The stone door of the cultivation room slowly closed behind him.
With a wave of his hand, the defensive formation around the immortal abode lit up one after another. Spiritual light flowed along the formation lines before gradually fading into the walls, completely isolating the room from the outside world.
Only after confirming that nobody could disturb him did Lin Sheng slowly sit down.
The storage ring rested quietly in his palm.
He looked at it for a moment before smiling to himself.
"Let's see what Grandmaster prepared."
A strand of divine sense entered the storage ring.
The next moment, his eyes widened.
"This..."
Even with his usually calm temperament, he couldn't help drawing in a deep breath.
Inside the storage ring were neatly piled stacks of spirit stones. Each stack was arranged with astonishing precision, stretching almost as far as his divine sense could reach.
After carefully counting them, Lin Sheng couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"One hundred thousand..."
"...mid-grade spirit stones."
That amount alone was enough to make an ordinary Purple Palace cultivator jealous.
He had accumulated quite a fortune over the years through formations, alchemy, and the opportunities within the Heaven Seal Gate Secret Realm, but compared to what the Grand Elder had casually handed him, it was still lacking.
"As expected of a Golden Body expert..."
To someone of the Grand Elder's cultivation, this wealth was probably only a fraction of his possessions.
Still, Lin Sheng wasn't the type to reject generosity.
He silently remembered this favour in his heart.
His divine sense continued moving.
Not far from the mountain of spirit stones rested a suit of armour.
The armour was entirely black, with faint silver patterns carved across its surface. It gave off an extremely steady aura, and the moment his divine sense touched it, he immediately recognised its grade.
"A Rank Three defensive armour."
He already possessed the Natal Armour he had obtained from the Heaven Seal Gate Secret Realm.
However, that didn't mean this one was useless.
On the contrary...
No cultivator would ever complain about having too many life-saving treasures.
The Natal Armour specialised in absolute defence for a short period of time.
This armour seemed different.
Its aura was steady and continuous, making it more suitable for prolonged battles.
The two complemented each other perfectly.
One for explosive situations.
One for ordinary combat.
Lin Sheng nodded with satisfaction before shifting his attention again.
Beside the armour lay a pair of azure boots.
The boots were light and elegant, with faint wind patterns flowing across their surface as though actual breezes were circulating around them.
The moment he picked them up, he immediately felt how light they were.
"They're almost weightless..."
His divine sense carefully examined the inscriptions within.
A few moments later, surprise appeared on his face.
"Rank Three Wind Riding Boots."
A smile slowly spread across his lips.
"These are far more valuable than the armour."
The Wind Riding Boots weren't meant for defence.
They existed purely for speed.
According to the formation carved within them, they could increase a cultivator's movement speed by roughly seventy percent.
That alone would already be terrifying.
But what truly excited Lin Sheng was something else.
His Martial Intent.
More specifically...
His Wind Martial Intent.
The boots themselves already manipulated wind.
Combined with his own comprehension...
The increase in speed would be even greater.
He silently estimated the result.
"With these..."
"...my movement speed should already surpass ordinary early Purple Palace cultivators."
That didn't mean he could defeat them.
But escaping...
Escaping would become far easier.
For Lin Sheng, surviving had always been more important than winning.
Only by staying alive could he continue walking the Martial Dao.
He carefully placed both treasures aside before examining the final object inside the storage ring.
It was much smaller than the others.
A transparent crystal tube.
Inside...
A single drop of crimson liquid floated quietly.
The drop was no larger than the tip of a finger.
Yet the instant Lin Sheng's divine sense approached it—
BOOM!
An ancient pressure exploded from within the crystal.
His breathing became heavy.
His blood began circulating faster.
Even the Yellow Origin Contemplation Diagram within his sea of consciousness seemed to react faintly.
Lin Sheng's expression immediately became serious.
He carefully removed the crystal tube from the storage ring before slowly opening the seal.
The moment the stopper was loosened...
A terrifying aura instantly escaped.
The room trembled.
His spiritual qi became chaotic.
The faint image of a massive dragon seemed to flash across the room before disappearing.
Lin Sheng's pupils contracted.
"So powerful..."
He immediately resealed the crystal tube.
