I Idle in the World of Immortal Cultivation
Chapter 27: The Stone Box and a Heavy Injury
[Warning: This demon beast is native to the ancient battlefield and has adapted to an environment without spiritual energy. Combat evaluations based on outside standards do not apply.]
The beast lowered its head and sniffed the ground. The spiritual energy left behind by the Spirit Vein Heart – in this dying battlefield, it was like tossing a piece of bloody meat into still water.
It raised its head. Two dark red eyes locked onto Lin Luo.
"Run." Lin Luo's voice was very low.
Yue Long's Diamond Body lit up instantly. Her face was pale as paper, but her hands didn't shake. The Greenwind Sword came out of its sheath. Bone One stood up from the shadows, pulling out his Black Iron Short Blade.
The beast charged.
It was so fast that Lin Luo only had time to sidestep. He pushed his Nine Cycles Mystic Art to its limit. A pale gold sheen appeared on his skin. He gripped the Black Iron Axe in his hand. The beast's claw came down. Lin Luo avoided the direct hit and swung his axe at the joint of its front leg. The blade caught in the gap between scales and stuck.
The beast swung its other claw sideways. Lin Luo let go of the axe and jumped back. The claw scraped across his chest, tearing three long gashes in his chore uniform. Underneath, his skin had three white marks. Not broken. But the force of the blow threw him off his feet. He hit the ground and rolled twice.
Bone One charged from the side. He stabbed into the old wound on the beast's left hind leg, burying the blade and twisting the handle. The beast roared. Its hind leg buckled, and it dropped to one knee. Then its tail whipped around. The bone spike at its tip pierced through Bone One's chest. Bone One was lifted off the ground, hanging in the air. The green flames in his eye sockets flickered once. Then went out.
[Bone One has died. Consume 1 Spirit Stone to revive.]
Lin Luo got up and picked up the Black Iron Axe from the ground. The beast straightened its legs and walked toward him – the smell of the Spirit Vein Heart was still on him. He was the one it wanted.
Yue Long charged from behind the beast and thrust the Greenwind Sword at the base of its tail. The tip hit the scales. It didn't pierce, but the beast felt the pain. It flicked its tail. Yue Long's Diamond Body shield shook violently, cracks spreading from the edges. She staggered back several steps, steadied herself against a piece of broken stone, and held.
"Master – its skin is too thick!"
Lin Luo pulled out his phone and turned on Auto-Battle.
[Predicted win rate: 3%.]
Three percent was still a win rate.
He gripped his axe, ran to the beast's side, and swung at its right front paw. The blade cut into the scales. Dark green blood seeped through the gaps. The beast snarled in pain and struck back with its claw, but Lin Luo had already moved away.
Bone One revived ten meters away and charged again. This time he didn't go straight in. He circled around, ran under the beast's belly, and stabbed upward. The blade found soft flesh between the scales. The beast lowered its head to bite him. Bone One ducked between its legs, slicing the tendon of its hind leg as he passed.
The beast slowed by half a beat.
Lin Luo seized that half beat, ran in, and swung his axe at the beast's right eye. The blade hit the bone of the eye socket. Dark green blood sprayed from the crack. The beast let out a deafening scream and thrashed its head wildly. Lin Luo was thrown off, hitting the ground and rolling several times. When he got up, blood was at the corner of his mouth.
[Warning: Spiritual energy remaining: 25%. Immediate retreat advised.]
Before he could give the order to retreat, a sword strike came from the side. Lin Luo didn't turn his head. He felt the danger instinctively and was about to take it head-on –
Someone threw themselves in front of him.
Su Xiaoxiao burst out from behind the ruins with Zhao Tian and Wang Hao. She ran the fastest. As she threw herself in front of Lin Luo, the sword strike cut across her shoulder. Her dark green cloak tore open. Blood poured from the wound, staining her white inner shirt red. She bit her lip, her face pale, but she still held her sword.
Zhao Tian and Wang Hao came charging out behind her. Zhao Tian's sword forced the rogue cultivator who had attacked from the side to retreat.
"How did you get in?" Lin Luo's voice was tight.
"To find you." Su Xiaoxiao's voice wasn't loud, but it was steady. "The Phoenix woman said something was wrong inside. I said you were still in there. I said I was going in to find you."
She switched her sword to her other hand. Her injured arm hung at her side. Blood dripped from her fingers onto the ground.
"I looked at the battlefield on the way in. The ruins are arranged in a pattern. I think this used to be a military camp." She pointed at the beast. "Its left hind leg has an old wound. That's its biggest weakness. But it's not stupid – it attacks whoever it thinks is the biggest threat first. There's something on you that's drawing it in."
