Chapter 196 The Blood Tree Blossoms

Ji An stayed by the second-tier gourd vine for a while before leaving, pondering what factors contributed to the cultivation of the second-tier spiritual plant.

The seed was cultivated using the Great Perfection level of the Flame Fire Mantra and the Azure Wood Transformation Technique, and it has already achieved the best possible result.

It is nurtured daily with the essence of fire, and the land is nourished at other times with the Flame Fire Mantra and the Earth Returning to Origin Mantra.

Every three days, release the Azure Wood Transformation Technique to nourish the fire element of the spiritual plant with the wood element, and every ten days or so, release the Spring Breeze and Rain Technique.

Although the purple fire gourd is more suitable for growing in dry soil, the soil should not be too dry either.

The fertilizer is a mixture of top-grade red pine powder and red sand excreted by fire crystal ants. After long-term cultivation, the soil in this spiritual field turns slightly reddish under sunlight, making it more suitable for the growth of fire-element plants.

'How about trying to use second-order red pine powder as fertilizer?'

A thought sprouted in Ji An's mind, but he quickly extinguished it.

Red pine grows slowly, so there aren't many secondary branches to squander.

Now that the second-tier Purple Fire Gourd has been cultivated, the demand has become less urgent.

Ji Anji flew back to the Cold Pool, where Huang Xuan and the other three were excitedly talking together.

"The second-tier purple fire gourd has special significance. Each person will be rewarded with twenty spirit stones. Huang Xuan was the first to discover it and report the good news, so he will be rewarded with an additional thirty spirit stones."

To forge even the most ordinary spiritual weapon, the materials would cost at least three thousand spirit stones. His Apricot Yellow Banner cost even more than ten thousand spirit stones, but it was impossible to gather enough materials using only spirit stones.

The core material of the Purple Fire Gourd is the gourd itself, which directly saves a large amount of spirit stones and spiritual items.

"Congratulations, Uncle-Master, on acquiring this treasure. Thank you for your generous gift, Uncle-Master."

Several Qi Refining stage disciples offered their congratulations in unison, each beaming with joy.

The bright moon cast a gentle light. After casting a spell on the spirit field, Ji An arrived near the underground cave and saw Jin Mao working hard, having already dug more than three zhang deep.

According to estimates, it is about 20 zhang away from the spiritual vein node where the Soul-Nourishing Wood is located.

No one knows what methods it used, but the stones were like mud under its sharp claws. With one swipe of its claw, stone fragments flew everywhere.

The spirit-hunting rat is currently only the size of a regular dog, which limits its capabilities; otherwise, it could dig much deeper.

Sensing its owner's presence, the golden retriever rushed over and affectionately rubbed against its owner's legs.

Ji An took out a Spirit-Feeding Pill and fed it to the beast, then stroked its fluffy fur.

The golden retriever swallowed the Spirit-Nourishing Pill and squinted its eyes, enjoying the petting.

"Just dig a funnel-shaped channel; the deeper you go, the less you need to dig."

Ji An communicated with the golden retriever through the Beast Taming Talisman and explained to it what a funnel was, saying that doing so would reduce its workload.

First, excavate the passage, and then widen it.

If the excavation is done in a straight cylindrical shape, it would seem too stupid and meaningless; it would appear as if a lot of work had been done, but it would all be in vain.

"Squeak," the golden retriever indicated that it understood.

"Let's get back to work."

Ji An got up and left. Most rodent-like monsters prefer to be active at night, as nighttime is when they are most energetic.

He entered the underground cave and cast the Thick Earth Returning to Origin Spell on the Earth Spirit Fruit Tree and the Soul Nourishing Wood.

A yellow aura shone forth, revealing a brilliant golden radiance on the bark of the Earth Spirit Fruit Tree, while the leaves of the Soul Nourishing Wood emitted a purple halo.

The light gradually faded, and everything returned to calm.

Ji An returned to his cave halfway up the mountain and used his magic to nourish the sacred pine.

A three-foot-long red ray emerged from the Red Cloud Pine, resembling a fiery cloud.

He arrived at the small herb garden and was surprised to find several small flower buds peeking out from the branches of a blood berry tree.

This kind of spiritual tree only blossoms after fifty years of age, which means that after nearly twenty years of cultivation, the medicinal herbs here have reached fifty years of medicinal age.

