Chapter 179: Cultivation Progress

"Inside Xuanyi Valley in the State of Liang."

Qin Ming was somewhat surprised; this piece of information Su Yuqing had given him was of utmost importance to him.

Within the jade slip, Su Yuqing further explained that the reason Xuanyi Valley possessed the formula for the Golden Core Pill lay with its founding ancestral master.

That ancestral master had originally been a core disciple within the Brother Li Huo Palace of the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty, greatly favored by the Palace Master and holding an exceptionally lofty status.

However, after his cultivation realm reached the peak of the Jin Dan, he repeatedly attempted to break through to the Nascent Soul realm, only to fail every time.

Furthermore, with little lifespan remaining, he became disheartened, bid farewell to the Brother Li Huo Palace to retire to his hometown, returned to the State of Liang, and founded Xuanyi Valley.

The reason the Immortal Realm of the State of Liang was so much more stable than that of the other three states was not only because Xuanyi Valley had more than one Jin Dan ancestral master guarding it, but most importantly, because of the inheritance left behind by that founding ancestral master.

After all, this was practically equivalent to a branch of the Brother Li Huo Palace.

Moreover, it was said that Xuanyi Valley had maintained contact with the Brother Li Huo Palace right up to the present day.

"This is what one calls deep foundations!" Qin Ming couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

"Judging by this, the Lingyu Sect and Lei Yuanzong are completely insignificant compared to Xuanyi Valley."

"But the fact that this Golden Core Pill formula is actually inside Xuanyi Valley—how on earth am I supposed to get it?"

"Such an important pill formula; one doesn't even need to think to know it must be a core secret of Xuanyi Valley, held only in the hands of the Jin Dan ancestral master with the highest cultivation."

"Could it be that I have to snatch the pill formula from the hands of a Jin Dan ancestral master?"

"Sigh! It's too difficult."

"I should first strive to cultivate to the late Foundation Establishment stage before making any plans."

"The 'Cauldron Pavilion' in the core district of Yunze Xiancheng has Xuanyi Valley as its backing power; perhaps I can start there, probe into the situation inside, and then make my decision."

Pinching his chin in thought, Qin Ming already had a plan forming in his mind.

Next.

Qin Ming took out those five 'Five Elements Primordial Peach Trees'; if not for the Mirror Snow Pavilion, no other power would have been able to transport these exceptionally rare and delicate spiritual plants thousands of miles to Wangyue Island during the outbreak of the beast tide.

He hoisted his spiritual hoe, selected a good spot at the entrance of his cave dwelling, and planted the five spiritual peach trees separately.

Subsequently, he used one 【Regenerative Spiritual Seed】 trait to restore vitality to the spiritual peach trees.

Nowadays, Wangyue Island already possessed a third-tier middle-grade spiritual vein, which was more than sufficient for planting and cultivating the second-tier top-grade spiritual plants known as the Five Elements Primordial Peaches.

Furthermore, basically, Qin Ming didn't need to expend much effort; the abundant spiritual qi on the island alone was enough to let the spiritual peach trees grow robustly.

These were the various benefits brought about by the enhancement of the spiritual vein.

After he used the trait, the five spiritual peach trees seemed to be reborn; emerald green tender shoots emerged on their branches, greedily absorbing the thick spiritual qi in the air.

"Once the growth of the spiritual peach trees stabilizes and they produce Primordial Peaches, allowing me to obtain spiritual seeds, I can expand the planting even further."

"Peach Blossom Island, indeed."

However, if he wanted the spiritual peach trees to grow even better, regular care would still be required.

After planting the Five Elements Primordial Peaches.

Qin Ming came again beneath the Purple Gold Bamboo Forest; he smacked his lips, his eyes revealing anticipation: "I suppose the Bai Yulin Wine should be ready to drink by now?"

Immediately, he cast a spell to shift open the cellar cover, entered within, and moments later emerged carrying a jar of Bai Yulin Wine.

He carefully peeled open the seal, feeling a slight excitement in his heart; this was spiritual wine capable of increasing one's cultivation during the middle and late stages of Foundation Establishment.

In the entire Immortal Realm of the State of Wei, this was the only one of its kind.

Besides that.

According to the introduction by the senior predecessor who created this wine, the taste of Bai Yulin Wine could be described as the finest wine, capable of making cultivators become infatuated and intoxicated, utterly captivated.

As expected, the words were not false.

The moment he opened the wine jar, a dreamlike, hazy white mist drifted and flowed out from within.

At the same time.

A unique, intense, and exotic fragrance of spiritual wine rushed to his nostrils; just smelling it once made Qin Ming feel as though enlightened, deeply intoxicated within it.

"Truly excellent wine!"

