Chapter 114 Settling In
Ji An gradually regained consciousness. He did not open his eyes immediately, but instead focused his consciousness into his dantian.
The stone turtle floated leisurely on the surface of the magical sea, lines of text appearing in its mind.
[Master: Ji An]
[Taoist Rhyme: 0]
[Spiritual Insights: Kan (坎) Spirit 555.5, Gen (艮) Spirit 530.6, Zhen (震) Spirit 0.2, Xun (巽) Spirit 25.2, Kun (坤) Spirit 72.6, Qian (乾) Spirit 2.7, Dui (兑) Spirit 0.8, Li (离) Spirit 1.4]
Ji An sat up, a smile appearing on his lips.
Overnight, all his spiritual abilities improved, and given time, he will surely master a large number of Five Elements spells.
At that time, they will become well-rounded cultivators, truly mastering a wide range of spells and able to deal with any enemy.
All he needed to do was cultivate peacefully on Crimson Flame Peak.
Stepping out of the cave, one sees that the moonlight has become pale and the air is heavy with coolness.
Ji An unleashed his flying shuttle and swooped down the mountain.
This magical artifact can be activated without being filled with spirit stones; simply input spiritual power steadily.
Crimson Flame Peak is not very large, so there is no need to use spirit stones to activate it. We should save the spirit stones we can.
A faint mist rose from the cold pool, enveloping the surrounding spiritual fields.
Ji An first went to check on the fruit trees and found that the peach tree branches and leaves were as vibrant as ever, while some leaves on the apricot tree were drooping and half of the flowers were slightly withered, as if the flowering period was about to end and they were about to fade.
He channeled his divine sense deep into the soil and sensed that the roots of the spirit peach tree had grown a lot of hair, while the roots of the spirit apricot tree had grown far fewer hairs.
Ji An nodded slightly. Transplanting a spirit fruit tree during its flowering period causes considerable damage, and it will naturally experience a long period of 'growing pains'.
The fruit trees are now starting to take root again, so the transplant can be considered a success.
The spirit apricot tree can only be considered a low-grade first-tier spirit plant at present. Thanks to the help of the spirit sealing technique and the effectiveness of his spell, the transplantation went more smoothly than he expected.
By taking good care of the patient these next few days, the impact of the transplant can be minimized.
He made a hand seal, and countless emerald green light spots, like swallows returning to the forest, disappeared into the spirit tree or fell into the soil. He felt that the Yi Wood Dao Seed in the Jade Spring Acupoint was also flashing with spiritual light when he cast the spell.
The fruit tree leaves are even more tender and vibrant green, and the flowers on the apricot tree are nourished and unfold their petals.
A gentle breeze blows, the branches sway lightly, and a subtle fragrance wafts through the air.
Ji An then cast the Thick Earth Returning to Origin Incantation by making a hand seal. A warm, earthy-yellow spiritual light spread out, and a rich, nourishing aura dissipated within the spiritual field, quickly merging into it.
Both spirit fruit trees are fire-elemental spirit plants, and with the sufficient spiritual nourishment from the Spring Breeze and Rain Technique, frequent raining is unnecessary.
Huang Feihu was already waiting outside, stretching his body to dispel his fatigue. Ji An called him to ride away in the flying shuttle.
By sunrise, they had prepared about 10,000 branches of the purple yang wood.
This is a low-grade first-tier spirit wood, some of which were planted on Ningcui Cliff to condense wood elemental beads.
Ji An suddenly realized that in a few years, simply condensing a wood elemental pearl from a spirit tree would be a considerable gain.
His Withering and Flourishing Technique has reached the Great Perfection level, making his efficiency in condensing Wood Element Pearls extremely high. If he hires some spirit farmers, this will become a continuous source of wealth.
The price of the Wood Element Pearls is not expensive, but the area boasts thousands of acres of spiritual wood.
