Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 824 Life Force Fluctuations in the Metal Egg
Qin Yan's answer did not surprise Ji An; if it were him, he would have made the same choice.

The monks all like to be in control, and if there is a better way, they are unwilling to wait.

Ji An nodded in agreement and asked:
"Do you have anything urgent to deal with? If so, I can wait a month or two."

The other party is the sect's strongest weapon refiner, and they likely have some work to do.

Qin Yan smiled and said, "There's nothing urgent to do, but I need a few days to make some arrangements."

After he left, the Five Elements Hall and the Weapon Refining Hall still had to operate normally. The Weapon Refining Hall was fine, as there were two other Golden Core level weapon refiners besides him. However, the Five Elements Hall needed to find someone to replace him on duty, which was not easy to handle.

"Then I'll give you five days. Come to Crimson Flame Peak to find me at the beginning of the Mao hour on the first day of next month."

Ji An also had to arrange some miscellaneous matters, and the management of Crimson Flame Peak was handed over to the Five Sacred Mountains True Lord.

The journey to the Central Continent is not for fighting and vying for power, so there is no need to bring the Five-Colored Deer.

The Azure Deer will remain in the sect as a spirit farmer, and will not be taken along.

"As ordered."

The next day, at the end of the Si hour.

The sun shone brightly, the sky was cloudless, and the sunlight shone through the gaps in the trees onto the pavilion, leaving a patch of fine, golden dapples.

Smoke rose from the kitchen not far away, and on the stone table in the pavilion were cold dishes such as braised beef, honey osmanthus cake, fried pine nuts, and pickled bamboo shoots, as well as several jars of top-grade third-class pine nut wine.

The spirit wine has been poured, its color as red as fire.

Ji An sat at the table, waiting for the guests to arrive.

He held a metal egg in his hand and activated the Sharp Metal Technique to infuse it with metal element spiritual power.

Now this unknown metal egg has become his toy to pass the time. At first, he would take it out every night before bed and bombard it with metal magic, but now he only takes it out once every few days.

He also gave this ellipsoidal metal block to Qin Yan for identification, but Qin Yan couldn't determine what kind of metal it was either.

Qin Yan also wanted to acquire this peculiar metal, saying he wanted to conduct thorough testing to see exactly what it was.

Ji An was naturally unwilling. Such a magical item must have hidden secrets, and he had no shortage of resources and spirit stones, so he would never sell it.

As usual, the silvery, metallic spiritual energy flowed continuously into the metal egg, and nothing happened.

A ball of five-colored spiritual light flew in from afar, its radiance so dazzling and flamboyant, it must be the Five Sacred Mountains True Lord.

Just as Ji An was about to put away the metal egg, he suddenly sensed a wisp of energy flashing from within it.

He was immediately startled. He probed with his divine sense several times, but found nothing.

At his level, it was impossible for him to have a delusion, so he activated the Sharp Metal Technique again, and a torrent of silver water gushed out from his fingertips.

The grayish-white egg was like a bottomless pit, accepting all comers and devouring all the metal elemental spiritual power, but that aura fluctuation never appeared.

The Five Sacred Mountains True Lord landed in the pavilion, sniffed a few times, and said:

"The osmanthus cake has the most delicate flavor, and the musk ox has the most fragrant flavor."

He paused for a moment, then said jokingly:
"Your Majesty, you haven't thrown away this lump of iron yet!"

He also helped identify this strange object, and his conclusion was that although it had a metallic luster and texture, it did not resemble metal.

Ji An put away the metal egg and replied irritably:
"If this were really a lump of iron, I would have thrown it away long ago. You call this amazing object, which can devour Gengjin Divine Thunder, a lump of iron!"

"You possess a bloodline inheritance, yet you can't recognize what it is? Is your inheritance fake?"

He searched through all the records of cultivation and descriptions of spiritual objects in the Five Elements Sect's lineage, but found no record of such a strange thing.

The Five Sacred Mountains True Lord scratched his head and muttered:

"How can you blame me?"

It's perfectly normal for him not to recognize things that didn't appear in his bloodline inheritance.

He coughed and changed the subject:
"Your Majesty, which other guests have you invited today?"

"Senior Brother Liu Yu, Senior Sister Li Lingyu, and three other disciples."

"Is there something you want to announce?"

The Five Sacred Mountains True Lord asked curiously. He knew the Lord's temperament very well. It was difficult to even see him on ordinary days when there was nothing to do, as he spent all his time improving his cultivation.

"Yes."

"Hey! These younger generation are really outrageous. How can they keep their elders waiting?"

When they arrive, I'll definitely teach them a lesson.

Ji An smiled and waved his hand, "In my message to everyone, I said to come to the banquet at noon, but it's not noon yet."

I'm so glad you arrived early.

"Hehe, I thought if I came earlier I could talk to you."

The Five Sacred Mountains True Lord spoke in a grand and solemn manner, but in reality, he was hoping to arrive early so he could eat more good food.

Ji An pointed to the roasted pine nuts and roasted cedar seeds, "Let's eat and chat. Both of these roasted snacks taste good and contain a lot of spiritual energy."

A moment later, the three disciples and Liu Yu arrived at the pavilion on Crimson Flame Peak one after the other.

After exchanging pleasantries, everyone took their seats as host and guests, and Ayun led several puppets to bring the hot dishes to the table.

After a few rounds of drinks, Ji An said, "In a few days, I will leave the sect for Zhongzhou, and I expect to be gone for about ten years."

"At that time, Crimson Flame Peak will need to be entrusted to you three for planting, and you will need to perform spells on it periodically."

His disciples have grown up, so he can now confidently be a hands-off manager.

