Merin sits facing Mu Jingyi, and even with his ten thousand years of life experience, he must admit she is a peerless beauty.
That vast experience, however, allows him to remain exceptionally calm and in full control of his emotions.
His face is like a polished marvel, flawless and without the slightest hint of expression.
He now also understands why she always concealed her face the last time they met.
This encounter is not their first, for he had already met Mu Jingyi once before because of a task.
That previous task required nothing from him other than travelling from Mulin to Liulan City.
Mu Jingyi looks at him and says, "I am very surprised that in just three years, your strength will reach the peak of Six Rings."
Merin answers evenly, "I am also very surprised that you are a Celestial Master."
Mu Jingyi responds, "At that time, I had only just entered the rank of Four Rings and was consumed with strengthening my spiritual body. My spirit was entirely devoted to the process, so I posted a task."
Merin, his expression unchanging, says, "That is only because of my exceptional talent and relentless hard work."
Merin's cultivation speed is astonishing because his main body holds a deep accumulation of laws and spirit.
And what difference exists between him and the main body?
Ultimately, both are Merin, so his words are not a lie but the truth.
Mu Jingyi stares at him for a few moments but sees not even a blink in his eyes.
She finally turns to the main topic and says, "You have to take an oath before hearing the details of the task."
Merin does not refuse outright but instead asks about the details of the oath.
"What kind of oath?" he questions calmly.
Mu Jingyi replies, "From now on and until the task is complete, you must not reveal any detail to irrelevant people. You will only accept the agreed reward and nothing more. And you must take no harmful action, directly or indirectly, against any member of the task team."
Merin answers, "The first two are no problem, but what if someone attacks me first?"
Mu Jingyi reassures him, "Do not worry, the last two oaths will be taken together by everyone when the mission begins."
Merin smiles faintly at her words and says, "Ok," before taking the first oath.
Mu Jingyi then reveals, "Our task is to obtain a Dead Lily guarded by three intermediate swamp boas and more than a hundred low-rank swamp boas."
Merin recalls hearing that the Mu Family's spiritual body is known as the Black Crow Spiritual Body Technique.
The Dead Lily, being a rare spiritual plant, would greatly aid the advancement of such a spiritual body.
After this, a maid leads Merin to a quiet room prepared for him.
Inside the room, Merin quickly sits cross-legged and begins practising the third stage of the Wood God Technique.
During the journey here, he had already completed the improvement of his liver.
He focuses his mind, and for a few moments, the room holds no sound except the steady rhythm of his breathing.
Suddenly, wooden spiritual energy surges through his body like a flowing stream.
His spiritual body emerges, runes spreading outward as they form into the figure of an eagle.
The spiritual energy, purified by his spiritual body, then flows back into his body.
Outside his room, in a large chamber across the garden that lies between, Mu Jingyi stands with Elder Jiazi and Elder Yue.
They watch with joy as Merin successfully cultivates the third stage of the Wood God Technique.
If Merin learns of their reaction, he will be surprised that they are even happier than him over his ability to practice such a technique.
Elder Yue says, "During the task, I will protect him."
Elder Jiazi hums thoughtfully and says, "How about letting him stay here instead of taking him on the task?"
Mu Jingyi replies firmly, "With his strength, nothing will happen to him."
They step into the chamber just as the flow of wooden spiritual energy slowly ceases outside Merin's room.
Merin opens his eyes and feels endless strength surging through his body.
Before, he had felt weak, unable to refine his vitality properly because his body contained no energy.
After forming his spiritual body, he could absorb spiritual energy, but it remained stored within the spiritual body in his sea of consciousness.
Now, after opening his acupoint space, Merin examines the wooden energy inside and channels it to circulate through his body.
An involuntary groan escapes his lips as the wooden energy flows smoothly, spreading through his meridians before returning to his sea of consciousness.
There, the lightning energy already present reacts fiercely with the newly introduced wooden energy.
Merin immediately has the thought of combining the two energies to improve and strengthen his spiritual body.
Now, even if he were to obtain the top-ranked Celestial Master technique, he would not cultivate it.
What he truly seeks is to raise his spiritual body to the Heavenly Rank.
