The First Immortal of Destiny

”Senior Sister Qian, there is a Nine Holes Stone here!”

Deep within a spirit stone mine, a female disciple of the Red Flame Sect, who was mining spirit stone ore, suddenly exclaimed with excitement.

Hearing her junior sect sister’s call, Qian Xiaofeng immediately performed a Lightness Art, traversing the winding mining tunnels in just a few breaths to appear before the disciple.

Shaped like an infant, with all nine apertures formed... indeed, it’s a Nine Holes Stone…

Qian Xiaofeng gazed at the ”infant” embedded in the spirit stone ore, a knowing smile gracing her lips.

She then placed two fingers on the brow of the Nine Holes Stone, extending her sense into its interior to carefully inspect and perceive it.

This Nine Holes Stone contains at least five jin of Stone Marrow!

To cut it open directly would be too wasteful. It would be better to extract it whole, along with the surrounding spirit stone ore, and bring it back to the Fairyland.

With that, Qian Xiaofeng summoned her Spirit Sword and unleashed several sharp sword Qi, carving the Nine Holes Stone and several cubic meters of ore from the vein. She then directly stored them in the Universe Bag at her waist.

Seeing the envious look in her fellow sect sister’s eyes, Qian Xiaofeng smiled and said, ”Junior Sister Li, I will truthfully report your contribution in discovering the Nine Holes Stone to the sect. With this sum of sect Merit Points credited to your account, you’ll be able to exchange them for a higher-grade Universe Bag.”

”Hehe... Then I thank Senior Sister Qian in advance,” Junior Sister Li said happily, then activated her magic artifact and resumed mining the spirit stone ore.

This spirit stone vein was not located within the Green Cloud Cave; instead, it was situated within a Withering Realm.

The Green Cloud Cave, having become a forbidden land, had descended to this realm more than two months prior. Based on the environmental conditions of this world, Shen Mo had named it the ”Cancering Realm”!

A total of more than one hundred disciples from the Red Flame Sect were mining this spirit stone vein. Numerous mining tunnels, following the contours of the vein, spread out in all directions, continuously extending further and deeper.

The discovery of the Nine Holes Stone was proof that this vein had already been mined quite extensively.

If this were the original Red Flame Zone, such mining tasks would typically be assigned to outer disciples and handymen with some Mana. Inner disciples and Elite Disciples would certainly not be tasked with such dirty and laborious work.

But now, all the Red Flame Sect members mining the spirit stone ore were cultivators at the Qi Gathering Realm and Spirit Sea Realm.

Among them, the one with the highest cultivation was Shen Mo’s Direct Disciple, Qian Xiaofeng.

Many years ago, when Shen Mo brought her back to the sect from Hongye City, she was merely a late-stage Body Tempering Realm cultivator. Now, she had matured and successfully advanced to the late-stage of the Spirit Sea Realm. More importantly, she had secured a position in the increasingly competitive core selection with her exceptional swordplay that amazed everyone!

Among these disciples, even the one with the lowest cultivation possessed the strength of the Qi Gathering Realm Layer IV.

The Red Flame Sect had dispatched dozens of similar teams. With the point where the Green Cloud Cave had descended as the center, they radiated outwards in all directions of the ”Cancering Realm,” like a spider web.

The tasks of these Red Flame Sect members were not limited to mining spirit stone veins and excavating spirit gold deposits; they were also responsible for gathering spiritual plants and medicinal herbs, hunting for extraordinary materials, and collecting Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures!

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Previously, Shen Mo had propelled the Green Cloud Cave in an attempt to descend to the ”Immortal Realm.” However, he ran out of Mana midway and had to descend to the ”Cancering Realm” to recover.

This experience made him realize that it was impossible to descend in one go...

The ”Immortal Realm” is too special; it’s not a Withering Realm and still hangs on the branches of the Universe Tree.

Although Protectors of forbidden lands like Shen Mo can sense its existence and move towards it, fundamentally, the ”Immortal Realm” and other Withering Realms are not at the same ”height”!

Descending into other Withering Realms is akin to walking on flat ground, relatively easy.