Even the smallest profit margin can become quite substantial if the base is large enough.
A golden sun shone on the mountaintop, and soon after, golden-red mist rose from the mountain pass.
Huang Feihu felt the fierce wind scraping his skin and bones, and his face immediately showed bitterness; the feeling was too painful.
Although he had prepared himself mentally, he still hadn't expected the environment to be so harsh. It was only early morning, not yet the time when the autumn winds and raging fires were at their most intense.
He really didn't know how intense the spiritual energy would be here by noon.
"The situation at the Cold Pool will be much better, but it's still not easy for those in the Qi Refining stage to meditate and cultivate."
However, I think you should persist in practicing several major cycles of cultivation each day to refine your magical power, which will be more beneficial for foundation building.
As Ji An spoke, he summoned the flying shuttle once more, carrying Huang Feihu back to the cold pool.
The grey-feathered sand goose flapped its wings and flew over, showing off to its master that it had found the location of the spring.
Ji An tossed out a Spirit Feeding Pill, which Sha Yan swallowed in one gulp. She then began to complain that the largest spirit fish in the cold pool was only an inch long.
Sensing the emotions of the beast, Ji An shook his head slightly.
When the Chen family left, it was as if they had scraped the ground bare; they took everything they could with them.
Foundation Establishment cultivators cannot sustain their lives by relying on the wind, dew, and spiritual energy, so Huang Feihu went to prepare a meal.
Ji An left the area of the Cold Pool, feeling the stinging sensation of the golden wind and raging fire while trying to understand the spiritual energy within it, and began to practice the Sharp Metal Technique, verifying the two experiences together.
Although the spiritual energy at the foot of the mountain was intense, he could still endure it and it did not affect his practice of spells. He felt that such an environment should help him comprehend the metal and fire element spells.
Not long after, Huang Feihu prepared a meal and called him back.
Ji An picked up the spirit rice and said:
"Once the spirit trees are replanted, we'll try buying some spirit beasts to roam freely in the mountains and forests."
If the spirit beasts can survive, we will have a source of meat.
Consuming the meat of spirit beasts makes it easier to cultivate qi and blood, which is beneficial for both the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages.
Huang Feihu nodded repeatedly and said:
"I think raising some nocturnal herbivorous spirit beasts should work, preferably those that can dig burrows."
If a spirit beast can hide in the ground, it avoids the most difficult time of day and can fatten up without having to come out to forage at night.
"You decide what to do. As the spirit trees gradually grow, they will need to be cut down to make spirit charcoal."
You have no experience in firing, and you definitely can't handle it all by yourself. You need to prepare in advance.
The two discussed the details of what would happen next, and after finishing their meal, they went their separate ways. Huang Feihu ran outside the magic array to recruit people to survey the terrain.
Ji An flew to the cave halfway up the mountain to test the effectiveness of his daytime cultivation technique.
He sat down cross-legged and began to circulate the Green Wood Everlasting Spring Technique. He absorbed the free spiritual energy of heaven and earth into his body and immediately felt the exhilarating sensation of the intense spiritual energy raging within him.
In the early stages of my cultivation, I felt my immortal meridians were being nourished, and I felt comfortable all over.
Now, as soon as I started cultivating, I felt a slight stinging and burning sensation in my immortal meridians, which was caused by the metal and fire energy cleansing my immortal meridians.
Ji An felt that although the spiritual energy was intense, it was still within his tolerance range, so he continued to circulate the magic, and the spiritual energy circulated back and forth in the immortal veins.
It took much more effort than usual to refine spiritual energy, and the efficiency was much lower.
After the magic power was completely refined, it flowed into the dantian. The stone tortoise stepped forward and devoured its share, its shell glowing slightly, seemingly very satisfied.
About half an hour later, Ji An stopped circulating his cultivation technique. The pain in his immortal meridians was getting stronger and stronger, and he could hardly bear it anymore.
