Vol 5 Chapter 86: Reunion with the Divine Pine
"The difficulty of living synthesis is completely different from inanimate synthesis."
After completing his experiments, Lin Jing soon determined the current limits of the Pine Leaf Mouse's Glazed Immortal Eye after harvesting the Dao Fruit.
While it could indeed perform living synthesis now, the upper limit only reached below the Foundation Establishment stage. At most, the Pine Leaf Mouse could only synthesize ordinary beasts or Qi Refinement spiritual beasts. Even when driven by immortal energy, the Glazed Immortal Eye could only marginally raise this limit to Foundation Establishment level creatures. It remained completely ineffective against anything above Golden Core formation.
This simply wouldn't do!
Though synthesizing a group of Qi Refinement demonic beasts with rare resources could produce creatures with exceptional potential, was this what Lin Jing wanted? Certainly not.
What he truly desired was for the Pine Leaf Mouse to synthesize Nascent Soul Transformation stage cultivators. Only then could he attempt living modifications to strengthen himself using the Glazed Immortal Eye's power.
"Ultimately, the Glazed Immortal Eye's level is still too low. Strange... The Pine Leaf Mouse has used immortal energy sources collected by those spirits countless times to help deliver spirit embryos in the Origin Realm. Why hasn't its bloodline reached immortal grade yet?"
"Is immortal-grade bloodline truly so difficult?" Lin Jing sighed. The same went for the Demon Emperor - after sixty years of cultivation using supreme immortal energy, she still hadn't quite reached immortal grade.
"If the Pine Leaf Mouse's bloodline reached immortal grade, it might trigger another evolution of the Glazed Immortal Eye, allowing synthesis of higher-level living and non-living things...""Come to think of it, it's been so long. Why haven't Senior Divine Pine and the others returned yet?"
Even the Mechanized Turtle had found its way back. Lin Jing had been waiting a full decade for Senior Divine Pine and the others who fled for safety to return, but not even a shadow of them had appeared.
"I should go look for them." Before leaving, Lin Jing assigned tasks:
"Pine Leaf Mouse, continue using the Glazed Immortal Eye to synthesize some magical creatures. Remember to use immortal energy sources - don't worry about wasting immortal energy. Before leaving the Origin Realm, I borrowed plenty from the Meteor Spirit Beast."
"Dragon Carp, keep using immortal energy to activate the Flame Emperor technique. Use the Flame Emperor's fire to form the Myriad Flame Cauldron and refine demonic cultivators into cultivation-enhancing Golden Core pills. The more, the better."
"Ice Soul Gu, continue using immortal energy to activate the Dao Fruit technique and extract the Heaven Refining Demon Ancestor's spell mastery."
"Mechanized Turtle, you should get out more too. Test your new abilities."
After arranging tasks for his spirit beasts, Lin Jing departed with the Mechanized Turtle. The Pine Leaf Mouse was at a critical juncture in its evolution toward becoming a celestial beast and couldn't slack off, though it wore a bitter expression, clearly disliking this assignment.
After all, it only enjoyed hoarding resources. Synthesizing so many misshapen hybrid creatures that would need cleaning up later held no appeal when it couldn't see its internal storage space growing fuller.
Still, these hybrids did possess remarkable talents. Lin Jing planned to accumulate a batch before sending them to the Beast Master Sect to train disciples, as he'd need their help later for his grand Origin Realm plans.
The Dragon Carp's task was simpler - while improving its bloodline, it just needed to refine cultivation Golden Cores!
Lin Jing hadn't yet asked the Demon Emperor to have the Demon Court deliver all captured remnants of the Refining Dao Sect's demonic cultivators to the Immortal Prison Mountain's cells.
Cultivation resources - the more, the better. They still needed to remain in the Origin Realm for many years. Upon leaving, Lin Jing planned to use these accumulated resources to charge toward the Dao Inquiry realm.
The more cultivation resources stockpiled now, the faster their cultivation could rise after being freed from the Origin Realm's restrictions.
The Ice Soul Gu's task was even more straightforward - keep draining the Heaven Refining Demon Ancestor dry.
Not a single spirit beast was idle. Even the Mechanized Turtle, after years of Lin Jing's modifications, had dramatically improved capabilities.
Lin Jing had fused an immortal energy source into its body, enabling it to use immortal energy as power like those immortal artifacts. He'd also enhanced its treasure-seeking abilities beyond just longevity-extending items to include ancient ruins.
As a lower realm connected to the Immortal Palace of an Immortal King's Domain, the Tianyuan Continent undoubtedly held countless secrets - possibly even traces of true immortals lost to history through various wars. Lin Jing wanted the Mechanized Turtle to uncover all hidden mysteries across the continent.
Previously, this would have been impossible, but now with its energy quality surpassing even Tianyuan's Dao Inquiry experts, Lin Jing believed it worth attempting.
The Spirit of the Divine Pill, Martial Emperor City, even the Mechanized Turtle itself - all could be considered Immortal Palace relics. Anyone who thought the Dayuan Realm held no treasures would be sorely mistaken.
Most importantly... Lin Jing's greatest ambition was for the Mechanized Turtle to discover traces of "Pocket Realms."
These special training spaces created by the Immortal Palace for lower realm talents truly contained endless treasures - golden Bodhi Trees, demonic bloodlines, and countless other rarities.
Only by claiming these Pocket Realms could the Tianyuan Realm truly develop the foundation of an Immortal King's Domain.
However, even with the Mechanized Turtle now powered by immortal energy, Lin Jing remained uncertain about finding these realms.
"Speaking of which, I've reached Nascent Soul Transformation. Why haven't I encountered new Pocket Realms yet?"
After some time traveling, Lin Jing arrived at the Misty Forests. Along the way, he'd hoped new Pocket Realms might appear, but unfortunately, his wishes went unanswered. Even after returning for years, no new realms had sought him out.
"First, find our people."
"Seems they're here."
Senior Divine Pine and the others were hiding extremely well, but with the Mechanized Turtle's assistance, Lin Jing easily located their hiding place by tracking Gu Qianqiu.
Staring at the ancient tree before him, he stepped directly inside.
"Holy Son!!!"
Using Heavenly Demon Crossing, Lin Jing stepped into the divine tree's space. Mosquito Woman, who was training the Mosquito Beast Army, cried out in delighted surprise at his arrival.
"The Holy Son's scent... seems even more fragrant now."
Gu Qianqiu, cultivating beside the Divine Pine, had now reached early Nascent Soul Transformation stage. For a Longevity Body possessor, this progression speed was absurd, but Lin Jing wasn't surprised. With Senior Divine Pine's guidance, various demonic secret arts, and resources he'd left behind like the Blood Bodhi, Gu Qianqiu had flourished.
This didn't even account for the Golden Age's additional benefits.
"Long time no see, Senior Divine Pine. As expected, you've reached Dao Inquiry."
"Shhh~~" The Divine Pine hushed him for exposing its breakthrough. "Keep it quiet! Thanks to the immortal energy you sent back... Ah, in the old isolated Tianyuan Realm, I'd have claimed my own mountain by now. But these are dangerous times - those demonic Dao Inquiry experts are vicious! Ordinary Dao Inquiry cultivators like us show our heads and get them lopped off! Speaking of which, what's happening outside? Since you're here, things must be completely safe now?"