Chapter 301 Undercover

Ji An felt that he had vaguely understood something, but upon careful reflection, he found that he had gained nothing.

He instinctively grabbed his hair and tugged at it forcefully.

After thinking for a while, I still had no clue.

He abandoned his thoughts and activated the Azure Dragon Awakening Technique.

A shadowy azure dragon, almost tangible, appeared in this lava land, its dark golden horns menacing and powerful, its whiskers swaying gracefully.

The dark green jade-like scales reflected the firelight, creating a beautiful fusion of light and shadow.

Accompanied by the dragon's roar, sparkling emerald beads of light fell from the void like rain.

Tiny dragon shadows swirled among the points of light; these were not reflections, but rather miniature azure dragons within them.

Green grass sprouted from the lava, and colorful flowers bloomed, bringing a new awe to this eternally crimson region, with a vibrant life force filling every corner.

The light rain fell, mostly surrounding the emerald leaves and red lotus, making the spiritual plants even more lush and vibrant, and the halo expanded to three feet in range.

A small portion of it disappeared into the magma where the nameless spiritual plant was located, vanishing in the blink of an eye; it must have been absorbed by the spiritual plant.

Ji An's eyebrows suddenly twitched, and a flash of inspiration struck him:

The essence of the Wood element is sprouting and growth, a vigorous and upward force.

In theory, the power of the Wood element can be absorbed by any spiritual plant, even those of the Earth or Metal elements.

His eyes lit up. As long as the essence of the spell was preserved, the output of wood-elemental spiritual energy could be minimized.

So how do we do this?

After a moment's thought, Ji An realized that this was a feasible approach: manipulating the Yin-Yang transformations of the Five Elements should be able to achieve this.

However, this brings us back to the same perplexing question we were just discussing.

He began to think again, and after a moment, wisps of fiery evil energy were inhaled into his mouth and nose.

A burning sensation spread through my throat, trachea, and lungs, and I also felt pain in my meridians.

Ji An abandoned his thoughts, channeled his magic, and flew out of the lava pool into the passage.

He deactivated the sealing array and strode out like the wind.

Without sufficient accumulation of knowledge, racking your brains is useless.

The only solution is to put the problem aside for now, and then reflect on it when you have some free time, or perhaps when the right opportunity arises, the problem will be solved.

He stepped out of the cave, and the grey-feathered sand geese that had been circling in the sky descended.

Once its master was seated, the sand goose hurriedly took flight and fled as if escaping.

The fiery aura here was too strong, and it grew increasingly averse to this woodland and the peach orchard.

Ji An could sense the beast's feelings and gently stroked the feathers at the base of its neck.

The problem that Sha Yan encountered was like taking a fish that lives in the water and putting it into a fiery mountain.

It's a miracle they didn't die on the spot; they couldn't possibly like the atmosphere here.

The lingering effects of the planting magic from the Chaoyuan period lasted for two days. Every time Sha Yan passed by, he probably felt like he was being roasted over a fire.

Having completed the spell, Ji An returned to his cave and went to the herb garden.

Although the main medicinal ingredient of Peiyuan Dan grown here is no longer needed, it still needs to be cultivated to a sufficient age for medicinal use.

At that time, not only will they be able to exchange for tens of thousands of minor merits, but the sect may also gain another cultivator in the Chaoyuan stage.

The petiole of the Tianyuan ginseng has three leaves, and its medicinal age is a full two hundred years.

The narrow leaves of the Star Soul Grass are covered with tiny silver dots.

When these tiny dots turn gold, and then silver, its medicinal age reaches four hundred years.

At that time, its black leaves will turn purple, and then it can be harvested.

On each of the two blood berry trees, three green fruits the size of goose eggs hung.

The blood-red markings on the fruit's skin become even more lustrous, like fresh blood.

Besides the Zhurong Divine Fire Spell, Ji An performed all three other planting spells of the Chaoyuan stage in turn.

After the thunderclouds dissipated, he left the herb garden and returned to his quiet room.

Sitting cross-legged on a futon woven from soul-soothing grass, Ji An took out two Blood Soul Profound Origin Tree Seeds.

He used the Withering and Flourishing Technique to extract all the life force from the small seed in an instant.

He has already come up with new tricks for this spell; condensing wood element beads is just a minor function of the spell.

Emerald light shimmered in his palm as Ji An infused the Great Spirit Seed with the power of life.

Replenishing with the same life force makes it easier to strengthen the spiritual seed.

The reason he was able to cultivate more and more second-tier purple fire gourds was because he used this principle to create seeds with greater potential.

Then, Ji An activated the Azure Dragon Awakening Technique.

A tiny blue dragon, no bigger than a finger, hovered above his palm, its roar sounding like a child's voice.

Emerald light spots, imbued with the shadow of a blue dragon, fell and continuously disappeared into the tree seeds.

Soon, the tree seed could no longer absorb the wood elemental energy; its life force had reached its peak.

Ji An probed the tree seed with his divine sense and sensed that it was showing signs of sprouting.

"Don't let it sprout tonight!"

He immediately put the seeds into a storage bag, the space inside of which could inhibit the seed's activity.

The Azure Dragon Awakening Technique is very powerful; in the future, the cultivation of spirit seeds should be done before planting.

Ji An began to calm his mind and spirit. When his sea of ​​consciousness was empty and his heart was as still as an ancient well, he activated the technique and opened the sixteenth meridian.

