Chapter 262 - 259: The Special Effect of the Second Floating Island

Chapter 262: Chapter 259: The Special Effect of the Second Floating Island

Li Ping’s consciousness watched.

Not far from the first gray floating island, a second floating island of roughly the same size was born from the void.

’What’s this floating island for?’ Li Ping wondered.

The first floating island held the Tree of Legacy. The tree itself was the main entity, with the island serving as its pedestal.

But the second floating island was completely empty, with nothing but barren ground visible.

WHOOSH~

The evolution of the Purple Qi Space concluded, and information about the island flooded into Li Ping’s mind.

’It’s time acceleration.’ He examined the information in his mind, his eyes gleaming with elation.

The information explained that the flow of time on the second floating island was 1,000 times faster than in the real world—a ratio of 1000:1.

In other words, for every day that passed in the outside world, a thousand days went by on the floating island. For every year that passed outside, a millennium would elapse on the island!

Li Ping’s first thought was whether he could enter the floating island to cultivate.

’After all, if I could enter the island to cultivate, wouldn’t my cultivation speed be a thousand times faster than other cultivators?’

But he quickly shook his head. ’A thousand times the cultivation speed is nice, but my lifespan would also deplete a thousand times faster. This kind of accelerated cultivation is essentially trading life for cultivation. It’s not really worth it.’

However, he quickly thought of something else.

’This accelerated cultivation would be incredibly useful for closed-door sessions, though. For instance, if I planned a hundred-year seclusion, I could just enter the floating island. In the real world, only a little over a month would have passed.’

’With such a short time passing, I wouldn’t have to worry about missing opportunities in the outside world while I’m in seclusion.’

’For day-to-day cultivation, however, this method isn’t very useful.’

’After all, the bottlenecks cultivators face can’t be broken just by holing up. Especially the major ones—you could grind away in seclusion for centuries and get nowhere.’

’To break through, you still have to go out and find opportunities.’

A thousand thoughts raced through his mind, but when Li Ping tried to enter the floating island with his physical body, he found it was impossible.

Apparently, all his previous musings had been for naught.

’I can’t get in, but objects should be able to, right?’

At this thought, Li Ping took an ordinary piece of clothing from his Storage Bag. He focused his consciousness on it, repeatedly willing it, ’Get in, get in, get in there for me!’

The next moment—

WHOOSH!

Right under Li Ping’s gaze, the garment vanished into thin air.

When he directed his consciousness back to the gray floating island in his mind, he saw that the garment had appeared right in its center.

’It really went in!’ Li Ping was slightly startled. His consciousness remained fixed on the garment lying on the island.

For a while, there was no change. Then a while longer, still nothing... After about an hour, Li Ping could clearly see that the surface of the white garment had become slightly gray and worn.

An hour in the outside world was equivalent to a thousand hours on the floating island, which was just over forty days.

After such a long time, the color on the surface of this piece of clothing had only faded a little.

Li Ping could only say that the quality of the clothing was quite good.

’I wonder if I can grow Spirit Medicine on this island.’ After finishing his experiment, Li Ping’s expression turned contemplative. ’If I can, this will be a game-changer. If not, its uses will be quite limited.’

WHOOSH!

He retrieved the garment from the gray floating island. Then, he took out a jade-like Spirit Grass about a foot tall from his Storage Bag.

Nearly a hundred years ago, while exploring the Spirit Vein beneath Little Plum Mountain, he had found a thousand-year-old Spirit Grass called Jade Frost Grass, which was also known as Demon-Attracting Grass.

Once a Demon-Attracting Grass is over ten years old, it begins to bear Bloodline Fruits. These fruits are highly beneficial for Demon Beasts, helping them purify their bloodlines.

The golden Bloodline Fruits from a thousand-year-old Jade Frost Grass could even significantly aid the cultivation of an ordinary Tier Three Demon Beast.

Unfortunately, Li Ping had fed that Jade Frost Grass to the Tree of Legacy as nourishment.

Fortunately, Li Ping knew the value of the Jade Frost Grass and had specifically saved its seeds before feeding it to the Tree of Legacy.

Under his careful cultivation, it was now about a hundred years old.

Holding the Jade Frost Grass in his hands, he focused his will on it.

WHOOSH!

The Jade Frost Grass vanished into thin air. When Li Ping looked back at the floating island in his Purple Qi Space, he saw the Jade Frost Grass had indeed appeared on it.

Next, after some effort, he finally managed to plant the Jade Frost Grass.

’It’s impossible to see any difference with a Spirit Grass so soon.’ Li Ping didn’t pay much attention to the newly planted Jade Frost Grass, deciding instead to check on it in a year.

After planting the Spirit Grass, he reached into his Storage Bag, took out a silver metal plate, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

This silver metal plate was obtained from Yan Liming’s Storage Bag about sixty-some years ago, after he killed the possessed Yan Liming.

What was recorded on it was actually the refining method for a set of Magical Treasures with incredible power: the All Heaven Star Banner.

Because the Spiritual Materials required to refine this treasure were exceptionally precious, a single refining session required creating a full set of three hundred and sixty-five Star Banners.

Furthermore, according to the refining method on the metal plate, the Star Banners had to be made from Spirit Wood with a stellar attribute. The older the wood and the higher the tier of the Spiritual Materials, the more powerful the resulting Star Banners would be.

He originally hadn’t expected to use this treasure as his Lifebound Magical Treasure.

After all, even a Nascent Soul Cultivator would find it very difficult to gather the required Spiritual Materials.

For a Core Formation Cultivator like him, refining the Star Banners was something he could probably only dream of.

