Cultivating Immortality: Starting from Ferrying Passengers

Chapter 222 Fourth-Order Collaboration
Fang Jingxuan spent the past six months diligently refining pills, cultivating his spiritual practice, and collecting rare spiritual herbs and medicines.

Being in the wilderness, free from complicated interpersonal relationships, and facing nothing more than Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment demonic beasts, Fang Jingxuan felt quite at ease.

Previously, in the Kuai family's spiritual land, although the spiritual veins were of a high grade and he could not come into contact with outsiders, he could cultivate in peace. However, overall, Fang Jingxuan was controlled by others, which made his thoughts not clear enough when he cultivated.

Although his spiritual veins were of a low grade at the moment, he felt free and happy while cultivating.

When Fang Jingxuan left the Kuai family, he had already filled most of the cultivation progress points required to reach the third level of Foundation Establishment.

Now, in this desolate wilderness, Fang Jingxuan has been steadily cultivating for over a year, with a monthly cultivation progress of over 800 points, which is not insignificant.

On this day, Fang Jingxuan emerged from his meditative state. Outside the cave, Tuoyuan was dutifully guarding it, while inside, Liu Gu, whom Fang Jingxuan had placed in a large pool, was swimming leisurely.

With these two Foundation Establishment spirit beasts protecting him, Fang Jingxuan could meditate and cultivate in peace. However, he had not yet found a suitable third contracted spirit beast.

Over the past year, Fang Jingxuan has seen many Qi Refining demonic beasts, but so far he has not encountered any demonic beasts that have caught his eye and are worth his time to cultivate.

With Tuoyuan and the Six Bone Jade as examples, Fang Jingxuan's vision naturally broadened considerably. Moreover, Moon Essence Dew is extremely scarce now, and Fang Jingxuan himself doesn't have enough. Therefore, he can no longer afford to use it extravagantly to cultivate ordinary demon beasts, and painstakingly collect various spiritual materials to slowly cultivate them, just like in the beginning.

The hardships of the Qi Refining stage were unavoidable. Now that he has become a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he has many more choices, and Fang Jingxuan feels that he no longer needs to repeat his previous experiences.

In fact, Fang Jingxuan had also harbored improper thoughts about the Golden Core Crow, and even considered taking the Serpent Beauty as his own spirit beast. How wonderful that would be!

However, given the difference in their cultivation levels, if these two were to sense Fang Jingxuan's little schemes, he probably wouldn't live to see the next day's sunrise.

When you are weak, you should know your place. As a cultivator from Baishan, Fang Jingxuan understands this principle very well.

Looking at his current situation again, Fang Jingxuan had a clearer understanding of his upcoming schedule.

[Real name: Fang Jingxuan]

【Age: 59/280】

[Cultivation Level: Foundation Establishment Level 3 (71200/75000)]

I'm already fifty-nine years old. It's unbelievable how old I've gotten.

It's true that time flies when you're cultivating immortality. The long hours of cultivation and the repetitive, monotonous life make the passage of time feel so tangible to Fang Jingxuan.

However, his cultivation level is about to reach the third level of Foundation Establishment, and once he breaks through to the fourth level, he will gain another thirty years of lifespan.

If you calculate it this way, being 59 years old now doesn't seem so scary.

Fang Jingxuan was calculating in his mind how much more time he would need to cultivate to reach the remaining cultivation points, while his hands were not idle either. He took out various spiritual herbs and skillfully opened the furnace to prepare to refine pills.

Thanks to the Ghost Hand Organization's generosity, Fang Jingxuan has not lacked materials for alchemy for the past six months.

Now, his alchemy skills are proficient enough to refine first-grade high-quality pills. As for second-grade pills, Fang Jingxuan has not yet begun to try.

Moon Essence Dew is rare, and without absolute certainty, Fang Jingxuan didn't want to waste it by opening the furnace carelessly. So, if he could refine some first-tier pills to practice, he would refine as many as possible.

Fang Jingxuan would only consider using this second-tier pill if he ran out of his basic spiritual medicines.

As the furnace fire rose, Fang Jingxuan became immersed in refining pills, and the various spiritual herbs in the furnace gradually changed their properties, interacting with each other, and finally slowly took shape.

It began to release a rich fragrance, which made even the six bones swimming leisurely nearby want to try it.

In the desolate summer, the life force was even stronger. Fang Jingxuan walked out of his cultivation cave and carefully observed the situation inside an ant nest.

This world has spiritual energy, but the vast majority of creatures are still ordinary species. Just as humans need spiritual roots to embark on the path of cultivation, various creatures obviously need certain conditions to become demon beasts.

