Chapter 41

Beside the vigorous bonfire, a group of the Ling family gathered, drinking fine wine and eating roasted meat heartily.

— At this moment, they had long parted ways with Liu Yan and Gao Yu.

In the forest, the appearance of the Silver-Winged Demon Wolf had caused the Ice Shatter Manor to fall into disarray, with countless deaths. They, however, had left the forest easily and smoothly entered the Cold Mist Mountain.

Upon arriving at the Cold Mist Mountain, Qin Lie and the others parted ways with Liu Yan and Gao Yu. Gao Yu returned to the Gao family, while Liu Yan went to the Nebula Pavilion to report on the events at the Heavenly Wolf Mountain. Ling Yushi and the others were returning to the Ling family.

The three groups were taking different paths.

"Liu Yan is really a good guy, not asking about the spoils of war from the Ice Shatter Manor at all. It truly benefited us! Ha, I managed to collect over ten third-grade spirit stones and some scattered Spirit Recovery Pills. It's a pity I didn't get any spirit artifacts, though. What a shame," Ling Xiao said, grinning as he ate his meat.

"Humph! Those people from the Ice Shatter Manor were all killed by the Silver-Winged Demon Wolf. Liu Yan didn't lift a finger. Why should he care? He certainly can't ask with a thick face!" Ling Xin said coldly, scolding, "If it weren't for Qin Lie, Liu Yan, Gao Yu, and the others would have all died. You don't need to thank them at all!"

"That's true. If Qin Lie hadn't been there, we would all have died long ago," Ling Xiao also sighed.

When they set out from the Ling family, Ling Xin and Ling Xiao were the ones who most strongly opposed Ling Yushi bringing Qin Lie along.

These two had always looked at Qin Lie, who might become a burden, with disapproval, often mocking him on the journey.

Because of this, Ling Yushi had scolded them several times, but it had never had much effect.

However, when everyone set out on their return journey today, they were the two who praised Qin Lie the most, their attitudes having completely changed.

Qin Lie had won their respect through his own transformation, and these young people of the Ling family were sincerely convinced.

Ling Yushi saw everything, a smile on her lips, feeling pleased.

"I'm full and satisfied," Qin Lie nodded, got up, and casually wiped the grease from his mouth with his sleeve, saying with a smile, "I'll go find a place to practice. You can continue drinking. Don't worry about me."

"Finish this bag of wine before you go," Ling Feng laughed, throwing a wine bag over.

"Ling Feng, you really are something. Qin Lie is only fifteen this year. Can't you stop forcing him to drink? Do you think he's a drunkard like you?" Ling Yushi glared at Ling Feng, then looked at Qin Lie gently and said softly, "Ignore them..."

"Miss, you really are protective. Even you and Ling Ying can drink a lot, let alone Qin Lie? You're underestimating him too much," Ling Feng laughed, looking at Qin Lie sideways and taunting, "Isn't that right, Qin Lie?"

"Since Brother Ling has spoken, I'll definitely drink," Qin Lie, helpless, picked up the wine bag and drank it in a rough and bold manner.

"Enough, enough! You've already been forced to drink so much. No more!" Ling Yushi frowned, snatched the wine bag, and scolded the group, "No more forcing him to drink!"

"Miss, we won't force him anymore, but the remaining wine... still needs to be finished," Ling Xiao laughed, "Of course, if someone is willing to drink it for him, we won't mind. What do you all think?"

Everyone saw Ling Xiao's intention and cheered, agreeing.

"I..." Ling Ying, seeing this, also got excited and was about to stand up with a smile.

"Fine! I'll drink for him!"

Ling Yushi cut off Ling Ying's words, her face slightly red, and drank from the wine bag in an elegant and charming manner, much to the delight of the crowd.

Everyone cheered, their smiles growing wider, and they looked at her and Qin Lie with teasing eyes.

Ling Ying, seeing Ling Yushi take the lead, felt secretly regretful, pouted, and huffed softly.

Watching Ling Yushi drink the wine he had just drunk, Qin Lie felt a ripple in his heart, finding her even more beautiful and charming at this moment, with an indescribable allure.

"Is that better now?" After finishing the wine, Ling Yushi's cheeks were flushed. She glared at the group and then said gently to Qin Lie, "Ignore these rascals. Go, do what you need to do."

Qin Lie nodded with a smile and walked away, heading towards a distant pond.

Soon, he arrived at a large tree with twisted roots by the pond, took out a dozen fire crystals given by Liu Yan, as well as the Green-Winged Axe and Qin Shan's statue, and pondered with his chin in hand.

"Boom!"

Soon, a fire crystal was ignited, and a fierce flame burned. On the red flame, the head of the low-grade spirit artifact, the Green-Winged Axe, was placed.

After a long time, the head of the Green-Winged Axe gradually turned red. At this moment, Qin Lie extended his right hand and pointed at the axe's surface.

Spirit energy flowed out, and mental energy surged. He immediately established a connection with the Green-Winged Axe, sensing the crude spirit array inside while carefully experiencing the flow of mental energy and capturing the subtle changes in the internal spirit lines...

Last time, after he had helped Liu Yan repair the Hexagonal Shield, his mental energy and spirit energy had nearly been exhausted. After recovering with Spirit Recovery Pills, he found that both had increased to some extent.

This made him pay attention, so now he wanted to try the same technique to see if he could enhance his strength by repairing the Green-Winged Axe.

"Only by enhancing cultivation and breaking through realms can mental energy steadily improve. Mental energy is the key to unlocking memory seals. To recall the experiences before I was ten, I must continuously strengthen myself and keep breaking through! What was I like before I was ten? Who are my parents? Are they alive or dead? I must have an answer!"

