Rising from Small Cloud Rain Technique

Chapter 164: Chapter 161: Thick Earth Returning Origin Spell—Great Perfection

Ji An’s divine sense probed the storage bag and gritted his teeth, saying:

“Is the task so urgent?”

Inside, there were three thousand cut and trimmed Black Wind Wolf beast hides from the Qi Refining Stage, a hundred Late-stage Foundation Establishment beast hides, along with various matching talisman ink and brushes, requiring submission of a specified number of Bursting Talismans and Flame Bursting Talismans within a month.

He quite liked the task of drawing top-grade Bursting Talismans, but drawing over a thousand top-grade Explosion Talismans would take his soul.

Ji An remembered his state while painting Wind-Sealing Spirit Talismans for ten days on Mingfeng Mountain, his face appearing somewhat ferocious.

His divine sense recovered very slowly from overconsumption, taking four to five days to fully recover upon returning to Red Flame Peak.

“Senior Brother, drawing talismans consumes divine sense much more than casting techniques…”

Ye Changqing waved his hand, saying:

“Junior Brother, I know your difficulties, but recently the major sects have been trying every means possible to attract cultivators to Mingfeng Mountain Immortal City, and all the sect-run shops must have enough stock to maintain consumption.

It’s not just you; all high-tier Talisman Masters have received large talisman-making tasks, as have Artifact Refiners and Alchemists alike.”

As Ye Changqing spoke, he brought out a pale green, flat, round porcelain jar with floral engravings and said:

“Inside is Calming Incense, which can nourish the spirit soul and alleviate the intense pain caused by overconsumption of divine sense.

Everyone’s task will be much heavier than before, but after these few months, it’ll slowly return to normal.”

The strategy of several sects is to attract loose cultivators to settle at Mingfeng Mountain, and at the same time, enhance the reputation of sect shops; whether earning spirit stones or gathering materials, everything becomes much easier.

Ji An lifted the lid of the porcelain jar, and a faint mint fragrance spread through the air, bringing a refreshing feeling.

Seeing the twenty plates of incense inside, his expression relaxed significantly, swiftly storing the jar back in the storage bag, he smiled and said:

“Rest assured, Senior Brother, I guarantee to complete the task without making it difficult for you.”

The sect has strict requirements for Calming Incense; ordinarily he doesn’t qualify for exchange. Only those who’ve received large task quotas, such as Alchemists and Artifact Refiners, can redeem it.

His success rate for making Flame Bursting Talismans is close to eighty percent; drawing around two thousand talismans will fulfill the task, saving a lot of Calming Incense.

Ye Changqing chuckled and said:

“You’re being crafty; your success rate surely exceeds forty percent, and the task difficulty won’t saturate your time.”

Ji An showed a sincere smile, switched the subject, and asked:

“How’s the situation at Mingfeng Mountain now, how many cultivators have gone there?”

“The situation is pretty good; after its opening half a month ago, it has attracted numerous families to settle.

The number of loose cultivators has reached over thirty thousand, most of whom are Middle to Late-stage Qi Refining Stage cultivators, and their numbers continue to grow.

The next task is to eradicate the demon beasts east of Mingfeng Mountain, turning this vast area into cultivators’ territory.

With development over the next twenty to thirty years, the overall strength of the Western Continent is bound to rise a notch.”

Eradicating demon beasts and developing various small spiritual vein nodes will provide more cultivation grounds for cultivators.

Not to mention, with sufficient resources, the increase rate of low-tier cultivators is extremely fast.

An increase in the overall number of cultivators will give rise to more Foundation Establishment cultivators, who form the backbone of defense against demon calamities.

Ji An remarked in surprise:

“Is everything going so smoothly, the demon beasts have no intention of counterattacking?”

“How could there be no counterattacks! Several Golden Core great demons have attacked Mingfeng Mountain before.

However, teleportation arrays connecting to Mingfeng Mountain have been established within the three sects, allowing several Golden Core ancestors to swiftly teleport over. Relying on the Mountain Protection Array to guard the Immortal City is still manageable.”

