CHAPTER 337: CHAPTER 34: BODHI LEAF

When the entire Cultivation Realm was busy discussing the Qi Luck Gold Rankings and the Beast Taming Dao, Lin Jing and Pine Leaf Mouse had already embarked on their next grand project.

To scheme for the Bodhi Tree of Buddhism!

At that time, with secret arts, marvelous trees, and the gold rankings forming a trinity, no matter what Lin Jing researched, it would be as if aided by divine forces.

At present, although both Pine Leaf Mouse and Ice Soul Gu wanted to mimic Lin Jing by beating up a dragon carp to get on the Qi Luck Gold Rankings, alas, the two of them weren’t even a match for the dragon carp.

The dragon carp might act meek before a Beast Master, but it certainly wouldn’t hold back its heavy punches against its peers.

Therefore, Pine Leaf Mouse and Ice Soul Gu could only settle for the next best thing. According to Lin Jing’s arrangement, they first had to enhance their strength.

As for Ice Soul Gu, having been deeply shaken by the battle in the Grotto Heaven, it began questioning its existence.

Even with its Divine Techniques assisting Lin Jing, it couldn’t even breach the defense of a Creation Immortal Body, and Lin Jing had to expend his lifespan to create opportunities...

Comparatively, the two Mountain Gods transformed with a flick of the Creation Immortal Body’s wrist offered unimaginable benefits, far beyond what this unique Gu could accomplish...

Indeed, in Lin Jing’s realm, many Void Profound Cultivators considered these unique Gu as treasures, but they constantly faced setbacks.

But you can’t blame Ice Soul Gu for this. Based on historical stature, the Creation Immortal Body far surpasses any individual Gu God, let alone the whole Gu God Sect combined...

To enhance Ice Soul Gu’s capabilities, letting it devour the source of the Golden Light Gu now would certainly be the fastest way. Lin Jing originally intended to wait until they returned to Qingzhou, once they had a stable cultivation environment, before letting it devour it. However, given they still had to remain in the Western Desert for some time, Lin Jing directly arranged for it to enter the Hourglass of Time to begin devouring the Golden Light Gu source.

As for Pine Leaf Mouse, to enhance its strength, it actually needed not much effort. Raising its cultivation realm was paramount. Once it reached the Nascent Soul Stage, the lossless Golden Core Divine Techniques would be its greatest reliance!

For it to raise its cultivation realm, there were two shortcuts: one was to use the Cultivation Golden Core refined by the dragon carp, but Lin Jing didn’t have enough of those Golden Cores for himself, much less spare any for Pine Leaf Mouse.

Therefore, the second way, the old method—advancing through cultivation technique to improve cultivation—was its fastest method. After all, within the Demon Court, there was no limit to the Spirit Plants it could devour, and the only challenge for this shortcut was the need for Elder Shen Song or Pine Leaf Mouse itself to deduce the subsequent layers of the Cyan Emperor Longevity Technique.

It was uncertain how the progress was from Elder Shen Song’s side, but even if Elder Shen Song successfully deduced it, advancing one more layer of the Longevity Technique would be the limit. The future path might still need Pine Leaf Mouse to traverse itself.

In this way, the Bodhi Tree became even more critical, as it could assist Pine Leaf Mouse in deducing the subsequent cultivation techniques on its own.

Soon after, Pine Leaf Mouse exerted great effort to create the avatar Lin Jing required.

The plant-type avatar created at the cost of two decades’ worth of lifespan was much stronger than the two avatars sent to the Celestial Lion Race back then. As long as it wasn’t killed, it should last a long time.

The avatar could be used not just to replace the original to retrieve the Bodhi Tree but also in many other scenarios in the future.

"The avatar is only there to help us run errands, lest it drains the original’s time and energy, but just sending the avatar won’t be enough to get the Bodhi Tree." Lin Jing muttered as he looked at the avatar.

Aside from the Enlightenment Fish, which is a Treasure Beast from the Spirit Dao Sect, the Bodhi Tree is already overtly the strongest enlightenment resource. Furthermore, due to its cultivation difficulties, it’s extremely precious to the entire Buddhist sect.

Even the Buddhist prodigies don’t have the privilege of obtaining a complete Bodhi Tree; at best, they get opportunities to gain enlightenment at the Bodhi Temple.

