Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 522 Vajra Bodhi Fruit Bearing
Master Zhengyang's face darkened. The sect's supply of pills was becoming more and more abundant, but this abundance was only relative.

With improvements in both the supply cycle and quality of medicinal materials, the treatment of Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment disciples is getting better and better.

However, the achievements of the sect reforms have not yet truly affected the level of the Chaoyuan stage, while high-level cultivators are the backbone of the sect.

If Fallen Maple Valley reduces the supply of pills at the Chaoyuan stage, it will affect the cultivation improvement of many disciples.

Doing so would also affect the interests of Falling Maple Valley, but if it could slow down the sect's development, it would also allow the other side to find a better way to deal with it.

Master Yuxiao clapped his hands. “It’s not a big problem. We can trade with the forces in the Southern Continent and the far north. This has been mentioned before, and I will personally oversee the operation.”

In the past, it wouldn't have been worth the trip if it was just to purchase pills. However, now that the sects are producing so many magical artifacts and puppets, they can only sell them at a discount in the Western Continent.

Before this, no one expected that crafting magical artifacts could be as simple as harvesting spiritual rice.

Now that we have so many finished magical artifacts and puppets, we must exchange them for more resources; keeping them is a waste.

Ji An nodded. "We should seek broader cooperation. After going out and looking around, we realized that we are the weakest in the surrounding continents, which doesn't feel good."

Master Yuxiao grinned, "The Western Continent has only been developed for six thousand years. How can it be compared with other continents?"
Furthermore, the area currently occupied by the human race is not the core of the Western Continent at all; only a fourth-tier spiritual vein can truly be considered significant.

Fourth-order spiritual veins are the foundation of Nascent Soul sects; otherwise, it would be difficult to meet the daily cultivation needs of Nascent Soul cultivators.

Master Zhengyang turned his head and asked seriously:

"Junior Brother Ji, what are your plans next?"

Ji An pondered and said:
"I don't have any long-term plans. I'll just cultivate step by step, comprehend the mysteries of the cultivation method, and practice my spells."

The short-term goal is to reach the second level of the Golden Core stage; let's see how long that takes.

He estimated that it would take a long time because the supply of elixirs was extremely scarce, and he could only rely on his daily arduous cultivation.

There are two main sources of pills needed by Golden Core cultivators. The first is normally refined herbal and mineral pills, which have relatively low toxicity because alchemists will try their best to reduce the toxicity of the pills.

The main medicinal materials used to refine these kinds of pills are often over 1,200 years old. Even if they are planted in high-level spiritual veins and cultivated and managed by excellent spiritual farmers, they still need several hundred years to mature.

The second type is a beast core refined from the inner core of a demon beast at the Golden Core level. It contains blood and evil energy, and after consumption, it takes a certain amount of time to purify the body.

However, Golden Core demon beasts are not to be trifled with. Some powerful demon beasts are not afraid to fight against cultivators of the same level.

Regardless of the type of elixir, they are all extremely precious. What's even more embarrassing is that the Western Continent lacks the ability to refine elixirs at the Golden Core level.

This greatly limits the improvement of cultivation. The main reason why Ji An stayed in the sect was to accumulate some spiritual energy. If he left the sect, he would be a wandering traveler and probably would not be able to settle in a spiritual vein like Crimson Flame Peak.

Secondly, we haven't yet received the seeds of the flame tree, star tree, mist pine, and water lily.

And most importantly, he wanted to see if the stone tortoise could absorb the Dao essence when other cultivators were undergoing their Golden Core tribulation.

If possible, we should wait until Lin Jiuxiao, Lin Qiubai, and Li Haoran have all made breakthroughs before considering leaving.

He wanted to travel to the Central Continent and planned to choose to travel by merchant airship, spending a sum of spirit stones without having to worry about much.

A faint sorrow appeared on Master Yuxiao's face as he softly said:

"If you stay at the third-tier spiritual vein node and have a deep enough understanding of the cultivation technique and its divine intent, it won't take too long to break through to the second or third level of the Golden Core stage."

The worst thing is encountering a bottleneck, which would mean wasting a long time.

Most importantly, frequently consuming pills to break through minor realm bottlenecks will reduce the chances of breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage.

He had been stuck in a bottleneck for many years, unable to break through to the middle stage of the Golden Core realm.

Now he has the idea of ​​buying pills to break through to the next level. He no longer needs to think about breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage and becoming a True Monarch. He only hopes to reach the late stage of the Golden Core stage in this lifetime.

There are many cultivators like him who suddenly stagnate at a certain stage of cultivation and cannot make any progress no matter how hard they try.

That is the most eroding of a cultivator's will; as time passes, they remain stagnant, and the longer time goes by, the less fighting spirit they have.

"Every step forward a sect takes comes at a huge cost, which can sometimes leave one feeling deeply powerless."

Master Zhengyang sighed softly. Without the guidance of a master, they had no idea where the problem was when their cultivation stagnated. They could only try and make mistakes little by little on their own.