He circulated his internal magical power throughout his body and felt that the magical power he had refined today was indeed much purer than usual, and nodded to himself.
From now on, he can take pills at night and in the early morning to quickly improve his cultivation, and spend time during the day refining and purifying his magical power.
This way, one won't experience a superficial cultivation level due to excessive consumption of elixirs, provided one can endure the tempering of the metal and fire energy.
Ji An nodded slightly, having made up his mind. He decided to focus his efforts on cultivating pure magical power in his daily life, so as to fully utilize the potential of this special spiritual land.
The golden fire's spiritual energy grew even more intense. He stepped out of the cave, golden light flickering at his fingertips, as if he wanted to devour someone.
Huang Feihu circled around the valley, his brows furrowed.
He couldn't understand why the concentration of spiritual energy outside the magic array was so drastically reduced to only the lower-grade first rank, when the spiritual energy within Crimson Flame Peak was clearly at the level of a second-tier spiritual vein.
He found a disciple who was casting rain on the spirit valley, and bowed, saying:
"Junior brother, greetings. I am Huang Feihu, and I am cultivating at Crimson Flame Peak under the guidance of Uncle Ji."
"I'm new here and don't know anything about the area, so I'm asking my junior brother for help."
The fact that his senior uncle called him "fellow Daoist" was an honor, as it was important to maintain his senior uncle's reputation in public.
"Senior brother is so lucky to be able to cultivate under the guidance of a Foundation Establishment stage master. It's something to be envied. My name is Zhang Erniu, you can just call me Erniu."
Zhang Erniu smiled憨厚ly and began to explain:
"The other spiritual veins of the sect rise and fall with the terrain, so the decrease in spiritual energy concentration will have a sense of layering."
It is said that the area of Crimson Flame Peak is a node of spiritual veins that was revealed when several deep underground spiritual veins collided. The direction of the spiritual veins is almost vertical.
Therefore, while Crimson Flame Peak is brimming with spiritual energy, its surroundings are not much different from other areas without spiritual veins.
Crimson Flame Peak is a second-tier spiritual vein node, which allows it to release more spiritual energy from the earth veins to nourish the surrounding land. Otherwise, the spiritual fields in this valley would all be of low quality.
Huang Feihu smiled bitterly. All the high-grade spirit fields had been occupied by other disciples. If they wanted to plant spirit grain talisman grass, they could only reclaim ungraded wasteland.
The spirit field by Biyue Lake had been cultivated to the first-grade low-level level, and now it has to be cultivated again, which is frustrating to think about.
He sighed and said again:
"Junior Brother Erniu, Uncle Ji is looking for people to plant saplings. Work will start at 5 PM and end at midnight. The reward is one spirit stone for every two workers. Are you interested?"
Zhang Erniu's eyes lit up, and he nodded repeatedly:
“I’ll do it. How many more people does Uncle need?”
The sect issues these kinds of tasks every year, and the fellow disciples in this valley are all skilled at them.
"Also, we're skilled at making spirit charcoal."
He grows spirit grains here, and after deducting costs, he only earns two or three spirit stones per mu of spirit field per month on average.
In order to improve their cultivation level, they can accumulate even fewer spirit stones.
Fortunately, I can accept sect missions, which allows me to earn extra contribution points.
How many people are there in total?
Huang Feihu asked with a smile, "Now the problem of making spirit charcoal is also solved."
"More than twenty people. The location here isn't very good. If it weren't for the fact that there are some high-grade spirit fields available for cultivation, no one would be willing to come."
“I saw that there are dozens of acres of spirit fields over there planted with talisman grass. How many of you know how to make talisman paper?”
"Everyone knows how to grow talisman herbs and make talisman paper. These are all ways for experienced spirit farmers to increase their income."
"That's great. Uncle Ji is also planning to cultivate a large amount of talisman grass on wasteland, which will require a lot of manpower."
(End of this chapter)
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