Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

“True Spirit Blood…” Wei Feng pondered for a moment, “Elder, could you elaborate? Are there any requirements regarding rank or the Five Elements?”

Chen Yuan said, "It must be at least at the Demon King level, and not among the four categories of Fire, Wood, Thunder, or Space."

Upon hearing this, Wei Feng looked troubled: "If the elder only wants the blood of the true spirit, there are two other types in our sect's treasury, but neither of them meets the elder's requirements."

“This item is rare to begin with, and once it appears in the world, no matter which continent or market it is in, it will be quickly bought up by the True Spirit Family. Very few others can compete with them.”

"This junior truly knows nothing about this item, please forgive me, Elder."

As he spoke, he clasped his hands in a fist and bowed to Chen Yuan, his face full of apology and his expression extremely sincere.

Chen Yuan was prepared, but upon hearing Wei Feng's words, he still couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

However, he did not show it on his face, and simply said, "Very well, I still have some treasures to deal with, but I don't know if Duobao Pavilion is willing to take them over."

Wei Feng smiled and said, "Duobao Pavilion controls 30% of the markets in Donghua City and is open to all cultivators. As long as the items that the elders bring out contain a trace of spiritual energy, this junior can accept them."

"In that case, please take a look, Nephew Wei..."

Chen Yuan flicked his sleeve, and the Demon-Slaying Blade and many treasures he had obtained from other cultivators and demons appeared out of thin air on the table. They all shrank considerably under the infusion of true essence, and various spiritual lights intertwined, filling the quiet room in a magnificent and fantastical way.

The treasures Chen Yuan took out would be enough for a Nascent Soul cultivator to no longer worry about cultivation, and would also be quite astonishing for a Void Refinement cultivator. However, for the Tai Xuan Sect elder who held the Tai Xuan Token, they were somewhat insignificant.

Wei Feng showed no surprise. He examined each treasure one by one and discussed the price with Chen Yuan in a respectful tone. Two hours later, he bought the last treasure.

Chen Yuan originally intended to keep these things for himself, but after absorbing the Dragon Essence, his cultivation level increased greatly, and he no longer needed these things. It would be better to take them out and exchange them for some Immortal Spirit Stones.

For cultivators at the Void Refinement stage, even top-grade spirit stones are not pure enough; only immortal spirit stones are truly usable.

These are spirit stones that can only be produced by large spirit stone veins, much larger than the giant spirit stone veins in the lower realm.

Each Immortal Spirit Stone contains spiritual energy equivalent to dozens of top-grade spirit stones, and to exchange a top-grade spirit stone for one Immortal Spirit Stone requires hundreds of them.

Like top-grade spirit stones, immortal spirit stones are also divided into top-grade, high-grade, medium-grade, and low-grade, but the most common are medium-grade and low-grade.

Only Mahayana cultivators can afford to produce high-grade immortal spirit stones, while top-grade immortal spirit stones are treasures that even Mahayana cultivators covet. It is said that they contain true immortal energy and are used by true immortals.

Chen Yuan sold all the useless treasures, only to get thirteen low-grade immortal spirit stones in return. Adding them to the four he had obtained earlier, he now had a total of seventeen.

This is far less valuable than that of other Void Refinement cultivators, especially those at the peak of Void Refinement.

However, they had accumulated their knowledge over thousands or tens of thousands of years, while Chen Yuan had only advanced to the Void Refinement stage for a hundred years. He had spent most of his time trapped in the Flame Array and had no time to search for treasures.

This was actually the wealth he had accumulated with his Nascent Soul cultivation. Having so many immortal spirit stones was already far beyond what ordinary people possessed.

If you add the divine weapons and spiritual treasures in his possession, he is far superior to cultivators who have mastered the Void Refinement stage, and may even surpass some cultivators who are of humble status who have mastered the Integration stage.

At this point, Chen Yuan had few treasures left. The Heavenly Treasure Xuan Yin Armor and the only divine weapons he possessed were the Cangming Halberd and the Guanghan Bow.

