CHAPTER 403: CHAPTER 398: HASTENING THE RIPENING OF HEAVENLY EARTH ELIXIRS! GUANYIN OF CHILD-GIVING?_1

Time flew, and over three hundred days had passed since they entered the Giant Forest Secret Realm for its trial.

The Xuan Beast Avatar had made swift progress, its Cultivation Level astonishingly reaching the Foundation Establishment Mid-Stage.

Such a rate of improvement could be described as nothing short of world-shaking.

The downside was that its Demon Core had shrunk, making it exceedingly difficult to wield its Innate Divine Power of Nature using demonic power.

The demonic power gradually transformed into Spiritual Power. Thankfully, Spiritual Power did not affect its Innate Divine Ability, which could be used without worry.

"Spring Breeze Spiritual Rain Spell!"

A spiritual wind picked up in the sky. A pale green spiritual rain started to fall gradually, nurturing the earth. All of it was absorbed by the Earth Vein Purple Lotus.

The Earth Vein Purple Lotus had grown larger than when it was first seen. Its purple flowers were blooming, and their fragrance was spreading.

It won’t be long before it matures.

The Xuan Beast Avatar left the range of the Formation and walked towards the depths of the Giant Forest Secret Realm.

Along the way, no verdant plants were seen. Everywhere was dotted with withered, yellow grass and trees, emanating a sense of decay.

It was as if the season had prematurely shifted to deep winter, a time when all life is silent.

All had their vitality plundered by the Kuruo Huasheng Jue, becoming this way.

Everything in nature has its own rules. The Kuruo Huasheng Jue’s effect in nurturing Spiritual Medicine was astonishing, benefiting from the act of plundering.

The Kuruo Huasheng Jue relies on seizing the essence of flora to accelerate the growth of Spiritual Medicine.

Otherwise, relying solely on the Spring Breeze Spiritual Rain Spell and the Innate Divine Power of Nature, it would not have been possible to quickly ripen the Earth Vein Purple Lotus.

After flying for about thirty li, the vegetation began to regain its ’liveliness’.

"Huasheng!"

As the Xuan Beast Avatar raised its hand, green qi swept across trees, flowers, and grasses. The plants seemed drained of vitality, turning withered and yellow.

Slender strands of faint green breath escaped from the trees, swarming towards the Xuan Beast Avatar like swallows returning to their nest, settling into its palm.

The Xuan Beast Avatar resembled the legendary Hanba, a drought demon; wherever it passed, plants withered and decayed, leaving a thousand li of barren land.

About half a cup of tea’s time later, a drop of dark green liquid flowed across its palm.

This was the floral vitality derived by the Kuruo Huasheng Jue, condensed from the essence of thousands of plants.

The Xuan Beast Avatar withdrew its hand, and the substance sank into its palm, disappearing.

It hurriedly activated the Qinggang Divine Wind Talisman and returned at astonishing speed.

The Xuan Beast Avatar passed through the Formation.

About half a cup of tea’s time later, Jia Ren emerged from the void. After confirming no one was following, both he and the avatar vanished.

The Xuan Beast Avatar approached the Earth Vein Purple Lotus, and the dark green droplet appeared in its palm.

The Huasheng liquid, slowly absorbed by the Earth Vein Purple Lotus, was extremely nourishing, and the purple flowers quickly unfurled further.

An unusual sound emanated from within the earth vein, indicating that the Earth Vein Purple Lotus was rapidly drawing upon the earth vein’s power to accelerate its growth.

The effect of a drop of Huasheng liquid on the maturation of Spiritual Medicine varied. This depended on the medicine’s ability to transform the liquid and also on the source and quantity of the absorbed plant essence.

The older the Spiritual Medicine plundered, the better the effect.

The Huasheng liquid could add thirty years of potency to the medicine. This benefited from the Giant Forest Secret Realm’s geographical advantage, with its numerous spiritual plants and lush vegetation, allowing for the plundering of a large amount of Spiritual Medicine essence.

In other places, achieving the same effect would require using one’s own cultivated Spiritual Medicines.

Once everything was done, the Xuan Beast Avatar sat quietly beside the Earth Vein Purple Lotus, silently guarding the Heavenly Earth Elixir.

「Three days later」

The Xuan Beast Avatar slowly opened its eyes. The Earth Vein Purple Lotus had fully blossomed, displaying eighteen purple petals.

Unlike ordinary lotuses, the Earth Vein Purple Lotus had neither a lotus pod nor seeds.

Each purple petal looked as if carved from the finest amethyst, pure and unblemished.

