In an instant, wisps of warmth rose from nowhere within him, slowly coursing through his limbs and torso. His entire body felt as if it were soaking in a hot spring, a pleasant warmth that made him let out a long, contented sigh.

As for increasing his Constitution... it really didn’t.

With his current powerful physique, the strengthening from the mining skill was negligible. The only truly precious thing was the mining memory infused into him by the Attribute Panel.

Within this memory of mastering the mining skill to the level of Great Success, he saw himself crawling through sunless mine tunnels with a hunched back, his fingernails packed with Profound Iron slag as he dug at the Earth Veins almost day and night.

He saw himself curled up in a drafty shack on a stormy night, the scabs on his worn palms sticking to the wooden handle of his Iron Pickaxe.

He even saw the night of a lunar eclipse when the old miner who had been guiding him smashed his wine gourd against a rock wall, the splashing liquor sketching the outline of an Earth Vein dragon.

"The seven thousand, four hundred and thirty-first pickaxe strike."

In the memory, the old miner, his face a blur, suddenly spoke. His voice was like two pieces of flint grinding together.

His hunched body suddenly snapped straight, his back muscles ripping through his tattered clothes. The Mining Pickaxe transformed into a venomous dragon, piercing deep into a twisting, dark crevice in the rock face.

Amidst a spray of shattered rock, a flash of liquid gold erupted from the depths of the earth.

"So that’s how it is..."

Xu Yunfan was lost in thought. Gazing at the massive cavity he had just excavated in the mine, the Mining Pickaxe in his hand suddenly flew from his grasp.

The tip of the pickaxe ricocheted off the rock wall seven times, each strike precisely hitting a node in the ore vein.

When the final clang of metal faded, the entire rock face before him seemed like a dragon shedding its armor. CRASH! Three hundred jin of red-veined copper ore peeled away and fell.

"..."

This was more than ten times more efficient than those Profound Steel Earth-Drilling Mechanism Beasts from Melt Gold Hall.

If it were him now, Xu Yunfan was confident he could dig a three-zhang-deep trench for Celestial Craft City in a single day.

But the most important thing was the first trait gained from mining: Dragon-Seeking and Gold-Separating.

It allowed one to discern the lay of mountain ranges and find places where Spiritual energy gathered.

If he could find a place where Spiritual Qi gathered, then just like when he was practicing the Pure Yang Qi Skill today, he would absorb a few more motes of Primordial Spirit Breath with every breath cycle.

His heart trembled. ’If my Cultivation of the Pure Yang Qi Skill accelerates, I could break through the Outer Three Harmonies Realm in a very short amount of time.’

He glanced at Yan Yuwei, who was so exhausted she was already sound asleep, sprawled out on the ground.

Without further hesitation, Xu Yunfan walked straight out of the mine tunnel.

’That Yan Yuwei has a really bad habit,’ he thought. ’The moment something goes wrong, she hulk-s out of her clothes, showing off a physique more muscular than a man’s. It’s truly hard to watch.’

By the time he left the Earth Vein training area of Melt Gold Hall, it was already the middle of the night. Xu Yunfan returned to his small courtyard and opened the hidden compartment to take a look.

Seeing the Extreme Dao Relic Shell still bundled up, he hesitated for a moment but ultimately decided not to take it out.

Xu Yunfan adjusted his posture, sitting naturally cross-legged. He cupped his palms loosely before his chest, forming the Linn Character Seal. Chanting the Supreme Kindness Heart Spell, he began his practice by meditating on the Linn Character Technique.

Following the rhythm of his deep, long breaths, he lightly touched his tongue to the roof of his mouth. The rising and falling of his chest gradually calmed, and his turbulent thoughts sank like sand in water. Stray thoughts were peeled away, layer by layer, with each long exhalation.

His entire being quickly fell silent. The stray thoughts were purged, and within his Sea of Consciousness, the Self God slowly emerged to once again take its seat at the center, suppressing all external demons.

A clear will, long dormant in the depths of his consciousness, broke free from its cocoon. It re-anchored itself to his spiritual core, isolating his restless emotional fluctuations beyond a cognitive barrier.

