Chapter 170 The Tragic Story of Liu Yu
Ji An rode the flying shuttle to Mount Chitong and landed in front of Zhao Lei's cave.
A robust young man stepped forward and said with a smile:
"Uncle-Master, you've arrived! Master is already waiting in the living room. Please!"
He learned the basic information about the senior apprentice from his master and was filled with admiration.
A spiritual farmer in the early stages of Foundation Establishment who still has the resources to purchase spiritual artifacts while maintaining his cultivation progress must have extraordinary abilities.
The Apricot Yellow Banner is one of the most expensive low-grade spiritual artifacts to make; it's difficult to gather enough materials with just spirit stones. This changed his opinion of the Spirit Farmer.
Those Daoist disciples who entered the sect at the same time as him and were assigned to the Spirit Farm were all living very stressful lives.
After a period of cultivation, I have very few spirit stones left. I don't know how many years I'll have to wait to accumulate enough contribution points to exchange for Foundation Establishment Pills.
There is a hierarchy of contempt among Qi Refining stage disciples.
The disciples of the Refining Hall and the Beast Taming Hall only looked up to the disciples of the Pill Refining Academy, the Array Formation Hall, and the Law Enforcement Hall, and had a superior attitude towards the disciples of other halls.
Although it's not explicitly stated, it truly exists.
The Grenadiers, on the other hand, were at the very bottom of the social hierarchy.
Ji An nodded slightly and walked into the cave with the young man.
Upon seeing Zhao Lei, who had put down his wine glass and approached him, he cupped his hands in greeting and said:
"I received a message from my senior brother yesterday evening, and I couldn't wait to ride my flying shuttle here. It took me a long time to calm down my excitement."
Zhao Lei clapped his hands and laughed:
"For Foundation Establishment cultivators, the first spiritual artifact is of great significance and will accompany us for many years."
I understand why my junior brother feels this way. When I forged my first spiritual weapon, I wanted to hold it in my hand even while sleeping.
How many Foundation Establishment cultivators can break through the Chaoyuan stage? Many spiritual artifacts accompany their owners throughout their lives.
He took out a small, palm-sized, golden flag and a jade slip, and continued:
"The jade slip describes the wielder of the Apricot Yellow Banner and the method of its refining. Take a look at it and try out the effects of the spiritual artifact."
"Thank you, senior brother."
Ji An took the spiritual artifact and jade slip. He first stroked the flag a few times, and then probed it with his divine sense. He was surprised to find that there was a faint spiritual aura of the Earth element inside, while the flagpole emitted a spiritual aura of the Earth element.
He was quite certain that when the flag was taken from Liu Suyun's hands, the spiritual energy it contained was extremely restrained and could not be perceived by divine sense.
Senior Brother Zhao actually managed to display the inherent spiritual essence of the materials through his weapon-refining techniques; he's truly a master.
The filaments extending from the flag and the flagpole are completely integrated, as if they grew out of it, a perfect natural formation.
He placed the jade slip on his forehead, quickly glanced through it, and then carefully examined the envoy's techniques, saying:
"The technique is not complicated; I feel it's even simpler than controlling magical artifacts."
Zhao Lei nodded slightly and replied:
"A spiritual artifact is called a spiritual artifact because it already possesses considerable spirituality."
The higher the level of the magical artifact, the more spiritual energy it possesses, and the more freely it can attack.
This explains why cultivators can only operate two or three magical artifacts at the same time, but can operate many at the same time using spiritual artifacts and magic treasures.
However, spiritual artifacts and magical treasures need to be refined to unleash their full power, and cultivators will choose one or two to focus on cultivating.
Ji An shook his head and chuckled:
"Senior brother, don't try to fool me. There aren't many cultivators who can possess many spiritual artifacts!"
Even with multiple magical artifacts, my magical power isn't enough.
"Junior brother is an amateur. Top-grade spiritual artifacts can already be nurtured in the dantian."
It automatically stores spiritual energy. If you possess multiple top-grade spiritual artifacts, you won't need to input additional mana for short battles. The same applies to magical treasures.
"Senior brother is right, but the prerequisite is having a top-grade spiritual weapon."
Ji An curled his lip. Generally speaking, only cultivators in the late stage of the Chaoyuan realm have the financial resources to forge top-grade spiritual artifacts.
