Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 842 Farewell to the Hibiscus
The master and disciple took their seats in the cave. Ji An took out a high-grade third-tier Heavenly Origin Pear and handed it to them, saying:
"It just so happens that I was eating, and this is what you gave me."

If you arrive at the right time, you can get good stuff. Spiritual fruits are of very little use to him; they can only be used to refine spiritual energy. But it's a different story for disciples in the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm.

"Thank you, Master, hehe."

Lin Lan took the spirit fruit, placed it in the jade box, affixed a spirit-sealing talisman, and put it away. She would save the spirit fruit for when she needed it most.

She ran her fingers through a strand of hair near her ear, suppressing her rapidly beating heart, and said:

"Master, I feel a sense of danger when I'm by your side."

"Really? Or is it just my imagination?"

Ji An joked that his body-refining technique had just broken through, and he couldn't yet precisely control the surge of his qi and blood.

An aura was emanating from the area, which is why the disciple sensed it.

Lin Lan shook her head firmly, "It can't be my imagination. It's like when I was a child and encountered a tiger while walking in the mountains. My heart was racing uncontrollably and my breathing became erratic."

Before she joined the sect, she and a few friends from the Dao Academy went hunting and encountered a large, striped tiger that had just become a demon. That's how she felt at the time, her body trembled instinctively.

"Hehe, I just made a breakthrough in my body-refining technique, so I can't completely contain the surge in my blood and qi."

"what!"

Lin Lan looked surprised. She knew that her master practiced body refinement, but she had never actually seen it.

Ji An waved his hand, "Let's not talk about that. What brings you here today?"

Lin Lan then remembered the purpose of her visit and smiled sweetly:
"Master, Yun Qianhe of the Array Formation Hall has begun to break through to the Golden Core stage. I have come to inform you of this."

This disciple exchanged for the Golden Core this morning and has already begun refining the core seed.

Ji An nodded and smiled, "Two months ago, I heard Hall Master Zhang Zeye say that the Array Formation Hall had two promising talents. One of them was cultivating the Five Qi Gathering at the sect, but I didn't expect him to break through so quickly."

"Very well, I will head to Chaoyang Peak tomorrow evening."

"Just a reminder, Master, please don't use the teleportation array."

"Of course I know."

Ji An laughed at the joke. Even if he took the teleportation array, he probably wouldn't be in any danger as long as the lightning tribulation didn't descend. But it would be safer to fly there.

After his disciple left, Ji An returned to the small world.

His qi and blood still occasionally surged, making it unsuitable for continued cultivation. So, he took a break from his busy schedule and rode the clouds to wander around.

The colorful auspicious clouds hovered over the blue spiritual fields for a moment before arriving at the lakeside on the black soil.

The lake's edge is clear, reflecting the shimmering Heavenly Yuan Pear, Azure Mist Tree, and other spiritual plants. The leaves of these spiritual trees shimmer with blue light, and the shallow water is as blue as the sea, but the color begins to turn black as you enter the deeper water.

Ji An floated above the spirit lotus, which was planted from a spirit seed obtained from Shi Xiu's Sumeru bag.

Unlike ordinary lotus roots, this spiritual lotus has slender stems that are slightly yellow, similar to the color of newly sprouting grass in spring.

The lotus leaves are emerald green, but the edges are golden yellow, like jade inlaid with gold. The veins extending from the center of the leaf outward are also golden yellow.

What kind of breed could this be?

Ji An muttered to himself in confusion, "The Buddhist cultivators like to cultivate all kinds of spiritual lotuses. I wonder if they are a specialty of the Western Continent or a mutated spiritual lotus."

It was still unclear what was going on. He flicked his sleeves, put his hands behind his back, and flew away on a cloud towards the white spiritual field.

Auspicious clouds flew to the Seven Luminaries Golden Branch and landed. Ji An extended his divine sense to examine the ashes buried underground and found that most of the spiritual energy in the ashes had been absorbed. So he grabbed a few more handfuls of ashes from the bone urn next to him and buried them around the spirit tree.

He stroked the trunk of the sacred tree and said in an expectant tone:

"Hurry up and upgrade its rank."

Once the spirit wood reaches the fourth grade, the ashes in the urn can be buried in the ground all at once, without having to check on it every ten days or half a month.

The tree trunk, about the thickness of a forearm, felt slightly cool to the touch; patting it gently felt like striking metal.

Ji An rode the clouds and flew to the side of the lava lake, glancing at the fire corals around the lake.

It is the flowering season, and swarms of amethyst bees fly among the coral reefs, while fire crystal ants also forage here, their favorite food being the crystals on the coral.

After years of unchecked growth, the fire coral can now grow to over six feet tall, far exceeding its initial three feet.

The quality of the fire coral is constantly improving, and now there is even a fourth-grade low-quality plant that is over eight feet tall.

After hundreds of years of natural selection, the genes of spiritual plants have quietly undergone remarkable changes.

When corals reach the end of their lives, they fall into lava, and over time, a shallow coral reef forms on the lake bottom, becoming a playground for red gold carp.

Ji An stroked his chin, squinting as he pondered.

