Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 941 Fourth-Order Supreme-Grade Azure Moon Jade Tree

In a short period of time, Ji An acquired more than 700 top-grade spirit stones, and his face was beaming with smiles.

Top-grade spirit stones are strategic resources that Nascent Soul cultivators can use to improve their cultivation; they are essentially a weaker version of elixirs.

Although the effect is much worse than that of elixirs, it can be reused.

Fortunately, top-grade spirit stones cannot be used indefinitely; otherwise, powerful forces would grow stronger and stronger, and there would be no place for smaller forces to survive in the cultivation world.

Previously, it was difficult for him to exchange for top-grade spirit stones from other people, but now it seems that a brand-new substitute treasure is very popular.

Although the substitute item has some shortcomings, people are willing to pay for it as long as it can be used in certain situations.

Ji An stored the top-grade spirit stones into the Void Stone. With these reserves, his combat endurance was greatly improved. Combined with the Nine-Bend Heavenly River Formation and the Gourd World, he could truly be said to be able to go anywhere in the world.

Seeing that the scene had quieted down, Azure Dragon True Monarch spoke:

"Next, what we need to do is remove the nodes of each Buddhist formation and completely destroy everything that the Buddhist cultivators have built."

Once we've drawn up the map in a few days, we'll conduct a comprehensive search.

"Fellow Daoist Xuanqing, your sect is the closest to here. We hope you can send disciples to assist us."

The main force of the search was not the lower-ranking disciples. The role of these disciples was to monitor the entire territory of the Buddhist sect and reduce the possibility of the enemy escaping.

Ji An nodded in agreement, "Okay, approximately how many people are needed? What cultivation level is required?"

"Anyone at the Foundation Establishment stage or above is fine. Five thousand people are enough. We can transfer them over after we destroy all the nodes."

Foundation Establishment stage disciples receive five mid-grade spirit stones daily, Nascent Soul stage disciples receive thirty mid-grade spirit stones daily, and Golden Core stage disciples receive one high-grade spirit stone daily.

If any disciples are killed in action, we will provide compensation.

"The reward isn't much, but it's not little either," said Azure Dragon True Lord. "It's a sign of respect for Profound Purity True Lord. Otherwise, I would have just given him a token reward."

"No problem, I need to go back to the sect to let the disciples prepare in advance."

"Alright then, I won't participate in the upcoming attack on Shixiu Temple. Let's meet here in half a month. What do you think, fellow Daoist?"

Ji An was unaware that the sect could currently muster five thousand cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage or above, and that the sect also needed to leave enough people to guard the area.

There aren't many usable resources in the Shixiu Temple, so there's not much point in leaving it here.

"Okay, it's settled then."

At noon the next day, the fire phoenix landed on the summit of Chaoyang Peak. Ji An put away the spiritual treasure, nodded to his grand-disciple at the door, and stepped into the Wuji Hall.

Lin Lan was playing with a puppet about a foot tall when she saw her master come in and quickly put it into the Void Stone.

She coughed lightly twice, stood up, and offered the seat of honor, bowing slightly as she smiled:
"Greetings, Master. Your return now means the battle with Shi Xiu went smoothly. I wasn't wrong, was I?"

In her mind, there were only two possibilities in the battle: either a resounding victory or a protracted stalemate.

The master's eyes were full of smiles, indicating that he had returned with a great victory.

Ji An sat down, explained the current situation, and asked:

"How many cultivators are there at each level in the sect?"

Lin Lan cleared her throat and began to recount the stories as if they were precious treasures:
"Currently, the sect has 46 Golden Core cultivators, 580 Chaoyuan stage cultivators, 7,400 Foundation Establishment stage disciples, and over 50,000 Qi Refining stage disciples."

I ordered the Ministry of Agriculture and the Pill Refining Institute to control the production of Foundation Establishment Pills and other spiritual medicines; otherwise, it wouldn't be surprising if there were three or four thousand more Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The sect has long since moved away from extensive management and has begun to develop long-term plans.

A Qi Refining stage disciple has very little burden on a fourth-grade low-level spiritual vein, but a Foundation Establishment stage disciple can absorb and exhale a total amount of spiritual energy that is ten or even dozens of times greater than that of a ninth-level Qi Refining stage disciple.

If there are too many Foundation Establishment stage disciples, coupled with the spiritual plants in the spiritual fields, the burden on the spiritual veins will be too heavy.

The Five Elements Sect has a wealth of research on the relationship between the grade of spiritual veins and the number of cultivators. Lin Lan only needs to follow suit.

She continued, counting on her fingers, "Once the sect's spiritual veins are upgraded again, the sect plans to control the number of Foundation Establishment disciples to around 15,000."

Furthermore, the magic array restricting the expansion of the spiritual veins must be dismantled, and the sect's territory must be expanded; otherwise, the resistance to further growth will be very strong.

If the era in which Lin Jiuxiao served as sect leader was a time of transition, then during her tenure, she accumulated the foundation for the sect's leap forward.

Ji An's eyebrows danced as he reminisced about when he first entered the sect. There were only about seven hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators, a dozen or so Yuan Stage cultivators, and two Golden Core cultivators.

Compared to that time, the progress is enormous, a world of difference. They have even begun to consciously adjust the relationship between cultivators and resources, which was unimaginable before.

“Very good, then gather disciples from all levels to participate in the mission, but do not send out the most core disciples.”

Over the next few days, we will screen the personnel. If there are not enough, we can select some from the vassal families.

In addition, we need to prepare enough spirit boats, as I will lead these people to the headquarters of the Buddhist sect in half a month.

