Wanfa Daojun, starting from the Little Cloud and Rain Technique

Chapter 951 Star Soul
The room was filled with the fragrance of osmanthus blossoms, and the table was laden with various delicacies. The aroma of the food mingled with the fragrance of the flowers, adding to the overall flavor.

Two female cultivators at the Golden Core stage, dressed in green silk skirts, introduced the dishes. True Immortals could only serve as maids in front of cultivators at the Three Flower Realm.

Then the two of them carefully filled the bottles with wine, and Ji An noticed that their hands were trembling slightly.

Miao You Sanren raised his hand and gently waved his palm, saying:

"You may leave now."

"Yes," the two female cultivators bowed slightly. When the difference in cultivation level between cultivators is too great, the inexplicable spiritual sense will make the lower-level cultivator feel a sense of danger.

Standing here, their heartbeats were much faster than normal, and this was difficult to control.

The two left quickly with small steps, and after closing the door, they stood on either side, patting their chests lightly and letting out a long sigh of relief.

After the maid left, Miaoyou Sanren raised his wine cup and said kindly:
"Fifth-tier spirit wine is too rare, so I can only serve you fourth-tier spirit wine. Please forgive any shortcomings."

Three-Flower Realm cultivators have all refined their small worlds. As long as they have the raw materials, brewing wine is not difficult. However, it takes a long time to cultivate the spiritual veins of their small worlds to the fifth rank. Only those cultivators who have broken through several thousand years can cultivate fifth-rank spiritual veins.

His small world was only of the middle grade of the fourth rank, and although he had planted spiritual plants for brewing wine, it was not presentable enough to entertain guests.

Three-Flower Realm cultivators are all quite wealthy. To buy spirit wine, they must exchange it for spirit items of the corresponding level, and they also need connections.

Ji An raised his glass and smiled slightly, "Being able to meet you across the Milky Way makes even drinking water feel fragrant."

His tone was very sincere. Although he had only met the other person a few times, after flying alone in the starry sky for hundreds of years, he felt a strange sense of kinship with people from the same place.

"Haha, well said, drink up."

Both men tilted their heads back and drank the wine in one gulp. Miao You Sanren served them attentively, and the two men ate and chatted, recounting their experiences over the years.

Upon learning that Ji An had broken through to a higher level more than two hundred years after he left, he couldn't help but ask:
"Accumulating the Qi of Xuanhuang Merit is a long process. How did you accumulate so much merit so quickly, fellow Daoist?"

He slapped his forehead and immediately explained:

"I am merely curious. If it involves your secrets, we can leave it at that."

Their relationship wasn't that deep yet, and he was worried that his question would upset her.

"There's nothing I can't say to anyone. When I first entered the Daoist path, my aptitude was only mid-grade. I was assigned to cultivate spirit rice as soon as I entered the sect, and I've been dealing with spirit fields ever since."
Later, I discovered that planting magic could purify the pollution of the Demonic Calamity, transform barren lands, and, even better, gain merit. Therefore, I began accumulating merit from the mid-Nascent Soul stage.

He gave a brief account of his situation, his gaze distant and filled with memories.

You reap what you sow; as long as you work hard, you will reap a harvest, and he really enjoys that feeling.

Based on the other party's account, Miaoyou Sanren deduced that the other party's spell power was extremely strong, but a cultivator who could break through to the Three Flowers Realm definitely did not rely on planting spells.

The fact that the other party was able to break through the spatial turbulence and enter Chang Geng Star this year is an extraordinary feat for a cultivator who has just entered the Three Flowers Realm. Many cultivators in the middle stage of the Three Flowers Realm are unwilling to take the risk.

He said with deep emotion and envy:
“There have always been cultivators from the Divine Wood Sect who think this way, but their efficiency is far inferior to that of you, fellow Daoist.”

The method of gaining merit by capturing meteorites from outer space relies too much on luck. The number of meteorites that pass by is limited. Although sometimes capturing a meteorite can yield a lot of merit, more often than not, one can only gain a little merit over several years.

"It's wonderful to have a stable way to accumulate merit. I started preparing formally from the ninth level of the Nascent Soul stage, and it took me over 1,400 years to accumulate enough merit."

His eyes also reflected memories, and he couldn't help but sigh as he recalled the past.

"It can only be said that the choice made back then was not in vain."

Ji An smiled and changed the subject, saying:
"Fellow Daoist, since you've been staying on this planet for a while, I have a question."

Our world possesses a web of laws, yet I haven't seen a second similar planet along my journey. Why is that?

This question had lingered in his mind for many years, and he still had no answer.

"I also had this question. I was fortunate enough to have interacted with a celestial deity and learned the answer after asking him."

The Star Lord said that if a planet is born with great fortune, it may give birth to a core with its own consciousness, and such a core is called a Star Soul.

