Chapter 224 Mid-grade Soul-Nourishing Wood
Two years later.
The blue water turtle lazily lay in the shade of the trees on the shore, occasionally glancing at the vicinity of the stone house, searching for its owner.
The owner used to feed the spirit fish often, but it hasn't enjoyed such treatment for a long time.
After waiting for a long time without success, it slowly walked into the water, preparing to dive in and find food on its own.
It dared not enter the area of the red grouper, as those fish were too ferocious. It had once strayed into such an area and was attacked viciously.
Luckily, its shell was thick enough and it ran fast, otherwise it might have ended up as a fish's belly.
"Lanbei," Xia Yulian called out, raising her hand to reveal the Spirit Feeding Pill.
The blue-green turtle's shell is ice-blue, hence the name she gave it.
This Spirit-Feeding Pill is a specially customized version for aquatic monsters, made with monster blood and spirit fish meat paste. It has a strong fishy smell and rich spiritual power, making it very attractive to aquatic monsters.
The blue water turtle immediately went into the water and swam over quickly, its limbs moving swiftly.
It is usually fed by the two sisters and has a close relationship with them.
The Azure Water Turtle is currently at the fourth level of Qi Refining.
Xia Yulian chuckled, but Lan Bei was only slow when eating.
Just as the Azure Water Turtle was about to arrive, she tossed the Spirit Feeding Pill high into the air.
Bluebeard swam toward where the pill had landed, then suddenly stretched out its neck and swallowed it whole.
Its neck was raised, and a clear circular mark could be seen falling into its abdomen.
"come over!"
Xia Yulian squatted down and called out in a clear, crisp voice.
Lanbei swam over and came ashore. Of the two sisters who were responsible for keeping the zoo, it had a special fondness for the younger sister.
Xia Yulian reached out and stroked the smooth carapace, laughing sweetly:
"Bluebey, grow up quickly."
Before she could finish speaking, the turtle suddenly turned around in a panic and rushed back into the pool, swimming to the center.
Xia Yulian turned around and saw that Rock Armor Bear Dahuang was running over from a distance.
Dahuang and Lanbei don't get along, and Dahuang often bullies Lanbei.
Once, Big Yellow dragged Blue Shell far away from the cold pond and stood on Blue Shell's body with all four limbs.
From then on, whenever Lanbei saw Dahuang, she would hide in the water; the feeling of carrying such a heavy burden was too unbearable.
Although the Rock Armored Bear can swim, as an earth-elemental monster, it would refuse to go into the water if given a choice. The fact that it was stung when it stole honey as a child was just an accident.
Big Yellow walked to the edge of the cold pool, glanced arrogantly at the blue water turtle in the distance, and snorted disdainfully.
It lowered its head to lick the water, then calmly left, heading towards the mulberry field.
"Big Yellow, are you going to steal honey again?"
Xia Yulian shouted sternly, blocking Dahuang's path. She would feed it half a bowl of honey every two weeks.
Since Dahuang broke through to the late stage of Qi Refining, it has mastered the innate spell Rock Armor Technique.
Its entire body was encased in a hard, luminous shell. Then it swaggered to the beehive, ate its fill, and only then left.
This isn't just stealing food; it's outright burglary. Those white jade bees simply can't pierce its defenses.
"Aww!"
Big Yellow let out a vicious growl, opened its mouth wide, stuck out its scarlet tongue, and supported itself on its hind legs.
It disliked the female cultivator in front of it very much, as she often prevented it from searching for delicious food.
The Rock Armor Bear has now reached the eighth level of Qi Refining, standing eight feet tall, and its imposing presence is extremely terrifying.
Xia Yulian called out to the rock-armored bear:
"Uncle-Master".
Big Yellow immediately lay down and rolled over in a spoiled manner.
It's very smart and can understand most of what it says.
After waiting for a while, Da Huang didn't notice any movement. He turned his head to look, but didn't see the figure he expected.