Qin Lie thought silently, guiding his spirit energy towards the twisted points of the spirit array inside the axe, preparing to start the repair.

"Poof!"

In his moment of inner turmoil, he accidentally severed a very fine spirit line, causing the spirit array to instantly collapse. All the spirit lines twisted, leading to an imbalance of spirit energy and the sudden destruction of the spirit array.

Everything happened in a flash, and he had no time to remedy the situation. By the time he realized the problem, it was too late.

The Green-Winged Axe had already been damaged by his Thunder Power, and even repairing the spirit array wouldn't restore its power. He wasn't trying to restore the axe to its original state but purely for practice. Now that the axe was completely ruined, he wasn't too heartbroken, treating it as a failed repair attempt.

"It seems that when repairing spirit artifacts and drawing spirit arrays, one must not be distracted in the slightest. Even the tiniest mistake can cause the entire operation to collapse, rendering a spirit artifact useless." Qin Lie's expression was solemn, and he couldn't help but feel fortunate that he had succeeded in repairing Liu Yan's spirit artifact on the first try.

With the Green-Winged Axe ruined, he picked up Qin Shan's wooden statue and used his mental energy to sense it, feeling surprised.

Previously, when the Silver-Winged Demon Wolf attacked, he had frantically infused Thunder Power into the wooden statue, thinking that the material might be damaged by the violent Thunder Power...

But that wasn't the case.

He had just sensed it and found that not only had the material of the wooden statue remained unchanged, but all the internal structures were also incredibly stable!

He wasn't sure if the wooden statue could adapt to the infusion of Thunder Power or if the "artifact" was of a higher grade and could withstand the destructive force of Thunder Power, but the wooden statue was fine.

"If the wooden statue was crafted by Grandfather, then his artifact-making skills... must be extremely advanced and magical!"

Qin Lie pondered for a while and realized he couldn't see through the complex spirit array inside the statue, so he didn't dare make any changes and put the wooden statue away.

He sat down, focused, and began to circulate the Heavenly Thunder Punishment, using Spirit Recovery Pills to gather spirit energy.

After an unknown amount of time, he gradually woke from his practice, looked up at the bright moon, and frowned, saying, "The acupoints are filled with Thunder Power, and spirit energy cannot penetrate them. This way, it's impossible to connect the acupoints for cultivation, making it difficult to break through to the eighth level of Body Tempering."

Just now, he had gathered spirit energy and tried to penetrate the acupoints, but found that the Thunder Power in each acupoint quickly formed a barrier, blocking the spirit energy.

He tried multiple acupoints, and each time, the spirit energy was blocked.

This was the first true obstacle he had encountered in his cultivation. To advance to a new realm and increase his strength, he had to break this barrier.

"Rustle!"

At this moment, the sound of water splashing came from the pond beside him.

Qin Lie was sitting under a tree by the pond, practicing, and hadn't noticed the pond's movements. Hearing the unusual sound, he peeked out from behind the tree and looked towards the pond.

Just one glance, and Qin Lie was stunned, his blood rushing to his head.

Under the bright moonlight, in the clear pond, a beautiful, naked body with skin as smooth as jade was revealed to him from behind!

The slender waist, long hair like a cloud, straight and graceful legs, and two peach-like buttocks... all came into Qin Lie's view, making him lose his composure, his eyes burning, and his breathing heavy.

"Ling Yushi!"

Qin Lie shouted in his heart, recognizing her from her slender figure.

Ling Yushi had just finished bathing in the pond and was standing up, facing the center of the pond, saying, "I'm done. I'll go up first. You can take your time."

"I'm almost done too," Ling Ying's voice came from the pond.

Qin Lie was stunned, his gaze moving past Ling Yushi to the deeper part of the pond, where he saw Ling Ying's small head bobbing in the moonlit water.

He immediately realized that the two women had come to the pond to bathe after the bonfire, but he had been in a state of deep meditation and hadn't noticed their arrival. Sitting behind the tree, he had also gone unnoticed by Ling Yushi and Ling Ying.

"Okay, I'll go up to change," Ling Yushi said casually and turned to walk towards the pond's edge.

Qin Lie was stunned again, staring at Ling Yushi as she faced him, his mind blank.

Ling Yushi, unaware of his presence, was using a wet towel to wipe the water droplets and wet hair from her body. Her full, firm breasts, flat, smooth abdomen, and the patch of soft hair between her legs... were all exposed to Qin Lie's view.

She walked straight to where her clothes were placed, picked up a piece of silk underwear, and put it on. Suddenly, she heard a "gulp" sound.

"Who's there?" Ling Yushi called out, her face changing, and she rushed towards the source of the sound without thinking.

Qin Lie, behind the tree, reacted just in time, quickly ducking his head, but it was too late...

"Whoosh!"

Ling Yushi's eyes flashed with anger, her hand glowing silver, and she rushed over, ready to strike with all her might.

"Ah?"

Seeing the person behind the tree was Qin Lie, she was stunned, her face instantly turning red, but her raised, glowing hand couldn't bring itself to strike.

"Miss, are you talking to someone?" Ling Ying's voice came, "I'm done too. I'll come up."

Ling Yushi, hearing this, was stunned again. She immediately realized that if Ling Ying came up, she would see her wet and with Qin Lie, and Qin Lie... would also see the naked Ling Ying.

To prevent Ling Ying from seeing, she bit her lip, quickly retreated behind the tree, and pressed herself against Qin Lie, her beautiful face red as if it would bleed...

...