Lin Luo didn't deny it.
"Zhao Tian and Wang Hao will create confusion. Bone One keeps attacking the hind leg wound. Yue Long uses Diamond Body to take the tail. You target its eye when it turns. I'll draw its attention."
"Your injury – "
"That's why I'll just use my mouth." Su Xiaoxiao looked at him. "I'll stand here where it can see me. That's enough."
She stood on a high point of the ruins. Blood was still seeping from her shoulder.
"Zhao Tian, Wang Hao – throw rocks at its head. It won't hurt it, but it'll distract it. Bone One – with me."
Lin Luo gave the orders. The rhythm changed.
Zhao Tian and Wang Hao ran forward, picked up broken stones, and threw them at the beast's face. The stones didn't hurt, but the beast blinked instinctively. In that instant, Bone One charged from the side, stabbing his blade deep into the old wound on its hind leg. The beast roared and snapped at Bone One. Bone One was crushed, then revived ten meters away.
Lin Luo used the moment when the beast lowered its head to run in and swing his axe at its already-injured right eye. The blade drove into the same wound. Dark green blood sprayed out. The beast let out an even more terrible scream. Its right eye was completely gone, leaving only a dark green bloody hole.
Su Xiaoxiao stood on the high ground, her voice clear. "It can't see on the right. Go left. Lin Luo – left!"
Lin Luo dove left and swung his axe at the beast's left front leg. Bone One flanked from the right, stabbing between its ribs.
The beast began to retreat. Its right eye was gone. Its left hind leg had been cut several times by Bone One; it was limping. But it was still a Nascent Soul demon beast. Even badly wounded, its presence was overwhelming. It raised its head and let out a low, deep roar – the sound didn't seem to come from its throat but from deep underground. The whole battlefield shook. Bones crumbled into dust. Stones rattled down from the ruins. Su Xiaoxiao, Yue Long, Zhao Tian, Wang Hao, and Lin Luo all dropped to one knee, a line of blood appearing at the corners of their mouths.
"It's trying to run. Lin Luo, it's retreating toward you – watch its tail! It's going to – "
She didn't finish.
The beast's tail swept around.
Not aimed at Lin Luo. At Su Xiaoxiao. It had recognized her as the one giving orders, the one calling out its weaknesses. It knew it might not get out alive, but before it went down, it wanted to take someone with it.
Lin Luo threw himself in front of her. Nine Cycles Mystic Art ran at full power. Lightning Prison Indestructible Body exploded in fine golden lines across his skin.
Yue Long also threw herself from the side. Her Diamond Body shield condensed to its maximum strength, covering Lin Luo and Su Xiaoxiao.
The tail hit Yue Long's shield first.
The shield shuddered violently. Cracks burst from its edges – but it didn't shatter right away. Yue Long gritted her teeth, pouring all her spiritual energy into the shield. The cracks spread, but the shield held.
The beast's tail pressed down on the shield. The shield absorbed the first impact, cutting about thirty percent of its force.
Then the shield shattered. Golden fragments scattered like falling leaves.
Yue Long was thrown aside by the remaining force, rolling several times on the ground. When she got up, there was blood at the corner of her mouth and a large scrape on her arm, but she was alive. The backlash from Diamond Body shattering sent her inner energy into chaos, but she was alive.
The tail's power, reduced by the shield, lost thirty percent. The remaining seventy percent hit Lin Luo.
He crossed his arms in front of his chest. The gold light of Nine Cycles Mystic Art and the lightning lines of Lightning Prison Indestructible Body blazed at their maximum. When the tail slammed into his arms, he heard the sound of his own bones – not breaking, but cracking.
He was pushed back a dozen steps, his feet carving two deep trenches in the ground. The sleeves of both arms exploded into shreds, revealing dense golden lines beneath them. Under those lines was a layer of dark purple bruising. His thumb webs split open. Blood dripped from his fingers. A large mouthful of blood burst from his lips.
He didn't fall.
By the time the tail's force reached Su Xiaoxiao, after passing through Yue Long and Lin Luo, it had scattered into a weak blast of air.
The scales at the base of the beast's tail exploded outward, each one popping off, exposing pale white bone beneath. A thin line of blood burst from the base of the tail. A dagger-length piece of tail bone shot out, faster than the tail's sweep had been. Not a sweep – a straight thrust. A straight line, straight at Su Xiaoxiao.
The bone spike pierced her chest. It went through and through, pinning her body to a stone pillar. Her feet lifted off the ground, her toes just barely touching the ground.
