Immortality begins with upgrading buildings

Chapter 288 [Cave Heaven: lv1]; Natal Magic Treasure Appears (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Seeing Li Changhe's exaggerated acting skills, Ji Yuan was almost incredulous.

While the Fountain of Youth is precious, it shouldn't surprise Li Changhe, the eldest son of a Nascent Soul family and the future leader of such a family, so much.

"This thing...your Li family doesn't have it?"

Ji Yuan couldn't help but ask.

"It used to be there, but it's long gone now."

After the performance, Li Changhe sat back down.

"No way, where did you get your hands on this stuff? Damn it, didn't they say the Fountain of Youth had stopped flowing a long time ago?"

"I have a clever plan."

Ji Yuan smiled. "So, this thing is very valuable?"

"valuable?"

Li Changhe chuckled and said, "Brother Ji, are you really unaware or pretending not to know? Treasures that can prolong life can be considered the most precious treasures in the world. Such treasures cannot be measured by money."

No, I just want money.

Ji Yuan then took out the small jade bottle and placed it on the table between the two of them, asking solemnly, "A single dose, if taken for the first time, would easily extend one's lifespan by twenty years. Can your Li family handle such a dose?"

"If I can eat, I'll come to you guys; if I can't, I'll go find someone else."

Li Changhe looked at the jade bottle on the table and gritted his teeth, saying, "Yes!"

"We'll eat this stuff even if we have to sell our pots and pans!"

"What kind of treasure do you need, Brother Ji? Just give me a list, and I'll go back to my father."

Ji Yuan shook his head. "I don't trade treasures."

"What is that?"

Li Changhe thought about it, but couldn't figure it out. He didn't know what else his Li family had besides its accumulated wealth that Ji Yuan would be interested in.

"Spirit Stones".

"Spirit stones?"

Li Changhe raised his voice slightly in surprise, "No, Brother Ji, what have you done? You haven't gotten into gambling, have you? If you're really that short of spirit stones, just tell me, and I'll lend you some."

"It's a real shame that you traded such a treasure as the Fountain of Youth for spirit stones."

Li Changhe has always regarded Ji Yuan as a true brother.

...Unfortunately, Ji Yuan is not lacking in this fountain of youth.

During this time, he divided the Fountain of Immortality inside the large jade pot into small bottles, resulting in 132 bottles, and this is only one of them.

It's not worth incurring such a huge favor from Li Changhe for something so small.

Moreover, trading spirit stones with him would, in a way, be considered a favor to the Li family.

The Li family lacks treasures that cannot be bought with spirit stones, but they are not short of spirit stones.

"It's alright, let's just use spirit stones instead."

Li Changhe stared at Ji Yuan, and seeing that he didn't seem to be faking it, he finally nodded. "Alright then, I'll send a message to discuss it with my father, and then I might have to go back to the sect."

"Don't worry, if you only want spirit stones, our Li family will definitely not let you down!"

After Li Changhe finished speaking, he left in a hurry.

With Li Changhe's words, Ji Yuan was completely relieved. Even if the Immortal Spring wasn't good, it could still be sold for 30000 mid-grade spirit stones.

In that case, we can just wait patiently for this young master Li to return.

Next, Ji Yuan took out Huang Richeng's storage bag, invaded it with his divine sense, and scanned it.

Although there weren't many good things, they were still much better than those of rogue cultivators of the same realm. For example, there were four spirit artifacts in total, including the two that were taken from him.

There was also a talisman, an offensive talisman named "Mysterious Heaven Tower," which could be used twice. Ji Yuan had no choice but to accept it reluctantly.

As for spirit stones, there are neither too many nor too few, totaling approximately 3000.

Finally, there are the elixirs.

Normally, the pills refined for the Six Sect Alliance must be stored in special storage bags.

Huang Richeng did indeed do that, but in addition, he also put a batch of Spirit Gathering Pills in another private storage bag.

There are quite a few.

Ji Yuan estimated that there were nearly ten thousand of them.

The reason is not hard to guess... This guy is lining his own pocket, or to put it bluntly, he's embezzling.

But why, after taking the bribe, did he not take any action?

Just as Ji Yuan was wondering, he saw a communication talisman in Huang Richeng's storage bag trembling slightly.

A message has been sent!

Who?

Ji Yuan thought for a moment and then took out the golden communication talisman. The fact that he could use the talisman meant that the other party was definitely near the alchemy workshop, or at least not far away.

He tried to infuse a trace of spiritual energy into it, and immediately a slightly sinister voice rang in his mind.

