame crystal from the sealed box.
From Lu Han came nearly five hundred low-grade spirit stones, thirty middle-grade spirit stones, sword talismans, a River Sword Sect manual, high-grade healing pills, Qi recovery pills, a damaged jade armor, and white robes marked with silver wave patterns.
From Yan Chi, he had more flame stones, more fire pills, a flame technique scroll, the ember flame crystal, and several Crimson Flame Hall items that could either be sold or used later.
From Guo Zhen came body-tempering pills, bone-strengthening paste, dark-earth spirit stones, heavy bracers, a Black Mountain Gate map fragment, more than three hundred low-grade spirit stones, twenty-eight middle-grade spirit stones, and most importantly, the grey-green leaf.
That leaf had already been consumed by the grey seed.
Because of it, Fang Lin's Nine Nether Phantom Body had reached Greater Mastery.
Because of it, his life force had stabilized.
Because of it, Fang Lin's interest in Black Mountain Gate had risen sharply.
He sorted the items into groups.
Spirit stones would be used slowly, not all at once. The grey seed could refine spirit stone energy into cosmic energy, but sudden growth carried risk. He needed steady consolidation, not reckless advancement.
Healing pills would be saved for emergencies. Qi recovery pills would support long cultivation sessions. Body-tempering pills and bone-strengthening paste would be used to strengthen the Nine Nether Phantom Body.
Sword talismans and flame talismans would remain hidden cards.
The ember flame crystal could not be absorbed. It did not suit his path. His road had already begun to take shape around frost, life, death, body, and darkness. Forcing devouring fire into that foundation would only create conflict. Still, the crystal was valuable. It could be used later in formations, traded for resources, or even used as bait against fire cultivators.
The sect tokens and robes were kept for infiltration.
River Sword Sect robes.
Crimson Flame Hall items.
Black Mountain Gate tokens.
Especially Black Mountain Gate.
One day, Fang Lin would infiltrate that sect.
Not now.
But one day.
The ruin maps were stored separately. They would matter when he returned to the Demon Sealing Ruins. The central forbidden zone and the dark spire still waited there, and Fang Lin had not forgotten them.
After sorting everything, he looked at the items before him in silence.
Then he made his plan.
During the first month, he would heal hidden injuries, stabilize Peak Qi Conjunction Realm, refine the chaotic medicinal damage left from the battle, and strengthen his meridians with life force.
During the second month, he would improve Flowing Wind Steps, Wind Break Palm, and Frost Trace Sword Art. More importantly, he would practice using frost, shadow, life, and body force together without wasting Qi.
During the third month, he would deepen the Nine Abyss Shadow Scripture, strengthen Shadow Breath, stabilize death force, and improve Phantom Transformation through darkness concealment.
During the fourth month, he would prepare for Spirit Foundation. He would compress Qi, refine his body, calm his soul, and unify life and death forces before attempting the breakthrough.
Fang Lin closed his eyes.
The four months began.
During the first month, Fang Lin barely left the cave. He cultivated day and night, resting only when his body demanded it. The waterfall outside covered small sounds, and the weak spiritual energy in the valley made the cave seem no different from any ordinary beast den.
He swallowed healing pills only when necessary and used life force to guide their medicinal power.
Life force moved differently from ordinary medicine.
Pills healed wounds.
Life force restored foundation.
Where Lu Han's sword had pierced his side, the life force entered the scar and slowly erased the hidden sharpness left behind by silver sword Qi. Where Yan Chi's flames had scorched his meridians, life force washed away the lingering ember poison. Where Guo Zhen's fist had damaged bone, life force wrapped the cracks and rebuilt them stronger than before.
Fang Lin discovered something important.
Life force did not only heal.
It purified.
Not like light Qi.
Not in a bright or holy way.
It was quieter than that, like spring water slowly washing poison from soil. When fire poison, sword residue, or demonic contamination entered his body, the life force could gradually push it out.
