Li Lin emerged from the cave, feeling the glare of the light was blindingly harsh. He narrowed his eyes slightly and looked around.
He clearly remembered that when he first arrived here, the surrounding area for miles around had been pitch-black, devoid of a single trace of life.
Yet now, grass was already sprouting and poking through the ground. A sweep of his Divine Sense revealed ants and insects teeming within his mind.
Everything radiated vitality. High in the sky, the sun was golden and radiating heat.
Li Lin remembered that it had still been winter when he came out to herd cattle, and the weather had been bitterly cold. But now, why did it feel like summer?
The temperature had risen noticeably. He had no idea what time of year it actually was now, which left him thoroughly puzzled.
Eager to return home, Li Lin put the matter out of his mind.
He stepped forward and bounded into the distance. Those Spirit Fruit trees stood firmly in place—when he first came here, he had plucked a few from them to eat.
Though he hadn't known it back then, he now knew them like the back of his hand: those were all precious Spirit Fruits.
With a few leaps, he reached the spirit trees and immediately recognized one of them as a "Five-Finger Spirit Peach," a Rank 3 Spirit Fruit. Each was the size of a chicken egg.
Li Lin picked the peaches one by one, packed them carefully into boxes, and stored them in his Storage Bracelet. There were twenty-one in total.
Over there grew the "Brier Gold Apricot," a Rank 4 Spirit Fruit. It was a size smaller than the spirit peaches, delicate and lovely, bright golden with a full, translucent luster.
Only a few sparse apricots had borne fruit. He picked them all and packed them into a box—eight in total—and placed them into the Storage Bracelet.
A bit further away, a tall spirit tree stood out prominently. Li Lin remembered that on his arrival, one of its forked branches had been charred black like charcoal, as if it had been struck by lightning that day, while the right branch bore three greenish fruits.
Yet now, even from a distance, the three golden fruits hanging from the spirit tree were exceptionally striking. They shone a brilliant gold, and even from this far away, a rich fragrance drifted over.
Li Lin hurried closer to take a look.
"Hoh."
"This is actually a Rank 6 Spirit Fruit, Golden Radiance Mango."
This was a Spirit Fruit capable of refining the cultivation even of Golden Core Cultivators; it was extraordinarily precious and remarkable.
The tree was quite tall—at least five zhang high, and as thick as a man's thigh.
It grew straight upward, splitting into two branches only at the very top.
Li Lin had no choice but to leap up, using both hands and feet like an agile monkey as he scrambled up the trunk.
Ever since receiving his inheritance, Li Lin's strength had increased by no less than a hundredfold. Right now, he was still only at Qi Condensation Level 5 and could not yet fly on a Dharma Artifact; he would have to wait until reaching the Foundation Establishment stage for that.
As for riding a beam of escaping light, that was something reserved for Golden Core Cultivators whose magical power flowed endlessly. Of course, some individuals with extraordinary talent could barely manage to fly on a Dharma Artifact even at the Qi Condensation Great Circle, though this was not absolute.
Li Lin plucked the three Golden Radiance Mangos, each the size of a palm. He carefully placed each one into its own individual jade box before storing them in the Storage Bracelet.
Li Lin turned his gaze toward the other branch—the one that had been struck by lightning.
He reached out and touched it, feeling a faint warmth. When he tapped it with his finger, it emitted the sound of striking metal and stone.
A trace of joy welled up in him. He took out a low-grade Spirit Artifact saber from his Storage Bracelet.
Even though Li Lin currently possessed only the cultivation of Qi Condensation Level 5 and could not drive Spirit Artifacts, this did not prevent him from using a Spirit Artifact to hack directly at the tree.
Li Lin spat into his palm, raised his hands, and brought the blade down fiercely.
With a sharp *crack*, the low-grade Spirit Artifact snapped into two pieces, one half tumbling to the ground. His arm was jarred numb, and the web of his hand split open, oozing a bit of blood.
This left Li Lin momentarily stunned. He had expected the "Lightning-Struck Wood" to be tough, but not *this* tough—a low-grade Spirit Artifact had been snapped into pieces just like that, while the Lightning-Struck Wood itself hadn't left a single trace?
As it turned out, Li Lin had seen an introduction to "Lightning-Struck Wood" in the *Chronicles of the Tianyuan Continent*. This material was as hard as iron, capable of banishing filth and driving away evil, and served as the primary material for forging warding Dharma Treasures.
The formation of "Lightning-Struck Wood" was extremely harsh. Either a spirit tree was blasted into ashes by lightning, or it was merely brushed slightly by heavenly lightning—neither of which qualified as true Lightning-Struck Wood.
They lacked the properties of Lightning-Struck Wood and were merely ordinary timber.
