Chapter 115: No More Love

Lin Yi wanted to test the capabilities of the Ginseng Spirit, so he instructed Xiao Qian, "I am going down to fetch some soil. Xiao Qian, do not go bleeding the Ginseng Spirit whenever you please."

His concern was not unfounded. As the spirit of the alchemy furnace, Xiao Qian could use rare herbs and treasures to enhance her own strength. One only had to look at the green glint in her eyes to know exactly what she was thinking. Upon hearing Lin Yi's words, Xiao Qian became immediately disgruntled. *Hey, hey, what is that supposed to mean? Why single me out? It’s as if you think I have no self-control at all.* While she felt aggrieved inside, her eyes remained fixed on the Ginseng Spirit, and she was nearly drooling. The Ginseng Spirit stood frozen in place, trembling and afraid to move an inch.

Lin Yi shook his head and headed downstairs. Just then, an aged voice drifted over from the front: "Oh? Young man, do you live here?"

Lin Yi looked up to see an old man in a white training suit walking slowly toward him with his hands behind his back. He had a ruddy complexion and a full head of silver hair; his vitality was abundant, clearly indicating a man in excellent health.

"Yes," Lin Yi nodded.

"I recall that Villa Number Eight belonged to Wang Yang, didn't it?" the old man asked, looking puzzled. His name was Yao Shijie, the patriarch of the Yao family—one of the ten great families of Lancheng—and his strength had long since reached the third level of the Innate Realm. He used to have a close relationship with Wang Yang, but communication between the two families had dwindled after the Wang family moved to Jiang Province. Having not visited for a while, he found that Villa Number Eight had undergone a complete transformation. The surroundings were shrouded in a layer of mist-like spiritual energy, and the key point was that he found himself unable to absorb it, leaving him to only stare in envy.

"He gave it to me," Lin Yi replied without concealment.

Yao Shijie was somewhat surprised. Even if Wang Yang had moved to the provincial capital, he shouldn't have been so generous as to casually gift a villa worth over a hundred million to someone else. Thinking this, he couldn't help but size Lin Yi up again, but apart from looking ordinary, there was nothing distinctive about him.

"Young man, what is your name?" Yao Shijie asked with a smile.

"Lin Yi," Lin Yi replied.

Yao Shijie searched his memory but found no such person. "Young man, would you mind letting me in to visit the old residence of my friend?" He was truly coveting this villa now; with such dense spiritual energy, a single day of cultivation here was likely equivalent to a month of training elsewhere.

Lin Yi could naturally see through Yao Shijie's intentions and refused directly: "No."

"Uh..." Yao Shijie was visibly embarrassed. He had been rejected so bluntly; didn't people nowadays talk about respecting the old and cherishing the young?

"Young man, do you know who I am?" Yao Shijie asked, still unwilling to give up.

"No," Lin Yi shook his head.

*No wonder,* Yao Shijie thought. *He doesn't know who I am. If he knew my status, he might be on his knees begging me to come in for a visit.* It was quite possible, given his standing. "Ahem, young man, to be honest, I am the patriarch of the Yao family of Lancheng."

After saying this, he looked at Lin Yi with anticipation, hoping to see surprise on his face. But soon, he realized he had thought too much. Lin Yi just nodded calmly and said, "I see."

This made Yao Shijie feel as if he had punched a pile of cotton—soft and yielding, leaving him unable to even muster any anger. Lin Yi walked to an empty patch of ground, took out a shovel, and quickly dug up three cubic meters of soil.

Yao Shijie was in no hurry to leave and stayed by Lin Yi's side. The more he watched, the more astonished he became; the speed at which Lin Yi dug was simply mind-boggling. In less than a minute, he had dug a large, square pit, with the excavated soil piled up like a small hill. Even with his own strength at the Innate Realm, he could nowhere near match such speed. *Could this young man be some kind of hidden expert?* Yao Shijie wondered.

Lin Yi couldn't be bothered to pay attention to Yao Shijie. Once the soil was dug, he gave a wave of his hand, gasping the soil and carrying it with him. Yao Shijie tried to follow, but as soon as he stepped into the illusion formation, he found himself inexplicably walking back out.

Returning to the room, Lin Yi saw Xiao Qian circling the Ginseng Spirit. As she paced, she muttered, "This arm looks so nice, it must be delicious. This head isn't bad either, I wonder what it tastes like. And this blood—if paired with a Crystal Fruit, it would be absolutely exquisite." The Ginseng Spirit was terrified, lying flat on the ground and not daring to move.

A dark line appeared on Lin Yi's forehead. He reached out and grabbed the strings of the bellyband Xiao Qian was wearing.

"Hey! Hey! What are you doing!" Xiao Qian shrieked, kicking her little legs hard, but it was to no avail. Lin Yi said nothing and stuffed her directly into the alchemy furnace. Xiao Qian drew a circle on the ground with a resentful expression, pouting as if to say she was very unhappy.

Ignoring the girl's look, Lin Yi took out all the soil he had just dug. Fortunately, the room was large enough; otherwise, this much soil would have flooded it.