Needless to say, the Cangming Halberd, as a second-grade spiritual treasure weapon, the Guanghan Bow, can absorb a trace of moonlight on a moonlit night to condense a moonlight arrow, posing a considerable threat to cultivators at the Void Refinement stage.

But once Chen Yuan advances to the next level and merges with the body, this longbow will become useless.

The Purple Kui Thunder Drum is merely a top-tier magic weapon with negligible effect, but it is extremely well-suited to him, and should at least be upgraded to a third-grade spiritual treasure.

Chen Yuan also kept the Dragon Transformation Pool obtained from Jiao Sheng Island in the human realm. This top-tier magic treasure is far from being comparable to the real Dragon Transformation Pool, but it still has some of the functions of the real Dragon Transformation Pool.

After obtaining the memories of the Great Sage Xuanli, Chen Yuan gained a deep understanding of the Dragon Transformation Pool. He planned to transform this treasure into a body-tempering magic weapon that could also be used by human cultivators, leaving it for the lower-level disciples of Lingyun Peak to temper their physical bodies in preparation for the Yin Wind Tribulation.

Fortunately, as an elder of the Tai Xuan Sect, he didn't need to worry about such things. He only needed to prepare the spiritual materials and head to the weapon-refining hall.

There were also many body-tempering spiritual items obtained from the demon race. During the more than one hundred years that Chen Yuan was trapped in the Flame Array, in addition to absorbing dragon essence and drawing starlight into his body, he also refined pills.

He refined a few useful body-tempering herbs, such as True Dragon Saliva, into pills and refined them all. Under the triple tempering of Dragon Essence, Starlight, and Spiritual Medicine, his physical body improved so quickly that he was only one step away from becoming a mid-stage Fusion Realm Demon Saint.

The remaining body-tempering spiritual items were no longer of use, but there was no shortage of body cultivators in the Spirit Realm, and body-tempering spiritual items were even more precious than in the Demon Burning Realm. Chen Yuan kept them all for future use.

After the transaction was completed, Chen Yuan suddenly remembered something and said, "I once obtained a spiritual herb by chance, but I never knew its origin. I only knew that it must have been quite old."

“Nephew Wei is in charge of the Treasure Pavilion and has seen countless treasures. His knowledge far surpasses mine, so he should be able to answer my questions.”

Wei Feng was very cautious and said, "Elder, you flatter me. I am a junior with limited knowledge and skills. I am willing to give it a try, but if I fail, I hope you will not blame me."

"It's alright, please take a look, junior disciple."

Chen Yuan took out a wooden box several feet in size. The box was made of spirit wood that was thousands of years old and had an intricate spirit-sealing talisman on it, so that no spiritual energy would leak out.

Chen Yuan pointed his fingers, and the sealing talisman was removed on its own. The box lid slowly opened, revealing a strange spiritual flower lying on a soft cloth, from which a pure spiritual energy slowly emanated.

Wei Feng stared intently and saw that the spirit flower was as green and clear as jade, about a foot tall, with a straight stem, without branches or leaves, resembling a green bamboo, only much thinner, with distinct roots.

At the top of the stem blooms a similarly blue flower, divided into twelve petals, each petal holding a drop of dew, crystal clear and transparent.

At this moment, the spirit flower lay horizontally in the wooden box, but the dew did not fall; instead, it rolled back and forth on the petals, condensing without dispersing.

Whenever the dew reaches the edge of a petal, it only droops slightly before rolling back, like a delicate pearl clinging firmly to the petal.

Wei Feng felt the pure spiritual energy emanating from the cyan spiritual flower and couldn't help but show surprise. He immediately reached out, gently picked up the spiritual flower, and examined it carefully.

He looked at it for a long time, let out a long sigh, put the blue spirit flower back into the wooden box, and bowed to Chen Yuan with his fists clasped: "Thanks to the elder, I have broadened my horizons today and was able to see the Bihua Chenglu, which is more than 50,000 years old."

Chen Yuan's eyes lit up: "Nephew Wei, do you recognize this flower?" After obtaining this spiritual flower from the secret realm of the Yuling Sect, he knew that it was extremely extraordinary. It was at least a five-thousand-year-old spiritual herb, and it was even very likely a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herb. He had always kept it carefully.