It was not fast.
But it was stable.
By the end of the first month, Fang Lin's hidden injuries were mostly gone, and his Peak Qi Conjunction Realm had become steady.
During the second month, the valley became his training ground.
At dawn, he practiced Flowing Wind Steps on the wet stones beside the waterfall. He moved across slippery rocks without leaving footprints, and when leaves fell from the trees, he passed between them without disturbing their path.
At noon, he practiced Wind Break Palm against the falling water. At first, his palm split the waterfall violently. Later, the force became silent and compressed. The water would only separate after his palm had already withdrawn.
At night, he practiced Frost Trace Sword Art inside the cave.
Frost Wind moved through darkness. Pale frost marks appeared, then vanished. At first, each frost mark remained separate, but later, they began linking naturally with his steps.
A sword mark on the wall.
A frost trace on the ground.
A hidden line in the air.
All of them became part of one battlefield.
Fang Lin was no longer only using techniques.
He was arranging death before the enemy understood the pattern.
During the third month, Fang Lin focused on the Nine Abyss Shadow Scripture.
Shadow Breath deepened. His aura became harder to sense, and his killing intent could vanish completely. The shadow needles he condensed became sharper, and his death force, though still faint, no longer collapsed after a single breath.
He could now condense a black thread from his shadow and hold it for three breaths.
Three breaths were short.
But in battle, three breaths could decide life and death.
Phantom Transformation also improved. With Shadow Breath supporting it, his disguise no longer only changed flesh and aura. It changed impression.
People who looked at him would instinctively overlook details. Their memory of him would become duller.
Not erased.
Not illusion.
Only blurred.
This was very useful in disguising.
During the fourth month, Fang Lin stopped all external training.
He sat inside the cave and cultivated silently.
Spirit stones turned dull one by one as the grey seed refined their energy into cosmic energy. The Nine Nether Phantom Body circulated. Life force flowed. The Nine Abyss Shadow Scripture moved through hidden channels. Darkness Qi deepened, and death force slept within shadow.
The Soul Metamorphosis Technique stabilized his soul.
His Qi gathered again and again.
Peak Qi Conjunction Realm was the final stage before Spirit Foundation.
Qi Conjunction gathered Qi into the body and meridians. Spirit Foundation required building a foundation that could support spiritual transformation. For ordinary cultivators, this foundation depended on Qi quality, meridian strength, comprehension, and cultivation method.
For Fang Lin, it was more complicated.
His foundation contained Qi, body, soul, life, death, frost, darkness, and cosmic energy.
If one side collapsed, the breakthrough might fail.
So he waited.
He polished.
He compressed.
He endured.
On the final night of the fourth month, heavy rain fell over the valley. The waterfall roared louder than usual, and thunder rolled across the sky.
Inside the cave, Fang Lin opened his eyes.
"It is time."
He placed spirit stones around him.
Low-grade spirit stones.
Middle-grade spirit stones.
A few dark-earth spirit stones.
Qi recovery pills.
Body-tempering paste.
Healing pills.
Everything was arranged and kept ready to be used.
Then he closed his eyes.
Qi surged first.
The breakthrough began.
Peak Qi Conjunction energy rushed through Fang Lin's meridians like a river reaching the edge of a cliff. He guided it inward.
Compress.
Condense.
Stabilize.
His spiritual sea trembled.
The grey seed pulsed, and cosmic energy flowed out into his body.
The Nine Nether Phantom Body activated. Life force moved with it, causing his flesh, bones, and meridians to become the first layer of his foundation.
Then the Nine Abyss Shadow Scripture circulated.
Darkness Qi spread through hidden channels. Shadow gathered beneath him. Death force stirred.
His darkness became the second layer of his foundation.
Then the Soul Metamorphosis Technique moved.
His soul pressure descended into the forming foundation. His perception sharpened, and his will stabilized the entire process.
Third layer.