The fire coral has been rooted here for over three hundred years, showing potential that surpasses many spirit trees, something he had never imagined before. He felt that perhaps he should cultivate some similar spirit plants.

At that moment, he suddenly smelled a faint fragrance. The scent was very special and immediately stirred up memories.

The colorful auspicious clouds suddenly flew up to the island in the middle of the lake. He searched carefully and saw that under the fiery red leaves of the hibiscus tree, a few small flowers were peeking out, and the fragrance was coming from them.

The fire phoenix poked its head out from under the leaves and let out a soft cry. It was only the size of a sparrow at the moment, and what it was hiding under the leaves was completely invisible unless scanned with divine sense.

Ji An reached out and touched the bird's head, a smile spreading across his face.

It has been about fifty years since the last mulberries ripened. This sacred tree has finally blossomed again. I wonder how many mulberries it will produce this time.

Hibiscus flowers are divided into male and female, and not all female flowers will bear fruit. It will be known how many mulberries can be harvested after the flowering period ends in three years.

"Things are looking up more and more promising."

He burst into laughter, his voice echoing through the mountains and forests. Sensing his joyful mood, the fire phoenix flew to a branch and let out a cheerful chirp, dancing as if showing off, its long tail feathers radiating five-colored light.

A spark fell from the tail feathers, landed on the leaves of the hibiscus tree, and disappeared instantly.

Ji An flew to the warehouse of the Crimson Spirit Field and searched for a while, finding a bag of seeds weighing about 100 jin.

These are the seeds of Pearl Blood Rice. This spiritual rice had previously only reached the second-tier top-grade level and was used to make honey osmanthus cake.

He flew to the edge of the crimson spirit field, scattered the spirit rice seeds, and cast the Thick Virtue Spirit Transformation Incantation.

The soil became extremely soft, and a nourishing earthy aroma filled the air as the seeds fell into the soil.

His hand seals shifted and changed in a fluid motion, releasing the power of dragons and the birth of all things.

As the clouds rolled and the bright moon rose, the roar of a dragon resounded, and the moist spiritual objects and vibrant blue light spots fell into the red soil.

Soon, the red rice seedlings emerged from the ground, stretching their bodies and gradually growing in the rain.

When the clouds clear and the rain stops, the rice seedlings will grow to more than four feet tall. This height is their limit, and they can no longer grow taller.

Ji An plans to use this place as an experimental field, allowing the spirit rice to grow freely, and see if it can be cultivated into third-tier spirit rice after a hundred years.

He flew back to the Gathering Yuan Tree and instructed A-Yun:
"I have planted a batch of spirit rice in the crimson spirit field. You will be responsible for harvesting it and then selecting the larger grains to use as seeds. Let me know when you have made your selections."

Ayun lowered her eyes and nodded, communicating through mental energy:
"Yes, sir." The next day, atop Crimson Flame Peak, the rosy clouds stretched like a sea.

Ji An sat cross-legged facing the setting sun, his hands forming the Meridian Seal to activate a secret technique. With each movement of his mouth, he absorbed the spiritual essence of the setting sun, which flew into his upper dantian.

Once the sun had completely set, he activated the secret technique again, and the nascent soul in the Guanghan Palace made hand seals.

In the middle dantian, the morning sun purple dew and the Bing fire metal essence merged together, and then the evening sun spiritual essence also came to the lower dantian. The three spiritual liquids merged together to form the sun essence, which looked like a golden bean.

The essence of the sun leaves the middle dantian and flows along the immortal meridian into the lower dantian, falling into the primordial fire of life.

Like adding fuel to a raging fire, the golden flames surged, and the heat rose from the dantian and spread explosively to the limbs and bones.

Ji An could clearly feel the golden flame patterns and silver lightning patterns flashing alternately on his bones, the silver bone marrow resembling lead and mercury, and his blood undergoing a subtle but positive change.

The muscles became firmer, and the skin became more elastic and resilient; even an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator might not be able to pierce it with a flying sword.

Ji An felt a wave of comfort wash over him and exclaimed:
"If I could refine a drop of Sun Essence every day, I would have broken through to the mid-stage Nascent Soul Body Cultivation realm long ago, no, I would have broken through to the late-stage Nascent Soul realm."

Sun Essence is the best supplement for body refinement, with better effects than Lightning-Struck Wood Spirit Fruit, but unfortunately, only one drop can be produced every few months.

When I first broke through to the Nascent Soul stage, it took me more than four months to refine a single drop of Sun Essence and Moon Essence. Now, my cultivation has improved considerably, and I can absorb more materials, but it still takes me a month and a half to refine a single drop.

As the last rays of the sun faded, the magnificent sunset quickly dimmed and merged with the deep night.

Ji An stood up, activated the golden light that pierced the earth, and arrived at the teleportation array at the foot of the mountain. He teleported to Ningcui Cliff, and then rode the clouds towards Chaoyang Peak.

By this time, the sky was already very dark, and the colorful auspicious clouds bloomed like flowers in the sky, leaving a rainbow that dazzled the night sky.

From afar, he saw the spiritual energy on Chaoyang Peak surging like waves, and a moment later he saw a crimson spiritual cloud flying towards him.

