Rising from Small Cloud Rain Technique

Ji An completed the spellcasting and continued forward riding the gray-feathered sand goose, arriving at the largest Tier Two Mid-grade Spirit Field.

The three Foundation Establishment Stage planting techniques were alternately used, causing emerald waves to roll beneath the white mist.

The rain droplets as clear as jade fell on the green leaves of the spirit wood, producing a crisp sound, the sound of rain resembling the music of heaven.

At the center of the Spirit Field, the Ghost Moon Cyan Jade Tree fully spread its branches in the rain.

The bark of this spirit wood cracked, revealing more vibrant new bark.

The Ghost Moon Cyan Jade Tree is not a species that sheds its skin; it is undergoing a transformation, evolving towards Tier Two Lower Grade.

This situation began last month, and it is unknown how long it will last.

However, Ji An knows that once its transformation is complete, Red Flame Peak will gain another type of spirit plant that supplies the Chao Origin Stage level.

Once the spirit wood has aged sufficiently, it will be able to produce seeds.

In the future, both the sect and Red Flame Peak will plant a batch of Ghost Moon Cyan Jade Trees.

From now on, Luofeng Valley’s monopoly on this kind of Spirit Soul Tea will become history.

Two Cloud-Top Jade Trees sway in the rain, one Tier Two Mid-grade, the other Tier Two Lower Grade.

Ji An plans to plant a batch of Cloud-Top Jade Trees once the mid-grade tea tree produces seeds.

The Longevity Peach Tree is currently Tier One Upper Grade; this spirit wood grows slowly, even slower than the Ghost Moon Cyan Jade Tree, second only to the Soul Nourishing Wood.

Ji An looked at this vibrant field, filled with a deep sense of pride.

Currently, there are 386 Tier Two Jade Leaf Mulberries, 296 Biluo Trees, and 32 Azure Dragon Woods in the Spirit Field.

Among them, there are 16 mid-grade mulberry trees, 12 mid-grade Biluo Trees, and 4 mid-grade Azure Dragon Woods.

The Jade Leaf Mulberries and Biluo Trees reaching Tier Two Mid-grade theoretically have reached the species limit.

The Azure Dragon Wood has a higher limit, capable of being cultivated to top-grade level; Ji An has seen records of top-grade levels, but he doesn’t know if he can showcase such brilliance in his hands.

The mid-grade Jade Leaf Mulberries are used to cultivate Chao Origin Stage beast taming or spiritual silkworms; they can already be exchanged for small merits, with each pound of mulberry leaves yielding one small merit.

This year, the mid-grade mulberry leaves sold to the Beast Taming Hall earned 420 small merits.

This figure is not much, but having this amount each year is quite comforting.

Those Tier Two Lower Grade mulberry leaves can create a net income of eight thousand spirit stones annually.

…

“Caw!”

The gray-feathered sand goose joyfully cried, continuing to circle along the mountain peaks.

Red clouds rose among the Red Cloud Pine Forest, with six clouds especially bright, filled with spirit light.

They are Tier Two Mid-grade spirit woods, theoretically also reaching the species limit.

Currently, there are eight mid-grade Red Cloud Pines at Red Flame Peak, with two additional ones at the entrance of Ji An’s grotto mansion.

There are a total of 152 Tier Two Lower Grade Red Cloud Pines, excluding those fried into pine nuts and brewed into wine, the rest are kept at hand.

The sect suffered a massive loss of Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Canglan Secret Realm, many of them disciples cultivating fire element techniques, while tensions on fire-elemental spiritual objects suddenly eased, hence he hasn’t handed over Tier Two pine nuts in recent years.

If he were to submit them to the sect in the future, he could earn over four thousand small merits annually.

Ji An released the Thick Earth Returning Origin Spell and Flame Fire Spell, then approached the Fire Crystal Ants’ nest, opened the Dharma Prohibition, and entered the Molten Rock Cave.

“What the hell, is it just sheer luck?!”

He exclaimed in surprise, seeing the Cyan Leaf Red Lotus’s flowers had wilted, revealing a lotus seedpod with faint red flame patterns.

