Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 773 Hibiscus

The two Golden Core stage beasts responded in unison, "Yes, sir."

Bluebeard let out a low growl, while the golden retriever stood upright, its two front paws clasped together as if bowing, squeaking.

Ji An smiled and nodded, waving his hand:

"Go away."

The Rock Armored Bear rode away on a yellow, demonic wind, the Golden-feathered Eagle spread its wings and flapped its feathers, and the Blue Shell lazily crawled towards the black earth.

The golden retriever, like a small tank, sped towards the edge of the small world, where there was a portal to leave it.

Ji An frowned and pondered for a moment, then took out a fourth-grade low-level Bodhi fruit, chewed it a few times, swallowed it, and stored the spiritual seed in the Void Stone.

The fruit is slightly sweet with little juice, but it is, after all, a low-grade fourth-order spiritual fruit, and the wood element spiritual energy it contains is still quite considerable.

Then, he sat cross-legged on the futon and began to refine the Bodhi fruit by circulating the Five Elements Revolving Sutra.

The Lightning-Struck Spirit Peaches and Five-Colored Pills are running low; having enough resources to support a rapid improvement in cultivation is a pipe dream.

Fortunately, I still have some low-grade fourth-tier Bodhi fruits and Vajra Bodhi fruits. These fruits don't taste good, especially the Vajra Bodhi fruits, which taste like wood chips.

But now he couldn't wait for Han Yan to slowly develop a usable pill formula. As long as the spiritual fruit was rich in spiritual energy, he could tolerate even the strangest taste.

He had more than twenty Bodhi fruits in his hand, but only six Vajra Bodhi fruits remained.

It took about two hours for Ji An to refine the spiritual fruit. He stood up and walked to the Soul Nourishing Wood, probing with his divine sense to check how much of the ashes that had been buried were still left.

After searching through them, he gently shook his head, "The absorption efficiency is much slower than that of the two Heavenly Spirit Trees."

The most important aspect of a Nascent Soul cultivator's cultivation process is the strengthening of their Nascent Soul. Apart from improving it through the accumulation of techniques over time, there are only two other methods.

Refining the moonlight accelerates the process of solidifying the nascent soul, but this is also a long-term process.

The last resort is to use external objects. Soul-Nourishing Wood is a good choice, but fourth-grade low-level spirit wood is not that effective.

The demonic energy around the Golden Spirit Sect was very thin, and the wild grass was no longer as twisted as before.

In the blink of an eye, a year has passed, withering and flourishing, and snowflakes are falling from the sky once again.

Within the Golden Spirit Sect's territory, the snowflakes were pure white, while the snowflakes in the area shrouded in demonic energy were stained black.

At the Yingxian Pavilion on Chaoxia Peak, Master Chongxuan strolled back to his guest room and sighed softly. He had just returned from flying back from Qinglong Mountain.

He ventured back to Maple Valley, where only a few low-level demons roamed, but the fertile spiritual fields were uncultivable, which greatly displeased him.

Master Yueying stepped forward and said:

"Senior brother, how is the situation?"

Master Chongxuan recounted what he had seen at the mountain gate, his heart heavy:

"As long as the demonic energy persists, we cannot return to our homeland. Watching the Golden Spirit Sect flourish, my heart aches."

He didn't continue speaking, after all, he was now being taken in by the Golden Spirit Sect, and he couldn't very well say anything about being jealous.

Master Yueying led the other person to a chair and sat down. After a moment of silence, he asked in a low voice:
"Senior brother, do you think we can make a comeback?"

For a sect to grow and expand, it needs a large number of low-level disciples and disciples with various skills.

Only with a large number of producers can high-level cultivators be supported.

The sect's foundation for survival has been completely destroyed. Now, only forty-two people remain: two Golden Core cultivators, four Yuan-stage disciples, and the rest are all Foundation Establishment disciples.

Among them were six spirit farmers, three alchemists, and one formation master.

It would be difficult for such a group to grow stronger again under the nose of the Golden Spirit Sect, which has Nascent Soul stage cultivators.

Once the Tribulation of the True Demons ends, their most pressing problem upon returning to Fallen Maple Valley will be recruiting disciples, as they will have to purchase people from the Golden Spirit Sect.

Would the other party sell them a large number of teenagers who have reached the Qi Refining stage?
Yes, but these teenagers are probably the ones who were left over after all.

All they can do is try to increase the number of ordinary people in order to find those with exceptional talent, which will take at least several decades.

Over these decades, countless disciples of the Golden Spirit Sect will break through to the Golden Core stage, and the gap will only widen, becoming so large that it will lead to despair.

Master Chongxuan unconsciously clenched his fist in his sleeve, then slowly relaxed it, and said with a smile:

"Yes, when the sect settled in the Western Continent, there were no Golden Core cultivators in the sect. Now that there are the two of us, we can at least ensure peace for more than two hundred years."

He paused, then said earnestly:

“Junior sister, we are the hope for the continuation of the sect. We have received the sect’s grace, and we must shoulder this responsibility no matter what.”

Always maintain unwavering confidence in front of your disciples.

