As the sun reached its zenith, Yin Ming announced that they would have a meal and rest on the spot. He had just found a place and was about to lie down and take a nap when Ling Yao, after eating a simple meal, began to meditate and cultivate.

That's incredibly diligent; no wonder he's getting stronger.

Yin Ming leaned against the tree trunk and watched with great interest as Ling Yao closed his eyes and meditated.

You asked why Yin Ming doesn't meditate?

For cultivators at the seventh realm, the benefits of meditation have become very limited; it's much faster to go out and gain experience.

Cultivation isn't something you can advance through sheer hard work; once you reach a certain level, talent and comprehension become crucial.

In the world of gods and demons, the lifespan of humans is not only longer than the average in the real world, but if one can successfully begin cultivation, their lifespan will also be extended as their cultivation level increases.

According to the memories in Yin Ming's mind, some ninth-realm experts have lived for over a thousand years.

If advancement could be achieved simply by relying on resentment, there would already be hundreds of level 10 powerhouses.

However, it cannot be said that meditation is completely useless.

Meditation is beneficial for spiritual practice. Whether it is through training or meditation, as long as there is an epiphany, one can advance in spiritual progress.

But no matter how much he advances, can he defeat the male lead after he turns evil? It's more reliable to think of a few more ways to ensure his own survival.

Yin Ming's gaze returned to Ling Yao's face, and as he looked at him, he noticed the problem.

The male protagonist is already at the third realm, so why is he still using the cultivation methods of the first realm?

Oh—it's because the villain in the original story kept things hidden and didn't teach him much, saying that the master leads you in but the cultivation depends on the individual.

Aside from teaching him the most basic Qi cultivation and low-level cultivation techniques, the rest was up to the expert to figure out on his own.

Upon recalling this detail, Yin Ming couldn't help but gasp in astonishment.

The cultivation methods for each realm are different, yet this master managed to advance to the third realm using only the cultivation method for the first realm, and he didn't even suffer a qi deviation. It's simply beyond words.

"When the firefly touches the body, it gathers the spirit into the divine, the energy flows through all the acupoints, and returns to the origin to enter the heart."

Upon hearing this, Lingyao, who was meditating, seemed to understand something. The true energy flowing through his body immediately changed its trajectory and began to circulate more steadily.

After a long while, he opened his eyes: "Thank you for your guidance, Yin Ming."

Sigh, I should.

But this is a good time to build some goodwill.

Yin Ming rested his chin on his hand, closed his eyes for a nap, and said lazily, "No need to be polite. We're friends, right? Friends don't need to say thank you."

"……Um."

"Let's go." Yin Ming patted his clothes and got up. He had already rested for two hours. If he didn't hurry, he would have to spend the night in the wilderness again.

A tree trunk is never as comfortable as a bed in an inn. It's not like we can't afford a place to stay, so why suffer the hardship of sleeping outdoors?

Lingyao silently followed behind Yinming, who walked along kicking stones with a bored expression.

Boring, so incredibly boring. Traveling was tedious enough, and there was no entertainment to keep him entertained. Lingyao didn't talk to him either.

Yin Ming misses his friends in the real world. Every time he goes out with them, it's a group of people laughing and joking. It's so quiet and deserted now.

"Awoo~" A childish roar came from the direction where the stone disappeared.

The bushes rustled, and a fluffy little head poked out, its big, wet eyes filled with grievance and accusation as it glared fiercely at Yin Ming, the instigator.

Yin Ming raised an eyebrow as he stared at the small, purplish-white head. Here comes the entertainment!

Because the young monsters are not fully developed and have no ability to protect themselves, and are surrounded by natural enemies and hunters, they are usually hidden by their mothers in extremely secluded places. Unexpectedly, Yin Ming stumbled upon one of them by chance.

Yin Ming quickly stepped forward, picked up the little monster cub, and petted it for a while.

This magical beast cub is covered in fluffy fur, feels wonderful to the touch, and resembles a cheetah, but its markings are purple and white—it's a Four Realms Purple Cloud Leopard.

Its body was only the size of a kitten, incredibly cute. At this moment, it was scratching its head with its little paws to push away Yin Ming's hand, and it was also spitting out a ball of purple resentment to attack Yin Ming, trying to stop the human in front of it from harassing it.

Don't even mention that this leopard cub is only at the second realm. Even if it grows to the fourth realm, it still won't be a match for Yin Ming. This level of resentment is not even enough to tickle him.