"Su Xiaoxiao!"
Yue Long's scream came from far away. Lin Luo knelt on one knee, breathing hard. His arms hung at his sides, his fingers shaking. He turned his head and looked at Su Xiaoxiao – she was alive, but pinned to the pillar, not moving.
"Bone One – " His voice was hoarse.
Bone One charged out from his respawn point. He didn't go after the beast. He ran to Su Xiaoxiao's side. The green flames in his eye sockets flickered. He used his bony body to shield her, facing the beast.
The beast raised its tail again.
This time, Zhao Tian and Wang Hao charged together.
Zhao Tian thrust his sword into the wound at the base of the beast's tail, his blade biting between the scales. Wang Hao threw himself from the other side, dark gold ancient war body lines covering his whole body, both arms wrapped around the beast's tail, pulling it down.
"Go – now – !" Wang Hao's voice was squeezed through clenched teeth, veins bulging on his face.
The beast flicked its tail hard. Wang Hao was thrown off, slamming into a stone pillar. The pillar broke. He fell to the ground, his mouth full of blood, but the ancient war body's recovery power was already stopping the bleeding.
"I'm not dead – " he shouted, his voice hoarse.
But the beast's next attack was already coming. It turned, raised its right front leg, and brought it down at Zhao Tian.
Zhao Tian couldn't dodge. His sword was still stuck in the scales at the base of the beast's tail. He couldn't pull it out. He looked up and saw the huge claw blocking the already dim light above his head.
A sword strike fell from the sky.
A blade of energy, sharp to the extreme, cut down from the crack in the sky. It hit the descending leg without missing. The beast's claw was knocked aside, crashing into the ground less than three feet from Zhao Tian, spraying him with stone fragments. A sword was stuck in the beast's leg, buried deep – only the hilt visible.
"How dare you hurt my disciple?"
A woman flew down from the crack in the sky. She wore a moon-white robe, her long hair pinned up with a jade hairpin. Her face was cold, her eyes sharp. She descended on a flying sword, her robes fluttering like a white crane diving from the clouds.
Zhao Tian's master.
Lin Luo's Spirit Eye Technique swept over her. The number that appeared made his pupils contract. Foundation Establishment Layer 9. No – the number was jumping. Foundation Establishment 9, Golden Core 1, Golden Core 2, Golden Core 3, Golden Core 4… all the way to Golden Core 9 before it stopped. Not a breakthrough – a seal breaking. She was using some kind of secret technique, unwrapping her sealed cultivation layer by layer.
Lin Luo swept again. This time Spirit Eye Technique gave more details.
[Cangxuan Sect Elder · Sword Lineage · Younger daughter of Jian Wuhen. Real name: Jian Wushuang. Disguised name: Zhao Shuang. Cultivation: Golden Core Layer 9 (seal breaking in progress). Nickname: White Crane.]
Jian Wushuang landed in front of Zhao Tian and pulled her sword from the beast's leg. There wasn't a drop of blood on it – clean as if it had just been sharpened.
"Master – " Zhao Tian called out.
"Zhao Tian, get your friends out. You have fifteen minutes." Jian Wushuang's voice wasn't loud, but every word was as crisp as if cut by a blade.
Zhao Tian opened his mouth.
"Go!"
Zhao Tian gritted his teeth, turned, and ran to Lin Luo. "Let's go!"
Lin Luo didn't hesitate. He lifted Su Xiaoxiao onto his back. Yue Long got up from the ground, picked up the Greenwind Sword. Wang Hao followed, his arm still bleeding. The five ran toward the exit.
Bone One crawled out from the ruins and followed behind them. There were more cracks in his skeleton, but the green flames in his eye sockets still burned.
Behind them came the sound of sword energy clashing with demon beast scales, the dull thud of metal cutting through flesh, and the sharp shouts of Jian Wushuang giving orders. No one looked back.
---
When they ran out through the whirlpool, the sun was blinding. The clouds above Suihuang City had scattered. The sky was very blue. Wind blew, carrying the smell of fresh air. Spiritual energy – finally, they could breathe. Nine Cycles Mystic Art began to run on its own, slowly repairing Lin Luo's battered internal organs.
Outside the whirlpool, Zhao Tian didn't stop. He turned and was about to go back in. "Master is still in there – "
Lin Luo stopped him with one hand and pulled out his phone with the other. "Let me check first."
