Spiritual Root: Moon Gazing Vine

New Moon Blessed Land is a small, new blessed land, even though it has existed for nearly four hundred and fifty years.

Such a long time is enough for ordinary people to reproduce more than ten generations.

And four hundred and fifty years is almost the lifespan of a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.

But for a blessed land that calculates its age in millennia, it is equivalent to just reaching adulthood.

At this moment, the open space in front of New Moon Blessed Land is already crowded with people. These people are no different from Yu Dashan and the others, with bags and baggage, looking disheveled, clearly having rushed from other settlements.

However, Yu Dashan and the others were not paying attention to them. Instead, they were gazing at the straight mountain peak in the distance that pierced the clouds.

This mountain peak is named Moon Gazing Peak. Its summit is hidden among the surrounding flowing clouds and mist, making it impossible to see clearly.

It is not only the symbol of New Moon Blessed Land, but also the spiritual root on which the blessed land relies for survival.

Because it is a forbidden area for ordinary people, even Yu Dashan has never seen what the spiritual root of New Moon Blessed Land looks like with his own eyes.

The only thing he knows is the name of that spiritual root: Moon Gazing Vine.

Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root is a term for plants, not just trees.

A blade of grass, a vine, a flower, under fortuitous circumstances, can all evolve into a spiritual root.

These spiritual roots, besides their common ability to resist the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster, often determine the type of blessed land.

For example, some spiritual roots that can bear fruit or have special effects can bring huge profits to the blessed land. This type of blessed land is called a resource-type blessed land and is the preferred choice for merchant caravans.

Some spiritual roots cannot produce anything, but they are huge in size. Blessed lands developed relying on these spiritual roots will also be larger in scale.

This type of blessed land is mainly for residence and can accommodate more people to live and reproduce.

In addition, there are various other spiritual roots, which also make the types of blessed lands different.

It is said that in the East Domain Center, there is a large blessed land where the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root can help people gain enlightenment and increase the chance of breaking through bottlenecks. It is revered as the holy land of the entire East Domain.

The Moon Gazing Vine does not bloom, does not bear fruit, nor does it help people cultivate. Its greatest advantage is its beauty, its prettiness.

Just being beautiful seems useless.

But any plant that can evolve into a spiritual root under the threat of the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster and insectoids must have its extraordinary aspects. Flowers cannot be grown in a greenhouse, let alone evolve into spiritual roots.

It can be said that any Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root must have its unique features.

The beauty of the Moon Gazing Vine is enough to cause hallucinations. Any living being that sees it will be attracted to it. Even if they were full of murderous intent, it would gradually dissipate before the Moon Gazing Vine.

This applies to humans, demonic beasts, and even insectoids.

If it didn't have this ability, the Moon Gazing Vine would have been eaten by insects long ago. How could it have grown all the way to become a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root?

In addition, the vines of the Moon Gazing Vine also possess strong offensive capabilities.

Beneath its beautiful exterior, it also hides a ferocious side.

And surrounding Moon Gazing Peak, there are relatively smaller tall towers, which stand like stars embracing the moon, guarding the Moon Gazing Vine.

At the same time, these tall towers also form the foundation of the New Moon Blessed Land's defenses, constructing a defensive great formation among themselves.

After all, a Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root, while it can resist the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster and, within its domain, isolate that life-stripping ability.

But this domain is not omnipotent; it can isolate the life-stripping ability of the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster, but it cannot prevent insectoids from approaching.

Once insectoids invade its domain, the outcome will inevitably be a fight to the death.

Humans rely on the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root to establish blessed lands, the importance of which is self-evident. Naturally, they cannot let the spiritual root face the insectoids unprotected when they approach.

If the spiritual root is destroyed, what will happen to the ordinary people it protects?

Therefore, to protect the spiritual root and also to resist insectoids, defensive great formations are constructed within blessed lands. It is with these great formations, combined with the spiritual root's abilities, working both internally and externally, that they jointly resist the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster and insectoids.

This is the operating mechanism of a blessed land.

It can be said that humans and spiritual roots are mutually beneficial.

"Which settlement are you from?"

Just as the people from the Ox Ridge Settlement were gazing at the distant Moon Gazing Peak with lingering emotions, a cultivator in the Qi Refining Realm, who appeared to be a steward, approached them and asked.

"Manager Song, do you still remember your humble brother?"

As the other party appeared, the Qi Refining Realm cultivator from inside the carriage also stepped out, speaking to the newcomer.

"You are Cheng Xiurui?"

Manager Song pondered for a moment before calling out the other person's name.

"It is indeed I. I have rushed here this time to guard the people of the Ox Ridge Settlement."

Cheng Xiurui's attitude at this moment was worlds apart from how he treated the people from the Ox Ridge Settlement.

This was because Manager Song's surname was Song, from the Song Family of the New Moon Blessed Land.

Although he, Cheng Xiurui, had been considered a young talent of the New Moon Blessed Land in his early years, reaching Perfection of Fetal Movement at twenty, the Cheng Family was a minor one, and his elders were only in the early Qi Refining Realm.

To secure an Immortal Destiny for him, his family went through great trouble, even depleting more than half of their reserves. They waited for several years with great difficulty before finally entering the Qi Refining Realm at the age of twenty-five.

If his surname were Song instead of Cheng, perhaps the Immortal Destiny would have been in his hands when he reached Perfection of Fetal Movement at twenty, and he wouldn't have wasted those precious few years for nothing.

Because his breakthrough had consumed more than half of the family's reserves, the family was unable to support two cultivators in the Qi Refining Realm who were not engaged in production and focused solely on cultivation, so he had to seek another path.

Finally, through connections, he found Manager Song, who then got the opportunity to be stationed at the Ox Ridge Settlement.

He stayed there for several more years.

Looking at Manager Song before him, he wasn't much older than him. Judging by the aura he inadvertently revealed, he would likely break through to the middle stage of the Qi Refining Realm in at most a year or two.

And him?

Even if everything went smoothly, it would take twenty years to break through to the middle stage.

Moreover, the further he went, the greater this gap would become.

It was a pity that his background forced him to cherish his life. Otherwise, joining some Insect Hunter Teams might have allowed his cultivation speed to increase.

"How many people came to your settlement in total? Did you encounter any danger on the way?"

Perhaps seeing a familiar face, Manager Song's attitude improved considerably.

Because last night's storm came on suddenly, all the settlements rushed over in a frenzy. The Blessed Land was also caught off guard and had to act urgently.

Although the Blessed Land quota had increased in price before, making it seem as if the Blessed Land didn't care about the lives of these ordinary people, in reality, the New Moon Blessed Land was not a resource-rich Blessed Land, and its location was also relatively barren.

Therefore, it was quite poor.

Naturally, settlements that could provide wealth to the Blessed Land became particularly important.

The Blessed Land also knew that it couldn't drain the pond to catch the fish, so in previous years, it had treated settlements and these ordinary people with relative gentleness and tolerance.

The reason for the price increase this year was also due to unavoidable circumstances.

Manager Song was asking for the number of people at this moment to arrange for their settlement and to ascertain the extent of this year's losses.

Before the arrival of the Ox Ridge Settlement, several other settlements had already arrived. Judging by the results, the situation was not optimistic.

The losses were unprecedentedly large.