"Hehe," Xia Yulian laughed, this trick always worked.
Every few days, the bear would fall for it.
"Aww!"
It roared again, how dare they play tricks on the bear!
Big Yellow stood up, baring its teeth and letting out a threatening roar, but it didn't make any further moves; it was just bluffing.
It was forbidden by its master to hurt people. It once pounced on a lingering bird and bit its leg, and was severely punished. The deep memory made it never dare to do it again.
Ji An stepped out of the stone house. He had just finished making talismans for the day, and the roar of the rock-armored bear made him frown.
He stared coldly at the menacing Big Yellow dog and shouted:
What happened?
Big Yellow paused for a moment, then immediately ran over on all fours, wagging its short tail.
It had its tongue lolling out, looking just like a pug.
Xia Yulian walked over, glanced at the rock-armored bear, and smiled:
"It's okay, I'm just playing with Dahuang."
Ji An reached out and patted Da Huang's head, saying:
"Do you want to eat honey again?"
He had seen similar scenarios several times and had his own judgment.
Big Yellow let out a low growl of grievance, whimpered a few times, and ran away.
Ji An shook his head slightly and said:
"There's no need to make excuses for it anymore."
Xia Yulian lowered her head:
"yes."
Dahuang is petty and holds grudges. She can complain behind people's backs, but she can't expose them to their face.
Ji'an Festival shuttle:
"I'm going out to practice my spells. For dinner, I'll kill a red grouper, half of it will be grilled and the other half braised, and the head will be stewed."
"Okay, I'll go fishing now."
Xia Yulian gently agreed, saying that since her master stopped practicing the water control technique in the cold pool, the spirit fish had become easier to catch.
As the shuttle departed from Crimson Flame Peak, Ji An looked down at the rolling golden spirit valley below. It was harvest time, and a large number of spirit farming disciples were busy in the fields.
Cultivators use magic to plant crops, which is convenient and quick, but they still use manpower to harvest them.
He was thinking that he would find a weapon refiner to make a magical artifact like a combine harvester, and maybe he could become a 'wheat harvester'.
The shuttle landed on the wasteland, and Ji An took out a bag of spirit grains from his storage bag.
He first released the Thick Earth Returning to Origin Spell to sow seeds in the wasteland, and then released the Spring Breeze and Rain Technique, and spiritual rain poured down.
Once the spirit valley sprouted, he released the Azure Wood Transformation Technique to accelerate its growth.
After a series of operations, Ling Gu grew to knee height, and he began practicing the techniques of "seeing grass and trees as soldiers" and "quicksand."
In the past two years, the skills of the Rock Mountain Technique and the Entangling Technique have been improved to the Great Perfection level.
Ji An had conducted tests. He set the talisman to delayed attack and found that the Pan Shan Jue's defense could withstand the frontal impact of three exploding fireballs in succession.
The Entangling Technique can bind a cultivator in the early stages of Foundation Establishment for several breaths.
When people are focused, they don't notice the passage of time, and before they know it, the western sky is filled with red clouds.
Ji An finished the exercise and focused his mind on the stone tortoise in his dantian. Lines of writing appeared in his sea of consciousness.
[Master: Ji An]
[Tao Yun: Gold 2.2, Water 0, Wood 0, Fire 0.6, Earth 3.1]
[Spiritual clues: Kan (坎) spirit 2394.5, Gen (艮) spirit 2347.2, Zhen (震) spirit 572.4, Xun (巽) spirit 2460.2, Kun (坤) spirit 2707.6, Qian (乾) spirit 3389.7, Dui (兑) spirit 3306.6, Li (离) spirit 2689.6]
[Spell: Five Directions Spirit Gathering Technique (Perfect 56%)]
Rejuvenation Technique (Perfect 27%)
Spirit Sealing Technique (Minor Success Rate 3%)
Detoxification Technique (Perfect 12%)
Seeing enemies everywhere (51% complete)
Quicksand Technique (Perfect 63%)
"It's finally almost over."