Because they don't know where they went wrong, they have no direction.

Major sects have many secret techniques passed down orally. Although he obtained the Five Elements Sect's techniques, he did not obtain such secret techniques. It was better than feeling his way across the river by touching the stones, but the improvement was still limited.

This is a problem that smaller forces inevitably encounter when they grow stronger; all they can do is accumulate more experience for the future.

Ji An remained silent. The most significant bottleneck affecting the advancement of a sect is its cultivation techniques, followed by matching secret techniques and elixirs.

These are things that even sects don't possess. Under normal circumstances, it would take thousands of years of effort to become a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Master Zhengyang noticed that the two had become depressed and comforted them:
"The sect now possesses its first precious plant, and will acquire more precious plants in the future. The number of Golden Core cultivators will also increase, and the inheritance will become more and more stable."

One day, with a bit of luck, we will become a force at the Nascent Soul level.

Ji An didn't want to continue the topic and asked:

"These past few years, demonic cultivators have disappeared without a trace. What do you two senior brothers think about this?"

Master Yuxiao smiled and said, "According to the information provided by Renhe Mountain, the demonic cultivator who committed the crime was only at the Chaoyuan stage."

I suspect he's hiding somewhere seeking a breakthrough, but the Golden Core tribulation of demonic cultivators is far more powerful than that of orthodox cultivators; he's very likely already annihilated by the lightning tribulation.

Demonic cultivators can improve their cultivation very quickly, but the powerful lightning tribulation is a mountain weighing down on them.

Master Zhengyang nodded. "I also think it's possible."

Ji An pondered for a moment and said:

"Senior brother, when do you plan to lead a caravan to the far north and the southern continent to trade?"

"Junior Brother's Golden Core Ceremony has ended, and I will set off in three days."

Our first stop was the far north. My junior brother once mentioned that the demonic cultivators who appeared in Silvermoon City might have infiltrated the Western Continent, and I had the same concern.

This trip to the North can be used to investigate whether demonic cultivators are still rampant there.

Now that the demonic cultivators have vanished, the possibility of enemies entering the Western Continent cannot be ruled out.

Yuanhe Mountain's control over the northern region has been greatly reduced, and if a demonic cultivator capable of creating demonic puppets were to infiltrate, they would likely go undetected.

Master Zhengyang spoke:

“I’ll go too. The situation in the far north is not optimistic. If we encounter demonic cultivators, we can help each other out.”

After we leave, Junior Brother, stay at the sect and do not go out.

Ji An nodded, "No problem."

Zhenren Zhengyang said again:
"Now I will show you the situation of the sect's protective formation. You can fully activate the formation if necessary."

He needed to hand over all the sect's affairs so he could leave with peace of mind. Three months later.

The hazy moonlight made the starry sky appear even more brilliant, and various lights twinkled within the Crimson Flame Peak area, making it a place that never sleeps.

Ji An was casting a spell on the spirit field, hovering above the bronze-patterned mulberry field on a cloud.

After activating the Earth Vein Ascension Mantra, he was preparing to head to the next area when he glanced down unintentionally. He immediately lowered his altitude and arrived next to the Vajra Bodhi Tree.

It looks very similar to a linden tree, but its leaf veins have pale gold patterns.

When Ji An saw the few green fruits, about the size of mung beans, scattered on the spirit tree, a smile involuntarily appeared on his lips.

The second-grade, top-quality Vajra Bodhi tree has started bearing fruit, faster than he expected.

"It seems that the Golden Core level planting technique has played a better role."

He chuckled a few times. Now that the variety of spiritual plants in the small world was becoming more and more abundant, he was becoming more and more confident.

Wherever they go in the future, it will be as if they are carrying Crimson Flame Peak on their backs. For a spirit farmer, there is no greater happiness than this.

Ji An continued to cast spells on the spirit field and finally arrived at the underground cave.

Because the moonlight was dim, the Soul-Nourishing Wood and the Earth Spirit Fruit Tree appeared even more radiant.

The golden retriever shook its fluffy fur, making a "squeak."

Ji An chuckled and took out a second-grade high-quality earth spirit fruit, tossing it out.

Normally, this beast would go to sleep early, but today was the day the spirit distributed spirit fruits, and it remembered it very clearly.

Sometimes Ji An would pretend to forget, at which point the golden retriever would stand upright on its hind legs, holding up its two little paws and begging for the dog.

Now he feeds the golden retriever a spirit fruit every ten days, which is good for purifying its bloodline and can reduce the blood evil energy accumulated by the beast tamer from eating the flesh and blood of demon beasts.

He also had a pill given to him by his senior brother Zhengyang, which could help the Spirit-Seeking Rat advance to the Chaoyuan stage.

He now has two beasts at the Chaoyuan stage. Although they are not of great help, they are more than capable of dealing with small fry.

In Ji An's plan, apart from the Grey-feathered Sand Goose, all other tamed beasts should be trained to the Chaoyuan stage.

