Sorting Out the Earth Veins

Jiang Yun had just returned to the Dao Field and had yet to sit down on the meditation cushion when the earth suddenly began to shake violently.

He hurried out of the bamboo hut. The Dao Derivation Disk appeared in his hand from within his Sea of Consciousness, and after a brief calculation, he understood the whole cause and effect.

Five hundred li southwest of the Dao Field, some Earth Vein Nodes had been damaged because the surrounding Earth Veins had broken. The immense earth qi accumulated underground could no longer circulate and transform smoothly through the Earth Veins as before. At some blocked Earth Vein Nodes, when the earth qi flowed there, it could not be completely transformed. It could neither form spiritual energy and disperse into the world nor be compressed into Spirit Veins. Thus, the earth qi accumulated more and more, while the pressure continued to rise. As the surrounding soil endured increasing pressure, cracks appeared underground. The earth qi then followed those cracks, continuously extending outward from the ruptured opening until it finally broke free of its restraints and erupted.

The violent tremor he had just felt was the disturbance caused by this eruption of earth qi from the Earth Veins.

The shaking was still continuing, but it was no longer as violent as it had been at the beginning. Instead, it had calmed considerably.

Based on the results of his calculations, Jiang Yun used the Great Earth Evasion and arrived at the scene in moments. Three or four immense gray-black pillars of qi stood before him. Large amounts of mud, soil, and even chunks of metal were caught within them, continuously surging into the sky along the pillars before scattering at their highest point and falling in all directions.

No more than the time it took to drink a cup of tea had passed since the tremors began. On the land that had originally bulged slightly toward the center, small hills more than a dozen zhang tall had already piled up around the central pillars of qi.

Jiang Yun activated the Earth Evasion Technique and sank underground to investigate the Earth Vein situation in the area, gathering the information he found and committing it all to memory.

The situation after his investigation was somewhat grim. The Earth Veins within a radius of a hundred li had been shaken into seven or eight sections. Most of them remained generally connected after breaking, so the earth qi could still circulate partially. Only at this erupting location had one section become completely misaligned with the section before it. The earth qi could only keep accumulating there, growing larger and larger until it could no longer be contained and finally erupted from underground.

He used the Whip Mountain Move Stone divine ability to adjust the positions of the misaligned Earth Veins bit by bit and reconnect them. He first stopped the eruption of earth qi, then used the piled-up hills to fill in the deep pit created by the eruption, leveling it completely.

Once this work was done, the tremors caused by the eruption of earth qi were considered completely resolved. Of course, the earth qi that had been blocked before had also expanded the spaces within the Earth Veins, creating some fine cracks. Wisps of earth qi were still leaking from some of the larger cracks, corroding the soil. Jiang Yun took out the Earth Spirit Pearl and drew out some Earth Element Spiritual Energy, guiding it along the underground Earth Veins to repair the cracks. He also repaired the original breaks and reinforced them. In the end, it took him an entire month to finish all the repairs.

After returning to the Dao Field, Jiang Yun drew on his previous experience to investigate, adjust, and repair the Earth Veins in the valley where the Dao Field was located. Then, without pause, he used the Dao Field as the center and repeated his previous work: investigating the Earth Veins, adjusting their misaligned sections, and repairing the damaged parts. After spending several decades, he had initially sorted out the Earth Veins within a radius of ten thousand li.

During the process, Jiang Yun made a major discovery. Some intact Earth Veins contained an Earth Vein Fortune Spirit, which actively guided and transformed the earth qi flowing through them, making the spiritual energy in the surrounding soil much denser. As for Earth Veins that had once broken, those with minor damage had merely suffered damage to their Qi Vein Spirits, greatly diminishing their spirituality. Those with severe damage, which had broken into several sections, had even seen their Qi Veints Spirits completely disperse. They could only passively transform earth qi through the Earth Veins themselves, resulting in very little spiritual energy dispersing into the soil.

