Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 776 Five Elements Mountain
"Comfortable."

Ji An clapped his hands and laughed, "As the spiritual veins of the small world improve, various spiritual fruits will ripen one after another, and cultivation will maintain a steady increase."

Now all that needs to be done is wait for an important verification: how much adverse impact will be caused by extensively excavating the soil of the gourd world?

If the impact is minor, he will dig up a large amount of soil to refine fourth-order spiritual soil and begin refining the Five Elements Divine Mountain.

If the impact is significant, a strategic approach is needed, which will slow things down considerably.

He turned to the puppet and said:
"Ayun, dig a trench in each of the spirit fields, three feet wide and five feet deep, being careful not to damage the roots of the spirit trees."

A trench encircled the outer perimeter of the spiritual field, and the excavated soil was piled up near the trench.

Let's get started now, beginning on the yellow earth.

The puppets can do the digging for him; he doesn't need to do it himself.

Ayun nodded, summoned the shuttle and flew away, needing to gather the other puppets together to work.

He only needs to supervise the digging; he doesn't need to do it himself.

Ji An considered the resources at hand. He still had three urns containing the ashes of early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators. He needed to carefully consider how to maximize the benefits.

Once the Gathering Yuan Tree reaches the middle grade of the fourth rank, the effect of these ashes becomes much less significant. Moreover, if you want to upgrade it to the upper grade of the fourth rank, these urns of ashes have limited use. It would be better to use them to upgrade other suitable spirit trees.

A moment later, he made a decision, stood up, flew to the golden sandalwood tree, and buried an urn of ashes under the tree.

The Soul-Nourishing Wood is now at the mid-grade level of the fourth rank. To refine a qualified Soul Incense, the two materials must be of the same grade.

The main function of Soul Incense is to quickly restore depleted spiritual energy, but fourth-tier Soul Incense also has the function of nourishing the Nascent Soul.

When cultivating, burning soul incense allows the mysterious substances contained within to be absorbed by the nascent soul.

Given the current environment of the Calabash World, with the help of this urn of ashes, this spirit tree should be able to advance to the middle grade of the fourth rank within a few years.

Ji An flew away on a cloud and arrived at a small island in the center of the lava lake, where he buried a urn of ashes.

The ashes of a Nascent Soul cultivator in the early stages are still useful to the current Fusang Tree, and the Fusang Tree has also proven to have a positive effect on improving the grade of the Crimson Spirit Field, so improving this Heaven and Earth Spirit Root should be a good choice.

With one urn of ashes remaining, he chose to bury it under the dragon blood fruit tree struck by lightning.

This sacred tree is currently in its fruiting period, and the ashes are the best fertilizer, which can accelerate the ripening of the sacred fruit.

Faced with the temptation of rapidly improving his cultivation level, his former mental fastidiousness had almost completely disappeared.

Ji An flew back to the Gathering Yuan Tree, lit half a stick of sandalwood soul-nourishing incense, and sat cross-legged on the futon to continue his cultivation.

As the cultivation technique was activated, the Five Elements Divine Palace and the immortal meridians throughout the body became like powerful and precise machines, rapidly refining the spiritual energy absorbed into the body into magical power, while the wisps of soul fragrance were refined into soul power.

The primordial fire emitted wisps of energy, which were drawn to the golden beads of qi and blood in the middle dantian, nourishing the golden beads.

Ji An felt that this thing, which he had cultivated by accident, was similar to a 'golden pill' formed from qi and blood, the crystallization of his body-refining technique.

However, there is no record of body-refining cultivators cultivating such crystals. Fortunately, the existence of this thing is not harmful; on the contrary, it can regulate qi and blood.

Several hours later, Ji An finished his cultivation, opened his eyes, stood up, and saw the mound of earth piled up through the gaps in the trees.

Colorful auspicious clouds rose beneath his feet, lifting him to a mound as tall as a person.

He took out the jade slip that recorded the refining of the Five Elements Divine Mountain, found the secret method for tempering the divine soil, studied it carefully for a while, and began to put it into practice as soon as he learned it.

This pile of yellow, jade-like gravel soil cannot be considered the soil of the Yellow Emperor; it can only be described as a rich ore containing the soil of the Yellow Emperor, which must be purified.

He activated a secret technique, and the Earth Palace of his Spleen shone brightly. Yellow spiritual light surged from his palms, enveloping the mound. The soil inside swirled wildly, like a sandstorm whipped up by a strong wind in the desert.

Perhaps it was due to the special secret method, or perhaps it was because the soil contained abundant Yellow Emperor's Virtue Soil, but in just half a quarter of an hour, he extracted a lump of Yellow Emperor's Virtue Soil the size of a pigeon egg.

This spiritual soil looks similar to regular soil, but it is more lustrous and heavy; this lump of spiritual soil weighs a full fifty pounds.

When the Yellow Emperor's sacred soil was extracted, the original soil turned white, and it was obvious that all its spiritual energy had vanished, and its volume had shrunk by one-third. It was devoid of any life, giving the impression of desolation that had persisted for billions of years.

