Chapter 229 Spirit Gathering Array! First Update
The capital city. In the flower sea behind the Elder Hall, the flowers were in full bloom, captivating Zhang Guodong and the other visitors from outside. They were simply too beautiful! Even Zhang Guodong, aside from the elders' chief disciples, couldn't help but marvel at how, in this environment rich in spiritual energy, these beautiful flowers, blooming like flawless beauties, were breathtaking and intoxicating. [Advertisement break]
The spiritual energy around the Elder Hall was so dense that it surprised Zhang Guodong; it was ten times denser than his own Peach Blossom Paradise!
But once he arrived in the back garden, Zhang Guodong found the answer.
"These are just ordinary flowers and plants. They are beautiful and each has its own unique characteristics, but because there are three spirit-gathering arrays inscribed here, the concentration of spiritual energy is a hundred times that of the outside! Hehe, Guodong, look at your bright eyes, are you up to something naughty?" Qingzhu walked with Zhang Guodong, introducing the place while teasing Zhang Guodong from time to time.
Not far away, Xu Wenbo and other outsiders were also chatting in small groups.
In the morning, Qingzhu arrived at Songtao Villa and informed Zhang Guodong, Xu Wenbo, and sixteen others to go to the Elder Hall to receive the Soul Seed. These six people obtained the Demon Seed, and the elders decided to personally implant the Soul Seed into them this time! Of course, there were six others who were not destined to receive it.
When Zhang Guodong and his group arrived, fifteen elder disciples, including Xuan Qingbo, Qingzhu, and Zhao Jun, also arrived. However, the two sides were not on good terms. These senior disciples only nodded out of respect for the elders, but their eyes revealed disdain and contempt, and they did not stay with Xu Wenbo and his group, not even exchanging a single word.
This made those outside feel frustrated once again, and made them realize the fact that the strong in these realms are respected!
"The elders will be here shortly. We'll meet in the back garden soon. Let's go now!" Xuan Qingwen received the Grand Elder's message, and everyone went to the back garden of the Elders' Hall together.
Zhang Guodong and other outsiders were visiting this place for the first time, so they were quite shocked.
Upon arriving here, many disciples disdained associating with Xu Wenbo and his ilk, and simply sat down cross-legged to cultivate. The spiritual energy concentration here was a hundred times that outside; even their own cultivation places couldn't compare, being only about fifteen times stronger. Rather than being hypocritical, they decided to seize the time to cultivate. After all, the position of Seventh Elder was coveted by many.
The remaining people mostly chatted amongst themselves, while low-level plant cultivators like Xu Wenbo and those waiting for their souls to be implanted were ignored.
Of the sixteen people, only Zhang Guodong received Qingzhu's care. The two walked in the garden, chatting and laughing, enjoying themselves immensely. Qingzhu held a bottle of fruit juice in her hand, sipping it happily, her eyes narrowed into crescent moons, while answering Zhang Guodong's questions.
This bottle of fruit juice was one of only two in Qingzhu's collection, so she was very reluctant to drink it, only taking a small sip occasionally. Zhang Guodong said that there were four bottles in total, but he had given two to Xuanqingban and Qingzhu last time, and after Qingzhu's generosity, he gave her the remaining two at once.
In fact, Zhang Guodong has several boxes of this juice in his Taoyuan.
Li Lizheng and the others looked at Zhang Guodong with envy and regret. A mere bottle of beverage had actually made Elder Feng's top disciple, Qingzhu, look at Zhang Guodong with new respect. Why hadn't they thought to bring in something from the outside world?
In contrast, they are ignored here. They are considered inferior.
“Brother Li, isn’t Zhang Guodong from your Li family? I heard he has two extra demon seeds. Your Li family probably has two more plant cultivators now, right?” Lin Hongwu said, squinting his eyes.
Li Limin and his third uncle, Lin Xian, are now fellow disciples, fourth-generation inner disciples. Their meetings are somewhat awkward. Everyone else, including Xu Ming and Li Lizheng, is said to be possibly sixth-generation outer disciples, which creates a significant distance between them.
Of course, he was unaware that Xiao Ruonan had already been privately informed that she had been designated as a fourth-generation outer disciple.
“Hongwu is right. Now the Li family is the most powerful among us. When we go to the outside world, Old Master Li will obtain a King-grade demon seed. Tsk tsk, Brother Lizheng, the Li family’s rise to power is just around the corner!” Xu Ming said with a mix of congratulations and envy.
Li Li was somewhat proud, but also a little embarrassed.
But he was all talk and no action, as if he were the one who had made a great contribution to the revitalization of the Li family.
Finally, I can be regarded as an equal by princes like Lin Hongwu and Xu Ming!
However, he harbored some resentment towards Zhang Guodong. He never expected that this man would also have such good fortune and obtain a demon seed! If Zhang Guodong were to marry Li Yun in the future, wouldn't he become a member of the Li family? He would be on equal footing with him.
However, he never expected that Zhang Guodong didn't care about the Li family at all, and naturally wouldn't join any of the Li family's forces. The only person he cared about was that carefree and silly girl, Li Yun.
Zhang Guodong listened intently to every single conversation. He shook his head slightly, utterly disdainful of these guys; they were so hypocritical!
"Senior Sister Qingzhu, is this Spirit Gathering Array only available here? Is it possible for any disciple of the Qingxuan Sect to set up a Spirit Gathering Array?" Zhang Guodong asked.
"Dream on! Junior Brother, the three spirit-gathering arrays in this garden are intermediate-level arrays. The elders spent twenty years setting them up, and they can gather a hundred times the amount of spiritual energy. Besides these, there's the 'Cultivation Forest' where each of the fifteen elders has a mid-level spirit-gathering array, and then there's the 'Great Cultivation Forest' where the disciples reside, containing [number missing]. It took hundreds of years to build all of these. The precious materials used were immense!" Qingzhu chuckled, deciding to continue teaching Zhang Guodong.
