Mortal: Fairy Song Yu has issued you a task.

Chapter 56 Hot Spring Body Training

As the sun set, Lin Jingchu still hadn't gained anything. He even tried using the Cold Moonlight to test its effects, but it was only slightly better than metal-type spiritual power.

"Alright, that's enough for today. It's really not easy to earn some spirit stones." Lin Jingchu sighed softly, gathered up a thick stack of experimental notes, and looked down at the insect demon that had been electrocuted all day and was now weak.

With a sharp clang, he kicked the iron cage: "I'll deal with you again tomorrow."

The insect demon seemed to understand his words, and with a forced lift of its head, spat out a mouthful of yellowish-brown acid.

A flash of silver light appeared, and a layer of fine-scaled shield covered Lin Jingchu. Acid liquid splattered onto the shield's surface, hissing and corroding its layer.

Lin Jingchu was slightly surprised and immediately activated his inner armor. In the area of ​​the spirit shield that was corroded, layers of fine scale phantoms appeared and overlapped.

Acid flowed down the shield and onto the ground, sending up wisps of white smoke.

Lin Jingchu put away the array flags and was about to put the demonic insects into his spirit beast pouch when his gaze suddenly sharpened.

The acid that fell to the ground gradually solidified into a hard shell, while the grass blades beneath the shell only turned yellow and curled up, not completely corroded and decayed as one might expect.

Lin Jingchu took a step forward and dashed into the bamboo forest. A moment later, he returned to the iron cage, carrying a fat bamboo rat with its head cut off.

"Come on, brother, spit it out again." Lin Jingchu kicked the iron cage repeatedly.

The worm-like monster's body went limp and remained motionless.

Lin Jingchu raised his hand and a slender beam of cold moonlight slashed straight at the demonic insect's body.

Although the protective mucus on the surface of the demonic beast can deflect most of its power, it is only at level one. The sharp light easily breaks through the surface and penetrates three inches into the flesh.

Under the intense pain, the worm-like monster violently spewed out a large amount of acid.

Lin Jingchu dodged to the side, and all the acid fell to the ground.

As white smoke rose, he pressed the bamboo rat carcass into the acid, and the corrosive liquid quickly seeped into the wound.

Lin Jingchu only mentioned the bamboo rat after the acid began to harden.

The wound was only white and blistering on the surface; the damage to the internal muscle tissue was not very serious.

This acid is particularly effective at corroding spiritual energy, and a substitute for scorpion tail grass has been found.

With his mind at ease, Lin Jingchu tossed the bamboo rat into the iron cage as "compensation" for the worm-like monster. He then put the monster away, cleaned up the area, and returned to his cave to meditate and cultivate.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

Lin Jingchu rode his Azure Winged Boat to Lock Smoke Peak and landed outside Senior Brother Ye's cave.

"This is the Heaven-Turning and Mountain-Shattering Formation." Lin Jingchu took out the complete set of formation flags and plates and handed them to Senior Brother Ye.

Senior Brother Ye's face lit up with joy, and he exclaimed, "I knew Junior Brother Lin's mastery of array formations was profound; he found a way to break it in just five days."

"It was just a coincidence," Lin Jingchu replied with a faint smile.

This breakthrough was indeed accidental. A few days earlier, he had tried setting up various magic arrays in turn, but none of them could overcome the insect demon's slime defense, leaving him in a predicament.

Distressed, Lin Jingchu went to the tea room and brewed Moonlight Silver Needle tea to calm his mind. This spiritual tea had extraordinary effects, quietly soothing his anxious and restless thoughts.

In the instant his thoughts drifted, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him. The insect demon's slime, detached from its body for a long time, sheds its demonic nature and transforms into an ordinary being; there must be a secret behind this.

As soon as inspiration struck, Lin Jingchu immediately got to work. Every quarter of an hour, he scraped a layer of mucus from the insect demon's body, leaving five samples in total.

Once the first layer of viscous liquid had completely turned into a grayish-white powder, Lin Jingchu used his divine sense to carefully examine the differences in each sample, finally uncovering the secret within.

The mucus conceals a special demonic power, the core of which isolates and repels all spiritual energy. However, the key to breaking the deadlock is not this demonic power.