He switched to Bone One's interface. Bone One hadn't followed them out. He was still in the battlefield. The view shook – Bone One was crouched behind a broken stone pillar, his Shadow Cloak wrapped tight, his two green flames staring through a crack in the pillar at the scene ahead.
Jian Wushuang and the beast were still fighting. The beast's wounds were already severe – right eye gone, left hind leg broken, over a dozen cuts on its body. But Jian Wushuang wasn't doing well either. Her secret technique had a time limit. Her cultivation was slowly dropping – Golden Core 8, Golden Core 7. The beast still had strength left. Her sword strikes were already slowing down.
Lin Luo zoomed in on Bone One's view. He saw the beast sniffing the air with its nose – it was searching for the scent of the Spirit Vein Heart. The Spirit Vein Heart was on Lin Luo, but Lin Luo had already left the battlefield. The beast couldn't smell him, but it was sniffing toward Jian Wushuang. She didn't have the Spirit Vein Heart on her, but her sword smelled of Zhao Tian, and Zhao Tian's body had Lin Luo's scent on him.
The beast wouldn't get confused. It would follow that scent trail all the way to Lin Luo.
Lin Luo opened the Shared Storage and took out the Spirit Vein Heart. The glowing stone pulsed in his hand like a heartbeat. He switched back to Bone One's view and controlled Bone One to run out from behind the stone pillar, holding the Spirit Vein Heart high above his head.
The beast turned its head. It smelled it. The Spirit Vein Heart – in that skeleton's hand.
Bone One turned and ran deeper into the battlefield. The beast turned and chased him. Jian Wushuang froze for a second, then didn't follow. Her cultivation had already dropped to Golden Core 5.
Lin Luo switched back to Bone One's view, controlled him to put the Spirit Vein Heart back into the Shared Storage, and kept running deeper. The beast chased after him, not fast, but it kept chasing.
Lin Luo switched back to his own interface and put his phone away. "Your master is fine," he said to Zhao Tian.
Zhao Tian's eyes were red. He didn't speak.
Su Xiaoxiao, on Lin Luo's back, let out a soft groan.
"Lin Luo…"
"Don't talk."
"…It hurts."
"I know."
"Your back… is covered in blood."
Lin Luo didn't answer.
The people around them saw Lin Luo carrying a blood-soaked woman out of the whirlpool and automatically stepped aside. Murmurs buzzed around them.
Lin Luo didn't stop.
He carried Su Xiaoxiao across the barren land outside Suihuang City, across the dirt road they had come on, through the Cangxuan Sect's mountain gate. Back in the mine shaft, the bedding was still in the stone chamber. Lin Luo laid Su Xiaoxiao down. Yue Long had also returned. She knelt by the bed, her hands fumbling as she tried to wrap a cloth around the sword wound on Su Xiaoxiao's shoulder.
Lin Luo put his hand over hers.
"Let me."
Yue Long pulled her hands back. Her rabbit ears hung down. She went to tend to her own injuries, then pulled out her phone and opened the shop. A high-grade shield formation – 500 Spirit Stones. She bit her lips and tapped the purchase button. The formation disk came out of the Shared Storage, palm-sized, carved with dense runes. She placed it at the entrance of the stone chamber and poured spiritual energy into it. A pale gold shield spread from the disk, covering the whole room.
Lin Luo cut open the cloth over Su Xiaoxiao's chest. Below her collarbone, a dagger-length piece of white tail bone pierced through her chest – one end sticking out in front, the other end sticking out her back. Blood seeped from between the bone and skin. There was no heavy bleeding. The tail bone was plugging the wound.
Lin Luo crouched down and threaded his spiritual energy into Su Xiaoxiao's meridians. The spiritual energy from Nine Cycles Mystic Art was much denser than ordinary cultivators'. When it entered her meridians, they were like a dry riverbed – no response at all. He fed her a Life Extension Pill. The medicine had already spread, slowly repairing her internal organs, but it couldn't do anything about the tail bone that was still in her.
He used Spirit Eye Technique to check her pulse. "The heavenly phoenix bloodline is healing itself. But it's too slow. At least three days to close the wound. She can't wait that long."
"Bone Mending Pill," Lin Luo said.
"Mid-grade or higher Bone Mending Pills – only the black market has them."
Lin Luo stood up and walked out of the mine. Yue Long ran out behind him, her rabbit ears floating in the wind. At the entrance, she stopped.
"Master, you're going out?"
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"I don't know."
Yue Long was silent for a moment. "Your back is still covered in blood."
"It's not mine."
"Liar." Yue Long's voice was very soft. "Your mouth has blood on it too."
Lin Luo didn't answer. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve. The sleeve was still wet.
