Chapter 209: Xiao Qing Long Tang (Please Give Monthly Votes)
Chapter 209: Xiao Qing Long Tang (Please Give Monthly Votes)
The Xiao Qing Long Tang was exquisitely delicious, mainly simmered from the fins, tail, and bones of the Little Azure Dragon, with several spiritual herbs added. It was quite beneficial for Foundation Establishment cultivators looking to increase their magical power.
However, Fang Xi's cultivation was already at the mid-stage Foundation Establishment. Drinking a whole basin of 'Xiao Qing Long Tang' was only equivalent to a month or two of meditative Qi Refinement cultivation.
"This soup is for you two. . ."
He glanced at Xiahou Ying and Yan Hong Xiu, who were serving him by his side, and casually bestowed the remaining 'Xiao Qing Long Tang' upon them.
Both female cultivators had long since reached the peak of the sixth level of Qi Refinement. With the further assistance of the spiritual energy from the Xiao Qing Long Tang, they might very well break through the bottleneck to the late-stage Qi Refinement.
"Many thanks, Young Master!"
Xiahou Ying and Yan Hong Xiu cheerfully accepted. After consuming the Xiao Qing Long Tang, they quickly excused themselves and returned to their rooms, needing to meditate and refine the spiritual energy.
After all, this was a spiritual dish meant for Foundation Establishment cultivators; for them, the potency was still a bit too strong.
With the two maidservants gone, Fang Xi continued to enjoy his wine and dishes.
The Little Azure Dragon's skeleton had been used for the Xiao Qing Long Tang, while its large chunks of fish meat were prepared as sashimi.
Each slice of sashimi was crystal clear and translucent, accompanied by various sauces, offering a delightful array of flavors.
Fang Xi took a sip of peach blossom wine, then a bite of fish, feeling the cool spiritual energy spread with a hint of refreshing comfort throughout his mouth, a satisfied smile gracing his face: "Now this is living. . ."
...
After he had eaten and drunk his fill, Fang Xi strolled out of the Evergreen Pavilion, taking a solitary walk to the Demonic Tree.
By now, this Demonic Tree was over ten zhang tall, so immense that even the 'Wood Spirit Divine Thunder Array' could not completely conceal it; its vast canopy was visible from afar.
Regarding this tree, Fang Xi merely stated that it was the eye of the formation array arranged on the island and strictly forbade any cultivator from approaching it.
Naturally, no one risked incurring the island master's wrath to test the power of the Wood Spirit Divine Thunder Array.
Sometimes, revealing only a part of the truth is more deceptive than outright lies!
"A hundred years of cultivation, half of my confidantes have fallen. . ."
Fang Xi sighed, then approached the Demonic Tree. First, he fed a large quantity of spiritual fish and spiritual rice to the Taisui, then cut off some fragrant Taisui meat for the Demonic Tree to enjoy.
He had tasted this second-order Taisui meat himself, and it was indeed very fragrant, with a few extra layers of texture compared to ordinary second-order demonic beast meat—truly a delicacy of the mortal realm.
'When my hundredth birthday arrives, I can cut off dozens of jin of Taisui meat, along with Xiao Qing Long Tang, to entertain guests. . . '
Since he could raise the first Little Azure Dragon, he could naturally raise a second, a third. . .
Fang Xi was quite confident about this.
If time ran short. . . then he could simply let the Green Corner Fish Dragon bleed a little. As a demon beast that had awakened the Flood Dragon bloodline, Da Qing's blood would definitely stimulate the Green Jade Carp to advance. . .
"I almost forgot about the main business. . ."
Having finished his contemplation, Fang Xi took out the black 'Green Wood Seal'.
This seal was only the size of a child's fist, square in shape, with blood-colored veins on its body. Its handle was blurred, with only eight simple carved marks visible.
"Treasure Seeding Art!"
He recalled the incantations and mental techniques of the 'Treasure Seeding Art', constantly forming hand seals. Suddenly, he bit the tip of his tongue, spraying a mouthful of vital blood onto the black wood seal.
