Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 482 Regaining the Soul Stone
Within his dantian, the stone tortoise's mouth moved, exhaling five breaths of light, agile air in succession.

The primordial fire surged once more, and the three layers of flame—yellow, white, and black—expanded slightly.

Ji An grinned slightly. Today is a good day!
The Yuanming Fire has grown considerably stronger. We can try nurturing four top-grade spiritual artifacts at the same time and see if we can withstand it.

Now, he has grasped the divine meaning of the three mutual generation of the five elements: fire generates earth, earth generates metal, and metal generates water. His journey to the northern lands, which took less than ten years, has come to a successful conclusion.

Once he leaves the Nine Netherworld, completes the agreement with the Wei Clan, and obtains the talisman inheritance, he can leave.

With further progress in cultivation, the strength of his divine soul will also increase, allowing him to sustain himself longer in both talisman making and pill refining.

"Hehe, next step is to work hard to earn spirit stones!"

Ji An relaxed. Purchasing the third-tier talisman inheritance required spirit stones, and ordering the leg armor and face armor of the Sky Soaring Armor from Gu Tai also required spirit stones. His task was undoubtedly arduous.

Just as he had the idea of ​​earning spirit stones, he discovered that his environment had changed again. The dark rock walls of the passage were radiating a lustrous spiritual light, as if they had turned into a spirit stone mine.

'Is it really that bad?'

Ji An complained inwardly, "Another ghost is trying to increase my strength, but its acting is rough and the style change is too abrupt."

He simply couldn't understand how such a ghost could deceive cultivators; if they were fooled, it wasn't just a matter of stupidity.

Just as he was about to cast a spell to shatter the illusion, a different idea suddenly popped into his mind.

The ghost should be able to read his surface thoughts, and the style of the painting changes again.

The bustling world of his past life reappeared before his eyes, and many faces he thought he had forgotten reappeared.

'Unfortunately, we can never go back.'

Ji An grinned. The spirits could evolve scenes according to people's desires. If they could be applied to certain industries in his past life, that would be wonderful.

He no longer dwelled on the past, and activated the Wuji Apricot Yellow Banner. A burst of spiritual light bloomed, golden flowers rippled, the illusion was shattered, and there was an unexpected surprise.

Two ghostly figures appeared about ten feet away from him. If he remained engrossed in the illusion, the ghostly figures would likely come to his side.

The yellow spiritual sand evolved from the magical artifact flowed rapidly, gathering the two Yin spirits together. They tried to etherealize and escape but could not.

For the sake of them helping him recall the past, Ji An activated the exploding fireball, sending them to their annihilation.

He clapped his hands leisurely, "The most important thing is done. Now we can go back to the defensive array near the exit and focus on improving our cultivation."

The occasional roar of the surging tide echoing through the passage reminded him of how terrifying the rise of the River Styx was, and how no one could predict what changes might occur.

If he hadn't grasped the principle of "earth produces metal," he would have had to grit his teeth and continue searching the spirit realm, but now, of course, it was time to return to a relatively safer area.

A wise person avoids standing under a crumbling wall. The highest level of safety is not having the ability to turn the tide, but staying away from danger as far away as possible.

Without hesitation, Ji An took out the map jade slip, confirmed his current location, and then planned a route to fly towards the exit.

Two days later, Ji An returned to the exit and searched it carefully, confirming that nothing else had changed.

He turned back with peace of mind and traveled for half an hour until he arrived at the nearest defensive array.

Practicing internal energy in the open cave at the exit cannot eliminate the harassment of the ghosts. Cultivators in this secret place are like people constantly bleeding in the ocean, and the ghosts are like sharks that are extremely sensitive to blood.

Ji An took out the Golden-Winged Bird and the Flame Dragon Eagle and placed them outside the magic circle.

These are both puppets without flesh and soul; the spirits are not interested in them and they pose no danger.

The Golden-Winged Bird can be used for scouting, and the Flame Dragonhawk can unleash fire-based magic attacks, making it perfect for dealing with spirits and other spirits.

Ji An used the Thread-Trapping Spell to command the Golden-Winged Bird: 'Patrol the passageway within a hundred feet of the surrounding area, and report any abnormalities immediately.'

The golden-winged bird nodded its little head nimbly, its dark eyes darting around a few times, before fluttering away.

Ji An then used the Thread-Connecting Spell to connect with the Flame Dragon Eagle, "Stand by, ready to attack at any time."

The Flame Dragonhawk's eyes flashed with crimson light as it paced cautiously back and forth nearby, occasionally flying several feet away.

Taking out two mid-grade spirit stones, Ji An activated the magic array here, feeling somewhat more at ease.

On his way back, he passed through the red-marked area on the map and discovered that about 30% of the defensive magic array had been destroyed, which was a very dangerous sign.

The only good news is that the closer an area is to the exit, the less likely the defensive magic array is to be damaged.

This indicates that the vast majority of cultivators reside deep within the secret realm, thus attracting numerous wandering spirits to linger in the deepest areas.

A yellow light curtain flickered around the magic circle. When the intensity of the light reached its peak, the light curtain disappeared.

Ji An patted the spirit beast pouch and summoned the golden-haired beast. In this cramped space, only the size of this beast could squeeze in.

He tossed out a Spirit-Feeding Pill and then habitually stroked the rat's head, saying, "Stay alert."

