After deciding to investigate the condition of the soil beneath him, Jiang Yun spent each day extending a small portion of his roots outward while focusing mainly on driving his main root deeper.
As a bamboo, propagating new plants through his roots was an ability he had possessed since birth. This bare patch of land looked far too barren, so he needed to add some greenery. Only then would it look more natural and harmonious!
After lamenting for a while, Jiang Yun began silently guiding Cloud Bamboo in breathing and cultivation.
Over the next few days, Jiang Yun tried eating spiritual energy to strengthen his Nascent Soul while guiding his roots to spread continuously in all directions.
Greenery gradually began to cover the area within a thousand meters of his main body. Although the process had been somewhat clumsy and awkward at first, as his Nascent Soul performed two tasks at once more often, Jiang Yun gradually became adept at multitasking, handling it with ease.
More than three months passed. While putting down roots, Jiang Yun comprehended a trace of Earth Element Power and derived a minor spell for burrowing underground.
Being able to comprehend a minor spell in such a short time left Jiang Yun very satisfied with his aptitude. He felt that he was truly a little genius.
The sun rose and the moon set as time slowly moved forward. Jiang Yun found himself enjoying it immensely!
Half a year passed in a flash. Jiang Yun had become completely familiar with and mastered Cloud Bamboo. By then, Cloud Bamboo had long since shed its sickly appearance, and its roots and stalk had grown increasingly robust.
Jiang Yun's synchronized breathing and burrowing with Cloud Bamboo became more and more natural.
During this time, he diligently studied the Jianmu Tongtian True Scripture. Combining it with synchronized breathing, he cultivated without rest each day. By now, the technique had reached a minor level of mastery, and the strengthening of his Nascent Soul had accelerated.
In the days that followed, Jiang Yun continued practicing the true scripture. During that time, he briefly entered enlightenment. On this day, Jiang Yun's Nascent Soul left his body and sat cross-legged in midair above Cloud Bamboo, his face brimming with delight!
After a year of hard work, his Nascent Soul avatar had grown to twelve zhang, while the strength of his Nascent Soul was more than ten times greater than when he had first transmigrated. The range of his spiritual sense had increased dramatically, and his cultivation had broken through to the Heavenly Immortal realm. Some time ago, in between cultivating, he had already explored the mountain valley with his spiritual sense. He had long since become familiar with this area, which spanned no more than ten li.
Just as Jiang Yun expected, the entire valley was equally barren and desolate. In the past year, he had not seen the slightest trace of a living creature.
Meanwhile, his main root had successfully burrowed a hundred zhang underground, and his spiritual sense continued extending several li downward along his roots. Jiang Yun gradually discovered that the deeper he went, the denser the spiritual energy in the soil became. At the same time, spiritual energy fluctuations came from the Earth Vein below, causing his Nascent Soul to tremble repeatedly. It seemed that some treasure beneath was calling him to go there.
Without the slightest delay, Jiang Yun's Nascent Soul cast his burrowing technique and followed the spiritual energy fluctuations toward the Earth Vein. In less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Jiang Yun had already entered the Earth Vein. At its center, nine strands of Dragon Qi from the Earth Vein intertwined and condensed into six Innate Eight Trigrams Formations. The six formations formed a three-dimensional shape and revolved with the stars. A bronze-colored disk hung at the formation core, rising and falling with the Dragon Qi within the formation. Beside the disk was a Spiritual Pearl shining with an earthy-yellow light. Strands of earthy-yellow energy spilled from within the pearl, spreading in all directions into the Earth Vein and causing waves of spiritual energy fluctuations.
"This is the Earth Spirit Pearl..." Jiang Yun was overjoyed. With a casual beckoning gesture, the Spiritual Pearl fell into his palm. It turned out that the treasure causing his Nascent Soul to tremble was this Earth Spirit Pearl. The moment he had entered the Earth Vein, the Earth Spirit Pearl had sent him an intimate, joyful emotion. Spiritual treasures possessed spirits, and Jiang Yun's main body was a Herbaceous Spiritual Root. Wood and Earth complemented each other perfectly.
Jiang Yun extended his Nascent Soul and initially imprinted it into the Earth Spirit Pearl. Through the information transmitted by the pearl, he learned that it was originally his companion treasure. The Earth Spirit Pearl had been formed from the Essence of Innate Earth Element and was an Innate Spiritual Treasure. It possessed twenty-four layers of Innate Restrictions and belonged to the ranks of Mid-grade Innate Spiritual Treasures. The pearl was filled with Innate Earth Element Spiritual Energy, which could assist cultivation and repair Earth Veins. In addition, the Earth Spirit Pearl could produce various kinds of spiritual soil and nurture spiritual plants. If the other four elemental pearls were gathered, it could even be used to set up the Innate Five Elements Great Formation, possessing endless wondrous uses.
