Chapter 108 Planning

After bidding farewell to his master, Ji An rode a gray-feathered sand goose and headed towards Lingxiao Mountain.

Amidst the clear blue sky and verdant mountains, his flowing robes exuded an otherworldly elegance.

Halfway through the journey, the beast circled back and forth, recalling painful memories of the past.

A few days ago, on this very route, after stopping at a green mountain, it nearly lost its life.

Now, as time overlaps and memories resurface, it feels a faint burning pain in its trachea.

Ji An chuckled and reached out to stroke the soft feathers on the sand goose's neck a few times:

"Wherever my master goes, even if it's a path frost and snow, I, as his tamed beast, will follow him to the death."

You're quite something, though; you're not very capable, but your ability to avoid trouble and seek good fortune is ingrained in your bones. Let's go!

The sand geese cried out a few times, then reluctantly continued flying forward, their speed decreasing.

Ji An was furious and slapped himself hard on the back, thinking to himself that sometimes having too much spirituality in your beast taming isn't a good thing.

If you're going to raise fighting beasts in the future, choose a fearless, tough one. Don't worry about how smart it is; just make sure it's ready to fight when needed.

The beast, in pain, flapped its wings a little faster.

After a long while, the sand goose landed in front of the Qin Gong Hall on the mountainside, looking exhausted, and lay motionless on the ground.

The iron horns of several grand halls neighed clear and melodiously before their eaves.

Ji An hurried to the Transmission Hall. The cultivator guarding it today had changed, but there was still a pile of jade slips on the table, with one jade slip pasted on his forehead.

Are librarians allowed to view most of the jade slips for free?

He felt a pang of envy as he found the jade slip containing the Spirit Sealing Technique in the spell area and placed it on the table along with his identity jade token.

"Please trouble you, senior brother, to exchange for the spell."

Although the spiritual pressure emanating from the cultivator was strong, it was far inferior to that of Master Zhu. He should be a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

"It's actually a spirit-sealing technique. Without the cultivation of the Chaoyuan stage, one can only learn the basics of this spell."

It's a waste of time and not very useful at all, haha.

The cultivator picked up the jade token to deduct the corresponding contribution points, then picked up the jade slip again and placed it on his forehead, saying calmly:

"Copy it yourself."

Ji An took out a blank jade slip, copied the spell, bowed slightly, and turned to leave.

He walked slowly back to the Qin Gong Hall, and saw that the sand goose was still lying on the ground pretending to be dead. He sneered and turned to step into the hall.

After exchanging a few words with Ye Changqing, he spent 1,000 contribution points to purchase 50 communication talisman swords.

He sipped some spiritual tea, chatted for a while, and then took his leave.

"Senior brother, let's talk again another day. Remember to let me know after you've cleared out Crimson Flame Peak."

"Don't worry, I won't forget my duty."

Ye Changqing shook his head. "I really do sleep, but I've never made a mistake in my work."

As Ji An walked out of the main hall, he came to the beast and saw that it was still dead. He pinched his fingers and flicked them, and a golden light disappeared into the soil next to its head.

The sand goose suddenly felt a sharp glint, like a knife or axe at its body, and even with its feathers covering its body, it still felt a chill.

It was so frightened that its fur stood on end, its closed eyes wide open but it dared not move.

"It needs fixing, get up."

Ji An gave a shout, and Sha Yan straightened up, beaming with energy, and let out a fawning cry.

When it turned back, it saw that it was the way back, so it flew fast and steadily.

Ji An picked up the jade slip containing the Spirit Sealing Technique, placed it on his forehead, and read it with his divine sense. The sheer amount of information inside surprised him.

Previously, the spell with the most information he had come into contact with was the Thick Earth Returning to Origin Spell, which only had a few hundred words in its incantation and the insights of his predecessors. The Spirit Sealing Technique, on the other hand, was a lengthy spell with tens of thousands of words, exceeding his understanding of spells and even more words than his cultivation techniques.

It mentions the essence of the five elements, but the description is very obscure.

It explains the generating and restraining relationships among the five elements in a profound and obscure way, and analyzes the principles of sealing in detail, which makes reading it even more daunting.

The message ends with a text of over three hundred words containing the mantra, but there are no experiential insights or experiences to draw upon.

At the end is a helpful tip:

"Divine will cannot be transmitted; it depends entirely on one's own enlightenment. Those who understand will understand; if one's level is not high enough, it is useless to explain it."

Cultivators below the Chaoyuan stage should skip the theoretical foundation and directly practice the spells, since you won't understand them anyway.

Remember this! Remember this!

After quickly skimming through the information in the jade slip, Ji An was both amused and exasperated by its perverse humor, inwardly muttering:

"Skipping the theoretical foundation and going straight to practicing spells—shouldn't this prompt be on the first line?!"

The explanation of the technique mentions that everything can be sealed, and it is said that it can not only seal the loss of spiritual energy of spiritual plants, but also, at a high level, seal the spiritual power of a Golden Core cultivator, and even seal spiritual veins.

The explanation of the essence of the Five Elements is shrouded in mystery and uses many metaphors, which greatly increases the difficulty of understanding the theory.

Ji An did not continue to study the theoretical basis of magic, but instead readily began to ponder the incantations of magic.

Some things can never be understood unless you reach a certain level of understanding, just like a primary school student who has just learned multiplication tables trying to solve calculus—it's hopeless.

Once I've collected ten Dao Seeds, I might try researching the Spirit Sealing Technique.

The geese cried out, and Ji An only realized he had returned to Ningcui Cliff when he heard the signal from his steed to land.

After nearly two hours of flying, he still hadn't mastered the Spirit Sealing Technique to the basics.

At this moment, he began to believe the words in the incantation to some extent.