"The Cultivation Forest's function is to gather spiritual energy, allowing plant cultivators to accelerate their cultivation. However, its function is also somewhat related to the Demon Vine. The Demon Vine exists in the Cultivation Forest and can increase the concentration of spiritual energy, similar to the Spirit Gathering Array, though not as significant. "However, although the Demon Vine can gather spiritual energy better than humans, it is extremely difficult to subdue, practically one in ten thousand."
Just like Zhang Guodong, who profited from the situation, he obtained a mutated silver-thread grass demon vine seed. However, the severely weakened vine was difficult for Zhang Guodong to tame, and it was extremely easy for it to die once it left the land where it grew.
This is a phenomenon that is hard for everyone to understand. Over time, the subjugation of the demon vine only appeared in historical records, and basically no one bothered to subjugate the demon vine anymore.
They chose to cultivate demon seeds! Although it takes a long time, the survival rate will be much higher.
For example, from the initial planting to maturity, it generally takes at least two hundred years for a demonic seed to reach full maturity in the plant cultivation world. That's far too long!
However, once the demon vine is successfully cultivated, it can increase the spiritual energy concentration of the "Cultivation Forest" and also serve a protective function, preventing outsiders from disturbing the master while he is cultivating.
It's quite effective!
However, while the survival rate of demonic vines is higher when planted, even after they mature, they cannot match the immense spirit-gathering effect of the spirit-gathering array. Therefore, the spirit-gathering array cannot be replaced by them.
This combination of the Spirit Gathering Array and the Demon Vine is the optimal configuration.
"This is a mid-level spirit-gathering array built by pooling all the resources of Fengdu City. It has basically exhausted the precious resources accumulated here over thousands of years. It would be very difficult to build another one!"
Zhang Guodong felt regretful after hearing this.
If I had a spirit-gathering array, my body tempering might be faster! (Ad break!)
"What about the small spirit-gathering array?" Zhang Guodong asked, unwilling to give up.
Since intermediate-level spirit-gathering arrays require far too many precious materials, surely smaller ones would cost less? If we could bring a small spirit-gathering array back to the outside world, it would greatly accelerate both body refinement and plant cultivation!
"The materials required for a small-scale spirit-gathering array aren't much, only one-thousandth of those for a medium-scale array. However, these materials are generally controlled by major powers and are rarely given to private individuals. Private individuals generally don't have the support of any powerful organization, making it very difficult to obtain a small-scale spirit-gathering array." Qingzhu further discouraged him.
"No way?" Zhang Guodong was exasperated. "Are the materials really that hard to get?"
Qingzhu said, "Of course. Many of the materials are from outer space and don't exist on the continent at all. For example, the materials for teleportation altars and teleportation talismans. The 'Space Azure Five' was obtained from a spatial rift, which is extremely dangerous. Even if the elders are accidentally sucked into a spatial rift, they will almost certainly die!"
A crack in the void?
Historical records from the Great Continent also describe how even level 80 plant cultivators must be extremely careful in spatial rifts, otherwise, once sucked into the space, it would be very difficult to escape, which shows how dangerous it is inside.
Zhang Guodong was utterly devastated. He thought about it and realized it made sense. If something so precious could be obtained without any danger, it would be utterly absurd.
"Senior Sister Qingzhu, is the construction diagram of the Spirit Gathering Array relatively easy to obtain?" Zhang Guodong's heart stirred, and he began to think about the construction diagram.
Although it is impossible to build a spirit-gathering array now, it is still possible to build one in the future if the opportunity arises, as long as the array diagram is available.
Qingzhu looked at Zhang Guodong with surprise. Without thinking much, she said, "Array diagrams are relatively easy to obtain, but they are in the hands of the Grand Elder. To make a copy, the Grand Elder's permission is required."
As they were talking, Zhang Guodong paused, then resumed his normal actions as if nothing had happened, his eyes filled with shock.
"Everyone's here?" A warm voice rang out the next second, and then the fourteen elders appeared before everyone. They moved so fast that no one could see them.
Zhang Guodong could sense everyone's movements within a 200-meter range, and he even detected the arrival of the fourteen elders. However, they were incredibly fast, almost instantaneous, and the First Elder was nearly twice as fast as the other fourteen. Clearly, the First Elder's cultivation was far superior to the others!
"Congratulations, Elder! All elders!" Everyone immediately bowed.
The Grand Elder was in front, followed by the thirteen elders.
"First, implant souls into the disciples who haven't done so yet! The disciples who have already had their souls implanted, please stay and wait. We'll announce something later!" the Grand Elder said after looking around.
The reactions varied. The elders, arriving first, were actually giving the souls of those who had obtained demon seeds from outsiders? However, since the Grand Elder had given the order, and the other elders also wore serious expressions, they could only listen, despite their confusion.
"Sixteen people! You, you, come with me. The Second Elder will also take care of two people. As for the rest, all the elders must take good care of them!" The First Elder pointed at Xiao Ruonan with one hand, but pointed at Zhang Guodong behind the crowd with the other.
Before Zhang Guodong could even react in shock, his shoulders tightened, and he was involuntarily lifted off the ground, soaring into the air. His face turned pale instantly; he had never experienced the feeling of being completely out of touch with anything before. Xiao Ruonan was in the same situation; the Grand Elder lifted them both up and vanished from everyone's sight in an instant.
Note: The number of people who obtained the demon seed in Chapter 1 has been revised. It was obtained by all previous players. Sorry!
Next update before midnight!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com