Chapter 677: Heart Refinement

The two brothers' action had made the guards alert too and they wondered if these men were about to do something problematic, but they just stood there talking amongst themselves.

Suddenly the guards realized that they couldn't hear what they were speaking and nor could they sense their cultivation bases.

"What?" one of the guards said.

One moment, these men looked like they were at the Qi refining realm and now they were unable to tell what realm they were at.

"What realm are they at senior brother? Peak of the Nascent Soul realm?" The junior brother asked.

"Possibly higher… unless it's something else." The senior brother said.

~shua~

But then the next moment, his expression changed as he felt another wave of spirit Qi coming from the distance, this time a bit weaker.

"Another one?!" The junior brother sensed it as well.

"Yes… there are two now…" The senior brother replied as he narrowed his eyes.

His spirit sense spread around, but was unable to find the source of the spirit Qi wave within the city.

"What should we do now?" The junior brother asked. "Do we go check it out?" 

The senior brother thought for a bit before shaking his head.

"No… we need to finish our task first. Besides, as long as they are not causing trouble we have no need to interfere… and it's not our responsibility either." The senior brother answered.

~gulp~

"Okay," The junior brother replied as he lowered his spirit sword and stored it away.

The senior brother did the same and turned back to look at the stunned guards.

"Forgive me, brother guards. We have embarrassed ourselves. Please let us pass." The senior brother cupped his hand and spoke with a smile on his face.

"E… E-Enter," The guards opened the gate for them.

***

Back at the hill where Lin Mu and Little Shrubby were having an impromptu cultivation session, Jing Luo had set up a couple of barriers. He was writing in air, and making runes that floated to join the formation that he had made.

"There… this should be fine for now." Jing Luo said before turning to look at Lin Mu and Little Shrubby.

"These are guys… ~sigh~" Jing Luo shook his head and sat down as well.

He then took out a few of the materials and started refining them. Jing Luo had not forgotten that he still needed to make the entrance token that would grant him the passage to the ancestral land.

He was barely ten percent done with the refinement of materials and he wanted to be done as soon as possible. Thus to not waste any time, he made use of all free periods of time he had while waiting.

Lin Mu and Little Shrubby on the other hand were having rather great progress and their cultivation bases were experiencing an increase once again. Except in the case of Lin Mu, it was his body cultivation that was increasing and for Little Shrubby, it was his Qi cultivation.

Inside Lin Mu's body, the fire attributive spirit Qi had now made a complete cycle and was ready to be assimilated by his heart. The pool of liquid fire attribute spirit Qi started to be guided towards the heart while the other meridians kept on refining more of it and depositing it into his Dantian.

It was a relatively balanced speed, though the process of consumption of fire attribute spirit Qi was still higher than that of refinement. Bit by bit, the fire attribute spirit Qi reached his heart and started being absorbed into its cells.

The heart was one of the five treasured organs and belonged to the fire element. It was responsible for providing blood to the entire body and was a vital organ. The stopping of it would cause even a cultivator to die.

The stronger one's heart was the better stamina they would have. Plus the other organs would also benefit overall, if a heart was strong and could withstand strains and stress, stably. If it were up to Lin Mu, he would have chosen to refine his heart first as well among the five treasured organs.

But unfortunately for him, he only had a technique for the earth element and thus had chosen to refine his spleen instead. While it was also an important organ, it wasn't directly useful for Lin Mu as much as a heart was.

Even right now, Lin Mu did not have a body cultivation technique that could cultivate fire attribute spirit Qi. The situation that he was in right now was because he was lucky and he had a bout of enlightenment due to sensing such high amounts of fire attribute spirit Qi for the first time.

It was his body's natural response and it was also the fire attribute spirit Qi in the air responding to it. It was the same as water moving from a high point to a lower point, until equilibrium was reached.

The fire attribute spirit Qi found his body conducive under its absorption and started entering it. Lin Mu took advantage of it and let his Heart take up as much fire attribute spirit Qi as it could right now.

Since the refinement of organs was easier at the start, even direct spirit Qi could help it. But in the latter parts, one ended up needing spirit herbs and pills to assist it as the process only got more and more difficult.

Lin Mu had plenty of fire attribute spirit herbs and even several pills and thus he chose to use the infusion of fire attribute spirit Qi he was experiencing right now to refine his heart as much as he could.

'This is rather different… I can feel the fiery warmth in my chest…' Lin Mu thought to himself.

The cells of Lin Mu's heart absorbed the fire attribute spirit Qi and started to change. They began to replicate and divide but the new cells that were born were better than the original cells.

These were the newly refined cells!