Chapter 213

Yunhe, having recovered his state, followed the Fire Python's guidance and arrived deep within the volcano.

Along the way, he saw many 'Dragon Blood Stones' embedded in the magma rock; the Dragon Blood Stone deposits here were larger than Yunhe had imagined.

Developing and mining it is a problem.

But it's fine; in the cultivation world, there is plenty of experience in developing mineral deposits. The He family controls several sizable mines. Although they are not as precious as Dragon Blood Stone, they still have mining experience. As long as Yunhe gives a little guidance, he can have the demon beasts smoothly excavate the deposits here.

However, such a large Dragon Blood Stone mine yields a lot of Dragon Blood Stone when excavated, which is also a problem—surely we can't have Yunhe personally refine it all?

Even given his current alchemy level, he probably wouldn't have time for cultivation.

As for that, Yunhe actually has some ideas.

Perhaps he could make use of the He family's alchemists.

But explaining the source of the Dragon Blood Stone is a problem.

Furthermore, compared to the loyalty of demon beasts, cultivators harbor far more scheming thoughts; even though he is now the He family patriarch, he cannot possibly place absolute trust in the He family members.

"These can be dealt with later; wasting resources is never good."

"Hiss—"

At this moment, the Fire Python surging ahead in the magma finally brought Yunhe to the destination.

Yunhe, wrapped in demonic power to isolate himself from the magma's corrosion, furrowed his brows; upon seeing where the Fire Python had brought him and its treasure‑offering demeanor, he couldn't help but stare.

He extended a claw to draw forth the clear, translucent red crystal the Fire Python had produced, feeling the power within, and his heart leapt with joy.

"Dragon Blood Crystal?"

This is a purer ore than Dragon Blood Stone; whether used for forging artifacts or extracting a liquid similar to Dragon Blood Ginseng juice, it is far superior to Dragon Blood Stone.

Although it may not match a thousand‑year Dragon Blood Ginseng, it is not far off.

And this Dragon Blood Crystal, if processed properly, can be used to refine a top‑grade Third‑Stage Nurturing Pill!

The pills needed for cultivating the Demon Beast Body undoubtedly now have a source of supply.

Upon seeing the Dragon Blood Crystal, Yunhe faintly sensed that deep within this volcano, at the core of the Dragon Blood Stone deposit, there might be an even purer Dragon Blood ore.

But the Fire Python has lived here for so long and still hasn't found it; obtaining it would obviously not be easy.

However, it's fine; as long as we continue developing this mine, we will eventually obtain it.

And the Fire Python, having gathered many Dragon Blood Crystals and day‑night absorbing their blood‑crystal qi, gradually acquired a faint trace of the Scarlet Fire True Dragon Bloodline.

However, its simple method of absorption seems terribly wasteful in Yunhe's view.

Thus he compensated with a few Nurturing Pills and ordered the Fire Python to cease this behavior.

Having tasted a Nurturing Pill once, the Fire Python naturally agreed wholeheartedly.

It has already reached the late Third Stage; merely absorbing the blood‑crystal qi from Dragon Blood Crystals helps it little now, far less tempting than those few Nurturing Pills.

At the same time, Yunhe also declared that he would command it and its clan to gather Dragon Blood Crystals and Dragon Blood Stones, and that he would come periodically to collect them, rewarding the Fire Python clan with Nurturing Pills according to the amount of ore they gathered.

This is merely a superficial excavation of the deposit, yet the Fire Python agreed without hesitation and with great enthusiasm.

In the Fire Python's view, if it could obtain a supplement of Nurturing Pills, together with the newly acquired Mysterious Beast Technique, and with diligent cultivation, perhaps in a few hundred years it might have a chance to breakthrough to the Fourth Stage!

Having finished giving instructions, Yunhe, who disliked the hot, dry atmosphere here, departed.

As for the Fire Python's aspiration to breakthrough to the Fourth Stage in a few hundred years—

Yunhe hopes it has such ambition.