However, this piece was definitely a top-quality section of "Lightning-Struck Wood."
Li Lin produced a top-grade Dharma Artifact.
This time he was not so rash, instead tapping it here and there.
He was checking how far the properties of the "Lightning-Struck Wood" extended. After a round of tapping, Li Lin confirmed that this section of the branch, apart from the junction where the two branches met, had not transformed into Lightning-Struck Wood.
The entire large section on the left—nearly a full zhang long—had already acquired the properties of "Lightning-Struck Wood."
Having figured this out, Li Lin no longer hesitated. He hooked his legs around the living branch to secure himself.
He spat into his palms again, raised the top-grade Dharma Artifact saber, and hacked down viciously at the tree's fork.
With a crisp *crack*, the branch snapped cleanly and plummeted toward the ground.
With a wave of joy, Li Lin slid down the trunk immediately and scooped up the Lightning-Struck Wood.
It felt slightly heavy in his hand. He inspected it, looking thoroughly satisfied, and nodded proudly with a grin.
He stowed the "Lightning-Struck Wood" away in the Storage Bracelet.
The sun was sinking toward the western horizon, and its glare was no longer so dazzling.
Li Lin swept his Divine Sense to identify his direction, then immediately broke into a run and bounded forward.
He could already see the towering mountain wall ahead. After a few leaps, he arrived at the place where he had fallen off the cliff. There, blocking his view, was the beast standing roughly two zhang tall.
It was still lying right there. Up close, apart from its injured head which was rotting and swarming with maggots, the rest of its body remained completely intact.
Previously, he hadn't been able to figure out what was wrong, but this time he could see it clearly: this was a Long-armed Mountain Ape. After falling, its skull had been pierced and fatalized by a broken sword, which was startlingly a broken fragment of a Dharma Treasure.
This was a Rank 5 Monstrous Beast—a Long-armed Mountain Ape—a being comparable to a Golden Core Cultivator. By now, Li Lin was well-versed in various common Monstrous Beasts, Spirit Herbs, Spirit Fruits, and pills. Through their traits, he could instantly identify their species.
Presumably, back then it had been waiting in the cave beneath the "Nine-Curtain Azure Immortal Fruit" for the fruit to ripen, intending to devour it and advance to strengthen its own body.
Man proposes, but nature disposes; in the end, it had benefited a kid like Li Lin.
The entire essence of a Monstrous Beast was concentrated within its beast core—a resource coveted by everyone in the Cultivation World.
Naturally, Li Lin would not let it slip away. A sweep of his Divine Sense captured the exact location of the beast core, and he drew a top-grade Dharma Artifact.
With a single leap, he landed on the chest of the Long-armed Mountain Ape, raised the top-grade Dharma Artifact, and drove it in. Even though it was a Rank 5 Monstrous Beast comparable to a Golden Core Cultivator, it had been dead for a long time, and the top-grade Dharma Artifact easily sliced through its flesh. After a brief flurry of activity, he smoothly extracted a grayish, energy-laden beast core. He weighed it in his hand, stored it with satisfaction in the Storage Bracelet, and jumped back down.
He gazed down at the colossal corpse. The other parts lacked any great value, and Li Lin couldn't be bothered to harvest them, but the arms of the Long-armed Ape were rare refining materials and must not be missed under any circumstances.
Raising the top-grade Dharma Artifact once more, he set to work. The two-zhang-tall Long-armed Mountain Ape had arms nearly a zhang long—which was undoubtedly why it was called a Long-armed Mountain Ape.
Li Lin packed the two severed arms of the Long-armed Mountain Ape directly into his Storage Bracelet. Whether he would use them for crafting Dharma Artifacts later or sell them off was a matter for another day.
Wielding the top-grade Dharma Artifact through another round of effort, he finally managed to chop off the two massive paws of the Long-armed Mountain Ape.
Li Lin murmured, "What a bountiful harvest this time. Now that everything is settled, it's time to go home. The sun on the horizon is left with only a sliver of bright edge, as if saying it, too, is heading home."
He looked out at the lush, towering ancient trees; no matter how dense the jungle, it could not stop Li Lin's eagerness to return home.
With a single leap, he waved his arms and caught hold of the branch of a giant tree, and then, like an agile monkey, he shuttled freely through the branches of the forest, gradually vanishing from sight.
Yet what Li Lin did not know was that back in the cave where the mountain ape had stayed, a Rank 6 golden eagle stood at the edge of the cliff. Only when Li Lin's distant figure completely disappeared did it instantly take flight toward the corpse of the mountain ape—the one that had been disemboweled and stripped of its arms.
It let out a low, "Gawk, gawk," looking exceptionally excited.