His three planting spells only recently reached the Great Perfection level, which means that the time it will take to cultivate 50-year-old medicinal herbs will be even shorter in the future.

Ji An's expression immediately relaxed, and he grinned, revealing two rows of white teeth.

"Okay, it will bear fruit after a year of flowering, and we can start cultivating the medicinal age of the Blood Rose Fruit."

Of the three main ingredients of Peiyuan Pill, Star Soul Grass is the easiest to cultivate to a medicinal age of 400 years, followed by Blood Luo Fruit, while Heavenly Origin Ginseng requires a medicinal age of 500 years and is the last to mature.

He would need the Qi-Nourishing Pill before he could cultivate the spiritual herbs in the herb garden. The closer the spiritual plants were to maturity, the more confident he would be in obtaining the pills from the sect.

Ji An cast the Thick Earth Returning to Origin Mantra, and yellow spiritual light shone down, causing the small dots on the Star Soul Grass leaves to bloom with silver radiance.

The two lights reflected each other, leaving a dreamlike color on the stone wall.

The next day at dawn, Ji An walked out of the cave, the waning moon in the sky had not yet set.

He leaped up the mountain, first flying to the location of the Azure Jade Tree.

The spirit tree has grown to the length of a palm, and its branches are now thicker than a thumb, with a total of seven leaves.

By the dim moonlight, one can see the golden halo flowing on the veins of the leaves.

Ji An nodded in satisfaction. The spirit tree had spent a day undergoing the baptism of the golden fire spirit energy and had taken firm root.

He found a spot far from the Azure Jade Tree of the Moon, threw out a futon and sat down cross-legged. He placed the spiritual object in front of him or held it in his hand, calmed his mind for a moment, and then began to circulate the Green Wood Everlasting Spring Technique.

Various colored lights flew out from the mulberry fields, the cold pools, and the earth, dancing around him and entering his body along with his breath and spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy flows along a specific trajectory within the immortal veins, being refined and condensed into magical power that flows into the dantian.

Within the acupoint, the Daoist seeds of Jia wood, Gui water, and Ji earth shone brilliantly, devouring spiritual energy.

Ji An felt waves of warmth emanating from his liver area, which then spread throughout his body.

His aura as a cultivator faded more and more, gradually merging with the mulberry field.

At this moment, if a cultivator nearby were to use their divine sense to perceive him, they might mistake him for a Jade Leaf Mulberry.

Two quarters past the hour of Si (9-11 AM), Ji An woke up from his cultivation.

His aura quickly shifted, returning from the 'wood' state to that of a flesh-and-blood cultivator.

He saw that the Azure Dragon Wood in his hand had completely rotted and was blown away into dust by the wind.

The smile that appeared at the corners of his mouth was a sign that he had gained a deeper understanding of the technique.

He gazed at the shadow of the tree, his smile widening.

The changes in his shadow suggest that he has been cultivating for a longer period of time, which has made him increasingly satisfied.

After having breakfast, Ji An went to the location where the beehives were placed and communicated with the queen bee through a blood pact.

"Now, some special spiritual mulberry trees have appeared in the mulberry fields, containing more spiritual energy."

"In a while, it will be the season when the mulberry flowers bloom. You can assign some white jade bees to collect pollen from these sacred mulberry blossoms to make honey."

Second-grade honey needs to be stored separately and should not be confused with regular honey.

These honeys can be exchanged with other cultivators. Although the amount of second-tier honey produced this year will not be large, the quantity will be considerable after a few years.

The queen bee expressed 'understanding' and said that the hive had noticed the mulberry leaves.

"It seems I've gone to unnecessary trouble," Ji An chuckled, and then gave a new order.

Upon receiving the order, the queen bee immediately dispatched dozens of worker bees.

Ji An filled a small beehive with white jade bees, added some honey, and then flew back to the mountainside to place it in the medicinal herb garden.

This medicinal garden is very secluded; if there are no insects like bees or butterflies to pollinate it, he has to come in person.

Smelling the fragrance of flowers, the white jade bees flew out of their hives, bringing a touch of life to the quiet medicinal garden.

Time flies like a river, never ceasing day or night; half a year has passed in a flash.

The flowers of the Ficus syriacus are almost withered, and the white jade bees, which have been busy for a month, have become quiet.

