I’ll Take That Opportunity Chapter 18 - Huang Xiao's New Opportunity

At that moment, Ye Lin perceived a new opportunity connected to Huang Xiao and couldn’t help but sigh.

[Name: Huang Xiao]

[Cultivation base: 6th layer Qi Refinement]

[Fate grade: (white)]

[Fate trait: lone star of misfortune]

[Fate prediction: in four months, during a devil subjugation task, you will be drained of lifeblood by a deviant devil and perish.]

[Upcoming opportunity: feeling bored, you will visit Tianfeng City the day after tomorrow, and then indulge in pleasure at Windblossom Manor. On your way back to the sect the following day, you’ll discover a dying 9th layer Qi Refinement demon beast in Moonlit Valley. You will slay it and find an undigested low-grade mystic-tier spirit herb, the Nine Death Reviving Grass, in its body, which you’ll keep as a trump card.]

[Lone star of misfortune: the closer you get to others, the more misfortune befalls them. Those bearing this fate are destined for loneliness.]

Upon seeing Huang Xiao’s new opportunity, Ye Lin clicked his tongue. It seemed foreordained that the other party would go down the mountain the day after tomorrow to seek enjoyment.

After seizing Huang Xiao’s previous opportunity, fate had compensated him with another.

As the saying went: What is destined will come to pass, and what isn’t should never be forced.

"Nine Death Reviving Grass… that’s quite a treasure."

Though Ye Lin hadn't spent long in the world of cultivation, even he had heard of the Nine Death Reviving Grass—a miraculous healing herb that required no refinement into a pill.

No matter how severe the injury, it could snatch someone from the brink of death.

Of course, its effects were limited to cultivators below the Nascent Soul stage.

"Time to verify the authenticity of this sword method."

With that thought, Ye Lin made his way down the mountain. Cultivating this sword method within Azure Cloud Sect was too dangerous. If discovered, the consequences would be unimaginable.

If a disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect were ever caught cultivating a treasured cultivation method from another sect, execution would be inevitable.

After arriving at a deserted spot, Ye Lin took out the Sword Manipulation Method and began to study it carefully. The more he read, the more astonished he became.

Two hours passed before Ye Lin finally closed the book, his heart filled with shock.

"It really is the Heavenly Sword Sect’s Sword Manipulation Method." Ye Lin muttered under his breath.

This technique was undeniably mystic-tier, and as such, it could only be a treasured sword method of the Heavenly Sword Sect.

How a mere Foundation Establishment rogue cultivator had come into possession of it, Ye Lin had no idea—but at this point, it didn’t matter.

Without hesitation, he burned the book to ash.

Then, he began to cultivate.

The Sword Manipulation Method was divided into three levels.

The first level, Sword Manipulation, allowed the practitioner to strike down enemies from a distance.

The second level, Sword Control, allowed the practitioner to treat the sword as an extension of the body. Wherever their will extended, the sword would follow.

The third level, Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Source, was as its name implied—summoning ten thousand swords. However, this profound technique could only be cultivated after reaching the Gold Core stage.

Both the Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment stages lacked the spirit qi capacity to activate Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Source.

"Let’s begin."

Closing his eyes, Ye Lin carefully visualized every detail of the sword art in his mind. His spirit qi surged and swirled, coursing wildly through his meridians.

Cultivation was a long and tedious process. Yet under Ye Lin’s focused restraint, two days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the second night—

"Hah! Slash!"

A sudden shout broke the stillness of the night. In the next instant, a sword light cleaved through the darkness, and a towering tree over ten meters tall came crashing down.

Ye Lin nodded in satisfaction.

Behind him, a sword floated quietly in midair, sword qi swirling around it like living currents of light.

"I’ve finally reached the entry stage of the first level. I can barely manipulate the sword in midair now… but the spirit qi consumption is absurd."

Watching the rapid depletion of spirit qi within his dantian, a trace of helplessness flashed across Ye Lin’s face.