Qi, body, soul, life, death, frost, and shadow began to gather as one.
Pain exploded through Fang Lin's body.
His meridians expanded.
His flesh tightened.
His bones shook.
His spiritual sea roared.
The grey seed pulsed faster, and the dark flame burned brighter.
Outside the cave, thunder crashed.
Inside the cave, Fang Lin's aura climbed.
It reached the limit of Qi Conjunction.
Then something unseen broke.
A deep, powerful tremor spread from Fang Lin's body.
Spirit Foundation Realm.
The entire cave shook.
Outside, the waterfall split apart for a single breath. Rainwater froze in the air, darkened, then shimmered with faint white life light before falling again.
Fang Lin opened his eyes.
For an instant, one eye reflected pale grey life light, while the other reflected deep darkness.
Then both returned to calm black.
His body had changed.
His Qi had changed.
His soul had improved further.
The Spirit Foundation within him stabilized with terrifying depth. It was not ordinary. It was not pure darkness, pure frost, or pure body cultivation.
It was something formed from everything he had endured.
At that moment, two streams of information appeared inside him.
One came from the Nine Nether Phantom Body.
One came from the Nine Abyss Shadow Scripture.
It awakened from life.
Nether Life Spirit Qi.
It was a life-based power born from the Greater Mastery of the NetherSkin from Nine Nether Phantom Body. It could heal his body, purify harmful residues, strengthen recovery, cleanse certain poisons and foreign Qi, and stabilize damaged meridians with far greater efficiency than before.
In battle, it could keep him standing when others collapsed.
Outside battle, it could refine his foundation and remove hidden injuries.
It was not endless. It consumed energy.
But it was pure and powerful.
And another skill awakened from darkness and death.
Abyssal Death Shadow.
It was a darkness-death skill from the Nine Abyss Shadow Scripture. It allowed Fang Lin to condense death force into his shadow, forming threads, needles, or a short-lived shadow strike. Anything touched by it would suffer erosion of Qi, vitality, and protective aura.
At higher mastery, it might even attack an enemy's shadow directly.
For now, Fang Lin could only use it briefly.
But briefly was enough.
Fang Lin slowly raised his hand.
A faint white mist appeared over his palm.
Nether Life Spirit Qi.
A small cut on his finger closed instantly.
Fang Lin watched the wound vanish, and a thought moved through his mind. If used carefully, this power might even heal others. It might remove hidden injuries, purify foreign Qi, and improve damaged foundations.
There was no one here to test it on.
Which was fine.
Testing a new healing power on a random person in the wilderness would require him to find a random person first, and Fang Lin had spent four months making sure no random person found him.
He turned his palm over.
Black threads rose from his shadow.
Abyssal Death Shadow.
A thread touched a stone.
The stone darkened, cracked, and lost all spiritual trace.
Fang Lin watched silently.
Life in one hand.
Death in the other.
Inside his spiritual sea, the grey seed floated calmly. The dark flame burned beside it.
Spirit Foundation Realm.
He had finally crossed the first major wall.
Fang Lin stood.
His aura spread through the cave, deep and controlled.
It was not explosive like Yan Chi's fire. It was not sharp like Lu Han's sword Qi. It was not heavy like Guo Zhen's dark-earth power.
His pressure was quieter.
Grey mist.
Pale life.
Deep shadow.
Cold frost.
A foundation hidden beneath silence.
Fang Lin walked to the cave entrance.
The rain outside had begun to weaken. The valley was dark, and the world beyond it felt wider than before.
Rivercloud City.
Black Mountain Gate.
Demon Sealing Ruins.
Green Bamboo Sect.
Uncle Wei.
His parents.
The grey seed.
The road ahead was still covered in mist.
But Fang Lin was no longer the same person who had left the sect.
Four months had passed.
Qi Conjunction had ended.
Spirit Foundation had begun.
Fang Lin looked into the rain.
His voice was calm.
"Now I can go farther."
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