Acquiring the Spiritual Treasure

Since getting the idea to probe the soil beneath him, Jiang Yun spent each day extending a few roots outward while driving his main root deeper downward.

As a bamboo, spreading through root offshoots was an innate skill, and that bare patch of ground looked far too barren—he needed some greenery to make it feel natural and harmonious!

After a brief sigh of reflection, Jiang Yun quietly guided Cloud Bamboo in breathing and cultivation.

Over the following days, he began experimenting with nourishing his Nascent Soul through qi absorption while directing his roots to spread outward in all directions.

A hint of green slowly crept over the area within a kilometer of his main body. Though the initial attempts were clumsy and uneven, as he practiced "dividing his mind in two" more often, Jiang Yun grew adept at multitasking, handling it with ease.

Another three months passed. During his rooting process, Jiang Yun grasped a sliver of Earth Element Power and derived a small burrowing spell.

To comprehend a spell in such a short time left Jiang Yun quite satisfied with his own insight, feeling like a little genius.

Days turned to nights as time crept forward, and Jiang Yun found himself endlessly delighted in the process!

Half a year flew by. Jiang Yun had fully mastered Cloud Bamboo, which had long shed its sickly state, its stems and roots growing thicker and sturdier.

His synchronized breathing with Cloud Bamboo and his burrowing technique grew more effortless by the day.

During this time, he diligently studied the Jianmu Tongtian True Scripture, combining it with synchronized breathing and relentless daily cultivation. The technique had now reached minor success, accelerating the growth of his Nascent Soul.

In the days that followed, Jiang Yun continuously practiced the True Scripture, occasionally experiencing brief moments of enlightenment. One day, his Nascent Soul left his body, hovering cross-legged above Cloud Bamboo, his face brimming with a full smile.

After a year of hard work, his Nascent Soul had grown to twelve zhang tall, its strength more than ten times greater than when he first crossed over. His Spiritual Sense range had expanded significantly, and his cultivation had broken through to the Heavenly Immortal realm. In recent days, during breaks from cultivation, he had already scouted the valley with his Spiritual Sense, thoroughly familiarizing himself with every inch of this ten-li radius.

As Jiang Yun expected, the entire valley was desolate and lonely—he hadn't seen a single living creature in the past year.

His main root had successfully driven a hundred zhang deep into the earth, with his Spiritual Sense extending several li further through the root system. Gradually, Jiang Yun noticed that the deeper he went, the richer the spiritual energy in the soil became. At the same time, fluctuations of spiritual energy came from the earth veins below, stirring his Nascent Soul with a strange resonance, as if something precious below was calling him to come.

Without a moment's delay, Jiang Yun's Nascent Soul used the burrowing technique, following the spiritual energy fluctuations toward the earth vein. In the time it took a cup of tea to cool, he had already entered the earth vein. At its center, nine strands of Dragon Qi from the earth veins twisted together, forming six Innate Eight Trigrams Formations. These six formations arranged themselves into a three-dimensional structure, rotating along a Circulatory Star Chart. At the formation's eye hung a bronze-colored disc, rising and falling with the Dragon Qi. Nearby, a spiritual pearl glowed with an earthy yellow light, streams of yellow gas spilling from it and dispersing into the earth vein, causing waves of spiritual energy to ripple outward.

"This is an Earth Spirit Pearl..." Jiang Yun's heart leaped with joy. With a casual wave, the pearl fell into his palm. It was this treasure that had stirred his Nascent Soul. The moment he entered the earth vein, the Earth Spirit Pearl had sent him a wave of affectionate delight. A spiritual treasure had its own awareness, and since Jiang Yun's main body was a herbaceous spiritual root, wood and earth elements complemented each other perfectly.

Jiang Yun extended his Spiritual Sense and made a preliminary imprint on the Earth Spirit Pearl. From the feedback, he learned that this was originally his own companion treasure. The Earth Spirit Pearl was an innate spiritual treasure formed from the Essence of Innate Earth Element, with twenty-four Innate Restrictions, placing it among Mid-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures. Inside, it was filled with Earth Element Spiritual Energy, aiding cultivation and repairing earth veins. It could also generate various spiritual soils for nurturing plants. If he gathered the other four elemental spirit pearls, he could set up the Innate Five Elements Great Formation, with endless wondrous uses.