As soon as the seal was restored, the terrifying aura disappeared as though it had never existed.
Only then did he let out a slow breath.
His heartbeat gradually calmed.
"There really is only a single drop..."
"But..."
He stared at the crimson liquid with burning eyes.
"This is dragon blood."
Not ordinary spiritual beast blood.
Not flood dragon blood.
True dragon blood that had been refined from the Startling Lightning Flood Dragon.
Although the amount was pitifully small, its value couldn't be measured with spirit stones.
Even Golden Core cultivators would fight over such a treasure.
Lin Sheng carefully held the crystal tube between his fingers.
"If I refine this..."
"...my body refinement should immediately step into Rank Three."
His current physique had already reached the absolute peak of Rank Two.
The only thing preventing a breakthrough was a sufficient catalyst.
This single drop...
Was exactly that catalyst.
Once he successfully refined it, his physical body alone would rival Purple Palace cultivators.
His strength.
His endurance.
His recovery.
Everything would undergo another transformation.
The more he thought about it, the brighter the smile on his face became.
He had originally planned to slowly accumulate resources after reaching South Sea Province before attempting another breakthrough in body refinement.
Now...
That process had been shortened by who knew how long.
He gently placed the crystal tube back into the storage ring before closing it with great care.
After everything had settled, he couldn't help laughing softly.
"My Grandmaster..."
"...really is generous."
First, a hundred thousand mid-grade spirit stones.
Then two Rank Three treasures.
And finally...
A drop of dragon blood.
Any one of those items would be enough to make countless Foundation Establishment cultivators risk their lives.
Yet the Grand Elder had handed them over as though they were ordinary gifts from an elder to his junior.
Lin Sheng slowly looked toward the south.
The South Sea Province.
His next destination.
With these resources, the confidence he had in surviving there had increased considerably.
More importantly...
His strength would continue growing.
Because only by becoming stronger could he face whatever Human Tribulations the Heavenly Dao had prepared for him.
The path ahead was dangerous.
Lin Sheng had already studied the map of the Eastern Region after receiving the Grand Elder's suggestion.
South Sea Province lay at the very edge of the Eastern Region. Beyond it was nothing but an endless stretch of ocean known as the Southern Sea, and scattered across those waters were countless islands that collectively formed the Southern Archipelagos.
It was a place completely different from Dragon Yuan Mountain.
The sea was both a treasure trove and a graveyard.
Resources were abundant, but so were dangers.
After tracing the routes marked on the map with his finger, Lin Sheng quickly understood something unfortunate.
The regional teleportation formations could only take him as far as South Sea Province.
If he wished to continue to the Southern Archipelagos in the future, there were no large-scale teleportation formations connecting the two regions. The only practical option was to board one of the massive spirit airships that regularly travelled across the sea.
Lin Sheng frowned slightly.
The fare alone was enough to discourage ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators. Long-distance airships consumed an astonishing amount of spirit stones to operate, and every journey required powerful experts to escort them.
Even so...
There was no guarantee of safety.
The skies above the Southern Sea belonged to humans only in name.
The waters below were the true domain of aquatic yao beasts.
Whenever an airship crossed the sea, it was almost inevitable that it would encounter beast flocks or powerful aquatic yao beasts capable of launching attacks from below. Some of those creatures could leap hundreds of metres into the air, while others possessed strange innate abilities that could drag an entire airship into the sea.
The journey itself wasn't short either.
Depending on the destination, travelling from South Sea Province to the Southern Archipelagos usually took anywhere from three weeks to an entire month.
A whole month...
Away from land.
Away from any safe refuge.
If something went wrong midway, there would be nowhere to run.
Lin Sheng slowly rolled up the map before putting it away.
"It seems I'll have to prepare a little more."
The Grand Elder's gifts had greatly increased his confidence, but confidence alone wouldn't keep him alive over an endless sea filled with unknown dangers.
Before thinking about the Southern Archipelagos, he first needed to establish himself in South Sea Province, improve his cultivation further, refine the dragon blood, and prepare enough life-saving methods.
Only then would he consider setting foot on the sea.
After all, the ocean had always been a place where strength determined whether one returned... or disappeared forever.