Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Chapter 216 Late stage of foundation building
The old man in hemp clothes carefully examined the Phantom Yin Stone in his hand. After a long while, he nodded and said, "This Phantom Yin Stone is very heavy and of excellent quality. It is enough to upgrade this pair of gloves to a top-grade spiritual weapon."

In front of him, there was a pair of gloves as thin as a cicada's wing hanging. One of them was intact, but the other had two holes torn in it, revealing several messy white threads.

Chen Yuan was sitting opposite the old man in hemp clothes. Hearing this, he smiled and bowed to him: "Thank you, Master Nie."

As he spoke, he stroked his storage bag, took out a jade box, took out the Green Snake Demon Pill from it, and handed it to the old man in hemp clothes.

The old man in hemp clothes took the demon pill and suddenly shook his head with a look of regret on his face: "I didn't expect that Fellow Daoist Chen could find such a large piece of Phantom Yin Stone. My original idea was a bit crude. It's a pity to waste this thousand-year-old ice silk..."

Chen Yuan asked: "Master Nie, why do you say that?"

The old man in hemp clothes looked at the gloves in front of him and said without raising his head: "Thousand-year-old ice silk is a top-grade spiritual material, which is enough to be used as the main material for refining magic weapons."

"Although this pair of gloves does not contain much silk, if we can add more in the future, perhaps we can refine it into a magic weapon."

“But if we add the Green Snake Demon Pill and the Phantom Yin Stone and practice it again, this pair of gloves can only stop here. Unless we add a piece of Hundred Years Cold Jade, there is potential for improvement again.”

Chen Yuan's mind moved: "May I ask Master Nie, what kind of spiritual material is this hundred-year-old cold jade?"

The old man in hemp clothes said, "Hundred-year-old cold jade is like thousand-year-old ice silk and Phantom Yin Stone. They are all ice-attributed spiritual materials. Although they are not as rare as Phantom Yin Stone, they are also quite precious. I have only seen two pieces in my life."

"This jade is transparent throughout, about a foot in size, and looks like an ice cube, but it is extremely hard. It contains a wisp of ice essence that can transform into all kinds of ice spirits. It's just that it's too thin, otherwise even Nascent Soul cultivators would salivate over it."

"This jade has another characteristic. If it survives for a hundred years, it will be a mid-grade spiritual material. If it survives for a thousand years, it will be a high-grade spiritual material. If it survives for ten thousand years, it will be a top-grade spiritual material."

"If you can find a piece of 100-year-old cold jade and add it to this pair of gloves, if you are lucky enough to find 1,000-year-old ice silk and 1,000-year-old cold jade in the future and refine it again, it will definitely be upgraded to a magic weapon."

When it comes to refining equipment, the old man in hemp clothes becomes talkative and describes the characteristics of the hundred-year-old cold jade in great detail.

Chen Yuan's eyes lit up, he stroked his storage bag, took out an object, and said, "Master Nie, please take a look, is this a hundred-year-old cold jade?"

The old man in hemp clothes looked carefully and saw that Chen Yuan was holding a half-foot-sized transparent ice block in his palm. The whole thing was transparent and gave off a hint of coldness. There was a misty air inside that kept changing its shape. Suddenly it turned into a white fox, and in the blink of an eye it turned into an ice phoenix, lifelike.

He said happily: "Yes, this is the Hundred Years Cold Jade! Since you have found this item, why don't you take it out earlier?"

Chen Yuan raised his hand and sent the ice cube to the old man in hemp clothes, and said with a smile: "I got this jade by chance. I only knew it was an ice-attributed spiritual material, but I didn't know it was a hundred-year-old cold jade. If Master Nie hadn't told me, I don't know how long it would have stayed in Chen's storage bag."

This piece of hundred-year-old cold jade was obtained by him from Xu Feiqing. It was placed together with another kind of ice-attributed spiritual material. Chen Yuan did not recognize it, but he kept it because he saw that it was rich in spiritual power and did not seem to be an ordinary item.