A communication talisman sword flashing with white light flew from afar, and Ji An caught it with his hand.

After sensing the magical imprint attached to it, he used his divine sense to read the information inside. The talisman sword came from Li Lingyu, who invited him to a small gathering at the other party's cave at the beginning of the Si hour three days later.

The message stated that Liu Yu and several others were going to discuss their future cultivation, and asked him to try not to be absent.

Ji An nodded slightly. He hadn't yet sent out the news of his breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment stage, so it was time to make an appearance and announce the good news.

He also wanted to inquire about the details to be aware of when moving into the cave, as the cave's magic array would definitely need to be replaced.

Previously, his cultivation level wasn't high enough to force his way into the Foundation Establishment stage circle. In the future, he needs to interact more with his senior brothers and sisters, and also strengthen his ties with Zhang Yuanshan and others.

Studying alone without friends leads to ignorance and limited knowledge; at the very least, one will have more channels to obtain information.

The day when the sect distributes Foundation Establishment Pills is approaching. If Zhao Mengyao manages to get one, it won't be difficult for her to establish her foundation with her superior aptitude.

By this calculation, he has already established the foundation for a small circle of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Maintaining contact and cultivating this network will also serve as a deterrent to those who covet it.

I embarrassed Zhu Qinghao and Chen Xingyun a few days ago, so I might try to trip him up.

Thinking of this, Ji An took out two communication talisman swords. He sent one to Li Lingyu, telling her that he would keep the appointment on time; and sent the other to Zhang Yuanshan, asking if the magic artifact he had consigned a few years ago had been sold. If it had not been sold, he would pick it up tomorrow.

More than three years have passed, and it still hasn't been sold. That means no cultivator is interested in it. It would be better to take it to the Immortal City for sale.

An hour later, a message from Zhang Yuanshan flew back, containing only four words: 'The magic weapon is still here.'

Ji An chuckled and tossed the talisman sword aside.

As dusk fell, the last rays of the sun faded into the evening breeze, leaving the deep sky ablaze with starlight.

He ate a quick meal and began meditating to cultivate the Green Wood Everlasting Spring Technique. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth flowed through his immortal meridians, and the water and wood elements in his acupoints emitted a barely perceptible spiritual light.

After the immortal vein could no longer withstand the prolonged erosion of spiritual energy, Ji An rested for a while and began practicing spells. He chose to practice the Sharp Metal Technique and the Golden Armor Technique.

He has obsessive-compulsive disorder and plans to practice these Qi Refining stage spells to the Great Perfection level before practicing the corresponding Foundation Establishment stage spells.

He gained a slight bonus from obtaining the Dao Seed first, and sharpening his axe before chopping wood was never a waste of time. Now that he had enough mana to spare, he had more time to practice his spells.

The stone tortoise can absorb various kinds of spiritual energy in Crimson Flame Peak. It frequently uses the three planting techniques and improves its spiritual energy through refining, allowing it to maintain rapid progress.

Ji An decided to focus his main efforts on metal-based magic, with fire-based magic as a secondary focus.

This way he could quickly improve his combat abilities. He didn't plan to spend a lot of money to buy magic weapons or spiritual artifacts for the time being, and used the remaining spirit stones to purchase pills.

After being tempered during the Foundation Establishment stage, he felt that his aptitude, even if not reaching the top grade, was not far off. Now, his efficiency in refining spiritual energy had improved significantly, and the medicinal power wasted from taking pills was also reduced by several times compared to before Foundation Establishment.

Taking elixirs is much more efficient at increasing cultivation than simply absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth, so the medication cannot be stopped.

The next day.

Inside the cave at Red Copper Mountain, Zhang Yuanshan smiled gently:

"After only one month in the sect, my junior brother had already mastered the Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique. I knew then that he was no ordinary person and would surely soar to great heights."

Looking back now, my judgment was quite accurate.

Having successfully established his foundation in the sect after eleven years, this achievement is quite remarkable even among disciples of many families.

What's even more admirable is that the other party relied on their own efforts to break through from the first level of Qi Refining to reach their current position.

He mentally switched places with the other person and felt that it was almost impossible for him to do it.

Without anyone's help, it would take a very long time to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

"Senior brother, you flatter me. I am far inferior to you."

The two exchanged compliments, which made them appear even closer.

"Junior Sister Zhao will soon receive the Foundation Establishment Pill, and Junior Brother Chu He has also exchanged for the Foundation Establishment Pill. They can attempt to establish their foundation in five years."

Among the cultivators who emerged from the same Qingsong Dao Academy, a few of us have reached the forefront. We should stay in touch and work together to ascend the Great Dao.

Zhang Yuanshan said with great joy that the news of the demonic disaster had slowly spread among the higher-ups, and he had learned about it from his uncle.

He was well aware of the terror of the demonic calamity. If the war broke out in full force, there would be no distinction between the front lines and the rear. Every cultivator in the Western Continent would have to face this war head-on.

Rogue cultivators can find a place with sparse spiritual energy to hide, but sect cultivators must fight for the interests of their sect.

Even if he is a weapon refiner, he will probably have no choice but to carry out combat missions. He needs to make good friends with his fellow disciples and help each other to overcome difficulties.

Ji An smiled and said:

"I will hold a Foundation Establishment celebration in a few months. Junior Sister Zhao will also hold a celebration after she establishes her Foundation. We can discuss our future cultivation then."

Because in the established setting, the Qi Refining stage is considered low-grade, and spiritual veins are divided into low-grade, middle-grade, high-grade, and top-grade.

First-order spiritual veins correspond to the cave dwellings of Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, while Chaoyuan corresponds to the second order. The third-order spiritual items that appeared in the previous chapters have been changed to second-order superior quality.

(End of this chapter)