Chapter 117 Conspiracy

The revelry lasted until dawn, but inevitably the party ended and the guests left one by one, leaving only Du Huaiyuan behind.

"Junior brother, when are you going to start firing the spirit charcoal you promised me?"

"We'll have to wait another three or four months. Before I took over Crimson Flame Peak, the sect cut down all the mature spirit trees. Senior Brother saw that the Clear Spirit Bamboo is growing well now, all thanks to my daily spellcasting."

Ji An laughed and said that the spiritual materials required by the other party to be used to make the two types of spiritual charcoal did not have a one-year growth period, so it was impossible to make good spiritual charcoal.

He was able to start making charcoal about seven or eight months after taking over Crimson Flame Peak, all because his planting magic was at a high level.

He paused, then asked the question that had lingered in his mind for a long time:

"Senior brother, what is your purpose in needing so much spirit charcoal?"

Du Huaiyuan chuckled a few times, then stopped cryptic and revealed the answer:

"If the food that Junior Brother is serving everyone today were cooked with spirit charcoal, it would taste even better."

In his view, one of the biggest motivations for his cultivation was being able to drink spiritual wine and eat delicious food every day. It was well worth spending some spirit stones to buy resources that did not improve his cultivation.

“Senior brother is meticulous. Once the supply of spirit charcoal is sufficient, I will also try your method.”

Ji An smiled, wondering how much extra money the other party would have to spend on this.

He doesn't reject this kind of enjoyment, but only if it's done within the framework of spiritual practice.

The other party's daily supply of pills was insufficient, yet they spent a great deal of money on brewing spirit wine and cooking food, which was really not a good example.

However, everyone has their own aspirations, and I have no right to offer advice.

"Haha, junior brother will love this cooking method once he tries it."

In my experience, Ziyang charcoal is best for cooking meat, while Qingling bamboo charcoal best preserves the freshness and aroma of spiritual vegetables.

Du Huaiyuan, as if he had met a kindred spirit, talked on and on about various cooking methods. Liang Qiu, who was sitting next to him, listened with shining eyes and asked questions from time to time.

Whenever the question touched on a particularly interesting point, Du Huaiyuan would become even more eager to talk about it.

As the sun rose, its golden light shone on Crimson Flame Peak; a night had already passed.

At the summit, golden-red mist rose, and Du Huaiyuan shook his head, still savoring the moment.

"It's so painful. My water-based cultivation technique is most vulnerable to the intense fire-based spiritual energy burning my meridians. I'll come back another day when I have more free time to drink and chat with you all."

He took out jars of spirit wine from his storage bag and said:

"A total of thirty jars of passion fruit wine were placed in the silt at the bottom of the pool and sealed for five years to ferment to their best flavor."

Ji An nodded slightly:

"I don't know water manipulation magic, so I can't help you. Senior brother, please go and place the spirit wine."

Liang Qiu volunteered, "I'll help. Raising spirit fish inevitably involves going into the water, and over the years my water control technique has reached a perfect level."

After the Foundation Establishment Ceremony ended, Crimson Flame Peak returned to its deserted state, with few people seen outdoors during the day.

The two months passed peacefully, but the tranquility was shattered.

Huang Feihu led a dozen or so spirit farmers, riding talisman birds, to pick pine nuts in the Crimson Cloud Pine Forest.

Although there is moonlight at night, the light is still not as good as during the day, and too much will be missed when collecting samples at night.

The pine nuts from the Red Cloud Pine not only contain a lot of spiritual energy, but also taste exceptionally delicious after being roasted.

Ji An doesn't need to complete sect missions this year, but he has to pay rent for the land he rents from the sect. The roasted pine nuts are a type of rent, and they can't be replaced with spirit stones.

Zhang Erniu looked at the pine nuts in his hand and said:

"The pine nuts this year are much plumper than before."

He has a loud voice, so loud it sounds like he's shouting, and everyone working nearby can hear him clearly.