Lin Lan smiled radiantly and cupped her hands in greeting:

"Master, please come with me. A chair has been prepared for you over there."

"lead the way."

Ji An smiled and nodded in acknowledgment; of his three disciples, this eldest disciple was the one who knew best how to please him.

The two landed on a mountain ridge, where there were only a few cultivators nearby.

Others, lacking such a treasure as the stone tortoise, lost interest after witnessing the tribulation a few times.

Lin Jiuxiao, Zhang Yi, and Zhang Zeye came to pay their respects, saying, "Greetings, True Lord."

When a disciple of the Array Formation Hall broke through to the Golden Core stage, Zhang Zeye wanted to know the result as soon as possible, so he temporarily put aside his task of refining array flags and came to the scene.

"No need for formalities," Ji An said with a smile, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the sect leader and the treasure pavilion master.

"I think it is necessary to choose another mountain peak for the disciples to break through their cultivation."

As the sect continues to grow stronger, breakthroughs to the Golden Core stage will become commonplace, possibly occurring every few years. You two can't possibly have to hide every time a disciple breaks through, can you?

The sect leader was blasted out of Chaoyang Peak by lightning tribulation; it's strangely funny to think about it.

"Hehe," Lin Lan chuckled softly, covering her mouth.

Lin Jiuxiao scratched his head, feeling both happy and somewhat helpless:

"I was just thinking about this question too, pondering which mountain peak would be more suitable."

"My Lord, please sit here. Let's sit down and talk."

The rule that one must take a pill on the spot when breaking through was established at the beginning of the sect's founding. At that time, being able to break through to the Chaoyuan stage was considered the mark of a top talent.

There is no tribulation of lightning when breaking through to the Chaoyuan stage, so it is perfectly reasonable to choose to let the disciple break through at Chaoyang Peak, where the spiritual energy is most abundant.

No one could have imagined that the sect's foundation would expand so rapidly thousands of years later, and now disciples are breaking through to the Golden Core stage more and more frequently.

It wasn't a big deal for the sect leader to leave the Wuji Hall for a few days, but the fact that the Treasure Pavilion also shut down affected the work of his fellow disciples.

The group sat down to discuss which spiritual vein node would be most suitable for their disciple to break through.

Lin Jiuxiao pondered for a moment and said:

"The selected mountain peak needs to meet several requirements. First, it must be close enough to Chaoyang Peak to facilitate supervision."
Second, the quality of the spiritual vein cannot be low; it must be at least a third-grade low-level vein.

Third, there aren't many people living on the mountain, so a large-scale breakthrough won't be necessary.

Breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage requires sufficiently rich spiritual energy, and can only be done at a low-grade fourth-order spiritual vein node. Breaking through at Chaoyang Peak is perfectly reasonable, since it only happens once every few years anyway.

Lin Lan pondered for a moment and said:

"Over the years, the quality of the sect's spiritual veins has been continuously improved. There are actually quite a few similar peaks. You can see them by looking at the map, Senior Brother Sect Leader."

My suggestion is to choose mountains with few spiritual fields, preferably rocky mountains.

As the head of the Agriculture Hall, she knew the spirit fields in all parts of the sect like the back of her hand.

Two days later, the phantoms of the Azure Dragon and the White Tiger appeared on Chaoyang Peak, and the roars of the dragon and the howls of the tiger echoed through the mountains.

Then the Five Elements Thunder Tribulation began to fall, and after the Chaos Divine Thunder fell, a Taiyin Moon rose.

The serene light shone on Chaoyang Peak, shining like a searchlight and leaving a conspicuous path of light.

Zhang Zeye clenched his fist tightly and struck his other palm:

"well!"

Finally, someone can share his burden. That's great! Over the years, he has felt that he can't carry the burden alone, and he has a lot of tasks piling up on his hands.

Ji An felt the stone tortoise land on his hand, merge into his skin, and enter his dantian.

To outsiders, the stone tortoise is completely invisible; their gazes cannot fall on it but will pass right through its body.

"Congratulations to the Formation Hall for gaining a True Person."

As Ji An spoke, he stood up, took out a porcelain jar the size of an earthenware pot, and handed it to Zhang Zeye:

"I'm in a good mood today, so I'm handing this pound of top-grade third-tier Cloud Peak Silver Hair to my disciple."

Lin Lan laughed, "Junior Brother Yun is so lucky. Other True Immortals don't have this blessing."

Lin Jiuxiao nodded in agreement, "Yes, I don't have that kind of luck either."

Ji An laughed and scolded, "When you broke through to the Golden Core stage, I..."

He didn't continue, as saying anything more might hurt the other person's self-esteem.

When the sect leader broke through to the Golden Core stage, he was only at the early stage of the Golden Core stage and had not yet cultivated a top-grade third-tier Jade Tree on the Cloud Peak, so where would he get tea leaves?

"I don't have that kind of luck either," Zhang Zeye chuckled a few times, accepting the porcelain jar with both hands.
"On behalf of Yun Qianhe, I thank you, True Lord. This child greatly admires you."

(End of this chapter)