As the eldest disciple, Lin Lan answered without hesitation:

"Please rest assured, Master, I will definitely fulfill your instructions."

After decades of painstaking practice, she has mastered the Azure Dragon Water Moon technique to the Great Perfection level, catching up with her junior brother in terms of magical skill.

Han Shan and Wei Baiyang said in unison, "Please rest assured, Master."

"Everyone needs to work hard during this time," Ji An said, changing the subject.

"The Lingnong disciples have been stationed at Yuanhe Mountain for decades, haven't they? What's their situation now?"

Lin Lan replied, "Reporting to Master, the Si Nong Hall has had a branch hall in Yuanhe Mountain for thirty-eight years, and ten groups of late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators are stationed there year-round for planting."

After decades of painstaking cultivation, the two main nodes in the spiritual vein have reached the first-tier top-grade level, while the other nodes are first-tier high-grade.

Over the years, we have used various methods to increase the concentration of spiritual energy in the soil, and most of the spiritual fields have reached the highest grade of Tier 1, which is now nourishing the spiritual veins.

Everyone was eager to go to Yuanhe Mountain to carry out missions. Although the quality of the spiritual veins was a bit low, which affected their cultivation, they could earn more spirit stones by carrying out planting missions there.

Using spirit stones to buy pills to aid cultivation did not slow down the cultivation speed at all; on the contrary, it accelerated it.

Han Shan cleared his throat and added:
“I happened to be at the Wuji Hall yesterday on business and mentioned this situation to the sect leader.”

He promised to ask the Array Hall to cooperate once the spiritual vein's grade reached the highest level of the first tier, using arrays to infuse spiritual objects and quickly raise the spiritual vein's grade to the lowest level of the second tier.

At that time, the Array Hall will construct an ultra-long-distance teleportation array, allowing the sect to provide rapid support should an emergency occur at Yuanhe Mountain.

The sect has decided to build Yuanhe Mountain into a strong northern stronghold, and once the number of cultivators from the Western Continent has increased further, they will once again establish a celestial city on Qingyun Mountain.

Liu Yu interjected:
"Not only was a branch hall of the Ministry of Agriculture established there, but also branch halls of the Beast Taming Hall and the Law Enforcement Hall were built there."

In the future, the Puppet Hall, Weapon Refining Hall, and Alchemy Academy will also establish branches in Yuanhe Mountain.

The sect's trade route happens to pass through Yuanhe Mountain, and this place will surely shine again in the sect's hands.

Ji An nodded with satisfaction. The restoration of vitality to the spiritual veins, which had been corrupted and mutated by demonic energy, was a remarkable achievement.

The spiritual veins of Yuanhe Mountain have the potential to grow to the lower third rank, and Golden Core cultivators will be sent there to oversee them in the future.

The meal was enjoyed in a harmonious atmosphere until the afterglow shone on the cold pool, and when the breeze rippled the water, the crimson light shimmered.

After seeing off the guests, Ji An returned to his cave and entered the small world.

After cultivating for two hours as usual, he lay half-reclined on the rattan chair, took out the metal egg, and continued to activate his magic power to release the Sharp Metal Technique.

He wanted to recreate the aura fluctuations that appeared at noon, so that he could glimpse the secret of the peculiar metallic egg.

Fifteen minutes passed, and nothing happened.

Half an hour passed, and nothing happened.

Another half hour passed, and as Ji An was wondering if things should continue like this for today, he sensed the fluctuation of energy again.

Because he had prepared in advance, he was able to clearly detect the complete fluctuation of energy this time, which was the energy emanating from life.

Ji An's expression was priceless, his face full of question marks.

Could this egg be harboring a wondrous mythical beast?

He stopped channeling his magic power and shouted at the puppet not far away:
"Ayun, brew some tea and light the incense!"

The spiritual energy within the body has been greatly depleted and needs to be replenished through rest.

He's full of energy right now; he won't be able to sleep tonight.

Ayun stepped forward, lit the sandalwood soul-nourishing incense, and placed it in the bronze incense burner. The faint fragrance spread outward with the rising smoke.

Upon smelling the fragrance, the previously listless Nascent Soul suddenly felt a refreshing coolness throughout its body.

Ayun quickly brewed the tea, which Ji An drank heartily. Then he took out a top-grade third-tier dragon blood fruit and swallowed it in a few bites to refine it.

This spiritual fruit can no longer improve cultivation, but refining the spiritual energy contained within it to restore mana is still quite good.

About half an hour later, Ji An's magic power and divine sense had recovered to most of their original state. He activated his magic power again, but this time he did not release spells. Instead, he transformed his magic power into pure metal element spiritual energy.

Within the Metal Palace of the Lungs, the Geng and Xin Metal Dao Seeds shimmered with light, and magical power was being refined here.

As the metal elemental energy continuously flowed into the grayish-white egg, the frequency and intensity of the life-force fluctuations increased.

Ji An's doubts grew stronger. He probed the egg with his divine sense countless times, but found nothing unusual.

Even now, probing with divine sense still reveals nothing unusual; this life force fluctuation seems to have appeared out of thin air.

He stopped thinking about the problem that puzzled him and simply continued to channel his magical power into the metal element spiritual energy, which flowed into the egg.

Half an hour later, the grayish-white outer skin of the metal egg gradually became slightly crystalline, and there was a shimmering light in the golden patterns.

The gray color of the egg gradually faded, leaving a bright silver-white. Ji An was excited; this mysterious egg was finally about to unveil its mystery before him.

This egg has absorbed a great deal of metal-elemental spiritual energy over the past eighty years; it's unknown what kind of aura it will eventually develop.

(End of this chapter)