Chapter 407: The Treasure Flower Appears in the World!

However, regarding the fusion of these two body-refining techniques, Qin Ming did not dare to try them lightly and was still only in the research phase.

After all, although the "Yuan Sha Seed Demon True Scripture" is a supreme demonic technique, it is simultaneously a pig-farming technique.

Although no one had planted a Dao Heart Demon Seed within him, he did not know if, after cultivating it, he would end up being farmed like a pig by someone.

To have his hard-earned cultivation base plundered away would be a bloody loss.

After completing his daily cultivation, Qin Ming paced over to the mutated spiritual plant, the Lei Yuanmo Date Tree.

Three golden attribute entries came into his view.

【Name】: Lei Yuanmo Date 【Entry】: Space-Time Leaves x5 (Maturity 6%) 【Name】: Lei Yuanmo Date 【Entry】: Abundant Lifespan x5 (Maturity 5%) 【Name】: Lei Yuanmo Date 【Entry】: Origin Demon Qi x1 (Maturity 5%) "So much time has passed, yet the growth progress of this demonic plant seems far too slow."

"It is estimated that more corpses of demonic creatures are needed to accelerate its growth."

Although Qin Ming still had some 【Space-Time Leaves】 entries in his sea of consciousness, those were all reserved for catalyzing the spiritual materials needed to refine the Condensed Infant Pill.

Furthermore, several additional sets of spiritual materials for refining the Ice Heart Jade Soul Pill also needed to be prepared.

Qin Ming tended to and watered the spiritual plants within the Small Xiao Lingjing once more, then came outside.

The instant he exited the cave dwelling, an extremely rich and peculiar fragrance of spiritual rice rushed straight at him.

Looking out, Qin Ming saw over a hundred mu of third-tier spiritual rice, resembling a forest of emerald bamboo, all having grown to a height of two zhang, appearing extremely magnificent.

Gazing from afar, it gave one a feeling of relaxation and happiness.

With the harvest approaching, Li Lan did not leave even a step away, standing guard within the spiritual fields without daring to be the slightest bit careless.

From his expression, Qin Ming could also see that Li Lan was filled with a sense of accomplishment after completing such a feat.

Recently, Li Lan's reputation had spread throughout the Five Elements Mountain Market, after all, cultivating such a large quantity of third-tier spiritual rice at once was not something just anyone could do.

Even the various major powers had begun to place advance orders to purchase the legendary third-tier spiritual rice from him.

However, Li Lan politely rejected them all one by one: "I am truly sorry, everyone; matters concerning the spiritual rice are entirely under Shopkeeper Lu's authority. I am only responsible for planting and have no right to interfere."

Consequently, the focus of all the cultivators shifted onto Qin Ming.

Qin Ming naturally could not be bothered to deal with these people and directly activated the third-tier protective formation around the spiritual fields to its maximum capacity.

Even though the cultivators were fervent in their desire for the rice, they could only look on and sigh in despair.

Qin Ming and Li Lan arrived at the Yu Huang Spiritual Rice Field; he extended his index finger, casually selected a stalk of spiritual rice, and lightly tapped on its bamboo-like joint, from which came the sound of grains rolling inside.

"Hmm, it will be ready for harvest in a few months."

Li Lan also revealed a joyful smile, saying, "Shopkeeper Lu, I have fortunately not failed your mission."

"Once the spiritual rice matures, keep ten percent for yourself," Qin Ming said lightly.

Hearing this, Li Lan was instantly startled: "Ah? Wasn't the original agreement that I would farm for you free of charge for thirty years, and in exchange, you would gift me precious spiritual plant cultivation experience? Could it be that you are dissatisfied with me, Li Mou..."

"I reward and punish clearly; the high-tier spiritual rice you cultivated this time far exceeded expectations, so this portion is your reward; do not worry too much about it," Qin Ming stated frankly.

Li Lan was immediately overjoyed and hurriedly thanked him: "Thank you for Shopkeeper Lu's reward."

"Mm, go back to your work," Qin Ming nodded.

But just at that moment.

Suddenly!

