Chapter 73: Incense Offerings

On the third peak of Mount Wuzhi, by the Fire Spirit Spring, Hua Changxi lay prone on a bed of supreme-grade Fire Spirit Stone, her features relaxed as she immersed herself completely in cultivation.

At this moment, all she needed to do was absorb spiritual energy, and her cultivation base would increase.

One day of cultivation could raise her cultivation data by 120,000.

Watching her cultivation base grow bit by bit, she rediscovered the exhilaration she had felt as a Qi Condensation and Qi Sea cultivator.

Originally, she hadn't planned to stay long at Mount Wuzhi, but she simply couldn't bear to interrupt her cultivation; thinking that Elder You and Guo Yu were covering for her at Medicine Valley anyway, she comfortably decided to remain at Mount Wuzhi.

In the blink of an eye, more than two months passed.

On the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Hua Changxi ended her cultivation session, not because she didn't wish to continue, but because she knew that with the New Year approaching, her family would surely visit her at Medicine Valley, forcing her to depart for Medicine Valley.

[Realm: Core Formation Stage 10.01 million / 10 million]

After more than two months of cultivation, her cultivation base had finally broken through the 10 million mark.

Gazing at her inner elixir, which hung above her Qi Sea like a brilliant sun—radiant, dazzling, round, and smooth—Hua Changxi felt immensely pleased.

"During this period of cultivation, there wasn't a single hitch or stagnation."

Hua Changxi recalled her cultivation journey after advancing to the Core Formation Stage and realized that whenever her inner elixir vanished, no matter how much spiritual energy she absorbed, her cultivation base could not increase.

Only when her consciousness entered the center of her Qi Sea and she could see the inner elixir could it absorb spiritual energy and continuously grow stronger.

For these two months, her consciousness had rested directly upon the inner elixir, making her cultivation speed even faster; during this time, her cultivation base increased in direct proportion to the amount of spiritual energy absorbed.

From this, it was clear that the key to cultivation at the Core Formation Stage lay in the inner elixir.

Only by ensuring the inner elixir remained suspended at the center of the Qi Sea at all times could one's cultivation base continue to grow.

Yet the original problem remained: why did the inner elixir run away?

Why was it that after being angered by Elder You and the other three last time, and after coming to Mount Wuzhi this time, the inner elixir stood firmly at the center of her Qi Sea?

Hua Changxi felt there must be some trick to this that she didn't know, but unfortunately, no one had told her what that trick was.

Suddenly, Hua Changxi saw the Mountain Spirit bounding over, and her eyes immediately brightened: "Chubby kid, come here, I have a question for you."

Seeing that Hua Changxi was no longer cultivating, the Mountain Spirit's face lit up with joy; he trotted over happily and asked, "Fairy, have you finished cultivating? Does that mean you can play with me now?"

Hua Changxi's expression stiffened slightly: "Um, with so many spirits in the mountain to keep you company, are you still bored?"

After forming a contract with Mount Wuzhi, she could sense the general situation within the mountain.

For instance, many plants and trees in the mountain had become spirits, and even more animals had transformed into spirit beasts.

She could vaguely feel that if her cultivation base improved, she could actually control Mount Wuzhi more thoroughly; currently, limited by her strength, there were many things she could not do.

The Mountain Spirit pouted: "Don't mention those little spirits; they're all so stupid, it's extremely boring."

Hua Changxi chuckled slightly: "Then let me tell you something interesting."

The Mountain Spirit immediately looked over with anticipation.

Hua Changxi quickly explained the matter of the inner elixir running away on its own: "Do you know what causes this?"

The Mountain Spirit widened his eyes, his gaze filled with innocent confusion: "Why would it run away?"

Hua Changxi choked up: "Don't you encounter this problem when you cultivate?"

The Mountain Spirit shook his head: "No, I don't."

Hua Changxi: "Then how do you cultivate?"

The Mountain Spirit: "Just by absorbing spiritual energy, and eating and drinking some spirit fruits and spirit liquids; if someone prepares it, I can also have some spirit beast meat. Oh right, I can also cultivate using incense offerings."

