Chapter 16: Rapid Growth

Outside the Danmu Forest, in a place similar to a shed, Lin Donglai met the Old Man Ma that Granny Qian had mentioned.

The man looked like an ordinary farmer from the fields, but his arms were thick and possessed a faint copper hue, clearly indicating that he had achieved success in body tempering.

Tong'er said, "Grandpa Ma, the Granny introduced someone to come here to chop wood!"

Old Man Ma cast a glance at Lin Donglai.

As that gaze swept over him, Lin Donglai felt an inexplicable shudder, as if he were being stared down by some ferocious beast.

"Senior!"

Old Man Ma said in a buzzing voice, "That old woman is too unreliable! Introducing a 'spiritual seedling' who hasn't even reached the first layer of Qi Refinement!"

However, he still pointed to the axe in the shed: "Now is not the time for cutting trees, only for pruning miscellaneous branches. When you see those charred, self-combusted branches, chop them off. I'll give you one spirit stone for every two loads you bring; one load must be at least 120 jin."

Lin Donglai nodded, picked up the axe, and headed into the Danmu Forest.

He felt that the axe in his hand was extremely heavy, weighing at least ten jin. It felt completely different from the sensation of holding an axe while chopping wood at Granny Qian's place. A normal axe weighs two or three jin and feels quite heavy to use; this ten-jin axe would likely consume far more physical strength.

Lin Donglai finally understood why Old Man Ma's arms were so thick—it was likely from chopping trees.

Upon entering the Danmu Forest, he found the area to be extremely hot, as if it were the sweltering heat of midsummer.

The Danmu trees grew within, their bark dark red and their leaves deep green, but their veins flowed with a faint orange-red light, appearing like flickering flames.

The entire Danmu Forest was laid with a "Sun-Gathering Array," which could gather the Yang energy between heaven and earth, including the pure Yang essence contained within sunlight, which was why it was so hot.

However, neither Granny Qian nor Old Man Ma had mentioned this to Lin Donglai.

There were others in the forest chopping wood as well; they were all bare-chested, their skin oily, dark, and their muscles knotted.

These people were all laborers. Because their spiritual root aptitude was too poor, they had chosen the path of body tempering, which had lower requirements for spiritual roots.

The poor study literature, while the rich practice martial arts.

The consumption of heavenly and earthly treasures required for body tempering was nothing short of a bottomless pit; ordinary cultivators could not afford it, let alone them.

Thus, the so-called body tempering of these laborers was merely practicing the external arts of mundane martial arts to their absolute limit. They could withstand the weapons of mortals, but they could not resist the damage from magical tools or spells.

However, it was sufficient strength for felling ordinary spiritual wood.

"Craving sunlight!"

This thought from the Spiritual Root Seed was unexpectedly and rapidly satisfied upon entering the Danmu Forest.

Lin Donglai felt a surge of heat entering through his skin pores, flowing through his limbs and bones toward an unknown place.

Furthermore, walking barefoot on the ground felt incredibly scalding! Though it was still within a tolerable range.

Lin Donglai closed his eyes to check the status of the Seed and discovered that, besides the green Qi, a flowing golden light had appeared around it. Generally speaking, it seemed as though there was a restless, budding impulse within.

The two roots had also become a darker color, as if they had gained more toughness... and they were faintly thicker and longer.

Opening his eyes, Lin Donglai found a Danmu tree with messy branches and began pruning.

*Clang!*

*Clang!*

As the axe fell, it actually produced the sound of striking metal!

Moreover, one strike, two strikes—he actually could not cut through it.

The wood he had chopped at Granny Qian's was dried Danmu that had lost its vitality.

This wood, still growing on the tree, possessed an added layer of toughness and rigidity.

*Whoosh!*

*Suck!*

With every breath, the hot air was scorching.

Lin Donglai's internal organs felt as if they were being faintly burned.

Fortunately, the two roots followed the breathing method of the Primordial Nourishing Respiration Technique, inhaling and exhaling spiritual energy to help repair him.

