Rising from Small Cloud Rain Technique

Chapter 110: Chapter 107: Planning

Bidding farewell to his master, Ji An rode the grey-feathered sand goose towards Lingxiao Mountain.

The blue sky was clear, the green mountains were lush, and his attire fluttered in the wind, exuding a refined aura.

Halfway through the journey, the beast circled without moving forward, recalling unbearable past memories.

A few days ago, along this exact route, after a stop at an Azure Mountain, it almost lost half its life.

Now, as time overlapped and memories resurfaced, it felt a fiery pain in its throat.

Ji An chuckled, reaching out to smooth the sand goose’s soft neck feathers:

“Wherever the master goes, even if the road ahead is perilous, as a beast, you must follow without hesitation.

Yet you, with little skill, have embedded the ability to seek fortune and avoid misfortune deep into your bones. Let’s go!”

The sand goose screeched a few times, reluctantly continuing to fly forward, its speed slowing.

Ji An, frustrated, smacked its back hard, thinking that sometimes having a beast too aware can be troublesome.

If he were to raise a battle beast in the future, he’d choose one fearless of death, not necessarily clever, but one that truly fights when it counts.

The beast in pain flapped its wings quicker.

After a long while, the sand goose landed in front of the Diligence Hall at the mountainside, looking thoroughly exhausted, lying still on the ground.

The iron horse under the eaves of several halls chimed, echoing a clear melody.

Ji An quickly made his way to the Inheritance Hall. Today, the guarding cultivator had changed, but as usual, a pile of jade slips was on the desk, with one affixed to the cultivator’s forehead.

Do librarians get to read most jade slips for free?

He harbored envy in his heart. In the magic area, he found the Spirit Sealing Technique’s jade slip and placed it on the desk along with his identity jade token:

“Brother, please help with the technique exchange.”

The aura emanating from the cultivator was strong, yet far from Elder Zhuu, clearly a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

“So it’s the Spirit Sealing Technique. Without the Chao Origin Stage cultivation, you can only scratch the surface of this technique.

It’s a waste of time and not very useful, haha.”

The cultivator picked up the jade token, deducted the corresponding contribution points, and then placed the jade slip back on his forehead, saying softly:

“Make your own copy.”

Ji An took out a blank jade slip and copied the technique, slightly bowed, then turned and left.

He walked back to the Diligence Hall slowly, seeing the sand goose still playing dead on the ground, he sneered and turned into the main hall.

After exchanging a few words with Ye Changqing, he spent a thousand contribution points to buy fifty Communication Talisman Swords.

Enjoying a cup of spirit tea, he chatted for a while before taking his leave:

“Brother, until we meet again. Once Red Flame Peak is cleared out, please let me know.”

“Rest assured, I won’t forget such duties.”

Ye Changqing shook his head, sleeping was genuine, but he never faltered in his tasks.

As Ji An left the hall, he came to the beast beside him, seeing it still like a dead dog, he pinched his fingers and flicked a piece of golden light into the ground near its head.

The sand goose immediately felt a sharp sensation, as if facing an axe’s blade, even while fully feathered, it felt a chill.

It started with fright, its closed eyes darted open, but didn’t dare move.

“Needs discipline, get up.”

Ji An commanded, the sand goose sprang to life, standing upright and cooing in a pleasing manner.

On the return route, seeing it was the way back, it flew faster and more steadily.

Ji An placed the Spirit Sealing Technique jade slip on his forehead to read with his Divine Sense, the massive information inside surprised him.

Previously, the technique with the most information he encountered was the Thick Earth Returning Origin Spell, whose formula and past insights barely summed up to five or six hundred words. The Spirit Sealing Technique, more than ten thousand words, exceeded his understanding of spells, with more words than his cultivation technique.

It mentioned the essence of the Five Elements, but described it very obliquely.

Explaining the cycle of interactions between the Five Elements, it was profound and obscure, analyzing the principles of sealing intricately, making one’s head spin.

The end of the information was three hundred or so words detailing the spell, with no experiences or insights to refer to.

At the end, there was a considerate reminder:

“Divine Intent cannot be conveyed; it relies entirely on personal comprehension. Those who understand will understand, but if the realm is not reached, explaining is futile.

Cultivators below Chao Origin Stage realm should skip the theory and directly practice the technique instead, as you wouldn’t understand it anyway.

Remember! Remember!”

Having browsed through the jade slip’s information, Ji An found the jade slip’s quirky humor amusing, musing:

“Skipping the theory to practice the technique, shouldn’t this reminder be at the very beginning?!”

The spell elaborated that anything and everything can be sealed within, claiming not only to prevent the loss of Spirit Plant Essence Qi, but at higher mastery, can seal a Golden Core cultivator’s entire spiritual power easily, even sealing spiritual veins.

Among which, the explanation of the Five Elements’ essence was shrouded in metaphor, greatly increasing the difficulty of understanding the theory.

Ji An didn’t continue to study the theory of the technique; with practicality in mind, he directly started contemplating the spell’s formula.

Some things are beyond understanding unless one reaches a certain realm, like expecting an elementary student who just learned multiplication tables to solve calculus, it’s impossible.

When the time comes to gather ten Dao seeds, we can attempt to study the Spirit Sealing Technique.

The cries of geese echoed, and Ji An was startled when the beast-taming signal for landing arrived, realizing he had returned to Ningcui Cliff.

After nearly two double hours of flight, he still hadn’t managed to practice the Spirit Sealing Technique to the entry level.

At this moment, he started to put some faith in the words of the spell.