Ji An felt the weight of the task and smiled. Things were going smoothly, and at this rate, he would be able to refine the Five Elements Divine Mountain in a few years.

The next step is to see if this lifeless dust can be restored, and if so, how long the recovery period will be.

He used his telekinesis to push the dust back into the trench.

He walked slowly forward, refining the piled-up mounds of earth along the trench.

The puppets were extremely efficient, working like excavators, and Ji An's refining speed could not keep up with the excavation speed.

Three days later, A-Yun came to report, communicating with him using mental power:
"Master, all the spirit fields have been dug up. What should we do next?"

“Cover up and level the trenches that I filled after refining the spiritual soil, and suspend the excavation.”

Ji An instructed that the most needed spiritual soil for refining the Five Elements Divine Mountain is the Yellow Emperor's Virtue Soil, while the amount of other spiritual soils used is relatively small. In the future, we will mainly see if the dust buried in the yellow spiritual field will recover.

"Yes, sir," A-Yun said, and rode away on the spirit shuttle.

It took another five days for Ji An to refine all the excavated spiritual soil, obtaining various fourth-tier spiritual soils.

It took so long because this was done in my spare time during my cultivation.

He took out all the spirit soil he had obtained and arranged it in a row. The five piles of spirit soil, which were blue, red, yellow, white and black, with their crystal-clear color like jade sand, looked very pleasing to the eye.

The Yellow Emperor's Virtuous Soil weighs about 5,000 jin, making it the densest. Other spiritual soils are lighter. The White Emperor's Crystal Soil and the Black Emperor's Marsh Soil have relatively lower densities, about 70% of the density of the Yellow Emperor's Virtuous Soil, each weighing about 4,000 jin. The Green Emperor's Splendid Soil and the Red Emperor's Flaming Soil have the lowest densities, less than half the density of the Yellow Emperor's Virtuous Soil, weighing just over 3,000 jin.

Ji An grinned. Others probably couldn't gather enough spiritual soil even in decades, but he was able to refine it in a short time. The gourd world deserves much credit for this.

After carefully studying the refining method of the Five Elements Divine Mountain, he realized that although these kinds of spiritual soils all had a high density, they were 'volatile substances' and would begin to evaporate after half a month, unless they were placed in a special sealing array.

The environment in the gourd world has special characteristics that he is unaware of, which is why these spiritual soils can be preserved for so long. This is also why the soil quickly loses its effectiveness after Lin Lan removes it.

He meticulously blended the spiritual soil according to the specified ratio and then used the primordial fire to bake it.

It took more than four hours to fuse the five kinds of spiritual soil together, which weighed 7,500 jin and took the shape of a small mountain with five peaks.

The central peak is the largest, with a golden color. The four surrounding peaks are Green Mountain, Red Mountain, White Mountain, and Black Mountain, clearly representing the five elements, hence the name Five Elements Divine Mountains.

This is only the first step. Next, he needs to continuously infuse the spirit seal into it, which will take a long time for a cultivator like him with little experience in refining.

Fortunately, he wasn't in a hurry; he could take his time. Six months later, in the world of gourds.

Ji An held up a small mountain that barely covered his palm, made a hand seal, and gently tossed it away.

The small mountain spun and flew into the air, casting a five-colored spiritual light that enveloped Big Yellow, who had come to be the 'tester'.

Then, as it continued to grow larger, it fell, and Big Yellow let out a painful howl.

Ji An collected the magic weapon and demanded:
"What are you yelling about? Lingbao hasn't even landed yet!"

That's so fake! The Five Elements Divine Mountain is still more than two feet away from this silly bear!
Dahuang coughed up a mouthful of blood in distress. "Master, I feel like my bones are about to break, and the demonic energy in my body is not flowing smoothly."

This was a low-grade fourth-tier spiritual treasure, and the immense pressure made it hard for him to breathe.

Seeing his beast cough up blood, Ji An realized it wasn't fake and gained a certain understanding of the power of the Five Elements Divine Mountain.

The actual weight of this magical treasure is only a little over 7,000 jin, which is not heavy for a rock-armored bear at the Golden Core level. However, it was able to suppress the beast so much even before actual contact with it, which was beyond his expectations.

Although the level of beast taming is not high, the Five Elements Divine Mountain can continue to grow, and it will not be a problem to use it to deal with Nascent Soul cultivators in the future.

Ji An happily stored the spiritual treasure in his dantian and entered the golden primordial fire.

He took out a high-grade third-tier spirit peach and tossed it to his beast tamer, jokingly saying:
"This is a tip for your hard work. I'll come back to you next time I test the power of the magical treasure."

Upon hearing this, Big Yellow was immediately terrified:

"Master, please stop! My small body can't withstand the damage from this magical treasure."

"I think the most suitable animal for this test is the Five-Colored Deer. Think about it, this magical artifact can suppress the demonic power within me, and the Five-Colored Deer is a wondrous beast embodying all five elements; it's the perfect animal for the test."

He really didn't dare to have such a strong feeling about the power of the spirit treasure during the next test; it had been so hard-earned.