Clutching the wine jar, Qin Ming approached a stone table beside the bamboo forest and took out a set of rather extraordinary and exquisite wine vessels from his storage bag.

These wine vessels had been rummaged from Zhao Wuji's Sumeru Ring; as the Young Master of the Zhao family, he had collected quite a few strange and peculiar objects.

"Such a treasure of an immortal feast naturally cannot be consumed too crudely, gulped down without savoring."

"It must be slowly and carefully savored."

"Let me also play the part of an Immortal of Wine for once, hahaha!"

Qin Ming was in a good mood, his hearty laughter echoing through the bamboo forest.

Seemingly having smelled the exotic fragrance of the spiritual wine, even the Silver-Winged Frost Bees burrowed out from their hive.

Transforming into a streak of silver light, they arrived before Qin Ming, staring eagerly at the Bai Yulin Wine inside the jar.

Qin Ming paid them no heed, pouring himself a full cup of Bai Yulin Wine first; the spirit wine, resembling ice skin and jade color, flowed out, wreathed in white misty vapors, emitting thick spiritual qi within the wine cup that teased his taste buds.

He lifted the jade cup, first holding it to his nose to gently sniff, a look of ecstasy appearing on his face, before draining the spiritual wine in the cup in one gulp.

Boom! The spiritual wine entered his throat.

In an instant, Qin Ming felt as if his entire being had been sublimated, floating as if becoming an immortal, his whole body as though bathing in the Yaochi Immortal Realm.

A surging mass of spiritual qi followed his meridians, rushing to his four limbs and hundred bones, before beginning to circulate through his heavenly cycles.

The medicinal power of the Bai Yulin Wine was extremely significant; only moments after drinking it, suddenly a hazy green drizzle began to fall above Qin Ming's dantian sea of qi.

These green raindrops, without exception, were all liquid magic power of the Foundation Establishment stage! As the green rain descended, the total amount of liquid magic power in Qin Ming's Zhihu Magic Power began to rise continuously.

Within the Purple Gold Bamboo Forest.

Qin Ming sat on a stone stool, his eyes slightly closed, his right hand still maintaining the posture of raising a cup, feeling the changes in cultivation brought by the spiritual wine, an involuntary smile appearing on the corner of his mouth.

"I never expected that Bai Yulin Wine could cause a cultivator of the Foundation Establishment stage to directly summon a liquefied green rain within the Zhihu Magic Power in their dantian sea of qi, thereby increasing their cultivation." "The senior predecessor who created the 'Divine Formula of the Wine Immortal' must have been a genius of stunning brilliance, actually able to forge a new path from the Dao of spiritual wine and comprehend this method of enhancing cultivation."

"This Dao of spiritual wine is in no way inferior to high-tier inheritances of the Hundred Arts of Cultivation!"

"Using wine to enter the Dao is truly marvelous!"

After personally experiencing the cultivation progress brought by Bai Yulin Wine, Qin Ming gained a renewed understanding of spirit wine.

A long time passed.

He slowly opened his eyes and said joyfully, "Just the spiritual energy contained in this single cup of wine has increased my magic power cultivation significantly; that senior truly did not exaggerate or boast."

"Alright, you've been watching for so long, here's a cup for you too."

Qin Ming saw the Silver-Yin Yi Shuangfeng beside him, looking so anxious and eager that it could barely contain itself.

Although he did not know how the spirit wine would affect a beast, since it was greatly beneficial to cultivators, he reasoned it should be no problem for his beast pet either.

Qin Ming took out a slightly larger sea bowl and served a bowlful of Bai Yulin Wine for the Silver-Yin Yi Shuangfeng.

Thus, a harmonious scene appeared.

In the bamboo forest, one human and one insect sat facing each other, drinking and savoring the fine wine.

In the span of one afternoon, the two of them drank more than half a jar of Bai Yulin Wine.

Qin Ming felt he could not drink any more; the spiritual energy within his body seemed ready to gush out at any moment, so he quickly packed away the wine vessels and rushed back to his cave dwelling to refine the medicinal power.

After drinking this half-jar of Bai Yulin Wine, he felt his magic power cultivation would advance significantly.

As for that fellow Silver-Yin Yi Shuangfeng, it had gotten directly drunk, lying motionless on the stone table, drooling from its mouth as if it still hadn't had enough to drink.

Half a month after entering seclusion.

Qin Ming emerged from his cave dwelling looking spirited and vigorous; he had completely refined the medicinal power of the Bai Yulin Wine, his liquid magic power had increased substantially, and he had taken another solid step toward the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

Ever since the spiritual vein environment of Wangyue Island changed to third-tier middle grade, Qin Ming's cultivation had become like a fish in water.

"With such a spiritual vein cultivation environment, even if placed in a major sect, I fear only core disciples could enjoy such treatment?"

