After spending some time answering their questions and clearing up their doubts, Jieyin and Zhunti bade farewell to Zhenyuanzi, preparing to take Jiang Yun back to Mount Sumeru.
Zhenyuanzi tried to persuade them to stay for a while, then made an agreement with the three of them: once the Ginseng Fruits ripened, they would return to Wuzhuang Temple, where everyone could savor the Ginseng Fruits together while discussing the Dao and exploring its mysteries.
He then went with Hong Yun to see the three of them out of the temple, where they said their final farewells.
During the years Jiang Yun had stayed at Wuzhuang Temple, he had grown close to the two child attendants, Qingfeng and Mingyue. Combined with the close relationship between their elders, and the two children's innocent and simple natures, the three of them had developed an excellent relationship.
As they parted, Jiang Yun pulled the two of them aside and took out some Three Lights Divine Water to give them.
"Qingfeng, Mingyue, we've spent a long time together, and our temperaments are compatible. We're as close as brothers. I obtained this Three Lights Divine Water by chance. Each of you gets twenty drops. You can use it to refine your innate foundation and improve your aptitude. After we part, remember to cultivate diligently. When we meet again, don't fall too far behind me in cultivation!"
"Thank you, Senior Brother Jiang Yun! We'll definitely cultivate hard! Once Master's Ginseng Fruits ripen, you must come back to Wuzhuang Temple. Mingyue and I will use the Golden Striker to knock down some fruit for you." Qingfeng spoke excitedly, while Mingyue nodded vigorously beside him, murmuring, "Mm, mm."
After this, Jieyin and Zhunti took Jiang Yun and transformed into a streak of Evasion Light, returning in the direction of Mount Sumeru.
One day, a streak of light flashed by carrying three figures, appearing at the foot of Mount Sumeru. They were Jieyin, Zhunti, and Jiang Yun, who had returned from their stay at Wuzhuang Temple.
After leaving Wuzhuang Temple, Jieyin and Zhunti did not hurry back to their Dao Field. Instead, they took Jiang Yun along the way and searched carefully, collecting a large number of spirit medicines, spirit roots, and spirit materials, whether Innate or Acquired.
Their actions could also be considered putting their own principles into practice, giving Jiang Yun a living demonstration.
It had been inconvenient to act this way when they were with the others, but after separating, they no longer had any scruples!
However, their practice of going to the East to take advantage of the situation, collecting spirit roots and spirit materials from other regions of the Primordial Desolation, and even luring away some highly gifted living beings to make up for the West's deficiencies, did not align with Jiang Yun's own philosophy.
Jiang Yun believed that when one blossomed, the butterflies would come of their own accord. There was no need to tear down the western wall to repair the eastern one; instead, one should learn to find bricks outside the wall to repair it. His own Dao Field, Spirit Bamboo Valley, was a perfect example. After the Earth Vein had shattered, Spiritual Energy could no longer arise naturally, and the cultivation environment had become extremely poor. However, he restored the Earth Vein's ability to generate Spiritual Energy by repairing it, then set up the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Star Formation to draw Star Power from the Primordial Desolation Starry Sky and nurture Spirit Veins. This greatly transformed the cultivation environment and gradually restored vitality to the land around the Dao Field. Given enough time, recreating its former splendor was not impossible.
On the way back, Jiang Yun spent the entire journey thinking. He had come up with many ideas about the path he would take in the future.
The three of them returned to the main hall of the Dao Field. After Jieyin and Zhunti took their seats at the head, Jiang Yun spoke to them about his ideas.
"Teacher, while returning to Mount Sumeru, I saw you and Martial Uncle collecting spirit medicines and spirit roots along the way. I imagine they are meant to restore vitality to the Western Land. When I was in Spirit Bamboo Valley, I devoted myself to repairing the Earth Vein and improving the Dao Field's environment. I created several arrays for nurturing the Earth Vein and transforming Spiritual Energy. I also comprehended a Lesser Heavenly Cycle Stars Formation from a spirit treasure, which can draw Star Power from the Primordial Desolation Starry Sky and condense Spirit Veins. I hope you and Martial Uncle can help me examine and refine these arrays."