Under such circumstances, for an outsider like Lin Jing to wish to acquire a Bodhi Tree, the difficulty is likely greater than obtaining the Golden Light Gu from Golden Ray Temple.

However, since Lin Jing took an interest in the Bodhi Tree, he naturally had a plan...

"I recall, in your Demon Core Space, don’t you have some Bodhi Leaves?"

Lin Jing looked at Pine Leaf Mouse, who had just created an avatar, its face pale, soaked in sweat, and panting heavily.

Pine Leaf Mouse, already tired enough, felt a myocardial infarction instantly when it heard Lin Jing’s words, its pupils shrinking.

"Squeak..." Pine Leaf Mouse asked nervously, are we moving that thing?

Bodhi Leaves, the leaves of the Bodhi Tree... Buddhism might not give out Bodhi Trees, but it allows the naturally fallen leaves to flow out.

These Bodhi Leaves do have the effect of enhancing comprehension, but their efficacy is vast compared to the Bodhi Fruit or cultivating under the Bodhi Tree. Rumors say it’s not even better than the bonuses from the Hidden Dragon Secret Technique.

However, as a rare enlightenment resource, even with its average effect, it’s still quite valuable. Bodhi Leaves are considered one of Buddhism’s main exports.

Among the spoils of Heaven-Reaching City’s conquest, there happened to be some Bodhi Leaves collected...

And these Bodhi Leaves were among Pine Leaf Mouse’s favorite wooden-attribute collections, stored in its deepest recesses.

"If you don’t part with the leaves, you can’t get the tree."

The Bodhi Tree as a whole is a third-grade marvelous plant, whereas the Bodhi Fruit is fourth-grade, and the leaves are third-grade.

This means that, with Pine Leaf Mouse’s current Immortal Eyes, it’s feasible to combine the Bodhi Leaves.

"Buddhism has been researching how to cultivate the green Bodhi Tree into the gold and silver Bodhi Tree of Bodhi Heaven for ages without success."

"Your Treasure Beast Divine Techniques, to some extent, can cause the Bodhi Leaves to mutate. As long as the mutations yield positive effects, we can use this as a pretext to masquerade as cultivation masters and negotiate with Buddhism, helping them cultivate Bodhi Trees!"

"With the precedent of the mutated Transformation Grass and the fact that the Beast Taming Sect has a rare Void Profound Plant-type existence, finally using the mutated Bodhi Leaves we cultivated as a trump card, even if Buddhism doesn’t hand us a Bodhi Tree to study, as long as we establish a contract to share research results in future, borrowing one for a century should not be a problem."

Lin Jing plans to scheme for the Bodhi Tree this way, with the success heavily dependent on what kind of mutation Pine Leaf Mouse can combine into the Bodhi Leaves.

"Squeak..." Pine Leaf Mouse pondered briefly before reluctantly nodding, alright...

The Bodhi Leaves in its space were already few, and after combining, only a handful remained, but if it could obtain a Bodhi Tree, it could generate a frightening amount of Bodhi Leaves, a trade Pine Leaf Mouse calculated clearly...

With that said, it fetched the Bodhi Leaves and placed them on the ground, activating its Divine Techniques!

Subsequently... they failed.

Pine Leaf Mouse weakly plopped down and slept.

"Hmm... The injury had just barely recovered, and then it exhausted its lifespan creating an avatar; I should sleep a bit before trying to combine again..."

The next day.

As Lin Jing and Pine Leaf Mouse hoped to at least combine the green Bodhi Leaves into the silver leaves of Bodhi Heaven’s second tier, the numerous green leaves under the Glazed Divine Pupil’s scan transformed into a single ink-colored leaf.

Lin Jing and Pine Leaf Mouse fell into deep contemplation, with a sense of foreboding; hopefully, it wouldn’t turn into a ferocious or demonic plant, they thought, as they still planned to use it to obtain Buddhism’s tree...

They scrutinized it.

[Mutated Bodhi Leaf: After consumption, within one year, training or understanding of non-compatible Cultivation Techniques or Magic will see reversed progress... Training compatible Magic will cause the practitioner to face significant setbacks, potentially leading to deviation or worse...]