Thus, after initially sorting out the courses of the Earth Veins within ten thousand li, he treated every place where sections of Earth Veins converged as a node and set up an Earth Vein Spirit Nurturing Formation at each node. This formation had evolved from the Spirit Plant Conversion Formation and was a variant of it. The Spirit Plant Conversion Formation used spirit plants as formation nodes to arrange a grand array. Through the spirit plants, it absorbed all kinds of earth qi, demonic qi, and even blood qi and filth, transforming them all into pure spiritual energy.

The Earth Vein Spirit Nurturing Formation, on the other hand, used some spirit materials he had casually collected while repairing the Earth Veins over the years and refined slightly into spirit treasures as its formation nodes. By absorbing the earth qi flowing through the Earth Veins, it restored that qi to its original source as Earth Element Primordial Energy, which continuously seeped into the Earth Veins and slowly nurtured them.

After being nurtured for a long time, some dispersed Qi Vein Spirits would condense again. Damaged Qi Vein Spirits would gradually recover, and their spirituality would slowly grow stronger.

At the same time, these spirit formations existing at every node formed an Earth Vein Network spanning ten thousand li. Any Earth Veins incorporated into the network would automatically mobilize the spiritual energy within them to activate the formation for protection whenever they received an attack from outside or from the surface. The formation would also transfer the attack to the various nodes, dispersing its force and strengthening the overall defense.

On the surface corresponding to every Earth Vein convergence node, Jiang Yun planted Cloud Bamboo cuttings and arranged a Spirit Plant Conversion Grand Array. In this way, the demonic qi, earth qi, Earth Sha, and other forms of spiritual energy scattered across the surface that polluted and eroded the land were all purified. Only pure spiritual energy drifted between heaven and earth. As the living environment recovered, large numbers of living creatures slowly came into being. Without those mixed gases, even cultivation became much easier.

Over these several decades, Jiang Yun also gradually gained some merit while sorting out the Earth Veins, and his own fortune rose substantially.

Once, while returning to the Dao Field, he passed by the Cloud Bamboo cuttings he had planted and discovered two round, chubby pandas, one male and one female. They had a young cub with them and were reclining in the bamboo grove grown from the cuttings, chewing on bamboo they had broken off. As an Innate Spiritual Root, even a cutting grown from roots separated from its parent plant was still a superior Acquired Spiritual Root. Naturally, it overflowed with pure qi and suited the tastes of the two pandas far better than ordinary bamboo.

Seeing these three adorable beasts so familiar from his previous life, Jiang Yun stopped at the right moment and slowly approached them. Hearing his footsteps, the two adult pandas stopped eating and propped themselves up into sitting positions.

After their pair of pitch-black eyes sized Jiang Yun up twice, they saw that he was only watching and making no other moves. Since they sensed no danger, they grunted a few times, lowered their guard, and continued eating bamboo.

The familiar black-and-white coloring of the pandas made Jiang Yun feel especially close to them. With a turn of his hand, he took out a section of a Cloud Bamboo cutting, and a fresh fragrance immediately spread through the air.

The two pandas instantly raised their heads when they caught the scent and looked toward Jiang Yun. When they saw the Cloud Bamboo branch in his hand, they scampered over, with the little one hurrying along behind them.

Two or three meters away, the adults lifted their heads and sniffed the bamboo while whining and staring pitifully at the branch in Jiang Yun's hand. They could probably sense the pressure emanating from him and did not dare act rashly.

Jiang Yun extended the bamboo branch. The two pandas stretched out their heads and took it in their mouths, then held it between them and split it into two large portions and one small one. After leaving the smaller portion for the cub, they each sat down and began savoring their own bamboo. The little panda imitated its parents, extending its nose to nudge the branch before sitting down and picking up a piece of bamboo with its paws to eat.

While the pandas were eating bamboo, Jiang Yun approached them and reached out to stroke the heads of the two adults, enjoying the pleasure of petting them. The two pandas showed no resistance. Instead, they narrowed their eyes in enjoyment before continuing to eat the bamboo.

Seeing this, Jiang Yun openly scooped up the little cub and held it in his arms. He casually took several bamboo branches and fed it while petting it. Perhaps because Jiang Yun had been born from spiritual bamboo and carried pure qi around him, the cub lay peacefully in his arms and enjoyed his service.

After he finished feeding them, Jiang Yun immediately whisked the entire family into his Dao Field...