The old man in hemp clothes took the hundred-year cold jade, looked it up and down, and said, "The ice essence in the hundred-year cold jade is too thin, so it is so large. The thousand-year cold jade is only the size of a palm. The legendary ten-thousand-year cold jade contains a wisp of extremely pure ice essence and is only the length of a thumb."

"This piece of cold jade is only half a foot in size. Before it was picked, it had absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth for at least eight hundred years. It is also a top-grade piece among the hundred-year-old cold jades."

"The man who mined the jade is really wasting nature's gift. If he waits for another hundred years, the jade will turn into a rare thousand-year-old cold jade..."

The old man in hemp clothes shook his head regretfully, while Chen Yuan and Nie Ruyue just smiled and said nothing.

Who would leave the spiritual material unclaimed and wait for more than a hundred years?
Only someone like the old man in hemp clothes, who is obsessed with refining weapons, would have such an idea.

The old man in hemp clothes sighed and finally changed the topic: "This hundred-year-old cold jade is very old, and the magic Yin stone is heavy. It will take at least three years to refine the thousand-year-old ice silk gloves again. Can you wait?"

As he spoke, his eyes were still fixed on the two spiritual materials, the Phantom Yin Stone and the Hundred Years Cold Jade, and he looked at them greedily.

Chen Yuan bowed and said, "Master Nie, please do as you please. There is no need to rush."

The old man in hemp clothes said happily, "Okay, fellow Taoist, please leave quickly. I am going to start refining the weapon."

He stared at the two rare spiritual materials in front of him and raised his hand and waved twice.

Chen Yuan didn't take it seriously. He bowed to the old man in hemp clothes, then stood up and left.

Nie Ruyue followed Chen Yuan out of the hemp-clothed old man's weapon refining room, closed the door, and said apologetically: "When Third Uncle sees rare spiritual materials, he will forget himself. If I am rude, please forgive me."

Chen Yuan smiled and said, "Master Nie is refining the weapon for me, why would I care?"

The two returned to the reception room and sat down again. Nie Ruyue pondered for a moment and said, "The spiritual materials used for this pair of gloves were all provided by fellow Taoist. Logically, I shouldn't ask for more spiritual stones."

"But our pavilion cannot do business at a loss. Third Uncle has spent a lot of effort to refine Qi for fellow Taoists."

"Moreover, the three spiritual materials of thousand-year-old ice silk, hundred-year-old cold jade, and phantom Yin stone are difficult to refine, and the earth fire formation consumes a lot of energy, at least sixty medium-grade spiritual stones are needed. I hope that Fellow Daoist Chen will understand."

After saying that, she looked at Chen Yuan, her beautiful eyes revealing nervousness.

Sixty medium-grade spirit stones are enough to buy a high-grade spirit tool. Baoguang Pavilion does not provide spirit materials, but only charges so many spirit stones for re-refining the tool, which seems extremely not worth it.

If it was an ordinary customer, Nie Ruyue would not care so much, but Chen Yuan had the support of Lingyun Sect and was very powerful. This time he also had a large number of spiritual weapons for sale, so she did not dare to offend him in the slightest.

But Chen Yuan did not refuse directly as Nie Ruyue worried, and did not even hesitate: "As long as I can refine this weapon, sixty spirit stones are nothing."

Nie Ruyue felt relieved, a bright smile appeared on her face, her eyes moving, "Don't worry, Fellow Daoist Chen, Third Uncle will definitely satisfy you with his help. Please wait for a moment, I will bring you the spirit stone right away."

She stood up, bowed, and walked out of the living room.

A moment later, Nie Ruyue turned around and handed a storage bag to Chen Yuan.

Chen Yuan used his spiritual sense to explore inside and found three hundred and twenty middle-grade spirit stones in the storage bag. This was exactly the number she and Nie Ruyue had agreed on after deducting sixty middle-grade spirit stones.

He put away the storage bag, pondered for a moment, and said, "Chen has another unwelcome request. I hope that Master Nie can help me."

