Chapter 136 [Cultivation] Spiritual Veins Exhausted

In recent years, the weather in the Cangxuan Realm has become increasingly extreme, with countries suffering from high temperatures or severe cold disasters every year.

Fortunately, Li Chang'an cultivated some targeted spiritual plants, so people's lives were not greatly affected.

Occasionally, netizens will also make fun of the idea of ​​what to do if the world ends.

If the Cangxuan Realm were to face another devastating catastrophe, would the Boundless God Venerable still be there to save us this time?

[Haha, that's all. Just wait to die (not really).]

[The end of the world is still a long way off, so let's hope Li Chang'an can help us. By the way, Li Chang'an, what's your current cultivation level? Why don't you tell us so we can have some peace of mind? Have you been diligently cultivating? When will you ascend to immortality?]

[The way the kids upstairs are being treated like tigers...]

[Stop worrying unnecessarily. Throughout the history of the Cangxuan Realm, there have been periods of extreme cold or heat over the past six thousand years. People even died from heat in dynasties hundreds of years ago. It's all normal. We now have spiritual plants sold by Li Chang'an, and mobile game consoles. We're much happier than people hundreds of years ago.]

Yes, yes, what I'm most worried about right now is whether I can snag some vegetables from Xianshan Farm tomorrow.

Whether the end of the world will come is unknown. Right now, people think that what they will eat for their next meal is more important.

In August, Anguo, located at the westernmost part of Western China, suffered from a high-temperature disaster.

Fortunately, due to the frequent disasters in recent years, countries have exchanged experiences in dealing with them, and with the spiritual plants provided by Li Chang'an, the disasters have not caused much damage.

By the end of September, Anguo was gradually getting cooler.

With the fishing ban over, in Giang An City, Ha Chau Province, located in western An Quoc, fishing fleets are recruiting crew members in preparation for setting sail to fish.

Yi Ming is an ordinary resident of Jiang'an City.

He was originally a sailor, but he recently broke his leg in an accident and has to stay home to recuperate for a while. He won't be able to go to sea this year.

With nothing to do, Yi Ming returned to his hometown village to live.

After the heatwave ended and the weather stabilized, Yi Ming and his parents would occasionally process their catch, and in their spare time, they would turn over the soil and replant some vegetables.

That morning, Yi Ming woke up and vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

Their village has abundant vegetation and beautiful scenery; you can see many green plants every morning when you wake up.

But now, all that can be seen is a desolate scene. In the small vegetable garden in his yard, which had just been watered and fertilized yesterday, the cabbages lay rotting on the ground, and the originally dark yellow soil had turned gray.

"Holy crap, what's going on?!" Yi Ming rubbed his eyes in disbelief and ran to the edge of the vegetable garden.

He crouched down, picked up a handful of gray soil, and examined it carefully.

The village is located by the sea, which is usually the most humid place, but the soil is very dry and feels like rough gravel.

"What's going on?" Yi Ming was completely bewildered.

The parents, who had just gotten up, also noticed something was wrong and rushed over to check together.

"It wasn't like this before I went to bed last night, so I'm not dreaming."

"There's no strange smell, so it can't be contaminated by any substance. What could it be?"

The soil must have been transformed overnight by some extraordinary force.

Yi Ming was completely baffled. "Is it just our house that's become like this? Should we go out and take a look?"

Both parents nodded in agreement.

The three of them walked out of the courtyard gate and saw several villagers gathered not far away.

Over there were a few acres of vegetable fields in the village, and Yi Ming, with his sharp eyes, noticed that the soil was entirely gray.

Upon closer inspection, just like the small vegetable garden in his yard, all the newly sprouted vegetables lay on the ground as if rotting.

Yi Ming heard someone say that the trees in her yard, which had been planted for several years, also withered and died overnight.

"Could it be some kind of monster..." Yi Ming murmured.

"A demonic beast?! A demonic beast doesn't eat people, it just destroys this land?"

"That's possible! These vegetables and trees are all dead, aren't they? And the monsters come in all sorts of shapes and sizes; maybe one of them likes to absorb life force?"

As soon as the villager finished speaking, the other villagers around immediately felt a chill.

This was too strange. They dared not stay there any longer and hurriedly ran to tell the village chief. The village chief did not dare to delay and reported it up the chain of command. He even invited cultivators from the Cultivation Alliance to come and take a look.

