Chapter 115: Advancement and Departure (Celebrating Silver! )
Chapter 115: Advancement and Departure (Celebrating Silver! )
Emerald Cliff.
“Sigh, I really should go out less often! ”
Fang Xi felt somewhat dejected after stirring up trouble on just one outing.
To him, a little girl's indignation was nothing but a joke.
As for that 'three-year agreement'?
He hadn't agreed to it anyway!
It was better to cultivate discreetly; a hot-blooded style didn't suit him.
Inside the alchemy room.
Having gone out today, he had also bought some materials for refining 'Beast Grain Pills', so he could start the furnace again.
This pill was a mid-grade first-order one, not comparable to the difficulty of a Hemostasis Pill.
Fang Xi had tried before and ruined several furnaces.
But now, he had a certain degree of confidence.
Warming the furnace, adding medicinal ingredients, raising the temperature, harmonizing the medicinal properties, condensing the liquid medicine. . .
Every action Fang Xi took was unhurried, as if he had a well-formed plan in mind.
Several hours later, the pill furnace rumbled, and a peculiar fragrance wafted out.
“Collect! ”
He executed a pill-collecting incantation, and several earthy yellow pills flew out of the furnace, landing in his palm.
Snap!
Three of the pills, upon exiting the furnace, emitted a crisp sound and shattered on their own.
Of the three remaining pills, one had a dull, grayish color, indicating it was a waste pill!
Fang Xi, holding the two legitimate 'Beast Grain Pills', ignored the Big Green Fish in the courtyard and went to the underground grotto.
“Here, eat! ”
He tossed them casually, and the two Beast Grain Pills landed on the Taisui.
The Taisui silently wriggled, devouring and dissolving the pills. . .
Then, Fang Xi gazed at the waste pill in his hand, lost in thought.
This waste pill, though technically formed, contained excessively high levels of pill toxins and had chaotic, impure medicinal properties, making it harmful rather than beneficial!
In fact, since he began alchemy, he had accumulated quite a few waste pills, all of them completely worthless.
But Fang Xi looked at the Demonic Tree, deep in thought: “Tsk. . . come and eat! ”
The Demonic Tree extended a spiritual root, curling up the waste pill from Fang Xi's hand and swallowing it into its canopy.
“Hmm. . . seems like nothing's wrong! ”
“From now on, all waste pills will be fed to the Demonic Tree. It'll be a form of recycling. . . ”
As Fang Xi pondered, he was suddenly startled by the changes in spiritual energy within the grotto.
He saw a large amount of spiritual energy gathering, even forming a small vortex!
And at the center of the vortex, the Taisui, resembling a lump of white dough, rapidly 'puffed up'.
“It's advanced to a first-order superior-grade demonic beast? ”
Fang Xi knew that this wasn't entirely due to the Beast Grain Pill, but rather because the Taisui was already at the peak of the first-order mid-grade, and eating the Beast Grain Pill merely provided the opportunity for its breakthrough.
“Good, excellent. . . ”
A look of delight couldn't help but appear on his face.
This Taisui demon was still reliable; far stronger than that dead salted fish!
Fang Xi immediately began testing the Taisui's various abilities and found that its combat strength was still extremely weak, barely reacting to attacks. However, its regenerative and self-healing capabilities had improved once more.
Furthermore, its body size had nearly doubled compared to before!
“In the future, I'll have to trouble you a bit more. ”
Stroking the Taisui's soft, pale skin, Fang Xi was filled with emotion.
Without this demon, his tree-planting endeavor would undoubtedly lean towards the bloody and brutal, which didn't fit his persona as a detached cultivator. . .
After testing, the first-order superior-grade Taisui meat was indeed more to the Demonic Tree's liking.
Unfortunately, the Demonic Tree had already grown to the top of the grotto. Fang Xi couldn't let it directly break through the bottom layer and grow out of Emerald Cliff, so he could only instruct it to grow horizontally as much as possible and develop more roots.
