Rising from Small Cloud Rain Technique

Ji An sighed softly, ”Being controlled by others, we have no other choice, unless the Western Continent organizes a merchant fleet.”

Traveling merchants buy high and sell low, and without considerable profit, no cultivator would be willing to undertake the journey by merchant flying ship over thousands of miles.

The current situation is that the Western Continent can’t break away from the Central Continent, so it can only endure exploitation, even demanding exploitation.

”Hehe, not to mention if merchant flying ships can be bought, if the Western Continent organizes a fleet to travel to the Central Continent, they might encounter powerful tribulation cultivators someday.”

Jia Yu said maliciously, the Western Continent has many specialties, and the price of demon beast materials is low. Central Continent’s stakeholders have been sucking blood for thousands of years, how could they give up the fat meat in their mouths?

He paused and continued:

”The ancestor traveled through the Central Continent, and according to him, it is far more prosperous than the Western Continent, but the competition is also very intense.

The demon beast powers were wiped out, and without external pressure, the various powers openly fight and secretly scheme, with ruthless methods.”

Ji An nodded slightly, ”It’s not hard to understand, the cultivation realm has existed for a very long time, and with constant progress, more resources can be produced, but the growth rate of cultivators far exceeds the speed of resource growth.”

Stepping onto the immortal path, if a cultivator has poor aptitude, it’s fine, they’ll resign to fate, but anyone with slightly better aptitude will want to progress.

In a certain sense, the existence of demon calamities and demon disasters is actually a method of the Celestial Dao to clear out excess cultivators.

After a cycle of battles, average resources will greatly improve, and the surviving cultivators will progress much faster.

Jia Yu placed the jade token on the spirit disc to deduct small merits, then returned it, asking with interest:

”In your opinion, how can we reduce the conflicts among cultivators like us?”

”It’s just two points, reduce the number of cultivators and cultivate more spiritual veins.”

Jia Yu shook his head and laughed, ”It’s easy to say, but difficult to do, like flying to the skies beyond the Nine Heavens.”

Reducing the number of cultivators can be achieved by strictly controlling the refining of meridian opening pills, but the cultivation realm isn’t a single power, it’s a combination of thousands of powers, and there’s no consensus.

If a power controls the number of disciples, if there’s a war that sweeps through the cultivation realm, they’ll be at risk of extinction in an instant.

Spiritual veins are nurtured from the earth, but how they are nurtured remains a mystery.

What cultivators can do is try to cultivate existing spiritual veins to higher grades.

Cultivating spiritual veins is very time and resource-consuming, and sometimes spiritual veins might even dry up.

After so many years of development, even Tier One Lower Grade spiritual veins within the human race’s control are utilized.

Ji An replied:

”Even if this is achieved, the number of cultivators will still continue to increase, it just reduces the frequency of conflicts.”

From a higher perspective, cultivation is indeed defying the heavens.

Living beings swallow vast amounts of spiritual qi for their use. If there truly are those who achieve longevity and don’t participate in reincarnation to return spiritual qi to the heavens, they are akin to thieves stealing spiritual qi.

Unless these long-lived beings can form their own realm to sustain themselves, longevity is theft from heaven.

The two chatted for a while, Ji An opened the jade bottle, counted the pills, and smiled:

”The Heavenly Water Soul Cleansing Pill can purify the soul, I want to test if its effects are as good as rumored.”

Jia Yu gently shook his head, ”This is a subtle process, merely taking a few won’t show the effect.

This pill contains a trace of Water Element Purification Divine Intent. If you can comprehend this divine intent, the pill is redundant, better to take Canglan Treasure Light Pill.”

”You’ve cultivated the Small Cloud Rain Technique, Spring Breeze and Rain Skill, Cloud Dragon Rain Technique, all reaching a profound realm, you should have glimpsed some Water Element Purification Divine Intent.”

Water Element Divine Intent has many forms: transformation, nourishment, purifying. Everyone knows, but to truly comprehend is to truly know, otherwise it’s just hearsay.

Ji An nodded slightly, then shook his head:

”These spells focus on the Nourishment Divine Intent, the understanding of purification is not extensive.”

In his view, the so-called purification is through constant flow, flushing away impurities, this understanding cannot be considered deep, it’s superficial.

He changed the subject and asked:

”Senior brother, does the sect have any Spiritual Fiend for nurturing Earth Element Spiritual Artifacts?”

He plans to use Wuji Xinghuang Banner as his lifebound magical treasure and wants to nurture an artifact spirit before breaking through to Golden Core.

Though nurturing artifact spirits requires luck, if high-tier resources are generously used, the probability of success increases.

If relying solely on Earth Element Essence, achieving the goal is difficult, as the tier of Earth Element Essence is too low, it can only win by quantity.

Jia Yu immediately understood his intention, speaking in a serious tone:

”The sect does have an Earth Element Spiritual Fiend, but you need the ancestor’s permission to obtain it.”

Ji An felt delighted, ”What kind of spiritual fiend is it?”

If he hadn’t asked, he wouldn’t have known the sect had such a good thing!

”Junior brother, don’t ask further. Get the ancestor’s approval and naturally acquire the spiritual fiend.”

Jia Yu was unwilling to say more, the Jiazi Hall in the sect’s secret vault stores resources only for sect disciples’ cultivation, never for trade.

Even if disciples exchange for resources, they must use them on the spot.

Spiritual fiends are Tier Two resources that accelerate the nurturing of artifact spirits, they are precious.

As they spoke, several Foundation Establishment disciples came in to exchange spiritual objects, and Ji An promptly took his leave.

...