He felt lost about the future, but he knew he couldn't afford to lose his composure. If he did, the sect's legacy would be completely severed and lost to the dust of time.

Moonshadow Master composed himself and nodded vigorously:
"Ah."

At the Wuji Hall on Chaoyang Peak, Lin Jiuxiao summoned all the Golden Core cultivators.

Now that all the immortals had arrived, he cleared his throat and said in a deep voice:
"Fellow disciples, there has been no trace of the true demons for the past year. The patrolling disciples occasionally encounter some low-level demons."

What are your thoughts on the future situation?

The Puppet Hall crafted a large number of flying puppets and scattered them around the sect, so that no movement within a hundred miles could escape their notice.

The situation is currently good, and the sect's situation is not much different from when it was first closed off.

Ordinary young people all enter the Taoist academy to study, and every few years dozens of disciples with good aptitude can be selected from them.

The sect now only recruits disciples with superior or higher aptitude. If there are no unforeseen circumstances, these disciples will at least reach the late Foundation Establishment stage in the future and can contribute to the sect for two hundred years.

Most of them can break through to the Chaoyuan stage, and based on a lifespan of five hundred years, they can serve the sect for at least four hundred years.

The truly promising disciples will stand out and become Golden Core cultivators; these are the seeds for future Nascent Soul cultivation.

Lin Qiubai pondered for a moment and said:

"I think it's best to maintain the status quo. As far as the sect is concerned, as long as the True Demon Tribulation ends, the accumulation over the years can be quickly transformed into strength."

According to the statistics of the Diligent Work Hall, there are currently more than 30 disciples in the fifth level of the Chaoyuan stage of the sect. In the future, at least 20 of them will be able to break through to the Golden Core stage.
Based on a 30% success rate, the sect will have six more Golden Core cultivators.

In the future, the positions of hall masters in each palace will be held by Golden Core cultivators—a grandeur only found in Nascent Soul sects.

As the spiritual veins of the sect continue to improve in quality, the cave dwellings of everyone except True Monarchs exceed their own specifications.

Even without the aid of elixirs, the speed of cultivation is not slow.

Everyone smiled knowingly. The Great Calamity of the True Demons allowed the sect to develop in peace for decades, which was excellent.

Zhang Zeye laughed twice, then said regretfully:
"Since the sect's Yin Meridian was upgraded to the third-tier top-grade level, I have observed a strange rhythm between the two spiritual meridians."

We use magic arrays to refine various spiritual objects to improve the grade of spiritual veins. Now the speed of refining with magic arrays has increased by nearly two times.

The spiritual items are being consumed rapidly, but the spiritual veins are accumulating more and more abundantly. The spiritual items stored up will be exhausted in about ten years, but by then the rank of the Yang veins will not be far from being upgraded to the fourth rank.

"I was too conservative back then. I should have asked the True Lord to buy more resources so that we could have a fourth-grade low-level spiritual vein as our home." Previously, such a strange fluctuation had never occurred between the two spiritual veins.

Han Shan's eyes lit up, and he smiled:
"Haha, this is great news."

If the sect's spiritual veins are upgraded to the fourth tier, the growth rate of spiritual plants will inevitably accelerate again.

By that time, the medicinal materials for pills used by cultivators in the early stages of refining the Golden Core stage will be ready to mature within about a hundred years.

The medicinal materials needed to refine the pills consumed by cultivators in the late stage of the Golden Core realm take about 140 to 150 years.

If the master were to perform the ritual on the spiritual field, the time would be shortened by at least several decades.

When the sect can stably produce spiritual herbs and medicines with a medicinal age of two thousand years, it will be able to completely solidify the Nascent Soul inheritance.

Everyone was all smiles, as they were the most direct beneficiaries of the sect's growing strength.

Lin Lan's eyes curved into crescent moons, gleaming with a crystalline light:
"I'm going to visit my master at Crimson Flame Peak later to tell him this good news."

The world of gourds.

Ji An floated above the center of the lava lake, level with the Fusang tree.

The Heavenly Spirit Tree had grown more than three feet taller than before, and its leaf veins looked as if they were cast in gold.

Half a year ago, it was upgraded to the fourth-grade low-level, and now it has even sprouted flower buds.

According to ancient texts, the hibiscus tree blooms for about three years before bearing fruit.

At that time, he will definitely taste a few to improve his cultivation.

He will not trade the resources produced by either the Gathering Yuan Tree or the Fusang Tree with any non-sect cultivators.

The allure of the spiritual roots of heaven and earth is still too great; he is not yet capable of dealing with the covetousness of the late-stage Nascent Soul monsters.

Several palm-sized amethyst bees fluttered around the flower buds, lingering there as if complaining about why they hadn't bloomed earlier.

Thanks to the abundance of Tier 3 flowering spirit trees in the crimson spirit field, many individuals at the Golden Core level have emerged in the Purple Scenery Bee population, which can now produce Tier 3 top-quality honey.

Ji An flew away on a cloud and landed next to the Thunderstruck Dragon Blood Tree, a top-grade third-tier spiritual tree with some green fruits the size of soybeans hanging on it.