The Azure Jade Tree of the Moon grows bigger every day. Now it is as thick as an arm and as tall as a person. It has branched out into five branches and has hundreds of leaves.

Ji An sat facing the cold pool with his back to the setting sun, the water flowing under his control forming a large net as it searched for its target.

Because he frequently practiced the water control technique, the red rockfish became very cunning. The Xia sisters complained to him that it now took them more than half an hour to catch the spirit fish.

"I, Du Huaiyuan, am back!"

The powerful shout echoed across Crimson Flame Peak. Ji An's lips twitched, and he stopped practicing the incantation, his mind connecting with the stone tortoise for a moment.

[Spell: Water Control Technique (Perfect 55%)]

He stepped forward to greet him, sensing the spiritual pressure deliberately emanating from the other party, and cupped his hands in greeting:

"Congratulations on breaking through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, Senior Brother. I'll treat you to two jars of second-tier pine nut wine at the banquet tonight."

"Haha, I love how straightforward my junior brother is!"

Du Huaiyuan laughed loudly. During the process of refining the Foundation Establishment Pill at Mingfeng Mountain, he greatly reduced the number of times he drank alcohol and worked diligently to cultivate. Finally, he broke through to the fourth level of Foundation Establishment.

He stowed the shuttle and said urgently:

"I see that the number of second-tier spirit mulberry trees in the mulberry field has increased significantly. How many are there now?"

For him, drinking and refining second-tier spirit wine would increase his cultivation level even more.

The second-tier pine nut wine contains more fire elemental energy, which is not conducive to his refining process.

The second-tier mulberry wine is much better. After refining it, it can not only improve one's cultivation level, but also help one to comprehend the divine meaning of water nurturing wood.

"Twenty-one trees are not many spirit trees with high potential."

Ji An replied that after a second-tier spirit mulberry tree is born, it will cut down the mulberry trees around it, and may also "accidentally" kill spirit trees with potential.

“That’s quite a lot,” Du Huaiyuan said with a smile, quickly calculating in his mind how many fresh mulberries he could harvest.

Each second-tier spirit mulberry tree can yield about five catties of mulberries, barely a hundred catties, and fifty or sixty catties of wine, from which he can get five catties.

How many second-tier Red Cloud Pines are there?

"Twenty-six trees. The number of second-tier spirit mulberry trees will surely surpass that in the future."

Because of his cultivation techniques and planting spells, Ji An has a greater advantage in cultivating wood-elemental spiritual plants.

The number of second-tier Biluo trees has now reached six, and Li Minghui has asked Ji An to inform her of the number of second-tier spirit trees every half month.

Du Huaiyuan smiled and nodded, asking with anticipation:

Are there any other second-tier spirit trees?

"Second-tier spirit wood wouldn't be cultivated so easily!"

Ji An chuckled; he wasn't an immortal.

Du Huaiyuan chuckled and scratched his head, genuinely believing that the other party cultivated second-tier spirit wood with great ease.

He coughed and said:

"When will it be time for mulberries to be harvested on a large scale? We need to prepare the raw materials in advance."

"Four or five days will be fine."

Ji An paused for a moment and said:

"Senior brother, I still have over a hundred top-grade Heavenly Origin Pears. Do you need them?"

Last time, he wanted to talk to the other party about the Heavenly Origin Pear, since he couldn't possibly eat all of these spiritual fruits.

"Of course I need it. Consuming the Heavenly Yuan Pear has many benefits for me. How many spirit fruits are you planning to offer, Junior Brother?"

Du Huaiyuan cultivates water-based techniques, and consuming water-based spiritual fruits complements his abilities perfectly.

"One hundred, each Tianyuan Pear is priced at sixty spirit stones."

There are relatively few cultivators practicing water-based techniques in the Western Continent, so water-based spiritual fruits are not as valuable as other spiritual fruits of the same level.

Fire-elemental spiritual fruits are the most expensive, followed by wood-elemental spiritual fruits, while metal-elemental spiritual fruits are the rarest. However, cultivators who practice metal-elemental techniques are even rarer, and their prices are comparable to those of wood-elemental spiritual fruits.

"I'll take it all!"

Du Huaiyuan shouted confidently, "After breaking through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, my pill-refining speed has increased, and I can also take on some side jobs."

With the profits from the spirit wine, he had an unprecedented abundance of spirit stones.

(End of this chapter)