Puff!
The black wood seal was enveloped by a circle of blood-red light, which it then greedily devoured, consuming a large amount of his Longevity Art magical power. The blood-colored patterns on its surface stirred, absorbing all the blood light.
"Go!"
Fang Xi unleashed his final hand seal, and the black wood seal landed directly onto the trunk of the Demonic Tree.
Rip!
A crack appeared on the Demonic Tree's trunk, like a tree hollow, swallowing the black wood seal.
After the black wood seal vanished, the tree hollow on the trunk also disappeared, a truly peculiar sight.
"It's only because of me, having refined this spiritual root to a state of mind-soul unity, akin to a clone. . . otherwise, this step of embedding the treasure into the tree would never have gone so smoothly. . ."
"Now, with this Demonic Tree nurturing the Green Wood Seal, it's akin to my clone refining a magical artifact; it holds a profound mystery of its own. . ."
"According to the 'Treasure Seeding Art', the most important aspect of this wood-refining method is time. If it's only a few decades, the magical artifact won't possess much power; it needs at least a hundred years to have a certain effect. . . But the growth of the Demonic Tree is extraordinary. As long as there's enough flesh and blood, one year can be equivalent to ten or even a hundred years for ordinary spiritual wood. . . So, after a thousand or ten thousand years of 'treasure seeding', to what extent will the power of my life-bound artifact increase?"
A trace of anticipation flickered across Fang Xi's face. He then extended his palm and pressed it against the Demonic Tree's gnarled trunk, silently sensing something.
Suddenly, a hint of joy appeared on his face: "Open!"
The next moment, streaks of black mist formed around Dragon Fish Island, intertwining with the grey mist of the 'Profound Wood Grand Array'.
Only, this time, the black mist overwhelmed the grey mist, creating a greyish-black hue.
The entire Dragon Fish Island became indistinct within this layer of greyish-black mist, appearing and disappearing. . .
Unseen void was being displaced and transformed. . . yet no cultivator could detect it!
"After nearly ten years of growth, the Demonic Tree's demonic domain has made significant progress. . ."
"The 'Nine Nethers Profound Wood Grand Array' has finally achieved minor completion. . ."
A flicker of joy crossed Fang Xi's face: "At this point, this formation array is definitely quasi-third-order; it can be called a 'Forbidden Barrier Grand Array'. . . Coupled with me overseeing it, even a Core Formation Ancestor would find it difficult to. . . Ugh, never mind. . ."
He recalled how the Song family's third-order grand array, led by a formation master, was still broken and their sect annihilated by the Black Heaven Sect. It felt somewhat inauspicious, so he decided against setting himself up for a jinx.
"However, I am stronger than the Song family!"
Fang Xi pondered, then touched his storage ring.
Clatter!
A procession of wood puppets emerged, their eyes vacant, with roots sprouting from their seven orifices.
The materials from the various demon kings he had slain back then for refining Foundation Establishment Pills were almost used up.
But later, for Wei Yi Xi's Foundation Establishment breakthrough and the Taisui's advancement, he had made two more trips to the Da Liang world to acquire demon cores.
Every demon core extracted represented the loss of life for at least several second-order demon beasts!
This was still based on the premise that the demon kings in the Da Liang world had extraordinary talents and a higher yield rate!
Therefore, Fang Xi had accumulated quite a lot of second-order demon beast materials again.
Piecing them together, he could field a puppet army of nearly thirty second-order puppets, seven of which were main combat puppets, while the other twenty-three were indirectly controlled by the Demonic Tree, moving stiffly and mechanically.
Hmm, among the array of beast-shaped puppets, there were also Song Qing and Hua He, two human puppets wearing vine masks, like huskies mixed into a pack of wolves, looking quite out of place.
Hiss, hiss!
A giant python, with a ghastly wound on its torso, was flicking its tongue when it was suddenly caught by a vine dangling from the Demonic Tree and hung in mid-air.