However, his cultivation level improved greatly later, and he successively advanced to the Nascent Soul and Void Refinement stages. He even obtained an extremely precious spiritual herb guide from Qin Wuyai, but he still couldn't tell the specific year of the blue spiritual flower, nor did he know what its wonderful uses were, so he dared not use it to refine pills.

Looking at the blue spirit flower, Wei Feng slowly said, "No wonder the elders don't recognize this flower. It's not difficult to cultivate this Azure Dew-Bearing Flower; it can mature in ten thousand years. However, Azure Dew-Bearing Flowers that are more than fifty thousand years old are extremely rare."

"Elder, please look. The medicinal power of this Bihua Dew is not in its main body, but in these twelve crystal-clear dewdrops, making it extremely difficult to discern their age."

"Each dewdrop is comparable to a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herb, containing a trace of pure and spiritual energy. When refining pills, adding one at the moment of completion can increase the medicinal power by 20%."

"This flower matures in ten thousand years, producing nine petals, each petal condensing a dewdrop. Every ten thousand years thereafter, one more petal will grow. The Bihua Chenglu in the elder's hand has twelve petals, and it is at least fifty thousand years old."

“After a dewdrop is picked, a new dewdrop will condense after a thousand years. However, once a dewdrop is picked, this flower can no longer grow and will forever remain a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herb.”

"The spiritual energy absorbed by this Bihua Dew-Gathering Herb is several times that of other spiritual herbs, while the dew only adds 20% of the medicinal power. It is not worth the loss, so very few sects cultivate it."

"Even if someone cultivates this kind of spiritual herb, they will directly pick the dew after it matures, instead of letting it continue to grow. Most of them only have nine petals, and even the ten-petaled Bihua Chenglu is extremely rare, let alone the twelve-petaled one."

"The medicinal power of Bihua Chenglu lies entirely in the dewdrop. Very few people sell spiritual herbs, so many spiritual herb catalogs do not include this kind of spiritual herb."

“A Nascent Soul cultivator once obtained a 20,000-year-old Jade Flower Dewdrop from a fragment of the interface and sold it in the Treasure Pavilion. I consulted an alchemist from our sect and only then did I recognize this flower. This is the second time I have seen it today. Elder, are you interested in selling these twelve dewdrops?”

Chen Yuan said, "Thank you for your explanation, nephew, but I have no intention of selling this flower at the moment."

For alchemists, spiritual items that can enhance the potency of medicine by 20% are extremely rare, especially when refining some precious pills, where they can have a miraculous effect.

Chen Yuan reattached the spirit-sealing talisman, put away the Jade Dew-Received Plant, and instead took out fourteen immortal spirit stones to buy eight eight-thousand-year-old spirit herbs from Wei Feng.

His cultivation level improved too quickly, but his alchemy skills remained at the level of refining pills for the Nascent Soul stage. He needed to refine a large number of spiritual herbs for the Void Refinement stage to accumulate experience and improve his alchemy skills.

Wei Feng was somewhat surprised, but did not ask any further questions. Given Chen Yuan's status as an elder of the Tai Xuan Sect, he only accepted spirit stones worth 80% of the market price of the spiritual herbs.

The price of the eight-thousand-year-old spirit herb is very high, with one herb costing almost two or three spirit stones, but it is much cheaper than in the Demon Burning Realm.

Back then, Chen Yuan took out a third-grade spiritual treasure weapon in the dark market of Silver Tide City, but only exchanged it for a few five-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs and three-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs.

The demons of the Burning Demon Realm are not skilled at cultivating spiritual herbs, while the various sects of the Spirit Realm have a long history and are well-versed in the art of cultivating spiritual herbs. They set up formations in the spiritual herb gardens and mix spiritual soil and spiritual liquid, so the spiritual herbs grow faster and are much cheaper than those in the Burning Demon Realm.

Finally, Chen Yuan wanted to buy a spiritual herb compendium, and Wei Feng gave him one directly. It was the most comprehensive spiritual herb compendium in the Tai Xuan Sect's alchemy hall, recording 99% of the spiritual herbs in the spirit world, ranging from hundreds of years old to hundreds of thousands of years old.

