Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 827 Meeting the True Lord of Heaven Again
The most striking feature of the Land of Absolute Spirit is the complete absence of spiritual energy; however, a small amount of spiritual energy will dissipate when a magic array is set up there.

Although the Xuanwu Armor Formation has a mimicry function, the spiritual energy it releases is like a beacon in the darkness for passing beasts. It's unlikely that any cultivator would have thought of how to make the formation mimic in such a place.

Ji An plans to get a good rest tonight and then traverse the area with all his might tomorrow.

He casually released a minor cloud and rain spell to wash away the dust from his face.

After washing, he activated his magic to condense a purple fireball, which instantly evaporated the clouds and mist.

Qin Yan watched the fluid movements with admiration. The True Lord had integrated magic into his instincts; no wonder the spells he released were so powerful.

Ji An sat in the main seat, raised his glass and said:

"Don't be shy, drink your fill."

For him, the top-grade third-tier spirit wine was like an aperitif before a meal.

The two drank several cups of wine together, and then began to enjoy their meal.

After finishing his meal, Ji An reclined on a rattan chair and took out a jade slip to mark the route he had taken that day, thus expanding the map.

The Five Elements Sect was destroyed tens of thousands of years ago, and the landscape at that time was quite different from today. Therefore, the maps preserved by the Five Elements Sect can only be used as a reference to help him estimate how far he is from the Central Continent.

About half an hour later, Ji An carefully checked the map information and put the jade slip into the Cave Void Stone.

Today was rather unlucky; I took several wrong turns and had to turn back, only managing to advance more than 20,000 li (approximately 10,000 kilometers) eastward.

These past few days, he has ventured deep into some desolate places and cast planting spells, truly experiencing the terror of these desolate places. Their coverage can reach the sky, and even flying under the clouds will still affect them.

Moreover, this effect is not much weaker than that of being close to the ground, only about 30% or 40% weaker. Ji An couldn't understand how such an environment could have formed.

The Land of Desolation is an endless desert, with sand of a despairing gray-brown, inhabited by all sorts of savage beasts.

Among them were birds and beasts, each one ferocious, bloodthirsty, and fearless of death.

For Ji An, the savage beasts on the outskirts of the Spirit-Slaying Land were no match for him, but the beasts grew stronger as he ventured deeper into the Spirit-Slaying Land, posing a threat to him.

What horrified him most was that the rate at which his magical power was draining away was getting faster and faster.

He had calculated the rate at which his mana was draining. If he stayed within a 500-mile radius of the Land of No Spirits without doing anything, his mana would completely evaporate within a day.

He released the Great Virtue Spirit Mantra, whose power, which could last for two months, would dissipate in just half an hour.

The spiritual power released through magic is like pouring a cup of water into a midday desert; the water droplets will disappear without a trace in the blink of an eye.

The further one ventures into the Land of Desolation, the faster one's magical power dissipates, beyond one's control. It's like a mortal sweating naturally when they're hot—it's a natural bodily regulation that cannot be controlled.

This discovery made Ji An realize that if he wanted to transform the Land of Extinction, he could only start from the outside and gradually shrink its area.

Not only the human body, but he also released puppets to investigate and found that the speed at which spirit stones were consumed would also be greatly accelerated.

A high-grade spirit stone can provide the Golden-Winged Bird with the energy needed for seven or eight hundred hours of flight, but in an area thousands of miles deep in the Spirit-Deprived Land, it can only last for a little over half an hour.

He took out a third-grade high-quality Heavenly Origin Pear. The spiritual fruit would quickly wither and eventually lose all moisture and spiritual power, taking about an hour.

This is a place of despair; no wonder it's called the 'Land of Despair,' it's truly fitting.

The only good news is that Ji An's physical strength has been less affected, and he can continue fighting as long as he has enough energy.

However, if his magical power is completely depleted, he can only fight in close combat like a mortal.

The Land of Desolation is home to many savage beasts that live in the sand. Scorpions and sand lizards are enormous, easily growing to several meters in size.

But the most powerful beast is a giant insect that lives deep underground, usually dormant, and hunts for food by sensing ground vibrations.

He had seen this insect before. It was about fifty feet long and looked similar to the sand worm in the science fiction movie Dune. When its huge mouthparts opened, a huge vortex would form on the ground.

This thing was so moving that it was impossible to sense any movement when it traveled underground. Ji An landed on a sand dune and hadn't walked far when he was ambushed by a sand worm.

Fortunately, the Golden Light of the Earth could be activated instantly. After flying into the sky, he casually released the Chaotic Five Elements Thunder and threw it into the mouthparts of the sand worm that had leaped out of the desert and was trying to devour him.

The sandworm's body crumbled into black ash, leaving nothing of value.

Seeing that he had finished his work, Qin Yan came up and asked with a smile:

"True Lord, how long do you estimate it will take to reach Central Continent?"

He has found the training here to be very effective, and he has taken another big step closer to reaching a state of perfect harmony of Qi.

It is estimated that it will take at least half a month to a month for one to truly become a cultivator at the ninth level of the Golden Core stage.

Ji An checked the information in the jade slip again, then sat up straight and said:
"According to the map, we are only about 100,000 li away from Zhongzhou as the crow flies, but judging from the route we have taken, it will take us about ten more days."