Next, a fiery-haired demon beast resembling a lion. . .
A third, a fourth. . .
In total, twenty-three puppets hung suspended beneath the Demonic Tree. If an outsider cultivator were to see this, it would be a sight to make their hearts tremble.
However, all of this was concealed by Fang Xi using the 'Nine Nethers Profound Wood Grand Array'. If one looked from Dragon Fish Island, one would at most see the crown of the Demonic Tree, but the trunk and vines would be completely unclear.
And if one observed from high above outside, they would discover a greyish-black bowl-shaped formation array, inverted and covering the entire Dragon Fish Island!
"Hmm, after forming a self-contained world, I still need to open a certain void every day to receive sunlight and moonlight. . . It's a bit troublesome."
Fang Xi mused: "It is said that true blessed lands of immortal caves are self-contained internally, possessing their own sun, moon, stars, spiritual energy, and a complete cycle of all things. . . I am still far from that step."
"Those that can form their own world can perhaps be called Earth Immortals?"
"Once inside their world, all laws are unbreachable, and karma is settled?"
"Ugh. . . indeed, I still need to work much harder."
Forcibly withdrawing his concentration, Fang Xi looked at the twenty-odd puppets, lost in thought.
He specialized in the unorthodox path of wood puppets, and his ability to control them far surpassed that of ordinary puppeteers.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't he who controlled the puppets, but the Demonic Tree!
Only the seven main combat puppets, into which he had infused his spiritual sense, were truly under his direct control.
"These second-order puppets are still a bit lacking in power for guarding the Demonic Tree's main body. . . After all, they are too rigid and stiff. . ."
"Ugh. . . to expect a tree to have flexible thoughts is indeed asking too much of a tree."
Fang Xi let out a wry chuckle.
He looked at these puppets, a ambitious flame burning in his eyes: "The idea of using puppets to form battle arrays should be feasible. . ."
Fang Xi recalled the Song family's third-order array—the Heavenly Wolf Howling at the Moon Array!
"If this array were disassembled, with individual second-order demon beasts serving as array eyes, combining the power of thirty puppets. . . it should be possible to set up a portion of the array to summon a phantom Heavenly Wolf. . ."
"However, there are still many difficulties, such as refining third-order formation flags and formation plates. . . and exploring how to set up arrays while moving. . ."
"But if it's just for defense, then moving isn't necessary; they only need to be able to activate the formation flags. . ."
"At that time, with the Nine Nethers Profound Wood Grand Array guarding Dragon Fish Island, even if a Core Formation Ancestor forcibly intrudes, the 'Heavenly Wolf Howling at the Moon Array' will be there to greet them. . . Perhaps, in conjunction with the Forbidden Barrier Grand Array, it might even be possible to keep the opponent here?"
"In terms of defensive combat, formation masters are truly overpowered. . . No, I am overpowered."
"Within the State of Yue, there are very few stronger than me in the path of formations. Perhaps there are some stronger than me in the path of puppets. . . But in terms of integrating formations and puppets, there should be none stronger than me."
"Those second-order puppeteers cannot possibly control so many second-order puppets; their spiritual sense is simply insufficient. It would take a third-order puppeteer to come close. . ."
"Phew. . . after cultivating this tree for so long, I finally feel at ease."
Fang Xi smiled.
At the venerable age of a hundred, he finally had a stable foundation in the State of Yue.
One that even the Black Heaven Sect couldn't snatch away!
"Indeed. . . planting a tree ultimately provides everything?"
"Now, reaching Foundation Establishment Perfection is no longer a big deal for me; only the great bottleneck of Core Formation remains. . ."
Fang Xi looked in the direction of Maple Leaf Island, stroking his chin.
This hundredth birthday celebration, he wasn't planning a grand affair, just inviting three to five friends to enjoy spiritual rice delicacies.
He wondered. . . would Ruan Xing Ling still come?
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