Cultivation Realm, Qing State.

Lin Chen returned to the depths of the earth, a thousand miles deep.

"Having successfully passed the Magic Power Barrier, it’s time to return to the sect..."

Lin Chen murmured to himself.

Previously, he had requested a leave of absence from Patriarch True Man Changchun.

Passing the Magic Power Barrier took him half a year, but traveling between realms.

In the eyes of others, only three months had passed.

At this moment, revealing his Fifth Turn Golden Core cultivation, though somewhat fast, was still within expectations.

Slightly moved in his heart, an earthen-colored light appeared around Lin Chen.

Performing the Earth Escape Technique, Lin Chen quickly made his way to the Changchun Sect.

Two two-hour periods later, Lin Chen smoothly returned to his cave abode.

"Half-Step Nascent Soul, the enhancement of magical power has also made my Earth Escape Technique more proficient."

"With my current True Essence Magical Power, the speed of performing the Earth Escape Technique is now several times faster than before!"

Lin Chen smiled knowingly.

The progress in the Earth Escape Technique meant that his safe house plan would proceed more smoothly.

...

After returning to the sect, Lin Chen quickly exited seclusion.

The next day, he sought out True Man Changchun to continue learning techniques.

Among the seven disciples learning techniques and divine techniques from True Man Changchun, each had different aptitudes.

Lin Chen and Li Zhenqian learned True Man Changchun’s most adept technique, the Qi Gathering and Form Dispersing Divine Techniques.

While others like Li Fengping only learned some advanced techniques.

Under True Man Changchun’s patient guidance, Lin Chen’s skill in Qi Gathering and Form Dispersing became increasingly proficient.

True Man Changchun gave Lin Chen the feeling of being a core disciple from a major sect, possessing a complete heritage and cultivation system.

In comparison, the Changchun Sect seemed like a small workshop, with a rather crude heritage.

On this day, Lin Chen was cultivating in the back mountain of the Changchun Sect, his divine sense surged out like a tide.

Ten li, twenty li, thirty li...

Eventually, Lin Chen’s divine sense extended up to forty li in all directions.

Under his perception, within a forty li radius, he seemed to see every rustle of the wind and grass as if he was witnessing it firsthand.

"Phew, Celestial Derivation Technique... finally cultivated to the tenth layer!"

Lin Chen’s lips curled upwards.

The tenth layer of the Celestial Derivation Technique gave him nearly double the strength of his divine sense.

A forty li divine sense, this was already close to the early stage of Nascent Soul.

For someone who had not yet passed the Spiritual Sense Barrier at Half-Step Nascent Soul, it was almost an impossible feat.

And as long as Lin Chen could pass the Spiritual Sense Barrier, the range of his divine sense would immediately expand to a hundred li.

Reaching the mid-stage of Nascent Soul!

His divine sense, like Lin Chen’s eyes, peered all the way to the marketplace of Changchun Mountain.

"Hmm?"

Lin Chen saw a figure waiting at the entrance of Lin’s Small Pavilion.

It was Huang Xin.

Slightly moved in his heart, Lin Chen transformed into a streak of escape light and flew towards the marketplace of Changchun Mountain.

After more than ten breaths, Lin Chen appeared behind Huang Xin.

"Huang Xin, are you looking for me?"

Upon seeing Lin Chen, Huang Xin immediately showed a joyful expression and said:

"Senior Brother Lin, you’ve come!"

"Senior Brother, this is the resource from the medicine garden and mines from the past two years... I haven’t seen you before now..."

Huang Xin handed over a storage bag, which Lin Chen took and scanned with his divine sense. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Then he was slightly astonished in his heart.

The medicinal herbs in the storage bag were not many, only a few thousand, and most were low-tier Spiritual Medicine.

In the past, this would have been a considerable resource for the Great Xia Country.

But now, the production in Great Xia Country in just two or three days was about this much, making these low-tier medicinal herbs quite insignificant.

But what surprised Lin Chen was the ores in the storage bag.

Stacked like a small mountain, weighing, at a glance, probably no less than several hundred tons.

To this day, Great Xia Country had only two sources of Exotic Metal, the Martial Realm and what Lin Chen brought back from the Cultivation Realm.

This batch of ore, although only low-tier Spiritual Ore, could still be used to craft numerous top-grade magical artifacts and even some exotic treasures of the Second and Third Tiers.

It was equivalent to the results of Lin Chen’s half-year treasure hunt.

"Where did you get so much Spiritual Ore?" Lin Chen asked, somewhat surprised.

Huang Xin rubbed his nose, awkwardly saying:

"Senior Brother, I took the liberty of recruiting a batch of new disciples and leased several mines... Every month, we have quite a few shipments of Spiritual Ore such as Cold Iron Stone."

As he spoke, Huang Xin glanced at Lin Chen and tentatively said:

"If Senior Brother isn’t pleased, I can have the cultivators at those mines withdraw..."

Lin Chen shook his head, patting Huang Xin’s shoulder and saying:

"No, you did well!"

"In my opinion... the more mines, the better!"

Lin Chen was not too concerned about the spiritual ore issues within the Yanlai Realm.

Previously, he had considered contracting a mine himself, but it was too troublesome and likely to attract investigations, so purchasing directly was more economical.

