Chapter 993 Snow Silkworm, Xuanming Mulberry
Two weeks later.
Ji An arrived at the cave of the Recluse of the Crescent Moon and offered his congratulations with clasped hands:
"Congratulations, fellow Daoist, on your great progress in cultivation! You are one step closer to achieving a celestial realm!"
Wuyue Sanren followed behind him, offering his congratulations before handing a gift box to his host.
Ji An accepted the gift box and presented it with both hands:
"A little local specialty, please accept it, fellow Daoist."
The gifts inside were two catties of fifth-grade mid-level Jade Dew Golden Bud Tea and six fifth-grade low-level Lightning Strike Wood Earth Spirit Fruits, which were undoubtedly local specialties.
There are quite a few mid-grade fifth-tier spirit fruit trees in the Calabash World, but I don't have any ripe spirit fruits in my possession.
"Haha, you're too kind, fellow Daoist."
The Recluse of the Crescent Moon accepted the gift box and then handed it to the disciple behind him.
The two entered the cave, and the Recluse of the Crescent Moon introduced the guests to everyone.
The round table was filled with spiritual fruit tea, the aroma of the fruit and the fragrance of the tea blending together, creating a unique flavor.
After the guests have been introduced, the Recluse of the Crescent Moon apologizes:
"Please sit down and chat for a while. A few friends have not yet arrived, so I will go to the door to greet them."
Ji An nodded, "Fellow Daoist, please go."
The other party had a much wider circle of friends than him. Eight cultivators at the Three Flowers Realm were sitting in the cave, and they were seated at two separate tables.
Yunmiao Sanren patted the empty seat next to him. "There's no one here."
Ji An walked over and sat down. Xuan Shuang Sanren, Qiu Yue Sanren, and Shou Zhuo Sanren were also sitting there.
Qiuyue Sanren was a female cultivator with delicate willow-leaf eyebrows and a red rouge dot on the center of her forehead. Although she was sitting, her impressive figure was still evident.
Shouzhuo Sanren, on the other hand, had a fat head and big ears, a kind face and benevolent eyes, but his small eyes darted around, giving him an overly shrewd appearance.
The group started chatting, and after a while, the awkwardness lessened considerably.
Qiuyue Sanren lowered her head slightly, pursed her lips, and smiled softly, saying:
"Several years ago, Fellow Daoists from the Five Mountains came to buy bee eggs. Today, we have finally met the real buyer."
"Fellow Daoist Xuanqing, how are the Crimson Moon Bees growing?"
She is the seller of the Crimson Moon Bee eggs. She is an insect cultivator who raises many kinds of spirit insects. Some of her spirit insect groups can rival cultivators at the Three Flowers Realm.
Ji An smiled, cupped his hands in a gentle gesture, and said:
"Thank you, fellow Daoist, for being willing to sell bee eggs. You have done me a great favor."
The spirit bee colony is expanding rapidly, and the queen bee has now reached the second-tier superior level, with a colony size of approximately 50,000 bees.
The bee colony is not large because it is suppressed by the other two types of bee colonies.
However, the queen bee is already showing signs of transformation, and it should be able to reach the second-tier top quality in a few months.
Fortunately, there are now more and more nectar sources in the gourd world, the number of bee colonies will increase further, and the queen bee's improvement speed will remain high.
"In just over two years, you have managed to raise the queen bee to this level. It seems that the small world you have refined is very suitable for the growth of spiritual plants."
Qiuyue Sanren complimented, saying that while the speed of improvement wasn't exactly fast, it certainly wasn't slow either.
She was unaware of the situation in the gourd world and thought there was only one bee colony.
"I'm lucky; the land in the small world I refined is quite fertile."
"Does Fellow Daoist have any plans to raise spirit silkworms? I have some snow silkworms. If we have leaves of high-grade aquatic spirit plants to feed them, we can consider planting them."
"The silkworm king in my possession is a mid-grade fifth-tier spirit insect. It just laid a hundred eggs a few days ago. If you are interested, I can sell you fifty."
Qiuyue Sanren is also a formation master. To refine a fifth-tier formation flag, one must use spirit silk of the same grade. However, spirit silk of this grade is rare, and simply buying it is definitely not enough.
After breaking through to the Three Flowers Realm, she began raising spirit silkworms and spirit spiders, and only then did she become an insect cultivator, which has been more than three thousand years now.
Due to the limitations of her own ability to refine the small world, the number of insect swarms she raised had reached its limit, and even so, the spiritual threads in her hands were still insufficient.
Now she goes around 'promoting' the spirit silkworm to everyone she meets, hoping that someone like her will become a spirit silk supplier so that she can increase her income.
Her cultivation had remained at the mid-stage of the Three Flowers Realm for over six hundred years. Now, seeing cultivators who were once inferior to her breaking through one after another, she felt quite bitter.
She wanted to buy pills that could help her break through to a higher realm. These pills were extremely expensive and required several different pills to be taken together.
The higher the cultivation level, the higher the price of those pills that help one break through to the next realm. At the Three Flowers Realm level, the price of such pills is ridiculously high.