"Well? Have you gathered enough 10000 Spirit Gathering Pills yet? If you don't deliver the goods soon, I won't tell you all about your wife and your elder brother's dirty secrets."

Ji Yuan: "???"

No, what kind of talk is this?

Ji Yuan was stunned after hearing this, and it took him a while to process it, but he still couldn't figure it out.

Huang Richeng's embezzlement of the Spirit Gathering Pill must have been orchestrated by this person behind the scenes; Ji Yuan could tell that from that.

But what does it mean to "not tell you about your wife and older brother's dirty deeds"?

Judging from what he said, Huang Richeng's reward for giving the Spirit Gathering Pill was to have the other party tell him about his wife and his elder brother... What kind of reward is that?

As Ji Yuan pondered, the communication talisman trembled slightly for a moment.

Then the eerie voice rang out again.

"Huang Richeng, you son of a bitch, are you dead? If you don't reply soon, I'm not letting you continue having fun as your Daoist partner!"

As the voice faded, a woman's slightly tearful voice rang out from the communication talisman.

"Husband, husband, please say something!"

Ji Yuan: "..."

If Ji Yuan was still a little confused before, he now understands it completely.

So Huang Richeng is actually a minotaur?!

For such a trivial matter, you actually embezzled the Spirit Gathering Pills of the Six Sects Alliance?

Just as Ji Yuan was about to destroy the communication talisman and give up on the matter, he heard a voice coming from the talisman again.

"Alright, let me tell you the truth. The Holy Sect has heard about your situation and is very pleased that you have turned away from darkness and embraced the light. They have decided to let you join our branch after you have finished offering this batch of pills. Even if Shangdong is wiped out by then, you will be safe."

The sound is much more normal than before.

It's like... it's over?

But Ji Yuan sensed something else in those words.

Holy Ancestor?

Generally speaking, only the Three Demonic Sects of Shangxi would use such a name.

The Three Demon Sect is also known as the Three Saints Sect.

So, Huang Richeng has joined the evil path?!

This is a bit interesting.

Ji Yuan thought for a moment, then cast a spell to imitate Huang Richeng's voice before transmitting his voice:

Is this true?

"Oh ho, now you're finally willing to speak? You didn't say a word when I was bullying your wife earlier. What, this isn't enough to make you feel good, is it?"

Ji Yuan: "..."

"Alright, it's definitely true. Tell me, have you gathered all the pills yet?"

The voice coming from the communication talisman sounded slightly irritated.

Ji Yuan didn't rush to answer.

If the other party is truly a demonic being, then it's worth trying to lure them in, but you can't just go fishing yourself... it's too dangerous.

Ji Yuan planned to flirt with her first, and if he couldn't, he would just give up.

If he could get in touch with him, he would tell the old man of ice and fire about it and ask him to handle it, to see if he could catch an even bigger fish.

"We're still short two thousand, but if you can really bring me into the branch, I'll grit my teeth and cut back a bit more this month to make up the difference for you in one go."

"That's right, that's more like it. Otherwise, what kind of behavior is this, always dragging things out like this?"

The person behind the message talisman seemed finally somewhat satisfied. "That's settled then. I'll contact you again at the beginning of next month. I hope you can give me a satisfactory answer then."

The communication ceased thereafter.

Ji Yuan looked at the communication talisman in his hand, pondered for a moment, and decided to inform Ice and Fire Master first, and put everything else aside.

After a while, in the same main hall, Ji Yuan met the Ice and Fire Elder again and told him everything he had heard from the communication talisman.

He didn't even hide the fact that Huang Richeng was a minotaur.

After all, who knows what secrets might be hidden here?

At this moment, the Ice and Fire Elder still looked like that hunched old man... a sinister ice-elemental cultivator.

"He's joined the demonic path? That's interesting."

The old man stroked his goatee, took the storage bag from Ji Yuan, scanned it with his divine sense, and then took out the communication talisman that Ji Yuan had marked.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "You keep him hanging for now. When he sends you a message next time, you send a message to me, and then we'll go and meet this demon."

"This is."

With the Ice and Fire Elder willing to take over this matter, Ji Yuan could rest assured.

"Take it."

The old man of ice and fire tossed him a communication talisman.

Ji Yuan caught it with both hands, put it into his storage bag, and then left.

In the following days, Ji Yuan was busy with matters concerning Returning to Spirit Street and Gathering Spirit Street.

The most awkward situation is that of those who originally went to Huiling Street and then went to Juling Street.

