Chapter 2 Farming and Exploring Places of Opportunity

If the Old Ancestor does not work hard, his descendants will suffer in vain!

In front of the Guest Welcoming Pavilion on Black Magpie Mountain, Chen Li planted one spirit jujube tree on one side and another spirit jujube tree on the other.

Why was Black Magpie Mountain, purchased from the Yun Family for six Spirit Stones, so cheap?

Because there were no Spirit Fields, Spirit Lands, or Spiritual Veins here; it was equivalent to a mortal mountain. If it hadn't been large enough, Chen Li would not have even paid the Spirit Stones. This is why Chen Li had spent the past few months researching how to reclaim the Spirit Fields and improve the soil.

Reclaiming Spirit Fields required infusing Spiritual Qi into a patch of land, so he created a Spirit Gathering Formation.

He also needed to guide Spiritual Qi into the soil, so he went and bought over thirty-year-old Spirit Guiding Grass, which cost ten Spirit Stones per stalk—more expensive than the mountain itself.

To till the land, Chen Li even bought a basic Puppetry Art manual. After tilling the ground, setting up the Spirit Gathering Formation, he planted the Spirit Guiding Grass.

Most importantly, he needed to cast Spiritual Rain every day, so he bought a basic Spiritual Rain Art.

Later, tired of casting the rain manually every day, he spent several days researching the Spiritual Rain Formation, combining the Formation with the Spiritual Rain Art, which allowed him to cast Spiritual Rain automatically at set times daily.

After a flurry of activity, Chen Li spent a month improving the land quality of Black Magpie Mountain.

Ultimately, the Spirit Field would only be considered complete once the Spirit Guiding Grass flowered, which usually took one to three years. Calculating the cost, reclaiming one mu of Spirit Field cost him about 100 Spirit Stones.

Subsequently, he still needed to buy spirit rice seeds, sow them, and cultivate them, which would take about another year to mature.

Alas! Being an Old Ancestor is not easy.

However, the harvest from one mu of Spirit Field could yield about 30 to 50 Spirit Stones annually. Based on a ten-year price projection, the current market price for one mu of Low Grade Spirit Field was around 300 to 500 Spirit Stones.

Chen Li suddenly thought of the Yun Family's dowry. One mu of Spirit Field would suffice. He really wanted to go back and ask, 'Family Head Yun, shall we have a deeper exchange regarding your daughter?'

...

Inside Black Magpie Mountain, as the sun set, a flock of magpies landed on the branches. Inside the Immortal Cave, Chen Li was examining the Formation to break the Opportunity Site: the 'Foundation Establishment Li Daoan's Seat of Tranquility Immortal Cave'.

In his Sea of Consciousness, he summoned the detailed information for the 'Myriad Phenomena Return to Dust Formation'.

[For Formation Flags, incorporate the wings of a Fourth Grade Butterfly into Wutu Stone; for Formation Poles, incorporate the leg bones of a Fourth Grade Leaf-tailed Gecko into Xuanhuang Earth; the Formation Pattern is a Fourth Grade Concealment Pattern; the Formation Eye is set up in the southeast direction; it belongs to the Earth Attribute.]

As an outstanding Formation graduate from the Sect, it was very simple for Chen Li to break this Formation given so much information.

His Master privately nicknamed him a once-in-a-century Genius Formation Master. If his Spiritual Root Aptitude hadn't been so poor, he could have become an Inner Sect Disciple of the Formation Pavilion!

To break this Formation, he first needed to locate where it was set up (the area with the Formation's Spiritual Qi fluctuation), then create a Third Grade Wood Attribute Attack Array to strike the weakest point, the southeast Formation Eye, using a Formation to break the Formation, force against force.

The Five Elements of Formations are mutually restrictive; Wood overcomes Earth. Even a Third Grade Formation could suppress a Fourth Grade one.

However, creating a Third Grade Wood Attribute Attack Array also consumed quite a bit. The Formation Flags required Leaf-fall Maple over two hundred years old, and the Formation Poles required Red Leaf Root over two hundred years old.

Chen Li spent several days purchasing these two types of Materials from the county seat, costing him four hundred Spirit Stones.

A few days later, Chen Li inside the Black Magpie Mountain Immortal Cave began crafting this Formation. Engraving the Third Grade Attack Formation Pattern was also quite taxing on his mind. He hoped that opening this Immortal Cave would yield a good harvest!

...

Ten days later, the Formation was complete. Chen Li spent another hundred or so Spirit Stones to buy Clear Wind Qi Dissipating Medicinal Pills.

He needed to buy this medicine because of the 'Stony Turbidity Qi'.

[Stony Turbidity Qi] Detailed Information: [Cloud and mist swirling is the state; harmful to Cultivators below Foundation Establishment; erodes the brain, causing confusion or death; counteracted by Clear Wind Qi Dissipating type Medicinal Pills.]