It's not Yunhe being arrogant; in his view, even if he encounters setbacks, in a few hundred years he should have reached the point of attempting to breakthrough to Nascent Soul and the Fourth Stage, right?

A cultivator's cultivation base rises much faster than a demon beast's.

Once he reaches the Fourth Stage, he naturally need not worry that the Fire Python will develop second thoughts; instead, he will gain another Fourth‑Stage subordinate—why not?

Even if, by then, Yunhe has not broken through to the Fourth Stage while the Fire Python first attracts a tribulation of transformation, before it passes the tribulation, its life or death rests entirely in Yunhe's single thought.

He is now only over 150 years old; matters a few hundred years hence can be considered later without delay.

This time, he lingered not at all, returning straight to the thriving Huanhu Dao.

At present, on Huanhu Dao, all the demon beasts have their own tasks—either cultivating or farming—a bustling scene.

Although demon beasts have low spiritual intelligence, that does not mean they cannot act; especially when each is responsible for a simple part, combining their innate traits can maximize efficiency.

For example, the Earth Silkworms of Kun Land and the several second‑stage earthworms Yunhe later captured make the soil more fertile by their nature and duty.

There are also the monkey clan responsible for sowing, the bird clan for pest control, metallic demon beasts for pruning, herbivorous demon beasts for weeding, wood‑attribute demon beasts for promoting growth, and so on.

After decades of adjustment, their division of labor is clear and their cooperation seamless.

Their hard work not only brings Yunhe a steady stream of resources, but also grants them more cultivation resources for themselves.

And what Yunhe needs to do is naturally provide them with things they cannot obtain themselves—pills, techniques, and so on, including the protection a leader ought to offer.

Returning to Huanhu Dao.

He met with the little fox, Qing Yao, the White Ape King, and other demon beasts, exchanged a few words, then retreated into his own cave dwelling to accumulate demonic power and break through to the mid‑Third Stage.

The cultivation world.

The He family patriarch's manor.

Yunhe skillfully placed the refined elixir into a jade bottle, gazing at the furnace before him whose heat had not yet fully dissipated.

"The furnace really ought to be replaced."

His furnace, which had reached the level of a top‑grade Spiritual Artifact, is already somewhat unable to keep pace with his alchemical standards.

But furnaces are rare to begin with; a second‑stage top‑grade furnace is already quite good, and a third‑stage treasure‑level furnace is even rarer.

"Could it be that I have to forge one myself?"

Leaving aside the materials, he has never forged a furnace nor knows the method, so he is unclear on how to forge one.

He shook his head.

Yunhe lightly brushed his storage ring, taking out two pieces of turtle shell wrapped in coiling demonic qi and solidified, revealing a thoughtful expression.

These two pieces come from the shell of a Fourth‑Stage demon beast, the Land Mountain Turtle; he already has some clues, but he is still missing a few things.

And these things, with the current He Clan cultivators and the market, are probably hard to obtain.

He should also go out for a walk.

Yunhe stretched lazily, slowly rose, and lightly brushed his robe.

He flipped his palm, took out a jade slip, swept his divine sense over it to leave a message, then placed it inside the residence; when He Yuanlin came looking for him, that jade slip would automatically fly out.

After tidying up the things inside the residence, he silently left the He Clan and departed South Lodging Island.

Nowadays, the He Clan is still relatively peaceful.

Since he last slew Liu Yanfeng and Wang Fengbai, although the Liu and Wang clans jointly suppressed the news, paper cannot ultimately contain fire, let alone the disappearance of two Golden Core elders.

Now on South Lodging Island, it has spread that the He Clan elder He Wen is a mid‑Golden Core cultivator who, single‑handedly, slew two early‑Golden Core cultivators; afterwards, the mid‑Golden Core elders of the Liu and Wang clans came to his door but found nothing.

When the news first came out, some cultivators still thought it was an exaggeration—was this still the He Clan "old turtle" they knew?

Until the news gradually spread and became more and more true, yet no cultivator from the Liu or Wang clans spoke up to refute it, the cultivators of South Lodging Island slowly realized, as if... this is real?

For a moment.