Passing through the desolate lands at the edge of the Western Continent to reach the Central Continent, the straight-line distance is 270,000 to 280,000 li. After flying for half a month, they had only advanced about 170,000 li eastward. He paused, then continued:
"Tomorrow I plan to cross this narrow strip of land. If the journey is longer than expected, I will travel through the night."

If the road is winding and twisting, crossing the Spirit-Severing Land is not a good choice; one can only escape by flying through the gaps.

He couldn't help but think that if the Land of Severed Spirits continued to expand, it would one day become completely connected, which would mean that the direct connection between the Western Continent and the Central Continent would be severed.

"Alright, I won't disturb your cultivation any longer, True Lord. I'll take my leave."

Ji An stood up and communicated telepathically with the puppet not far away:
"Ayun, prepare some roasted fir seeds and some low-grade fourth-rank spirit wine for me."

All the cedar seeds are of the fourth-tier low-grade quality, and when paired with spirit wine, they can quickly restore mana.

Ayun nodded gently, then rushed to the warehouse and retrieved a storage bag and four jars of spirit wine.

Ji An took the storage bag, took out several bags of fried cedar seeds, put the spirit wine and the bags into the cave stone, and then returned the storage bag.

The puppet cannot use the storage bag; the items inside are things he packed up before.

Each bag of roasted fir seeds weighs twenty catties, and there are five bags in total. If all of them are refined, they can replenish mana more than ten times. Moreover, he originally had one bag left in his Void Stone. So many spiritual items to replenish mana are enough for him.

Ji An released a golden light that stretched across the ground, which transformed into a rainbow of five colors and arrived at the center of the white spiritual field.

For the past two weeks, he has come to check on it every day, trying to identify what kind of spiritual plant it is, but he has not been able to do so.

The spiritual plant has grown to five feet long and as thick as a thumb. It has two branches, sparse white leaves with serrated edges.

It has no obvious features; the only extraordinary thing it exhibits is that the spiritual plant has reached the first-tier low-grade level, and its leaves have begun to emit light.

What he could confirm was that this spiritual plant could reach an extremely high grade; he knew nothing else, but that was enough.

Ji An rode the cloud back to the center of the small world and found Qin Yan sitting cross-legged on a small island in the center of the lava lake. Whenever he went to the small world, Qin Yan would be there.

He sat cross-legged on the futon, concentrated his mind and circulated his cultivation technique. The spiritual energy in his small world surged wildly towards him, quickly converging into a vortex.

On the small island in the center of the lava lake, Qin Yan finished his cultivation and smiled bitterly as he watched the crimson spiritual energy converge towards the center of the small world.

Once the True Lord begins cultivating, the amount of spiritual energy he can absorb will be much less, and continuing to cultivate will be too inefficient.

He took out a jade slip about how to break through to the Nascent Soul stage and stuck it on his forehead, beginning to ponder what preparations he had not yet made.

After replenishing his internal energy through cultivation, Ji An rested for half an hour. When he woke up from his sleep, it was already late in the morning.

At that moment, he felt refreshed and full of energy as he flew out of the small world.

He caught the gourd-shaped stone that had lost buoyancy and was falling. After Big Yellow and Golden Hair entered the small world and closed the magic array, he put away the array plate and array flag, and rode the colorful auspicious cloud to fly forward.

He was used to flying away quickly for an hour first, then summoning a magical artifact to replace himself, which allowed him to recover his magical power.

The sky was just beginning to lighten with the first hint of dawn, making the journey very pleasant. However, once the sun came out, the hot wind blowing from the desolate land made even this cultivator, who had reached the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm, feel uncomfortable.

The wind was scorching hot, and when it blew against your body, it would deplete your magical power. Although the amount depleted was minimal, you couldn't help but feel the constant gusts of wind.

After a day of flying, at least half of one's magical power would evaporate into thin air.

It was summer, and after flying for about half an hour, Ji An realized that the sun was about to rise and stopped flying.

He sat cross-legged on auspicious clouds, and after absorbing the morning dew from the rising sun, he continued his journey.

Two hours later, Ji An's magical power was fully restored. He immersed his mind in the Guanghan Palace and began to meditate. More patterns appeared on the glazed tiles of the palace, and a tiger head carving appeared on the eaves tiles.

A moment later, he heard the white tiger let out a warning roar. He immediately ended his meditation and opened his eyes. He saw a cultivator about thirty miles away flying at full speed. Judging from the speed, the cultivator should be a Nascent Soul cultivator.

'Are there other True Lords from Central Continent who, like me, are destined to traverse this desolate land?'

After having this thought, Ji An felt he could buy a map from the other party. He made a hand seal to release the strength of metal and stone, then put away his spiritual treasure and rode a cloud to meet them.

The two quickly approached, and after recognizing the person, he released his spiritual pressure and stopped, cupping his hands and shouting:

"True Lord Pingtian, how have you been?"

The sound was like rolling thunder, reverberating in the air.

It turned out to be a True Monarch from the Cloud Sea Merchant Alliance. He had met the other party several times before, and he had thought that the other party had perished in the True Demon Tribulation.

Ping Tian Zhenjun glanced at him warily. He felt that the cultivator in front of him looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't remember who it was. There was no reason why he couldn't recognize a cultivator of the same realm as him.

He maintained a distance of three miles from Ji An and continued speeding, anxiously reminding him:

"Fellow Daoist, run! Kong Wen from Lotus Temple is catching up with several guardian Vajras."

(End of this chapter)