After he begins his cultivation, his perception of the outside world will be greatly reduced; the golden retriever is the last warning sign. The golden retriever swallowed the Spirit-Feeding Pill in one gulp, squeaking.

Although it is an earth-elemental demon beast, the spiritual energy here is very rich, but it doesn't like the environment here because it can feel the gloom even through the magic array.

Ji An took out the stove, brewed a pot of Jade Dew Golden Bud Tea, and prepared to treat himself.

Three years from now, after leaving the North, my next destination will be the South. How could I possibly pass by my home without going in? I must return to my sect to bring back resources.

At that time, there will be no shortage of spiritual tea and spiritual fruit, and a large amount of soul incense will also be harvested.

The tea trees may have already produced seeds again. I wonder if there are more spirit trees in Crimson Flame Peak that have been upgraded to the second-tier superior grade.

If so, the gourd world will welcome new 'residents'.

Thinking of Crimson Flame Peak, many fond memories welled up in Ji An's heart.

After finishing the spiritual tea, he sat cross-legged on the futon and began to circulate the Five Elements Wheel. He was like a giant magnet, attracting the spiritual energy from the surrounding area.

Gradually, a thin mist appeared in this area, a sign that the spiritual energy had become quite concentrated.

Spiritual energy flowed into his body through his mouth and nose, black water-like spiritual light emanated from the humid air, and yellow radiance surged from the rock walls and the earth.

The Five Elements Cycle began to operate rapidly, and the Five Elements Divine Palaces shone brightly, starting with the Water Palace, and then began to cycle and shine with water, wood, fire, earth, metal, and water again.

As Ji An gained a deeper understanding of the Five Elements' mutual generation, he felt that his speed of refining spiritual energy had increased by nearly 50% compared to before he had grasped any of the Five Elements' mutual generation.

After comprehending the principle of fire generating earth, the speed of refining spiritual energy increased by 10%. After comprehending the principle of metal generating water, the refining speed increased by 15%. Now, after comprehending the principle of earth generating metal, the refining speed has increased by another 20%.

By the same token, once he fully comprehends the mutual generation of the five elements, his speed of refining spiritual energy is at least twice as fast.

If things really develop according to this conjecture, accumulating magical power will actually be the easiest thing to do.

Not only has the speed of refining spiritual energy increased, but the immortal veins are also nourished. Each time the cultivation technique is activated, the veins are tempered by the power of the five elements, making them much more resilient than before and able to withstand the crazy surge of spiritual energy for a longer period of time.

Perhaps after he breaks through to the Golden Core stage, his aptitude will be able to completely catch up with cultivators of Heavenly Rank aptitude.

Whenever he thought of this, Ji An felt very proud. Back then, he was just a cultivator with a mid-grade aptitude.

The ten Dao Seed Stars in the acupoints and divine palaces shone brightly, their brilliance shimmering as their respective divine palaces lit up.

The Dao Seed will release a mysterious aura that merges into the surging spiritual energy, and a rain of magical power will fall in the dantian. This is the celebration of the primordial fire and the stone tortoise.

A month passed.

Ji An was so engrossed in the pleasure of his cultivation level increasing that he couldn't extricate himself from the effects of the increased speed of refining spiritual energy.

Perhaps due to his rapid advancement, he began to feel a bottleneck in his cultivation, but the bottleneck was like a dam being breached by a flood under the impact of waves of magical power.

These days, the sound of surging tides echoing through the passageway has become more frequent and lasts longer.

Occasionally, some ghosts would pass by, only to be routed by the Flame Dragonhawk's attack.

The attacks of the wraiths had no effect on the Flame Dragonhawk; if it was slow to escape, it would be reduced to ashes, while if it escaped quickly, it could barely survive.

What made him happiest was that he had incredible luck and obtained another Soul Stone.

This soul stone was only the size of a broad bean, and judging from the spiritual light it emitted, its quality was not as good as the one he had obtained. But the more unexpected wealth delivered to his door, the better!

Wei Chengyuan rode the Earth Cloud forward at breakneck speed. He inadvertently stumbled upon a gathering place of ghosts, and his hair stood on end the moment he saw hundreds of ghosts.

This was the first time in his life he had known what it felt like to be terrified. The moment the ghost entered, it activated an illusion. If he hadn't been carrying a spirit defense artifact, he would have been caught in the trap and turned into a dried-up corpse.

Fortunately, he didn't hesitate at all and released half of his trump card, breaking out of the gathering place of ghosts.

He knew that he could no longer stay in this secret place; the abnormal surge of the Styx River greatly increased the danger of staying there.

More importantly, he no longer has any trump cards left to play in this area.

The increasing number of wandering spirits makes it impossible to fully comprehend even the spirit realm that evolves from earth to metal.

Wei Chengyuan was unusually angry; he felt that he was only one step away from comprehending the divine meaning of "earth produces metal."

If we miss this opportunity, the secret place will be resealed, and we'll have to wait twelve years. How many twelve-year periods does one have in a lifetime?
One step behind leads to another. Cultivating immortality is a defying fate, and if you miss some opportunities, you'll need to spend even more time to make up for them.

Cultivators have long lifespans, but no cultivator has the right to waste them.

Even though he was helpless, chance seemed insignificant compared to life. When Wei Chengyuan made up his mind to leave the depths of the secret place, he found that the density of the ghosts had reached an astonishing level.

He began his escape, during which he discovered several emaciated corpses of monks, the work of which, without a doubt, was the work of vengeful spirits.

(End of this chapter)