Chapter 684 - 540: Tier 3 Gourd World

Ji An smiled without speaking, his initial guess was correct; ever since the spiritual vein grade improved to Tier Three, Red Flame Peak had continuously nurtured spirit plants to Tier Three.

Now the Tier Three spirit plants there include Spiritual Peach, Dragon Blood Tree, Azure Dragon Wood, Cloud-Top Jade, Profound Leaf Sword Bamboo, Soul Nourishing Wood, Phoenix Wood, Pure Water Lotus, and Canglan Spirit Mist Tree.

Among them, there are three Spiritual Peach trees, two Azure Dragon Woods, and two Cloud-Top Jade trees.

Not only that, Canglan Mist Pine at Yunhe Mountain has also successfully been cultivated to Tier Three; with such rapid momentum, several Golden Core Daoist Masters in the sect nearly went crazy with joy upon hearing the news.

To say nothing else, once these spirit plants start producing, they can all benefit.

With Tier Three resources for exchange, the sect can also trade more good things from Middle Continent Cultivators.

At this moment, Master Yuxiao started wielding a sharp blade to chop off the bowl-thick side branches of Purple Gold Phoenix Wood, speaking as he cut:

"Although we’re not cutting the heartwood, these side branches can still be used as auxiliary materials after refining."

He avoided the flowering branches and cut down three side branches.

Ji An smiled and said, "It seems the sect is really well-prepared for this transaction!"

In recent days, countless resources above Tier Two Upper Grade have been packed in the Treasure Pavilion, clearly intending to empty their coffers for a large-scale trade.

Master Yuxiao nodded in agreement and said:

"Of course, apart from the resources that must be retained to serve as foundation, we’ve gathered everything usable this time.

There’s no choice; the cultivation of the sect’s Golden Core cultivators cannot fall behind, and the assistance of pills is indispensable.

Moreover, we still need to exchange for Golden Core Level cultivation technique inheritance; those inexpensive jade slips, if they include such knowledge, their value would increase a thousandfold."

Just relying on cultivators meditating and hard cultivating, hoping to advance to a realm capable of breaking through to Nascent Soul before lifespan is exhausted is simply impossible.

The total amount of spiritual qi needed for Golden Core cultivators to improve is enormous; at early-stage Golden Core it’s manageable, but once breaking through to mid-stage Golden Core, without the assistance of pills despair is all they will feel.

Ji An sighed gently, a large part of the sect’s resources must be spent on purchasing inheritance knowledge, there’s no way around it.

This is the sorrow of having an insufficient foundation, every step forward is taken with great difficulty.

Ji An pondered for a moment and asked:

"The Star Tree has started to bear fruit; these spirit fruits can be refined into pills for refining the spirit soul, does the sect have a pill formula?"

Refining the spirit soul and nourishing the spirit soul are two different aspects; nourishing the spirit soul increases quantity, while refining strengthens and enhances toughness.

The Star Tree can absorb star power scattered from the stars in the night sky, and its fruits are richer in star power, being one of the main ingredients of the Star Forging God Pill.

Master Yuxiao shook his head regretfully, "No pill formula, we can only sell raw materials or reach an agreement with the Business Alliance to trade Star Fruit for pills."

Ji An frowned, "Selling raw materials yields far less profit than selling finished pills, didn’t the Sect Leader purchase the pill formula while in the Middle Continent?"

"Middle Continent forces have tacitly banded together, rarely selling Golden Core level inheritances, or maybe the Sect Leader hasn’t found the way.

According to the Sect Leader, he wouldn’t have obtained the pill formula for Gold Core Pill without the help of an old acquaintance."

In the black market, there are sure to be cultivators selling cultivation techniques and various inheritances, but the authenticity of these spells is hard to determine, better not harbor the idea of getting lucky.

Master Yuxiao sighed, the sect’s goal of becoming a Nascent Soul level force is still a long way off, just obtaining cultivation technique inheritance alone is a massive resource waste.

...

Ji An returned to the grotto mansion at Red Flame Peak, took out the Gourd Stone, and prepared to enter the Little World.

When his divine sense touched the silver specks within the stone, he did not enter the Little World as he anticipated.

"What’s going on?"

He muttered to himself and then suddenly realized that the Little World must be advancing.

These years, Ji An had not obtained any Dao Rhyme, thus unable to refine Dao Rhyme to enhance the Little World.

Furthermore, with no supply of Tier Three Spirit Soil, he could only rely on the Gathering Essence Tree and planting techniques for accumulation, causing the Little World to advance slowly.

Unable to enter the Little World now, Ji An put away the Gourd Stone, sat cross-legged on the Pudun, and began cultivating the Five Elements Reincarnation Scripture.

As the cultivation technique operated, a faint white mist emerged briefly, a natural phenomenon caused by overly dense spiritual qi being drawn in.

The Five Elements Divine Mansion flashed with brilliance sequentially, the Dao Seeds in the acupoints or Divine Mansion bloomed spirit light, spiritual qi flowed swiftly within the Divine Mansion like roaring water rushing through a river channel.

After one Grand Circulation, spiritual qi transformed into liquid, entering the second cycle, spiritual liquid flowed into the Five Elements Divine Mansion for refining.

The Lung’s Golden Mansion contained two Dao Seeds of Geng Metal and Xin Metal, refining spiritual liquid fastest.

After another half an hour, spiritual qi was refined into crystalline "grains of sand," then distributed, most absorbed by the Golden Core in the Middle Dantian, with the rest flowing into the Lower Dantian, nourishing the Stone Turtle, Primordial Life Fire, and Cyan Lotus Heart-Burning Fire.

In this repetitive cycle, Ji An maintained the cultivation rhythm, losing his sense of time.