He released the Earth Vein Ascension Spell, and the rich, earth-elemental spiritual power surged forth, causing phantom lotus flowers to bloom on the ground.

The leaves of the Soul-Nourishing Tree shimmered with purple light, dark shadows swayed on the rock wall, and the Earth Spirit Fruit Tree glowed with yellow spiritual light.

Its leaves are carved like topaz, and now they look crystal clear, giving people a special feeling of warmth.

Ji An used Earth Escape Technique to leave. He then used a teleportation array to perform spells on the top-grade spiritual plants of Chaoyang Peak, Chitong Mountain, and Yunhe Mountain as if he were rushing from one peak to another.

A dazzling spiritual light rose beside the spirit tree, then slowly faded and finally disappeared, but the rich spiritual energy recorded everything that had just happened.

The teleportation array at the foot of Crimson Flame Peak flickered and distorted, revealing Ji An's figure.

He strode out of the stone house, flew on the clouds to the entrance of the cave halfway up the mountain, and then used his magic to nurture the two Crimson Cloud Pines.

The crimson light shone brightly, like a lucky cloud. Both of these spirit pines have now been cultivated to the second-tier top-grade level, proving that his painstaking efforts have not been in vain.

He broke the spell and entered the cave, where he cast a spell in the small herb garden.

The medicinal herbs, including Tianyuan Ginseng, are over a hundred years old. After these herbs mature, he plans to exchange them for auxiliary herbs to refine Peiyuan Pills.

He would never refine this elixir if he didn't do it himself.

His experience in Red Rock Immortal City taught him that pills for breaking through major realms were in high demand, but without refining experience, pill shops would not hand over the collected medicinal materials to him.

He released the Azure Dragon Water Moon Technique and the Earth Vein Ascension Boat in sequence, with the water element's nourishment, the wood element's vigor, and the earth element's sustenance, the three magical intents coexisting harmoniously.

Earth overcomes water, wood overcomes earth, and water nourishes wood. Feeling the entanglement of the laws, Ji An fell into deep thought.

He has a deep understanding of the mutual generation of the five elements, but his understanding of the mutual restraint of the five elements is still insufficient.

He had a premonition that if he could thoroughly understand the principles of the five elements' mutual generation and restraint, his understanding of the spirit sealing technique would reach a completely new level.

In addition, the Five Elements Reincarnation Sutra he studied also required practitioners to have a deeper understanding of the mutual generation and restraint of the five elements.

Ji An vaguely felt that this had to be addressed by examining the power of Yin and Yang, as the changes in Yin and Yang created the transformation of the Five Elements.

Understanding the power of Yin and Yang is also key to breaking through the elixir and forming a nascent soul later on.

After a long while, Ji An came to his senses and walked back to the quiet room with his hands behind his back.

He pondered for a long time but came up with nothing, but he will keep this habit.

In his view, there are only two things a person should do in this world.

First, achieving a breakthrough from zero to one is somewhat difficult, but relatively speaking, it's not that difficult either.

Second, the most difficult part is to achieve the transformation from quantitative to qualitative change. Reaching the pinnacle is not easy, and one may not have the opportunity even after a lifetime of effort, because once it is achieved, one has touched upon the "Tao".

The Tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao. Some things cannot be described in words; they can only be experienced firsthand.

Ji An sat cross-legged on the pale yellow futon. He couldn't help but think of the futon he used to have woven from black requiem grass, and gently shook his head.

He summoned the Wuji Apricot Yellow Banner, and took out the Wuhua Treasure Soil and the Transformation Primordial Spirit Mud. There was only a little bit of these two spiritual items left, and he wanted to refine them all in one go today.

He activated the alchemical fire, and the pale golden flames danced silently at his fingertips, slowly refining the Transformation Divine Mud into a crystalline spiritual liquid as clear as lead and mercury.

It quickly blended into the flag of the Wuji Apricot Yellow Banner, or more precisely, into the Qilin pattern.

Following the same method, Ji An refined the Wuhua Treasure Soil into his natal magic weapon.

The Wuji Apricot Yellow Flag transformed into a miniature Qilin, which jumped onto its master's shoulder and let out a low roar.

I don't know how the other cultivators felt when they heard this roar, but when Ji An heard it, he felt as if he were looking down at the rolling earth.

With high mountains, deep valleys, and flat land, I felt very at ease.

Ji An played with the little Qilin for a while, then stored it in his dantian.

The natal magic weapon is very spiritual. This interaction is no different from raising a pet, and it can also enhance the spiritual connection between them, so that the magic weapons can better cooperate in battle.

However, the Wuji Apricot Yellow Banner is positioned as a defensive magic weapon; if it were an offensive magic weapon, it could play a greater role.

Seeing that it was just past midnight, Ji An closed his eyes and began to circulate the Five Elements Cycle.

The spiritual energy was absorbed into the body and circulated rapidly in the immortal veins, causing the surface of the Five Elements Divine Palace to shimmer with light.

Inside the Tanzhong acupoint, the golden elixir began to rotate.

(End of this chapter)