Chapter 456: Chapter 414: Planning the Grotto Heaven (Seeking Yue Tickets)

The Lotus Platform Cave Heaven, with its picturesque lakes and mountains, was breathtakingly beautiful.

Jiang Yuebai sat amidst the clouds at the mountain peak, emerged from meditation, and contently stretched her muscles. She watched as a red sun gradually set in the little world, painting the sky with rosy clouds.

A part of the forest beneath the mountain was bare, with trees toppled one by one. Xie Jingshan was still logging.

She turned her head; Lu Nanzhi had already built the framework of a small courtyard for her at the lakeside, with two mountain monkeys bringing tea and water to Lu Nanzhi, and the Dragonfly Little Demon fanning with large leaves.

Jiang Yuebai wasn’t in a hurry to go over and help. After months of exhausting efforts, it was only today that she managed to harmonize her entire aura and take the time to thoroughly inspect her own cultivation progress.

After entering the Mid-Stage Golden Core, the Elixir Pill in her Dantian had completely stabilized, and next was the conceiving of a god.

Just like the Demon Clan’s God Elixir Formation, which involves combining their Divine Soul and Divine Thought, a cultivator must also integrate a portion of their own Divine Soul and Divine Thought into the Golden Core, using the Five Elements Power to nurture a Baby Spirit.

When the Baby Spirit matures, that will be the day of Breaking the Elixir and Transforming the Infant.

Since stepping into the Mid-Stage Golden Core, Jiang Yuebai had been lax in her main cultivation technique, body refining cultivation technique, as well as demon arts and grafting methods, making little progress.

The "Five Elements Returning to Truth Skill," "Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique," and "Green Dragon Spear Technique" have just entered the Fourth Layer, corresponding to the Mid-Stage Golden Core state.

The demon arts, ever since obtaining the Demon Technique Collection, had not been learned anew.

Her research on the "Great Derivation Scripture" and the Calculation Scripture had also stalled, and both alchemy, talisman making, and artifact refining had become rusty.

"My puppet avatar that got crushed hasn’t been repaired, and Jixiang and Little Green are off wandering who-knows-where."

Jiang Yuebai craned her neck, surveying the Lotus Platform Cave Heaven, vaguely sensing them roaming in the northern woods.

Relishing the rare leisure, Jiang Yuebai decided not to disturb them.

At this time, they were still on Wentian Island; Shen Huaxi had gone ahead to arrange matters of the Extraordinary People Country, planning to return to Wentian Island afterwards.

The Supreme Elder had already informed Vajra Platform, Guiyuan Sword Sect, Kong Family, and now the Fang Family, to convene on Wentian Island to discuss the eradication of the Asura Domain.

Mountain and Sea Building also decided to participate this time, offering a batch of supplies. For now, only Ding Lanzhi had left, while Xie Tianbao stayed on Wentian Island, accompanying Wenn Miao in drinking and chatting daily.

Before leaving, Ding Lanzhi came specifically to find Jiang Yuebai to express her gratitude in a grand manner.

Jiang Yuebai always felt that Xie Jingshan’s ordeal was partly her responsibility, and since Xie Jingshan was her close friend, saving him was only right, thus she gracefully declined Ding Lanzhi’s kind offer. But...

She had given just too much!

If Jiang Yuebai really refused, she felt her Taoist heart would shatter.

In the end, she had to symbolically accept a million top-grade Spirit Stones and numerous rare materials to construct the Lotus Platform Cave Heaven.

Xie Jingshan knew she was troubled about how to conceal the Five Elements Lotus Platform, so he had Xie Tianbao personally craft something for her, which was still in the making, and Jiang Yuebai didn’t yet know what it would be.

"Shen Huaxi’s fifty thousand Spirit Stones are already repaid, now I’m debt-free and quite affluent."

Jiang Yuebai chuckled, checking her belongings.

The five spiritual artifacts on her were already restored, though a few magic treasures were damaged and needed some repairs. She had hardly suffered any losses on this trip.

She also obtained three pieces of Mermaid Silk and twelve Merfolk Pearls from the Merfolk Country, all of which were priceless treasures, impossible to find outside.

"When I find the time, I’ll use the Mermaid Silk to make a set of vestment robes. Then various spells won’t affect me, adding another layer of protective means."

Jiang Yuebai took out the ring Shen Huaxi gave her and it was Tian Nanxing’s storage magic treasure.

The Divine Sense Mark on it had already been erased, and Shen Huaxi had replicated some of Tian Nanxing’s research notes.

After checking it with her Divine Sense, Jiang Yuebai discovered that aside from all grades of Spirit Stones, it mostly contained books and jade scrolls.

These books and jade scrolls were the life’s work of Tian Nanxing, documenting various spirit plants’ characteristics, detailed grafting processes, growth, and mutation conditions.

In the later stages, he had even begun cross-species grafting, grafting animal bones onto himself.

Seeing this, Jiang Yuebai thought of how he had dug up Xie Jingshan’s Sword Bone, still feeling he died too easily!

The demon clan rarely uses magical treasures, as their bodies are their strongest artifacts, so Tian Nanxing had no magic treasures, only some bottles and jars.