"At this pace, cultivating in an orderly manner, I estimate it won't take long before I can break through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment."

"It's just that no one knows when this beast tide will end."

During this period, Elder Zhou Ping of the San Alliance had also visited once or twice, purchasing several batches of spirit pills and some spirit herbs from Qin Ming.

Qin Ming earned a fortune, but he also learned from Zhou Ping's words that this beast tide was fierce and violent, representing the largest in the history of the Wei Kingdom's Immortal Realm over the past few hundred years.

Large-scale casualties had already begun to appear within the spiritual energy Islands, and the current situation was extremely grim.

After Zhou Ping left, Qin Ming summoned Wu Jiang and asked him, "You are a local expert; do you know how many beast tides have erupted in the history of the Beast Cry Mountain Range, and what their scales were?"

"Cough! Fellow Daoist Qin, I'm not boasting to you, but I love researching literature; not to mention Canghai Xiancheng, even the several thousand years of history of the entire Wei Kingdom's Immortal Realm, I have studied slightly," Wu Jiang said proudly after sipping some spirit tea.

"In the history of Canghai Xiancheng, the shortest beast tide lasted half a year, while the longest lasted as long as eighteen years."

"Other small and medium-sized beast tides generally last about seven or eight years."

"By my estimation, the scale of this beast tide has almost surpassed the largest one in history, and its scope of impact is very wide; perhaps it will continue for quite a long time."

Qin Ming frowned slightly, "So does that mean this round of beast tide will last at least ten-plus years, or possibly even twenty or thirty years?"

Wu Jiang nodded noncommittally.

"Sigh! Never mind, Fellow Daoist Wu, nowadays the outside world is fraught with crisis; not only are beasts running rampant, but those evil cultivators taking advantage of the chaos to loot are also gradually appearing in endless numbers."

"Truly a chaotic era! You and I should just peacefully farm and cultivate on Wangyue Island; I believe surviving this beast disaster won't be a problem."

"Ten-plus years is nothing but the blink of an eye for us cultivators."

Wu Jiang was naturally more than willing and quickly nodded in agreement, but then thought of something and suddenly said, "Fellow Daoist Qin, what I said earlier isn't absolutely certain; perhaps some turning point will appear, and the beast tide might recede quickly."

"Oh? What kind of turning point?" Qin Ming's brows relaxed as he asked in confusion.

Wu Jiang replied, "According to historical records, over a thousand years ago, a beast disaster of unprecedented scale also occurred within the four kingdoms."

"But that time, it just so happened that a Jin Dan perfect-level Laozu retired and returned to his hometown in Liang Kingdom; it was precisely that Laozu who acted, using overwhelming methods to slay all the several third-tier Beast Kings that initiated the beast tide, thereby pacifying the disaster."

"Otherwise, who knows how many more people would have died."

"I recall that the Laozu was the Yun Laozu who founded the Xuanxi Valley in Liang Kingdom."

Upon hearing this, the corners of Qin Ming's mouth couldn't help but twitch.

A Jin Dan perfect realm is simply too far away; after chatting with Wu Jiang for half a day, Qin Ming ate a meal at Wu Jiang and his wife's wooden house before returning to his cave dwelling to cultivate.

When passing by the Purple-Gold Bamboo Forest, he unexpectedly discovered that the Silver-Yin Yi Shuangfeng had not yet sobered up from its wine.

More than half a month had passed, yet it was still lying on the stone table exactly as before, snoring loudly in deep sleep, without even changing its posture.

Qin Ming slightly sensed it and discovered that the beast force aura on the Silver-Winged one had also risen a notch; it seemed this Bai Yulin Wine had also benefited it immensely.

Meanwhile, within the spirit fields outside his cave dwelling, the new spiritual energy Rice had grown lushly taller by an inch.

Three golden entries immediately appeared in his line of sight: 【Name】: spiritual energy Rice 【Entry】: Space-Time Leaf x5 (Maturity 2%)

【Name】: spiritual energy Rice 【Entry】: Soul Power Crystal x5 (Maturity 3%)

【Name】: spiritual energy Rice 【Entry】: Regenerative Spirit Seed x5 (Maturity 4%)

Looking at his spirit fields where the growth was quite gratifying, Qin Ming presumed that in three years, the yield of spiritual energy Rice would increase significantly again.

He activated the Great Five Elements Art and began to descend spirit rain upon the spirit plants within the spirit fields.

Relying on the third-tier spiritual vein to cast the Spirit Rain Technique, the rainfall effect was naturally greatly enhanced.

On Wangyue Island, spring was in full swing, and everything was peaceful and harmonious.

But outside, chaos had already reign supreme.

(End of Chapter)