Golden auspicious clouds rose from his feet, Ji An rode the cloud to the mountain peak’s Wuji Hall:

”Disciple seeks an audience with the ancestor.”

After the light curtain outside the hall flickered and disappeared, the doors automatically opened to both sides.

He stepped into the hall, and Daoist Master Zhengyang had a hint of a smile in his eyes:

”Come, sit quickly. How has your cultivation been going lately?”

This was the disciple he was most assured of, diligent in cultivation and rarely left the sect.

Ji An sat down and revealed a joyful expression, ”I was just about to report to the ancestor, I have broken through to the Fifth Transformation of Chao Origin, and have begun cultivating the Water Element Divine Mansion.”

Daoist Master Zhengyang arched his eyebrows in surprise, unable to hide his smile:

”Good, good! Several years earlier than I expected. You disciples’ cultivation has advanced rapidly, which brings great joy to my heart.”

As a sect leader who held little hope for cultivation, the continuous emergence of talents in the sect was the most joyful thing for him.

When the time came for celestial travel, he could proudly recount to his fellow ancestors.

He, full of spirit and energy, continued:

”The speed at which a cultivator develops the fifth Divine Mansion will be faster than the previous four. Do you have enough pills at hand?”

”Thank you for your concern, ancestor. According to my calculations, even if the pills are insufficient, it’s not too far off.”

Daoist Master Zhengyang laughed heartily:

”If you achieve perfection with all five Divine Mansions, you’ll have to travel outside to comprehend deeper levels of the Five Elements Dao. I am somewhat reluctant to let you go.”

Whether this disciple stayed in the sect profoundly impacted Red Flame Peak.

Ji An smiled slightly. If he could fully comprehend the Five Elements’ endless life and reach the Chao Origin Realm without traveling, he wouldn’t want to venture outside either.

The outside world was dangerous, where sometimes sheer bad luck would make one a casualty in High-Tier Cultivators’ battles.

Daoist Master Zhengyang looked at his disciple, growing more satisfied, and said:

”I currently have no Tier Three Talismans left, but in a few years, the merchant flying ship from Central Continent will arrive, and I’ll trade for some talismans for your protection.”

He worried about his disciple’s encounter with a Golden Core Cultivator’s pursuit while traveling to the Southern Continent.

”The sect has already provided ample care for me. When the Business Alliance of Central Continent arrives, the resources in my hand will be sufficient to trade for a few Tier Three Talismans.”

Ji An spoke. The sect, during the last exchange, had paid an enormous price to acquire much legacy in artifact refining and cultivation, and was not wealthy now.

”Providing a safety net for excellent disciples’ growth is a primary factor for the sect’s development and expansion.

Your purchase of talismans is your personal choice, but the sect’s intentions hope you will not refuse.”

Daoist Master Zhengyang was all smiles. When a disciple felt a sense of belonging, they would be willing to fight at perilous moments of the sect, and the legacy would thus be more stable.

”Thank you, ancestor. I have another request today, to use the Wuji Xinghuang Banner as my lifebound magical treasure, and hope to quickly cultivate an artifact spirit.

I’ve heard there’s an Earth Element Spiritual Fiend in the Treasure Pavilion. I want your approval to exchange resources to use it.”

Ji An stated his intention, awaiting a reply.

”Have you given it thought? Using the Wuji Xinghuang Banner as your lifebound magical treasure, though flexible, its defensive strength doesn’t match my Profound Yellow Tower.”

”This is a decision I’ve deliberated for years.”

Daoist Master Zhengyang nodded slightly, ”Take out your spiritual artifact and let me have a look.”

With spiritual fiends being valuable and rare, he needed to feel the spirit of his disciple’s spiritual artifact to make a decision.

Ji An urged the Wuji Xinghuang Banner, which flew from his dantian, golden lotuses blooming in the void.

Its spirit was not as potent as the Earth-Departing Flame Banner, yet only by making it the lifebound magical treasure could it command the other five elements’ banners.

The spiritual artifact spewed out Earth Element Spirit Light, transforming into yellow clouds, concealing itself.

Daoist Master Zhengyang formed a spell to capture it but was cleverly evaded by the apricot yellow Banner. He intensified his magical power, applying continuous pressure to the spiritual artifact.

After a while, he stopped, saying:

”The spirit’s cultivation is not bad but not enough. Using a spiritual fiend to cultivate it now would be wasteful.

You’ll first use Earth Element Essence to cultivate it for several more years. Once the spiritual artifact can produce sound, then you may use the spiritual fiend to cultivate it.

At that time, with ample spiritual fiends, it could take as quick as three to five years, as slow as ten to eight years, to cultivate an artifact spirit.”

”Ah?”

Daoist Master Zhengyang arched his eyebrow:

”Is there a problem?”

”No problem. I never realized cultivating an artifact spirit had such clear standards.

I’ve never heard other senior brothers mention it, nor seen any record in the sect’s Inheritance Hall.”

Ji An was exhilarated, implying that the Earth-Departing Flame Banner could be nurtured with the Fire Phoenix Soul-Burning Fiend!

”These insights aren’t documented. I accidentally learned about them while traveling in Central Continent. It’s said that Nascent Soul Sects have precise cultivation methods.

The difference between ancient major sects and other forces is indeed vast.”

Ji An smiled:

”Maybe someday in the future, the sect will also produce Nascent Soul Cultivators.”

”Haha, let it be so.”

Daoist Master Zhengyang’s eyes gleamed, then sighed lightly, shaking his head.

Without a cultivation technique directly pointing to the Nascent Soul Stage, breaking through to the Nascent Soul Stage was but a foolish dream.