Chapter 375

You won't be disappointed?

Yunhe showed a keen interest.

Originally, the Wood Kingdom needed only Muyazi of the Wood Spirit Sect and the Lotus Old Ancestor of Baihua Valley to be free of worry; adding Feng Qingdan to his name would likewise give us two Yuan Ying cultivators.

Furthermore, Yunhe considers himself stronger than Muyazi and the Lotus Old Ancestor; besides, having become a Guest Elder of the Hundred Dawn Pavilion and backed by it, overseeing this so-called situation is easy for him.

Moreover, he shares a bond of hardship with Muyazi and the Lotus Old Ancestor; merely invoking his name could preserve the legacies of the two sects, and he would not refuse.

But if the two major sects are to continue developing, he will always need to contribute some effort.

Since we want him to contribute, we naturally need to give something in return.

This is clear not only to Yunhe and Feng Qingdan, but also to Fu Ruixin of the Wood Spirit Sect and Hua Yuruo of Baihua Valley.

Therefore, before Feng Qingdan could speak, Fu Ruixin of the Wood Spirit Sect spoke first:

"Our sect's elder is willing to pass on the Wood Spirit Sect's Longevity Secret Method to you, senior."

Upon hearing this, both Feng Qingdan and Hua Yuruo couldn't help but glance sideways.

What's the difference to him of merely a few decades or even a century of longevity?

I never expected Baihua Valley to actually hide such a treasure.

Hua Yuruo of Baihua Valley, kneeling on the ground, gritted her teeth and said: "I, Baihua Valley, possess a ten‑thousand‑year three‑grade azure lotus, planted by our ancestors; I wish to offer it to you, senior! Please consider the ties between Hua Xin and my Hua family, and between me and Baihua Valley, and oversee the affairs of the Wood Kingdom."

How many Yuan Ying cultivators, hard to kill, ultimately choose to sit and pass away due to insufficient lifespan?

Therefore, even just a few years or even months are undoubtedly a great boon.

Seeing that Yunhe seemed not very interested in the matter of longevity, the three women felt somewhat uneasy.

This is the Wood Spirit Sect's greatest secret.

But her words invigorated Yunhe.

Longevity!

Which cultivator wouldn't wish to live longer?

"When fellow cultivators are about to break through to the Yuan Ying Middle Stage, I can lend them a hand."

But this ten‑thousand‑year three‑grade azure lotus piqued his interest.

According to her knowledge.

To be honest, Yunhe feels nothing toward Baihua Valley, especially the Sun Family of Baihua Valley, and likewise feels indifferent toward the Hua Family.

Especially cultivators at the Yuan Ying Stage.

This three‑grade azure lotus is an enlightenment‑dao spiritual plant, and a ten‑thousand‑year three‑grade azure lotus is undoubtedly a supreme treasure for enlightenment.

Compared to the Wood Spirit Sect's longevity method, this ten‑thousand‑year three‑grade azure lotus holds even greater allure for him.

Feng Qingdan did not say it outright, but chose to transmit it via divine sense.

But to Yunhe, it seemed somewhat lacking in interest.

After all, he differs from other cultivators, having a demon beast body as his backing; his lifespan is so long that it can be measured in tens of thousands of years.

Those who possess a ten‑thousand‑year lifespan like him are ultimately few.

In order to get Yunhe to step forward, Baihua Valley even specially dispatched the Hua Clan, who could connect with him.

Moreover, this is also a decent method; if the longevity method can truly be taught, using it as a means to trade with other Yuan Ying cultivators, one could probably exchange for anything.

This remark by Feng Qingdan indicates something.

Being able to assist him in breaking through to the Yuan Ying Middle Stage shows that Feng Qingdan's primal yin is still intact, which surprised Yunhe; after all, as the master of the Eastern Realm's greatest Red Chamber, it is already astonishing that she retains her primal yin.

However, considering that the female cultivators inside the Listening Fragrance Tower, aside from wearing slightly revealing attire and possessing natural allure, have never been seen doing anything outrageous during their time there.