The cultivators arrived in the village but did not detect any demonic beasts.

The villagers were relieved to know there were no monsters.

Upon reaching the now gray ground, the cultivator paused, then said, "I can't sense any spiritual energy here at all."

It's not that spiritual energy is scarce, but rather that it's completely devoid of it.

The villagers looked bewildered. Yi Ming pondered for a moment and asked, "Did the land become like this because the spiritual energy disappeared?"

Some villagers also realized, "The spiritual energy has disappeared, what impact will this have on us?"

The cultivator, regaining his senses, could only offer a dry explanation: "The specifics need to be reported to the Cultivation Alliance, and I cannot make a definitive statement. But to be on the safe side, you may first go and live in other places where there is still spiritual energy."

After the cultivator finished speaking hastily, he stopped looking at the bewildered eyes of the people, bowed, and quickly flew away.

"Then what do we do? Should we really listen to the immortal and leave this place?"

"I don't think the absence of spiritual energy will have much of an impact on us, right? How can we just leave like that?"

"Yeah, at most we just can't farm. There are very few people growing vegetables in our city, we all rely on buying them from other places. We can just buy vegetables at the supermarket in town, it's not that far."

Yi Ming sighed: "I'm afraid it's not just our village that's lost its spiritual energy. If the plants in the fields die, what about the fish in the water, the pigs, cattle, sheep, and chickens we raise? If all of these die, then in the end, we humans will die too."

The villagers immediately panicked: "Yi Ming, what nonsense are you spouting? Why are you scaring us for no reason?"

"You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want! Who are you cursing to die for?!"

"If you don't know anything, don't talk nonsense. You were the one who first said there were monsters."

Yi Ming was embarrassed by the villagers' harsh criticism and quickly apologized.

"Alright, stop arguing." The village chief stopped the villagers. "The immortal didn't say anything too definitive. Whether we go or not is up to us. We can just wait and see what the cultivation alliance and the government have to say."

After he finished speaking, he waved his hand and said, "Go home, everyone. What's the rush?"

The villagers hesitated, wanting to say something more, but seeing that the village chief had already turned and walked away, they didn't dare to ask any more questions.

Yi Ming was still apologizing bitterly. After all, he was a young man from the same village whom they had watched grow up. The villagers had already vented their anger and moved on. They couldn't hold a grudge, so they waved their hands and dispersed.

Yi Ming finally breathed a sigh of relief and went home with his parents.

Along the village paths, they could hear other villagers discussing things with a sense of bewilderment.

Are you leaving your house?

"Let's not leave yet. I'll wait and see what the government's arrangements are."

"Sigh, actually I think Yi Ming is quite right. If the land has no spiritual energy, it becomes like this. How far away are the sea and water? I scolded him a few times just now because I was scared..."

The villagers were still reluctant to leave the place they had lived in for so many years. After returning home, they did not rush to pack their luggage and wanted to wait a little longer.

However, in less than three days, the entire village's visible land turned gray, the vegetation died, and there was no life, as if a great fire had burned down, leaving only ashes.

Someone filmed a video and uploaded it online, where netizens are discussing it enthusiastically.

How could this land have suddenly become like this?

[Geological experts say this is not normal geological evolution, and cultivators who came to inspect it said these places have lost their spiritual energy.]

[Quick, check it out! The Cultivation Alliance has released an investigation report! It's because the spiritual veins are depleted!]

[The spiritual veins are depleted? So the spiritual veins we thought had long since disappeared have actually survived until today?]

[I previously thought the loss of spiritual energy wouldn't affect mortals, and seeing the cultivators' anxiety, I felt somewhat detached and that it had nothing to do with me. I never imagined that such a thing would happen when the spiritual veins were truly and completely depleted. Those photos looked like the end of the world, a scene of utter desolation and death.]

[Perhaps the end of the world is really coming...]

The next day, netizens came across videos of another village.

This village is right next to the previous one, and it too is experiencing the depletion of its spiritual energy veins.

People thus understood that the depletion of spiritual veins would spread, and as more and more areas became depleted, the rate of depletion would accelerate.

Half a month later, the spiritual veins of the entire county were completely depleted.

On the surface, the disappearance of the spiritual veins seems to only result in changes in the soil and the death of vegetation.

However, what followed was a series of disasters such as landslides and ground subsidence.