He extended his divine sense, muttering incantations:

"One, two, thirty, three, fourteen, not bad, fourteen spiritual fruits that can nourish blood and enhance magic power, we have something good to eat again."

He focused his mind on his dantian, connecting with the stone tortoise, and gave the command:
"Refine the Dao essence to enhance the grade of the spirit wood."

Only fourth-tier spirit fruits would have a better effect on him, so upgrading the spirit wood's grade was an inevitable choice.

The stone tortoise appeared above the spirit tree, its shell radiating a crystalline and warm spiritual light.

The innate Bagua Dao patterns appeared on the ground, and thousands of crimson spiritual threads hung down from the stone tortoise, weaving a huge cocoon of light in a very short time.

Ji An strolled along, thoroughly enjoying his walk in the woods.

Of the five spiritual fields in the gourd world, the most fertile are the central yellow spiritual field and the southern red spiritual field.

The central area contains many earth-elemental spiritual plants and yin-elemental spiritual plants that can be used to enhance the strength of the soul, while the crimson spiritual field contains many high-level spiritual fruits.

Now, with the addition of a fourth-tier Fusang tree, the spiritual plants here will be influenced by the spiritual roots of heaven and earth and gain even more divine power.

The first impact of the Fusang tree on this spiritual field was that the crimson earth had been upgraded to the fourth-grade low-level.

A moment later, he stopped beside a Crimson Cloud Pine. The spirit tree was nearly two zhang tall, with a charred bark and long, thin, red needles that flickered with lightning. It was the Crimson Cloud Pine struck by lightning.

Ji An scratched his head. The pine tree showed no signs of flowering, leaving him unsure of what was wrong.

Normally, the red pine should flower and bear fruit earlier than the dragon blood tree.

He walked east along the spirit field and entered the blue spirit field.

The most valuable spirit trees here are the Azure Moon Purple Spirit Fir and the Thunderstruck Dark Moon Jade Tree. The Spirit Fir is key to his rapid improvement of magical power in the future, while the Thunderstruck Dark Moon Jade Tree is a substitute for the Soul Nourishing Wood, and it has now been cultivated to the middle grade of the third rank.

The bark of the lightning-struck tea tree is dark and cracked, similar to other lightning-struck trees, while the leaves are the normal color, with the pure white leaves occasionally flashing with a hint of lightning.

Ji An stretched out his finger and brought it close to the tip of the blade. An electric arc shot out from the blade and hit his fingertip, giving him a slightly tingling sensation.

More than half an hour later, the stone tortoise flew back. Ji An arrived in front of a top-grade third-tier Azure Moon Purple Spirit Fir and gave the order again:
"Refine the Dao essence to upgrade the spirit wood to the fourth rank."

Soon, the cyan cocoon of light enveloped the spirit wood.

Just then, the five-colored deer flew in like a rainbow, shouting loudly:

"Master, your two disciples are waiting at the entrance of the cave."

In fact, the Five-Colored Deer could have led the two through the sealing array at the entrance, but the two disciples knew the rules and dared not and were unwilling to do so.

Ji An asked, "Did they reveal anything about it?"

"I didn't ask. It looks like a good thing. Both of them have bright smiles on their faces."

"I've delivered the message; I'm going to check if my beloved Dragon Blood Tree has yielded any fruit."

The five-colored deer's body transformed into a rainbow of light, and it flew towards the crimson spirit field, soon followed by a boastful roar:

"YoYo!"

The voice was rough, as if it contained dozens of kilograms of sand.

The master and disciple took their seats in the cave. Lin Lan smiled and repeated Zhang Zeye's words, saying:
"When the spiritual veins are upgraded, the grade of the spiritual fields in the southern region of the sect will also be improved. There will be so many good things happening."

The Hall of Agriculture is the most directly benefited hall, followed by the Dan Ding Academy and the Beast Taming Hall.

Thinking that the hibiscus tree had already blossomed, Ji An smiled brightly:

"Yes, good things keep happening one after another."

The true demon skeleton that was placed in the square in front of the Qin Gong Hall had long been retrieved by him, burned, and buried around the Ju Yuan Tree, where it had been completely 'digested' for several months.

The ashes of another Nascent Soul Level 5 True Demon were also buried next to the Gathering Yuan Tree, and now they were almost completely absorbed by the spirit tree. He could feel that the vitality of the Gathering Yuan Tree was about to break through the critical point.

After instructing his two disciples on their cultivation, Ji An asked:
"Han Shan, what level has your Earth Vein Ascension Technique reached now?"

This disciple has a single-minded goal, and he places high hopes on him.

"Reporting to Master, I just broke through to the Perfect level a few days ago."

A year ago, I made some progress when I was upgrading the spiritual veins of Yunhe Mountain; that flash of inspiration has finally blossomed into fruition.

Ji An clapped his hands and laughed, "Good, you are already a very qualified spirit farmer."

Unlike him, the disciple did not receive any external help; he got to where he is today purely through his own efforts.

If we maintain this pace, breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage in the future is not impossible.

　There was a lot going on at work today, so I didn't write much. Updates will be later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)