It seems that those Red Chamber female cultivators are merely outer disciples of the Listening Fragrance Tower, or disciples who practice the dual cultivation method.

However, setting aside other matters, the mere fact that it can assist him in breaking through to the Yuan Ying Middle Stage makes it somewhat hard for Yunhe to refuse.

Each small realm breakthrough in the Yuan Ying Stage is a significant bottleneck; although not as difficult as condensing the Nascent Soul, it is still extremely arduous, otherwise there wouldn't be so many Yuan Ying cultivators stuck at the early stage; Yuan Ying Middle Stage cultivators are already quite rare, and late‑stage cultivators are so few that even in the vast Eastern Realm they number only in the single digits.

Yunhe suddenly realized.

It seems that after his breakthrough to the Yuan Ying Stage, encounters involving trades conditioned on dual cultivation have gradually increased.

Like Xiao Wuxian before, who would casually offer two mid‑Golden Core furnaces.

Afterwards, he came to understand.

In the Yuan Ying Realm, things that can aid a Yuan Ying cultivator are exceedingly scarce; in this resource‑poor cultivation world, even human resources have become a commodity.

Thus, dual cultivation has also become a means of transaction.

According to Yunhe's knowledge, there is still a group of people in the Eastern Realm's cultivation world who seem to treat exchanging concubines as the norm.

As long as it does not involve a dual cultivation partner, anything can serve as a condition for exchange.

As for Feng Qingdan, even if Yunhe truly breaks through to the Yuan Ying Middle Stage with her help, he would not consider her a dao partner; at most she could be a concubine, depending on her willingness.

After a brief contemplation, Yunhe nodded and said, "Very well. Since you fellow cultivators show such sincere devotion, I too consider myself half a person of the Wood Kingdom, and I cannot simply stand by."

Upon hearing this, Hua Yuruo and Fu Ruixin instantly beamed with joy, while the flush on Feng Qingdan's face deepened a bit.

At the same time, the three women secretly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling as if a tall figure had propped up the sky even if it fell, instantly lightening their pressure.

Yunhe wore a calm expression.

To him, these are merely transactions.

Since it's a transaction, as long as the stakes are right, there's nothing that can't be done.

Whether demonic or orthodox path, at his level of strength, the distinction between them no longer exists.

"I will stay here for a while before returning to Layered Peaks Mountain; by then, you just need to send the things to Layered Peaks Mountain." Yunhe said.

Besides what they have promised, the annual tribute is obligatory.

"We will obey your orders, senior!" Hua Yuruo and Fu Ruixin replied in unison.

Brother Yun, these are what you need, all the information about the whereabouts of wood-attribute demon beasts.

Ji Li Yun hands a Jade Slip to Yunhe, while reminding: "However, some of this information is from long ago; although demon beasts don't like to arbitrarily change territories, it's not guaranteed that some demon beasts haven't changed their habitats."

Thank you.

Yunhe takes the Jade Slip, nods to Ji Li Yun, then transforms into a rainbow light and flies straight out of Qiling City.

After leaving Qiling City's vicinity, he summons the Cold Chant Flood Dragon and the carriage, gets in the carriage, orders the Cold Chant Flood Dragon to return to Diezhang Mountain, then begins to browse the information in the Jade Slip.

This is the benefit of becoming a guest elder of the Bai Xiao Tower: obtaining this information requires no payment.

Even part of it is relatively secret information, such as the habitats of extremely rare fourth-level demon beasts.

In the Eastern Border, demon beasts are already scarce; most high-level demon beasts are still in the Endless Sea, and wanting to achieve a fourth-level demon beast body in the inland Eastern Border where human sects abound is extremely difficult.

Some demon beasts may have decent bloodlines, but such demon beasts often fail to reach the fourth level before possibly being hunted by humans.

Even if some demon beasts can remain hidden until the fourth level, when facing the mighty heavenly transformation tribulation, there is a high probability that after surviving the tribulation they will be targeted by human cultivators.

