Chapter 65: Cultivation Is Not Easy

After the coldness in his body completely dissipated, Li Lin once again opened the Obscure Character Formula.

Gritting his teeth, he endured the upside-down contents and chaotic sentence structure and read it three more times.

This time, however, the strange illusion did not appear again.

Instead, a negative effect emerged.

[Energy -1]

Moreover, his head began to feel somewhat heavy and dizzy.

He hurriedly got to his feet and slowly walked several laps around the bedroom before gradually clearing his mind.

It seemed this thing could not be cultivated by force.

Otherwise, problems would easily arise.

So he turned his attention back to the Nourishing Nature Scripture.

The text in this thing was also obscure and difficult to understand, making him frown repeatedly.

After reading it three times, however, he gained something.

[Body Refinement +1]

This ought to be called the Nourishing Life Scripture instead, shouldn’t it?

Tormenting the mind could achieve the effect of tempering the body?

Then he read it several more times, but there was no further effect.

Li Lin frowned deeply.

His intuition told him that both of these things were extremely powerful, but not being able to understand them was giving him a headache.

He put down the books and went to the main hall for breakfast.

Although it was only plain rice porridge with pickled vegetables, the porridge had been cooked exceptionally well.

It had to be said that the newly hired cook truly possessed some special skills.

After finishing breakfast, he was planning to go into town and buy talisman paper and similar materials to practice talisman arts, paper crafting arts, ghost-raising arts, and the other newly acquired special abilities.

But then Xing’er walked over, curtsied, and said, “Master, an honored guest has come to visit. He claims to be Wang Tianyou.”

Li Lin was stunned for a moment.

“Invite him in.”

Then he said to Zhang A’fu nearby, “Prepare some tea and receive our distinguished guest.”

Zhang A’fu nodded and immediately went to the kitchen to brew tea.

Meanwhile, Li Lin waited in the main hall.

Not long afterward, Wang Tianyou entered.

Li Lin immediately went over to greet him and invited him to sit down.

His complexion was still somewhat greenish, but not as frightening as before.

“Congratulations, Brother Wang, on escaping from Feirong County. How is your condition?” Li Lin asked.

“Much better.”

Wang Tianyou sighed.

“I’m planning to return to Jin City. Since I happened to pass through here and heard that Brother Li Lin had purchased a residence in this place, I came to visit and also to thank you for saving my life.”

Li Lin waved his hand.

“You’re too polite. We merely helped each other through the same difficulties.”

“I, Wang, keep my word. This favor will definitely be repaid.”

Wang Tianyou looked at Li Lin.

“I know that Brother Li is in great need of cultivation techniques or martial arts manuals. Tell me what type you want, and another day I’ll have someone deliver a handwritten copy.”

Li Lin thought for a moment.

“If possible, I’d like short-weapon techniques, perhaps for daggers or short swords.”

“No problem!”

Wang Tianyou nodded.

“I’ll take a look when I return home, then have someone deliver them.”

Li Lin smiled and cupped his fists.

It had to be said that Wang Tianyou was indeed a man who valued honor.

The two chatted for a while longer.

Wang Tianyou took a sip of the tea Zhang A’fu had served and then stood up.

“I should be going. I assume you’ve already heard about Yue City. Be careful in the future. The Qin family of Yue City is completely insane. They might send people to trouble you.”

“Why?”

“Because the Qin family of Feirong County had secretly submitted to them long ago. They were one of their branch families.”

Li Lin smiled.

“Now that they’ve proclaimed themselves kings in Yue City, they’ll probably soon be facing suppression by the imperial army. Will they really have the spare energy to come after us?”

“That’s exactly why I say they’re insane.”

Wang Tianyou sighed helplessly.

“If they weren’t insane, would they have chosen to ally themselves with the southern barbarians, seize territory, proclaim themselves rulers, and become barbarians? It’s better to be cautious.”

That was true enough.

Then Wang Tianyou departed.

Li Lin went to the market and purchased cinnabar, talisman paper, and coarse paper as practice materials.

It was a very large bundle.

Then he bought a donkey, loaded all the materials onto its back, and led it home.

After returning to Shangtikou Village, Li Lin had just unloaded the goods from the donkey when the old village chief arrived with three men.

“Patrol Hunter Li, you’ve returned from the county seat.”

Li Lin turned around and smiled.

“Have you eaten yet, Village Chief?”

“We have, we have.”

The old village chief was smiling broadly.

“These three men also came from our village originally. They’ve heard that the wandering ghost outside the village has already been eliminated by you, so they want to bring their wives and children back to settle here again. There is no land to farm outside, and life is hard. They’ve come to ask for your opinion. Do we accept them... or not?”

What had happened with the Han family last time had caused everyone in the village to lose face.

As a result, the villagers later reached a consensus.

If outsiders wanted to settle in the village again, Patrol Hunter Li had to approve first.

The three men had the typical appearance of farmers.

At this moment, they wore ingratiating smiles mixed with obvious nervousness.

Li Lin said, “Village Chief, this matter should be decided by you. I’m merely the patrol hunter stationed here.”

“Then what is Patrol Hunter Li’s opinion regarding these returning farming households?”

“The more people there are, the livelier things become.”

The old village chief immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

“I understand what to do. Sorry to trouble Patrol Hunter Li.”

Li Lin thought for a moment.

“Oh, right. I’ll be practicing some new techniques recently, and there may be some disturbances. If you see anything strange, don’t be afraid. It won’t harm you.”

“Don’t worry, we’re already used to it.”

At worst, when a Spirit Hunter practiced techniques, there would be thunder on a clear day.

They had heard that enough recently and no longer considered it a big deal.

However...

The entire village still spent several days in fear and anxiety.

This was because large numbers of little paper figurines ran out of Li Lin’s home every day.

Although they never entered other people’s houses, they darted about everywhere, chasing chickens and driving off dogs.

They were extremely mischievous.

Furthermore, despite having a style that featured large round eyes and was meant to look adorable, they were simply too ahead of their time.

To the villagers, they looked unbelievably eerie.

As a result, many people were frightened.

It took several days before they barely got used to them.

After several days of practice, Li Lin finally mastered a new paper crafting art.

Soul-Guiding Paper Figurine.

The function of the little paper figurines was locating people.

This one guided souls.

Moreover, Soul-Guiding Paper Figurines were much larger and required significantly more yin energy.

As a result, they could not be mass-produced like the little paper figurines.

Only a high-quality approach was possible.

First, one had to determine an image.

The more familiar one was with that image, the more one admired it, and the more one acknowledged its power, the stronger the resulting Soul-Guiding Paper Figurine would be.

Techniques of this kind were highly dependent on belief and perception.

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Lin drew onto the paper figurine the superhero he had admired most throughout his entire life.

Monkey Brother!

Then it failed.

The moment Monkey Brother’s image was drawn onto the paper figurine, it immediately combusted on its own.

At the same time, Li Lin spent two days coughing while lying in bed.

Having learned his lesson through pain, he changed the image of the Soul-Guiding Paper Figurine to the Tree Immortal Lady.

It succeeded immediately!

But after the Tree Immortal Lady discovered it, she became furious.

She hugged Li Lin’s arm and absorbed from him wildly for a full shichen, then snorted coldly and left while covering her mouth.

Li Lin spent another two days lying in bed.

The skin beneath his eyes had darkened into black circles.

Only after recovering with the help of Shengxi Pills and blood rice did he regain his vitality.

Then Su Huafang came to visit.

“Patrol Hunter Li, interested in taking on a transport escort job?”

he asked with a smile.