Previously, they could follow Huang Richeng without caring about these things.

But now that Huang Richeng is dead, they will return to Ji Yuan's school.

This made many alchemists tremble with fear when they saw Ji Yuan again.

But Ji Yuan didn't bother arguing with them.

It would be beneath a Foundation Establishment Peak cultivator to get angry with a bunch of Qi Refining cultivators.

He simply divided these cultivators into two groups: a small group continued to refine Spirit Gathering Pills, while the majority of the remaining alchemists were sent back to refine Spirit Recovery Pills.

After finishing this matter, Ji Yuan once again entered cultivation mode.

His current focus in cultivation is eating eggs and consuming three-colored spiritual eggs.

The spiritual energy within the dantian was compressed again to make it even more abundant.

Besides that, there's weapon crafting, and in that area, he's almost reached the threshold of crafting high-grade spiritual weapons.

Once he succeeds, he can attempt to refine the Heavenly Thunder Seed.

With this thing, Ji Yuan would dare to fight even against a fake Core Formation cultivator.

They waited for about twenty days.

Ji Yuan originally thought that he would be the first to find the secret to high-grade spiritual artifacts, but unexpectedly, Li Changhe returned first.

As soon as he arrived at the alchemy workshop, he went straight to Ji Yuan's residence.

He was overjoyed when the two met.

"Good bro, it's finally done!"

Li Changhe said excitedly.

This time, he was able to trade for the Fountain of Immortality from Ji Yuan, and it was done with spirit stones, without having to consume the Li family's rare and precious materials. This was quite a triumph for him.

He earned high praise from the old fogies in the family who had age but no real power.

He bluntly stated, "Li Changhe is a good young master!"

"That's all set."

As Ji Yuan spoke, he took out the bottle of the fountain of youth and threw it into Li Changhe's arms.

This action startled Li Changhe so much that he caught it in a flustered manner, only then remembering that he was a cultivator, and a pseudo-core cultivator at that.

Holding the jade bottle in his hand, he said with some surprise, "Brother Ji, wouldn't you like to ask how many spirit stones my Li family is willing to offer in this transaction?"

"It doesn't matter, it's all yours no matter how much it is."

Ji Yuan smiled nonchalantly.

Li Changhe took a deep breath and quickly took out a storage bag and handed it over.

"It's fortunate that you gave me enough spirit stones this time, otherwise I would really feel bad for you."

Ji Yuan took the storage bag, scanned it with his divine sense, and his eyelids couldn't help but twitch.

"So many?"

"Hey." Li Changhe chuckled as he took out a top-grade spiritual artifact-level treasure box from his storage bag, carefully put away the Fountain of Youth, and then said:

"The most recent auction of the Fountain of Youth was held three hundred years ago at an auction personally organized by the Medicine King Valley. At that time, a similar amount of Fountain of Youth was sold for 50000 mid-grade spirit stones."

"Since Brother Ji has given us so much face, our Li family can't be sloppy."

There are a total of 55000 spirit stones in the storage bag.

This price is indeed beyond Ji Yuan's expectations. He originally estimated that it would be around 30000 yuan, but now it's almost double that.

"Okay, thanks then."

With these spirit stones, Ji Yuan couldn't wait to upgrade his natal magic weapon.

Seeing his expression, Li Changhe knew that he needed these spirit stones for a great purpose, so he said, "I have to go back to the sect to send these treasures back. I have already asked Yu Chengzi of Huanxi Palace to help with the transportation of the pills, so I will take my leave now, Brother Ji."

"Be careful on the road."

Just as Li Changhe was about to leave, Ji Yuan suddenly thought of something and quickly slapped his forehead.

"Oh, right."

"What's wrong?"

Li Changhe turned around and asked.

After thinking for a moment, Ji Yuan decided to say, "I actually have another bottle of the Fountain of Youth."

"I knew it."

Li Changhe was already used to it.

"But I only intend to use it to trade for Void Stones. If your Li family has any, I can also offer them for trade."

Ji Yuan naturally chose to trust the Li family.

"Alright, I'll go back and ask those old folks how many they still have. Just wait for my news."

After seeing Li Changhe off, Ji Yuan delivered the pills that were due this month to Yu Chengzi.

Next, he needs to upgrade his [Cave Heaven], and he doesn't know how long that will take. To avoid disturbing others, he will first take care of the matters concerning the Six Sects Alliance.

