Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 673 Ji An is full
Half a month later, Ji An quietly returned to Yunhai Immortal City under the cover of night.

He strolled into the Crimson Flame Pavilion, summoned all the shop assistants, inquired about the shop's operations, and then casually asked:

Has anything happened in the city recently?

Li Qingqiu bowed slightly. "Replying to the True Person, the biggest thing that has happened these days is that the area shrouded in demonic energy in the Misty Mountain region has expanded again. The Merchant Alliance has decided to increase the number of demonic disciples. Any cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage or below can apply."

Apart from that, no other major events have been heard of.

Ji An hummed in agreement and then said:
"I need to meet with Master Guangping. Send someone back to the family to inform them as soon as possible."

"I understand, I'll make the arrangements shortly."

Ji An left the shop and walked briskly along the street to Wanbaolou.

In the living room, Wan Jinrong poured two glasses of wine, picked them up, and handed one out:
"It seems your journey has been smooth, fellow Daoist. Please drink this cup to the brim."

He tilted his head back and drank the wine in one gulp, then sighed:

"Things are not going well at all. The ruins have changed, the spiritual veins are completely depleted, and my mana is being consumed extremely quickly while I'm inside."

Although they received tremendous benefits, they couldn't make a fuss about it; they should just keep their wealth to themselves.

Flaunting wealth is unacceptable. In his past life, he witnessed many cases of people ruining themselves because of flaunting their wealth. Gossiping has become one of the few spice things up in ordinary life. Ji An takes this as a lesson.

"That's fine too. Exploring ruins is risky after all. It's better to find other ways to solve this problem."

The two started chatting, and Ji An subtly steered the conversation to another topic:

"The puppets I ordered from the Golden Puppet Pavilion are really good, otherwise I might not have been able to come back."

"Puppetry is the Golden Puppet Sect's specialty, just like weapon crafting is to the Myriad Treasures Pavilion. Without some unique skills, it's impossible to gain a foothold in the Immortal City."

The various Nascent Soul level forces within the Cloud Sea Merchant Alliance each possess their own strengths, and their combined power is equivalent to that of a top-tier Nascent Soul sect.

Wan Jinrong leaned forward and said in a low voice:

"A few days ago, a major event occurred: the Golden Puppet Pavilion Master, True Person Xuanji, and his fellow disciples went out and died, their souls extinguished."

The Golden Puppet Sect is currently investigating this matter privately, and undercurrents are stirring within the Immortal City.

Ji An raised an eyebrow, appropriately showing surprise:
"No way? My puppet was made by Fellow Daoist Xuanji!"
This should be a very confidential matter. How did you find out, fellow Daoist?

"The top leaders of the business alliance will share information. For such an important matter, all forces will definitely assist in the investigation."

The investigation has stalled, and no one knows the other party's motive for going out.

Ji An felt relieved. Analyzing the current situation, he realized that the other party's actions were entirely private and had not been disclosed to the sect.

He could roughly guess the other party's thoughts. The other party had determined that he was carrying a treasure through some means unknown to him, and in order to take the treasure for himself, he had followed him to the ruins.

Of course, we must keep it as secret as possible that a cultivator from the prestigious Golden Puppet Sect would do something so shameless.

After discussing for a while, Ji An spoke up:

"I'm leaving here in a few days and heading to the Great Immortal City in the north to see if I can find any usable cultivation techniques."

Wan Jinrong remained silent for a moment, then nodded.
"Take care, fellow Daoist. May your path be guided by a bright light."

The techniques for breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage are not easy to obtain, anywhere. The chances of someone acquiring such techniques through normal means are very low.

Certification Association.

Master Lieyang sighed, "Fellow Daoist, if you leave here for other immortal cities, everything will have to start anew."

The cultivator who was to replace him had not yet arrived, so the other party's decision to leave would not have a significant impact on him; it would only cause him to lose an opportunity to gain favor.

Ji An pursed her lips and nodded, "For me, it's something I have to do."

“Cultivation is more important, I understand. I wish you all the best.”

Ji An rode the clouds back to Black Stone Mountain. He made a hand seal to open the magic barrier and went inside. When he reached the entrance of the cave, he suddenly realized that something was wrong.

He looked around a few times and thought for a moment before realizing something was wrong: the concentration of spiritual energy here had increased!
Originally a mid-grade third-level spirit field, it has now reached the high-grade third-level.

"I'll go to the cave rental office tomorrow and see if I can get a reward!"

Ji An smiled as he entered the cave, took out the gourd stone, and entered the small world. He was still a little wary of the "old man" and did not plan to let him in for the time being.

I've been busy these past few days, and I have some surplus food that I haven't been able to use. Now is the time to upgrade the Gathering Yuan Tree.

He connected his mind to the stone tortoise and gave the command:
"Refine the Dao essence to enhance the Gathering Yuan Tree. Stop when the Spirit Tree's grade is improved, or when all the Dao essences have fifty points left."

The reason for issuing such an order was that he had the Dao Seal in his possession, which allowed him to improve the quality of certain spiritual plants at any time.

The stone tortoise flew above the Heavenly Spirit Tree, and Bagua patterns appeared on the ground, their dark ink color shining brightly.

The yellow light, like strands of silk, was woven into a giant cocoon by countless skillful hands in a very short time.

After devouring the demon, the stone tortoise's eyes became even more lively, and its power became even stronger.

Ji An's face lit up with joy. He observed for a while and was about to take out the jade slip to study the cultivation method for breaking through to the late stage of the Golden Core when the giant cocoon suddenly burst open, shining like a sky full of stars and raining down light.