Midnight’s moonlight spilled across the window lattice. Faintly, a soft, silver glow seemed to flicker around Xu Yunfan, outlining a hazy silhouette.

’In a moment of inspiration, you have finally grasped a sliver of the profundity of the Linn Character Technique. Your Linn Character Technique Skill Level has increased.’

In a daze, Xu Yunfan saw a system notification suddenly float into his field of vision. It shattered his tranquil state of mind like a stone tossed into a calm lake, sending out ripples and pulling him completely out of his state of meditative clarity.

Xu Yunfan leaped to his feet, staring with a mix of shock, doubt, and incredible joy at the notification about his Linn Character Technique Skill Level increasing.

’This is a real first, like a country bumpkin seeing the big city for the first time.’

This was the first time since he started practicing the Linn Character Technique that he had gained even a single point of Skill Level through his own Cultivation.

Other than when the woman from the Extreme Dao Relic Shell possessed his dreams yesterday and passively increased his Skill Level, this was the very first time.

Two points of Skill Level in total.

Truly rare.

After musing for a long time and suppressing the turbulent thoughts in his mind, Xu Yunfan glanced toward the hidden compartment where he had stored the skin-like relic before turning over to sleep.

As the night grew black as ink, Xu Yunfan, who had initially gone to sleep on high alert, had at some point fallen into a deep slumber, his five senses completely withdrawn and oblivious to the outside world.

The Extreme Dao Relic Shell, hidden in the compartment under his bed, flowed out like spilled mercury, slithering from the crack. It wriggled slowly, and as the moonlight fell upon it, it was as if a stark-naked woman with skin as smooth as jade—save for a long, bloody gash that appeared on her back as she moved—was slipping into his quilt.

An eerie, chilling atmosphere instantly filled the room.

The Extreme Dao Relic Shell slowly clung to Xu Yunfan’s body, fitting itself snugly against his skin and bone.

The skin-like relic had the sticky feel of a living creature. Its five fingers intertwined tightly with Xu Yunfan’s, its legs nestled against the host’s knotted muscles without the slightest gap, and from its chest, silver threads slithered like a snake’s flicking tongue, slowly probing into Xu Yunfan’s nostrils.

The moment Xu Yunfan fell into the dream, a thousand verdant peaks and jade waters split the chaos apart.

He snapped his eyes open, his heart jolting.

The scene before him was no longer the world of ice and snow from yesterday.

The Nine Bends of the Li River hung inverted in the sky, and green peaks plunged into the sea of clouds below like ten thousand inverted swords. The patterns on the rocks, faintly visible through the mist, were all carved by Sword Qi.

Half a setting sun floated in the heart of the river, its bloody light soaking the waves and splashing shimmering crimson-gold across the sleeves of a woman in white, who seemed to draw all the world’s attention to herself.

She stood atop the blade-like summit of a solitary peak, a three-foot-long silk ribbon wrapped around her wrist and hanging down. Her normally cold and aloof face was, at this moment, slightly flushed.

Her star-like eyes stared at Xu Yunfan, and within them... seemed to flash a hint of annoyance?

’I’ve been dragged in again!’

Xu Yunfan’s expression darkened. He had finally confirmed his suspicion: as soon as he fell asleep, this reawakened Extreme Dao Relic Shell would drag him into a dream.

"Scoundrel!"

The woman’s voice was like an Ice Spring washing over stones, carrying a rare trace of annoyance. It was completely unlike yesterday, when she had seemed like a block of ten-thousand-year-old ice whose voice could freeze one’s very soul. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Huh?"

Xu Yunfan was baffled. Before he could even wonder why the woman before him had called him a scoundrel, she had already regained her composure.

"Defeat me, and I will let you go."

As her voice fell, the woman pointed a finger, and a silvery streak of sword light shot toward Xu Yunfan like a falling star.

The scent of sandalwood from before he entered the dream still lingered on his fingertips, but his pupils were already filled with the light of the sword.