Ji An sighed, "I'll wait until I've mastered the Quicksand Technique and the 'Every Plant a Soldier' technique."
The Rejuvenation and Detoxification spells are easier to improve when facing truly injured targets. You can practice the spells and slowly grind them down when you have the chance.
Ji An returned to Crimson Flame Peak, sat down, and began to eat dinner.
The fish head soup was very delicious, and the grilled fish was coated with second-grade honey, making it taste amazing.
He ate the spiritual food slowly and savored it for a while, then finished his meal with a cup of mulberry wine in a bamboo tube.
Huang Xuan stepped forward, dragging several gourd vines in his hand, three of which shimmered with a purple light that caught the eye.
"Uncle-Master, all the gourds have been harvested, and the top-grade and best-grade gourds have been stored in the warehouse."
Ji An took the second-tier spirit gourd and put it into his storage bag, smiling:
"We can notify Senior Brother Zhao and Junior Brother Zhang to come and buy them. How many other gourds are there this year?"
The wild insects are now rampant, supposedly controlled by demon cultivators.
The number of demonic insects can increase rapidly as long as there is food. The purple fire gourd magic artifacts they refine are very popular, and the purchase price offered by Zhao Lei and his companion has increased.
"This year we harvested 24 top-grade gourds and 90 medium-grade gourds."
"not bad,"
Ji An nodded slightly, and the number of top-grade gourds increased again.
He took out two communication talisman swords, entered the information, and activated them.
The full moon, like a jade plate, shines its bright light upon the world.
After completing the spell on the spirit field, Ji An arrived at the underground cave.
Because rock bears frequently appear, the narrow tunnel connecting the two planting areas has no sharp edges; the protruding parts are shiny and have developed a patina.
There are now four second-tier Earth Spirit Fruit trees here, two of which belong to him.
Now Senior Sister Liu owes another fifty merits, and it's unknown when she'll be able to pay off her debt.
Ji An released the Thick Earth Returning to Origin Mantra, and the Dharma power that nourished the deep and mysterious aura permeated the area, illuminating the cave with yellow spiritual light.
The Earth Spirit Fruit Tree is glistening with raindrops, and the Soul Nourishing Wood, bathed in moonlight, is vibrant with purple hues.
The sapling is now two feet tall, with a total of four branches, and has more leaves, about forty or fifty in total.
Even more gratifying was that it became a mid-grade spirit wood a month ago, which made Ji An happy for several days.
This was definitely the most difficult spirit tree he had ever tended to, and even the slightest improvement filled him with ecstasy.
In the corner, Big Yellow was fast asleep, exhausted after a long day of partying.
The golden retriever, which had reached the third level of its foundation, was still very energetic, wagging its fluffy tail from time to time.
Ji An squatted down to pet the mouse, grinning as he said:
"I painstakingly cultivated the spirit tree, and you're the one who benefits the most!"
The spirit-seeking rat spends most of its time here every day, enjoying the scent of the soul-nourishing wood at all times.
"Squeak squeak".
The golden retriever barked happily, its eyes half-closed, clearly enjoying its owner's petting.
Ji An left the cave and used his flying shuttle to arrive at the Youyue Cangyu Tree.
The tea tree is now thirteen feet tall, with a gnarled trunk and lush foliage.
The moonlight was slightly distorted, as if a thin mist had risen.
Ji An sat cross-legged under the tree, calming his mind and soon felt a slight chill rising from the ground.
He took out the trickle of spiritual water and poured it into the jade bowl, where the water shimmered.
The moon is the essence of water, and the water under the moon exudes a mysterious feeling.
Ji An then took out the Azure Dragon Wood and the Xuanhuang Soil and placed them on the left and right sides. Now he could refine these two spiritual items without holding them.
He began to circulate the Green Wood Everlasting Spring Technique, and vibrant emerald green spiritual light and nourishing yellow spiritual light surrounded him.