He then demonstrated, one by one, the Earth Vein Spirit Infusion Array, Spirit Plant Conversion Array, Earth Vein Network, and Lesser Heavenly Cycle Stars Formation that he had deduced with the help of the Dao Derivation Disk at his Dao Field in Spirit Bamboo Valley.
When they heard that these arrays formed a series capable of repairing the Earth Vein, restoring vitality to the land, and even nurturing Spirit Veins, Jieyin and Zhunti immediately became interested.
They focused their attention on the demonstrations, discussing certain details from time to time. After studying them, they were both extremely pleasantly surprised by the effects of this series of arrays.
Since their Form Transformation, the two of them had been constantly working for the prosperity of the West. Although they had researched some arrays for nurturing the shattered Earth Veins and Spirit Veins, they were still inferior to Jiang Yun's unique arrays deduced with the Dao Derivation Disk, let alone the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Stars Formation he had obtained from it.
The Lesser Heavenly Cycle Stars Formation's ability to draw in Star Spiritual Energy was what shocked them most. The Primordial Desolation's two races, the witches and demons, had yet to establish themselves, and the demon race's clan-protecting formation—the Heavenly Cycle Stars Great Formation—had not even begun to take shape. Yet the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Stars Formation formed from just the Three Hundred Sixty-Five Main Stars was already so extraordinary. From this, one could see just how powerful the complete Heavenly Cycle Stars Great Formation would be.
With the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Stars Formation drawing in Star Spiritual Energy, Jieyin and Zhunti instantly developed ideas similar to Jiang Yun's. They greatly praised his approach of using arrays to restore vitality to the West and enhance its foundations.
With this kind of step-by-step farming and development, who would be willing to throw away their dignity and run to other places to take advantage of the situation?
At that moment, Jieyin and Zhunti could not help sighing inwardly: Senior Brother, I truly did not sense wrongly back then. Jiang Yun really is the key to the great prosperity of our Western World!
The group then engaged in an in-depth exchange regarding these arrays. They also traded opinions on how to use them to repair the Western Land, eventually reaching several points of consensus.
First, the three of them planned to use fifty thousand years as one cycle and launch the first fifty-thousand-year plan, abbreviated as the First Five-Year Plan. Its written details were as follows:
First, during the First Five-Year Plan, they would use Mount Sumeru as the center and select a central region spanning a million li in each of the eight directions—east, west, south, north, southeast, southwest, northeast, and northwest—as a first-level node. They would use the Earth Vein Spirit Infusion Array, Spirit Plant Conversion Array, and Earth Vein Network to repair the Earth Vein, transform Spiritual Energy, and protect the Earth Vein.
Second, they would arrange the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Stars Formation at the restored first-level nodes, drawing in Star Spiritual Energy and condensing Spirit Veins.
Third, Mount Sumeru would open its gates to accept disciples. Each of the First Five-Year Plan's eight first-level nodes would need people stationed there to prevent them from being destroyed. A few people would certainly not be enough, so more aspiring living beings from the West would need to join.
Fourth, they would establish friendly relations with Zhenyuanzi's lineage. Great Immortal Zhen Yuan followed the Way of the Great Earth, and the Earth Scroll in his possession was an even more important treasure of the earth path. Through the Earth Scroll, one could borrow the power of the Earth Vein to form immense defensive strength, as well as clearly observe the terrain and Earth Vein patterns and sort out and repair damage to the Earth Vein. Wuzhuang Temple itself was close to the Earthly Realm of the West. If they could join the five-year plan, they would provide tremendous assistance.
After communicating for a long time, the three of them finally worked out a preliminary concrete plan for the First Five-Year Plan.
Jieyin and Zhunti looked at the plan, their hearts filled with endless emotion. The vision of the Western World that they had pursued bitterly was finally no longer a castle in the air. It now had a rigorous and effective plan.
Seeing how excited the two of them were, nearly unable to express themselves, Jiang Yun finally gained a full understanding of the Dao Derivation Disk's power.
The problem that had troubled the Western duo for so long—even according to what he had seen in his memories of later generations, the prosperity of the Western World during the era of Journey to the West was still far inferior to that of East Victory Divine Continent and South Jambudvipa—showed that the issue of bringing prosperity to the West had never been properly resolved. The so-called great prosperity of the West had merely been an accumulation of destiny, not a true enhancement of its foundations. In the end, it was still nothing more than a castle in the air!
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