A communication talisman sword, flickering with white light, flew in from afar, and Ji An raised his hand to catch it.

He sensed the magical mark attached to it and used his Divine Sense to read the information inside. It was from Li Lingyu, inviting him for a small gathering at her grotto mansion three days later at 7:05 AM.

The message mentioned that Liu Yu and several others would also attend, and they would discuss future cultivation matters, requesting him not to be absent.

Ji An nodded slightly; he hadn’t announced his breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment yet, and it was time to reveal the good news.

He also needed to inquire about the details to note when settling into a grotto mansion; the magic array surely needed replacing.

Before, his realm wasn’t enough to fit into the Foundation Establishment circle forcibly, but going forward, he needed to interact more with his senior brothers and sisters and close connections with people like Zhang Yuanshan.

Learning alone without friends is limiting in breadth and information; to say the least, it would increase the channels for acquiring news.

The sect would soon distribute the Foundation Establishment Pills, and Zhao Mengyao could secure one; with her top-grade talent, Foundation Establishment would pose no difficulty.

Considering this, he had already established the foundation of a Foundation Establishment stage small circle.

Frequent contact and maintance of these connections could serve as a deterrent to those eyeing them.

A few days ago, he embarrassed Zhu Qinghao and Chen Xingyun, and who knows what tricks they might pull on him.

Thinking of this, Ji An took out two communication talisman swords, sending one to Li Lingyu, confirming his punctual attendance; and another to Zhang Yuanshan, inquiring whether the magical artifact consigned years ago had sold. If it hadn’t, he would retrieve it the next day.

With over three years passed and still unsold, it seemed none of the cultivators were interested. It might as well be taken to Immortal City for sale.

An hour later, a communication talisman sword flew back from Zhang Yuanshan, with just four words in the message: “The magical artifact remains.”

Ji An chuckled and tossed the talisman sword aside.

The dusk was encroaching; unnoticed, the sun’s last ray vanished in the evening breeze, and the deep celestial vault was glittering with starlight.

He hastily had a meal and began meditating to cultivate the Evergreen Wood Skill. The nature’s spiritual energy circulated within the immortal vein, causing the acupoints’ Water Element Dao Seed and Wood Element Dao Seed to emit a barely noticeable spirit light.

When the immortal vein could no longer endure the prolonged spiritual qi washing, Ji An rested briefly before practicing spells, choosing to practice the Sharp Gold Technique and Golden Armor Technique.

With some obsessive compulsion, he aimed to practice these Qi Refining Stage spells to Great Perfection Level before moving on to Foundation Establishment Stage spells.

Prioritizing the acquisition of the Dao Seed yielded slight enhancements, sharpening the axe didn’t hinder chopping firewood; now with ample magical power to squander, he had more time to practice spells.

The Stone Turtle at Red Flame Peak could absorb various kinds of Spirit Mechanism, and the three Planting Techniques were frequently used, plus the refinement of Spirit Mechanism accelerated his progress.

Ji An decided to focus primarily on Metal Element Techniques and secondarily on Fire Element Techniques.

This would quickly improve his capabilities in magical combat. He wasn’t currently planning to spend a large sum on magical artifacts or spiritual artifacts; the surplus spirit stones would be used for purchasing pills.

After the purification during Foundation Establishment, he felt his talent, even if not top-grade, was not far off. The efficiency of refining spiritual energy had greatly improved, reducing the waste of medicinal power when taking pills by several degrees compared to before the Foundation Establishment.

Enhancing cultivation by taking pills was much faster than purely absorbing nature’s spiritual energy; the pills should not be stopped.

…

The next day.

In the Red Copper Grotto Mansion, Zhang Yuanshan said with a gentle smile:

“Within a month of entering the sect, you, Junior Brother, have practiced the Small Cloud Rain Technique to Minor Achievement. I knew you were no ordinary person and were destined to soar high.

Seeing you today, it seems my insight was quite accurate.”

Successfully achieving Foundation Establishment within eleven years of joining the sect was an outstanding accomplishment even among many family disciples.

What was more admirable was that the other party had climbed to his current position entirely through his effort, breaking through from First-Layer Qi Refining.

In his heart, he exchanged positions with the other party and felt he could hardly achieve the same.

Without assistance, breaking through to the Late-stage Qi Refining would take a very long time.

“Senior Brother overpraises; compared to Senior Brother, I am far inferior.”

The two exchanged compliments, mutually enhancing their friendly rapport.

“Junior Sister Zhao will soon secure a Foundation Establishment Pill, and Junior Brother Chu River has also exchanged for one, to attempt Foundation Establishment in five years.

From the same batch of cultivators who emerged from the Cyan Pine Daoist School, several of us have reached the forefront. In the future, we must maintain frequent contact and strive together towards the Grand Dao.”

Zhang Yuanshan said with great satisfaction, news of the demon calamity outbreak had slowly spread among the senior levels, and he had learned of it from his clan uncle.

He understood well the terror of the demon calamity; if war were to break out fully, there would be no difference between the front and rear lines. Every cultivator in the Western Continent would have to face the war head-on.

The loose cultivators might find a place with thin spiritual qi to hide, but sect cultivators would undoubtedly fight for the sect’s interests.

Even as an artifact refiner, he feared he’d be reluctantly assigned war duties. Close bonds with fellow disciples would be essential to get through difficulties.

Ji An smiled and said:

“In a few months, I will host a Foundation Establishment celebration. After Junior Sister Zhao establishes her foundation, she will also hold a celebration. We can take this opportunity to thoroughly discuss our future cultivation.”