The earth shook violently, and the rattan chair and table beside him trembled violently. As far as Ji An could see, the Gathering Yuan Tree had grown another ten feet tall, extending many branches and expanding in size.

He was carefully observing the spirit tree when suddenly his eyes lit up. He immediately rode the clouds and flew up, hovering beside a branch high up. There was a flower bud the size of a thumb on it, its outer layer as black as ink but shimmering with a spiritual, watery light.

Ji An knew that the fourth-order Gathering Yuan Tree could bloom, but he did not expect that it would sprout flower buds when it broke through to the third-order top-grade.

He rode a cloud and circled the spirit tree, discovering more than a dozen flower buds of different colors: black, blue, red, yellow, and white. They were all crystal clear like jade, and should be distinguished by the five elements.

The knowledge about spirit wood that Ji An had acquired was not comprehensive, so he decided to read through the inherited knowledge as soon as possible to broaden his horizons.

He was looking forward to the day when the true strength of a top-tier Nascent Soul sect would be revealed to him.

Being next to a top-grade Tier 3 Gathering Yuan Tree gives one a special feeling, bringing inner peace and tranquility to the mind.

Ji An clearly felt that the internal energy cultivation technique was circulating faster.

He unconsciously raised an eyebrow; the increased speed of his cultivation technique meant that the speed of refining spiritual energy would also increase.

The increase in magical power gained through daily meditation and cultivation will be greater, and over time, it will allow you to break through to the late stage of the Golden Core realm more quickly.

He closed his eyes to savor the tranquility, his mind connecting with the stone tortoise.

[Master: Ji An]

[Tao Yun: Gold 258.2, Water 241.4, Wood 264.8, Fire 272.5, Earth 196.7]

With so much Daoist essence remaining, Ji An was genuinely happy and sighed deeply, looking up to the sky:
"It's not easy."

It took more than 8,000 points of Dao essence to upgrade the Gathering Yuan Tree to the third-tier top grade.

The days to come will be sweet after hardship, and third-tier top-grade spiritual plants will be born one after another in the small world. In time, the spiritual veins will also be upgraded to third-tier top-grade.

One day, he will be able to upgrade the Gathering Yuan Tree to the fourth level, and then he will be able to obtain Yin Soul Fruits continuously.

Ji An sat cross-legged under the newly formed Heaven and Earth Spirit Root Tree, took out the inheritance jade slip and stuck it on his forehead, his face showing increasing joy.

It is true that there is a special trick to breaking through to the late stage of the Golden Core realm. All along, the cultivation techniques have focused on improving mana, but the techniques for breaking through to the late stage of the Golden Core realm include tempering the soul.

Cultivators need to simultaneously input their divine sense and magical power into the Golden Core, where a Nascent Soul embryo will be nurtured.

The process of breaking the elixir to form an infant is just like the process of hatching a chick.

When breaking through to a higher realm, the soul infant has already been conceived, and the process of breaking through is the process of breaking through the outer shell of the golden core.

After carefully studying the contents of the cultivation technique, Ji An put down the jade slip and smiled:
"Indeed, a lot of effort was put in during ordinary times. The so-called breakthrough is the sublimation of years of accumulation. There is no such thing as a glamorous turnaround. It is all due to the perseverance of water dripping on stone."

He fell into thought. He needed to add another cycle to his future cultivation. This cycle was not unfamiliar; it was somewhat similar to his modified version of the Immovable King Technique.

He began to try to cultivate using the new technique, and found that adding this cycle greatly increased the difficulty of the technique.

He was proud of his ability to multitask, only to discover that this ability was merely the foundation of his cultivation techniques.

A night of cultivation yielded no results.

There are always various problems that prevent the two cycles from being coordinated and unified, and conflicts can easily arise if not handled carefully.

During cultivation, one's blood and qi surge, and the rate at which one's spiritual energy is consumed increases several times compared to previous cultivation practices.

Ji An finished his cultivation, activated his magic technique to calm his surging blood and qi as quickly as possible, then lit a censer of soul incense, rubbed his dizzy head, and fell into a deep sleep.

The next day.

Ji An left the gourd world, lit a censer of sandalwood soul-nourishing incense, and then summoned the puppet. Once the sleeping cultivator inside awoke, he bowed and said:
"Senior, this is my cave dwelling. Please allow me to show you around."

Lianshan Zhenjun made a twitching motion with his nostrils and asked:

"There's a very special fragrance that smells really nice. Where did you get this fragrance from?"

He has no sense of taste or smell; this action is purely subconscious. He distinguishes smells using the "touch" of his nascent soul.

"It should smell like sandalwood incense."

"Haha, I see. I haven't smelled this scent for many years. I miss it so much."

You're quite good; you have a high-grade, third-tier soul incense. Ordinary Golden Core cultivators can't get their hands on these.

Let's begin the tour.

Lianshan Zhenjun smiled and nodded. He was certain that it was not the scent of Soul Incense, but since the other party was unwilling to say, he would not ask any further questions.

That faint fragrance invigorated the soul power flowing within his nascent soul.

Ji An showed the other person around the various rooms. They would be staying in the Immortal City for a few more days, so they couldn't keep the other person cooped up in the Void Cave Stone. This would be the other person's living quarters for the next few days.

"Senior, you can choose any place to stay. Which one would you like?"

Lianshan Zhenjun could discern the aura within the rooms, and pointing to a room with no signs of habitation, he said, "This is it."

(End of this chapter)