His first technique, the Heavenly Lightning Spiritual Body, was originally only a basic rank method.
After countless refinements and improvements, it advanced no further than the Spiritual Rank.
He eventually named it the Lightning Eagle Spiritual Body Technique.
There are four ranks of spiritual body: Basic, Mortal, Earth, and Heaven.
The reason he is determined to elevate his spiritual body to the Heavenly Rank is simple.
With only a basic spiritual body, breaking through the seven rings of Celestial Master would make reaching the Divine Soul Realm nearly impossible.
With a Mortal Rank spiritual body, he would have about a thirty per cent chance to break through.
With an Earth Rank spiritual body, that chance would rise to seventy per cent.
But with a Heavenly Rank spiritual body, his chances of advancing to the Divine Soul Realm would be absolute.
And there is more—if he breaks through to the Divine Soul Realm with only a Mortal Rank spiritual body, his lifespan would not exceed two hundred years.
With an Earth Rank spiritual body, his lifespan would extend to no more than three hundred years.
With a Heavenly Rank spiritual body, it could reach up to four hundred years.
The spiritual body can still be improved after advancing to the top rank of Celestial Master, but the difficulty increases tenfold compared to the intermediate stage.
That is why he must refine and elevate it now, while he still has the chance.
And besides, he is a demigod—how could he possibly accept not pushing his practice to its very limit?
His pride and arrogance will never allow him to break through seven rings without first advancing his spiritual body to the peak.
Merin turns his focus inward toward his sea of consciousness.
There, he senses the collision of the two energies and begins to perceive the principles hidden within them.
Directly merging the two energies would be extremely difficult, but if he can identify principles they share in common, he can begin from there.
Within the lightning energy, he senses the principles of Heat, Paralysis, Speed, Energy, Destruction, Shock, and Vitality.
There are more, but with his current comprehension, these are the ones he can clearly grasp.
Within the wooden energy, he senses far fewer—Piercing, Hardness, Poison, and Vitality.
Among them, the principle of Vitality is the most distinct in both energies.
He begins by merging their Vitality principles, and with his understanding of the Law of Vitality, the process becomes manageable.
Even so, it takes him two full days to complete the fusion.
While Merin retreats to cultivate in his room, people begin gathering in Mu Jingyi's mansion.
Merin is not the only foreign aid called upon, as Mu Jingyi summons five others to assemble near the training ground.
They gather together, and when they speak, their words carry the sharpness of gunpowder.
All of them hail from famous sects of the empire, and each harbours a competitive spirit against the others.
Some of their sects have even clashed in battle recently.
Gu Lingsha from the Water Phoenix Sect says, "So, we are only the foreign aid."
Touba Xi of the Barbarian Bull Sect adds, "I asked a servant and heard there are six foreign aids called."
Ling Susu of Rose Crow Valley speaks softly, "He is called Lin Yu."
Her voice carries a natural charm that draws the attention of men.
Her two admirers, Wang Ju of the Thunder Ape Sect and Jin Ye of the Golden Eagle Sect, glare at each other, ignoring the rest of the conversation.
Gu Lingsha remarks, "If Miss Mu invited him, he must be an expert."
Touba Xi questions, "Which sect is he from—some hidden sect?"
Ling Susu replies, "No sect, but he works for the Four Gate Building."
Sensing their disapproval, she continues, "You may not have heard of him since you are not from around here, but in this region, he is well known. For the past two years, he has entered the Demon Sea every month to hunt an intermediate demon, and he even advanced the Heavenly Thunder Spiritual Body from Basic Rank to Mortal Rank. In three years, he cultivated from mortal to the peak of Six Rings."
Touba Xi and Gu Lingsha widen their eyes in shock at her words.
But Wang Ju and Jin Ye only hear the admiration in Ling Susu's tone when she speaks of Lin Yu.
At that moment, Merin walks into the training ground alongside Mu Jingyi.
She announces, "Let me introduce our last member, Lin Yu."
Merin, wearing a faint smile, nods at them in greeting.
But then a burly voice cuts across the air, "I, Wang Ju, challenge you to a duel."