Chapter 289: 289

Under the bright sun minus the haze, this place was just your usual abandoned mansion, dilapidated and run-down.

Closing his eyes, Lin Jin could vaguely sense the Unending Nature Landscape’s presence. It should be somewhere below this mansion, but a magical artifact like this one certainly couldn’t be retrieved by digging it out. It had to be recovered by specific methods.

He would take it slow.

After all, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Compared to the other blood contract cultivators, Lin Jin was far ahead of them. He could be the only person in this world today to have cultivated the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll.

However, Lin Jin couldn’t be certain. Although the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll was considered amazing in the present day, it was still just an introductory cultivation method in ancient times.

Lin Jin had also learned Carrier Cloud. Though he couldn’t travel too long with it, enveloping himself in a cloud to speed up didn’t seem too hard for him.

With this, he could probably get home in one day.

Yet, Lin Jin didn’t want to head home right away. He had only achieved basic proficiency for the Beastmaster Fourth Scroll, Carrier Cloud, and Divine Blade Scroll. For the last one, in particular, he only memorized the technique’s formula.

Rather than rushing home, it was better to find a quiet place to continue comprehending the technique formulas while his cognitive senses were still heightened. He should at least achieve a steady grasp on what he had learned.

Also, he had to do something about Hu Yuzhen’s issue.

Unlike Shang’er and the others, Hu Yuzhen was a monster who had experience in cultivation for several hundred years and even turned into a demon. Lin Jin didn’t want to bring this problem back to Maple City.

With such plans in mind, Lin Jin got up and head outside. He used Camouflage to conceal their presence before leading them to a nearby mountain.

During their journey, Lin Jin tried to wrap his legs with clouds and sure enough, his body felt lighter. Although he couldn’t cover great distances in a short time as legends depicted, he was at least faster than carriages and horses.

Hu Yuzhen kept her questions to herself the entire time. Wherever Lin Jin went, she would just follow, feeling anxious but also anticipation. Though, after leaving the Unending Nature Landscape, she did have thoughts of escaping.

However, her desire to cultivate a Dharma body was much stronger than that so even if she feared Lin Jin, she followed him closely.

Once they reached the mountain, Lin Jin suddenly asked, “Miss Hu, do you know this mountain’s name?”

Hu Yuzhen never expected Lin Jin to ask her such a question and she didn’t have an answer. As a tigress, she had no interest in this tiny mountain. It was no more than twenty miles in depth and couldn’t possibly hide any large beasts nor produce any monsters. Humans rarely set foot in here as well, so to a demon such as Hu Yuzhen, this place wasn’t worth mentioning.

And so, she answered truthfully.

Lin Jin nodded in response. Using Cloud Stairs, Lin Jin climbed up to a cliff to see a large pine tree there. Positioned beside the tree was a stone table reading ‘Mount Gua’.

No one knew who placed this stone tablet here or when. Having experienced rain and shine, the quaint tablet was now mottled but the words carved on it still gave off an artistic vibe. It must have been carved by a calligraphy master.

The average human would find it difficult to reach this cliff mainly because the only way up here had collapsed since god knows when. With no path that reaches the summit, even a mountain climber would find it difficult to get to the top. Lin Jin had reached the flat peak by using the Cloud Stairs.

Adept at climbing, White Ape was able to get up there effortlessly even while carrying the coffin. As for Hu Yuzhen, forget this cliff, she could even get to places far more dangerous than this one.

The peak of this cliff wasn’t too big, just about the size of a regular yard. Besides that large pine tree, there were only tiny flowers and grass around. There was a stone slab below the pine tree. With a sweeping motion, a cloud formed and swept away the dust on the stone.

Lin Jin sat down cross-legged and then looked at Hu Yuzhen. “Miss Hu, you only want a Dharma body because you’d like to break through to greater heights, am I right?”

Hu Yuzhen immediately nodded at this.

“Mr. Lin, please provide me with your guidance.”

Lin Jin continued, “A Dharma body requires purity. In your years of cultivation, you have killed too many, causing an aura of death to entangle your being. In such a situation, you won’t be able to condense a Dharma body.”

This was pure nonsense but as Lin Jin said it in a serious manner, Hu Yuzhen couldn’t help but believe him.

The demonic energy flared up in Hu Yuzhen’s eyes but she wasn’t aware. “Then… then what do I do?”

Noticing the right timing, Lin Jin said, “I have a method that could allow you to break through to new heights without condensing a Dharma body. Would you be willing to try it?”

“This…” Hu Yuzhen was visibly hesitant.

She couldn’t be blamed. After all these years, her yearning for a Dharma body had become a deep-rooted obsession which was also the reason for her turning into a demon.

Lin Jin had no idea who taught her that the only way she could ever evolve was to obtain a Dharma body, but that person might not have had the best intentions. Despite knowing that a Dharma body was difficult to achieve, they still pointed her in an impossible direction. Weren’t they just trying to drive this tigress crazy?

In other words, they were deliberately trying to turn her into a monster.

Hu Yuzhen had been quite deep in. If they hadn’t entered the Unending Nature Landscape, Lin Jin was absolutely certain that Hu Yuzhen’s inner demon would explode and turn on Lin Jin if he said this out of the blue.

After all, Hu Yuzhen’s demonic energy originated from her obsession with a Dharma body. By breaking this obsession, the demonic energy would have nothing to feed on, thus crumbling away on its own.

For the sake of self-defense, this inner demon wouldn’t comply that easily.

But after their experience in the Unending Nature Landscape, Lin Jin’s words now had a different effect.

Lin Jin had the higher ground so Hu Yuzhen and her inner demon wouldn’t dare to turn on him. For instance, now, darkness was surging behind her eyes, ready to explode. But at the crucial moment, it shrank back inside.

Lin Jin was undeniably confident.

With the Demon Slaying Hall and after obtaining the first black golem, Lin Jin now knew how to slay demons. Speaking of which, this was a brilliant plan. Simply put, it was shocking someone into submission. Just like an eggshell, to remove it, one would first have to crack it open.

And Lin Jin’s earlier statement had this effect.

Of course, Hu Yuzhen wasn’t a great cultivator like Du Li, capable of removing her obsession on her own. To not even struggle as the demon disintegrated into nothingness.

Hu Yuzhen would definitely struggle and just a few words wouldn’t make her eliminate her own demon of her own accord.

Thus, it was up to the Demon Slayer next.

This was also Lin Jin’s first time using the Demon Slayer and the blade was only a weak shadow for now. As to how he could use it, Lin Jin managed to figure it out on his own. After all, it was an artifact from the Museum of Deadly Beasts.

At that moment, Lin Jin could see Hu Yuzhen’s hesitation, the demonic energy in her eyes rising and falling. Lin Jin mobilized the Demon Slayer in the museum’s Demon Slaying Hall with his psyche.

“Slay!”

Lin Jin chanted in his heart. The silhouette of a blade shot out of his mouth, swiftly arriving above Hu Yuzhen’s head.

Then, the sword shadow grew into the size of a claymore before slashing down.

On top of this cliff, besides Lin Jin, other monsters and beasts couldn’t see the blade slicing down. They merely sensed sudden changes in the air as a wave of heat appeared out of nowhere, spilling in all directions.

Following the slash, Hu Yuzhen’s physical body and mind suffered no damage. But after the blade passed through, it brought out a cloud of black energy. Now, not only Hu Yuzhen but White Ape could also see it.

However, everything happened too quickly. Although the black energy was tough and resilient, it was immediately removed from Hu Yuzhen’s body after the sword shadow passed through her being.

After absorbing the demonic energy into its body, the blade disappeared.