Originally, who knows how many people and clans were waiting in the shadows for the He Clan to decline, waiting to see its jokes, but those people have all disappeared, and the He Clan has once again returned to its former prosperity.

Of course, behind this prosperity, there is inevitably the suppression and targeting by the cultivators of the Liu and Wang clans.

As for this, Yunhe didn't bother to inquire, just as the Golden Core elders of the Liu and Wang clans wouldn't either.

Everything requires these Golden Core cultivators to worry about—do they still cultivate or not? What use are those clan cultivators then?

"'What secrets does this token actually hide?'"

In a streak of light that flashed across the sky, Yunhe held a token in his hand, its engraved pattern extremely vivid, like a vine slowly unfurling.

Compared to when Yunhe first obtained it, this token has undergone a considerable change.

The most obvious change, without doubt, is that the vine originally coiled into a ball on the token has now almost fully unfurled, lacking only a little to be completely unfurled.

And the extension of the vine seems to be foreshadowing something.

But what exactly it is remains Yunhe's greatest puzzlement.

He perused all the records on the Upper Realm that He Yuanlin had gathered at his behest, but found no answer whatsoever; instead, he learned much about the Upper Realm, which somewhat compensated for his shortcomings as an outsider.

His only clue is the place where that He Clan ancestor obtained the Condensation Method; perhaps it is related.

Out of curiosity about the Condensation Method and also about the token, he decided first to go to the place where the He Clan ancestor discovered the Condensation Method to have a look, then go collect what he needed.

It is not too far from South Lodging Island, actually.

Jing'an Island, which belongs to South Lodging Island.

Yunhe spent about seven days to reach the vicinity of Jing'an Island.

Still from He Wen's memories, the vague fragments passed down from the He Clan ancestor reveal that this ancestor was originally just a spiritual farmer on Jing'an Island; during one departure from Jing'an Island he encountered an attack by a cloud beast, he miraculously survived and arrived at a rather remote, spirit‑poor, not too large solitary island.

At that time, the He Clan ancestor, in order to survive, while searching for food, accidentally fell into a ground fissure and ultimately obtained the Condensation Method.

This method also became the key to the He Clan ancestor's rise and the He Clan's ascent.

"'It won't be especially far from Jing'an Island, rather remote, spirit‑poor, vegetation should still be fairly lush, but there is a ground fissure.'"

All these conditions considered, with Yunhe's now powerful divine sense, as long as he is willing to spend some time searching, it should not be hard to find.

"'Back then, the He Clan ancestor suffered betrayal and fell; he not only warned the He Clan cultivators to strictly seal the news of the Condensation Method, but also strictly forbade them from exploring this island, for he understood the principle that an innocent man who carries a jade invites his own doom. A single Condensation Method nearly brought about the He Clan's destruction back then; if they were to find anything else, the He Clan would surely be doomed.'"

"'However, after all these years, the He Clan cultivators probably wouldn't be that obedient, yet no information has ever been passed down; it seems extremely likely they simply couldn't find it.'"

That is rather strange.

After all, the He Clan cultivators qualified to know this news have at least Golden Core cultivation; if Golden Core cultivators cannot find it, how could a mere Qi‑refining stage He Clan ancestor have entered?

"'Could it be concealed by an illusionary formation?'"

Probably only an illusionary formation could have done that.

With that thought, a spiritual light flashed in Yunhe's eyes; his "Spiritual Pupil" would grant him stronger ability to pierce formations and illusions, and coupled with his divine sense comparable to that of a perfected Golden Core cultivator, he doubted he could fail to discover any clue.

And this search would take up more time.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed.

Although he already had a rough direction and range, the cloud sea is simply too vast; even just Jing'an Island occupies a large expanse of the cloud sea.

Fortunately, Yunhe wasn't in a hurry; according to his plan, he would search for three months, and if he still couldn't find it after three months, he would choose to give up.

But fortunately,

Only a month had passed when he already discovered a clue.

In a region of the cloud sea where the mist was relatively thick, he faintly detected the traces of an illusionary formation.

(End of chapter)