Vol 5 Chapter 52: Perfected Demon Race

A Nascent Soul Transformation Stage beast tamer has five basic contract slots.

Lin Jing gained an additional slot due to reaching the extreme realm.

Currently, he can contract six spirit beasts in total.

Counting the Mechanized Turtle left in the Tianyuan Realm, he still has two vacant contract slots.

One of them, Lin Jing decided to reserve for the still-elusive Star Beast.

As for the other, after some consideration, he resolved to prioritize contracting an avatar.

Especially now that he had successfully modified the beast taming secret technique to enhance spirit beast bloodlines, the strategic value of contracting an avatar had increased exponentially.

"The connection with my avatar has grown even stronger than before."

After completing the contract, Lin Jing observed his avatar's current form - a black mist nine-tailed fox - and extended his hand.

As strands of immortal energy sealed within his body dissipated, a red glow emanated from his outstretched palm.

"It actually works!"

Moments later, sensing his avatar's demonic bloodline beginning to strengthen, Lin Jing couldn't contain his excitement.

Before reaching mastery, the demonic bloodline could steadily improve through normal cultivation of Heavenly Demon techniques.

But after mastery, Lin Jing discovered the progress of his Demon God Physique had hit an impenetrable bottleneck.

Until Sheng Kun taught him the soul usurpation secret technique.

The transition from mastery to perfection in demonic bloodlines represented a significant hurdle. Without specialized bloodline enhancement techniques, normal cultivation proved insufficient.

Techniques like the soul usurpation method Sheng Kun taught could perfect the bloodline through repeated body seizures and yin-yang destiny forging.

However, this method didn't suit Lin Jing, who had no intention of forging yin-yang destinies or ultimately seizing a woman's body.

Thus, he needed alternative rapid enhancement methods to empower his avatar sufficiently before the Millennium War.

Fortunately, his ingenious solution of treating the demon avatar as a spirit beast allowed him to apply bloodline enhancement techniques, achieving what would otherwise have taken immeasurable time.

"These two years weren't wasted. Not only has the avatar's demonic bloodline reached perfection, but the Pine Leaf Mouse, Dragon Carp, and Ice Soul Gu have all reached quasi-celestial grade."

Lin Jing smiled, though the cost had completely depleted Xianlin City's immortal energy reserves.

The bulk of consumption went toward activating immortal artifacts and modifying techniques - the former granted his avatar 200 extra years to seize remnants of the Dark Emperor, while the latter accelerated bloodline enhancements and provided experience modifying ordinary techniques into immortal energy-powered immortal techniques.

Another year passed.

Through Lin Jing's efforts, their last immortal energy source - the premium grade immortal source Sheng Kun gifted Mo Yu - was exhausted. The superior quality energy facilitated the natural perfection of the avatar's demonic bloodline.

Now equal to Sheng Kun as a Heavenly Demon cultivator with perfected demonic bloodline!

His combat power skyrocketed terrifyingly, with casually unleashed demonic energy rivaling immortal techniques in potency.

"Almost ready..."

Having squeezed Xianlin City dry, Lin Jing felt satisfied. Beyond immortal energy, miscellaneous resources had been fed to the Pine Leaf Mouse's Five Elements space to enhance its demon core abilities.

While the Gu God Sect's accumulated resources could make the Pine Leaf Mouse dominate peers in the Tianyuan Realm, they paled in the Origin Realm where even mediocre talents might be personal disciples of high-level cultivators.

But after plundering Xianlin City's treasury, the Pine Leaf Mouse's demon core had reached such strength that only Heavenly King-level beings could withstand its attacks without severe spiritual damage.

"This should suffice. With my avatar, even if the Cultivation Alliance sends another prodigy like Li Tianyi, I won't be at a disadvantage."

"It's time to negotiate with the Cultivation Alliance..."

Three years after becoming acting city lord, Lin Jing finally emerged from seclusion. During this period, his Tianyuan Realm companions had also been in closed-door cultivation on his advice.

However, Lin Jing had no intention of severing ties with the Cultivation Alliance.

Having exhausted resources, he planned to appease them while seeking new cultivation materials.

"Lin Jing! If you dare embezzle, dare to come out!" Yang Lin, the new city lord, was still shouting when Lin Jing emerged. As Zhou Banxian's disciple, Yang Lin's talent, potential, and strength were unquestionable.

His innate Five Elements Immortal Physique made him more versatile and powerful than Yan Yunshuang's Five Thunder Immortal Physique. However, having trained under a top expert like Zhou Banxian and reached Nascent Soul perfection in under a century, Yang Lin lacked experience in governance.

"You..." Yang Lin was stunned when Lin Jing actually appeared. He'd mentally prepared to face Zhou Banxian's wrath for failing to confront Lin Jing during his tenure.

"Senior Brother... what do you mean by this?" Lin Jing feigned ignorance, provoking Yang Lin's anger. "Lin Jing! Where are Xianlin Treasury's resources?"

"I paid them all to Lady Nethersoil. Did she fail to revive our fallen talents after taking payment?" Lin Jing countered.

The revivals had succeeded - but that wasn't the point! Yang Lin nearly spat blood.

"What revival costs so much? You must have embezzled! After subduing Lady Nethersoil, shouldn't prices be lower?"

Lin Jing scowled angrily. "Don't slander me! I didn't keep a single resource!"

"Subdued? We simply hit it off and formed an organization for convenience! Shouldn't we compensate her generously for reviving our comrades? We're not mortal landlords exploiting peasants!"

"Senior Brother, your mentality is problematic. With such low awareness, how can you lead cultivators against the Heavenly Demon Sect?"