Late at night, within Lin Yu's room, a candlelight was still flickering.

Lin Yu sat cross-legged in a tub, the water as cold as ice.

"Miaoyu has spent all her savings on me. These are the last two Spirit-Containing herbs, don't disappoint me," He held one herb in each hand, both radiating a green glow.

Spirit-Containing herbs, a quasi-first level spiritual herb, required cultivators at the Spirit-touch realm to process them. Absorbing one in a fortnight could greatly speed up one's training. Due to this, the herbs were not cheap. Even someone of Lin Miaoyu's stature within her clan, her monthly allocation was only two.

In the two months since Lin Yu came to the Lin Family, he consumed two of these herbs daily. Due to this, Lin Miaoyu's years of savings were depleted in a mere two months.

Luckily, his body had recently started to respond. If everything went well, the results would show with the use of these last two herbs.

Hum.

The Spirit-Containing herb in Lin Yu's hand was disappearing at an astonishing rate. He was not running any cultivation method, and certainly no method would allow for this fast an absorption.

Just a moment later, the Spirit-Containing herbs in both his hands evaporated - more than half were refined. This made him feel as though the bottomless pit inside him was finally being filled.

If it were possible to look past the skin and flesh, one would find that all the spirit energy from the Spirit-Containing herbs was converging towards his dantian.

However, his dantian was shattered, it should have been impossible to absorb spirit energy, much less digest it so rapidly. That was all caused by a golden orb suspended in his dantian, releasing extremely profound glimmers of light. All the spirit energy was completely absorbed by this orb.

Lin Yu did not know the origin of this golden orb, but he vaguely felt that it had an extraordinary background. His near-death experience was likely related to this orb.

The golden orb was absorbing the spirit energy and storing it within. If anyone saw this, they would find that this golden orb had perfectly replaced the function of the dantian.

With a hum, a glimmer of light twinkled and the two Spirit-Containing herbs in his hands totally vanished.

In the next instant, the blood and qi in Lin Yu's body was rolling, and the golden orb also lost its glow and quietened, completely occupying the place where the dantian used to be. An odd sensation surged in his heart; a feeling as if the orb was somehow part of his own bloodline.

He tried to mobilize the spiritual power within his golden bead, yet, there was no reaction whatsoever.

"What's going on?" Lin Yu felt as if he’d been struck by thunder.

He tried and tried again, but every attempt ended in failure. He couldn't help cursing out loud, "Damn it! Are you toying with me, Heavens?"

He had been looking forward to this for two months, consuming countless resources, and enduring everyone's disdain. Finally, he had filled the golden bead, but now, he was told that he couldn't use it?.

He couldn't accept such a result. He cursed the heavens in his mind, but no matter how much he tried, the spiritual power within the golden bead remained motionless.

As time went by, he felt icy-cold all over, breathing became immensely difficult.

Suddenly, a "boom" sound rang out, a strand of consciousness invaded his mind, and the following line emerged in his mind: "Why are you panicking when you have not cultivated any arts?"

Lin Yu's eyes widened, he slapped his head, he couldn't believe he'd neglected something so crucial.

"It seems I need to find an art." He was so excited that he didn't question the sudden appearance of this consciousness.

However, as if detecting his thought, another line emerged in his mind: "Ordinary arts cannot match the Supreme Golden Pill."

Following this, a vast amount of information rushed in, causing his head to ache as if it was about to explode.

After decoding, he understood that what came was an art called 'Dan Emperor's Mantra', having nine stages. Lin Yu only received one stage, and only those who possess the Supreme Golden Pill could cultivate it. Only one such person can exist in the same era because there's only one Supreme Golden Pill.

Obtaining the Supreme Golden Pill needed two conditions - peerless talent and a destroyed dantian

energy center

. Therefore, there might not be any suitable successors appearing in an era.

According to the recorded message, this was the second emergence of the ‘Dan Emperor's Mantra.’ The first emergence occurred eons ago, creating a celestial-like figure who looked down on all others in his era but was later killed due to a beauty’s curse.

Practicing the ‘Dan Emperor's Mantra’ presents various benefits; first, the speed of resource refinement is terrifying. Nonetheless, the consumption at each stage is double that of commoners. Second, it enables one to create space within the golden pill, offering numerous advantages. As for the specifics, one must personally experience it.

"Looks like, I've turned misfortune into a blessing." Lin Yu abruptly opened his eyes, a spark of light flashing in his pupils, and a joy that was hard to hide on his face.