Ji An extended his divine sense to check the beast's injuries and found that it was bleeding from its internal organs, indicating that the injury was not serious. So he took out a third-grade high-quality dragon blood fruit.

"Take good care of your injury. I was just joking."

Big Yellow picked up the spirit fruit with its mouth and placed it on the ground, letting out a low, ingratiating growl. As long as the 'stress test' was over, its wildly beating heart calmed down.

Ji An chuckled and patted the bear's head before flying to the edge of the yellow spirit field. Because he had released the Thick Virtue Spirit Transformation Curse several times, the traces left by the trenches had disappeared, and the land here was as flat as a mirror.

He channeled his magic, splitting open the ground beneath his feet—this was what used to be a trench.

The soil in the crack has regained most of its spiritual energy, but its color is slightly dimmer than at the beginning, and it will take more time to fully recover.

Ji An nodded slightly, "It seems that the spiritual soil can be refined and integrated into the Five Elements Divine Mountain once a year, which is very good."

The situation was better than he had expected. From then on, the Five Banners Masters would defend, while the Five Elements Divine Mountains and the Magic Masters would attack.

The effects of the Five Elements Divine Mountain need to be tested in actual combat, or perhaps once the Five-Colored Deer breaks through to the Nascent Soul level.

Ten Thousand Mountains, Qingqiu.

Qingqiu is not the name of a mountain, but a collective name for a mountain range that stretches five thousand li from north to south and more than three thousand li from east to west. The mountains are covered with shady locust trees, black jade bamboo, and low shrubs.

Regardless of the species, all plants growing here have dark green leaves, which remain so throughout the year, hence the name Qingqiu (Green Hill). The temperature in the mountainous area is significantly lower than in the surrounding region.

Shouyin Mountain is the highest peak of Qingqiu and the ancestral home of the Celestial Fox Clan.

At the summit stands the Heavenly Fox Hall, covered with sky-blue glazed tiles. A relief of a young fox is carved on the ridge, and a white nine-tailed heavenly fox statue sits atop the central ridge. On either side of the ridge, a multicolored nine-tailed fox guards the hall.

The night sky was moonless, but filled with countless stars.

A brazier burned in the main hall, burning mermaid oil, the flames displaying a serene and deep indigo color.

The Great Elder of the Celestial Fox Clan sat on a throne made of white bones. She was a cold and beautiful human woman with a head of silver hair that shimmered in the moonlight, but her face was round and without a single wrinkle.

Her eyebrows were long and slender, her almond-shaped eyes were as black as lacquer, her nose was high, and her lips were thin and looked somewhat sharp.

The armrests on either side of the throne are each inlaid with a fist-sized human skull. The eye sockets of the right skull gleam with a metallic sheen, a testament to the countless times it has been touched by its owners.

The throne faces south and sits on a three-foot-high platform. Around it are chairs of the same style but slightly smaller, each occupied by a celestial fox at the Nascent Soul level.

The Celestial Fox Clan has no clan leader; instead, several elders manage clan affairs.

Hu Yuniang sat in the lower position, with a deep, bone-revealing wound on her cheek, shrouded in black mist.

She tried her best to sit up straight and described the current situation:
"Yesterday, the True Demon Army launched a full-scale attack on Shouyin Mountain. The Star and Moon Linked Killing Formation was activated three times in a row to stop the enemy's offensive."

The Third Elder was severely injured, but our clan also slew two True Demons at the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

There was no joy on her face; instead, she continued with a bitter expression:
“In recent months, the enemy’s attacks have intensified. If this intensity continues for a few more months, the grade of the ancestral land’s spiritual veins may drop again.”

The Celestial Fox Clan has been fighting the True Demon Army for over twenty years, losing five transformed Great Demons, and now only has six Nascent Soul cultivators left.

Shouyin Mountain was originally a top-grade fourth-order spiritual vein, not far from breaking through to the fifth order. Now it is only a high-grade fourth-order spiritual vein. It is unknown how much resources and time it will take to restore its pre-war prosperity.

Previously, she had no place in the Heavenly Fox Palace, but now she is able to sit at the very end.

The air was thick with a somber atmosphere; you could hear a pin drop in the main hall.

The True Demon Army suffered even greater casualties, yet reinforcements continued to pour in, leaving all the Celestial Foxes utterly exhausted.

The Grand Elder said in a deep voice, "The enemy cannot maintain such an attack intensity for long. Yesterday, when I fought against a Nascent Soul Ninth Level True Demon, I noticed that the concentration of demonic energy had decreased significantly compared to the previous days. This decrease has been ongoing for several months."

It was obvious that the demonic energy gushing out of the demon's lair was gradually decreasing.

The day when the true demon army retreats is not far off; we only need to hold off their final counterattack.

Demonic energy surged into the cultivation world, constantly consuming spiritual energy, though previously the consumption was far less than the replenishment.

Hu Yuniang's face lit up with joy, and she thought to herself:

'It's finally coming to an end.'

These past few years have been incredibly tough.

(End of this chapter)