Hua Changxi became interested: "Incense offerings? The kind found in temples?"

The Mountain Spirit hadn't actually practiced it himself; the inheritance mentioned incense offerings, but he only half-understood: "Probably."

Hua Changxi: "Then why don't you build a few Mountain Spirit Temples outside Mount Wuzhi?"

The Mountain Spirit: "Can I build them?"

Hua Changxi: "Of course, you can build as many as you want, provided you can manage them."

Hearing this, the Mountain Spirit became eager to try: "Then I'll build one first to test it out. Fairy, don't worry, I won't leave you out; I'll build one for you too."

Black lines appeared across Hua Changxi's forehead: "I don't need anyone worshipping me."

What qualification did she have to be worshipped?

Just because she luckily obtained Mount Wuzhi?

She hadn't made any great contribution; if people worshipped her, she feared being struck by lightning.

The Mountain Spirit tilted his head: "But only with your permission can outsiders enter Mount Wuzhi. In these two months, I've seen many people lingering outside Mount Wuzhi."

"Fairy, everything in the world follows a cycle of balance. The resources within Mount Wuzhi are more than you can use alone; what do you plan to do with the rest?"

Having suddenly acquired Mount Wuzhi, to be honest, Hua Changxi hadn't yet thought about subsequent matters: "I don't mind if people from outside enter the mountain to seek some cultivation resources."

Mount Wuzhi was vast; apart from the five most prominent peaks, its interior contained many small peaks with crisscrossing gullies, as well as tens of thousands of canyons of various sizes.

The richness of cultivation resources within it was several levels higher than that of the Three-Fork Medicine Valley.

The Mountain Spirit's face lit up with joy: "Then it's settled! I'll build a temple for you, and then let people from outside go to the temple to request your permission; once they have your permission, they can enter the mountain to train."

Hua Changxi: "But I can't stay at Mount Wuzhi forever." Saying this, she looked at the Mountain Spirit with a smile, "Can you help me watch over it?"

The Mountain Spirit thought to himself that he barely had enough time to play, let alone help the fairy watch a temple, but he couldn't refuse directly, so he lowered his head to fiddle with his small hands, murmuring softly, "I still need to watch over my own Mountain Spirit Temple."

"You little rascal."

Hua Changxi snorted, then suddenly had a flash of inspiration: "There is a Guest-Greeting Pine on the summit of the third peak; judging by its spiritual energy fluctuations, it has already reached the Qi Sea Stage. What do you think about hiring it to help me watch over things?"

The Mountain Spirit thought about what the Guest-Greeting Pine looked like: "Little Pine... that should be fine. Apart from liking to prick people with pine needles, it doesn't have any other faults."

Hua Changxi fell into deep thought; she needed to carefully consider the future affairs of Mount Wuzhi.

Incidents like the Asura Sect mining and stealing spirit minerals must never happen again.

Deciding to act immediately, Hua Changxi took the Mountain Spirit and rode a cloud up to the third peak, where they found the Guest-Greeting Pine: "Little Pine, I am a friend of the Mountain Spirit, and I'd like to ask you for a favor..."

"This little spirit is willing."

Before Hua Changxi could even finish speaking, the Guest-Greeting Pine interrupted with a childish voice to answer immediately.

Hua Changxi hadn't expected the Guest-Greeting Pine to be a young female; she paused for a moment, then quickly explained that she could not remain at Mount Wuzhi for long and needed its help to deal with those wishing to enter the mountain.

"Immortal, this little spirit is willing."

As it spoke, the Guest-Greeting Pine blazed with brilliant green light, and a miniature pine tree flew out from its trunk, hovering before Hua Changxi.

This action bewildered Hua Changxi, and she looked at the Mountain Spirit in confusion.

The Mountain Spirit gazed back at her; after staring at each other for a while, it suddenly slapped its forehead, nearly forgetting that the Immortal was rather dull and understood nothing, so it needed to remind her: "Immortal, hurry and form a bond with Little Pine."

Hua Changxi feigned composure and uttered an "Oh"; she understood forming a bond meant shedding blood.