"This Dan Emperor Jue's first transformation isn't hard, it should correspond to the realm of Spirit Absorption. Let's give it a go." He closed his eyes, slowly activating it according to the contents.

In the path of cultivation, the known stages are divided into:

Spirit Absorption and Body Refining, Spirit Fusion and Life Reforming, Spirit Gathering and Transcendence, Spirit Transformation and Ascending to Heaven, respectively corresponding to the four major realms: Spirit Absorption, Spirit Fusion, Spirit Gathering, and Spirit Transformation, and each major realm is divided into nine stars.

The first star of Spirit Absorption involves absorbing spiritual power to polish the physical body to its limit, thereby enhancing one's strength.

The second star of Spirit Absorption, requires the activation of cultivation arts to lead spiritual power into the Dantian. This is indeed the first step into actual cultivation. Before, Lin Yu lacked this Dantian, and therefore could never attain the second star of Spirit Absorption.

But today, he finally succeeded!

"What…" An endless stream of spiritual power flowed out, surging inside his body, cleansing his physical body.

Feeling the mighty spiritual power, Lin Yu's expression changed drastically, his eyes filled with disbelief, as he muttered to himself, "So this is the cumulation of result after consistent absorption?"

His tightly clenched fists remained trembling, unable to hold back. After this rebirth of his Dantian, he realized he didn't just reach the level of two-star Spirit Absorption, but continually broke through to the realm of four-star Spirit Absorption.

At the four-star level, one can begin training in spiritual skills. For Spirit Absorption, if the realm is the same, it's a competition of cultivation methods and spiritual skills. The cultivation methods mainly influence the speed of cultivation, but the deciding factor of combat power is spiritual technique.

Spiritual techniques and cultivation methods, both are divided into: Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, Yellow, and within each of these stages, there are sub classifications of superior, medium, inferior grades.

The training of spiritual technique requires comprehension, which signifies the cultivator's talent; if the cultivation method determines how fast a cultivator can progress, then comprehension decides how far one can advance.

Furthermore, spiritual techniques are very precious, even a family like the Lin's, at most they only have top-level Yellow grade techniques. If one wants to achieve a higher level of spiritual techniques, only sects or distinguished families possess them.

Because of this, the Lin family has a rule, once one reaches the four-star Spirit Absorption stage, they commence learning clan's spiritual techniques. Firstly, it can help discern differences in understanding to cultivate accordingly, and secondly, it can enhance combat power.

Furthermore, there is a barrier between four stars and five stars, which can only be broken through once one's comprehension is sufficient. Thus, aside from a select few prodigies, most linger for a long time at the four-star Soul Refinement stage.

"For me, comprehension isn't an issue; however, I still need to practice a spiritual technique, otherwise I will be at a disadvantage in battles," Lin Yu calms down his excitement, understanding that it's not yet time for him to let his guard down.

Even though his Dan Emperor Jue might seem overpowering, if we considere his combat power, he is actually still at the bottom. If he wants to seek revenge, he needs to gain real strength; otherwise, his revenge would merely be a joke. The person who almost killed him must certainly possess tremendous combat power.

Thus, he was not focused on the Lin Family, not on people like Lin Yan. They might be able to make do in the town of Qingyang, but if they were to leave, their talents would be merely average.

Therefore, despite the great thrill he had today, he dared not let his guard down even the slightest, but was becoming even more cautious instead. In this world, strength was honored. If a strong person became furious, they could lay waste to millions.

But at least now he had a glimmer of hope: his gaze became ruthless, "Lin Yan, you're just the right person for me to test out my strength."

The next day, Lin Yu woke up early, heading straight to Lin Miaoyu's boudoir. Having reached four-star Soul Refinement, he still needed a suitable spiritual technique.

He had asked the consciousness that popped up in his mind for a powerful spiritual technique, but was flatly refused. It even said coldly: "Do you want my help? You're not worthy.“

Then, no matter how much Lin Yu murmured, that consciousness did not speak again, behaving as if it didn't know him - a very aloof attitude.

Under such circumstances, he had to resort to asking Lin Miaoyu for help. He knew that to get the Lin family's spiritual technique, he must possess the required contribution value. The reason the younger generation could get it was because the older generation paid in their place.

If Lin Yu wished to attain a spiritual technique, perhaps only Lin Miaoyu could assist him.

"Halt!"

Just when he was about to reach his destination, a group of Lin family disciples came forward to block Lin Yu's way.