Chapter 121: Practicing Methods and Searching for Spirit

Having purchased the spell manual, Du En immediately began to practice.

According to the description of Earth Cannon Technique, at the initial stage of just having learned it, one can condense a hard earth cannonball the size of a human head to bombard a hostile target.

This power is basically on par with a Small Success in Earth Bullet Technique, perhaps slightly superior.

Clearly, it is the superior spell to Earth Bullet Technique; therefore, through the already Perfected Earth Bullet Technique, it could be easily integrated, so Du En very easily converted his cultivation and learned it.

【Spell: Earth Cannon Technique (Small Success 0/1000)】

The actual performance of the second spell integration thoroughly verified the alignment of the various proficiency levels.

Now, let's look at the second spell.

One by one, the demon snakes discovered the cultivator who had actively stepped into their nest, immediately stirred into action, and launched an attack on Du En.

Not to mention the various sporadically distributed spirit woods and spirit plants, the influence of which would be even more pronounced.

Under the old tree over there lay scattered human bones.

Amidst the sounds of flesh tearing, the first-rank snake swarm was cleared out directly.

As a result, the other party, who still needed to guard the logistics department, chose to give up for the time being and finally did not come to sneakily spy again today.

Clearly, the newly learned Fire Ignition Technique did not have the ability to significantly suppress the enemy.

By this point, the materials for culinary cooking were also rapidly running low.

He took another Soul-Returning Pill to replenish the usage count of Fire Ignition Technique, so as to facilitate synchronized calculations with the Earth Cannon Technique side.

It also harbored various epidemic poisons, changing in diverse ways; one moment it was this green kind, the next it was suddenly another red kind. Caught off guard, it was very easy to end up covered in festering sores, poisoned to death.

With a *whoosh*, crimson flames erupted on the body of the brown-spotted giant snake. It immediately shrieked in pain, its fierce demonic power surging to extinguish the burning fire on its body, yet it appeared to be in a stalemate. It couldn't help but roll on the spot, while secretly eyeing Du En, brewing a demonic spell, waiting for an opportunity.

At the same time, this spell could also be used as a means of attack.

"Hmm, even if it's just a Great Completion, now that it's being used, the power is already close to the original Perfected state. Of course, there isn't too much of a change; after all, this spell has already been practiced to the limit. Only by continuously increasing one's cultivation can one rely on the quantity and quality of mana to continue to force the power up..."

Over here, ancient trees towered, hanging down strange vines, green and brown intermingled, looking like snakes.

Whether it was artifact refining or culinary cooking, as the cooked-mud pot began to fail to keep up with the pace, it was necessary to find a way to solve this basic problem.

Because its head and neck had been hit directly by the earth cannon, smashing it ten feet deep into the ground, the few splashes of crimson around it set off its current state.

At this point, the number of spells Du En could diligently practice every day returned to three.

Bang!

"Hiss!"

After withdrawing his attention, Du En began to sense and search.

That solid earth cannon, a full twelve feet long and a foot thick, made the giant snake stop rolling, looking dumbfounded.

Appearing in Du En's eyes was a brown-spotted giant snake, a full ten zhang long with a plump and round body; it was clearly the leader of the snake swarm here, with a cultivation at the mid-stage of the second rank.

Zhao Jinlin had appeared restless over the past few days, observing and looking for opportunities in the dark, but Du En had not let him find such an opportunity.

Thus, it waited for an earth cannon.

Not choosing the superior versions of Earth Armor Technique and Sand Raising Technique, but choosing this Fire Ignition Technique, was naturally to use it to make up for the deficiency in firepower.

In short, it is very difficult for an ordinary Qi Refining stage cultivator to survive in this place!

*Puchi puchi*...

【Spell: Fire Ignition Technique (Initial Mastery 0/100)】

Even at the Initial Mastery stage, it could easily burn a Qi Refining stage cultivator to death, leaving them unable to extinguish the flames rising on their body no matter how they patted or tried to put them out.