Li Chang'an quickly cultivated batch after batch of high-quality chrysanthemums and sent them to Anguo. Where those high-quality chrysanthemums were planted, the incidents of mountains collapsing and ground subsidence never happened again.

However, no one in the Cangxuan Realm dared to underestimate the harm caused by the depletion of spiritual veins, and anxiety and panic enveloped their hearts.

*

Yi Ming and his parents did not choose to move away, as did most of the villagers.

According to information online, the phenomenon of spiritual vein depletion will spread from the west to the east, and the entire Cangxuan Realm will eventually become like this. If they migrate eastward, then this eastward migration will never stop until there is nowhere left to migrate to.

It's better to stay in your hometown until the very last moment.

The government has done its best to provide subsidies and supplies, so at least for the next two weeks, they can still manage to get by.

Moreover, after the spiritual veins of Yi Ming's village were completely depleted, Li Chang'an devised a way to protect the water resources.

—The flower spirits helped to cultivate a lot of floating duckweed. When the floating duckweed is placed in a water source, even if the area no longer has spiritual energy, the floating duckweed's own spiritual energy will continue to circulate, slowing down the rate at which aquatic creatures perish.

During this process, Yukio, who likes to live alone on the summit of Qingyao Mountain, also helped.

Snowtail's spiritual power is unique and it is close to plants. Plants nourished by its spiritual power become very adaptable to their environment. Therefore, whether it is a spiritual chrysanthemum or a floating duckweed, these plants can survive for a few more days in areas where the spiritual veins are depleted after it casts a spell on them.

The reason why we were able to persuade Xuewei to come down the mountain to help was thanks to the Xueling sheep that Li Chang'an was raising on the Qingyaoshan grassland.

The Snow Spirit Sheep have now reproduced and increased in number. They taste very good, and Snow Tail likes them very much, so she happily went down the mountain.

With ample food, people are more motivated to work.

The scales of the colorful loach collected over the years have also played a role, being scattered into the water to purify it and protect people's water safety.

Life could go on, so the villagers did not resign themselves to fate.

Relying on national resources is not a long-term solution. They received the first-generation Immortal Mountain seeds cultivated by the Xia Kingdom Agricultural Academy and wanted to try to see if they could be grown on this gray land. If all else fails, the hydroponic technology for some crops is already very advanced. Since the water source is not a problem for the time being, they can definitely grow crops hydroponically.

Some independent cultivators born in Anguohezhou Province also took the initiative to return to their hometowns. Those with water or wood spiritual roots would help with planting and ripening, and in the end, they were even able to grow some crops!

Seeing the lush greenery inside the greenhouse, the farmers and monks by the field were thrilled and shouted excitedly, "There's hope! There's hope!"

At this time, the depletion of spiritual veins was no longer limited to Hezhou province in Anguo; more and more lands were turning into a lifeless gray.

People in Hezhou posted photos of crops inside greenhouses online to encourage everyone to cheer up.

The cultivators also posted their experience of cultivating crops from the first generation of immortal mountains online. With the coordination of the Cultivation Alliance, some cultivators with water and wood spiritual roots came to help these areas where spiritual veins were depleted, and they were able to grow some crops for people to eat.

In other areas where the spiritual veins have not yet completely dried up, cultivators have also helped to plant crops to speed up their ripening. In addition to stockpiling them for future use, any surplus will be donated to Anguo.

With disaster looming, conflicts between nations had to be set aside, and even the cultivation sects did not stand idly by, sending their disciples to help overcome the crisis together.

Just when everything seemed to be developing in a positive direction, a strange disease suddenly appeared in the Cangxuan Realm.

Initially, people felt unprecedented fatigue, unable to get enough sleep no matter how much they slept. Later, all bodily sensations decreased; they couldn't taste the temperature or flavor of food, felt nothing when touching things, and experienced weakness in their limbs.

Finally, some people's organs begin to fail, and their skin ages and wrinkles in a very short time.

Some people went to see a doctor in the early stages of their illness, but took ordinary medicine without getting better. It wasn't until their organs began to fail that a doctor prescribed a decoction using medicinal herbs from Xuanling Immortal Mountain, which cured these patients.

It was initially thought that the medicinal herbs from Xuanling Immortal Mountain were of such high quality that people could recover. However, some cultivators and doctors discovered that people suffering from this strange disease had never eaten vegetables from the Immortal Mountain Farm, nor had they eaten vegetables grown with seeds from the first generation of the Immortal Mountain.

