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Ling Pengyun rallied his spirits, formed hand seals with both hands, summoned the Cloud Rain Technique seal, and sent it into the air. It transformed into a pure white cloud that released spirit rain, first watering the two mu of Yellow Jade Spirit Rice.

As he watered them, Ling Pengyun kept firmly in mind the warning recorded in the Lingxiao Spirit Plant Scripture: spirit plants that had already gone thirsty must not be given too much water all at once.

Thus, he let the spirit rain fall upon the two mu of Yellow Jade Spirit Rice for only half an incense stick before stopping.

Ordinarily, he would let the rain fall for a full incense stick to water the water-loving Yellow Jade Spirit Rice.

The Qi Training Grass and Sword Star Grass, which should have received half an incense stick of spirit rain, were watered for only the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

Once he finished watering them with spirit rain, Ling Pengyun cast the Lingxiao Ripening Technique, which needed to be used once every three days, over each of the spirit plants in the six mu of fields.

Using a secret art, he condensed pure Wood Spiritual Energy to hasten their growth.

The Ripening Technique consumed a great deal of energy. After Ling Pengyun cast it once upon the spirit plants in all six mu of spirit fields, barely any spiritual power remained in his dantian.

After greeting the Yellow-Feathered Sparrow, which dutifully guarded the spirit fields, he pulled out the dozen or so weeds that had grown during his three-day absence and burned them clean. Then Ling Pengyun descended the mountain and returned to the cave halfway up the slope.

The Azure Scale Water Python corpse, one zhang long and as thick as a millstone, had been kept fresh by ice and had not spoiled. Even now, much ice still clung to its body.

After melting away the ice, Ling Pengyun summoned his Mystic Iron Sword and carefully began dissecting the Azure Scale Water Python corpse, whose rank had reached the Qi Training Middle Stage.

The Azure Scale Water Python excelled in bodily strength, and the several hundred jin of flesh on its body contained abundant spiritual energy—far surpassing that of the Ink Cloud Poisonous Snake he had obtained earlier, which had also been at the Qi Training Middle Stage.

Even so, the venom of that Qi Training Middle Stage Ink Cloud Poisonous Snake had been quite valuable. In truth, the overall value of the two was not far apart.

For Ling Pengyun, who was of the same realm, the several hundred jin of Azure Scale Water Python meat was also an excellent cultivation resource. By his estimate, the spiritual energy gained from eating it could likely match the effects of one or two Yellow Sprout Pills.

Beyond its flesh and blood, every part of this demon serpent was a treasure.

Although most of the snake blood had been washed away when the serpent died in the current, nearly a dozen jin still remained within its body.

"This snake blood contains pure Water Spiritual Energy. If it is refined into talisman ink and used to draw water-element spirit talismans, it will certainly increase their power. If sold, it could probably fetch one spirit stone for every five jin of snake blood."

Though ninety-nine percent of the snake skin and scales had been ruined, Ling Pengyun still pieced together four palm-sized pieces of snake skin from the demon serpent's corpse.

"These four pieces should be enough to make a pair of magic tool boots!"

"If these four pieces of water-element demon serpent hide are given to a Weapon Refiner to make boots, they may not increase my speed much, but there is an eighty or ninety percent chance they will improve the speed at which I gather Water Spiritual Energy in battle. They can also reduce some of my spiritual energy expenditure when casting spells." Ling Pengyun looked at the four pieces of python skin spread across the ground and said with a smile.

Ling Pengyun also removed the demon serpent's bones.

Both the bones and fangs were extremely hard, their toughness comparable to spirit iron of the same rank.

They were insufficient to serve as the main materials for First Grade Middle Rank Magic Tools, but they would do perfectly well as supplementary materials and were worth several spirit stones.

There was no need to mention the demon serpent's gallbladder. It was an excellent material for refining Antidote Pills and Foundation Strengthening Pills.

As for the demon serpent's remaining organs, they had little use. Ling Pengyun could not be bothered to eat them, so he gave them all to the Yellow-Feathered Sparrow, which had long worked tirelessly to guard the spirit plants in the six mu of fields atop the mountain from spirit insects.