His Spirit Stones were rapidly depleted in just over a month due to reclaiming Spirit Fields and exploring this Immortal Cave, costing him nearly six hundred Spirit Stones, which pained him greatly.

Fortunately, he had previously crafted dozens of First and Second Grade Formations within the Sect, most of which he had sold. Plus what he inherited from his Master, he still had over sixteen hundred Spirit Stones remaining.

Before leaving, he set up a Second Grade Defensive Formation within Black Magpie Mountain to replace the First Grade one, publicly announcing that he was going out to procure Formation Materials.

However, news arrived from the county seat these past few days: the newly arrived Foundation Establishment Senior in the county city was surnamed Zhang.

This new Foundation Establishment Cultivator from the Zhang Family was going to spar with the Foundation Establishment Cultivator from the Lu Family. Whoever won would control the matter of tribute from the Qi Refining Immortal Clans within the county. The Lu Family accepted the challenge.

Therefore, during this period, the attention of several counties' Qi Refining Families was focused there.

Meanwhile, Chen Li was already in the Boundless Forest.

...

The Boundless Forest was an endless deep forest located in the Southern Border of the Pingnan Continent. The deeper one ventured into the Boundless Forest, the more numerous and stronger the Yao Beasts became, and there were also many bizarre geographical features. According to records, Nascent Soul level shapeshifting Yao Beasts appeared in the depths of the forest.

Some Cultivators being hunted would enter this forest to evade pursuit, while others seeking to kill Yao Beasts for Pills or find medicinal Materials would also venture into the forest at great risk. Danger and Opportunity coexisted.

In a dense part of the Boundless Forest, Chen Li opened the map guidance mode for the 'Foundation Establishment Li Daoan's Seat of Tranquility Immortal Cave' in his Sea of Consciousness.

The location information was within Luoshi Mountain in the Boundless Forest, only seven hundred kilometers from the edge of the Boundless Forest. The guidance mode was like having navigation turned on, and along the way, he encountered very few Yao Beasts, bypassing all of them.

Chen Li proceeded cautiously and swiftly, using several essential swift travel talismans. Three days later, he arrived outside Luoshi Mountain.

Looking at the cloud and mist swirling within the mountain, if he hadn't known that the swirling clouds were also a manifestation of the Stony Turbidity Qi, he would have thought it was just fog. He wondered how many Cultivators had mistakenly entered it.

Chen Li took out two Low Grade Spirit Chickens from his spirit beast pouch and threw one into the mountain.

'Brother Chicken, go!'

After entering the mountain, Brother Chicken inhaled a few mouthfuls of the Stony Turbidity Qi, then lay down motionless.

Seeing this, Chen Li fed the other Brother Chicken a Clear Wind Qi Dissipating Medicinal Pill and threw it in. This time there was no issue; Brother Chicken remained alive and well, proving the pill was fine.

Seeing that the medicine was fine, Chen Li immediately swallowed three bottles himself, almost feeling full.

Entering the mountain, Chen Li immediately discovered scattered skeletons on the ground. He picked up any Storage Pouches he found along the way, collecting four in total.

Deep inside the mountain, there were many red gravel stones of unknown names on the ground; these were likely the source emitting the Stony Turbidity Qi. Chen Li didn't waste time and took out the Spirit Probing Disc. Soon, he detected abnormal Formation Spiritual Qi fluctuations near the central small peak.

Upon approaching, it was indeed the 'Myriad Phenomena Return to Dust Formation'!

After reconfirming the southeast direction of this Formation and locating the Formation Eye, Chen Li quickly set up the Third Grade Wood Attribute Attack Array. He activated the Formation, and the Spiritual Qi fluctuations in the mountain converged onto this array.

An energy strike nearly equivalent to an attack from an Early Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator slammed into the weak Formation Eye in the southeast direction. After three consecutive activations, the Formation finally shattered, revealing a hidden small mausoleum.

After it was revealed, Chen Li saw the entrance to the Immortal Cave carved into the small mausoleum. He threw Brother Chicken in again to scout the path. A few breaths later, Brother Chicken's 'clucking' sound was still audible, and Chen Li stepped into the Immortal Cave.

Passing through a few meters of the tunnel in the Immortal Cave, after turning a corner, he saw the situation inside the cavern.

The first thing that caught his eye was a Profound Azure Cauldron placed in the center. In front of the cauldron was a desiccated corpse, devoid of life. On both sides of the corpse were bookshelves scattered with a few books, and nearby were many boxes containing various herbs. Not far away was a small wooden bed of green sandalwood color, and next to the bed, there were several letters among the books.

Chen Li immediately made a judgment: this person was likely an Alchemist.

He walked past the Profound Azure Cauldron to the books on the small bed. Upon seeing the letter, Chen Li was instantly surprised because the cover of the letter bore four characters.

'Fellow Daoist, Please Open'