After finishing all these tasks, he returned to his residence, activated the Starry Cloud Barrier Array that came with the Cave Abode, and then used various methods in the secret room before finally changing the secret room into the Heavenly Craft Workshop and activating the Stardust Illusion Killing Array.

With the help of various methods, even if the Ice and Fire Elder came to spy, Ji Yuan was able to detect it.

After he finished everything, he took out 30000 mid-grade spirit stones and piled them on the ground.

Once these numerous spirit stones were extracted, they piled up on the ground, forming a small mountain of spirit stones.

Previously, it had cost nearly 10 mid-grade spirit stones to open the [Cave Heaven]. Now that upgrading requires just as many spirit stones, Ji Yuan felt a real pang of heartache.

But there's no other way now.

He brought up the control panel and took a look.

【Cave Heaven (Native Magic Weapon): lv1 (Upgradeable)】

Having prepared for so long, there's no point in hesitating anymore.

Ji Yuan had a sudden thought and immediately chose to upgrade.

As he finished thinking, a rare golden light flashed across the panel, and then no unusual phenomena occurred in the surroundings.

Just as Ji Yuan was filled with doubt, he suddenly discovered that something had changed in his dantian.

In the very center of that dantian, where the ice-elemental spiritual energy was like a wasteland, a point of golden spiritual light appeared. The light was extremely small, but in Ji Yuan's mind, it felt like a bright sun in the sky!

The mountain of spirit stones piled up in front of him was slowly dissipating at a speed visible to the naked eye.

When the building was upgraded previously, Ji Yuan didn't know where the missing materials had gone, but this time Ji Yuan could see them clearly.

The spiritual energy that the spirit stone transformed into was absorbed by his dantian like a vortex.

And right in the center of that vortex was the golden spiritual light within the dantian.

The spirit stones were becoming fewer and fewer, but the golden spiritual light in his dantian continued to grow larger. In a daze, Ji Yuan seemed to see the prototype of his magic weapon.

That's... a mountain!

The mountain was gradually taking shape, and Ji Yuan's anticipation grew stronger.

He was curious about what this "grotto-heaven" would eventually evolve into.

If it were truly a mountain... then it would indeed fit the image of a "grotto-heaven," though it differs somewhat from the palace in Ji Yuan's mind.

Just as he was feeling down, a message appeared on the panel.

...Could the internal layout and external form of the [Cave Heaven] be altered later?!

That's awesome!

Ji Yuan's gloom vanished instantly, and he even began to feel a sense of anticipation, though he wondered what level of [Cave Heaven] this effect was.

If it were possible, they could hold several identities by then.

As everyone knows, one can only have one natal magic weapon.

When my magic weapon has several forms, it will be like... two rabbits running side by side, how can you tell which is male and which is female?

Ji Yuan had already planned it out. The most basic [Cave Heaven] would be a divine mountain, which could later be replaced by a nine-story pagoda or a magnificent palace.

It could even be a Chaos Pearl, containing a small world within it.

No, if that time really comes, wouldn't we be able to create a new universe directly?

Ji Yuan's thoughts wandered further and further, but finally returned to the present moment... The spirit stones were almost exhausted, and the divine mountain within his dantian was about to manifest.

Its appearance is not much different from that of a common mountain; it has a pyramid structure that gets more pointed towards the top.

As for the color, Ji Yuan initially thought it would be the same as that golden spiritual light, entirely golden, and the magic weapon would also be a golden divine mountain, but now it seems that this is not the case.

This is a stone mountain that is entirely green.

Ji Yuan first tried to draw it out, but failed the first time.

This indicated that it was not yet fully formed. He then waited for about half a day before the light on the sacred mountain completely dissipated, and the whole thing became ordinary.

Hmm...that really suits Ji Yuan's temperament.

He stretched out his right hand, and a cyan spiritual light appeared from his dantian, circled around his body, and finally hovered above his right palm.

The small hill was only about half the size of a palm, and it kept turning slightly.

Ji Yuan's mind was connected to it, and he immediately sensed the condition of this magic treasure.

It has not yet been named.

To fully master this treasure, we need to give it a name.

Ji Yuan looked at the small mountain in his hand, pondered for a moment, and finally had a flash of inspiration.

"Born from the dantian of the spirit platform, and transformed into a square inch, from now on I shall call you... Spirit Platform Square Inch Mountain."

As Ji Yuan's thoughts settled, the sacred mountain acquired its true name, and five large, golden characters, written in a flowing, elegant style, immediately appeared on it.

Lingtai Fangcun Mountain

(End of this chapter)