Huang Feihu laughed:

"The Crimson Cloud Pine is a top-grade first-tier spiritual wood, and it is the most valuable tree on Crimson Flame Peak."

My uncle-master comes here every day to perform spells, so the current results are within expectations.

The Red Cloud Pine Forest covers only about forty acres, and the task of collecting pine nuts was completed in less than a day.

A few days later, during dinner, Huang Feihu reported:

"Fellow Daoist, the pine nuts have been roasted and processed."

Besides the seeds we keep, we will still have four or five thousand catties of pine nuts left after handing them over to the sect this year.

Based on the prices I've heard about, I should be able to earn seven or eight hundred spirit stones this year.

“We’ll keep a thousand catties for ourselves, and then select some of the best quality to give to the cultivators we know well, fifty catties to each person.”

I'll go and urge them to plant later. The season is right now, and we can plant these spirit seeds tomorrow.

With the concentration of spiritual energy here, even if Ji An breaks through to the Chaoyuan stage, it can still serve as a cave dwelling.

In other words, he could very well stay here for hundreds of years.

The spiritual vein here is a branch of the main spiritual vein that the sect is currently cultivating. Once the sect cultivates the main spiritual vein to the third tier, Crimson Flame Peak can be upgraded to at least the middle-grade second tier. At that time, the coverage area of ​​the spiritual vein will be greatly increased.

He had long planned to leave more than ten acres of the Red Cloud Pine Forest uncut, specifically for the production of pine nuts.

The older the red pine, the more pine nuts it produces, and the better the quality. You can also ask Du Huaiyuan to help brew pine nut wine.

Ji An paused for a moment, then said:

"Judging from the growth of the other types of spirit trees, they are ready to be felled and used to make spirit charcoal. The sect will be collecting them in four months, so you need to make a plan."

"Yes, I've already thought it through. Once the red cloud pine seeds are planted, I'll hire people to start cutting them down and burning them."

Ji An smiled and said:

"Thanks to your help, I was able to save time to perform the Dharma and cultivate myself. Later, you and Liang Qiu will also take 50 catties of pine nuts."

“This is what we should do,” Huang Feihu and the other man echoed.

"After the spirit charcoal is produced, apart from the amount handed over to the sect and traded with Senior Brother Du, we will keep all of it for our own use this year."

Fellow Daoist Liang used spirit charcoal to start the fire when he cooked; I'd like to see how much the fire Brother Du praised can enhance the flavor.”

"Then we're in for a treat."

Liang Qiu laughed and said that his small shop once served a Foundation Establishment cultivator who requested to be cooked with spirit charcoal. The resulting fish soup was indeed uniquely delicious.

After eating, Ji An went to the storage room to encourage the seeds to germinate, a step aimed at enhancing their activity.

He first released the Azure Wood Transformation Technique, and specks of wood-elemental spiritual light fell into the seed.

When he bought peach seeds, Li Lingyu did the same thing, but the other party used a secret technique that a Qi Refining stage disciple could master, which was far less effective than the Jade Wood Transformation Technique.

Ji An could sense the vibrant life force hidden within the seed, which would eventually nurture even stronger saplings.

After waiting for a short while, the hand seals in his hands changed, and an orange-red spiritual light shone in the stone chamber, creating a warm and inviting atmosphere.

The Crimson Cloud Pine is a fire-elemental spiritual plant, and the fire-elemental spiritual energy contained in the Flamefire Spell can nurture the pine seed.

Huang Feihu was born into a spiritual farming family, and the spiritual farmers in the vicinity were all very skilled in the planting tasks of Crimson Flame Peak, so Ji An didn't need to worry about planting pine seeds.

He only needed to wait until these people planted the pine seeds before casting the Foundation Establishment stage planting spell to ensure that more pine seedlings could survive the violent and scorching daytime.

Pine saplings can survive if they grow to half a person's height.