Nie Ruyue smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist Chen, please tell me. As long as I can help, I will never refuse."

Chen Yuan bowed and said, "I am not proficient in the art of refining equipment. I only know the common spiritual materials in the world of immortal cultivation. Even if I encounter a rare spiritual material, I cannot recognize it at a glance. I almost let the treasure fall into the dust. I wonder if Master Nie has a spiritual material atlas that I can use to make up for it?"

Upon hearing this, Nie Ruyue showed a hint of hesitation on her face and frowned slightly.

Since Chen Yuan asked, what he wanted was not an ordinary atlas, but an atlas that included rare spiritual materials.

This is the experience and knowledge accumulated by the Nie family over hundreds of years, covering thousands of rare spiritual materials, and even many top-grade spiritual materials. Only the direct descendants of the family and the master weapon refiners know about it, and it is never passed on to outsiders.

If she gave it to Chen Yuan, it would be a violation of clan rules, but if she didn't give it to Chen Yuan, she would offend Chen Yuan, which made her very embarrassed.

Chen Yuan saw Nie Ruyue's embarrassment and said, "It seems that I am being abrupt. If it is inconvenient for Master Nie, just pretend that I never mentioned it."

Nie Ruyue sighed after hearing this and said, "Well, since Fellow Daoist Chen has brought so much business to our pavilion, I will make an exception for once."

She stroked her storage bag, took out a jade slip, raised her hand and handed it to Chen Yuan, saying seriously: "My Nie family makes a living by refining equipment. Over the past hundreds of years, we have recorded the characteristics of thousands of spiritual materials, including some extremely rare high-grade spiritual materials, and even three kinds of top-grade spiritual materials. Only the direct descendants of the family and the refining masters know about this. Please don't disclose this matter."

Chen Yuan took the jade slip and said solemnly: "Chen owes Fellow Daoist Nie a favor. If you need anything in the future, just ask."

The Nie family has had Jindan cultivators in every generation, and three hundred years ago, they had a weapon-refining master who was well-known throughout the Qi State's cultivation world. This atlas of spiritual materials is also extremely precious.

He had seen many spiritual materials from the memories of Master Qingyou, but Master Qingyou was not proficient in the art of refining equipment and his accumulation was far from comparable to that of the entire Nie family.

Seeing Chen Yuan change his address, Nie Ruyue knew that she had made the right move. She smiled even more brightly, and said, "Daoyou, you are too kind. When you sell spiritual tools in the future, please give priority to our pavilion."

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, then Chen Yuan stood up to say goodbye, and Nie Ruyue personally escorted him out of Baoguang Pavilion.

After Chen Yuan said goodbye to Nie Ruyue, he did not stay in Lingyun Market for long. He drove the Duyun Boat directly back to the Lingyun Sect's mountain gate.

He came out of the sect this time just to get the sword, and at the same time asked the old man in hemp clothes to refine the thousand-year-old ice silk gloves.

The matter of the ancient teleportation array is not urgent. It will not be too late to investigate it after one has made some progress in cultivation.

Chen Yuan returned to Lingyun Sect smoothly. After the patrol monk verified his identity, he entered the mountain gate and returned to Yunyin Peak. He closed his cave and meditated. Spring and autumn changed, cold and heat changed, and a year and a half passed in a flash.

Chen Yuan had been practicing in seclusion in his mansion. During this period, he was short of elixirs, so he started to refine two batches of Nanguan Dan and one batch of Heqi Dan, refining the medicinal power and breaking through the bottleneck of the late foundation building stage in one fell swoop.

Over the next six months, he practiced his skills and inhaled spiritual energy, until today, when he has finally stabilized his realm and is now able to fight with others.

At this time, Chen Yuan had used up all the elixirs on him, and only had one furnace of Qinglu Dan spiritual herbs left, which he had not yet had time to refine into elixirs.

In addition to meditation and practice, Chen Yuan also mastered the blood escape technique taught by Taoist Qing You, which further improved his life-saving ability.