Though these organs were little more than trash in Ling Pengyun's eyes, they were treasures in the eyes of the Yellow-Feathered Sparrow, which was at the fourth level of the innate realm. They were, after all, things that contained spiritual energy.

This made the Yellow-Feathered Sparrow firmly believe that following this immortal would surely lead to a bright future. It kept landing by Ling Pengyun's feet and rubbing its head against him to show its obedience.

This pleased Ling Pengyun immensely!

Over this recent stretch of time, the Yellow-Feathered Sparrow had relied on those demon serpent organs to break through two cultivation levels in succession, directly reaching the sixth level of the innate realm.

Meanwhile, Ling Pengyun heartily ate stir-fried demon serpent meat and large mouthfuls of Azure Jade Spirit Rice, feeling thoroughly satisfied.

Once full, he circulated his cultivation technique and refined the spiritual energy contained within the snake meat and spirit rice.

Once he had refined it, he would awaken, continue cooking demon snake meat to eat, then circulate his cultivation technique again and refine it.

Ling Pengyun had squeezed the demon serpent's flesh and blood for every last drop of use.

Lingxiao Mountain.

After Ling Yunhong returned to the clan mountain from Azure Stone Mountain, having confirmed the scale of the Mystic Water Iron Mine, he immediately summoned the Grand Elder Ling Ruda, the Second Elder Ling Ruxian, and the Fifth Elder Ling Yunxi, all of whom were in the clan, to the Council Hall atop the mountain.

Once everyone had arrived, Ling Yunhong told the three elders that Ling Pengyun of the Peng Generation had discovered a Mystic Water Iron Mine in Azure Stone Lake beside Azure Stone Mountain. It extended for more than four hundred and eighty zhang, already reaching the scale of a small mine.

"It actually extends for more than four hundred and eighty zhang!" Although Grand Elder Ling Ruda had long known about the mine, he could not help crying out when he heard its scale. His face was full of delight, and he could not stop smiling.

"What? A small-scale Mystic Water Iron Mine?" Fifth Elder Ling Yunxi looked utterly shocked. The surprise was too enormous; for a moment, she could scarcely accept that the Ling Clan had encountered such a stroke of fortune.

Second Elder Ling Ruxian had traveled and trained outside for many years and understood the cruelty of the Cultivation World. Though he too was shocked, his first words were not amazement but concern for the mine's safety. "Yun Hong, quickly send people to guard it, lest news of the mine leaks and draws other clans here to fight over it!"

Ling Yunhong smiled. "All right, quiet down first. During my journey back to the clan mountain from the Profound Water Mineral Vein at Azure Stone Lake, I thought over countless times how we should make use of this mine!"

"For a clan like ours, which possesses only first-grade lower- and middle-rank weapon-refining inheritances, and lacks methods to use Mystic Water Iron as the primary material to refine magic tools such as the Mystic Water Sword and Mystic Water Shield, even if we mine this small Mystic Water Iron Mine ourselves, we can only refine the raw ore into Mystic Water Iron and sell it. It will be difficult to fully develop the mine's value, and while mining it, we must also risk having it seized by other major clans."

"Rather than that, we might as well transfer part of the mine's profits to the Hundred Spirits Sect, which needs ore. In exchange for a portion of its profits, we can obtain a complete first-grade weapon-refining inheritance that is difficult to buy with spirit stones outside, perhaps even the second-grade alchemy inheritance we have long coveted. We may even be able to trade for a Foundation Establishment cultivation technique from the Hundred Spirits Sect, strengthening our clan's foundation!"

"As for the remaining ore in the Mystic Water Iron Mine, our Ling Clan can use the complete first-grade weapon-refining inheritance we obtain to refine it into magic tools one after another, maximizing the profits. Who is to say the earnings will be any less than simply selling the ore from the entire mine directly?"

Ling Yunhong's words struck straight into the hearts of Ling Ruda, Ling Ruxian, and Ling Yunxi. All three deeply agreed with him.