Fang Xi now observed the Demonic Tree hunting: a large number of its roots spread out in the lake like a net, effortlessly scooping up fish, river clams, crabs, and green shrimp. . .
“It's a pity that salted fish isn't more useful, otherwise. . . ”
...
Winter passed and spring returned, the cycles of time turning.
In the blink of an eye, the Blood-Nourishing Grass and Snake Orchid Fruits in the herb garden had reached a maximum age of five years.
Inside the underground grotto, spiritual roots hung down, and the ground was covered with various banyan-like root structures, resembling another world entirely made of plants.
Beneath the banyan tree.
Fang Xi sat cross-legged, slowly retracting his cultivation technique.
He opened his eyes, a layer of green light flashing momentarily within them: “Qi Refinement eighth layer. . . Ever since I cultivated the Green Wood Spirit Body, even the minor bottleneck of breaking through from Qi Refinement seventh to eighth layer felt non-existent. ”
He estimated that if he still possessed a low-grade spiritual root, he might have been stuck at this minor bottleneck for ten or even eight years.
Some Qi Refinement cultivators even failed to break through a bottleneck their entire lives!
Not only that, but in the past few years, Fang Xi had diligently studied alchemy and array formations. When refining 'Beast Grain Pills', a single furnace could now yield four pills, meaning he had reached the peak of a first-order mid-grade alchemist and could attempt to refine some first-order superior-grade pills.
As for array formations?
He had also thoroughly analyzed the 'Minor Cloud Rain Array', and his array dao cultivation had steadily entered the first-order mid-grade.
The path of array formations was, after all, more difficult. His progress was slightly behind, and he would occasionally get stuck at a difficult hurdle.
Alchemy, on the other hand, could be improved by consuming a large amount of resources through practice.
If he was stumped by a problem in array formations, there was simply no way forward until he figured it out!
Fang Xi was quite helpless about this.
He fed the Demonic Tree, then returned to the main courtyard and looked at the Big Green Fish at the bottom of the pond, his expression even more resigned.
Over the past few years, the Taisui had already reached first-order superior-grade, yet the Big Green Fish, after consuming the last drop of snake-jiao essence blood pill he had, was still only at the first-order mid-grade!
If he hadn't promised it ten years, and only five years had passed, he would have mercilessly killed it to make a spicy and sour fish slice soup!
“My cultivation level, however, is exactly as I estimated: Qi Refinement eighth layer at thirty-eight years old! ”
Fang Xi sat under a peach blossom tree, took out a yellow-skinned gourd, and poured a mouthful of peach blossom brew into his mouth.
This was a refined upgrade from peach blossom wine, aged for three years. Its peach blossom fragrance was even richer, yet it didn't overwhelm the other notes.
Half an hour later, a sound transmission talisman flew in.
Fang Xi casually caught it, exchanged a few words, and then tossed it away.
Not long after, Lu Guo, clad in gray, looking like a fifteen or sixteen-year-old youth, walked in.
At this moment, his cultivation had surprisingly reached the Qi Refinement fourth layer!
Out in the open, he would no longer be easily humiliated.
“Greetings, Master! ”
Lu Guo had sword-like brows and starry eyes, a handsome appearance, and a hint of tenacity between his brows—a temperament cultivated by years of farming.
“Have you truly decided? No regrets? ”
Fang Xi looked at him and said indifferently, “Joining the joint law enforcement team could mean death at any moment! ”
“No regrets! ”
Lu Guo gritted his teeth, his expression firm.
In the past few years, that 'Silver Armored Figure' still hadn't been caught. It was even rumored that the Foundation Establishment cultivator 'Yu Lingzi' had personally led the pursuit and hunt, yet the figure still managed to escape, gradually earning the notorious reputation as 'the foremost expert below Foundation Establishment'!
Moreover, the 'Silver Armored Figure' was ruthless in their actions; after each pursuit, they would at most vanish for a period before re-emerging to commit major crimes!
