Chapter 355 A pincer attack

"You should be content. When I first opened up the Earth God Palace, the most I ever got was three more Earth Origin Soul-Soothing Pills."

Jia Yu shook his head and sighed, then explained:

"The main ingredient of the Earth Origin Soul-Soothing Pill absorbs more of the earth's spiritual energy, so it is expensive."

When his junior brother opens his Water Elemental Divine Palace, the Heavenly Water Soul Cleansing Pills he needs will be quite expensive, costing 1,200 minor merits each.

The water veins of Xizhou are not abundant, and aquatic spiritual plants are relatively rare, so the price of the Heavenly Water Soul Cleansing Pill is also quite expensive.

"It's a bit expensive, but I'll take them all."

Ji An took out the jade token. He knew very well that the sect must have paid a great price to obtain the pills.

Besides, he had to put in a lot of effort to absorb the earth and circulate his qi, and on average, he could only absorb less than six strands of qi a day.

Without the support of elixirs, it would severely delay his efforts to strengthen the core of the Earth Element Divine Palace.

He frowned involuntarily. The variety of earth-elemental spiritual herbs was far inferior to that of wood, fire, and water-elemental spiritual herbs, and metal-elemental spiritual plants were even fewer.

While there are elixirs available to strengthen the Earth Element Divine Palace, it is impossible to purchase the relevant elixirs in the Western Continent to open up the Metal Palace.

He anticipates that expanding these two divine palaces will take up a significant amount of his time.

Jia Yu manipulated the spirit plate for a moment, then returned the jade tablet, saying:

"After deducting the minor merit from the nine pills, Junior Brother still has 294,000 minor merits left, he's still so wealthy!"

Ji An chuckled and put away the jade token and the pills:

"Senior brother, the sect doesn't have any pills to strengthen the Jin family. When the cultivators from the Central Continent arrive, will we be able to buy such pills?"

"No, I don't know if it was intentional or unintentional, but the pills that strengthen the Tu and Jin families have never been sold in the Xizhou by the Zhongzhou Merchant Alliance."

Jia Yu's gaze was deep; things shouldn't be this coincidental.

If Master Zhengyang were here, he would surely tell us that this was intentional.

The ancestor had traveled to the Central Continent and knew that although such pills were quite precious there, they were sold in large merchant alliances.

Ji An frowned even more. Without the aid of elixirs, he could only strengthen his divine palace by absorbing strands of qi.

From this perspective, Li Haoran's achievement of the Golden Mansion in just ten years is truly remarkable; a genius is indeed a genius.

After a moment of silence, Jia Yu broke the silence and said:

"Thinking too much about these things is pointless; overthinking will only affect your state of mind."

Our spiritual practice is inherently about going against the current; overcoming countless difficulties and dangers is also part of the spiritual journey.

Ji An nodded:

"What you say is absolutely right, senior brother. When the merchant ships from Central Continent arrive, I would like to ask you to exchange my small merit for Heavenly Water Soul Cleansing Pills."

If I have enough pills, I won't need to go out to absorb qi.

Stockpiling more Water-based Elixir is also a good idea, as it can save time.

"No problem, I can agree to this request, however..."

Jia Yu changed the subject and continued:

"Traveling is still very necessary, and the process of traveling is also a process of tempering one's mind and comprehending the divine meaning of the Five Elements."

How can one appreciate the vastness of the Ren River without witnessing its mighty flow?

"The five elements generate each other in an endless cycle; how easy is it to truly understand this!"

The elixirs accelerated our accumulation, but only strengthened the core of our divine palace; they could not help us comprehend the Way of the Five Elements.

The ancestor once said, "If you don't make up for the lessons you've missed, trying to break through to the Golden Core stage is just a pipe dream."

In the world of cultivation, before a cultivator breaks through to the Golden Core stage, they must travel and truly comprehend the mysteries of the Five Elements in order to have a chance of successfully breaking through.