When he felt increasing fatigue in his Spirit Soul, he decisively ceased the technique’s operation and opened his eyes.

He took out the Wind Furnace stored in a corner and brewed a pot of Tier Two Top Grade Yun Ding Silver Needle Tea.

While Red Flame Peak has Cloud-Top Jade reaching Tier Three, the yield of Tier Three Spirit Tea is much lower, and after harvesting leaves it takes several years to grow them back.

Initially unaware of this situation, Zhang Xueling accidentally stripped bald the first Cloud-Top Jade tree to advance.

Since then, Ji An has been very cautious, setting an annual limit for disciples on the quantity of tea leaves harvested, ensuring they can be enjoyed over time.

Ji An drank a pot of spirit tea and immediately felt the pain in his sea of consciousness decrease significantly.

He once again directed his divine sense into the gourd stone, touching the silver spot at its center.

This time, he naturally entered the little world.

Feeling the spiritual qi as abundant as at Red Flame Peak, Ji An spread his arms and howled to the sky, his voice echoing across every inch of the land.

The Wuji Xinghuang Banner flew out from his dantian, transforming into a Qilin, its lustrous yellow scales shimmering with vibrant light.

Sensing the joy in his master’s howl, it too howled to the sky, joining in the excitement.

Ji An stopped howling, laughed a few times, then began to survey his territory.

This little world also couldn’t escape the constraints of the invisible shackles. When the spirit vein’s grade was restricted to Tier Two Top Grade, no spirit plant could breakthrough to Tier Three.

Currently, among the plants being cultivated here, apart from some fire coral, pearl blood rice, and iron wire grass, the majority were Tier Two Top Grade.

Perhaps the Gathering Essence Tree could break this shackle, but without Dao Rhyme to aid its growth, it grew very slowly, much like the imposing aura of a Heaven and Earth Spirit Root.

Thinking of soon obtaining many Tier Three spirit plants for his use, Ji An’s heart burned as fiercely as the magma in the Molten Rock Abyss.

He flew on a cloud, measuring the current area of the little world, which was about two hundred acres, with each Five Elements spirit field occupying forty acres.

With the increase in the spirit field area, Ji An’s immediate task was to plant new spirit plants.

The yellow spirit field didn’t have great options, but with too much empty land, he chose to plant ten Profound Leaf Sword Bamboo plants.

This spirit plant has the potential to be cultivated to Tier Three and can be used to forge good relationships with artifact refiners since he needs to refine two more innate Five Directions Banner replicas.

In the white spirit field, he planted three Vajra Bodhi trees.

In the black spirit field, he planted two Canglan Spirit Mist Trees and four Cloud-Top Jade Trees with two Ghost Moon Cyan Jade Trees in the cyan spirit field.

In the future, there will be many situations requiring alchemy and talisman painting, needing many spiritual objects to restore divine sense.

Soul Nourishing Wood, Ghost Moon Cyan Jade Tree, Cloud-Top Jade Tree, and Dark Night Tree form a good system.

Once he plants the Star Tree, there will be those to nourish the spirit soul, restore divine sense, and refine the spirit soul—perfect.

Ji An dared to say that even a core disciple of a Nascent Soul Grand Sect in the Central Continent wouldn’t have such luxurious treatment as he has.

Lastly, he arrived at the red spirit field, planting ten Li Fire Immortal Apricots. If this spirit plant can be cultivated to Tier Three, he would choose to plant more.

Simply planting ten Li Fire Immortal Apricots couldn’t fully utilize the red spirit field, so Ji An filled the remaining space with pearl blood rice.

This originally ordinary spirit rice, after years of improvement and generational change, had become a stable Tier Two Middle Grade spirit rice.

...

A month passed.

At Wuji Hall in Sunrise Peak, all Golden Core cultivators gathered.

Daoist Master Zhengyang scanned the room, smiled, and said:

"Not bad, your essence, qi, and spirit are very full. This time, Junior Brother Yuxiao will lead you to attend the auction held by the Middle Continent cultivators.

There’s no need to buy anything specific; gaining knowledge is also beneficial.

Moreover, after the auction, there may be exchange meetings organized by cultivators, which you can also attend."

Li Haoran interjected, "Compared to attending the auction, I more hope to obtain the Celestial River Sword Technique at the Golden Core level sooner."

For years, lacking a cultivation technique, his cultivation nearly stagnated, leaving him only to hone his sword intent.

Cultivation is always of utmost importance for a cultivator. High cultivation means strong magical power.

If there is a gap of two or three small realms, the battle of a high-tier cultivator against a low-tier cultivator is almost a one-sided crush.

"Haha, don’t be in a rush. The more eager you appear, the more those Middle Continent cultivators will be like piranhas smelling blood—they’ll definitely want to take a few bites out of us before they are satisfied."

Turning to the other side, Master Yuxiao continued:

"Qiubai, which cultivation technique do you choose?"

"Over the years, I’ve studied the Celestial River Sword Technique that Haoran cultivates. I find it also suits me, and I’ve already converted my magical power into the Sword Essence of the Celestial River Sword Technique."

Lin Qiubai said that the sword intent he comprehended could be perfectly expressed through the Celestial River Sword Technique, which was the main reason he chose this cultivation technique.

Master Yuxiao’s smile deepened, "A very good choice, and it also saves resources for the sect."

The price of Golden Core level cultivation techniques is steep; buying one less set of heritage frees up more resources to buy pills.

For this transaction, the sect spent nearly half of its resources, unable to withstand waste.

He stood up, cupping his hands:

"Double hour is not early, Sect Leader Brother, I will now lead the juniors to Cyan Cloud Immortal City."

Daoist Master Zhengyang stood and returned the salute:

"I hope everyone can purchase what they want and what suits them."