Time flies, and two months have passed in the blink of an eye.

Ji An stopped practicing his magic and focused his mind on his dantian.

[Master: Ji An]

[Taoist Rhyme: 0]

[Spiritual clues: Kan (坎) spirit 636.9, Gen (艮) spirit 611.8, Zhen (震) spirit 16.4, Xun (巽) spirit 79.4, Kun (坤) spirit 81.8, Qian (乾) spirit 82.4, Dui (兑) spirit 72.3, Li (离) spirit 136.4]

[Spell: Azure Wood Transformation Technique (Minor Success 42%)]

Explosive Flame Technique (66% success).】

The improvement of spells at the Foundation Establishment stage is too slow. Even though he often pondered the essence of spells and used them every day, his Azure Wood Transformation Technique had not improved much in the past six months.

Now that he had accumulated some spiritual energy, he could start drawing the Explosive Flame Talisman after a good improvement. Ji An began to refine the spiritual energy to enhance his spellcasting skills.

The related inspirations are decreasing, while the understanding of magic is constantly improving.

[Spell: Azure Wood Transformation Technique (Minor Success 42% → Major Success 2%)]

Explosive Flame (Mastery 66% → Perfection 1%)

A cave in Chitong Mountain.

Chen Xingzhou said anxiously:

“Myna, we don’t have much time left. If we don’t take action now, we won’t be able to keep this a secret.”

This time, I was ordered by the clan leader to lure it out to eliminate the threat, and then re-rent Crimson Flame Peak.

"Brother, are you able to find out more about their situation within the sect? Is there any opportunity we can exploit?"

With only about three months left before Crimson Flame Peak erupts again, they have no choice but to be anxious.

Chen Xingyun frowned and said with a wry smile:

"I have already found out about the other party's situation. They come from Qingsong Taoist Temple in Xiaocang Mountain and have no relatives at home."

After entering the sect, he made a living by planting. He had a good understanding of planting techniques, which is why he was able to join the Ningcui Cliff lineage.

Not long after she reached the Foundation Establishment stage, she and her fellow disciple went to Qingyun Immortal City, but they traveled there and back by sect flying boat and did not go to any black market, so we had no chance to make a move.

Later, he never left Crimson Flame Peak, only occasionally leaving the magic array to cast spells on the spirit field in the valley.”

He recounted the entire intelligence he had gathered, his face showing even more bitterness. He couldn't understand why a spirit farmer would choose Crimson Flame Peak as his cave dwelling.

Chen Xingzhou's expression was equally grim. There was indeed no good way to deal with a cultivator who stayed at home and devoted himself to cultivation.

A fierce look appeared on his face, and he said harshly:

"If all else fails, we'll have to make our move when they go to the spirit field."

Once the other party discovers that spiritual objects are spewing out from Crimson Flame Peak after the eruption of the Earth's fire veins, they will surely associate it with the gains they have made from it over the years.

At that time, the other party will definitely realize how deep the enmity between them is.

They must act before the earth's fire veins erupt, otherwise the enemy will be extremely wary of them, making it even harder to find an opportunity to strike.

Chen Xingyun nodded:

"We must strike them deadly. Once they send out a distress signal using the sect's jade token, it will be very difficult for the participating cultivators to escape."

These people cannot have anything to do with the family, or we're all finished.

Attacking a Foundation Establishment cultivator within the sect's territory is a blatant slap in the face to the Golden Spirit Sect, and will inevitably provoke the sect's fury.

Furthermore, since the other party has joined the Ningcui Cliff lineage and their master wields considerable influence within the sect, the Enforcement Hall will undoubtedly investigate thoroughly.

If clues are found pointing to the Chen clan, it will be a disaster that wipes out the entire clan, and he will not be able to escape responsibility at that time.

"Don't worry, Brother Ba. Everyone knows how serious this matter is. It will definitely not involve the family."

(End of this chapter)