After Lin Chen broke through to the Golden Core, a war broke out between the Orthodox and Demonic Party.

Lin Chen stayed at the front line all the time, leaving no time to manage the mines, so he could only acquire resources through massive purchases.

Now, with the Changchun Sect momentarily stabilizing due to the return of the Ancestor, Lin Chen’s cultivation was still of utmost importance, and he needed to focus on his breakthrough to the Nascent Soul.

Thus, Huang Xin would make an excellent proxy to help him handle these matters.

"Huang Xin, how many mines do you control now? What’s the approximate output?"

Lin Chen tried asking.

Upon hearing this, Huang Xin took out a ledger and handed it over.

Lin Chen took the ledger and carefully reviewed it.

This ledger recorded in detail every transaction and the monthly output of mines and medicine gardens handled by Huang Xin.

Currently, Huang Xin, the grand steward, had recruited over two hundred people, all either Outer Sect disciples of the Changchun Sect or loose cultivators.

A hundred of them were responsible for managing the medicine garden, producing roughly fifteen hundred spiritual medicines each month.

The remaining hundred were mining; Huang Xin had already contracted three mines, extracting several tons of spiritual ore each month.

In this Changchun Mountain marketplace, he was considered a significant figure.

Lin Chen carefully assessed Huang Xin before him.

It had been nineteen years since they met, and considering age... Huang Xin was nearing forty.

Because cultivators age slowly, Huang Xin looked like he was thirty, though his face had a few more wrinkles.

Honestly, reaching the third layer of Foundation Establishment at forty wasn’t slow.

But it was because Lin Chen had helped Huang Xin a lot, giving him substantial amounts of Spirit Stones every time they met and assisting him in achieving perfect Foundation Establishment.

This somewhat compensated for Huang Xin’s inferior mixed spirit roots.

If it were another cultivator with dual spirit roots, benefiting from Huang Xin’s cultivation resources, they’d likely be preparing for Core Formation already.

Thinking of this, Lin Chen took out several Storage Bags and handed them over.

"These Storage Bags contain fifty thousand Spirit Stones. Find a way to recruit more manpower and purchase several more mines."

"I hope the monthly output of spiritual ore from the mines can reach over twenty tons."

Pausing, Lin Chen handed one of the Storage Bags to Huang Xin, then continued:

"This Storage Bag contains some special secret medicines that will aid your cultivation."

"However, consuming too much of these secret medicines can lead to drug tolerance, so it’s best to use them when facing cultivation barriers..."

Lin Chen earnestly advised.

As a cultivator with mixed spirit roots, Huang Xin found it more challenging to break through, encountering more barriers.

Huang Xin’s hand trembled as he accepted the Storage Bag.

This was a full fifty thousand Spirit Stones!

How much trust did Senior Brother Lin have in him?

Thinking about it, Huang Xin teared up, "Senior Brother Lin..."

Lin Chen patted him on the shoulder,

"Remember to focus on cultivation. Although your aptitude is ordinary, step by step, it’s not necessarily inferior to others."

...

Cultivation makes time fly.

In the blink of an eye, another half year had passed.

Since the defeat of the Righteous Alliance, Lin Chen had been learning divine techniques from True Man Changchun for a whole year.

During this year, the Changchun Sect publicly announced the dissolution of the Righteous Alliance and ceased recruiting disciples.

Internally, they simultaneously focused on recuperation, emphasizing the cultivation of Foundation Establishment disciples and Golden Core elders.

After more than a decade of battles, the foundation of the Changchun Sect had somewhat been restored.

However, at the same time, the strength of the Demon Path side underwent a massive transformation.

The old demon Blood Pupil unified the entire Fog Country and Purple Smoke Country, establishing the Nether Kingdom.

He began recruiting mortal disciples on a large scale to cultivate demon skills.

Simultaneously, Blood Pupil sent three thousand demon cultivators to garrison the border between Nether Kingdom and Yanlai Country.

Additionally, he dispatched an army of five thousand demon cultivators, advancing westward.

In an instant, the flames of war expanded even further.

Not only the original territories within the Righteous Alliance suffered from war, but the entire Eastern Domain of Qing State was engulfed in this war between the Orthodox and Demonic.

Under continuous warfare, incidents of demon cultivators conducting blood sacrifices and massacring cities occurred frequently.

An increasing number of mortals died because of war, while the demonic sect’s strength grew increasingly terrifying.

On this day, after finishing cultivation, Lin Chen asked True Man Changchun for permission to enter seclusion again.

After receiving approval from True Man Changchun, Lin Chen used the Earth Escape Technique to penetrate deep into an underground cave a thousand miles beneath the surface.

Until the cooldown time ended, Lin Chen returned to Blue Star once again.

"It’s time to prepare to cross the Divine Soul Barrier..."

Alone in the cultivation room, Lin Chen performed Divine Soul Internal Observation.

In his perception, the golden Nascent Soul inside his dantian showed faint signs of opening its eyes.

This was a sign of a full divine soul, indicating a smooth breakthrough.

Lin Chen adjusted his breathing for half a year and cultivated the Celestial Derivation Technique to the tenth layer.

Finally, the opportunity arrived...

"Once I cross the Divine Soul Barrier, I will possess divine senses comparable to a Nascent Soul!" Lin Chen murmured.