Qin Ming furrowed his brows; his powerful divine sense immediately detected several black demonic birds circling far above the spiritual fields, seemingly investigating something, before gradually departing after a long while.

"These are... Wind-Splitting Condors; could they be related to that Great Black Heaven Demon Sage?"

"Appearing at such a critical moment, who knows what schemes they are plotting..."

His eyes, dark as ink, flickered constantly.

With the spiritual plants about to mature, the merchant ships returning to the Southern Desolate Immortal Realm were also about to depart.

Yet in Qin Ming's heart, there vaguely arose an ominous premonition that unexpected trouble was about to occur.

However, at this time.

The Sky-Devouring Mouse ran back from outside.

Qin Ming had previously arranged for it to keep watch underground at the Five Elements Mountain spiritual vein to prevent any changes.

"Master, there is new information."

"It seems the Yin Demon Sect can no longer wait; they have actually colluded with the Great Black Heaven Demon Sage of the demonic beasts and somehow obtained a large number of living souls of high-tier cultivators."

"This has directly shortened the progress of their ritual by nearly half; I secretly overheard that in just three more months, the treasure flower of that Seven Wonders Treasure Tree will fully bloom, at which point the secret realm of that Qingyuan Sect will open, triggering a struggle for it."

"Even now, there are already three old demons with cultivation realms above Nascent Soul observing near the sacrificial altar."

Hearing the Sky-Devouring Mouse's report, even Qin Ming felt somewhat unable to hold it together.

"What?! Three old demons at the Nascent Soul level?"

The Sky-Devouring Mouse nodded, then explained: "To be precise, it is two Nascent Soul old demons: Xuan Yin Laomo of the Yin Demon Sect and Wan Gu Shangren of the Divine Dao Mountain."

"The remaining one is even more formidable; I speculate it should be that Saintess of the Blood Refining Demon Sect. Although on the surface she is only at the peak of the Jin Dan realm, her true strength should be around the Nascent Soul level."

"Even while I was using my Void Walking divine ability, that woman nearly discovered me; it truly gave me a huge scare, so I hurriedly ran back."

When speaking to this point, the Sky-Devouring Mouse wiped away a cold sweat from the false alarm.

"The Saintess of the Blood Refining Demon Sect?"

"That is indeed possible; the fact that this woman forced Han Ya Shangren to abandon his physical body and flee is enough to illustrate her terrifying strength and methods."

"Han Ya Shangren, despite being an old fox who has lived for a thousand years, was made to suffer such a setback; none of the other few old monsters in Great Jin could achieve that," Qin Ming said with a grave expression. "That's right; I saw that both Xuan Yin Laomo and Wan Gu Shangren were subtly taking their cues from her," the Sky-Devouring Mouse added.

"Sigh! With such a situation, it's a Nascent Soul meeting!"

"Since that Great Black Heaven Demon Sage chose to cooperate with Xuan Yin Laomo, he must be lurking in the shadows nearby."

"And then there is Li Huo Shangren of the Dao Protection Alliance, along with other big shots..."

"Just as the spiritual rice is about to mature, the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse."

"The plan has changed; it seems I have no choice but to flee immediately."

Although Qin Ming's current strength was already no weaker than that of a true Nascent Soul Qin Zhenjun, he was still unwilling to get entangled in these conflicts.

Immediately, he recalled the Heaven-Devouring Sky Rat into his Small Xiao Lingjing, then flew toward the Five Elements Mountain Market.

At Qin Ming's current flight speed, a journey that previously required two days was completed in merely half a day.

This was the terror of possessing Nascent Soul-level magic power while still at the peak of the Jin Dan realm! He immediately contacted Han Yuan, arranging to meet him at the Wind-Riding Tower.

Gao Feng and Liu Ye also arrived; it seemed they too had realized this might very well be their last meeting with 'Fellow Daoist Lu'.

Inside a private room at the Wind-Riding Tower.

After not seeing each other for three days, Qin Ming first exchanged some pleasantries.

Then he asked directly:

"Fellow Daoist Han, how much longer until the Jintian Trading Company's merchant ship departs for the Southern Wilderness?"

