214: Chapter 214 Naturally Born Spirits

Each team had three to five members, all Foundation Establishment Cultivators, led by a Foundation Establishment Peak powerhouse from their respective Sects.

At this moment, the leaders of the four teams were squeezed into the largest tent, gathered around a simple table covered with animal hide, on which a hand-drawn map of the Soul-Severing Ravine was spread out.

The map was marked with red cinnabar at three locations: the valley entrance, the middle section, and the bottom of the valley.

At the bottom of the valley, two circles were drawn, one large and one small, with the character "Wood" written next to each.

Wood spirits are spirits born of heaven and earth, naturally conceived under specific conditions by Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

The bottom of the Soul-Severing Ravine is a dead zone, filled with toxic miasma where nothing grows; yet, it is precisely in this extreme, desolate environment that vitality reaches another extreme.

The ultimate end of death is life, and two wood spirits had sprouted right in the core area where the toxic miasma was thickest.

Everyone present understood the value of a wood spirit.

For a Wood-attribute Cultivator, refining a wood spirit is equivalent to directly crossing the most difficult chasm between the Foundation Establishment and Golden Core stages.

Even for non-Wood-attribute Cultivators, refining a wood spirit into a Medicinal Pill is a supreme Spirit Medicine that can allow a Foundation Establishment Peak Cultivator to undergo a complete transformation.

Two wood spirits mean two Golden Core spots.

Within Pingling Prefecture, these two Golden Core spots are enough to completely rewrite the fate of the Sects and the balance of power within the prefecture.

"The toxic miasma at the valley entrance has already been probed; the outer perimeter is barely manageable, but the concentration increases the further in you go. By the middle section, it's the limit for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator." The speaker was the leader from the Black Rock Palace.

A lean, black-robed Cultivator with a dark purple bone ring on the ring finger of his right hand.

He continued: "I sent two people to take turns advancing inward. They reached the area just past the middle section and saw traces of a Yao Beast snake shedding its skin. The shed skin alone was thirty feet long, and that was just a small piece."

"So those two pythons are at least a hundred feet long." The leader from the Qiankun Gate took over, "Golden Core Late Stage Yao Beasts, and they are poison-type, plus they are defending their nest. Even if a Golden Core Ancestor went there, they probably wouldn't have an advantage."

The leaders of the Qingfeng Valley and the Spirit Talisman Sect also nodded, their expressions looking grim.

The problem was clear: the treasure was at the bottom of the valley, the obstacles were two Golden Core Late Stage Yao Beasts, and the four families had only sent Foundation Establishment teams. It wasn't that they didn't want to send Golden Core True Persons, but they didn't dare.

Once a Golden Core Cultivator makes a move, the spiritual energy fluctuations can be sensed for a hundred miles around.

The Monster Beast Mountain Range is currently a territory jointly managed by two prefectures. The four Sects of Qinghe Prefecture have patrol teams stationed in the major cities around the mountain range. Once they detect combat movements at the Golden Core level, they will definitely send people to investigate.

By then, the news of the wood spirits wouldn't be able to be hidden, and once the people from Qinghe Prefecture also got involved, the situation would become completely complicated.

Therefore, the four Sects reached a tacit understanding: use the Foundation Establishment teams for initial scouting and layout first, and when everything is ready, transfer the Golden Core True Persons to finish the battle quickly.

But how to get "everything ready" was something the four Sects had been arguing about for days without reaching a conclusion.

"My opinion is still to lure the snake out of its hole." The leader of the Black Rock Palace said, "Set bait at the valley entrance to lure the two pythons out. Once they are in an open area, the Golden Core True Persons can make their move. As long as the fight doesn't happen inside the valley, the spiritual energy fluctuations will be blocked by the mountains and won't spread too far."

"What will you use as bait?" The Qiankun Gate leader retorted, "The Nether-Shedding Python feeds on toxic miasma. It's eating well at the bottom of the valley; what are you going to use to lure it out? It's not some low-Rank Yao Beast at the Qi Refinement Stage that you can trick with a piece of meat."

"Snake-type Yao Beasts have a natural affinity for Wood-attribute spirit items." The leader of the Qingfeng Valley interjected. This was an old woman over a hundred years old with a gaunt face. "The fact that the wood spirits could be born at the bottom of the valley is probably related to the toxic miasma emitted by these two pythons over many years. The ultimate end of death is life; the pythons themselves are one of the conditions for nurturing the wood spirits. To lure them out, you must use a Wood-attribute treasure of the same grade as bait."

"A thousand-year-old Wood-attribute Spirit Medicine." The leader of the Spirit Talisman Sect added, "It must be at least a thousand years old to be worthy of tempting a Tier 3 Yao Beast."

The tent was quiet for a few moments.

A thousand-year-old Wood-attribute Spirit Medicine—the four families did indeed have them, but they were all treasures that formed the foundation of their Sects, and no one was willing to take them out.

If such an item was taken out as bait and the pythons didn't take the hook, or if the other three families took the opportunity to swallow it, then it would be a case of losing both the battle and the treasure.

"Then let's shelf it for now and go back to discuss it within our respective Sects." The leader of the Black Rock Palace was the first to stand up, "Anyway, those two snake Yao Beasts can't run, and the wood spirits certainly can't run. But I will say one thing in advance..."

He glanced at the other three.

"Whoever leaks the news, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the other three families will join forces to wipe out their entire Family. This point was personally set by the four Sect Masters before they left. I'll repeat it again so everyone keeps it in mind."