Most of them contained bizarre creations from his research, and Jiang Yuebai found jade scrolls he used for records, discovering that ninety percent were toxins, effective in various ways and with unique effects.

"Lucky for me, I’ll use your toxins to remedy my own flaws bit by bit in hopes of becoming the world’s most poisonous vine!"

Jiang Yuebai recently cleared her mind and realized that eating too many elixirs reduces their effectiveness. Similarly, being exposed to poison often enough can certainly build resistance.

It’s like getting struck by lightning. At first, a single bolt would leave her in bed for half a month. But towards the end, she could take dozens in a day without feeling much, almost yearning for more.

Speaking of lightning, Jiang Yuebai suddenly remembered she needed to visit Thunder Marsh again before heading to the Upper Realm, to gather some Jian Palace Thunder for insight into Yang Thunder in the Lotus Platform Cave Heaven.

"There’s so much to do, life in cultivation is vibrant again, how wonderful!"

Jiang Yuebai stood up, stretched her muscles, and with one step, rode the wind down from the mountaintop.

At the forest edge, Xie Jingshan was sweeping his longsword, making large swathes of trees topple. He leapt into the air, slashing downward with several strikes, and the fallen trees immediately turned into uniform logs. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Little Huo Dou, covered in golden flames, lay at the forest’s edge, yawning and turning over, with no intention of helping.

The golden flame on Little Huo Dou’s head formed a small Three-Legged Golden Bird, chirping at Xie Jingshan.

As Jiang Yuebai landed and waved her hand, the towering stack of logs was all absorbed into her storage ring.

"Xie Jingshan, chop faster. This little wood isn’t enough for a row of houses."

Spiritually drained, Xie Jingshan bared his teeth at this, "Can you even use a row of houses? One big courtyard should be enough, don’t push your luck!"

"How could it not be enough?" Jiang Yuebai counted on her fingers, "Anan and I need a room each to live in, then a quiet room each for reading and cultivation, right? I also need an elixir room, an artifact room, a puppet workshop, and when the spiritual fields are dug out, there should be a tool room too, right? The spiritual medicines and seeds need separate storage rooms, don’t they? Plus, with all those Green Armor Bees, there should be a place for collecting honey, right? And when I find Yun Shang, there should be a place for nurturing spiritual beasts....."

Xie Jingshan’s face turned greener with each sentence, nudging aside Little Green who was watching the commotion. He felt like they weren’t just building houses, but constructing a city!

"I quit!"

Xie Jingshan threw down his sword, deciding to strike.

Jiang Yuebai’s expression fell, "What did you say?"

Feeling guilty, Xie Jingshan folded his arms and said in a small, weak voice, "This is too much for me alone, plus I’m not good at building houses, I’m afraid it’ll turn out so ugly it’ll make you cry. How about you write down your requirements, and I’ll go to the Mountain and Sea Building to hire a group of craftsmen to build houses that can be stored like magic artifacts for you."

"I’ll cover the cost and materials, with pavilions, terraces, and gardens all well-planned. Besides, if you build so much, you’ll end up deforesting the area, and there won’t be enough wood, right?"

Jiang Yuebai thought for a moment, "Makes sense, let’s do it that way! However, the courtyard already being built needs to be finished, we at least need a place to stay, surely we can’t sleep outdoors. Continue."

Xie Jingshan: ......

Jiang Yuebai waved her hand, leaving Xie Jingshan to continue chopping trees as she went to find Lu Nanzhi.

The Dragonfly Little Demon and Butterfly Little Demons noticed Jiang Yuebai and immediately flew to her side, landing on her white hair and joyfully fluttering their wings, absorbing the aura from her White Vine.

"Anan, how’s it going?"

Lu Nanzhi looked at Jiang Yuebai, pointed to the second floor small building and courtyard drawn on the wooden board, and asked, "How does it look?"

Jiang Yuebai nodded contentedly, "Very elegant, just don’t know if Xie Jingshan can build according to the design."

Lu Nanzhi thought, "Probably difficult."

Jiang Yuebai waved it off, "Doesn’t matter, if he can’t build it, it’s his problem to solve. If I don’t get him to do something, he’s bound to start overthinking and become restless."

"Anan, help me process the lumber, I’ve planned the spiritual fields, and the Mountain and Sea Building gave me a lot of spiritual medicine seeds, we need to plant them quickly, and I’ll need quite a few Planting Puppets."

"Alright."

The two of them processed the lumber by the river, Lu Nanzhi said, "Everything here is nice, except the spiritual energy is a bit thin, you need a spirit vein."

Jiang Yuebai was troubled, "Spirit veins are rare, we’ll let fate decide. What are your plans next?"

Lu Nanzhi swung the axe heavily, splitting the whole log in half.

"Since birth, I haven’t really appreciated the mountains and rivers of the Earth Spiritual Realm, before leaving here, I want to wander around and have a look. What’s your plan?"

"I still need to return to the Demon Clan to serve the Divine Tree, it’s what I promised in exchange for resolving my demon bloodline issue. There’s no conflict there, it’ll allow me to focus on cultivation for a while."

Lu Nanzhi and Jiang Yuebai looked up and smiled at each other.

"Then we keep in touch through letters, take care, and head to the Upper Realm together."

"Yes!"