Jiang Yun raised his hand and absorbed the pearl into his body, then turned his gaze to the bronze disc at the formation's center. Through the protective formation, he examined it closely. The disc's edge was entwined with Dragon and Phoenix Patterns, and its front bore two Innate Divine Runes—"Dao Derivation." The reverse was engraved with a Circulatory Star Chart, each star set with a tiny gem of different colors, ancient and natural, exuding a Chaos Aura.

Jiang Yun tentatively sent a stream of magical power toward it, intending to test if the formation around the disc was meant to guard the treasure. To his surprise, the power passed straight through the formation without triggering any defense, striking the disc directly. Instantly, the surrounding formation collapsed like a projection, shrinking entirely into the treasure. The disc itself shrank to the size of a palm and floated slowly toward his hand along the path of his magical power.

"The treasure is recognizing me as its master!" Jiang Yun thought. Catching the floating disc, he flashed his Nascent Soul into it, imprinting his mark. The moment his soul touched it, a vast flood of information surged into him. This disc was a Heavenly Dao Exotic Treasure called the Dao Derivation Disk, with powerful functions. Its greatest ability was aiding in deduction—whether for deriving techniques or comprehending Dao laws, it could advance progress a thousandfold. Second, it could be stored in the Sea of Consciousness to block others' calculations and conceal one's own Heavenly Mandate, beyond even a sage's reach. Third, it could suppress one's own luck, preventing it from leaking away. Because the treasure had chosen its master, seemingly by fate, Jiang Yun fully refined it with just a brief contact.

"What a treasure... truly a treasure!" Jiang Yun was overjoyed, unable to suppress the grin spreading across his face. He gave the earth vein space a quick search but found no other treasures, so his Nascent Soul slipped out and returned to his main body.

The moment he was back, Jiang Yun eagerly retrieved the two treasures from his soul. Gazing at them, he pondered for a moment, calculating: "I only made a simple imprint in the earth vein. To unleash their power, I'll need to refine their restrictions. Though this valley is remote, for the safety of my main body, I'll need to focus entirely on refining without interruption. I should set up a guardian formation first to be safe."

With that in mind, Jiang Yun put away the Earth Spirit Pearl and raised the Dao Derivation Disk, preparing to deduce a guardian formation to cover the entire valley. He also planned to layer a Spirit Gathering and Locking Formation on top, drawing spiritual energy into the valley. After all, this was where his Spiritual Root Main Body was born—it would be his future Dao field, and he needed to manage it well.

Days turned to nights, and another month passed. Jiang Yun first studied the guardian formation that came with the Dao Derivation Disk. After deduction, he combined it with his own plant characteristics to create a Twelve Yuan Chen Guardian Formation. From the many offshoots branching from his main root, he carefully selected twelve and planted them at twelve designated formation nodes along the valley's edge. His Nascent Soul drove magical power to connect the nodes, inscribing the deduced formation patterns one by one. Instantly, a barrier rose from the surroundings, converging into a dome in the sky, like a bowl overturned on the earth.

After a while, once the formation stabilized, the faintly glowing barrier gradually faded into invisibility. Jiang Yun's Nascent Soul flickered, approaching the edge, and reached out a hand to probe. Only where he touched did ripples appear, the barrier as solid as a wall.

Jiang Yun finally relaxed. The guardian formation was initially complete.

"Now that the formation is set, this place is my Dao field! I am Cloud Bamboo, and the path of cultivation is long and arduous. From now on, my Dao name shall be Yun Yazhi! This Dao field shall be called Spirit Bamboo Valley."

"Next, I need to deduce the Spirit Gathering and Locking Formation, but there's no rush. With the Earth Spirit Pearl in hand, I won't lack spiritual energy for cultivation. I'd better refine the pearl properly and then go into Closed-door Cultivation for a while!" Thinking this, his Nascent Soul flickered back into his main body, took out the Earth Spirit Pearl, and began refining it.