The sheer cost of materials makes it a luxury for Foundation Establishment cultivators to possess top-grade spiritual artifacts.
He made a fortune over ten years when Crimson Flame Peak erupted, but he didn't obtain many second-tier top-grade materials, and he was still far from being able to refine top-grade spiritual weapons.
More importantly, the quality of magic power of Foundation Establishment cultivators is incomparable to that of Origin Realm cultivators.
Even cultivators in the late Foundation Establishment stage cannot meet the demand for top-grade spiritual artifacts.
As Ji An spoke, he channeled his magic power into the apricot-yellow flag. The magical artifact seemed like a black hole, absorbing nearly 30% of his magic power.
He scratched his head somewhat awkwardly. This was too much of a drain on energy, which meant that if he were to fight using magical artifacts, he could never engage in a prolonged battle.
Zhao Lei noticed his expression, chuckled inwardly, and said:
"I guess my junior brother must be worried about the mana consumption of the magical artifact, but there's really no need for that."
This situation will improve significantly once you advance to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.
The quality of mana in the mid-Foundation Building stage is 20-30% higher than in the early stage, which reduces the consumption of mana.
Ji An nodded slightly and began to activate the apricot-yellow flag.
He was immediately surrounded by a warm, golden light, and golden lotuses bloomed on the outer edge.
Zhao Lei took out a crescent-shaped treasure shimmering with red light and laughed:
"Let's go outside the cave."
What I'm holding is a low-grade spiritual weapon. It can not only attack as a whole, but it can also split into twelve fragments for a saturation attack.
I'll launch an attack in a moment, junior brother, and you'll get a feel for the defensive strength of the apricot-yellow flag.
I performed quite well when crafting this magical artifact.
If it weren't for the limited materials, it might have already been refined into a mid-grade spiritual weapon.
Allowing customers to inspect the goods on-site is a common practice among many weapon refiners.
Ji An nodded and said:
"Thanks to my senior brother, I am truly fortunate. I will come back to seek his help when I need to refine spiritual weapons in the future."
The two stepped out of the cave and stood still. Zhao Lei then activated his magical weapon and began to attack.
A flash of red light appeared, and in the next instant, the magical artifact had already flown to Ji An's front.
He forced himself to dodge, taking the full force of the attack from the magical weapon.
He noticed that the golden lotuses on the outside rotated in the direction from which the magical weapon was attacking, but they were not enough to withstand the powerful attack and dissipated.
At the same time, the protective aura moved like sand dunes, slowing down the impact of the magical artifact.
With a loud bang, the magical artifact shattered into smaller fragments, which sliced back and forth around it.
The thickness of the protective aura decreased rapidly, but Ji An could feel that the attacks he was enduring were significantly weakened due to the flow of the aura.
When the protective aura of the apricot-yellow flag and other magical artifacts completely dimmed, Zhao Lei put away the artifacts and smiled:
"Junior brother, what do you think?"
My cultivation level is already at the late Foundation Establishment stage. Even if I wield a low-grade spiritual weapon, the power I can unleash is much greater than when you wield it.
Moreover, I have refined this spiritual artifact for many years, and its power is comparable to that of a mid-grade spiritual artifact.
Ji An made a hand seal, planting the even larger apricot-yellow flag into the ground and channeling his magic power into it.
Centered on him, the ground within a radius of two zhang turned golden, as if cast in bronze.
"Senior brother, let's try again."
This is to test what kind of damage the Apricot Yellow Flag can withstand in its strongest defensive mode.
"good!"
Zhao Lei unleashed his magical artifact, and this time it took him almost twice as long to weaken the protective aura of the Apricot Yellow Banner to a dim level.
"Senior brother, you can stop now."
Ji An smiled, now he had a real understanding of the defensive effects of magical artifacts.
In the future, when I spar with Senior Brother Liu, I won't have to worry about defense for a while. I can withstand his attacks and fight back with offense.
...
After returning to Crimson Flame Peak, Ji An had another daily routine: spending half an hour each day refining spiritual artifacts.
Fortunately, he now spends much less time in the spirit field, so his workload is not heavy.