He stood up and walked to another large and empty stone chamber. The true energy in his body circulated, and his body swelled to about eight feet. His muscles bulged, his skin turned bronze, and a fierce aura slowly emanated from him.

He clenched his fists, feeling the surge of strength, stroked his storage bag, took out a top-grade magic weapon he had obtained from another cultivator, and squeezed it hard.

Click!

This top-grade magical weapon only lasted for a moment before it was crushed into two halves by Chen Yuan, and its spiritual light dimmed.

Over the past year and a half, he has been continuously drawing starlight into his body, and his body has become much stronger. He is now only a step away from being a level five monster.

Moreover, after Chen Yuan's cultivation level broke through, his true essence became even more refined. After Chen Yuan used the secret technique of the giant spirit body, his strength exceeded 300,000 pounds, even surpassing some level five monsters that were not known for their physical bodies.

If he faced Xu Feiqing again, he would only need five or six punches to destroy the seven-story pagoda.

Chen Yuan nodded with satisfaction, dispelled the secret technique of the giant spirit body, and his body returned to normal. He walked out of the cave and spread out his spiritual sense, almost covering the entire Yunyin Peak.

After his cultivation breakthrough, his spiritual awareness could extend over 600 feet, more than twice that of an ordinary cultivator in the late stage of foundation building.

A smile appeared on Chen Yuan's lips. He withdrew his spiritual sense, rode on the light of escape, and flew towards the Hall of Good Deeds.

Although he obtained Zhuge Qi's permission to return to the clan to recuperate for three years, it did not mean that he could just sit back and relax.

During this great war, the Lingyun sect monks who remain in the sect must complete at least one sect mission every year, otherwise they will be severely punished.

Chen Yuan killed seven demon cultivators of the same level in the Demon-Slaying Desert. His record was brilliant and he made great contributions. He did not have to complete the sect's mission in the first year, but he could not avoid it in the second year.

For this purpose, he deliberately came out of isolation six months in advance to leave enough time to complete the task.

……

The Hall of Good Deeds is much quieter than before. More than 90% of the core disciples of Lingyun Sect are not in the mountain gate. They are either participating in the war in the Demon-Slaying Desert or taking on sect missions and traveling outside.

Only a small number of deacon disciples stayed behind. Some went to the Demon-Slaying Desert, and some went to Lingyun Market and the spirit stone mines in various places to handle various chores.

The Qi Refining disciples do not need to participate in the battle, but they need to ripen spiritual herbs and dig spiritual mines. Some inner disciples with advanced cultivation will go to Mingcang Lake to hunt monsters.

Chen Yuan knew the situation of Lingyun Sect very well. Over the past year and a half, he did not practice in seclusion, but kept in frequent contact with Sun Congyao, Mo Jingchun and Yi Jin.

Not long after Chen Yuan went into seclusion, Sun Congyao returned to the mountain gate, met with Chen Yuan, and then went to the Demon-Slaying Desert.

He was quite confident in his own strength and did not want to waste time on sect missions. He wanted to exchange the demon cultivator's head for a reward for good deeds.

Moreover, he was quite worried about Shen Danmei. If the two of them joined forces to fight the enemy, they would be able to take care of each other.

Yi Jin had been staying in the mountain gate. He was quite afraid of the Demon-Slaying Desert, and even if the deacon disciple went to the Demon-Slaying Desert, his good deeds would not increase much. It was better for him to stay in the mountain gate and live a peaceful life.

Nearly a year ago, Mo Jingchun killed five cultivators of the same level and was able to return to the sect to recuperate.

But he only practiced in seclusion for a year, improved his skills a lot, and then took the initiative to go to the Demon-Slaying Desert.

According to the Lingyun Sect's rules, those who have returned to the sect for less than one year do not have to complete the sect's mission.

However, several foundation-building monks who returned to the sect at the same time as Mo Jingchun stayed at the mountain gate and have not gone to the Demon-Slaying Desert again until now.