However, what factors lead each creature to embark on the path of cultivation is a very big topic in the cultivation world.

Fang Jingxuan had read some books and articles, and found that most of the cultivators who studied these issues were from the Qiyun and Yushou Sect territories, while there was no trend of studying these issues in Baishan.

Ants, as a fundamental link in the natural decomposition process, come in a great variety of species and are numerous. Some are even intelligent and possess remarkable supernatural abilities.

Could one refine an ant nest and make it one's third contracted spirit beast?
This thought stemmed from Fang Jingxuan's experience fighting against the Thousand Sun Sect cultivators in the Chaotic Star Sea.

When swarms of fire ants attack from all over the mountains, without certain methods, it's truly impossible to withstand them.

If we could cultivate a high-end variety that is immune to the damage of the five elements, this method of insect control would definitely be a trump card.

However, spirit ants of this caliber are obviously not so easy to obtain. Fang Jingxuan wondered if he could use Moon Essence Dew to specifically cultivate them.
Just as Fang Jingxuan was deep in thought, the giant white deer came to his door again.

Fang Jingxuan turned around and communicated with the white deer using his divine soul:

"Today is not the time for us to trade. Have you encountered any problems?"

Over the course of more than a year, Fang Jingxuan had become acquainted with the white deer. At the beginning of each month, she would come here to exchange high-grade spiritual herbs for Moon Dew with Fang Jingxuan.

In total, the value of a high-grade spiritual medicine is probably equivalent to many Moon Dews, but for this white deer cub, high-grade spiritual medicines are far less easy to digest than Moon Dews.

In addition, the Moon Dew enhances the effects of the Moon Dew on demonic beasts, so in the eyes of this white deer, Fang Jingxuan's willingness to use the Moon Dew to exchange for those spiritual herbs was truly a rare and good thing.

“I heard from Ancestor Crow that you have a higher-grade spiritual liquid, so I want to exchange it for this.”

It turned out that during a casual conversation between the golden crow and the white deer, the crow mentioned Fang Jingxuan's filial piety towards him.

This piqued the interest of the white deer, and as her cubs grew, their need for the Moon Dew increased.

"Such a treasure does exist, but its quantity is scarce, and it must be offered to the Crow Ancestor from time to time, so there is no share left."

Fang Jingxuan was somewhat reluctant, as the Moon Essence Dew was truly scarce, barely yielding three drops a month. He gave one drop to Tuoyuan, one drop to the Golden Core Crow, and the remaining drop was intended for refining the 'Emperor's Jade Dew Pill'.

Seeing that Fang Jingxuan was unwilling to exchange, the white deer looked somewhat disappointed, but after a few breaths, she cheered up and asked Fang Jingxuan:

"What do you need in exchange for this true dew?"

Fang Jingxuan chuckled softly, deciding to find an excuse to end the topic, and so he said:
“I need a very high-level pine spirit tree. If you can provide it, I can give you a share of one drop every month.”

The cypress tree Fang Jingxuan is currently using is already a second-tier top-grade plant, but it can only collect about three hundred drops of Moon Essence Dew each month. If it were a third-tier quality plant, the yield of Moon Essence Dew should be able to break through five hundred drops, and if it were a fourth-tier spiritual plant, then one thousand drops would not be impossible.

"Pine and cypress spiritual plants? Well, I know where to find them."

Fang Jingxuan had only said it casually, hoping to discourage the white deer, but unexpectedly, she actually had information about the whereabouts of this spiritual plant.

"Really? Where? What's it like?"

Fang Jingxuan was immediately excited. If he really had high-grade pine and cypress spiritual plants, not only would the amount of moon dew he could collect each month increase significantly, but more importantly, his cultivation speed would also be greatly enhanced.

“It was in the territory of another Golden Core Ancestor. My husband saw it when he passed by before.”

The white deer demon beast obviously couldn't speak in such refined language; this was Fang Jingxuan's own interpretation of the other party's meaning, which was automatically translated in his mind.

"Other Golden Core demonic beasts? Who are they?"

Fang Jingxuan didn't know which Golden Core demon beast was being referred to in the other territories. He had only been in this wilderness for a little over a year, and with the protection of the Golden Core Crow, he was living a comfortable life and hadn't left this territory yet.

"It is an earth-type armored beast with the cultivation level of late Golden Core stage. It is rather gluttonous and usually likes to sleep soundly under its own spiritual vein, rarely venturing out."

Within his spiritual vein valley, there stood a large pine tree that shed many pine cones every year. Ordinary Qi-refining demonic beasts that ate these cones experienced a significant boost in their cultivation.

Bai Lu described the situation of the armored beast as best she could, and after listening, Fang Jingxuan pictured a giant pangolin in his mind.

