Chapter 585: A New Cave Master

Lin Jin wanted to say this to Shu Xiaolou since a long time ago, but he never got the chance to do so. Now that it surfaced in his mind, it was best to ask her about it before he forgot.

After all, Mr. Zhong was a good man. Lin Jin felt obliged to speak up for him, as no one else would have the audacity to discuss this issue with Shu Xiaolou.

“Advance to Rank 6?” Shu Xiaolou didn’t sound concerned at all. “That seems pointless, but since you’re suggesting it, I’ll give it some thought.”

“What’s there to think about? It’s settled then.” Lin Jin was perfectly fine with making decisions for her, even if it meant forcing her to accept it.

“Alright, but Curator has to come and officialize it for me!” said Shu Xiaolou, who started imposing her conditions.

Lin Jin was dumbfounded.

Then, he regained his senses.

Officializing something like this was serious business but they could not navigate around it. In this world, only Curator could overpower Shu Xiaolou when it came to beast appraising.

In other words, the only candidate worthy of officializing Shu Xiaolou would be Curator.

For Lin Jin, this wasn’t a big deal because he was Curator. He easily agreed to it, “I can guarantee you right now that my master will agree to your suggestion. Let’s set a date and I’ll get my master to attend on that day.”

Shu Xiaolou had no objections to his suggestion. Things were settled then.

They agreed that the date would be three months later.

After that, Lin Jin activated the Cosmic Ink to bring Tiger Taoist out of the painting realm.

Back at Dark Wind Cave, Tiger Taoist needed to go into seclusion to recuperate after the removal of corpse energy from his body. He needed to replenish the energy he had lost over the years while Lin Jin needed to teach Clear Wind the Divine Blade Scroll.

Lin Jin looked forward to the training.

As for the Water God Cult on Five Palm Mountain, he wasn’t in a hurry to challenge them anymore. The Four Ocean Gourd had been there for centuries now so a few more days wouldn’t make a difference. Furthermore, Lin Jin had begun to grow skeptical of Tiger Taoist’s evaluation of the Water God Cult.

Tiger Taoist called them a bunch of gangsters, but was that actually true?

Considering how they were able to operate in Arid Continent for so many years, they must have underlying power to support them. Lin Jin wasn’t going to let his guard down while he was here.

Tiger Taoist’s cave was big enough to offer Lin Jin a room. Lin Jin placed the Clear Wind Sword on the stone table, sat down, and started reciting the Divine Blade Scroll’s formula.

After reciting it once, Lin Jin paused to observe the Clear Wind Sword. The weapon that was lying still on the table started quivering like an excited child.

Lin Jin grinned.

That’s right. Even a person like him, who didn’t really care for swordsmanship, was attracted by the Divine Blade Scroll’s teachings. If even he liked it, a sword spirit would surely love it.

Using the same analogy from before, it was like giving the tiger of a temple a taste of fresh meat for the first time. Once that happened, it would come to appreciate how delicious the taste of meat was.

The same could be said for Clear Wind Sword. The sensations he felt were probably even stronger.

The next instant, a phantom emerged from the sword, taking the form of Banner Master Clear Wind. Clear Wind looked thrilled and quickly bowed at Lin Jin in respect.

Lin Jin was satisfied with his reaction and began explaining his interpretation of the Divine Blade Scroll.

These came from Lin Jin’s private stash of information. As he had personally cultivated, researched, and assimilated the technique, he had a bit of experience to share. These experiences would surely set Clear Wind on an express path of cultivation.

Lin Jin began to elaborate on the details of the technique, and it took several hours for him to convey the knowledge he gathered to Clear Wind.

Then, Banner Master Clear Wind’s phantom bowed deeply at Lin Jin. His body transformed into a stream of light before it returned to the sword. After that, the sword glowed as if it was floating on a cloud. A kaleidoscope of colors surged around it, making it an incredibly fascinating sight.

Clear Wind must be in the midst of digesting the Divine Blade Scroll. Looks like teaching Clear Wind this technique was a wise decision after all. It would surely work, but Lin Jin wasn’t sure precisely how effective it was.

Without disturbing Clear Wind’s assimilation of the Divine Blade Scroll, Lin Jin started wandering around Tiger Taoist’s cave. Tiger Taoist sensed Lin Jin emerging from seclusion so he approached him.

“Hahaha, Brother Lin, it’s all thanks to you that I can finally feel so relaxed after so many years.” Now that Tiger Taoist had made a full recovery, he seemed to be in a flourishing state.

To be tortured by corpse energy for centuries was clearly not a comforting experience. It was a miracle that Tiger Taoist was strong enough to last so long. Compared to him, other people might have turned into a zombie by now.

Lin Jin helped Tiger Taoist analyze his wound, and sure enough, Tiger Taoist made a complete recovery. The corpse energy was all gone and the wound on his back had finally closed up.

Although he was alright now, Tiger Taoist still lost a lot. For centuries, his cultivation remained stagnant. In Lin Jin’s opinion, Tiger Taoist was the weakest among all the Six Beast Taoists he had met thus far.

He couldn’t even compare to Insect Taoist.

However, when one considered Tiger Taoist’s talents, it clearly wouldn’t take long for him to improve.

Lin Jin didn’t tell Tiger Taoist all that. He suggested that they go around the cave and unite the monsters.

When Lin Jin and Tiger Taoist appeared together, the monsters in the cave greeted them in unison.

Among them were monsters who had defected to Lin Jin’s side.

Tiger Taoist was an easygoing character. When Lin Jin previously mentioned that he wanted to unite the monsters and lead them on the right path, Tiger Taoist took him seriously. Speaking of which, Tiger Taoist felt guilty for neglecting the monsters in the cave, who had remained loyal to him for centuries. He was too carefree to lead Dark Wind Cave. All these years, he had been delegating his responsibilities to his henchmen, Clear Wind and Wild Wind.

Now that he had regained his health, Tiger Taoist planned to retire from his position. After all, he had so many things to do. One of them was to seek revenge on Corpse Taoist – this was his top priority.

After gathering the monsters, Tiger Taoist renounced his title as cave master to Lin Jin.

It had been just one simple sentence.

“Greetings, New Cave Master!” The quick-thinking monsters greeted Lin Jin at once.

Now that some have spoken, the rest of the monsters swiftly followed suit. They wanted to greet Lin Jin before everyone else.

Success!

It came much easier than Lin Jin expected. He had Tiger Taoist to thank for this.

According to Tiger Taoist, most of the monsters here began their cultivation here at Dark Wind Cave so their loyalty could be depended on. As a precaution, Lin Jin selected about a dozen banner masters with potential and fed them the monster-locking pill before teaching them the orthodox Beast Energy Formation.