"This is... the Millennial Ice Essence."
Zhong Lin looked at the small pool in front of him with a face full of shock. The water was milky white, like white jade, filled with endless cold air. Even the inner breath of an Upper Third Grade Martial Artist could not resist it.
Zhong Lin had seen this thing in ancient books, it was ice essence, which could only be formed on millennial mystic ice, producing one drop a year. The pool in front of him was at least a gourd in quantity, who knows how many years it took to form.
The Millennial Ice Essence can be used for alchemy or directly consumed for cultivation, but one must have sufficient cultivation, otherwise the power of the ice essence could freeze a person into an ice sculpture.
"I now wish to switch to cultivating the ’Cold Soul Mysterious Skill’.
Consuming ice essence can enhance inner breath, removing impurities and purifying the quality of the inner breath, and it works best with cold attribute cultivation techniques.
Unfortunately, Zhong Lin did not practice the ’Cold Soul Mysterious Skill’, so he couldn’t fully utilize the power of the ice essence.
"No matter what, how could I miss such a treasure?"
Zhong Lin turned to Gu Xiaofeng and said, "Master Gu, please go up and find a jade container, as only jade can contain this item."
"I’ll go right away."
Gu Xiaofeng had long wanted to leave this place. No matter how good something is, if he couldn’t withstand it, it would be pointless.
Gu Xiaofeng turned around and sprinted towards the cave entrance, unwilling to stay a moment longer.
Zhong Lin sat cross-legged, gently flexed his fingers, and a drop of millennial ice essence floated out of the pool, falling into his mouth.
In an instant, Zhong Lin felt an extreme cold force explode within his body, as if both his soul and flesh were frozen within it.
Not daring to hesitate for a moment, Zhong Lin quickly activated the ’Flying Spirit Sword Scripture’, and where the inner breath passed, endless cold streams poured in, instantly freezing and breaking apart inch by inch.
Gathering his mind, Zhong Lin intended to gather all the inner breath together, and he found that the gathered inner breath was more dense, its quality at least one level higher than before.
After a quarter of an hour, Zhong Lin slowly opened his eyes. A layer of frost had already covered the surface of his body, and the drop of millennial ice water had been refined.
Opening his palm, a golden inner breath swirled around his hand, and upon closer inspection, one would find a faint chill lingering within the inner breath.
Zhong Lin raised his brows lightly; he had long felt the change in the inner breath within his body. With a flick of his finger, accompanied by a muffled sound, a hole was instantaneously blasted into the distant cliff, with traces of frost still lingering within the hole.
"Hahaha, my thinking was indeed correct."
Zhong Lin laughed heartily at the sky.
Faced with the millennial ice essence, an ordinary martial artist could only use its power to temper their inner breath unless they happened to practice a cold attribute qi cultivation method.
Although Zhong Lin was cultivating the ’Flying Spirit Sword Scripture’, through the system panel he had already understood the ’Cold Soul Mysterious Skill’ to its core, reaching the realm of the original founder.
Therefore, when refining the millennial ice essence, he was inspired to try fusing the ’Flying Spirit Sword Scripture’ and ’Cold Soul Mysterious Skill’, and surprisingly, he succeeded. Now his inner breath had undergone another transformation, possessing both gold and cold attributes.
"In that case, I might also try to integrate several other Heavenly Grade cultivation techniques."
Of course, Zhong Lin’s success was based on reaching the pinnacle of understanding these two techniques, finally using the power of the millennial ice essence to fuse them together.
To incorporate other Heavenly Grade cultivation techniques, corresponding spiritual objects of heaven and earth would also be needed.
"Since these two techniques have been fused, it shall be called the ’Spiritual Cold Sword Scripture’.
Skill: Spiritual Cold Sword Scripture (Beginner)...
Skill: Silkworm Silk Strength (Full Level)...
Misc: Alchemy: Fourth Grade Elixir (Full Level)...
"System, allocate points for me."
With a thought, Beginner became Full Level, and a vast flow of information flooded into his mind.
Zhong Lin slowly stood up, and the surrounding cold could no longer harm him, making him feel like a fish in water.
The running inner breath brought a cold aura familiar to him, precisely the power of the millennial ice essence.
Gu Xiaofeng also returned from the cave entrance at this time, holding a jade gourd in his hand.
"Pill Master Zhong, will this be enough?"
The pool of millennial ice essence probably couldn’t even fill up this jade gourd.
Zhong Lin took the jade gourd, found a piece of ice to carve into a spoon, and then filled it with all the millennial ice essence.
With jade as a barrier, the chill dissipated instantly, and Gu Xiaofeng secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Pill Master Zhong, what is this thing, and why is it so cold?"
"The Millennial Ice Essence, a heavenly material and earthly treasure, can be used for alchemy. Do you also want some?"
Gu Xiaofeng shook his head awkwardly, still fearful, "No need. Although it’s a good thing, you need to stay alive to take it."
The chill that almost froze him into an ice sculpture just now still sent shivers down his spine, leaving no thoughts of wanting to share any.
"Quickly gather the Mystic Ice Flower."
The Mystic Ice Flower was also in this cave, growing on millennial mystic ice. It was palm-sized, entirely ice-blue, and looked more like an ice sculpture artwork than a plant, looking anything but a carbon-based life form.
Zhong Lin carefully dug out the Mystic Ice Flower and placed it into a prepared jade box, secretly relieved.
Another material for refining the Breakthrough Pill had been found, now only Seven Star Grass and the Heavenly Origin Fruit were needed.
The Heavenly Origin Fruit is a spirit fruit with life-extending properties, growing in remote mountains where humans and beasts rarely tread. It is said to extend life by ten years.
Seven Star Grass is an herb with golden star spots on its leaves. This is not rare; the rarity lies in the seven stars.
Seven Star Grass develops a golden spot every hundred years on its leaf, requiring seven hundred years to achieve seven stars, hence requiring significant effort to find.
When the two returned to the cave entrance, a strong smell of blood hit their faces.
Gu Ning was leading a group of guards in transporting bodies.
Zhong Lin glanced around; the entire Heavenly Fragrance Sect had no survivors left.
"Brother Zhong, father."
Gu Ning came quickly, covered in blood, albeit not his own.
"Ning’er, how are the tasks proceeding?"
"Rest assured, father. The secret recipe for Ancient Rock Fragrance has been obtained, but it seems we can’t give up on Qingling Mountain."
Gu Ning explained, "One of the main ingredients of Ancient Rock Fragrance is something called Black Ebony Clay from Qingling Mountain. If we substitute it with something else, the effectiveness will greatly decrease."
Gu Xiaofeng pondered for a moment, then said, "I see. Ning’er, you stay here with some people, and I and Pill Master Zhong will return to Linyue City first. I will secretly send someone to take over the Heavenly Fragrance Sect; the Ancient Rock Fragrance will remain a product of the Heavenly Fragrance Sect."