The information about the Golden Core Pangolin—its fondness for sleeping and its gluttony—made Fang Jingxuan feel that he might have a chance to collect more Moon Essence Dew by using this high-level pine tree spiritual plant.

Thinking of this, Fang Jingxuan expressed his gratitude to the white deer in front of him, and then asked:

"Would you be willing to come with me to find Ancestor Crow and try your best to get this done?"

Bai Lu blinked, her moist nostrils twitched a few times, and then she nodded vigorously.

With Liu Gu by his side, Fang Jingxuan coiled around Tuo Yuan and followed the white deer to the cave of the Golden Core Crow and the beautiful snake.

A moment later, the golden crow flew out of the cave and greeted Fang Jingxuan and his companions warmly:
"White deer, water monkey, have you come to play with me?"

Bai Lu stepped back, handing over the reins of the matter to Fang Jingxuan.

“Ancestor Crow, I heard from White Deer that there is a beast with armored back and earth on the neighboring land. There is a pine tree spiritual plant on its spiritual vein. I would like you to take me to talk to it so that I can use this pine tree to cultivate and collect more moon dew.”

Hearing Fang Jingxuan's words, the Golden Crow finally understood that the delicious Moon Essence Dew she had tasted before was obtained in this way.

"That annoying Earth Beast? It dug everywhere and almost damaged my sister's spiritual veins. After we taught it a lesson, it never came here again."

The Golden Core Crow was somewhat disgusted when the topic of the Earth-Returning Beast came up, but when she thought of the Moon Essence Dew that Fang Jingxuan had been constantly offering her these past few days, she felt a little embarrassed.

"Alright then, I'll take you there. I guarantee this Earth-Returning Beast won't bully you, but I'm not responsible for anything else."

Upon hearing this, Fang Jingxuan immediately expressed his gratitude. With the Golden Core Crow by his side, the matter was already half successful.

Two thousand miles away, deep underground in a wild wilderness, a giant pangolin was fast asleep.

Around its body, spirit stone ore, shimmering with spiritual light, covered the mountains and plains. Among the fallen pebbles on the ground, the brilliant luster of mid-grade spirit stones constantly shone.

Suddenly, the pangolin awoke from its slumber, its senses telling it that a powerful, uninvited guest had entered its territory.

"Pangolin, come out here."

The golden crow's consciousness was transmitted deep underground, and when the pangolin sensed it, it couldn't help but pause.

Remembering the beating the pangolin had received from that wretched crow and that giant snake, the Golden Core Pangolin was still shaken. It didn't want to go out, but with the Golden Core Crow's repeated attacks, it was starting to feel the strain.

We can always fight another battle. Besides, it seems only crows are present this time, and this is still our territory. We can't just back down like this.

Thinking of this, the Golden Core Pangolin suddenly burst out of the ground and was about to make a very imposing response in the direction of the Golden Core Crow it had sensed.

But the scene before it was somewhat puzzling. Why did it bring along several strange little creatures? Was it going to fight again?

Fang Jingxuan stared in surprise at the giant pangolin that had emerged from the ground. It was over ten zhang long and its scales provided excellent protection.

Although Tuoyuan could reach a larger size after exerting its full power, it was all bloated and looked like a fat, tender worm in front of the pangolin, posing no threat whatsoever.

"Your Majesty, I have come here to discuss some terms with you."

The golden-elixir pangolin looked at the golden-elixir crow perched on its head, its eyes revealing a question.

Is this your new pet? It looks really smart.

The Golden Core Crow snorted coldly, refusing to acknowledge the matter, while Fang Jingxuan continued to promote it:

"Your Majesty, please look. This is a drop of Moon Essence Dew. It tastes wonderful and can greatly aid your cultivation. If you allow me to cultivate here, I can provide you with a drop of this delicacy every month."

Fang Jingxuan took out a drop of Moon Essence Dew and used magic to send it to the Golden Core pangolin, which made the white deer behind him look at him with a deep gaze.

The pangolin first sniffed the pill to make sure there was nothing wrong, then swallowed it whole. Afterward, it showed a look of lingering enjoyment.

"Oh, that's what it is. I agree. Just don't disturb my sleep anymore. Little crow, I'm leaving now."

Before the Golden Crow could get angry, the Earth Beast, having gained the upper hand verbally, plunged headfirst into the thick layer of earth.

At this moment, Fang Jingxuan realized that the whole thing had been over in less than a short while.

He looked at the huge pine tree in the distance, and the [Thousand-Year Cypress] in his mind's sea faintly echoed his presence.

It seems they sensed it too, as if it were an opportunity for advancement.

(End of this chapter)