Ji An was unsure whether any high-level Buddhist cultivators were hiding somewhere out of the blue, so he needed to protect the core disciples.

"Disciple understands. Orders will be issued shortly, requiring each hall to report the number of disciples who can participate in the mission."

Ji An returned to his cave on Crimson Flame Peak and entered the gourd world. At this moment, the sky began to darken, and fiery clouds appeared in the direction of the white spirit field.

He was always curious: since there was no sun or moon in the small world, where did the light come from?

Now that the small world has undergone the four seasons, what is the reason for this?
After observing the ever-changing clouds for a while, he let out a soft sigh. His cultivation level was getting higher and higher, but he felt there were more and more things he didn't understand.

Ah Yun quietly walked over with a tray and carefully placed the steaming teapot and the smooth, jade-like cups on the table.

She lit the Bodhi incense and then left silently.

Ji An let out a breath, "The road ahead is long and arduous, but I will persevere in my pursuit."

He quickly drank a pot of spiritual tea, then sat cross-legged under the Gathering Yuan Tree and began to activate his cultivation technique, causing the spiritual energy in his small world to converge towards the center.

Along with the spiritual energy came various spiritual forces of the Five Elements.

Spiritual energy converged into a vortex, and inspiration, like the light of fireflies, emitted a warm and gentle glow against the backdrop of fiery clouds.

The spiritual energy that Ji An inhaled instantly circulated throughout the Five Elements Divine Palace, undergoing tempering and transforming into golden magical crystal sand.

The crystal sand flowed upwards through the immortal veins, eventually surging into the upper dantian.

Inside the Moon Palace, the Nascent Soul sat upright with a solemn expression, drawing magical crystals with his hands and swallowing them in one gulp.

His magical cultivation was only one step away from perfection, but he had now entered a bottleneck period. The main purpose of his cultivation was to accumulate magical power for other purposes.

In just half an hour, he had recovered the magical power he had expended that day.

Ji An stopped circulating his cultivation technique, took out the black jade bone, and began to use his divine sense to explore the inside of the spiritual bone.

These bones hold a hidden world within them, transcending the realm of mere bones, seemingly nurturing another world.

After studying this spiritual bone for many years, he gradually figured it out. It was an inner world constructed by a cultivator at the Three Flowers Realm, which could be described as a 'mini-universe'.

He guessed that one day, when the microcosm within his body and the entire macrocosm resonated in harmony, he would be able to break through from the Three Flowers Realm to the next level.

It was too early to think about these things now. While studying the spirit bones, he speculated about how the inner universe was formed.

The cultivation of a Nascent Soul cultivator is to complete the process of refining Qi into spirit, where Qi refers to Yin and Yang Qi.

Humans are close to the Dao, possessing all five elements, and their intelligence develops very early. Their initial cultivation focuses on the power of the five elements, emphasizing specialization. This is true for their cultivation during the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages.

Once one's cultivation breaks through to the Chaoyuan stage, one's cultivation will change from relying solely on the power of the five elements to encompassing all five elements.

Only by comprehending the mutual generation of the five elements and reaching the state of the five energies returning to their origin can one be qualified to break through to a higher realm.

In the eyes of high-level cultivators, the Chaoyuan stage is considered the beginning of cultivation, while Foundation Establishment, as the name suggests, is just laying the foundation.

The Golden Core stage is the final stage of refining essence into qi. It is both an end and a beginning. Breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage means starting the stage of refining qi into spirit.

When Ji An's cultivation reached the ninth level of the Nascent Soul stage, what appeared to be perfection to outsiders was only the beginning. In the years to come, he would need to use Yin and Yang energies to evolve the prototype of his inner universe.

The process of studying the Black Jade Bone is like observing the growth of a cultivator at the Three Flowers Realm, and his understanding of Yin and Yang power becomes even clearer.

The idea that Yin and Yang give rise to all things is not just a saying; "all things" is a general term referring to 'all living and non-living things'.

Theoretically speaking, when a cultivator's understanding of Yin and Yang power reaches a sufficiently high level, they can even reverse life and death.

As usual, Ji An's consciousness slowly penetrated deep into his bones, where the space was much larger than the real space.

Suddenly, his consciousness arrived at an open space, where something was emitting a faint golden light.

He was stunned for a moment before he came to his senses. His divine sense had passed through the outer area of ​​his bones and entered the bone marrow cavity.

Ji An controlled his divine sense to continue delving deeper and discovered that the area shimmering with golden light was dried bone marrow.

No one knows how many long years have passed, but these solidified bone marrow still contain the breath of life and remnants of yin and yang energy.

By carefully sensing the flow of Qi within his bone marrow, he gained some understanding.

When his divine sense was more than half depleted, Ji An put away the spirit bone and nodded in satisfaction. Then he said to the puppet not far away:
"Ah Yun, brew another pot of Yunding Silver Needle Tea."

At this moment, a puppet rushed over and had a brief exchange with A-Yun.

Ayun, beaming with joy, initiated a spiritual communication:
"Master, a fourth-grade superior-quality Thunderstruck Moon Jade Tree is undergoing a welcome change, showing signs of breaking through its grade!"

Ji An immediately stood up. "Haha, let's go take a look together."

Five-colored auspicious clouds rose from beneath his feet, carrying the two of them away.

Without needing to ask for directions, he spotted his target immediately after flying into the cyan spirit field area.

He landed and found that the bark of the spirit wood had some cracks. Peeling is a significant characteristic of the spirit wood's grade improvement.

Ji An probed the spirit wood with his divine sense and felt that its surging vitality was indeed beyond the range of a fourth-grade superior tree.

(End of this chapter)