Strands of moonlight were drawn over, and three kinds of spiritual light enveloped him.
Ji An's breathing was sometimes fast and sometimes slow, his spiritual energy circulated and refined in his immortal veins, and the spiritual light of the Dao seeds in his acupoints flickered.
The elements of Jia and Yi wood, Ji earth, and Gui water are even more radiant.
The soul was soothed by the serene coolness that it seemed to let out a comfortable groan.
Ji An's body temperature slowly dropped, and his face looked like white porcelain in the moonlight.
His eyebrows and sideburns looked as if they were covered with snow, which was frost that had been condensed.
The world in his mind's eye turned silver, and moonlight cascaded down on him like a waterfall.
As his body grew colder and colder, Ji An voluntarily ended his cultivation when he could no longer bear it.
He exhaled gently, and the cold air accumulated in his body turned into white mist, rising more than three feet.
The sacred water beside him turned into ordinary water, devoid of any spirituality.
The Azure Dragon Wood had become a piece of rotten wood, and the Dark Yellow Soil had lost all its luster.
Ji An's face lit up with surprise. He had sensed the bottleneck in his cultivation at noon today, and now he was completely certain of it.
The next step is to refine your magical power to perfection, which will allow you to break through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment.
At Shenshi (3-5 PM), a flying shuttle landed on Chiyan Peak.
Zhao Lei jumped out before the shuttle had come to a complete stop. He had wanted to come earlier that morning, but he had held back because he knew that his junior brother Ji must be cultivating at this time.
He received clear information that among the purple fire gourds planted this year, there were second-tier spirit gourds, one of which was his!
"Junior brother, quickly bring out my precious gourd!"
Ji An took out three spirit gourds and placed them on the stone table, saying:
"Senior brother has a really short temper. Take your pick."
"Haha, I've wanted to own such a rare magical artifact for a long time, and now my wish has finally come true."
Zhao Lei picked up the spirit gourd with great delight, looking at it from left to right, extending his divine sense to carefully sense the patterns inside, and then put it down and picked up another one.
If there's only one spirit gourd, and he has no other choice, he'll take it.
Now there are three, and he has to choose carefully.
Zhang Yuanshan put away the shuttle and walked over, smiling broadly:
"Too many choices can make people indecisive, haha, senior brother, take your time choosing."
He and Zhao Lei reached a private agreement that, in the absence of other competitors, they would split all the gourds of all grades equally.
In this way, the two of them could monopolize the business of refining the Purple Fire Gourd.
'These two competitors seem to get along quite well!'
With a sigh in his heart, Ji An said softly:
"Junior Brother Zhang, would you like to refine a top-grade spirit gourd? If you need one, I'll sell it to you."
Zhang Yuanshan shook his head and said with a wry smile:
"I'm not confident in refining a Purple Flame Gourd of the Spiritual Artifact level. It would be better to accumulate a few more years of experience."
He had no intention of acquiring the magic gourd; he didn't know how long he would have to hold onto such an expensive material.
Over the past few years, he has stockpiled a large amount of refining materials. After the demon calamity breaks out, these resources will definitely make him a fortune.
At this moment, Zhao Lei raised the spirit gourd in his hand and shouted with great vigor:
"Junior Brother Ji, I've made my choice, I want this one."
You said you wanted to exchange it for Xuanhuang Soil, half a jin of spirit soil plus ten mid-grade spirit stones. Are you satisfied with this offer?
Ji An shook his head slightly and said:
"For every pound of Xuanhuang Soil, I'll give my senior brother ten mid-grade spirit stones."
"Junior brother, I'm saving the Xuanhuang soil for refining weapons; half a jin is more than enough."
"My senior brother asked me to keep a second-tier gourd for you, but that's not what he said at the time."
Besides, such a gourd is probably not easy to find elsewhere.
Ji An stared quietly into the other person's eyes. It was a seller's market now, and he wouldn't back down.
(End of this chapter)
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