But if the second gray floating island could accelerate the growth of Spirit Medicine as he suspected, he might actually be able to use the refining method for the All Heaven Star Banner Magical Treasure set.

Moreover, he could use the highest-grade, 100,000-year-old Spirit Wood to refine it!

Using such precious Spiritual Materials, even without being nurtured by his Pill Fire and vital essence, the power of these Star Banners could probably rival top-tier Magical Treasures.

At that point, being invincible among his peers would be more than just talk!

’If I can get my hands on those legendary Spiritual Materials and plant them on Ash Island for a hundred years...’ Li Ping couldn’t help but grin at the thought.

However, Spirit Wood containing the Power of the Stars was already rare in the world. Li Ping would be unwilling to settle for using only ordinary stellar Spirit Wood.

’If Ash Island can accelerate the growth of Spirit Wood, then I don’t need to rush to refine a Magical Treasure after reaching Core Formation.’ Li Ping made up his mind. ’I’ll head to Great Zhou first. As one of this world’s foremost holy lands for cultivation, it’s not impossible that I’ll find those legendary Exotic Star Divine Woods there.’

When it came to his Lifebound Magical Treasure, Li Ping would settle for nothing less than the best.

However, not refining a Lifebound Magical Treasure didn’t mean Li Ping had no Magical Treasures to use.

Temporarily setting aside his excitement, he slapped the Storage Bag at his waist.

SWISH!

A small, black, willow-leaf-shaped sword appeared in his hand.

This small black sword was also something Li Ping had gotten from Yan Liming’s Storage Bag. It was the Lifebound Magical Treasure that Yan Liming had painstakingly nurtured for several hundred years.

Before, Li Ping was only a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and his Magical Power was completely insufficient to refine or control this Magical Treasure.

Now that he had succeeded in Core Formation, he could use the Pill Fire in his body to refine this treasure.

Although the Devouring Essence Sword was Yan Liming’s Lifebound Magical Treasure, nurtured with his own Pill Fire and vital essence, it came with a drawback. Any other Core Formation Cultivator who refined it could only unleash seventy percent of its power at best. Moreover, they would be unable to enhance its power any further.

But it was more than enough for Li Ping’s temporary use.

At least with a Magical Treasure, his combat power wouldn’t be too different compared to an ordinary Core Formation Cultivator.

Besides the Devouring Essence Sword Magical Treasure, he also had a Blood Sword Talisman Treasure obtained from Hua Hong. Its power was also at the Core Formation Stage, and it could be used in Magical Combat between Core Formation Cultivators.

Thinking of this, Li Ping smiled slightly, opened his mouth, and spat out a ball of golden Flame. The Flame landed on the Devouring Essence Sword and slowly began to refine it.

...

「One year later.」

Li Ping finally managed to preliminarily refine the Devouring Essence Sword, expelling the aura Yan Liming had left on it. He could now barely control the Magical Treasure.

At the same time, sinking his consciousness into his mind, he also saw a scene that surprised and delighted him.

On Ash Island.

A jade-green Spirit Medicine, now over a foot tall, gently stretched its leaves. On one of its branches hung a thumb-sized, glittering golden fruit that looked as if it were cast from pure gold, emitting an alluring luster.

A thousand-year-old Jade Frost Grass, and a thousand-year-old Bloodline Fruit!

Just as Li Ping had guessed, the gray floating island could accelerate the growth of Spirit Medicine and even ignored the need for a Spirit Vein!

Or rather, Ash Island itself possessed a Spiritual Qi environment capable of sustaining thousand-year-old Spirit Grass!

’My Lifebound Magical Treasure is within reach!’ Li Ping was greatly satisfied. ’From now on, this will be my personal, portable Medicine Garden!’

Taking the Jade Frost Grass from Ash Island, he opened his mouth slightly and directly swallowed the Devouring Essence Sword into his abdomen.

Immediately after, Li Ping took out several more Spirit Medicines from his Storage Bag and planted them on Ash Island. These Spirit Medicines were mostly main ingredients for refining Cultivation Elixirs.

After reaching Core Formation, he planned to disperse his cultivation and start over.

By refining some high-quality Pills now, he could quickly return to his Core Formation cultivation level later.

But to Li Ping’s frustration, the area on Ash Island was too small. Even planting them densely, he could at most plant ten Spirit Medicines at the same time.

’Ten it is, then. That’s enough for my needs!’ Li Ping sighed.

After doing all this, he closed his eyes and continued to refine the Devouring Essence Sword with his Pill Fire and vital essence.

Spending a year to preliminarily refine the Magical Treasure was not enough. To wield it as if it were an extension of his own arm, he needed more time for refinement.

Time slowly passed as he refined the Devouring Essence Sword. Unconsciously, another year went by.

Li Ping immediately checked the Spirit Medicines planted on Ash Island with his consciousness. According to his original expectations, the ten Spirit Medicines he had planted should have all reached a thousand years of age.

But to his surprise, these ten Spirit Medicines were only a hundred years old.

’What’s going on? Why is the time acceleration only a hundredfold now?’ Li Ping frowned. A possibility quickly came to mind. ’Could it be...?’

To test his theory, he removed five of the ten Spirit Medicines from Ash Island, leaving the other five behind.

He had a theory: ’Perhaps the time acceleration effect on Ash Island is divided among the Spirit Medicines planted on it. With one plant, it gains a thousand years of growth. With two, they each get five hundred. With five, the growth for each plant is reduced to two hundred years.’

’That’s why when I planted ten Spirit Medicines, the growth for each was only equivalent to a hundred years!’