Ye Changqing spoke with a hint of pride, Mingfeng Mountain is the bulwark for cultivators against demon calamities, and the region from Mingfeng Immortal City to Cyan Cloud Immortal City serves as a buffer for the three major sects.

If a demon calamity occurs, support cultivators will be continuously transported to the frontlines via teleportation arrays and flying ships.

“It seems the sects are well-prepared, if this demon calamity is similar in scale to that of three thousand years ago, defense should be relatively easy.”

Ji An smiled, the sects are several tens of thousands of miles away from Mingfeng Mountain, and each teleportation consumes a large amount of middle-grade spirit stones.

Constructing teleportation arrays shows the sects’ determination to guard Mingfeng Mountain.

Ye Changqing nodded, with a voice tinged with emotional sentiment:

“Humans have been developing the Western Continent for over six thousand years; if these three sects can remain standing through this, we will have truly taken root in the Western Continent.”

He stood up and continued:

“Come on, accompany me for a stroll; I’ve come here many times, but haven’t properly appreciated the scenery of Red Flame Peak yet.”

He wanted to see where the Tier Two Red Cloud Pines were located, as every Tier Two Spirit Wood slightly enhances the sect’s foundation.

Ji An summoned the flying shuttle, smiling:

“Please board the shuttle; let me show off to Senior Brother a bit, now I have three Tier Two Red Cloud Pine myself.”

“Which means, after a few months, Red Flame Peak can harvest quite a few Tier Two Pine Nuts.

Junior Brother, I’d like to personally purchase some.”

Ye Changqing showed a hint of joy, as the sect only had thirty-odd Tier Two Red Cloud Pines, with pine nuts prioritized for late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators practicing fire element techniques, meant for their refinement, rarely roasted into pine nuts for consumption.

These Tier Two Red Cloud Pines were privately cultivated by Junior Brother Ji, not part of the sect’s plan within two to three years, allowing room for operation, otherwise Junior Martial Uncle Jia Yu wouldn’t have mentioned fermenting pine nuts for wine.”

“I’ll give Senior Brother ten pounds, and each year thereafter ten pounds.”

Ji An said, Tier Two Lower-grade Spiritual Objects can already be submitted to the sect’s secret vault for exchange of small merit, although Tier Two Lower-grade Red Cloud Pine Seeds aren’t highly valued spiritual objects, they’re hard to purchase even with spirit stones.

“Always taking advantage of Junior Brother, how can I not feel embarrassed!”

Ye Changqing’s eyes revealed amusement, deciding to pay more attention to edible spirit wood seeds or plants in the future.

…

One year later.

Ji An stood at the entrance of the grotto mansion, nurturing the Red Cloud Pine with his magical power.

Suddenly, he felt a strong suction from the Spirit Pine, frantically absorbing his magical power.

He saw the trunk of the Spirit Pine visibly expand, with rich Fire Element Spirit Mechanism surging up within the trunk.

The pine needles became more crimson, emitting a glow nearly a foot long.

Ji An raised his eyebrows, laughing:

“The sixth one!”

This was the sixth Tier Two Red Cloud Pine on Red Flame Peak, which could produce over a thousand pounds of pine nuts each year in the future.

After the Red Cloud Pine reached Tier Two Lower Grade, the production of pine nuts decreased to about two hundred pounds.

The Spirit Pine stopped absorbing magical power, and Ji An removed his hand. The previously pale yellow pine needles now appeared as crystalline as red jade, surrounded by about an inch of spirit light.

In high spirits, Ji An let out a long whistle, using the Wind Control Technique to leap to the mountain top.

The fierce wind roared past his ears, making his hair fly.

After extracting the essence for half an hour, he returned to the base of the mountain.

By the Cold Pool, the sisters Xia Yuhuan were already waiting by the stone house.

Every morning was Ji An’s talisman-making time; the talisman shop the Sect operated in Mingfeng Mountain Immortal City was doing brisk business, so he had to follow along to earn more Contribution Points.

