Rising from Small Cloud Rain Technique
Chapter 457 - 389: A Twist of Fate
Jia Yu displayed a cunning fox-like smile:
"It’s a small matter, I visit Red Flame Peak every few months."
If I visit your territory, your disciples have to entertain me, right?
"Haha, feel free to visit. I’ve already instructed the disciples that as long as Senior Brother comes to Red Flame Peak, there will definitely be Spirit Wine gifted."
Ji An laughed, saying that in a few years, Li Haoran will come to Red Flame Peak for Qi Eating. With the help of all the senior and junior brothers, his Dao Field should be very stable.
"Hearing this makes me feel a bit embarrassed."
Jia Yu smiled with satisfaction, "Junior Brother, the ancestor should have told you about the situation in the Southern Continent. Let me add one more word.
The cultivators of the Shadowless Sect are extremely vicious. If you become enemies, you must eradicate them and swiftly move on...
I suspect they target foreign cultivators, torturing them till they die with resentment, thereby gathering Evil Ghosts.
The Shadowless Sect’s territory is in the Black Mist Mountain Range. You must not go near there."
He recounted his experiences traveling the Southern Continent and sternly warned.
Ji An furrowed his brow, "Such behavior, how is it different from demon cultivators? How can the cultivators of the Southern Continent tolerate them?"
Using living people as materials is exactly like the conduct of demon cultivators. How could such a force not have enemies?
"The Shadowless Sect is a Nascent Soul Sect. Unless caught in the act by forces of the same level, who dares to provoke them?"
Jia Yu snorted coldly and then sighed helplessly, "Even if discovered, as long as they don’t enrage everyone, at most they’ll punish some low-level lackeys.
The real offenders still roam free.
The world is neither black nor white but a gray where black and white are indistinguishable.
Junior Brother, don’t let your sense of justice overflow when you go traveling."
Ji An gave a deep, quiet nod; he was now just a junior cultivator at the Chao Origin Stage. What use was a towering sense of justice?
The scene suddenly fell silent, and Jia Yu suddenly laughed heartily, saying:
"Did I talk too much about dark things and affect Junior Brother’s mindset?
No matter what happens, the sun will rise every day, and even the most turbid river will have a day when its mud and sand settle and it clears."
He was suddenly somewhat worried about this junior brother, who had always stayed within the sect and had no disputes with others, unaware of the dangers outside.
"Senior Brother, it won’t be so."
Ji An smiled and shook his head. In the past life, without personal power and with the rapid spread of information, though he hadn’t personally witnessed bizarre things, he had heard many through word of mouth.
Where there is light, there is darkness. Where there is yin, there is yang. Influence mindset? It doesn’t exist.
There’s a simple and straightforward truth: all helplessness is due to insufficient power.
The two chatted leisurely for a while longer, and Jia Yu took leave, saying:
"There’s nothing left here, so I’ll return to the sect now.
I must say, having a Teleportation Array is truly convenient.
Junior Brother, until we meet again."
Seeing off Senior Brother, Ji An sat down cross-legged, placing the Jade Slip of the Silk Thread Spell on his forehead, reading the information within.
Puppets only have basic ’programming’ and can fight instinctively, but to fully utilize their function, Divine Sense control is needed.
Without a secret technique, being able to multitask is already impressive for a cultivator, like casting spells while controlling a puppet for assistance, but they can only manage one puppet.
Now, with the Silk Thread Spell, multi-thread synchronization is possible, which is why the Golden Puppet Sect is so powerful.
Some say that certain cultivators in the Golden Puppet Sect can control dozens of puppets simultaneously, coordinating them neatly for full-scale, all-angle saturation attacks.
In Ji An’s eyes, such cultivators are the ’pay-to-win’ players of the Cultivation Realm.
Creating puppets also requires materials, and the higher the tier of the puppet, the higher the material’s quality must be.
He repeatedly studied the spell of the Silk Thread Spell seven or eight times, ensuring he fully understood the meaning before calming his mind and sensing the power of Divine Sense.
At this moment, his Divine Sense could be large or small, able to condense into a beam or scatter like a cloud, but no matter its transformation, it was a whole.
It is said that some secret techniques can condense thought into a blade to cut one’s own Divine Sense, allowing a strand to be separated for multi-tasking.
Whether such a secret technique could succeed is one thing, but the intense pain from self-severing Divine Sense is not something ordinary cultivators can bear.
Constant damage to Divine Sense will harm the Spirit Soul, and a wounded Spirit Soul cannot be nurtured back with Spirit Tea or Soul Incense.
Three-tier Soul Nourishing Wood is required for long-term nurturing to repair the Spirit Soul’s damage.
If the damage is too severe, there’s even a risk of becoming an idiot.
This Silk Thread Spell secret technique is much gentler; it uses secret techniques for direct separation.
Ji An didn’t realize this secret technique was mastered at the Qi Refining Stage in the Golden Puppet Sect; he only found it simple.
In just a moment, he successfully released it, briefly separating a strand of Divine Sense.
[Magic Technique: Silk Thread Spell (Entry 1%)]
This was much simpler than practicing Spirit Roar, Ji An thought smugly to himself.
He continued to practice the secret technique repeatedly, with increasing success rate and duration.
By midnight, feeling his Spirit Soul growing weary, he ended his cultivation, connecting his mind with the Upper Stone Turtle.
[Magic Technique: Silk Thread Spell (Entry 36%)]
"Not bad!"
Ji An praised himself. In less than three double hours, he improved by over 9% each double hour. In a few days, the secret technique would be mastered.
Now he could easily separate a strand of Divine Sense, maintaining it for one breath, about four or five seconds, which was already sufficient for battle needs.
"Refine the Spiritual Mechanism and enhance the Silk Thread Spell!"
