Mortal: Starting with the Golden Jade Book

a few days later.

Linzhou border.

A horse-drawn carriage, driven by its driver, moved at a steady pace along the official road.

Inside the carriage, a young man and woman sat facing each other. The man was handsome and dashing, while the woman was stunningly beautiful.

However, despite being so close, there was no hint of romance or ambiguity between them; instead, there was a rather awkward atmosphere.

Lin Zui continued to peruse Xin Ruyin's book on formations, ignoring Yan Ruyan's somewhat hostile gaze.

After escaping from Yanliang Mountain that day, Lin Zui first found a secluded cave and, while Yan Ruyan was unconscious, planted several restrictive secret techniques on her, including the God-Suppressing Technique.

When Yan Ruyan woke up and learned the whole story, she was unwilling but could only accept her fate for the time being. However, she still held onto hope that Yan Yan could find her and rescue her from this man.

But soon, she heard that the Yan family had abandoned a large number of mortals and low-ranking disciples and fled the Yue Kingdom in a sorry state while being pursued by the seven factions.

Even the cultivation world of several surrounding countries issued arrest warrants for the Yan family cultivators, supposedly because the Yan family, in order to curry favor with the Ghost Spirit Sect, had all the cultivators sent by their sect to participate in the treasure-hunting competition killed.

In an instant, the Yan family became the enemy of the world. They were too busy fleeing to save her.

Having figured out the situation, Yan Ruyan felt hopeless about her future. She didn't know how the person in front of her planned to deal with her, and thinking of some terrible rumors, she felt utterly dejected.

Fortunately, in the following days, the other party did not use any means to torture her, but also did not take her traveling by magic weapon. Instead, they restrained their magic power, rented a carriage in the mortal world, and traveled slowly. No one knew what they were planning.

"Fellow Daoist Lin, where exactly do you intend to take me? The Yan Family Fortress is now a pack of dogs, they can't possibly be chasing you anymore. Even if you want to lay low, these many days should be enough, right?"

Yan Ruyan originally thought that since Lin Zui had captured her and placed so many restrictions on her, the next step would be coercion, bribery, and various forms of torture to force her to comply with his demands.

However, nothing happened. For several days, Lin Zui remained silent, quietly sitting in the car studying the book on formations in his hand. Apart from introducing their current situation to her at the beginning by name, he did not say another word to her.

Unfortunately, her cultivation was restricted, preventing her from even practicing. Frustrated and unable to bear it any longer, she finally took the initiative to ask.

Lin Zui kept his eyes straight ahead, looking quite aloof. However, this was not intentional on his part. Rather, whether in his past life or this one, he had little experience interacting with women. Therefore, facing the stunningly beautiful Yan Ruyan, he was somewhat... at a loss for words.

It has to be said that a woman who is this beautiful is very attractive, and this attractiveness doesn't matter whether you are a cultivator or not. Those who say that you can sever emotions and desires after cultivation are pure nonsense.

At least for Lin Zui, who had been a virgin in two lifetimes, it was difficult to remain calm when such a beautiful woman was in front of him.

I almost lost control when I placed the restriction on her. After she woke up, I wanted to talk to her about refining spiritual roots, but I didn't know where to start.

After thinking it over, he decided to leave her alone and start studying the formation to distract himself, intending to talk to her again once he had completely calmed down. Unexpectedly, before he could even speak, the woman couldn't hold back anymore.

"Miss Yan, you misunderstand. It's not that I'm afraid of the people from Yan Family Fortress, but rather that people from the seven factions have been coming and going these past few days, and I don't want to run into them and cause trouble."

"What, fellow cultivator, have you also offended one of the seven sects?"

Yan Ruyan asked.

Lin Zui smiled and shook his head.

"Hehe, of course not. I am a cultivator from Huangfeng Valley. This time, I have saved the lives of some Foundation Establishment cultivators for the seven sects. I should be considered to have made a contribution."

"If that's the case, why are you hiding from the seven sects of cultivators?"

Lin Zui remained silent, looking at her. Yan Ruyan was a smart woman and quickly figured out the reason.

"Is it because of me?"

"Hehe, Miss Yan's identity is indeed quite sensitive, and I have no way to explain it to others, so I have no choice but to keep a low profile."

