171: Chapter 171 The Expansion of the Immortal Sect

The Spirit Sparrow flapped its wings and flew high, passing over the ravines of the Qingyun mountains and over a stretch of tall towers and palace walls.

It arrived at the Qinling area, specifically the Spiritual Qi-rich Lingyun Valley.

At this time, Ye Jing was sitting cross-legged in the valley, regulating his breathing. As the Spirit Sparrow entered the valley, Ye Jing opened his eyes.

"Tian Hao and Tianyao sent a letter?"

After withdrawing his spiritual power, he saw a small sparrow fly into the valley, carrying a small Storage Pouch on its back.

With a wave of his hand, the Storage Pouch on the Spirit Sparrow's chest flew over and opened automatically, releasing several letters and a whip broken into two pieces.

He glanced at the whip and saw that it possessed intense fluctuations of fire-attribute spiritual power; it appeared to be a Spiritual Artifact of considerable power.

Seeing this, Ye Jing took the envelope and began to read. It was Ye Tianhao and Ye Tianyao reporting the good news, saying they had successfully entered the Qingyun Sect and become Inner Sect Disciples.

Unfortunately, a foundation establishment pill could only be obtained by placing well in a Sect Grand Competition.

Seeing this, Ye Jing already understood in his heart. After all, the Immortal Willow had long since sensed that his two grandchildren had entered an immortal cultivation Sect like the Qingyun Sect, and it had rewarded Ye Jing with one thousand Immortal Light.

One thousand Immortal Light was more substantial than any previous reward.

This could be considered a breakthrough for his Ye Family; having clan members enter an Immortal Sect to start learning immortal arts meant there was hope for the continuation of the immortal Bloodline.

What Ye Jing had failed to achieve decades ago had now been accomplished by his two grandchildren.

Ye Jing was naturally incomparably gratified.

He picked up the whip filled with fire spiritual power, and its function instantly appeared before his eyes.

"heart-burning whip, Medium Grade Spiritual Artifact, made from the tendons and bones of a thousand Fire Snakes, repairable."

"A thousand Fire Snakes... it seems this whip has quite a history." Ye Jing weighed the whip in his hand and put it into the Immortal Willow to wait for it to slowly recover.

Now, Ye Jing also needed to quickly increase his strength; he couldn't fall behind his descendants.

Because Ye Jing's body was old and frail, even though the Immortal Light of the Immortal Willow had helped make his body much younger, his foundation was still that of an old man, so his cultivation progress was relatively slow.

But this was not a difficult matter for Ye Jing. One must know that what he lacked least was Spiritual Qi; whether it was from Spiritual Veins or Spirit Stones, they could provide him with a large amount of spiritual power.

He stood up and took out the Wind Transformation Art that Ye Tianhao and Ye Tianyao had given him earlier, preparing to practice it.

During these months of bitter cultivation, he not only looked after the business of the Ye Family's herbal medicine shop but also practiced here in Lingyun Valley.

He had already mastered more than half of the Wind Transformation Art.

The body transforms into the wind, gathering and dispersing at will, escaping for thousands of miles.

This Cultivation Technique was very suitable for Ye Jing to hide his figure and avoid danger. With a flicker of his body, Ye Jing immediately dissipated like the wind within the valley.

In the blink of an eye, Ye Jing quickly arrived at the outskirts of the valley, making his movements completely unpredictable.

"Truly a good technique!" Ye Jing praised, feeling that his months of hard practice were not in vain.

Although this was a technique primarily for fleeing and hiding, which might seem like a loss of Face if spoken of, in this treacherous world of immortal cultivation, having a way to escape and save one's life was a very good method.

One must be alive to have any Face to lose!

Ye Jing clenched his fists and tried to control the technique again. His figure quickly turned into a gust of wind and swept into the forest.

He wanted to test how far this technique could take him in an escape.

Ye Jing took out a map, chose a direction, and then leaped forward rapidly.

As he continued to use his spiritual power to leap, his speed became faster and faster, until he could no longer tell if the ground beneath him was land or water.