The mucus has an extremely solid texture, which is used to maintain the demonic power. Once the mucus loses its activity, the demonic power becomes like a rootless duckweed, naturally dissipating.

Therefore, Lin Jingchu chose the Earth-based Heaven-Turning Mountain-Shattering Formation. The core power of this formation is to generate powerful shockwaves that suppress enemies within it.

After several repeated tests, he determined the precise oscillation frequency, which could effectively shake and disperse the solidified structure of the mucus, causing the demonic power it contained to completely lose its support, thereby achieving the effect of "breaking through defenses".

"Senior Brother Ye can verify the power of the formation on the spot." Lin Jingchu untied the spirit beast pouch from his waist and raised his hand in a gesture.

The two found an open space, and Senior Brother Ye took out array flags and array plates and began to set up the barrier.

Once Lin Jingchu and the others had made the necessary arrangements, they opened the iron cage and released the worm-like monster.

As soon as the monster was freed, it hissed and roared, twisting its body as if trying to burrow into the ground to escape.

With a resounding hum, earth-elemental spiritual light spread out for over ten zhang, causing even the air currents to tremble violently with the formation. The black, sticky substance on the insect demon's body was torn apart by the vibrations, dissolving and disintegrating layer by layer.

Sensing a deadly danger, the monster twisted its body wildly and dug deep into the earth to escape.

Senior Brother Ye activated his magical power and unleashed the magic jade. Several stalagmites burst from the ground and rose, piercing directly through the demon beast's body and suspending it in mid-air.

"Good!" Senior Brother Ye exclaimed excitedly. "In the past, when I used spells to attack this demon, its slimy and resilient mucus made it difficult for my magic to break through its defenses, and it was quite difficult to hurt it."

After saying that, he stopped the formation from operating, retrieved the formation flag, and readily took out the agreed-upon final payment of spirit stones and handed them to Lin Jingchu.

Lin Jingchu accepted the spirit stones, looked at the dying insect demon, and asked, "Will this demon be of any use to you, Senior Brother?"

"If you want it, junior brother, just take it. This insect demon is of poor quality and is only a level one demon beast, so it has little value."

"Thank you for your help, senior brother."

……

After returning from Senior Brother Ye's place, Lin Jingchu began to go into seclusion to study the body-refining method.

Several days later, in a quiet room.

Facing a giant wooden barrel that was half a person tall, Lin Jingchu continuously traced patterns in the air with his fingertips, infusing them with runes.

The material of this wooden barrel is extraordinary; it is a century-old piece of ebony wood from Du Dong's puppet.

During his earlier recovery period, he had studied the puppet in depth, but to no avail, so he had to dismantle it and store it in a storage room.

At this moment, Lin Jingchu took out a portion of the large amount of wood and made it into a bathtub.

The final incantation flowed into the wooden body, and a faint spiritual light flashed across the surface of the barrel. A high-grade magic artifact was successfully crafted. Although it relied on the material's inherent qualities, it also possessed the three wondrous functions of temperature control, spirit gathering, and meridian cultivation.

Lin Jingchu brought out all kinds of spiritual herbs and materials and threw them all into the bucket, which alone consumed several spirit stones.

Finally, take out a jade bottle and pour in all the yellow liquid inside.

This is made from the glandular sacs of worm-like monsters. One glandular sac can be used to make thirty portions. It is the source of the monster's acidic fluid and has a dull yellow color. Lin Jingchu named it Yellow Spring Saliva.

The spring water was filled with living spiritual water, and it opened its mouth to spew out true fire to refine medicinal liquid. After an incense stick's time, the clear spring water dissolved all the spiritual herbs and ingredients, turning into a pool of hot, golden bathwater.

Lin Jingchu took off his clothes and jumped into the tub. The scalding liquid enveloped his body, instantly feeling as if thousands of ants were biting him, his skin turning red and burning.

He immediately activated his body-refining technique, drawing the medicinal power to penetrate his skin and flesh. Instantly, a piercing pain shot straight through his meridians and internal organs.

Lin Jingchu endured the physical pain, kept his mind focused, and sat motionless in the tub. An hour later, the medicinal soup turned back into clear water, the medicinal effects completely dissipated, and were fully absorbed by his body.