Once a star soul fully matures, it will directly become a being at the level of a star lord. The planet we originally lived on was a place that possessed a star soul.

Once a planet's spiritual veins reach the sixth level, its star soul will enter maturity. However, our planet is located in a desolate region of the star field, which is very unfavorable for its growth.

The True Lord of Wonderful Existence recounted the information he knew in detail, and concluded with a regretful remark:

"I also heard from that star lord that our world was designed to plunder too much primordial purple energy at the beginning of its creation, making it extremely difficult to improve the spiritual veins. It is unknown how many tens of thousands of years it will take to reach the sixth level."

The Primordial Purple Qi is a gift from the beginning of the universe. If a star soul fully absorbs the Primordial Purple Qi, its spiritual veins will improve many times faster.

According to records, the planet they came from had existed for 700,000 to 800,000 years. If it weren't for the spiritual veins of the planet they were designed to reach, they would be close to the sixth rank.

In that case, cultivators would not need to enter the starry sky to break through to the Three Flowers Realm, and they would not need to leave their homes and spend hundreds of years traveling.

Ji An was stunned, not expecting such a scheme behind the scenes. His brows furrowed, and he pressed for an answer:
"There must be many cultivators at the Cave Heaven level coveting the Star Soul. Will they make a move when the Star Soul is about to mature?"

Putting aside other things, the demonic cultivators must have a strong interest in star souls. If a star soul at the level of a demonic cave heaven is found in the Six Desires Heaven of the Demonic Path, its power will definitely be greatly enhanced.

Not only demonic cultivators, but also Buddhist cultivators and immortal cultivators are not immune to greed, and there must be many ways to refine star souls into puppets or external avatars.

In fact, if his cultivation level were high enough, he might also develop greed.

Miao You Sanren nodded slightly, "I think so too. Fortunately, Xinghun knows to use the Net of Laws to protect himself."

Xinghun's self-awareness is still very nascent, and the methods he can use are all instinctive and not powerful enough.

The most worrying thing is, what if some cultivators can't wait and want to make a move before the star soul matures?

After learning that his original world had a Star Soul, he understood that although his original world seemed calm and peaceful, the outside world was already turbulent, and countless eyes were watching it.

Ji An pondered for a moment and asked:
"What are the benefits of a planet owning another planet? If a star soul knew it would be captured, what would it do? Are there any examples?"

He wanted to assess the risks. As a cultivator at the Three Flowers Realm, he was not qualified to covet the Star Soul, but he still had a deep attachment to that land.

"Planets with star souls can nurture more rare and precious materials, making them more suitable for cultivators to practice on."

The matter of the Star Soul is not a secret. The information I've received is this: 'As the Star Soul matures, it can gain wisdom from all living beings on the planets. If it learns of its impending capture, it will inevitably draw upon the planets' life force to fight back, and the most tragic outcome will be a mutual destruction.'

In that case, regardless of the outcome, the spiritual veins on our planet will rapidly degrade, the planet will quickly become barren, and whether any living beings can survive will be uncertain.

Ji An was startled and asked again, "Does fellow Daoist know how many years a cultivator in the Cave Heaven Realm can live?"

Miao You Sanren scratched his head. "I don't know the exact lifespan. According to hearsay, cultivators in cave heavens form their own world and will exist as long as the entire universe is not destroyed."

I've also heard that cultivators at the Cave Heaven Realm face a tribulation every 100,000 years, but I don't know if it's true.

His sources of information were all cultivators at the Three Flowers Realm; he didn't have the courage to ask the Cave Heaven Star Lord face to face.

He shook his head and continued:
"The maturation of our Star Soul is still a long way off. If we think about it carefully, we are not even qualified to enter the game if our cultivation has not broken through to the Cave Heaven Realm. Diligent cultivation is what we should do most."

Even if one is fortunate enough to break through to the Cave Heaven Realm, the gap between Star Lords at different levels is immeasurable.

He sighed inwardly, realizing that from the Three Flowers Realm onwards, there would be obvious differences among cultivators, and the path of cultivation depended entirely on oneself, with others' paths only serving as references.

If you simply copy other people's techniques, you will never be able to surpass your predecessors.

Ji An nodded in agreement, took out a jade slip, and handed it out:
"What you say is quite right, fellow Daoist. I have just obtained information about the various forces on Chang Geng Star. You have been here for some years, fellow Daoist, do you have anything to add?"

The matter of the Star Soul must involve a very wide range of issues. His level is too low, and knowing too much would only increase his troubles.

The Mysterious Lord took the jade slip, extended his divine sense to read the information within, and chuckled:

"The cultivators guarding the teleportation array in Yunshi City are really lazy. The information in this jade slip is exactly the same as what I received back then."

Overall, the information is fairly accurate, but many details are missing.

I don't know about the situation in other cities, but I can tell you about the situation in Marble City.