Once all the spiritual power in his body was exhausted, he opened his eyes to find himself in a wilderness area.

Before stopping his pace, Ye Jing quickly took out the crimson blood wine and took a large gulp, then chose a secluded spot to stop.

He checked the map he was carrying and saw that in the time it took for a stick of incense to burn, he had already traveled over a hundred li.

"Truly impressive!" Ye Jing exclaimed in surprise.

This speed was many times faster than riding Hei Feng; even flying on a sword was not this fast.

It seemed the Wind Transformation Art was indeed useful.

This was the very wasteland where he had previously wanted to obtain Metal-attribute Ores. Having not been here for several months, Ye Jing still wanted to find a place in this area that could provide the Family with spiritual minerals to mine.

He could also use these rank-one Ores to nurture many Spiritual Plants and Spiritual Artifacts, so that the Family could have stable resources and wouldn't have to travel as much.

The grandchildren at home were young and busy with affairs; it was better to resolve the resource issue as early as possible.

Ye Jing made up his mind and then summoned the Poisonous Variant Bees: "Go! Search for spiritual mines!"

With his first experience, Ye Jing had become adept at searching for spiritual mines. Insects could sense the movement of spiritual mines, but most were depleted mines with few Ores, which were not of much use to Ye Jing.

So, Ye Jing let the Poisonous Variant Bee Queen lead those Worker Bees to find the mine shaft with the highest content of spiritual minerals for him to investigate.

Ye Jing found a secluded spot nearby to regulate his breathing.

The sky gradually darkened, and everything became silent.

Three days later, Ye Jing suddenly opened his eyes, feeling a sense of palpitation. He immediately sank his consciousness, and when he opened his eyes again, he had arrived inside the Demonic Beast Grotto-heaven.

He saw that the Poisonous Variant Bee he had sent out was actually covered in wounds, with one wing broken off. Seeing Ye Jing, it began to buzz piteously.

Seeing this, Ye Jing stepped forward to look and saw that the Poisonous Variant Bee was covered in tiny bite marks, as if it had been gnawed on by something. Not even a few of the Worker Bees by its side remained.

"Poisonous Variant Bee, what happened?" Ye Jing was startled and reached out to stroke the Poisonous Variant Bee's head.

In an instant, the Poisonous Variant Bee's memories flooded into Ye Jing's mind. As long as it was a Yao Beast tamed by the Immortal Willow, Ye Jing could share their memories.

When Ye Jing opened his eyes again, he saw the Poisonous Variant Bee flying high according to his command, searching for spiritual mines. Just as the Poisonous Variant Bee discovered something, golden-yellow dust suddenly swirled up before it—but rather than dust, it was more like countless golden-yellow insects.

They were densely packed, with black sharp mouthparts and entirely golden bodies, swarming up to bite.

Even when the Poisonous Variant Bee released its poison mist, it couldn't stop them at all; they bit whatever flesh they saw.

The other Worker Bees were gnawed away without being able to react.

Then followed the scene of the Poisonous Variant Bee fleeing rapidly.

After the memory cut off, Ye Jing returned to reality. He was somewhat in disbelief; how could such tiny insects be so powerful that they weren't even afraid of poison and could even gnaw through the Poisonous Variant Bee's hard exoskeleton?

They seemed quite extraordinary.

Thinking of this, Ye Jing left the Immortal Willow and had the Worker Bees lead him to the place where the Poisonous Variant Bee had been attacked.

He wanted to see just what was so special about these insects.

The few remaining Worker Bees led the way, taking Ye Jing forward for a distance of about a hundred li.

Ye Jing discovered that as he went deeper, many gnawed Yao Beast corpses appeared on the ground, with even the bones chewed into fragments.

Seeing this, he immediately put away his spirit sword and, after landing, used the Wind Walking Art to turn himself invisible, his footsteps making no sound on the ground.

Those insects weren't even afraid of the Poisonous Variant Bee's poison mist; if he revealed himself rashly, he might only repeat the same mistake.

After continuing to advance for half an hour, the terrain ahead gradually became rugged, and a faint metallic smell mixed with a pungent fishy odor wafted over.