Ji An tentatively gave the order, receiving a response that it couldn’t be enhanced, as expected.
He took out the Wind Furnace and Spiritual Charcoal, boiled some hot water, and brewed a cup of Cloud Peak Silver Needle Tea.
This time, he wasn’t as extravagant as usual, only pinching four threads of tea leaves. Once he leaves the sect, the tea leaves won’t be replenished.
...
Golden Puppet Pavilion, fourth floor.
Various stewards gathered together to tally the day’s earnings and store the spirit stones and various spiritual materials.
Fang Shiping glanced around at everyone, chuckling as he said:
"Today, in the area I was responsible for, we sold one Tier Two Top-Grade Puppet Storm Thunder Eagle and one Tier Two Upper Grade Puppet Black Ape, earning a total of eighty-two top-grade spirit stones and some top-grade Canglan Dragon Wood.
These Canglan Dragon Woods are worth thirty top-grade spirit stones, but their real value is at least thirty-six spirit stones."
As he spoke, he took the spirit wood out of the Grotto Void Stone, feeling quite pleased:
"These two pieces of spirit wood have remnants of the dragon’s aura!"
"Old Fang’s had a stroke of luck, damn it!"
Immediately, a colleague called out sourly. The remnants of the dragon’s aura are extremely rare, even in the Central Continent, and only the Divine Wood Sect can steadily cultivate such spirit wood.
Yun Feihua, a late-stage Golden Core cultivator, was in charge of the Golden Puppet Pavilion’s traveling merchant venture this time.
He smiled and said, "Not bad."
Traveling in the Western Continent, being able to acquire high-quality Tier Two Top-Grade Materials is a good harvest.
He probed the spirit wood with his divine sense and then stimulated it with a secret technique.
The grand dragon’s roar bellowed in his sea of consciousness, his expression slightly surprised, as he said earnestly:
"Shiping, your estimate is conservative. The value of these two pieces of spiritual materials should be forty top-grade spirit stones."
Even for a Divine Wood Sect cultivator, cultivating Canglan Dragon Wood with such abundant spiritual nature still requires fortune.
"Old Fang, you need to treat us!"
Fang Shiping’s face lit up with joy; he could receive more reward.
Yun Feihua carefully examined the two pieces of spiritual materials, speaking in a deep voice:
"Who was the cultivator trading the Canglan Dragon Wood? Can you still contact them?"
He wanted to figure out where they got the spirit wood, as Canglan Dragon Wood is planted in many continents, the region where spirit wood can develop such strong spiritual properties must have some mystique.
Western Continent cultivators probably would not have such insight; if the location where the spirit wood was obtained could be found, perhaps there’s an extra fortune to be had.
This is the benefit of broad experience; cultivators with shallow knowledge, even if they get a treasure, would only discard it as a mundane item.
Fang Shiping understood the hidden meaning in his elder’s words and quickly said:
"The cultivator who brought out the Canglan Dragon Wood is named Ji An, a Golden Spirit Sect cultivator. We should be able to contact him.
Master, shall I send someone to the Golden Spirit Sect’s station in the marketplace to inquire tomorrow?"
Cyan Cloud Immortal City is the largest immortal city in the Western Province, but compared to many large marketplaces in the Central Continent, it’s not large enough to qualify as an immortal city.
Yun Feihua nodded slightly, and said indifferently:
"Don’t go too early; it will seem too impatient. Invite them over as a guest again, then subtly find out where the spirit wood was obtained."
In his subconscious mind, he couldn’t imagine that there could be a cultivator in the Western Province capable of cultivating Canglan Dragon Wood to such an extent.
"As you command, the disciple will definitely complete the task perfectly."
Fang Shiping laughed. Being subtle was his forte.
"Hmm, if there are additional findings, there will be merit for you."
...
The next day, late morning.
Steward Liu arrived at Cyan Cloud Immortal City and found the Golden Spirit Sect’s station.
He found the cultivator in charge there and revealed the Golden Puppet Pavilion’s token, smiling kindly:
"I am Liu Anqing, acting as a steward of the Golden Puppet Pavilion from the Central Continent, and I have been instructed by our steward Fang to invite Elder Ji An of your sect to the Golden Puppet Pavilion for a talk."
"I am Zhang Ping. Steward Liu, your timing is unfortunate. Junior Martial Uncle Ji left an hour ago."
"Elder Ji has returned to the sect? Fellow Daoist, could you send a message?
To be honest, Elder Ji purchased a puppet from our shop yesterday, and there was a misunderstanding. Our steward wishes to apologize to Elder Ji in person."
He said this while taking out a middle-grade spirit stone and handing it to Zhang Ping.
Zhang Ping squeezed the spirit stone, and said with difficulty:
"Sending a message is a small matter, but Junior Martial Uncle Ji hasn’t returned to the sect. He’s on a journey outside the sect and it’s unknown when he’ll return."
The opposite party’s enthusiasm and generosity made it embarrassing for him not to accept it.
However, yesterday he heard Junior Martial Uncle Jia mention that Junior Martial Uncles Ji An and Han Yan would be traveling together.
"Ah? Such a coincidence!"
Liu Anqing was a bit suspicious, but there was no reason for them to lie, not to mention, they had accepted his spirit stone, and taking someone’s property makes the hand short!
He was a bit dumbfounded, not knowing what to do for a moment.
"It’s quite a coincidence."
Zhang Ping offered the spirit stone back, saying:
"I couldn’t help Fellow Daoist Liu, I feel guilty keeping this spirit stone."
This was a tactic to retreat in order to advance, making it awkward for the other party to take it back.
Liu Anqing forced a smile, pushing the other’s hand back:
"Fellow Daoist, use it for tea. The steward is still waiting for my news, I must take my leave."
What a mess!