His skin, however, was not so lucky; Lin Donglai was now as red as a boiled shrimp.

"Thirsty!"

Lin Donglai felt that chopping wood here was like being a roasted duck in an oven, with his moisture rapidly evaporating.

After chopping only seven or eight branches, his lips were already cracked from thirst. Forced by necessity, he hurried out to find water.

Fortunately, large water vats had been prepared outside the Danmu Forest. Lin Donglai drank until he was full, for not only was he thirsty, but the Spiritual Root Seed was thirsty as well.

"Eh? Why does it seem like there is more green Qi?"

Green Qi was the manifestation of plant vitality. Previously, it had only grown slightly through the use of semi-spiritual herbs and breathing in the small grove.

Now, it was more than double what it had been before.

After a moment of thought, Lin Donglai deduced the answer: "It seems that by pruning these Danmu branches, the vitality of the trees is being leaked, and the Seed is collecting it while breathing."

Danmu, after all, belonged to the category of first-tier spiritual wood, so its vitality was far greater than that of those low-grade spiritual herbs. Even if the Seed "plucked" it, it was merely a drop in the bucket. Moreover, since the trees were being pruned, this loss of vitality was a normal occurrence; the Seed collecting it was simply making use of waste.

"This Tengshe Peak is indeed a blessed land!" Lin Donglai thought secretly, and immediately plunged back into the forest to continue the *clang-clang* of woodcutting.

After an unknown amount of time, Old Man Ma's voice drifted over: "That's it for today. Come back tomorrow!"

Only then did Lin Donglai realize that it was almost dark. He hadn't eaten anything all day and had only drunk water, yet he didn't feel hungry at all. In fact, he felt quite energetic, as if he had boundless energy waiting to be released.

"Huh, eight more drops of essence blood!"

Lin Donglai's physique had shrunk significantly, though not to the extreme of a skeleton, due to his essence being converted into essence blood.

Fortunately, Lin Donglai had the Seed constantly practicing the Primordial Nourishing Respiration Technique to absorb the spiritual energy of the void to provide supply. Otherwise, condensing ten or so drops of essence blood in a single day would have drained his bone marrow dry, causing him to die instantly—though it would have been extremely uncomfortable, as a powerful hunger would have struck.

As Lin Donglai carried the Danmu branches out, Old Man Ma lifted them with one hand to check the weight.

"Two hundred and sixty jin?"

"Not bad! You kid, you actually have some talent for body tempering?" Old Man Ma looked at the dried blood scabs on Lin Donglai's skin and understood that the boy was treating woodcutting as cultivation.

However, it was clearly caused by over-harvesting bone marrow to rapidly condense essence blood; his body was quite depleted and would require consuming large amounts of spiritual beast meat over a long period to recover.

"You're just being a bit too impatient for results."

He immediately handed a spirit stone to Lin Donglai: "Those extra twenty jin will be credited to your next time."

Receiving the spirit stone, combined with the one from Granny Qian, Lin Donglai now had two. This was the monthly salary for an outer disciple of the first layer of Qi Refinement.

However, Lin Donglai still owed Ding Zhen two spirit stones, but he didn't plan to pay her back now; he could just pay back a few more after entering the Qi Refinement stage.

Tonight, when he returned to practice the Primordial Nourishing Respiration Technique, he could feed the spiritual energy within these two stones to the Spiritual Root Seed.

After getting the stones, Lin Donglai sprinted back to Xianmiao Peak, just in time before the cafeteria closed.

The spiritual chef in the cafeteria was just about to pack up the leftovers to feed the spiritual pigs when he saw a starving ghost rush in.

The boy began frantically stuffing food into his mouth.

The chef was startled: "Just how hungry must he be!"

Having succeeded in Tendon Cleansing and Bone Forging, Lin Donglai's absorption and digestion of food were extraordinary. As soon as the spiritual food entered his stomach, it was rapidly refined into essence, filling his body and causing his withered flesh to gradually become plump again.

"There's more here, eat slowly, no rush!"