Having eaten the Immortal Apple, Lin Mu felt the surge of Immortal qi as well as slight amount of vital essence. The energies were absorbed by his Stomach and quickly channeled into the rest of his body. Content © 2024.

His Three apertures greedily absorbed all the Immortal essence as they spun like vortexes. He had reached the completion of the Aperture Opening realm and had all three of his apertures opened.

But to progress to the next realm, he would have to start linking them. When he did that he would step into the Aperture linking realm and it was a tough task.

So far he had not made much progress in it and the same could be said for his Tyrant Bull Marrow Secrets.

'So far both have been progressing at a similar pace, but I might be able to boost at least one of them once Alchemist Ruoxian is done with the pills.' Lin Mu thought.

The Hundred Vicissitudes Essence Pill had been commission by Lin Mu for a while and he simply needed to wait for the man to done.

'By the time we're done, he might just come here to deliver.' Lin Mu remembered the man's promise. 'Hopefully it is before the time for the expedition with Qiao De and Crown Prince.' He reckoned.

Lin Mu had faith in the alchemist and didn't mind waiting.

'I still have other things to progress in after all.' He thought to himself.

As such, Lin Mu decided to cultivate till tomorrow. While it might not progress much, even a little was good.

"At the very least, it'll get me in the mindset again." Lin Mu muttered to himself.

With that in mind, he simply sat down underneath the Immortal Apple Tree while Little Shrubby also curled up nearby. Xukong floated a short distance from him and had his eyes closed, as if thinking.

Starting his standard session, Lin Mu simply chanted the Calming Heart Sutra.

~HONG~

But when he did, he found something different.

'What?' Lin Mu could feel the esoteric and calming chants in his own mind.

What was surprising was that this wasn't his own voice!

But rather it felt like tens of monks were chanting in his mind.

"What is this?" Lin Mu felt a bit confused.

Xukong heard his voice and opened his eyes wondering what was happening.

~HUALA~

But then a second later, Lin Mu's eyes automatically closed and a peaceful expression appeared on his face. No chants came from him, yet his aura felt calm and peaceful.

"This… this is what happens when he uses the Calming Heart Sutra. But he's not chanting it?" Xukong narrowed his ten eyes, taking a deeper look.

He even used his link with Lin Mu and felt the partial effects of the sutra.

'A new change?' Xukong shifted to using his memory link and saw what Lin Mu was experiencing. 'He's hearing the Buddhist chants in his mind?!' he finally understood.

He didn't disturb Lin Mu anymore and withdrew his senses. Two hours passed like this before Lin Mu finally opened his eyes.

A calm aura shrouded him and no sliver of anxiety could be felt from him. Instead he felt like a rock that had stayed in the same place for hundreds of years.

"You progressed?" Xukong asked while also checking Lin Mu's cultivation base. 'No change in that…' he noticed.

"I did… my proficiency improved." Lin Mu said lightly. "The Calming Heart Sutra… it has reached the third stage of proficiency." He revealed.

"The third stage…" Xukong remembered that Lin Mu had told him about the different stages of the sutra.

The first and second stages were the external comprehension stages.

In the first stage of external comprehension, Lin Mu could only affect himself with the sutra. Whereas in the second stage, he could start using on the others.

They had known that there were more stages but they were unknown until Lin Mu actually grasped them.

For several years Lin Mu had been stuck at the second stage and had no idea how he could progress. Though at the same time, he didn't find it as lacking and was able to use the Nine Divine Heart Sutras with no issues.

Calming Heart Sutra, Severing Heart Sutra, Burning Heart Sutra and Nurturing Heart Sutra, all four of them were at the Second Stage of External comprehension.

The only sutra that had not progressed was the Murdering Heart Sutra and that was for a good reason too. Using that sutra was even more dangerous than the Burning Heart Sutra and came at a cost to Lin Mu's mind.

He had the goal of improving it too, but just couldn't take the risk of doing it here. Lin Mu had decided that he would stay in an isolated location where others wouldn't see him other than a trusted few which were his pets, the Saintess, and of course Senior Xukong.

After all, if even a hint of the Devil Path's aura was sensed by the people here, it could lead to grave consequences. Especially when all the powers were on high alert after Yao Changying's actions.

Then there was the fact that the Temple was involved too and there had been a recent appearance of the 'demon' that stole the Violet Mystic Life Tree.

Lin Mu had dodged that by disguising with his transformation, but the same would not work for the Murdering Heart Sutra.

Plus the people of the temple were everywhere, and so were the guardian beasts that were awake.

It would be disastrous to try something like that.

But the Calming Heart Sutra was a safe option that no one would question. His progress had now hit the third stage too which would help him in the tournament.

"So what is the third level ?" Xukong questioned.

"The Third level of the Calming Heart Sutra is the Third Stage of Internal Comprehension Stage. It seems I no longer need to physically chant to get the effects of the sutra. But I can only affect myself with it right now." Lin Mu answered.