The leopard cub bared its teeth and spat out more than a dozen puffs of resentful energy, but finding that it had no effect and only excited the humans in front of it, it had no choice but to give up struggling and gradually quieted down.

It kept making soft whimpering noises, probably trying to call for its mother's help.

Yin Ming stroked the big cat cub contentedly and then plopped down on the ground.

"Want to pet it?" Noticing Lingyao's gaze fixed on the leopard cub, Yin Ming invited, "Let's pet the cat together, boss."

Lingyao nodded, squatted down, and stroked the leopard cub's fluffy head.

Yin Ming laughed and said, "How is it? Isn't the fur very soft?"

Lingyao saw Yin Ming blush and then nodded.

Their hands accidentally touched, and Lingyao quickly withdrew her hand, her ears turning red this time.

Yin Ming scoffed at Ling Yao's typical social anxiety and continued playing with the leopard cub in his arms.

This little guy is so adorable, I can't get enough of touching him, I really want to take him home.

Although the leopard cub is a magical beast, it seems to also have feline characteristics.

Yin Ming rubbed its head and scratched its chin. Soon, the leopard cub nestled comfortably in Yin Ming's arms, squinting its eyes and purring.

Lingyao seemed to find it very novel, and moved closer to touch the snow-white belly that the leopard cub had turned over.

See? Even big shots are hopelessly addicted to petting cats. It's true that no one can resist the charm of kittens.

"Awoo~~"

A threatening roar suddenly came from the dense forest in the distance. Yin Ming rubbed the leopard cub's head and said nonchalantly, "Ayao, you go ahead."

Lingyao nodded and turned to face the purplish-white figure rapidly approaching from afar—an adult Four Realms Purple Cloud Leopard.

When the purple cloud leopard returned from its outing and saw its cub being held in a human's arms, it bared its teeth and roared angrily, lowering its body to assume an attack posture.

Lingyao's expression was serious, and a flash of light appeared in his hand as an iron sword instantly materialized in his palm.

That was a sword that the villain in the original story casually tossed to him.

Yin Ming tilted his head to look at the broken piece of metal that was worse than unusable, thinking that he would go to the black market tomorrow to buy him a low-grade spirit sword to make do.

What? You're saying he's too stingy and won't even buy him a good sword?

As mentioned earlier, the male protagonist will encounter various opportunities, including the one before his Nirvana, in which he will obtain his own exclusive sword—the Spirit Cry Sword.

This Spirit Cry Sword was originally a mid-grade Saint-level sword, but just like in other cultivation novels, only the protagonist's sword in the whole world can be upgraded.

It's probably because the male protagonist keeps getting stronger, and the author was too lazy to write about changing his weapons.

Other cultivators need to change to a more powerful weapon that matches their level when they advance to a higher realm, but the male protagonist has it much easier; he only has one weapon throughout the entire story.

Later on, the male protagonist will use all sorts of rare and precious materials to upgrade this sword to a high-grade divine level, so there's really no need to worry about him.

If he doesn't have top-tier resources, can he still be called a male lead?

Oh, by the way, just for your information, weapons in the God and Demon Continent are divided into four grades: Mortal, Spiritual, Saintly, and Divine.

Each grade is further divided into low, medium, and high grades, with the divine grade high-grade sword being the most powerful. That's right, the protagonist has the only one of its kind in the entire world.

If Yin Ming were to spend a huge sum of money to buy the male lead a holy sword or something, wouldn't that be a waste of money? Wouldn't it be better to use that money to buy other things?

Besides, swords also possess a spirit, and the male protagonist, with his current cultivation level of the third realm, is not capable of wielding a sacred-grade sword.

It's like asking an ordinary person to ride a divine dragon; they'd be killed by its backlash in no time.

A corresponding realm requires a corresponding sword. For example, Yin Ming's sword is a mid-grade Saint-level sword named Crimson Flame.

This was the name given by the villain in the original story, and Yin Ming was a little disgusted—look at this name, then look at the clothes he was wearing, and then think about the entire red wardrobe in his spatial ring…

This villain seems to have a huge fondness for red. Does he think red is incredibly cool and stylish, perfectly matching his personality?

While Yin Ming was lost in thought, the battle between Ling Yao and the Purple Cloud Leopard was nearing its end.

The gap between realms is like an insurmountable chasm. The fourth realm was originally capable of absolutely crushing the third realm, but Lingyao managed to hold off the Purple Cloud Leopard for half a quarter of an hour thanks to his agile movements.

Yin Ming was already used to it; the protagonist's halo, well, it's just awesome.