Once the Thick Earth Returns to Origin Mantra and Spring Breeze Transforms into Rain Technique reach the Great Perfection level, not only does the casting range expand, but the spell effects also last for a longer period of time.
His spellcasting frequency has decreased slightly from once every two days to once every three days.
The days passed peacefully, but the rate at which the top-grade spirit wood on Crimson Flame Peak increased did not stop.
More and more Fiery Mulberry, Copper Mulberry, and Green Ivy trees are being cultivated to the highest quality.
During this period, the Qin Gong Hall sent someone to collect top-quality mulberry leaves once.
The populations of Fire Crystal Ants and White Jade Bees are steadily expanding. This year, Ji An didn't harvest much of the nectar brewed by the two beasts. Next year will be a year of great harvest.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a month has passed.
The Tianyuan pear tree has grown to the height of a person and has begun to be bent down.
The dragon blood tree is more than half a person tall, with fiery red leaves that emit a hazy orange-red glow under the moonlight at night.
As the sun sets, wisps of smoke rise from Crimson Flame Peak, signaling the start of the season for burning spirit charcoal.
Ji An lay on the edge of the bamboo grove, a cup of tea on the stone table beside him, the faint fragrance of Yunding Silver Needle tea permeating the air.
The second-grade low-level spiritual tea not only tastes excellent, but also increases one's magical power after drinking and refining it.
More importantly, he discovered that drinking spiritual tea could accelerate the recovery of his depleted spiritual energy, which gave him the idea of planting tea trees.
However, since the sect doesn't have any high-grade tea trees, planting them wouldn't be very meaningful.
The mother tree is of low quality, so the chances of cultivating a high-level spiritual plant are slim. The only option is to gamble on a benign mutation with an even lower probability than one in ten thousand, which is too time-consuming.
Xia Yuhan walked over gently and said:
"Uncle-Master, the tea is getting cold. Please drink it and I'll refill it with hot water."
Ji An nodded slightly, sat up and drank the spiritual tea, then lay back down.
Thinking about what kind of spiritual plants he should cultivate next, he decided to plant some practical spiritual trees that have a flowering period.
In this way, you can smell the fragrance of flowers all year round.
Suddenly, Ji An caught a glimpse of a golden-red streak of light rushing into Crimson Flame Peak.
Because of the burning of spirit charcoal, there has been a lot of people coming and going on Crimson Flame Peak these past few days, and the gates of the mountain-protecting array have been open most of the time.
He immediately sat up and looked closely, thinking to himself:
"Isn't Senior Brother Liu hunting demons at Mingfeng Mountain? How come he has time to come back?"
The newcomer was Liu Yu, who was riding a blazing golden wheel, its spiritual light dazzling, leaving a clear trail in the sky.
"Junior brother, I'm doomed."
Before Liu Yu even landed, she cried out in the air, her voice mournful, like a wronged young wife.
Ji An raised an eyebrow slightly. This senior brother was usually calm and confident. What was wrong with him today?
As the other party landed on the ground, Ji An sensed the spiritual pressure emanating from them, which belonged to a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator, and grinned:
"I don't know whether I should congratulate my senior or..."
He didn't continue speaking; at that moment, he fully understood the other person's feelings.
If a Foundation Establishment cultivator participates in the Three Sects Competition, they will inevitably be assigned to the Foundation Establishment mid-stage group.
A bitter expression appeared on Liu Yu's face, and her brows furrowed together.
"Since I realized that I had reached a bottleneck in my breakthrough, I have stopped taking any pills to improve my cultivation, and I have even deliberately reduced my cultivation time."
However, they actually broke through during the fierce battle a few days ago.
What have I gained by suppressing my cultivation for the past few years?!
If he had known this would be the outcome, he would have definitely trained desperately.
With his Fire Element Body, his understanding of cultivation techniques will undoubtedly improve rapidly through refining spiritual objects, making it not impossible for him to break through to the fifth level of Foundation Establishment.
Despite all his scheming, fate played a cruel joke on him.
Ji An grinned, unsure of what to say. Breaking through was something many cultivators dreamed of, let alone breaking through in battle.
But when it reached the other party, it became a pain they were unwilling to bear.
"Senior brother, if others find out what you're thinking, they'll probably beat you to death."
(End of this chapter)
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