It is impossible to achieve the Golden Core solely through the benefits of elixirs; otherwise, a continent as rich in resources as the Central Continent would have been teeming with Golden Core cultivators long ago.

Ji An didn't take it to heart and laughed:

"Senior brother, as a spiritual farmer, the higher my cultivation level, the safer I am to travel."

If it weren't for the rules prohibiting the practice of consuming earth and circulating qi within the sect, he definitely wouldn't have gone out.

Why go out when you can safely improve your cultivation?

But if he has to go out, he will act boldly.

After chatting for a while, Ji An changed the subject and said:

"I would like to ask my senior brother for a favor to verify something."

He described the matter in detail, and his master felt uncomfortable upon hearing the cry of the phoenix on the Flame Banner.

"Is that so? Junior brother, you might as well give it a try."

Jia Yu readily agreed, as he had never yet experienced the power of a top-grade spiritual artifact.

Those nearby could hear the phoenix's cry on the flaming banner that was off the ground, indicating that the artifact was full of spiritual power.

He closed his eyes and waited quietly for the magical artifact to make a sound.

The Flaming Banner flew out from Ji Ji'an's dantian, a cloud of fire enveloping his body, and the cry of a phoenix rang out.

After a few breaths, Jia Yu opened her eyes and said excitedly:

"Junior brother, I also felt my emotions inexplicably become manic, but it only lasted for a moment before it was immediately suppressed."

I suspect it's because my cultivation level is high enough that I was able to quickly suppress the discomfort.

Also, the sound just now didn't sound ordinary. Can you activate the magical artifact to produce that sound again?

He felt that the sound directly affected his soul. If the spiritual artifact could continuously generate such a sound, it meant that the potential of the Flame Banner was underestimated by his fellow disciples.

Ji An activated his magical artifact, and flames swirled within the fiery clouds, but no similar sound was ever heard.

He scratched his head and said:

"There must be some kind of restriction; only similar sounds will be emitted within a certain period of time."

Jia Yu nodded slightly, "That's right, it must be a special attack technique."

It is normal for top-grade magical artifacts to possess special and unconventional methods.

As evening fell, Ji An returned to Ningcui Cliff and cast spells on the various medicinal gardens.

Without his care for a month, these spiritual plants have become somewhat withered.

After doing all this, he bid farewell to his master and returned to Crimson Flame Peak via the teleportation array.

After consuming a few strands of wood-elemental energy and refining them into magical power, Ji An returned to his cave and began practicing his spells.

He focused on mastering the Earth Escape Technique, the Hunjin Xuanjia Incantation, and the Gengjin Spirit-Slaying Sword. Once these techniques reached the Great Perfection level, he would begin practicing the Fire Dragon Burning Heaven Technique and the Xuanming True Qi, and finally, he would practice the other Five Elements Escape Techniques.

He possesses two mid-grade Fire Element Dao Seeds and one Water Element Dao Seed, so his speed in practicing the Fire Dragon Burning Heaven Technique and Xuanming True Qi should be relatively fast.

When his internal magical power was nearly exhausted, Ji An returned to his cave, brewed a cup of Jade Dew Golden Bud Tea and drank it all, then swallowed a Di Yuan Tranquilizing Pill and began to circulate the Five Elements Revolving Scripture Earth Mansion Chapter to refine it.

The spleen glowed with a yellow light, which appeared somewhat dim against the backdrop of the Wood and Fire palaces.

A sense of peace arose in his heart, and spiritual energy was quickly refined into magical power, as the stone tortoise and the primordial fire welcomed a grand feast.

A month passed peacefully and uneventfully before Ji An left the sect once again.

After such a long period of nurturing, another batch of earth element energy should be harvested from the mountains surrounding the sect.

The Wuji Apricot Yellow Banner requires three catties and six taels of spirit silk, and he only has one tael. He roughly estimates that it will take six or seven years to collect enough.

Ji An felt that time was taking too long, but there was nothing he could do about it.

He asked his fellow disciples, and most of the cultivators in the Chaoyuan stage had never even practiced any of the Spirit Gathering Techniques.