"Jump in," Lin Yi commanded. The Ginseng Spirit obediently burrowed into the soil. Lin Yi used his divine sense to carefully observe and discovered that the Ginseng Spirit was naturally exuding a spiritual aura, slowly improving the surrounding soil. At this rate, it would take three years for the Ginseng Spirit to transform this ordinary earth into low-grade spirit soil.

After testing the Ginseng Spirit's ability to create spirit soil, Lin Yi took out a small knife. He scraped a small cut on the Ginseng Spirit's arm, and a pale pink liquid oozed out. Lin Yi collected about half a bottle in a thumb-sized jade vial and tossed it to Xiao Qian.

Xiao Qian hugged the vial and hurriedly said, "Thank you..."

Before she could finish, Lin Yi interrupted her: "Try using the Ginseng Spirit's blood to refine the Five Viscera Pill. How much will the efficacy increase?"

Xiao Qian immediately felt unloved. She pouted and said, "Understood."

While Xiao Qian was refining the pills, Lin Yi took out a large quantity of low-grade spirit stones and some ordinary ores and medicinal herbs. Now that he had the Ginseng Spirit as a "spirit field farmer," he naturally had to make good use of it. It was a pity there was only one; if he had a dozen, he could cultivate medicinal herbs on a large scale.

Lin Yi soon created five cubic meters of spirit soil. Although it was only low-grade, it was perfectly fine for planting Red Ginseng or Fire Ganoderma. He placed all this spirit soil on the roof; with Xiao Hei there and the illusion formation in place, it was impossible for anyone to sneak in and steal the herbs.

Lin Yi used his divine sense to transmit: "From now on, I leave this spirit field to your care."

The Ginseng Spirit nodded; as long as it didn't have to stay with that demon who kept wanting to eat it, everything was fine. However, why did it still feel a chill down its back? Not far away, a large black python was coiled, staring at the Ginseng Spirit with eyes the size of copper bells. After a period of cultivation, Xiao Hei had reached a length of twenty-seven meters, making it quite a formidable creature.

After settling the Ginseng Spirit, Lin Yi returned to the room to find that Xiao Qian had finished refining the Five Viscera Pill.

"With the addition of the Ginseng Spirit's blood, the efficacy of the Five Viscera Pill has increased by about ten percent," Xiao Qian said.

Lin Yi nodded. Ten percent sounded decent, but if taken in large quantities, it would be a terrifying improvement. It seemed he would need the Ginseng Spirit to contribute more in the future.

...

North Province. The Wei family hall.

Many core members of the family were gathered here. It had been several days since Wei Ruoxue took the four elders to hunt down Granny Qiu, and they had yet to return. When someone was cleaning the ancestral hall, they discovered that the soul tablets of Wei Ruoxue and the four elders had all shattered, causing an uproar throughout the Wei family. The soul tablets were a specific method used to record the lives of family members; once a tablet shattered, it meant the person had died. Wei Ruoxue was the current head of the Wei family, a position of supreme honor. Now that she had been killed, the Wei family was naturally furious.

"Everyone, I believe you all know why you were called here today," said a middle-aged man in a deep voice. This was Wei Youwei, Wei Ruoxue's son.

"Youwei, I heard the family head is dead, is that true?" asked an elderly man in black robes. He was the Third Elder, second in status only to Wei Ruoxue.

"Yes, Third Elder," Wei Youwei said, his face full of grief and indignation.

"Damn it! Who is so bold as to dare lay a hand on our Wei family?" shouted an elder with a fiery temper and a red face.

"It is unclear, but nine times out of ten, it was Granny Qiu. My mother took four of the family's elders to intercept Granny Qiu, and not long after, her soul tablet shattered," Wei Youwei said, his eyes bloodshot.

"Hmph, do you even need to ask? It must have been that mongrel Granny Qiu! I say we mobilize the entire clan and wipe out Snake Valley!" the hot-tempered elder roared. He slapped his chair, shattering it, clearly incensed.

"Fourth Elder, it’s not that I want to criticize you, but you should temper your rage. If Granny Qiu had the power to kill the family head, do you really think we could do anything by attacking together?" the Third Elder said in a low voice.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" the Fourth Elder demanded.

Before the Third Elder could speak, Wei Youwei said, "Elders, I have already sent people to investigate. I believe we will have results soon."

Before long, a young man ran in. "Elders, Uncle Wei, the bodies of the family head and the other elders have been found."

After the man finished speaking, he handed several photographs to Wei Youwei. Upon looking, Wei Youwei's face changed drastically, filled with rage. The members of the Wei family had died in horrific ways; their heads had been sliced off in a single blow, and Wei Ruoxue had been cleaved in two from head to toe.

"Damn them!" Wei Youwei smashed a table nearby with one punch. The other elders looked at the photos in turn, their pupils shrinking. They could naturally see that each person had been killed by a single strike. The problem was that none of those killed were weak; even a Half-Step Spirit Venerable would find it impossible to execute such a clean and decisive kill.

Unless a true Spirit Venerable had done it. But that was even more impossible; the entire North Province had only one Spirit Venerable, and he was an elusive figure who rarely showed his face.