Mingfeng Mountain seemed like a fortress, blocking high-tier demon beasts from invading eastward. To the east of the Immortal City, loose cultivators had gradually occupied the spiritual vein nodes, establishing cultivation clans.

Cultivators began to encroach upon territory originally belonging to demon beasts. The demon hunting movement was in full swing, with statistics showing that over 70,000 loose cultivators had settled in Mingfeng Immortal City.

Ji An walked into the stone house and asked:

“What’s the quota for today’s talismans?”

Having already made a talisman-making plan, he followed it step by step every day.

“Reporting to Junior Martial Uncle, today’s plan requires successfully painting fifty Flame Bursting Talismans and two Bursting Talismans in the morning.”

“Why so many?”

Ji An slightly frowned, as the usual workload was only twenty to thirty Flame Bursting Talismans.

“Tomorrow is the day to trade with Junior Martial Uncle Wei, and we still need more than forty Flame Bursting Talismans to reach the required one thousand.”

“Alright then.”

Ji An bared his teeth and picked up the brush to start making talismans.

Currently, his success rate at drawing Flame Bursting Talismans had reached eighty-five percent, and the success rate for Bursting Talismans was close to sixty percent.

Every month, he could earn over three thousand Contribution Points and more than two thousand Spirit Stones from his talisman-making skills.

He rarely bought talisman-making materials from outside, as the materials provided by the Sect were mostly sufficient to sustain consumption.

A Communication Talisman Sword, shimmering with silver light, flew into the stone house and chirped beside him.

After finishing the Flame Bursting Talisman he was painting, Ji An reached out to catch the Talisman Sword.

’I have returned to the Sect and will visit Red Flame Peak in three days.’

The message was from Senior Brother Du Huaiyuan.

Using demon beast inner cores to refine Foundation Establishment Pills had a difficulty; it required dissolving as much of the demon qi and impurities within the demon core as possible.

Traditional fire method alchemy, although capable of refining demon qi, also damaged the medicinal power of the demon core, requiring more demon cores to make a batch of Foundation Establishment Pills, resulting in greater consumption of raw materials.

Du Huaiyuan’s water method alchemy, although more time-consuming, could easily purify the impurities and demon qi from the demon core, greatly conserving raw materials, and the quality of the formed pills was slightly superior to that of fire method alchemy.

Under such circumstances, Du Huaiyuan was summoned by the Sect to station at Mingfeng Immortal City, specializing in using demon cores as the main material to refine Foundation Establishment Pills.

Ji An grinned, having exchanged occasional correspondence with him over the year.

The other said he spent over six double hours every day refining pills this year, the quantity surpassing all he had made in the previous twenty-plus years combined.

Turning his head, he said:

“In three days, I want to host a banquet for Senior Brother Du. Prepare a sumptuous feast of Spiritual Food by then.”

Xia Yuhuan slightly bowed, “Yes, Senior Brother Liang just experimented with pine honey roast, perfect with wine.”

…

After completing the morning’s talisman painting task, Ji An strolled into the underground cave.

The Spirit-Seeking Rat was curled into a ball, sleeping beneath the Earth Spirit Fruit Tree, only squinting at him momentarily when hearing the noise, before continuing to snore away.

Ji An formed a seal and released the Thick Earth Returning Origin Spell. As the Magic Technique formed, an aura different from usual Magic Intent spread out.

Under the cover of the moist and nourishing aura, there was a subtle, profound Divine Intent.

Golden Fur sprang up, looking around cautiously.

The Earth Spirit Fruit Tree, nourished by the spiritual power within the Magic Technique, had yellow spots on its stone-like skin shimmering brightly, outshining the night stars.

Ji An closed his eyes, savoring the aftertaste of the Magic Technique, then mentally connected with the Stone Turtle.

[Magic Technique: Thick Earth Returning Origin Spell (Perfection 99%→Great Perfection)]

In the Magic Technique column, this text gradually faded, disappearing altogether, while the Ji Earth Dao Seed within the Chongmen Acupoint glowed more brilliantly, with spirit light flickering throughout the acupoint.