As for even older spiritual herbs, they only exist in the Immortal Realm.

The oldest spiritual herbs in all the heavens and myriad realms are 100,000 years old. After that, no matter how long they grow, they can only accumulate some spiritual energy, but their essence will not improve.

This illustrated guide to spiritual herbs also records tens of thousands of otherworldly spiritual herbs, which were carefully collected by the Tai Xuan Sect. However, compared with the spiritual herbs of all the heavens and myriad worlds, it is only a drop in the ocean.

Different environments on different interfaces result in vastly different spiritual herbs being cultivated.

Many realms lack even the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. For example, in the Xuanli Realm, spiritual herbs and materials exist in their own right, and naturally, they are not recorded in the encyclopedia.

Chen Yuan put away the herb encyclopedia, and together with Han Xuan, he left the Treasure Pavilion with several eight-thousand-year-old herbs and the remaining three low-grade immortal spirit stones.

Wei Feng personally escorted them out and watched them fly towards the short-distance teleportation array.

Even the Treasure Pavilion has no news of True Spirit Blood, let alone other markets in Donghua City.

Chen Yuan and Han Xuan wasted no time and returned directly to Tongtian Island. Han Xuan took his leave, while Chen Yuan headed straight for Lingyun Peak and opened up his own cave dwelling.

On Lingyun Peak, the figures of the Nine Palaces Array Masters could already be seen, examining the spiritual veins with various magical array plates in preparation for adjusting the Spirit Gathering Array.

Upon seeing Chen Yuan, they all bowed respectfully and addressed him as "Elder," clearly indicating that they already knew Chen Yuan's identity.

Having traveled the cultivation world for hundreds of years, Chen Yuan had opened up countless cave dwellings. He was already very familiar with the place and quickly opened up a cave dwelling in a few hours. After making some simple repairs and setting up a set of formations around it, he moved in.

He took out the pine tree's original form and planted it outside the cave entrance. The pine tree was very satisfied with the serene environment.

Before the flame array was broken, Chen Yuan used a secret technique obtained from the memories of the Great Sage Xuan Li to put the Pine Elder's true form into a spirit beast bag, which would not lose its vitality for ten years. Now, less than a month has passed, and the Pine Elder's true form is completely unharmed.

For the next few days, Chen Yuan stayed in his cave, meditating and waiting for the one-month deadline to arrive.

After his visit to Duobao Pavilion, he had made his decision and was just waiting to meet Master Fu.

Less than a month is too short a time. It takes at least half a year to refine a batch of pills for the Void Refining stage. Chen Yuan did not want to cause any unnecessary trouble, so he could only meditate and regulate his breathing.

Half a month passed quickly. On this day, Chen Yuan was refining his true essence when he suddenly heard Elder Song's voice in his mind: "Master, a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator named Yuan Shuheng claims to be an old friend of yours and has come to visit. Should you see him or not?"

Chen Yuan awoke from his cultivation and replied, "This person is indeed an old friend of mine. I would be grateful if Elder Song could invite him into the residence."

He slowly got up, walked out of the cultivation room, and came to the reception room. After a short while, Elder Song invited Yuan Shuheng in and then took his leave.

Only Yuan Shuheng and Chen Yuan remained in the hall. Yuan Shuheng stared blankly at Chen Yuan, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

He slowly raised his hands, bowed slightly, and clasped his hands in a salute: "Junior Yuan Shuheng pays respects to... Elder Chen."

Chen Yuan sighed inwardly, "Nephew, there's no need for such formalities. Please sit down and let's talk."

Both he and Han Xuan were at the Refinement of Emptiness cultivation level, so it was reasonable for them to address each other as equals, and Elder Yuan did not object.

However, Yuan Shuheng only possesses the cultivation level of the Nascent Soul stage and is the son of Elder Yuan. Under no circumstances can he address Chen Yuan as an equal; otherwise, it would be disrespectful to the elder, a violation of sect rules, and would be severely punished. (End of Chapter)