"The departure time is set for the tenth day, two months from now. Why? Does Fellow Daoist Lu have some urgent matter?" Han Yuan couldn't help but ask with concern.

Hearing this, Qin Ming immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

In that case, it seemed to be a full month earlier than the opening of the secret realm, leaving plenty of time.

However, looking at the three people sitting at the same table before him, he couldn't help but let out a sigh.

Once the Qingyuan Sect's secret realm opened, a great battle would be imminent; even with their Foundation Establishment cultivation, these three would find it difficult to survive amidst such chaotic warfare.

As patrol officers of the Way-Defending Alliance, participating in the battle was unavoidable.

Thus, Qin Ming said, "Fellow Daoist Han, Fellow Daoist Gao, Fellow Daoist Liu, allow me to say one more thing: in these troubled times, why don't you seek opportunities to transfer to other positions?"

"Even being reassigned to the rear for logistical work would be better."

"To put it bluntly, once war breaks out among the three kingdoms, you three will likely become the first batch of cannon fodder."

Hearing this, Han Yuan said, "Alas! Fellow Daoist Lu, it is not that the three of us are unwilling; those who can be temporarily transferred all have backgrounds and connections."

"The three of us are all scattered cultivators by origin; we struggled hard to reach our current positions, and now wanting to retreat is basically impossible."

"When the time comes, we can only leave our fate to heaven and pray for our own fortune."

This time, the Qingyuan Sect's secret realm at Five Elements Mountain involved the inheritance of a Huashenzong Sect.

When those Nascent Soul old monsters make their moves, the resulting backlash would turn not just Foundation Establishment cultivators, but even Jin Dan stage cultivators, directly into flying ash; even with nine lives, it wouldn't be enough to survive.

After gathering briefly with Han Yuan and the other two, Qin Ming left the Five Elements Mountain Market, gathered some intelligence, and then returned to his spirit fields.

Two months later.

Nothing happened during this period.

Within the lush and verdant spirit fields, one hundred mu of third-grade Jade Emperor Spirit Rice had fully ripened.

Qin Ming instructed Li Lan and the spirit farmers under him to harvest it immediately.

After several days of busy work, they finally harvested the entire field of spirit rice.

This harvest yielded a total of exactly three thousand jin of Jade Emperor Spirit Rice; for such high-grade spirit rice, this output was quite acceptable.

Qin Ming himself had also planted Jade Emperor Spirit Rice within his Small Xiao Lingjing, and its quality was far superior to that of Li Lan's.

It was already more than enough for his daily cultivation needs; he simply couldn't finish it all.

Yet these third-grade Jade Emperor Spirit Rice grains were precisely what the outside world desperately sought, and Qin Ming planned to use them in the future to exchange for some scarce resources.

After all, some things couldn't be bought even with spirit stones; they could only be obtained through barter.

Just as Qin Ming and the others finished harvesting all the spirit rice from the fields and finally set their minds at ease...

Deep within the fourth-grade spirit vein of Five Elements Mountain, in the underground world.

The cultivators of the Yin Demon Sect, Divine Dao Mountain, and Blood Refinement Demon Gate were all extremely excited, staring fixedly at that Seven Wonders Treasure Tree.

On the coral-shaped treasure tree, as strands of bloody light from the altar were injected into it...

The flower buds of varying colors hanging on the seven branches suddenly unfolded and bloomed! Buzz! Boom! However, before the utterly stunned gazes of the many cultivators...

Seemingly influenced by some force, the Seven Wonders Treasure Tree suddenly erupted with seven-colored treasure light, and the entire spiritual plant grew continuously at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It directly pierced through the upper mountain range, causing the peaks above the dome to instantly collapse and shatter.

The treasure tree's frenzied growth did not stop, bursting straight through the sky!

Transforming into a height of several thousand zhang, it resembled a World Tree, standing between heaven and earth, supporting the sky and treading upon the ground.

Immediately afterward, billions of rays of brilliant treasure light lit up on the Seven Wonders Treasure Tree, and the flower buds hanging on the seven branches instantaneously bloomed into seven-colored, magnificent treasure flowers.

(End of Chapter)