According to Mo Jingchun, there was constant fighting in the Demon-Slaying Desert every day. From time to time, a large-scale war involving thousands of people would break out. There was even a bloody battle that brought together two thousand monks. It was extremely cruel.

Now the two sides are fighting again, no longer like the first battle, where they set up their battle formations and engage in head-on combat.

Instead, three or two cultivators formed teams and entered the battlefield marked by the Jindan cultivators, looking for opponents on their own, just like hunting monsters.

But in this hunting ground, both sides are monsters in each other's eyes.

The rewards offered by Lingyun Sect are getting higher and higher, but there will never be a reward of 10,000 good deeds for killing a cultivator of the same level like in the first battle of a thousand people.

However, compared with the sect missions, those who have made military achievements can get more than three times the good deed rewards of ordinary sect missions. This has attracted many cultivators like Sun Congyao and Mo Jingchun who are quite confident in their own strength.

Anyway, if you stay in the mountain gate, you will still have to accept the sect's missions and face the same demon cultivators. It might be even more dangerous, but the rewards will be much less.

Before leaving, Mo Jingchun advised Chen Yuan to go to the Demon-Dangling Desert as soon as possible so that they could take care of each other.

Chen Yuan had his own plans and was not short of good deeds, so he politely declined Mo Jingchun's suggestion and continued to practice in the mountain gate. He only came out today.

He came to the fourth vermilion lacquered pillar, spread out his spiritual sense, looked at the task talismans hanging on the pillar one by one, and took off one of them.

These sect missions are roughly divided into garrisoning spirit stone mines, eradicating demonic cultivators, investigating intelligence on the Wu Kingdom Demon Sect, etc.

The sect mission that Chen Yuan received was relatively simple. It only required him to kill two demon cultivators in the middle stage of foundation building and hand over their heads and bodies.

Of course, it is only because of his great strength that he can have such an idea. For ordinary foundation-building cultivators, this task is as difficult as ascending to heaven.

After Chen Yuan received the sect's mission, he came to Lingzhen Pavilion and exchanged 100,000 good deeds for five high-quality spirit stones.

Lingzhen Pavilion is a place specifically responsible for exchanging spirit stones. It is located in a remote area and is sparsely populated.

In Lingyun Sect, good deeds can be exchanged for elixirs, magical tools, spiritual herbs and materials, secret techniques and magical powers, and there is no need to exchange them for spiritual stones.

Moreover, when exchanging good deeds for spirit stones, only low-grade spirit stones will not be discounted. If you exchange them for medium-grade or high-grade spirit stones, it will be very uneconomical.

One hundred thousand good deeds can be exchanged for one hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones, but can only be exchanged for eight hundred medium-grade spirit stones and five high-grade spirit stones.

This ratio is even greater than the one used to exchange high-quality spirit stones in the market town, and it is clearly intended to prevent disciples from exchanging them with good deeds.

However, high-quality spirit stones are extremely precious and are mostly used by Jindan cultivators. If one wants to exchange five high-quality spirit stones at a time in the market, it is extremely difficult. It is hard to say whether it is a loss or a profit if one spends more good deeds.

Chen Yuan collected the spirit stones, found Lian Yan, and used the remaining 20,000 good deeds to exchange for twenty three-hundred-year-old spirit herbs to make three furnaces of Yuliang Pills.

At this point, he had used up all his good deeds, then he boarded the Duyun Boat, left the mountain gate, and flew south.

After Chen Yuan's cultivation level increased, it became much easier for him to control the Duyun Boat. Two days later, he arrived at the Huanyue Market.

He lowered his escape light and walked along the mountain path into the market.

This place is much more prosperous than Lingyun Market. Lingyun Market is located in the northern border of Qi State, close to Wu State. It is often invaded by evil cultivators, and many wandering cultivators have fled to other places.

As Huanyue Market is far away from the border, the evil cultivators dare not act too recklessly, and many independent cultivators take refuge here.

Chen Yuan came here to complete the sect's mission, and then he can safely investigate the situation of the ancient teleportation array and look for the descendants of the true spirit.

(End of this chapter)