This caused the business in Spirit Sky Market to dwindle, leaving even the Foundation Establishment cultivators overwhelmed and stressed!
Having no other choice, the Tai Shu, Yu Chi, and Xiahou families jointly promoted the Thirty-Six Islands Alliance meeting, resolving to establish a joint law enforcement team to patrol a hundred-mile radius around Spirit Sky Island!
This required many cultivators, more than the three main islands could support. At the same time, they didn't want to overly deplete their own strength, so they requested personnel from various other islands.
After all, they were all part of the Thirty-Six Islands Alliance, and they had even given shops as gifts back then. . .
Peach Blossom Island was naturally also within this scope and had already begun recruiting rogue cultivators.
This mission was extremely dangerous, yet Lu Guo saw an opportunity within it!
Under normal circumstances, with his identity as a criminal's son, he would never be able to leave the island and might very well have to farm on Emerald Cliff for the rest of his life!
His cultivation progress had slowed down significantly recently, precisely because he lacked sufficient pills and other resources.
This was intolerable for Lu Guo, who had long since made plans to leave the island.
In his eyes, this island's recruitment was a god-given opportunity!
If there were no life-threatening dangers, all the cultivators on the island would flock to it like ducks, so who would willingly let him go?
Only dangerous missions akin to 'filling a trench with bodies' had few applicants on the island, which meant he might be pushed forward without anyone competing for the spot!
“That's a good decision, then. From here on, your life and death will depend entirely on your own fortune. ”
Fang Xi took another sip of peach blossom brew: “We can't be short of farmers here. Don't even mention Xiao Hu; he's still too young. . . ”
Lu Guo didn't dare to argue, but quickly replied, “I've already found a replacement: an external rogue cultivator named Hai Da Gui, around my age, with Qi Refinement third layer cultivation. ”
“Hmm, bring him to me tomorrow. ”
Fang Xi was quite satisfied with Lu Guo's understanding. He thought for a moment, then took out ten Spirit Stones from his storage bag: “You've farmed for me for many years. This upcoming journey is extremely perilous. Here are ten low-grade Spirit Stones, which, combined with your savings, should be enough to buy a mid-grade artifact for self-defense. . . ”
Lu Guo couldn't help but shiver.
He had always secretly hoarded Spirit Stones, never expecting this master to discover it directly.
Cold sweat immediately broke out on his forehead, and a feeling of panic arose.
“Many thanks, Master! ”
But on the surface, he gratefully accepted the Spirit Stones, tears almost welling in his eyes.
“You may leave. . . ”
Fang Xi waved his hand, dismissing Lu Guo.
He didn't much care about this person's future life or death.
After all, he couldn't possibly truly nurture the son of an enemy!
In reality, Lu Guo had vaguely sensed that he would be stuck farming on Emerald Cliff until old age and death, which was why he was willing to pay any price to seize the opportunity to leave the island!
...
After Lu Guo left, Fang Xi remained silent for a moment, then resumed enjoying his fine wine.
Several hours later.
Inside the secretly established talisman room.
He picked up a talisman brush, dipped it in spiritual ink, and began to draw vigorously on a talisman paper.
As the brush tip descended, threads of spiritual energy flowed.
Not long after, a low-grade 'Qi Replenishment Talisman' was completed.
The talisman's surface flickered with spiritual light, then became reclusive.
Fang Xi expressionlessly put away the talisman and let out a long breath.
“Fifteen years of planting trees, and fifteen years of researching the four arts of cultivation as well. The first ten years, I struggled to even get started, but the last five years saw rapid progress. . . ”
Yet even so, because he had only dabbled lightly, his talisman art skills remained at the first-order low-grade.
As for artifact refinement? It was still not up to par!
Fang Xi also confirmed that he had no talent in artifact refinement, and thus there was no need to waste large amounts of resources on it anymore.
Even drawing talismans was merely an occasional pastime.
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