After all, as long as one can reach the Cave Heaven level, and if one can survive the calamity, a cultivator's lifespan can be said to be as long as heaven and earth.
Ji An frowned slightly and said:
"The leaves of water-elemental spiritual plants shouldn't be considered edible. Do you have any water-elemental spiritual mulberry trees?"
He didn't know much about spirit insects, but he did know that various mulberry trees were the best food for spirit silkworms.
Frankly speaking, if he had fire-elemental spirit silkworms, he could consider raising a few. Fusang trees are definitely the best food, but the downside is that there is currently no way to cultivate them in large quantities.
He had propagated mulberry branches by cuttings many times. Although the branches would sprout, they would wither away before long, slowly dying without warning.
He studied it for many years but still couldn't find the reason.
Qiuyue Sanren suppressed his surprise and smiled:
"Yes, if you purchase silkworm eggs, I am willing to give you ten mulberry branches as a gift. The mother tree of these branches is a mid-grade fifth-rank Xuanming mulberry."
She paused for a moment, then her tone became serious:
"However, this kind of spirit mulberry needs to be planted near water and has special requirements for soil. If the soil does not meet its requirements, it will grow extremely slowly and it will be difficult to break through to a high grade."
In her little world, she planted only three hundred Xuanming Mulberry trees, with only eighty trees of the fifth tier and only one tree of the middle grade of the fifth tier.
It's not that she doesn't want to plant more, but that's all she can plant.
Ji An began to communicate with the other party via telepathy. Collecting various kinds of spirit wood was his hobby, but the variety of aquatic spirit plants was too small, and they needed to expand the range.
In the end, he obtained fifty silkworm eggs and mulberry branches without spending a single spirit stone, because he signed an agreement to supply the other party with silk for a long time after the Snow Silkworm was upgraded to the fifth level.
The price of silk was slightly lower than the market price, a practice that has continued for thousands of years.
For Qiuyue Sanren, this was just a casual move. If the other party failed to cultivate a fifth-order spirit silkworm, the loss would be bearable. If the other party succeeded, she could also profit in the long run.
The two signed the agreement in the presence of others, and both felt they had gotten a good deal.
Qiuyue Sanren put away the jade slip containing the agreement. "I will go to find you tomorrow at Chenshi (7-9 AM) to complete the transaction. May I ask where your cave is located?"
Ji An gave the address and politely added:
"I look forward to your arrival tomorrow, fellow Daoist."
Xuan Shuang Sanren smiled as he looked at them and said:
"Fellow Daoist Xuanqing has cultivated a fifth-order spiritual fruit in his small world. It seems that he is confident in cultivating a high-order Xuanming Mulberry."
Ji An waved his hand and responded humbly:
"Just giving it a try."
After the toasts and drinks, Queyue Sanren shared his insights on achieving a breakthrough.
This is the most important program; you could say that everyone's main purpose is to listen to their insights.
Even if the other party certainly won't tell you everything, it's worth it as long as it provides even a little inspiration.
Everyone discussed and shared their cultivation experiences, and Ji An also gained some insights.
After the music ended and everyone dispersed, Ji An stayed behind to take out the Flame Banner and related materials:
"Fellow Daoist, I beg you."
He will only take out the Xuan Yuan Water Control Flag after the grade of this spiritual treasure is improved. If he hands over both of the Five Directions Flags, it will seriously affect his combat power in case of an emergency.
"You're too kind, thank you for your trust, fellow Daoist."
"The excess materials are for me, and I also need sixteen fifth-grade low-level Lightning-Struck Wood Dragon Blood Fruits as refining fees."
The Crescent Moon Hermit didn't reduce the refining cost much; that's the dignity of a weapon refiner.
"No problem. Will the cost be the same when we upgrade the Xuan Yuan Water Control Flag in the future?"
"Yes, the two spiritual treasures are equally difficult to upgrade, so the crafting costs are the same."
Ji An nodded slightly; to him, these refining costs were nothing.
"How long will it take to complete the refining process?"
"It will take about twelve or thirteen years. Upgrading a high-level spiritual treasure is a meticulous task that cannot be accomplished overnight; it can only be done gradually."
Fellow Daoist, come once every three months, take the spiritual treasure back and nurture it for seven or eight days before returning it.
Each time a spiritual treasure's grade increases by one level, the fellow cultivator needs to nurture it for an even longer period of time.
"After a spirit treasure is upgraded to a mid-grade fifth rank, it needs two months of nurturing; after it's upgraded to a high-grade fifth rank, it needs six months of nurturing; and after it's upgraded to a top-grade fifth rank, it's best to nurture it steadily for two to three years before it can be used frequently."
The Crescent Moon Hermit advised that the master's nurturing would help solidify the results of the spiritual treasure's enhancement. After all, using resources to enhance it was a quick fix, and it needed time to settle in order to avoid any accidents.
"OK."
Ji An scratched his head, "I thought it would only take two or three years at most, but I didn't expect it to take so long."
It took only a little over a month to upgrade a spiritual treasure to the fifth level.