But descending into the ”Immortal Realm” is like pushing a huge stone uphill. Not only is it immensely difficult, but the consumption of Mana is also extremely intense!

Therefore, Shen Mo constantly needed a large amount of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, as well as High-Grade Spirit Pills, to supplement his energy. This was to maintain his Essence and Qi and his power of chaotic Yuan, keeping them always at their peak state.

Otherwise, if his Mana were to be exhausted during another attempt to descend to the Immortal Realm, and there were no Withering Realms nearby for him to rest, the only outcome awaiting him would be to suffer severe injuries and, along with the Green Cloud Cave, plunge into the endless abyss of the ”Outer Void”!

To make a somewhat inappropriate comparison:

The Green Cloud Cave was like a giant ship from Shen Mo’s past life memories, sailing on a boundless sea filled with raging storms. Shen Mo was the engine of this giant ship, and those Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, High-Grade Spirit Pills, and similar resources were the fuel required to keep the engine running!

The giant ship could not reach its final destination in one go; it needed to stop midway to refuel.

The ”fuel” Shen Mo needed mainly came in two types. One consisted of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that could quickly restore Mana and nourish Essence and Qi, such as Earth Core Liquid, Nine Holes Stone Marrow, Enlightenment Tea, and pure Qi. The other type was High-Grade Spirit Pills of Grade six or higher or, to be more precise, the top-notch medicinal materials for refining such Elixirs!

Most of these top-grade resources, whether Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures or medicinal materials for refining High-Grade Spirit Pills, were spiritual items nurtured by a world for thousands, tens of thousands, or even millions of years.

The Green Cloud Cave had been established for less than ten years, and its foundation was consequently very shallow.

Although it abounded in nature’s spiritual Qi and ordinary cultivation resources, it was extremely deficient in top-grade resources like Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures. It would take at least another thousand years before it could naturally produce some.

Of course, during the integration of the cultivation world of the Red Flame Zone, a large amount of top-grade resources had entered the Red Flame Sect’s Treasure Hall.

Vast numbers of spirit gold mines, resource-rich lands, spiritual fields, and medicinal gardens had also been moved wholesale into the Green Cloud Cave. The Jade Pool Zone, where time flowed unusually, could also be used to cultivate aged spiritual plants and medicinal materials...

However, the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures capable of supporting the intense consumption of a Heavenly Monarch at the Divine Bridge Realm were always rather limited in quantity.

On the other hand, the medicinal materials for refining Elixirs were relatively abundant!

Elixirs for restoring Essence and Qi were different from talismans.

For instance, if attack talismans didn’t reach a certain power threshold, they couldn’t even break through a strong cultivator’s protective spirit energy. If one were to use a Grade III or Grade IV talisman to attack a Golden Core Realm expert, the resulting magical attack could be extinguished by a single breath from the Golden Core Realm cultivator!

Therefore, the grade of a talisman corresponded quite clearly to a cultivator’s Realm!

A Grade I talisman could threaten someone at the peak of the Body Tempering Realm; a Grade II talisman could threaten an early-stage Qi Gathering Realm cultivator; a Grade III talisman could threaten someone at the peak of the Qi Gathering Realm, and so on.

The medicinal properties contained in Elixirs, however, worked regardless of cultivation level.

Even a Grade I Elixir, if Shen Mo consumed it, could provide him with nutrients to nourish his Essence and Qi, which he could then refine into Chaotic Yuan Mana!

However, the medicinal power contained in Elixirs below Grade six was far too weak for him. To use them as a supplement, he would need to consume a massive quantity.

Even if all Alchemists of Grade three and above in the Red Flame Sect gathered to refine Grade IV Elixirs day and night without rest, the produced Elixirs would still be insufficient to cover Shen Mo’s intense Mana consumption when propelling the Green Cloud Cave towards the ”Immortal Realm.”

Only Elixirs of Grade six and above were relatively effective!

Thus.

Shortly after the Green Cloud Cave descended into the ”Cancering Realm,” Shen Mo issued a decree, ordering the disciples of the Red Flame Sect to go out and search for various top-grade resources!