He's now developing his vein patterns a bit faster, and he estimates that in another month or so, he'll be able to complete the development of the inner vein patterns and begin to condense the core.

Emerald-green magical power flowed through the immortal veins, and the Jia and Yi wood Dao seeds in the acupoints emitted an aura of budding growth.

The next day, at 5 PM.

Ji An strode out of the cave, a faint smile on his face.

The sixteenth vein has been developed, and the time required has been reduced.

He rode his flying shuttle to the icy pool, found Wei Songtao, and asked:

"Did you take care of the task I asked you to do yesterday?"

"It's all taken care of. I've cut down and burned the first-tier spirit mulberry trees near the tea tree, clearing out an open space the size of two houses."

"Grandmaster, do you need my help with planting?"

"No need. Just remember to water the Blood Soul Profound Origin Tree you've planted with fresh blood from demonic beasts every day. A small bucket is enough."

Although this kind of spirit wood prefers the blood of human cultivators, Ji An is not a demonic cultivator and usually loves peace, so he can only make do with the blood of demonic beasts.

"Yes, sir," Wei Songtao replied loudly, but he was inwardly wondering.

I wondered what kind of spirit tree I was planting this time, that its requirements were so bizarre.

Ji An summoned the gray-feathered sand geese, mounted his beast, and flew towards his destination.

He planted the tree, performed the Yellow Dragon Enhancing Yuan Technique, and then activated the Cloud Dragon Rainmaking Technique.

Dark clouds rolled in, lightning flashed, and crystal-clear rain fell, spreading a thick mist.

The Blood Soul Mystic Tree broke through the soil and stretched out in the rain.

When the rain stopped, the spirit tree had grown to about thigh-high, a full foot and a half.

Its bark is dark black, and its oval leaves are bright green with serrated edges.

The surface of the leaves has many bright red spots, which at first glance look like drops of blood.

As these leaves age, the serrations on their edges become extremely sharp, easily cutting through animal fur or human skin. The Blood Essence Tree, which grows in nature, relies on this 'skill' to obtain nourishment from fresh blood.

"We must inform the disciples about this characteristic of the Spirit Tree, otherwise it may cause unnecessary harm."

Zhuilong Ridge stretches for eight hundred miles, with dense forests and grasses.

This area was once under the jurisdiction of Yuanhe Mountain, but after the outbreak of the demon calamity, it was once again occupied by demonic beasts.

After being harassed by the demonic calamity, Yuanhe Mountain became even weaker and was unable to subdue the area.

Outside the cave, Xiong Ba stood with his hands on his hips, surrounded by more than twenty cultivators.

These people were neatly dressed, but wore black hoods, indicating they were at the Qi Refining stage of cultivation.

They were not bound in any way, but everyone stood still.

A giant black eagle flew in from a distance, each of its talons clutching a cultivator, both of whom were wearing black hoods.

The giant eagle slowly descended, dropping the cultivator to the ground, before transforming into human form.

"Bear, you have it so easy, you don't have to do this kind of hard labor."

Everyone should be here by now. Let's inform the adults.

Xiong Ba bared his teeth and retorted:

"There's no danger in doing manual labor, but if something happens, I'll fight to the death!"

A few days ago, I fought two body cultivators and was almost killed by them.

Black Hawk shook his head:

"Come on, you only have superficial injuries, you're just exaggerating."

"Hurry inside and inform the adults. If he gets impatient, we'll be in big trouble."

Xiong Ba nodded slightly, made a hand seal to open the magical barrier, and entered the cave. He then cupped his hands to the seated cultivator in green robes and said:

"Lord Qinglong, the people you requested have been selected and are waiting outside. Shall we bring them in now?"

The Azure Dragon opened its eyes; its brownish-yellow pupils revealed black vertical lines that looked exceptionally sinister and terrifying.

"Did you put hoods on them?"

"We're all wearing them. You specifically instructed us to, so of course we've kept it in mind."

Qinglong nodded in satisfaction. "That's good. Bring them in one by one, and don't remove their hoods."

"Okay, please wait a moment."

Xiong Ba turned and walked out, wondering what Lord Qinglong was up to.

There are thirty cultivators outside in total. Bringing them in one by one will take a lot of time.

These cultivators are all demon cultivators, carefully selected from the families they control, and possess considerable talent.

Xiong Ba grabbed a cultivator as he walked in and gently tossed him to the ground.

Azure Dragon said calmly:

"According to intelligence, Yuanhe Mountain will soon select a group of cultivators to join the sect in order to replenish its ranks with new blood."

You have successfully cultivated the Heavenly Demon Transformation Scripture and possess considerable talent in body refinement.

Your mission is to infiltrate Yuanhe Mountain and remain hidden, awaiting further orders.

"After you join the sect, you don't need to worry about anything; you just need to continuously improve your cultivation."

I will issue the orders when the time is right.

The cultivator said with some trepidation:

"We are willing to die for you, but won't they discover our identities if we join Yuanhe Mountain?"

This was to send him undercover, and he was terrified of his identity being exposed.

"Unless you're right under the noses of a Golden Core cultivator, they won't be able to detect anything amiss."

Besides, someone at the Qi Refining stage can successfully cultivate the Heavenly Demon Transformation Scripture. The Heavenly Demon Alliance needs someone like you; why would they send you on a mission that guarantees certain death?

Azure Dragon waved his hand and said:

"Xiong Ba, take him down and bring the next person up."

(End of this chapter)