"Haha, the process of upgrading a high-grade spiritual treasure is inherently slow. If we don't use external forces and can only nurture it with our own life-force fire, it would take at least five hundred years for a non-natal spiritual treasure of the fifth grade to be upgraded to the middle grade."
"Fellow Daoist, you raised it three ranks in one go, what's a little wait!"
The Crescent Moon Hermit explained that once a spiritual treasure reaches the fifth tier, its owner can nurture it to a higher tier without spending any resources; it only takes a tiny bit of time.
He personally does not recommend that the grade of a spiritual treasure be too much higher than that of a cultivator, as it would be very tiring to nurture it.
However, he could sense the other party's strong vitality, so he did not offer any advice.
The other party's vitality was much stronger than his. You must know that there is a difference in their cultivation levels. How could he, as the one with higher cultivation, bear this?
Once the Flame Light Banner is upgraded to the fifth-tier top-grade, if the other party feels the burden is too heavy, they will naturally notify him, and then decide what grade to upgrade the Profound Origin Water Control Banner to.
The following day, Ji An and Qiu Yue Sanren completed their transaction. Ji An entertained Qiu Yue Sanren with tea and gave him half a catty of tea leaves.
"This is the Jade Dew Golden Bud Tea grown by me from lightning-struck wood. It has a slight effect on nourishing the soul. I hope you won't find it offensive."
If the other party is willing to take the risk, he should naturally reciprocate.
"Fellow Daoist, you are too kind. I wish you success."
Don't be discouraged if you encounter problems growing mulberry trees. The leaves of any aquatic plant can be used as food, and it's acceptable if the effect is slightly less.
However, fellow Daoist, please remember to feed the silkworms the same type of food as much as possible, so that you can obtain silk of similar quality.
"Understood, thank you for reminding me. By the way, do you have any Fire-type Spirit Silkworms?"
Ji An looked at the other person expectantly, his eyes filled with anticipation.
"If you don't have a Fire Elemental Silkworm, I know a fellow Daoist who has a Fire Elemental Spider that can produce a high-grade spiritual silk, which is very sought after."
However, this type of spider always preys on spirit bees, so unless you can use an array to restrict the spider's nest, it is not recommended to keep it as a pet.
"pity."
Ji An shook his head. Spiders are carnivorous, and he didn't have the conditions to cultivate one to the fifth level.
After a brief conversation, Qiuyue Sanren took his leave.
After seeing off his guests, Ji An returned to his cave and entered the gourd world. He took out silkworm eggs and mulberry branches, a kind smile on his lips.
Biodiversity can better enhance the laws of the small world, and he is happy to increase the output of the gourd world.
The silkworm eggs were the size of ping-pong balls, snow-white as jade, and exuded a chilling aura.
Ji An took A Yun and flew to the lakeside. After finding an open space, they used their magic to create a low hill.
He activated his magic to unleash a small cloud and rain spell, creating artificial rain, and then cast a cold wind spell to turn the falling raindrops into hail.
Snow silkworms are organisms adapted to low temperatures, but the current season in the gourd world is midsummer, and the temperature is too high for snow silkworms to grow.
As the hail fell, the surrounding temperature dropped.
Ji An turned his head and said, "Ayun, after the rain stops, send someone to dig a hole and pile these hailstones into it. Keep the temperature in the hole low from now on."
After these spirit silkworms hatch, we'll use the leaves of low-level Azure Mist Trees to deal with them for now.
After the silkworm colony expands, they clean up their excrement and bury it in a place far from the lake water.
"Yes, ma'am."
Ji An extended his divine sense, selected the silkworm egg with the strongest vitality, and released the blood pact.
Golden blood formed mysterious patterns in the air as it fell, shrinking as it fell until it landed densely on the silkworm eggs.
The snow-white silkworm egg turned golden and shiny, like a golden pearl.
The blood contains abundant vitality, and the snow silkworm is quickly hatched, its skin snow-white and almost transparent.
In the future, it will become the king of silkworms, and its outer skin will be as clear and lustrous as jade.
Ji An placed the snow silkworm into a jade box and handed it to A Yun. After giving her a few instructions, he flew down the mountain and planted a mulberry branch about a foot long.
The hand seals changed, releasing the Yin-Yang Transformation Technique, with Yin-Yang energy permeating the air amidst flashes of lightning.
Once the rain stopped, all of these branches took root.
The outer skin of the Xuanming Mulberry is bluish-gray, with a white film covering the outermost layer.
The leaves are black, but the veins are white, creating a striking black and white contrast.
After sensing the state of all the branches, Ji An left on a cloud with his hands behind his back, returning to the Gathering Yuan Tree to begin his cultivation.
In an instant, a storm brewed in the small world.
Within the divine palace, the five Yin-Yang Dao Seeds left his body, scattering like illusory shadows across the small world, disappearing into the underground of each of the spiritual roots of heaven and earth.
He felt more and more clearly that whenever he cultivated, his body and his inner world were one.
In the future, this place will form the prototype of an inner world microcosm, at which time the sun, moon, and microcosm will truly become a whole.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com