The vegetables from Xianshan Farm and the seeds from Xianshan are all imbued with spiritual energy.

Perhaps this strange illness is caused by the depletion of spiritual veins and the scarcity of spiritual energy.

After confirmation by the Cultivation Alliance, this conjecture was confirmed, and the strange disease was officially named "Spiritual Decay Syndrome".

...

"If the spiritual energy disappears, how can mortals get sick?" Li Chang'an was very puzzled inside Xuanling Immortal Mountain.

In the world's perception, it should be cultivators who rely on spiritual energy. However, when spiritual veins are depleted, the effect on cultivators is that they can no longer cultivate, and once the spiritual energy in their bodies is used up, they are gone.

The cultivators who helped with the planting in Anguo relied on the spiritual fruits, vegetables, rice, and tea provided by Li Chang'an to restore their spiritual power.

The sword spirit, who was helping Li Chang'an harvest vegetables, said upon hearing this, "Humans were among the first spirits. Spiritual energy is the origin of the Cangxuan Realm, nourishing the spirits to survive. When spiritual energy disappears, the spirits will inevitably be affected."

Even if mortals don't have spiritual roots, they still need spiritual energy to live. Spiritual energy is generated by spiritual veins, and when spiritual veins dry up and stop generating spiritual energy, mortals will naturally be affected.

Li Chang'an fell silent and focused on packing the vegetables.

The terraced fields on Wolu Mountain have long been cultivated, covering an area of ​​38,000 mu.

He recently broke through to the Tribulation Transcending stage, and the tribulation was conducted on the terraced fields. Seventy-two bolts of heavenly lightning struck down, and with his long-term use of demon beast pills to fertilize the fields, the good spiritual soil of these 38,000 acres of terraced fields was upgraded to high-quality spiritual soil.

On high-quality soil, crops grow faster, and ordinary vegetables can be harvested in just one day.

Li Chang'an plans to donate these vegetables around the world to slow the increase in the number of patients with premature aging.

Xuanling Immortal Mountain is, after all, located within Xia territory. Normally, exporting and selling vegetables in such large quantities would require going through many inspections, which is why Li Chang'an previously only sold fruits, vegetables, and spirit rice within Xia territory.

In contrast, the situation in Xia is much better, with almost no cases of psychic atrophy, while many people in other countries are suffering from it.

This is also thanks to the vigorous promotion of the seeds from the Immortal Mountain. The people of Xia Kingdom eat vegetables of the Immortal Mountain variety every day, and their bodies are also filled with spiritual energy.

Li Chang'an then sought out the Jade Balance Star Lord, asking him to help him navigate the situation in various countries and evade those inspections.

Special circumstances require special measures.

Various countries are struggling with a series of disasters caused by the depletion of spiritual veins, and the vegetables from the Immortal Mountain Farm are like a timely help, so naturally they all listen to him.

Nowadays, the spirit kites are flying around the world every day to deliver food. There aren't enough birdmen, but fortunately, there's the Qingfeng Sect's delivery team. A few days later, the Cultivation Alliance and sects with spirit boats also joined in.

Some of the Qingfeng Sect disciples who were learning alchemy and medicine making were also helping to grow medicinal herbs on Wuying Mountain.

They all have wood spirit roots. After learning from the little ginseng for a period of time, they can also use spiritual power to accelerate the ripening of medicinal herbs. Once the herbs are ripe, they can be processed to treat patients in the late stage of spiritual decline.

I believe that the condition of spiritual aging will improve significantly before long.

However, while spiritual decay is relatively easy to resolve, the problem of depleted spiritual veins remains unresolved for the time being.

Standing at the foot of Wolu Mountain, Li Chang'an looked at the magnificent terraced fields with some regret.

If only there were celestial soil.

Xie Kuling once said that a handful of celestial soil can turn a vast wasteland into fertile land.

These terraced fields are just high-quality soil, far from the legendary celestial soil.

Perhaps only when he ascends to immortality and undergoes the tribulation of lightning can these high-quality spiritual soils be upgraded to immortal-grade spiritual soils.

Even if his cultivation speed could increase several times in the Earth Star Plum Blossom Valley, it would still take him several years to reach the Great Perfection of the Tribulation Transcending Stage.

Given the current rate at which the spiritual veins of the Cangxuan Realm are depleting, can it hold out for that long?

The answer is definitely no.

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Author's Note: I've made some revisions.