"You have not only risked your life for this young lady, but now you have even abandoned your sect. I suppose there must be something on Ruyan that you absolutely need."

Yan Ruyan seemed to be deep in thought.

"Could it be because of Ruyan's innate spiritual root aptitude?"

Yan Ruyan tried to ask, but apart from that, she really couldn't think of anything about her that would make this person take such a big risk and be so determined to get her.

"Hehe, Miss Yan is indeed very clever. Since you've guessed it, then I won't beat around the bush."

Lin Zui put down his book and said with a smile:

"Indeed, the cultivation technique I practice requires the assistance of your Heavenly Spiritual Root to temper it. If you succeed in the future and wish to leave, as long as you swear an oath to your inner demons that you will never reveal my secret, I can set you free."

Yan Ruyan was stunned upon hearing this, unable to believe that things could be so simple.

"...I wonder how Brother Lin would like Ruyan to assist him?"

Lin Zui thought for a moment, then decided it was a bit difficult to say, so he simply engraved the "Five Elements Transformation Technique" onto the jade slip and tossed it over.

"These are the details of the cultivation method I practice. Miss Yan will understand them clearly after reading them."

Yan Ruyan nodded and began to examine the jade slip with her divine sense. However, after only a moment, her face burned like fire. Her jade hands, placed on her lap, gripped the hem of her clothes, and she bit her red lips tightly, clearly extremely embarrassed.

A hint of embarrassment flashed across Lin Zui's face. He naturally knew why the other party was acting this way. It was because the so-called method of tempering spiritual roots required the cultivator with a heavenly spiritual root to actively gather extremely pure spiritual root energy into the other party's body to nourish the other party's spiritual root.

For spiritual energy to enter the other person's body, it must be done during sexual intercourse between a man and a woman, when their bodies are connected. This was naturally extremely difficult for Yan Ruyan, who was inexperienced in such matters.

Lin Zui didn't urge her, but waited quietly. After a long time, Yan Ruyan put down the jade slip. Although her face was still flushed, she had obviously calmed down.

"how?"

Lin Zui asked.

"Fellow Daoist Lin, may I ask you a question? Where did this cultivation technique come from?"

Yan Ruyan looked solemn. There was no way around it; this cultivation technique had simply shocked her too much.

Although Yan Family Fortress is not considered a major power, it has hundreds of cultivation techniques passed down within its clan. The Hidden Moon Sect, with its thousands of years of history, has an even more vast collection of techniques.

Because of her exceptional talent and high status, although she couldn't possibly master all of these techniques, she could certainly take a look at them.

However, no matter what kind of cultivation method it is, it is utterly insignificant in front of this "Five Elements Transformation Technique" and is not even in the same league.

Is this really a cultivation technique that exists in the human realm?

"I suppose you've noticed something, fellow Daoist. Indeed, this cultivation technique doesn't originate from the human realm, or even the spirit realm, but from a higher level, the True Immortal Realm. This is a genuine immortal cultivation technique."

"The True Immortal Realm? Fellow Daoist, are you joking? How could immortal cultivation techniques possibly have spread to the mortal realm, let alone fallen into the hands of a Qi Refining cultivator like yourself?"

Yan Ruyan's mouth was slightly open, her face full of shock and disbelief, yet also with a hint of anticipation.

"Isn't opportunity simply turning the impossible into the possible? Miss Yan already has her own judgment, so why ask again?"

Seeing Lin Zui's calm and confident demeanor, Yan Ruyan finally began to believe him a little.

"There really is a celestial cultivation technique... and Brother Lin is actually a cultivator with five spiritual roots."

"Yes, that's why I need Miss Yan's help. Otherwise, with my cultivation speed, it would be a stroke of luck if I could even break through to the Foundation Establishment stage."

"Indeed, according to the cultivation method, tempering one's spiritual roots can greatly increase Brother Lin's cultivation speed. If all five spiritual roots can be tempered, one can even cultivate many wondrous and unpredictable great supernatural abilities, however..."

Yan Ruyan paused, and after weighing her options, as if she had finally made up her mind, she looked at Lin Zui and said, word by word:

"What if I don't want to?"