"Forget it, let’s take it slow. Being too hasty isn’t good," Li Lin said lightly, deciding to practice the defensive martial technique first. He took out another jade slip, the Qingling Armor defensive technique. Li Lin wasn’t sure of its level, and Uncle Jiang hadn’t specified.

With a gesture, he channeled a faint stream of energy into the jade slip, and a light entered his forehead from it. Information flowed into his mind, and following the technique, Li Lin activated the defensive skill. He immediately felt his true qi in the dantian qi sea rapidly deplete. Around his body, bizarrely, scales like those of a serpent formed into an armor that shone with a pale yellow light, identical to the color of the Spirit Emperor Beast on his hand.

Observing this change, Li Lin guessed it might be related to the Spirit Emperor Beast. The Qingling Armor was indeed mystical, but it seemed to consume a significant amount of qi. Moreover, the armor formed around his body felt fragile, as if it could disperse at any moment.

"What an incredible effect; it's unbelievable," Li Lin thought, learning from the information in his mind that the Qingling Armor was somewhat aberrant.

The Qingling Armor had two levels: the Human Form, which he just activated, forming a beast-like armor outside his body, and the Beast Form, which would manifest a complete beastly defensive form with even stronger defense.

The most surprising aspect to Li Lin was that extracting essence blood from spirit or demonic beasts could transform the Qingling Armor into the shape of those beasts. However, its only flaw was the enormous consumption of true qi.

Beast and demonic beasts naturally had stronger defenses than martial artists. If the Qingling Armor could manifest in a pure beast form, its defense would significantly increase.

"This defensive technique is truly profound. What kind of person is Uncle Jiang? Everything he provides is extraordinary," Li Lin marveled. Though the Yin-Yang Spirit Martial Technique and Qingling Armor had some disadvantages, they were undoubtedly treasures.

Activating the first form of the Qingling Armor, Li Lin felt his true qi rapidly depleting and promptly deactivated it. As for the second form, he dared not even consider it with his current weak strength.

"I now have both attack and defense techniques," Li Lin smiled slightly, finding his fate peculiar. He had inadvertently traversed to this world, and just as unwittingly, he had become both a martial artist and a spirit practitioner.

"Let’s go out for a walk. Tonight, I’ll learn to concoct pills and forge weapons with Uncle Jiang," Li Lin mused.

He stepped out of the courtyard in the afternoon. The backyard was unusually quiet, and not a single servant was in sight.

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Having explored the backyard these past days, Li Lin walked towards a garden that separated the back and front courtyards. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to enter the garden. According to his original memories, it was a place not just anyone could enter; only senior servants of the Li family had access. However, as a young master, he could go in.

Walking through the garden, despite it being deep winter, Li Lin was impressed by the lush greenery of cold-resistant plants and some that even bloomed in winter. He marveled at the wealth of the Li family, knowing such a garden must be costly to maintain.

As he strolled through the tranquil garden, guessing that the servants might have gone to see the Miss from the Du Gu family, he suddenly heard laughter ahead, indicating that several people were approaching.

"Better not to encounter the people from the Li family," Li Lin guessed that the visitors were probably from the front courtyard of the Li family. From his memories, he knew there were a few people in the front courtyard who always made things difficult for him.

At that moment, Li Lin did not wish to meet those people. Looking around, he spotted a four to five-meter-tall green tree nearby. Its dense leaves could provide a good hiding spot. Swiftly, he used his true qi to climb up the tree, concealing himself behind the foliage. Peering through the gaps in the leaves, Li Lin saw a group of about a dozen people entering from the main gate of the front courtyard.

Observing closely, among the group, Li Lin frowned slightly. Among them were seven young men, aged around fifteen to twenty. He recognized these seven; the one in the front, wearing brocade and luxurious robes, was his half-brother from the same father, Li Shaohu, who was a year younger than Li Lin and had never regarded him highly.

Next to him was a twenty-year-old in blue brocade, Zhou Haiming, the son of Li Lin's second aunt, who lived permanently at the Li family residence.

Close by was another young man in white luxurious attire, with long hair, about sixteen years old, named Li Shaoxiong, the son of Li Lin's fourth uncle.

Li Lin also recognized the other youths; they were relatives from the Li family's side branches. As a martial family, the Li family would usually select children with good potential for training after they turned eight, but Li Lin never had this opportunity.

Among the girls, Li Lin focused on one particular girl. She was about eighteen or nineteen, with black hair flowing down her back and strands framing her face. She wore a red long dress that accentuated her figure and a beautiful bracelet on her fair wrist. Her simple yet elegant attire exuded grace and nobility.

This girl was Li Wushuang, an adopted daughter taken in by Li Lin's eldest uncle. She was the only one in the Li family's front courtyard who treated Li Lin well, occasionally bringing him food and clothes.

Another girl, around seventeen or eighteen, with partly gold hair gathered at the back with a small band wrapped in three striking colors, appeared very noble. Wearing a gold-bordered, gem-studded hairpin, she had an air of arrogance. She was Li Mei, the daughter of a foster son of the Li family's old master. She was not a blood relative but still bore the Li surname. Li Mei never paid much attention to Li Lin.

As Li Lin surveyed these people from the Li family, his only positive impression was of Li Wushuang. His attention involuntarily shifted to a beautifully dressed and noble-looking young girl surrounded by the Li family members.

This girl exuded a high-class aura, and her luxurious attire, combined with her delicate beauty, captivated the young men of the Li family.