No one replied, and the four leaders dispersed, each with their own thoughts.

Upon returning to the Black Rock Palace tent, the lean, black-robed Cultivator took the bone ring off his finger and rubbed it a few times, then whispered to the Junior Brother beside him: "Go back and report to the Palace Master, saying that the matter cannot be pushed forward in the short term. Also..."

He lowered his voice: "The Palace Master said there are only two wood spirits, so the four families won't be able to divide them evenly. The Palace Master has a plan for how to handle that when the time comes. You and I should just do the job in front of us and not have other ideas."

The Junior Brother nodded and didn't ask anything.

Four Sects, four hearts; this deal was destined from the beginning not to be an equal split. The only difference was who would make the first move and who would turn against the others first.

And all of this was completely unknown to the four major Sects far away in Qinghe Prefecture, partly because they didn't want to have any conflict with Pingling Prefecture.

Although the secret agents of the Four Seas Chamber of Commerce detected the movement of the Pingling Prefecture Cultivators gathering in the mountain range, the toxic miasma of the Soul-Severing Ravine blocked all investigation, and even secret agents at the Late Qi Refining Stage couldn't get within five miles of the valley entrance.

Furthermore, the four Sects had Formation shielding and basically didn't go out. They only saw people entering the mountains at the beginning, but didn't know what these people were doing.

Danding Sect, Qingmu Peak.

Su Cheng had been living a very fulfilling life these days.

Since the competition with Shen Qing, his days in the Sect had been much smoother.

No one dared to gossip behind his back anymore, Disciples came in an endless stream asking him to assist with Alchemy, and even the Elders were becoming more and more generous with their offers.

He picked three jobs, all of which were auxiliary tasks for helping Golden Core Elders process Wood-attribute Spirit Medicines.

The work wasn't too difficult, but for every order, he didn't ask for contribution points; instead, he asked the Elders for spirit nurturing pills as payment.

The excuse was ready-made: he said his Divine Sense cultivation couldn't keep up with his Alchemy level and he wanted to improve it as soon as possible.

The Golden Core Elders weren't short of High Grade spirit nurturing pills, and it was hard to find an assistant like Su Cheng who could process Spirit Medicines perfectly, so several Elders readily agreed.

After finishing the three jobs, Su Cheng had three more High Grade spirit nurturing pills in his hand.

He didn't keep any of these Medicinal Pills for himself; he sealed them all in jade boxes, ready to pass them to Fang Zhenhai the next time he went to the Prefecture City.

There was still no news about the Exotic Fire, and the Alchemy Hall Competition was only about half a year away. No one could say for sure whether he could get into the top three.

It wasn't a bad thing to save up a few more spirit nurturing pills; Fang Zhenhai's path to the Golden Core could not be delayed.

As for Su Cheng's own cultivation, it hadn't been neglected either.

Every morning, he went up the mountain as usual, meditated beside the soul-nurturing flower for two hours, and used the Qi of Creation as a catalyst to continuously nourish his Sea of Consciousness with the spirituality of the soul-nurturing flower.

The strength of his Divine Soul was steadily rising at the Late Foundation Establishment Stage. Although the daily increase was small, it was better to have a steady accumulation over time.

In terms of Spells, Green Vine Binding Kill could now catalyze seven four-foot-long vines, each capable of independently locking onto a target, and when attacking, they could be as sharp as spears or as flexible as whips.

The Thick Earth Barrier could condense a double-layered barrier six feet square. Under the blessing of the Qi of Creation, its defensive capability was equivalent to a full-force blow from a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

The displacement range of the Wood Evasion Technique had expanded to a radius of fifty feet, and the number of consecutive displacements had increased to five, allowing him to move freely in environments with dense trees.

The only thing Su Cheng wasn't very satisfied with was his spiritual energy cultivation.

The accumulation speed of the Qi of Creation was limited by the conversion efficiency of the Qiankun Creation Art. After the spiritual energy obtained from daily breathing was repeatedly purified by the Cultivation Technique, less than 30% actually remained.

Spiritual energy absorption was also a big problem; his Spiritual Root couldn't keep up, and even with various Medicinal Pill bonuses, it was just so-so.

After Fang Zhenhai Advanced to the Golden Core, Su Cheng had to find a way to solve this problem; the slow cultivation speed had a significant impact on many things he needed to do later.

Coupled with the fact that he had to maintain multiple consumptions such as Alchemy, assisting Elders, and practicing Spells, the net growth of his spiritual energy was very slow.

Early Foundation Establishment Stage, still Early Foundation Establishment Stage.

At this speed, it would take at least three to five years to break through to the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage.

(There are quite a few perspectives, and the protagonist still has several major things to do. Once they are finished, the issue of the protagonist's cultivation speed will be resolved.)

(There will also be a few people in the Family who will rise up, expanding the sphere of influence. Currently, the Family hasn't been described much, as the protagonist is still quite average and lacks overwhelming advantages, so I'm playing it safe.)

(It's hard to write about the Family right now; there are too many Advanced forces above, and I can't force the Family to rise directly. Managing forces is a very long-term thing.)

(Actually, it's mainly because the timeline is slow, not the kind where ten or twenty years are glossed over. If it were that way, it would be possible to rise, but that would go against the rhythm of my plot development.)

(Haha, I always explain it every once in a while. I want to maintain a sense of being a living person, and I have always been paying attention to everyone's comments.)