Thus, spirit woods and ordinary trees were mixed together, dense and thick. No one knew how many years they had grown, how long they had grown, or how many there were. Interacting with the spiritual energy environment, they formed a wild and desolate territory that would make even professional herb gatherers and ore seekers feel their scalps tingle.

Amidst the sound of collision, the Great Completion armor shield remained intact, while the attacker only felt pain; its skin was torn, leaving bloodstains, and it retreated upon contact.

Du En intended to drag out this long line first, waiting for a timing that both sides felt was appropriate.

A simple introduction is that it consumes one's own mana, and after being cast toward a target point, it ignites raging mana flames.

Aren't you at the early stage of Foundation Establishment?!

In shock, its field of vision was already covered.

Relying only on Du En's current Initial Glimpse of Spirit Searching, it was indeed very difficult to find things. Even with the earth-element resonance brought by his cultivation method and more sensitive senses, it still felt like "looking at a mountain and running a horse to death."

Du En silently evaluated this situation, while simultaneously raising his hand. A layer of earth armor silently covered him, condensing into an arm shield sturdier and harder than ever before, directly blocking a black shadow that was attacking.

His divine sense extended slightly for a few zhang and made contact. Judging from the bone structure, the deceased should have been a Qi Refining stage cultivator in life, either an evil cultivator or a runaway. In any case, they died in this sinister mountain forest that had not been cleared or organized, becoming a warning sign for those who came later.

The field of vision was hazy, making it difficult to see clearly ahead. Even if a Perfected Qi Refining cultivator came, it would be very easy for their line of sight to be blocked. As for ordinary early or mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators, coming here was basically being blind.

Du En naturally did not let his guard down. Even though he could ignore these strange miasma poisons relying solely on his formidable physical body, he still used mana outside his body to carefully isolate and resist the intrusion of the miasma.

As for the present, with the constraints here gone, it was time to start doing proper work!

But in this kind of territory, the relatively rare high-grade individuals would be buried by the dense, low-grade individuals.

Considering that there would be side jobs during the day's patrols, and his main energy was still spent on cultivation, he arranged the number of spell practices to be twenty times every day.

Indeed, Du En's current search target, the various second-rank spirit items, because their grade was relatively high, should have more conspicuous signs radiating to the surroundings.

With a *whoosh*, the raised sand particles wrapped in a gust of wind, spreading out densely, obscuring the vision and enveloping these strange snakes.

Fire Ignition Technique.

Boom!

Amidst the loud noise, the giant snake's body suddenly straightened like a long whip, directly overturning a dozen ancient trees, then went limp and hung down, with no more movement.

In this mountain forest, miasma and damp fog were always permeating; no matter how scorching the sunlight was, it was difficult to disperse them.

"Hiss~"

Due to the influence of the permeating miasma, things like spirit searching appeared relatively difficult.

Because the trees and grasses that could grow here, even if they were not ranked spirit items, were very unique and tough varieties, which invisibly also had an influence on the surrounding environment.

So he raised sand.

Du En's gaze shifted, looking twenty-some zhang away.

During his daily patrol, he left the sector he was responsible for and ventured deep into the primeval mountain forests of the Southern Border.

Because he lacked relevant experience or expertise to assist him, he could only rely on his cultivation and comprehension to brute-force it, so it took Du En several days to study and master it.

—Clutching that strand of horse-tail hair, he followed the trail, searching for half a day, which even caused his physical body to travel over a hundred miles, before he finally arrived at the general location.

Du En raised his hand and pointed, casting the Fire Ignition Art.

No, these strange vines, they really are snakes!

Du En waved his hand, the sand grains dissipated, the earth cannon vanished, and then he used his storage bag to collect this fresh demon beast meat, to avoid it being contaminated by the miasma poison gathering back in.

Next was to continue moving forward, arriving at the depths of the snake nest.

(End of this chapter)