This signifies that if the lotus seeds within the seedpod age for another three hundred years, they will be able to incubate Cyan Lotus Heart-Burning Fire.

Ji An grinned, knowing once the Heaven and Earth Spirit Fire is nurtured, he is sure to be a Chao Origin Stage cultivator.

He considers himself an alchemist; if he pushes his skills a bit further, perhaps he could aim for the spirit fire!

“Good news!”

Ji An exhaled, released the Thick Earth Returning Origin Spell and Jade Wood Transformation Skill, and then flew out contentedly.

…

The gray-feathered sand goose spiraling in the air spotted its master coming out of the cave and dove down.

It disliked the Spirit Field filled with fire spirit power, feeling uncomfortable stepping on this land.

One man and one bird took flight again, reaching the second last destination.

At this time, the bright moon peeked through the mountains, painting a sea of gold and silver.

A gentle breeze swept over, causing the Copper Patterned Mulberry Field to emit a melodious clink of gold and iron, reminiscent of numerous sword cultivators flying their swords.

Ji An applied the Thick Earth Returning Origin Spell, enhancing the long and bright melody in the Spirit Field.

In this Spirit Field, there are 155 Tier Two Lower Grade Copper Patterned Mulberries, 4 Tier Two Mid-grade Spirit Mulberries, 136 Tier Two Profound Leaf Sword Bamboos, and 6 mid-grade Sword Bamboos.

Upon completion, Ji An mounted the beast to fly toward the Cold Pool, sighing inwardly.

While planting metal and earth spirit plants, only the Thick Earth Returning Origin Spell proves useful; cultivating this Spirit Field would require more time.

…

The gray-feathered sand goose joyfully screeched several times, flying at top speed.

Although at night, its vision worsened, it had navigated this route over a thousand times! So familiar, it couldn’t be more so.

It landed near a cave, “Caw, caw, caw!”

The agitated sound carried a hint of provocation.

“Awooo!”

Dahuang’s angry roar echoed, and the gray-feathered sand goose immediately flew into the air, continuing the provocation.

Ji An shook his head slightly, opened the restriction of the Mimic Array and entered the Earth Cave.

This was a nightly routine, where the gray-feathered sand goose bullied Dahuang for not being able to fly and always waking the sleeping Rock Armor Bear.

Although Dahuang has broken through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, unable to fly, he just gets bullied—after all, the sand goose has wings!

Arriving underground, Ji An cast the Thick Earth Returning Origin Spell.

Now there are two Tier Two Mid-grade Earth Spirit Fruit Trees here, one for him and one for Liuu Suyun, along with six Tier Two Lower-grade Spirit Trees, four for him, and two for Senior Sister Liuu.

Compared to three years ago, Liuu Suyun owes him even more.

The Soul Nourishing Wood is now three feet tall, as thick as a child’s arm, with twelve branches.

Under the moonlight, the leaves emit a deep purple hue.

“Squeak, squeak!”

Golden Fur stood up straight, holding its paws together as if making a polite gesture.

With the ample supply of Earth Spirit Fruit, the Spirit-Seeking Rat had already become a Fourth-Layer Foundation Establishment Demon Beast, its fur much shinier.

It had become much plumper over the years of pampered living.

With just a little effort, its cute appearance would instantly vanish, revealing muscles that looked exceedingly fierce.

Ji An squatted down, stroking the fluffy fur of the beast, and softly said:

“I should seek out a secret technique for raising the Spirit-Seeking Rat!”

His father’s last inheritance had been used up. To continue nurturing this spiritually inclined beast, he would have to find a way through the sect.

However, he hadn’t heard of anyone within the sect having a Spirit-Seeking Rat as spiritually gifted as his, so he assumed the sect’s secret techniques were inferior to the lineage his father had inadvertently acquired.

“Squeak, squeak!”

Golden Fur half-closed its eyes, its ears gently twitching, clearly enjoying its owner’s actions.

A seven-foot tall humanoid puppet leaned quietly against the wall, curiously watching the scene.

It was the ’laborer’ responsible for opening and closing the moonlight passage every day, possessing a bit of intelligence but completely ignorant of what was happening.