"Go." Yue Long wasn't looking at him. She was looking at Su Xiaoxiao, unconscious in the stone chamber. "I'll take care of her." There were dried blood scabs on her silver-white fur. She didn't know whose they were.
"Message me if anything happens."
Lin Luo turned and walked down the mountain.
---
Zhao Tian and Wang Hao stood at the entrance of the stone chamber. Zhao Tian had a cloth strip tied around his arm. Wang Hao's face had medicine smeared on it. Neither of them spoke.
"Go take care of your wounds. Master is out. Sister Xiao is fine." Yue Long's voice was very low.
Zhao Tian's lips moved. In the end, he didn't say anything. Wang Hao pulled him away. As they left the mine, Wang Hao looked back. His eyes were red. He didn't cry. His cheeks were puffed out, holding it in.
Yue Long crouched outside the shield, hugging her knees, staring at Su Xiaoxiao lying unconscious inside.
---
(End of Chapter 27)
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Current Status
Main Account · Lin Luo
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment Layer 3 (Displayed: Qi Refining Layer 1)
Nine Cycles Mystic Art: Second Cycle
Lightning Prison Indestructible Body: First Layer (idling)
Defense: 650
Attack: ~380
HP: ~1800 → ~700 (injured in battle, Nine Cycles Mystic Art auto-repairing)
Spiritual Energy: ~15%
Spirit Stones: ~8250 → ~7750 (500 spent by Yue Long on formation)
Possessions: Spirit Recovery Pill ×4, Life Extension Pill ×0, Antidote Pill ×3, Light Talisman ×4, Mountain Pass Token ×1, Drunken Immortal Residence VIP card, Myriad Treasures Pavilion VIP card, Realm-Breaking Talisman (authentic), half a broken sword, pale green jade slip, beast-hide map, Spirit Vein Heart, Secret Realm Core Spirit Stone
Skill: Spirit Eye Technique
Disciple: Yue Long
Status: Lightly injured (blood at mouth, minor internal shock)
Alt Account · Bone One
Cultivation: Qi Gathering, Layer 9
Status: Skeleton cracked over 40% – recommended return to base for repair
Cumulative deaths this chapter: about 8
Alt Account · Blood One
Cultivation: Qi Gathering, Layer 7
Status: Hidden – Demon Abyss second layer
Alt Account · Rat One
Cultivation: Spirit Gathering, Layer 5
Status: On Lin Luo's shoulder (not injured in battle, but frightened)
Sect · Idle Sect
Sect Leader: Lin Luo
Formal Disciple: Yue Long
Members: Bone One, Rat One, Blood One
Guest Elder (temporarily at the mine): Su Xiaoxiao (unconscious, tail bone impalement, shoulder sword wound)
Level: 2
Idle Bonus: +15%
Special facilities: Sect Gathering Array, High-grade shield formation (set by Yue Long, covering Su Xiaoxiao's chamber)
Idle Sect Disciple · Yue Long
Cultivation: Foundation Establishment Layer 2
Status: Guarding the mine, caring for Su Xiaoxiao
Four-Cultivation Body: demonic, Buddhist, human, beast
Possessions: disciple-dedicated phone, low-grade storage pouch, Zixiao Sect inheritance token, Greenwind Sword (badly chipped)
Diamond Body: shield shattered in battle – needs time to recover
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Appendix: Special Cultivation Systems for Lin Luo and His Alt Accounts
Immortal Cultivation (Main Account · Lin Luo):
Qi Refining → Foundation Establishment → Core Opening → Fusion → Heart Movement → Golden Core → Nascent Soul → Soul Departure → Spirit Separation → Body Integration → Cave Void → Great Ascension → Tribulation Transcendence
Demon Cultivation (Alt Accounts · Bone One, Blood One):
Qi Gathering → Body Refining → Core Condensation → Desire Embodiment → Devouring → Demon Infant → Soul Departure → Sense Separation → Body Fusion → Void Break → Great Ascension → Tribulation Transcendence
Beast Cultivation (Alt Account · Rat One):
Spirit Gathering → Intelligence Awakening → Body Tempering → Bone Refining → Beast Core → Transformation → Soul Condensation → Spirit Roaming → Body Purification → Void Training → Great Ascension → Tribulation Transcendence
Note: The above are the exclusive cultivation systems for Lin Luo and his alt accounts. Everyone else (side characters, enemies, etc.) uses the traditional system: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Soul Transformation, Void Training, Body Integration, Great Ascension, Tribulation Transcendence.
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(End of Chapter 27)