Therefore, in the inland of the Eastern Border continent, wanting to find traces of fourth-level demon beasts is absolutely not an easy task.

Only in some vast secret realms, or in perilous deadly grounds, does the likelihood of encountering fourth-level demon beasts increase somewhat.

Therefore, Yunhe initially set his target on the fourth-level demon beasts of the Yao Shou Shijie.

But the fourth-level demon beasts of the Yao Shou Shijie are not that easy to slay, mainly because those fourth-level demon beasts often have many subordinates, and Yunhe plans to set up a market in the Yao Shou Shijie; if he slays known fourth-level demon beasts nearby, it could easily provoke unnecessary reactions.

But if he goes to more distant places, he knows little about those areas, and also doesn't know how much time it would take to find fourth-level demon beasts whose attributes match and whose bloodlines meet the conditions.

Of course, he has already ordered the subordinates of the Hou Tu Shu to investigate.

And from the demon beast intelligence obtained from the Bai Xiao Tower, he has locked onto two locations.

One is a perilous place called Thousand Poison Mountain.

And the other is an extremely vast primordial forest located at the southernmost tip of the Eastern Border continent, teeming with demon beasts, considered the only Yao Shou Shijie on the Eastern Border continent.

However, there are too many demon beasts here, even the number of fourth-level demon beasts is not small, resulting in even Yuan Ying cultivators being unwilling to venture deep inside.

This Demon Beast Forest, together with the Endless Sea to the far east, are the two major regions where demon beasts roam.

But...

The southernmost tip of the Eastern Border continent is too far from Yunhe's current position, and even if it had the demon beasts he needs, he wouldn't dare to venture there lightly, so he set his target on Thousand Poison Mountain.

If this perilous place also lacks fourth-level wood-attribute demon beasts, then he can only rely on the Demon Beast Body.

However, before going to Thousand Poison Mountain, Yunhe plans to first return to Diezhang Mountain, consume all four bottles of Twilight Elixir, convert them into cultivation base, and then consider further.

During this period, he can also have the Bai Xiao Tower help gather more information about Thousand Poison Mountain.

Flying all the way back to Diezhang Mountain.

Yunhe left a bottle of Breeding Elixir for the Han Yin Jiao, then entered his cave dwelling.

He first checked the assimilation progress of the second Yuan Ying, confirmed everything was proceeding as expected, then delivered the Feather Jade Silk to the Demon Beast Body's hand.

Afterwards he entered the cultivation chamber, took out the congealed fat ice-clear lotus, sat cross-legged, took out a jade bottle and poured out an elixir emitting a faint light, then swallowed it without hesitation.

Vast mana gradually refines the swallowed elixir, and the pure medicinal power transforms into extremely pure mana that flows into it.

With each circulation of the grand heavenly circuit, Yunhe's mana becomes ever more surging.

No one knows how long passed.

When Yunhe opened his eyes again, he simply calculated with his fingers, revealing a thoughtful expression: "Refining a single Twilight Elixir takes only half a month, yet it equals my two years or even more of arduous cultivation; this is the power of elixirs."

Each person's efficiency in refining and absorbing elixirs varies; if one fully condenses the Five Elements Spiritual Body, the efficiency will certainly be higher.

He did not rest; after a brief adjustment of half a day, he then poured out another Twilight Elixir and swallowed it.

Yao Shou Shijie

Yunhe spat out the Beast Soul Banner, gazing at the displayed Feather Jade Silk, Seven Sorrows Death Soul Stone, and various auxiliary materials.

After a brief contemplation, his form flickered and he took on human shape.

He raised his hand to support the Wu Tu Apricot Yellow Pearl.

"Since we have decided that the master soul will be the Lu Shan Turtle, infusing the power of the Wu Tu Apricot Yellow Pearl should strengthen the Beast Soul Banner's power. Moreover, if we can add an earth attribute to this treasure, it will be more suitable for ourselves."

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PS: I somewhat overestimated my typing speed and also underestimated the busyness of the New Year.

(End of Chapter)