An exceedingly rich fragrance permeated the air. Just one whiff made one feel lighter, as if ascending to an ethereal realm.

The Earth Vein Purple Lotus has finally matured!

Jia Ren stepped out from the Mountain and Sea Pearl, elated.

All the hard work cultivating and nurturing the Earth Vein Purple Lotus had finally paid off.

His efforts had not been in vain.

"Formation up!"

"Conceal Spirit Heaven and Earth!"

The Formation was activated to its maximum capacity, and the Bewildering Spirit Bead concealed the Spiritual Energy and aura of this location.

When Heavenly Earth Elixirs mature, they are often accompanied by phenomena that attract the attention of Magical Beasts and other Lingbao Sect Cultivators.

Jia Ren did not wish for the painstakingly nurtured Spiritual Medicine to fall into others’ hands. The best approach was to block the anomalies and prevent this from happening.

BOOM!

A light purple spiritual qi surged skyward, drawing a vast amount of nature’s spiritual energy to converge and form a blossoming purple lotus.

The celestial phenomena and aura here were concealed by the Formation and the Bewildering Spirit Bead. They were invisible to outsiders, who remained unaware of the Heavenly Earth Elixir’s presence.

Jia Ren wasted no time. Seeing the phenomenon manifest, he decisively picked the Earth Vein Purple Lotus.

He collected the lotus platform with its eighteen petals, then the lotus root.

Due to the forced rapid growth, the lotus root was somewhat small, having only two segments.

Beyond that, there was nothing else.

Shortly after being harvested, the tendrils on the lotus root also fell off and turned to nothingness. This dashed Jia Ren’s hopes of replanting the Earth Vein Purple Lotus.

Jia Ren hurriedly stored the Earth Vein Purple Lotus, carefully sealing it in a wooden box and affixing a Talisman to it.

Only after he had done all this did the stone in Jia Ren’s heart finally lift.

It’s time to leave!

With the Earth Vein Purple Lotus taken, this place no longer held value. Although he had blocked the anomaly, it didn’t guarantee absolute safety.

The best course of action was to move to a different location to avoid trouble.

Jia Ren cleaned up all traces he left behind, then quickly departed.

He traveled a thousand li to the south before finally stopping by a stream.

"SQUEAK! SQUEAK!"

The Treasure-seeking Mouse was crouched by the stream drinking water. Seeing Jia Ren approach, it chirped excitedly.

The Insect External Incarnation followed closely beside the Treasure-seeking Mouse, looking expressionlessly toward its main body.

They had met just a month prior. Every month, the Insect External Incarnation would deliver the harvested Spiritual Medicine and treasures.

With a flicker of his form, Jia Ren had already disappeared inside the Mountain and Sea Pearl.

Before the Mountain and Sea Pearl could hit the ground, it flew into the Insect External Incarnation’s hand.

The Insect External Incarnation’s harvest over ten months was astonishing. Relying on the Treasure-seeking Mouse, it had swept through areas, gathering Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

Perhaps because it had collected so many treasures, fourth-rank treasures no longer stirred the slightest ripple in its heart. Only Spiritual Objects and Heavenly Earth Elixirs could still excite it.

The number of fourth-rank treasures was innumerable. It was more fitting to describe them using River Mountain Bags rather than by their quantity.

There were over fifteen bags, each River Mountain Bag having a space of more than a thousand cubic units.

The quantity of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures was numbingly vast.

This was the benefit of exploring an undeveloped Secret Realm. The number of treasures in an unvisited Secret Realm was unimaginably vast. Just entering it brought astonishing rewards.

Only a sect as wealthy as the Lingbao Sect would be willing to let its disciples use it for trials.

If it were any other Sect, the higher-ups would first scour the place and leave only a little for the disciples.

Of course, the most crucial point was that the Secret Realm’s level was relatively low, capped at the Divinity Transformation Stage.

A low-level Secret Realm World also meant limitations on treasure quality. God Transformation Level treasures, Spiritual Objects, and Heavenly Earth Elixirs, being the Secret Realm’s paramount resources, wouldn’t be too numerous.

The Insect External Incarnation, with the Treasure-seeking Mouse’s aid, had not traversed the entire Giant Forest Secret Realm but had explored at least one-third of its area.

In total, it had found twenty-three Spiritual Objects and two Heavenly Earth Elixirs, including the Earth Vein Purple Lotus.

Unlike Spiritual Objects and Spiritual Medicine, not every type was useful to Magical Beasts, so not all could be preserved until now.