By the way, before we go any further, I'd like to ask about your future plans. How long do you intend to stay on Chang Geng Star?

With that, he returned the jade slip.

Ji An accepted the jade slip and said:

"The initial plan was to sit down and rest here. Traveling under the stars for a long time makes me feel like I've lost all my humanity. I'll stay here for about ten years at most before setting off again to Ziwei Star."

According to the records left by Xingyue Sanren, Ziwei Star is one of the most prosperous planets in the star field and also the closest large planet to him. It is estimated that he can reach it in another sixty or seventy years by flying.

He paused and asked again:

"What are your plans, fellow Daoist?"

He could discern the deeper meaning from the music; the other person couldn't possibly be asking a casual question, which was why he inquired further.

"I plan to stay here for a while longer. Although Ziwei Star is prosperous, it is also very expensive. Without sufficient resources, I can only live in a fourth-order spiritual vein, which is far less comfortable than staying on Chang Geng Star."

Miao You Sanren pursed his lips, leaned forward, and lowered his voice:
"We have all refined the small world. If the spiritual veins in the small world are of a high enough grade, it will accelerate our cultivation speed."

Waiting for the spiritual veins in the small world to improve on their own is too slow; I don't know how long I'll have to wait.

"I've met a fellow Daoist who claims to have discovered a secret place where a Heaven-Mending Lotus is growing. Have you ever heard of this spiritual plant?"

Ji An shook his head honestly, "I don't know. I know too little about the knowledge that cultivators in the Three Flowers Realm need to master. The reason I plan to stay here for about ten years is to make up for my lack of knowledge."

If you have limited experience, it's better to stay in a small town; otherwise, you're likely to suffer losses in a bustling place.

The True Lord of Wonderful Existence nodded and explained:

"As its name suggests, the Heaven-Mending Lotus is a spiritual lotus with all five elements. It can be refined into the Heaven-Mending Pill, which greatly improves a cultivator's aptitude and spiritual potential."

If that were all, it wouldn't be worth our attention. The Heaven-Mending Lotus contains the power of laws. If we use a magic array to activate the Heaven-Mending Lotus, the small world can absorb the laws, thereby greatly accelerating the cultivation speed of the spiritual veins. It wouldn't be a problem to increase it by two or three times.

If the foundation of a small world is relatively good, the speed of cultivating spiritual veins can even be increased by four or five times.

However, that fellow Daoist said that the Heaven-Mending Lotus would take about forty or fifty years to mature, and that there were demon beast clans guarding the area around the Spirit Lotus.

The other party invited me to go together, and I could share some of the benefits. However, I've heard that the demon beast clan is quite large, so I'll need to invite others as well.

He drank a glass of wine and said solemnly:

"After receiving the invitation, I said I would consider it. If I do not meet you, I will inform you that I will not be joining after a few days."

Hehe, to put it bluntly, the person invited must have a deep friendship with me. I have only been on Chang Geng Star for a few decades, how could I possibly have the foundation to go on an adventure with someone?

"Fellow Daoist, would you be willing to go together? If so, I can recommend you. If you agree to go together, we can give it a try."

His initial concern was that the other party was setting a trap. After all, it's easy to draw the skin of a tiger but hard to draw its bones, and you can know a person's face but not their heart. In addition, he was alone and outnumbered, so it was not advisable for him to participate in such a scheme.

Now that he's met a fellow townsman, he thinks it's worth a try.

Ji An perked up; his little world had a solid foundation.

"Fellow Daoist, are you confident you can persuade the other party?"

"To be honest, I don't know either, but I will absolutely not go if the other party doesn't agree."

Miao You Sanren said that he was actually 70-80% sure the other party would agree, because the demon beast clan was quite powerful and possessed a mountain-protecting formation, and the other party urgently needed a formation master to help break the formation.

Ji An stroked his chin and thought carefully for a moment, "This humble Taoist needs to consider it carefully, is that alright?"

He was tempted, but he had to consider whether it was worth the risk. After all, he hadn't verified the effects of the Heaven-Mending Lotus, so he needed to at least buy some information about it to compare with his own knowledge.

"Of course, the Heaven-Mending Lotus is far from mature. The other party has given me five years to think it over. As long as you have thought it through within this time, that's fine."

Miaoyou Sanren was quite satisfied with Ji An's reaction. A cautious attitude is a good quality, and teammates should be like this.

"Thank you. I hope to make a decision within two or three years. I will then inform you of my choice."

"Very well, whatever choice you make, I will support you."

Miaoyou Sanren filled the wine cups and said, “Let’s continue. Today we are having a welcome feast for our fellow Daoist. Don’t try to save money for me!”

Ji An raised his glass, beaming with joy:
"Haha, then this humble Taoist will not stand on ceremony."

(End of this chapter)