Jiang Yun raised his hand and drew the Spiritual Pearl into his body, then turned his gaze toward the bronze disk at the center of the formation nearby. Through the protective formation, he examined it carefully. Dragon and Phoenix Patterns intertwined along the disk's edge. Two Innate Divine Runes were engraved on its front: the words "Dao Derivation." The back depicted a Circulatory Star Chart. Every star in the chart was inlaid with some kind of tiny gemstone. Their colors varied, and their ancient, natural appearance radiated a trace of Chaos Aura.
Jiang Yun tentatively sent out a strand of magic power, intending to test whether the formation surrounding the bronze disk was protecting the treasure. Unexpectedly, his magic power passed straight through the formation without triggering its defenses and struck the bronze disk instead. In an instant, the formation around the disk seemed to become a projection, shrinking completely into the treasure. The disk immediately shrank to the size of a palm and slowly flew toward his hand along the path of the magic power Jiang Yun had sent out.
"The treasure has recognized me as its master automatically!" Jiang Yun thought. After catching the floating disk, his Nascent Soul flashed and first imprinted his Nascent Soul Imprint into it. The instant his Nascent Soul made contact, a massive amount of information surged over. This disk was a Heavenly Dao Exotic Treasure called the Dao Derivation Disk, and its functions were powerful. Its greatest function was assisting deduction. Whether deducing cultivation techniques or comprehending the laws of the Dao, it could make progress a thousand li in a single day. Its second function was that, once placed in the Sea of Consciousness, it could block others from divining him and conceal his Heavenly Mandate, making him impossible even for a Sage to calculate. Its third function was suppressing his own fortune and preventing it from leaking away. Furthermore, because the treasure had recognized him as its master, seemingly in accordance with the Heavenly Mandate, Jiang Yun completely refined it after his Nascent Soul made only brief contact with it.
"What a treasure... Truly, what a treasure!" Jiang Yun was incomparably delighted, unable to suppress the joy on his face. He then briefly searched the space within the Earth Vein, but found no other treasures. His Nascent Soul therefore left the Earth Vein and returned all the way to his main body.
As soon as he returned, Jiang Yun eagerly took the Spiritual Treasures from his Nascent Soul. Looking at the two Spiritual Treasures before him, he pondered for a moment before thinking, I only left simple imprints in the treasures while I was in the Earth Vein. If I want them to display their power, I still need to refine the restrictions within them! Although this mountain valley is rarely visited, refining Spiritual Treasures requires me to devote myself completely and avoid disturbances for the sake of my main body's safety. I still need to establish a set of protective formations first to be truly safe.
After considering this, Jiang Yun put away the Earth Spirit Pearl, then raised the Dao Derivation Disk and prepared to deduce a protective formation that would envelop the entire mountain valley. He also planned to add a Spirit Gathering and Locking Formation to gather spiritual energy in the valley. After all, this was the birthplace of his Spiritual Root Main Body and would become his Dao Field in the future, so he needed to manage it properly.
The sun rose and the moon set, and another month passed. Jiang Yun first comprehended the protective formation that had originally come with the Dao Derivation Disk. After deducing it and combining it with his own characteristics as a plant, he created a Twelve Yuan Chen Guardian Formation. From among the many offspring plants grown from his main body's roots, he carefully selected twelve and planted them at twelve chosen formation nodes along the edge of the valley. Jiang Yun's Nascent Soul drove his magic power to connect the twelve nodes and engraved each of the deduced formation patterns. A barrier immediately rose from all sides and converged in midair into a hemisphere, like a bowl placed upside down over the earth.
After some time, once the formation had taken shape and stabilized, the barrier that had originally shone with visible fluorescence slowly vanished from sight. Jiang Yun's Nascent Soul flashed as he approached the edge of the circle and reached out to test it. Only when he touched it did waves ripple across the surface. The barrier was as solid as a wall.
Only then did Jiang Yun relax. The protective formation could be considered complete.
"Now that the formation is complete, 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 a Spirit Gathering and Locking Formation. But there's no need to rush. With the Earth Spirit Pearl in hand, I won't lack spiritual energy while cultivating. I should properly refine the pearl first, then enter closed-door cultivation for a while!" Thinking this, his Nascent Soul flashed and returned to his main body. He took out the Earth Spirit Pearl and began refining it.
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