Heavenly Earth Elixirs were different. Each type would create celestial phenomena upon maturation, and even Magical Beasts with low intelligence knew that swallowing them would be greatly beneficial.

It was impossible for Heavenly Earth Elixirs to survive untouched, waiting for someone to come and pick them.

The Earth Vein Purple Lotus hadn’t been mature; it only ripened thanks to Cultivation Techniques, secret techniques, and Divine Skills.

The second Heavenly Earth Elixir was named Wood Spirit Fruit. When the Treasure-seeking Mouse found it, it was not far from maturity, so it was successfully obtained.

Like other Heavenly Earth Elixirs, these also had grades, roughly divided into Heaven, Earth, and Man tiers.

The Earth Vein Purple Lotus could reach Earth Grade, while the Wood Spirit Fruit was only Man Grade.

The Wood Spirit Fruit could enhance one’s affinity with the wood element, increasing the power of wood-element Spells by thirty percent and the effectiveness of wood-element treasures by thirty percent.

Its effects were decent, but far inferior to those of the Earth Vein Purple Lotus.

"Let’s move on!"

The Insect External Incarnation had a premonition. The Secret Realm trial had lasted over ten months and was likely nearing its end.

In the remaining time, it needed to seize the opportunity to gather what it could.

Jia Ren wasn’t idle, though he wasn’t cultivating either.

Handing over such excellent resources would be too wasteful. How could he effectively avoid doing so? Refining Spiritual Medicine into Elixirs was a good option. There was too much Spiritual Medicine; even with a hundred years, he couldn’t refine it all into Elixirs. The second method was to use the Kuruo Huasheng Jue to plunder the essence of Spiritual Medicines, using the resulting Huasheng liquid to ripen other Spiritual Medicines. The issue was that fourth-rank Spiritual Medicines were the most precious he possessed. If he were to plunder their essence using the Kuruo Huasheng Jue to create Huasheng liquid for ripening other Spiritual Medicines, it would be a great waste, as Jia Ren didn’t have any even more valuable Spiritual Medicines that would justify sacrificing the fourth-rank ones. Jia Ren could only try to select the Spiritual Medicines most useful to him and prioritize refining them into Elixirs and Talismans; this wouldn’t be too much of a waste.

The Xuan Beast Avatar, on the other hand, focused its time on digesting Demon Cores and cultivation, rapidly increasing its strength.

During its free time, it would manage the Spirit Medicine Garden.

The Spiritual Medicines in the Spirit Medicine Garden were of ordinary quality. Their only advantages were their large quantity and wide variety, intended for the mutated Bizarre Objects.

Now, the Xuan Beast Avatar was in charge of it.

Raising insects, feeding fish, taming beasts, and cultivating Spiritual Medicines and Bizarre Objects could all be handled by the Xuan Beast Avatar.

The Insect External Incarnation had transformed from its previous nanny-like role into an avatar specializing in external affairs.

It set off with the Treasure-seeking Mouse, heading into the distance.

The Treasure-seeking Mouse was like a detector for Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures; no fourth-rank Spiritual Medicine that appeared could escape its notice.

Even after gathering a vast amount of Spiritual Medicine, the Treasure-seeking Mouse’s excitement was as high as when it first started.

It seemed determined to make up for all the treasures it had previously failed to find.

Not long after the Insect External Incarnation took flight, it spotted a corpulent, ball-shaped female Cultivator and a gray-robed Protector in the distance.

Li Ruhua and Ma Zhongyuan?

Li Ruhua was easy to recognize; it would be difficult to find a second person with such a physique in the Lingbao Sect.

Ma Zhongyuan carefully supported Li Ruhua, his gaze tenderly fixed on her abdomen, his expression full of gentleness.

"Be careful not to harm the vital energy of the fetus."

Only at this moment did the Insect External Incarnation realize something was amiss. Li Ruhua’s large belly seemed even more prominent. Was she... pregnant? Good heavens! Others came to the Giant Forest Secret Realm for Spiritual Medicine and resources, but Ma Zhongyuan was truly something else—planning to have a child here?

Using a secret technique, the Insect External Incarnation vaguely sensed that the pregnancy was quite advanced; the birth was likely imminent.

Could it be that Ma Zhongyuan drank my leftover fish soup and then immediately went off and conceived a child?

Cultivators were somewhat different from mortals; the higher their Cultivation Level, the harder it was to conceive.

Who would have thought the Holy Infant Carp had such an effect? Does this mean I could be considered a Child-Granting Guanyin?