Today, the task of cultivating the spirit plants had been brought to a satisfactory close. Ji An emerged from the earth cave to find that the ’bickering’ between the sand goose and Dahuang had finally subsided.

Dahuang lay on the ground, glaring viciously at the sand goose flying in the sky.

Ji An patted the large furry head of the Rock Armor Bear, “Go back to sleep.”

“Roar!”

Dahuang stuck out its tongue to lick its owner’s hand, wagged its short tail, and returned to the cave.

Ji An mounted the sand goose and went to the Ghost Moon Cyan Jade Tree. He first used the Flame Fire Spell to bake a patch of dry ground, then took out a pudun mat and sat cross-legged.

The night’s cultivation was just beginning.

As the Evergreen Wood Skill operated, the moonlight was like snowflakes, blurring the passage of time.

…

The next day, Ji An finished his morning cultivation, piloted the Flying Shuttle to Sunrise Peak, with the Golden Feathered Eagle closely following behind.

Ji An slowed down and laughed, “Once you reach the Foundation Establishment Stage, I won’t need to use the Flying Shuttle anymore!”

Actually, he could use the apricot yellow Banner or the Flame Light Banner to fly, but they required continuous input of magical power, which was too inconvenient.

The Golden Spirit Eagle understood its master’s intent and let out a joyful screech, its golden crest feathers standing up.

The Treasure Pavilion, the Earth Dragon Beast that was pretending to be asleep opened its eyes:

“I think I heard the cry of the Golden Feathered Eagle, am I dreaming?”

In recent years of battling demon beasts, it often faced off against the Golden Feathered Eagle Demon King.

Although it was a land beast, it could ride the demonic wind like the others once it reached the Golden Core Stage.

However, its speed couldn’t match that of the Demon King, so it was often on the receiving end of attacks, rarely getting a chance to hit back, which was quite frustrating.

Jia Yu shook his head and replied, “I heard the call of the Golden Feathered Eagle too, it must be some disciple’s beast-taming partner.”

There couldn’t be any unclaimed demon beasts on Sunrise Peak; it was the most tightly guarded region of the entire Golden Spirit Sect.

Ji An passed through the grand array at the mountainside and landed in front of the Treasure Pavilion.

He put away the Curious Pendant, issued a command to the beast, and boldly stepped into the main hall.

Seeing the Earth Dragon Beast staring at him with its massive yellow-brown eyes, Ji An immediately took out two Earth Spirit Fruits:

“Rock Ancestor, these are for you.

I’ve successfully cultivated Tier Two Middle Grade Spirit Fruits, and I’ll send two over once they ripen.”

The Earth Dragon Beast happily swallowed the fruits, snorting contentedly:

“Having such thoughtfulness is admirable!”

It closed its eyes and lay back on the ground.

Ji An lowered his voice and said, “Junior Martial Uncle, I’ve come to collect the Purple Ganoderma Yuan Pill and also to exchange something for water-elemental spiritual objects used for refinement.”

Jia Yu glanced at him and jokingly said, “I thought you were afraid of your debts and didn’t dare to show up.”

This disciple hadn’t appeared in three years, though he sent some Pine Nut Wine each year through others.

“How could that be? It’s just a little debt of twenty-six thousand small merits, a mere trifle!”

Ji An said boldly, handing over his Identity Jade Token and four Storage Bags, adding, “They contain three years’ worth of Spirit Fruit and Pine Nuts. After exchanging for the spiritual objects, use what’s left to clear my outstanding small merits with the sect.”

One of the Storage Bags was a specially made large-capacity space bag, specifically for holding Tier Two Pine Seeds.

“Oh, I like this generous side of you.”

Jia Yu was amused and said softly, “When your Communication Golden Sword arrived yesterday, I received another piece of good news.

Sister Han Yan from Feixia Mountain successfully refined three batches of Nourishing Yuan Pills, yielding eight pills in total!”

Ji An’s eyes widened in surprise, his lips curling up, “That means I can claim one now!”

“You can’t get it now. Wait until you reach Ninth-Layer Perfection of Foundation Establishment, then come to the Treasure Pavilion to collect it.

At that time, arrangements will be made for a closed-door cultivation site for you, to adjust your condition and directly aspire for the Chao Origin Stage.”