These people are unable to absorb the Qi of Earth and Earth, which may be why they are unwilling to choose to refine the Flame Light Banner and the Apricot Yellow Banner.

Both of these top-grade spiritual artifacts require the absorption of the five elements' energy to transform into spiritual threads. If the Spirit Tempering Technique is inefficient, it would be a huge waste of time.

Ji An packed up various supplies, put the golden retriever and the yellow dog into the spirit beast bag, and rode away on the golden-feathered eagle.

His first stop was still Divine Eagle Cliff.

While traveling on his beast, Ji An seized the time to practice his spells and try to understand the divine will.

After mastering various spells to perfection, he also needs to improve his abilities in talisman making and alchemy.

There are always various things pushing him forward.

The crest feathers on the golden eagle's head stood up, and the strong wind automatically swerved around this upright tuft of feathers.

As a wind-type monster, the ability to control the wind is its instinct.

With his magical power reduced by half, Ji An stopped practicing his spells and began to close his eyes and rest.

As the sun set, the golden eagle let out a clear, melodious cry; we had arrived at Divine Eagle Mountain.

Ji An opened his eyes, glanced around at the surroundings, and found nothing amiss. He then commanded his beast to begin its descent.

After landing on the mountaintop, he pointed to the sky and waved:

"Notify me immediately if any suspicious creature approaches."

The golden eagle let out a clear cry and circled above the mountain peak.

Ji An released the Mixed Gold Armor Spell and the Rock-Solid Technique, and then took out the Apricot Yellow Banner and infused it with magic power, and ten thousand golden lotuses enveloped him.

Better safe than sorry; he was always cautious when in the wild.

After taking defensive measures, he began to use the Five Directions Spirit Gathering Technique to gather the Earth Qi.

In the dense forest of a certain mountain peak at Divine Eagle Cliff, Xiong Ba suddenly stood up and said:

"After waiting for more than half a month, we've finally spotted our target. Black Hawk, time to get to work!"

Since Lord Qinglong's death, he and Black Eagle have been ostracized within the Heavenly Demon Alliance.

Now Chen Sheng is the leader of the alliance. The few demon cultivators who followed Qinglong the earliest have been ostracized and received far fewer resources.

The good thing is that the hunting list set up by the Heavenly Demon Alliance has not been withdrawn. Killing human cultivators on the list can still yield a lot of resources.

Near Divine Eagle Cliff is a small stronghold of the Heavenly Demon Alliance, under the jurisdiction of Xiong Ba.

A month ago, the subordinates stationed here relayed a message back to the main alliance, discovering that cultivators on the kill list had appeared.

Upon learning the news, Xiong Ba immediately contacted Black Hawk, and the two hit it off and decided to pull off a heist.

After comparison, they discovered that the cultivator who appeared was Ji An from the Golden Spirit Sect.

The intelligence indicated that this monk was originally just a spirit farmer.

Although I don't know what circumstances the other party had that enabled them to break through to the Chaoyuan stage, today, the other party must die.

"Hehe, I can finally make a move. I really miss the feeling of being a human cultivator in the Origin Stage."

Black Hawk let out a laugh like a night owl; his patience had been wearing thin these past few days.

"We can't eat the enemy's head; we rely on this as proof!"

Xiong Ba grinned maliciously, and yellow clouds rose from beneath his feet.

He refined the essence and blood of an earth-elemental demon beast, which can release a yellow demonic cloud.

With a light leap, the black eagle transformed into a giant black eagle and soared into the sky.

"A pincer attack from above and below."

As Xiong Ba rode the clouds closer to the mountain peak where Ji An stood, the Golden-feathered Eagle immediately screeched a warning.

Ji An noticed the newcomer and became wary.

If two cultivators who don't know each other meet in the wild, and there is no ill intent, they will exchange glances from a distance and then go their separate ways.

Some content has been revised. The next place to open will be the Gold Mansion, not the Water Mansion, so it won't affect the reading experience.

(End of this chapter)