Chapter 441: Jade-Faced Toad

Outside Penglai Pavilion

"Ahhhh!!"

"I've become an Abnormal Beast!"

"Damn it!"

"Hahaha, we're all gonna die, we're all gonna die!!"

Outsiders who couldn't see the situation were almost all eroded by the Mutant Force, gradually losing their reason and turning into clumps of bizarre Abnormal Beasts.

And the pulsating muscles on those three flesh pillars released vast amounts of steam; amidst the mist, all attacking demon beasts were utterly slain.

The few demon tribes controlling the demon beasts, seeing the situation was off, fled early.

And inside the Demon-Suppressing Tower, after a fierce dragon-tiger struggle, there was no more sound.

On the three flesh pillars, the silhouettes of the three old Daoists were wrapped in clumps of blood and flesh, forming three writhing meat cocoons.

"How many got away?"

"Not counting the demon tribe, there are three people."

"Really? Three people, huh."

"We can't stop it; everything will revert to the most primitive state...."

Under the blood-red sunset, the silhouettes of the three old Daoists gradually faded, replaced by vast numbers of Abnormal Beasts striding across the three flesh pillars, rushing toward the four corners of the secret realm with the Mutant Force's rosy aura.

Yan Buji and Gui Xie fled the secret realm in disarray; Gui Xie reverted to his original form, and the two instantly distanced themselves, guarding against each other's sneak attacks.

After staring at each other for a while, Gui Xie chuckled: "You kid are still quite cautious."

"If you weren't cautious, you'd be dead already, senior. Mountains and rivers will meet again; this cooperation will be pleasant."

"Hmph."

The two turned and went their separate ways.

Yan Buji glanced back at the secret realm shrouded in the Mutant Force's rosy aura, then left without looking back.

Three months passed.

Yan Buji came to a seaside island market and inquired about that secret realm.

It is said that someone accidentally broke the seal of the Mutant Zone, causing that secret realm to become a new Mutant Zone.

Those who went there were almost completely wiped out, naturally drawing the attention of the major sects and powers of the Raging Current Sea, including casualties among the Otherworldly Race; now that place has become a gathering point of storm and wind.

Yan Buji himself didn't think he was the one who broke the seal, but the Penglai Pavilion affair likely involves some ancient secrets; it's best to keep it buried in his heart and not blab about it.

"This way, those two lovebirds, Song Ziyue and Song Xing, should also be dead." Yan Buji chuckled.

Exploring the secret realm is like this: if you're not careful and want everything, you'll definitely capsize in a gutter.

If it weren't for relying on the Heaven Gate Law, I'd probably find it somewhat difficult to escape.

Although this foray into the secret realm uncovered many mysteries, the gains are no small matter.

Yan Buji took advantage of these two or three years to sell off his gains from Penglai Pavilion everywhere, altogether obtaining three million Spiritual Stones.

Except for the portion of Spiritual Materials he kept for himself and his biggest haul, it can almost be said that he's overflowing with wealth.

So the portion he kept for himself was all refined by Yan Buji into Spiritual Pills, for emergencies.

The Six-Revolution Spiritual Water Lily, having been severed at the root, cannot be replanted naturally and can only be used as Celestial Material. But his current strength can't handle Celestial Materials well, including the Nine-leaf Ghost Orchid he previously obtained; only later can he figure out how to make use of them.

And in that pool of water, Yan Buji found a very unique treasure!

One sees Yan Buji holding something resembling a toad, but made of jade with gold trim, a living, vivid object constantly inhaling and exhaling spiritual energy, and then, according to Yan Buji's own magical power, altering the nature of that spiritual energy.

"Jade-Faced Toad." Yan Buji chuckled.

At first glance, this Jade-Faced Toad looks like some shoddy handicraft, but it is indeed one of the genuine heavenly-earthly marvels!

This object is born of heaven and earth's creation, somewhat akin to the existence of a rare beast, but it is not a living thing, nor can it be used as Spiritual Material; rather, it possesses some very unique abilities.

