Near Yunjing Mountain in Heavenly River State, Lin Xianzhi did not immediately return to Heavenly River City. Instead, he began to search meticulously in this vicinity.
He didn't believe Lin Shiming would show up, yet he was extremely afraid that something had happened to Lin Shiming.
The contradiction and anxiety in his heart made his face age even more rapidly.
The side effects of Renshui Geng Metal Art had become stronger, and he estimated that he only had about twenty more years to live. To think, he was just over one hundred sixty years old at the moment, while the lifespan limit for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator was two hundred fifty years.
In a mountain cave, Lin Xianzhi found Lin Houyuan.
A group of Qi Cultivators were with Lin Houyuan.
For the Heavenly Demon Sect and Corpse Refining Sect Cultivators, it was unnecessary to chase after Qi Cultivators. Their whereabouts would naturally be exposed after the escape of the Foundation Establishment Cultivators. Instead, killing higher-level cultivators could potentially yield more spiritual objects.
"Seventh Great-Uncle!" Lin Houyuan raised his head to look at Lin Xianzhi, also very excited.
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But seeing Lin Xianzhi's increasingly aged face, like seeing Lin Yuqi back in the day, filled him with a deep sense of gloom.
His excited heart chilled by three more degrees.
And thinking of the fallen cultivators of the family made his face even more somber.
He felt too ashamed to say it to the Seventh Great-Uncle, yet he also thought of Lin Shiming.
"Seventh Great-Uncle, didn't Shiming come with you?" asked Lin Houyuan, his voice becoming smaller and smaller towards the end.
He naturally saw the discouragement on Lin Xianzhi's face. When Lin Shiming was around, he could always see a slightly content smile on Lin Xianzhi's face.
That kind of pride and relaxation was utterly missing from Lin Xianzhi's face at the moment.
"Shiming broke through alone, and we're still looking for him!" Lin Xianzhi responded with a somber tone as well.
Lin Xianzhi gave a quick glance to the surviving Lin Family members and cultivators, then sighed again in frustration. This defense battle was definitely the greatest loss in the history of the Lin Family, with almost half of the Qi Cultivation late-stage family heads meeting their demise.
However, key family members like Lin Shiyi, Lin Houwei, Lin Yuqing, Lei Xuan, and others were still alive, if more or less injured.
"Hou Yuan, take the clan members back to Heavenly River City. I will continue searching for three more days!" Lin Xianzhi spoke again and then left the cave, resolutely setting foot once more on the journey to search.
A long time passed, and Lin Shiming had already lost track of time—a month, two months, possibly even longer.
With an exhalation of a breath of turbid air, the True Yuan qi contained in the Purple Wood Heart Sutra filled his entire body, and Lin Shiming's previous injuries finally healed completely.
At this moment, he once again felt the power of the Wood Attribute Techniques, which had remarkable effects on injuries and recovery.
His Divine Sense, too, had fully recovered under the cultivation of the Split Spirit Decision, and he even felt that it had become sharper.
The surprises didn't stop there. When Lin Shiming inspected his inner body with his Divine Sense, he discovered that his True Yuan had become more condensed.
After his Foundation Establishment breakthrough, his True Yuan was inevitably somewhat tenuous, but this battle had unexpectedly caused his True Yuan to solidify.
It is known that for most Foundation Establishment Cultivators, it would take at least ten years, or even twenty years.
Like Lin Houyuan, Lin Shiming's father, who had broken through Foundation Establishment more than a decade ago, still had not fully condensed his True Yuan. He was unable to cultivate to the peak of the early stage of Foundation Establishment, not to mention breaking through to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.
And at this moment, Lin Shiming had only just broken through Foundation Establishment for less than six years.
This also meant that if he was willing to engage in arduous cultivation, he would be able to break through to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment within the next few years.
However, Lin Shiming didn't rush to break through immediately. Not to mention that the Qingxuan Sect might be suspicious and figures like Lin Xianzhi and other family elders might worry, just the fact that he had made such a swift breakthrough would require a good explanation, especially to the Qingxuan Sect.
Leaving the vein, his Storage Bag had corpses used for Qi Cultivation, and it was evident that a Superior Grade Spirit Stone had aided the breakthrough. In the worst-case scenario, he could face soul searching, or at the very least an Inquiry Spirit Talisman, but neither was something he wished to deal with.
Having completed his cultivation, Lin Shiming finally had the time to sort through his spoils of war.
It was important to note that during this event, ninety percent of his spirit ants had perished, leaving only eighty-one; the Purple Wood Profound Heavenly Sword Formation was destroyed, the Tiangang Sword Formation too, and all of the Xue Sha Thunder had been used up, resulting in extreme losses.
Lin Shiming first took out four Demonic Cultivators' Storage Bags.
Within the four Storage Bags, he found five hundred thousand Inferior Grade Spirit Stones, over a hundred pounds of Qingming Iron.
Over a hundred pounds of Qingming Iron was clearly plundered from the Heavenly River State's Spirit Iron mines previously by the cultivators of the Heavenly Demon Sect. Qingming Iron is a Third Rank material and it is among the premium ones at that. These hundred-plus pounds of Qingming Iron are worth at least seven hundred thousand Spirit Stones.
That is to say, just the gains in spiritual materials and Spirit Stones amounted to one million Inferior Grade Spirit Stones.
Beyond that, Lin Shiming also obtained five Third Rank Intermediate Grade Magic Artifacts, two Third Rank Superior Grade Magic Artifacts, and a Third Rank scapegoat effigy.
Intermediate Grade Magic Artifacts, to Lin Shiming at this moment, were of course lacking, but the Superior Grade Magic Artifacts were the tainted gourd Magic Artifact and another Demonic Blade Magic Artifact, it's a pity that both required the practice of Demonic Path Techniques.