She pierced her fingertip; a drop of essence blood flew out and merged into the little pine tree. Red light immediately enveloped the small tree, and when the red light vanished, Hua Changxi felt a certain connection established between herself and the little pine.

The little pine flew back into the Guest-Greeting Pine, which immediately cried out joyfully: "Little Pine greets Master."

Then the entire pine tree uprooted itself, hovered before Hua Changxi, and spun around: "Master, Master, look at me; what do I resemble?"

This behavior was exactly identical to when the Mountain Spirit had sought its title.

Hua Changxi turned her wooden face to look at the Mountain Spirit, which returned her gaze innocently.

She knew it then: there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world.

To think she had just considered the Guest-Greeting Pine simple-minded for voluntarily forming a bond with her; it turned out she was the simple one, and they had been waiting for her all along.

On the path of cultivation, she still had much to learn.

"Master, Master, what do I resemble?"

"I think you resemble a human!"

As soon as Hua Changxi's words fell, the Guest-Greeting Pine blazed with intense green light; its branches and trunk began to contract, slowly condensing into a green ball half a meter high. The green ball twisted and contorted, finally transforming into a little girl of three or four years old.

The little girl wore a green dress, a green skirt, and green shoes; atop her head were styled two small buns, making her look exquisitely carved from jade and endearingly innocent.

"Little Pine greets Master."

Hua Changxi looked at the Mountain Spirit, then at Little Pine; seeing a real-life version of a jade boy and jade girl, she smiled immediately: "You two can play together; you won't be bored in the future."

The Mountain Spirit circled Little Pine once, nodded with satisfaction, and said: "I can take you around to play."

For the next few days, Hua Changxi wandered throughout Mount Wuzhi, burying all exposed mineral veins and gathering some necessary spiritual plants to store in the Shennong Cauldron; after confirming everything was in order, she prepared to give final instructions to the Mountain Spirit and Little Pine before returning to Sancha Medicine Valley.

However, after searching everywhere, she could not find the Mountain Spirit or Little Pine.

At the same time, the Mountain Spirit was energetically leading Little Pine out of Mount Wuzhi.

"Mountain Spirit, where are we going?"

"Are we not building a temple? Naturally, we are going to find people to construct it."

"Where do we find such people?"

"There are many households around Mount Wuzhi; surely there are craftsmen who can build houses and sculpt statues. I must have my statue sculpted to look the most beautiful, and the Immortal's as well."

"But Master said she does not wish to be worshipped by people."

"Then what shall we do? Ah, I know; we can have them sculpt a fire lotus for the Immortal. Worshipping the fire lotus is equivalent to worshipping the Immortal."

"Can we do that?"

"Yes, yes, just listen to me and you won't go wrong."

In Thumb Village, siblings An Ze and An Ran were just preparing to head to the fields for farm work when they saw two endearing, chubby children appear out of thin air at the village entrance.

The two children hopped and skipped toward them; the siblings immediately recalled that everyone had been discussing the presence of spirits in Mount Wuzhi for over two months, and upon seeing the two chubby children approaching, they were so terrified they fell backward onto the ground.

"Mountain Spirit, look, those two are so clumsy; they actually fell down. Since I learned to walk, I have never stumbled once."

"They are indeed quite clumsy."

While speaking, the Mountain Spirit and Little Pine had already reached An Ze and An Ran; the two children curiously examined the pair, whose faces were deathly pale and bodies trembling violently.

Little Pine blinked her large, watery eyes and poked the shivering An Ran: "What is wrong with them?"

The Mountain Spirit replied: "...Perhaps they are hungry; I heard that when humans are hungry, their whole bodies shake."

Little Pine hastily dug a handful of pine nuts from her pocket: "I have pine nuts; I will give them some to eat."

The Mountain Spirit stopped her: "Your pine nuts are too hard; let them eat cherries instead."

Watching a handful of mouth-watering cherries appear out of thin air in the Mountain Spirit's hand, An Ze and An Ran trembled even more violently.

"Eat quickly; once you eat, you won't be hungry anymore."