When he first discovered the Spiritual Water Lily in the treasure hall's pool at Penglai Pavilion, Yan Buji sensed that the Spiritual Water Lily's spiritual energy seemed to carry some special traces of magical power; although minute, his fine control of magical power immediately noticed the problem.

The Spiritual Water Lily itself can create a thick spiritual energy environment akin to a blessed land within a certain range, but it will never be altered by the practitioner's magical power traits; the spiritual energy it releases is absolutely the purest.

So, upon noticing that the Spiritual Water Lily's spiritual energy had some magical power traits, Yan Buji guessed that perhaps that pool of water was not meant for cultivating the Spiritual Water Lily.

Indeed, the facts proved Yan Buji's conjecture.

That pool of spiritual water is used to cultivate the Jade-Faced Toad; through the Jade-Faced Toad, a practitioner's magical power and the external spiritual energy environment can be synchronized to achieve the effect of absorbing external spiritual energy equivalent to directly absorbing magical power for cultivation, thus naturally allowing rapid acceleration of magical power accumulation.

Moreover, combined with the Spiritual Water Lily, a Celestial Material that can spew spiritual energy, they complement each other perfectly.

Although the Immortal Accumulation Artifact is within reach and could be contested, Yan Buji knows he likely doesn't know of this thing's existence; otherwise he wouldn't let himself go pick the Spiritual Water Lily.

Although the Immortal Accumulation Artifact is within reach and could be contested, Yan Buji thinks its utility for him is not great; moreover, he cannot use it at will, and besides, it's not an Accumulation Device he himself refined.

Since that old ghost, Lao Gui, wants it, it's perfect that I kept it hidden from him and obtained the Jade-Faced Toad!

"This Jade-Faced Toad's strength lies in the fact that even if my magical power contains the power of the Universe Dao, it can still be altered—it's simply outrageous."

This amounts to a convenient spiritual energy conversion treasure, after all, the cultivation of magical power is the practitioner themselves absorbing spiritual energy, circulating it through techniques to become magical power; these three stages can all be substituted by a heavenly-earthly marvel like the Jade-Faced Toad. One can imagine that if Yan Buji uses the Jade-Faced Toad to aid his cultivation, even if he has a nine-turn technique, his cultivation speed will see a tremendous boost later on.

Similar heavenly-earthly marvels like the Jade-Faced Toad, Yan Buji recalls there should still be six kinds.

Blood-Red Crossing Crow, Blue-Faced Vengeful Still, Lin Flying Swallow, Great Xuan's Apple, Heavenly Blue Vermilion Fruit, Six Paths Bodhi

"This also counts as my fortune." Yan Buji chuckled; such heavenly-earthly marvels are rare in the world, and moreover, no one has heard of the same marvel appearing in the mortal realm, or perhaps everyone knows how precious marvels are and dare not lightly display them before people.

Thus, the Spiritual Stones Yan Buji has gathered and the Spiritual Pills he has prepared already suffice for him to break through to the Golden Core stage in his magical power.

If he were to cultivate in the Youming Jie, he could also store spiritual energy with the Seven-Leaf Ghost Orchid of the Symbiotic Treefolk Technique, and gain a bit more improvement.

"Not mentioning the Great Earthly Pill and Great Heavenly Pill, if my Martial Dao cannot break through to the Nascent Soul stage, I don't even know if I can condense a magical power Golden Core." Yan Buji has been worrying about this.

Fortunately, the coming period is just right for laying low; having gained so many benefits, it's time to find a place to do some closed-door cultivation for a while.

Thinking thus, Yan Buji sank again to the seabed, and after using the Splitting Technique to open a simple cave dwelling, he began to contemplate his Martial Avatar Profound Technique.

The cultivation of this profound technique is Yan Buji's summary of all past and present Martial Dao cultivation; whether it can succeed is unclear, but once he grasps the general direction, he begins to ponder how to turn his ideas into reality.

Winter passes, spring arrives, day after day, year after year.

Yan Buji sat in the sea-bottom cave dwelling, and in the blink of an eye ten years had passed.