The Sword Manipulation Method was undeniably powerful. With his current strength, Ye Lin was confident he could take the life of any 6th layer Qi Refinement cultivator within a ten-meter radius.

"Tomorrow is the day of Huang Xiao’s opportunity. Once I seize it, I’ll go into closed-door cultivation. There’s less than a month before Zhang Xiao emerges from seclusion."

"Once I absorb the demon core and those three mid-grade Spirit Stones, breaking through to the 7th layer Qi Refinement stage will be a certainty. With all my trump cards combined, even Zhang Xiao won’t be a threat to me."

"I must raise my cultivation base as quickly as possible… and secure a spot as an inner disciple before the secret realm opens. Then, I’ll be able to enter and search for its treasures." Ye Lin muttered to himself.

The Azure Cloud Sect’s dominance in the region rested on the existence of this secret realm—one whose exact contents remained a mystery. Presumably, only the sect’s senior figures knew what lay within.

What was certain, however, was that the secret realm opened once every ten years and was said to be filled with spirit herbs, spirit fruits, and countless treasures.

Ye Lin’s heart burned with desire at the thought.

"There’s four or five months left… if I encounter a few fortuitous chances along the way, I might even break through to the 9th layer Qi Refinement stage. If not, reaching the 8th layer should still be within reach."

"The 8th layer Qi Refinement stage—that should be enough." Ye Lin thought to himself.

At that stage, he would already rival a small number of inner disciples in strength. Coupled with his various trump cards, becoming an inner disciple would no longer be out of reach.

Having made up his mind, Ye Lin’s figure flickered a few times before vanishing into the darkness, swiftly moving toward Moonlit Valley to claim Huang Xiao’s opportunity for himself.

Upon arriving at Moonlit Valley, Ye Lin lay prone in the grass, his gaze fixed on the clearing ahead. There was no sign of a dying demon beast yet.

Having experienced several opportunities by now, Ye Lin was patient and composed. He simply lay there in silence, waiting.

Hours passed—six, maybe ten—and then, a flicker of movement caught his eye.

Suddenly, a massive tiger and a colossal bear emerged in front.

Roar!

The two 9th layer Qi Refinement demon beasts let out earth-shaking howls and immediately clashed, shaking the ground beneath them.

The demon bear wielded boulders and trees as weapons, smashing them toward the demon tiger, which retaliated with lightning-fast pounces and bone-rending claws.

The violent battle lasted over a dozen minutes, leaving Ye Lin utterly awestruck. Neither of these fierce beasts was an opponent he could contend with at his current strength.

After an intense struggle, the demon bear was left at death’s door, its entrails spilling onto the blood-soaked earth.

The demon tiger roared several times in triumph before finally turning and leaving the valley.

A low, guttural sound escaped the demon bear’s throat as its massive head dropped, slamming heavily onto the ground. It lost consciousness.

Just then, a faint golden radiance shimmered around the demon bear’s abdomen.

"The Nine Death Reviving Grass!" Ye Lin’s eyes lit up.

Without hesitation, he sprang from the grass, hands forming a sword seal. A brilliant sword ray surged forth like a flash of lightning, instantly splitting the demon bear’s head clean in two.

The high-grade basic-tier sword in his possession was exceptionally sharp—far beyond what Qi Refinementdemon beasts could withstand.

Without wasting a breath, Ye Lin rushed to the demon bear’s side and reached into its abdominal cavity, and then pulled out the spirit herb—Nine Death Reviving Grass.

"It’s intact… not yet refined."

Ye Lin’s face lit up with joy. According to the panel, the Nine Death Reviving Grass Huang Xiao was fated to acquire was supposed to be half-refined. Yet the one now resting in Ye Lin’s palm was completely whole—its medicinal power at its peak.

Without hesitation, he placed the spirit herb into his Interspatial Ring.

One of the greatest advantages of an Interspatial Ring was that items stored within it wouldn’t spoil or decay. The space inside was static—unaffected by the passage of time. Even if a freshly steamed bun were placed inside, it would remain soft and warm a thousand years later, perfectly preserved.