Seeing the two refusing to eat, the Mountain Spirit thoughtfully fed them directly.

As soon as the cherries entered their mouths, the skin burst and the flesh melted; An Ze and An Ran swore these were the most delicious cherries they had ever tasted.

Yet the next moment, both their expressions twisted in agony; blue veins bulged, their bodies curled up, and they emitted painful roars from their throats.

The Mountain Spirit and Little Pine were startled.

"What has happened to them?"

"I don't know."

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know."

At this moment, some villagers, hearing An Ze and An Ran's agonized cries, came running over.

Seeing people approaching, the Mountain Spirit grabbed Little Pine, rode a cloud, and flew back inside Mount Wuzhi.

"An Ze, An Ran, what is wrong with you?"

"Quick, take them to see a Physician!"

"It's bad; they seem to be on the verge of death."

Hiding behind the vegetation, the Mountain Spirit and Little Pine listened to the noisy shouts of the villagers and exchanged innocent glances.

"It seems we have done something wrong."

"What do we do now?"

"Let's go find the Immortal."

As soon as Shan Ling and Xiao Song returned to the Third Peak and saw Hua Changxi truly by the Fire Spirit Spring Pool, they immediately pounced over: "Fairy, Fairy, we met two fragile people, fed them two cherries, and now they are about to die."

Hua Changxi looked at Shan Ling's incredulous expression, then at the spirit fruit in his hand, feeling a severe headache: "Mortals cannot eat spirit fruits; the spiritual energy within them is too dense and will burst their bodies apart."

"Go, quickly take me to see them; let us see if we can still save them."

Hua Changxi grabbed one doll in each hand and rode a cloud swiftly toward Thumb Village.

Upon arriving at Thumb Village, since it was improper for Hua Changxi to appear with the two dolls, she had them hide behind the vegetation to wait while she entered the village alone.

"An Ze and An Ran, such good children; what evil curse have they encountered that they must perish so young? What a pity, what a pity."

The people of Thumb Village were buzzing with discussion because of the accident involving An Ze and An Ran.

Without needing to ask where the victims' home was, Hua Changxi simply followed the crowd's chatter and headed toward the place with the most people.

"I am an itinerant physician; I can cure the illness of those two."

Hua Changxi entered the home of An Ze and An Ran and walked directly to the eldest elder present.

The village head of Thumb Village looked at Hua Changxi; seeing her features were upright and clear, and knowing the village physician could not treat An Ze and An Ran, he nodded and allowed her into their room.

As soon as Hua Changxi entered the room, she saw the two victims lying on the bed with expressions of agony.

Seeing that they were merely in pain without any signs of their bodies about to burst, she could not help but raise an eyebrow.

Hua Changxi ordered the others in the room to leave, closed the door, circulated her spiritual power to quickly force out the spiritual energy from the two victims' bodies, and then fed them injury-healing pills to repair their physiques.

"It is done; they should be fine now."

Having said this, Hua Changxi ignored the inquiries of the village head and villagers, quickly left Thumb Village, grabbed the two dolls at the village entrance, and returned to Mount Wuzhi.

"From now on, you are not to feed people things at random."

Shan Ling still felt somewhat lingering fear: "Fairy, are those two people alright?"

"They are fine."

Hua Changxi compared the condition of the two with Yang Chuan's situation; Yang Chuan had relied on the internal force of three Grandmasters to avoid bursting to death, yet those two showed no signs of bursting.

Could it be that those two both possess spiritual roots?

If they have spiritual roots, they can contain a portion of spiritual energy, which is why there were no signs of their bodies bursting.

On the way back, Hua Changxi instructed Shan Ling and Xiao Song: "Tomorrow is the fifteenth of the twelfth lunar month; I must return. When I have free time, I will come to visit you."

"Xiao Song, remember the rules for entering the mountain."

"Fat Wa, do not build any temple for me; just build a simple house. As long as outsiders follow the rules to enter the house and request access to the mountain, Xiao Song only needs to give them a pine needle; there is no need for any other tricks."

Shan Ling agreed readily: "Fairy, I understand."