Spirit Nexus Node, Origin Creation Spirit Radiance

The cave was terrifyingly cramped.

It was filled with the thick, pungent stench of fermented droppings.

Lu He stood where he was, repeatedly watching the movements of the Golden Book in the corner of his vision.

Before long.

"Feels right. It's in this cave..."

A sharp gleam flashed through Lu He's eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, he bent down and crawled straight into the cave.

The cave walls were rough, covered in scratch marks from bird claws.

"This little cave... could that family of demon birds outside have dug it out by force? Can they sense the thing inside that is stirring up the Golden Book too?"

Lu He secretly speculated.

He wriggled through the narrow cave with ever greater vigor.

Time trickled by.

The lightless darkness blurred Lu He's sense of time.

He only knew that he had crawled forward along the cave for at least forty zhang. By now, he should have reached deep into the mountain's belly.

The air inside grew increasingly stuffy and hot.

Lu He's face was already covered in mud, yet his eyes shone brighter and brighter.

There was no other reason. The deeper he went, the more active the Golden Book became. Lu He could even faintly hear it trembling and humming.

After wriggling forward another three zhang or so.

He reached the end of the cave.

"Bird eggs... where's my treasure?"

Lu He stared blankly at several bird eggs in the grass nest before him, frozen in place.

This was completely different from what he had imagined.

No treasure, no phenomenon, no... Wait!

"The spiritual energy here... seems rather dense."

Lu He suddenly came to his senses and discovered what was unusual about this place.

"White Ape Dao Diagram!"

He shouted inwardly and activated his innate Dao Diagram.

In an instant, Lu He sharply sensed that three inches above the grass nest before him was what seemed like an invisible opening, endlessly spraying out dense heaven-and-earth spiritual energy.

At that moment, the Golden Book suddenly let out a cheerful hum, its entire body blooming with radiant spiritual light.

Lu He's vision instantly blurred.

When it cleared again.

An extraordinary existence appeared abruptly five feet in front of him—a fist-sized object shaped like a spring, with streams of brilliant divine dawn flowing within it.

At every moment, divine dawn evaporated from the spring into wisps of mist that spread in every direction.

"This is... a spiritual nexus node?"

Staring at that spring, Lu He's gaze gradually went vacant.

Though he had only been a Medicine Garden seed for a little over ten days.

Lu He had already read five or six of the many books stored in the Sundries Building, cramming hard to make up for his lack of common knowledge about the immortal path of this world.

The object before him almost perfectly matched the spiritual nexus nodes described in one of those books.

Spiritual nexus nodes.

They could also be called spirit veins; only the name differed.

At that thought.

Lu He raised his head, his gaze seeming to pierce through the thick mountain and cross a vast distance toward the edge of Everharvest City.

There stood a city wall as lofty as a mountain range. A grand formation had been laid upon it, operating without cease as it resisted the encroachments of demons at every moment.

In this world, the human race lived gathered within cities.

Not because they enjoyed the bustle, but because they had no other choice.

Beyond lay the boundless Great Wilderness, teeming with demons. There were even divine beings who could pluck stars and seize the moon, shoulder mountains and fill seas, walking within it. It was perilous beyond measure.

Within the Great Wilderness.

Not to mention ordinary humans—even Qi-consuming cultivators had to proceed with utmost caution, for death could come at the slightest misstep.

And spirit veins were the foundation upon which the great cities gained a foothold in the boundless Great Wilderness.

Of course, the tiny node before Lu He was worlds apart from the great spirit veins capable of sustaining an entire city.

But... no matter how small it was, it was still a spiritual nexus node. Its value was beyond estimation.

As far as he knew, the Azurehold Herb Garden beneath his feet had been built atop a spiritual nexus node. That was precisely why the garden's soil could withstand the depletion caused by planting spirit grain year after year.

Of course, most importantly—

"The books said that some spiritual nexus nodes can nurture special treasures. Looks like this is one of them."

Lu He looked excitedly toward the center of the spring.

There, an oddly shaped object of ever-changing form floated and sank, visibly taking shape bit by bit.

But just then.

Accompanied by another tremor from the Golden Book, a piece of intangible information quietly appeared in Lu He's heart, making the smile on his face abruptly freeze.

Once he understood.

"You want to eat it? Then can you leave some for me? If nothing else, leave that unfinished treasure behind. It should still fetch some money."

Lu He tried to communicate with the Golden Book in his vision.

But the Golden Book became an inanimate object once more, offering not the slightest response.

After a long while.

Lu He helplessly let out a breath of stale air.

The spiritual nexus node had not yet fully formed and was not manifested in the world at all. He could see it only because of the Golden Book, while the treasure inside could not even be touched.

Other than letting his Golden Book devour it, there seemed to be no other choice.

As for waiting for the node to fully form—

The instant the thought emerged, Lu He discarded it.

There were so many stewards in the Medicine Garden. Once the node formed, how could it possibly be his turn?

"Sigh, go on."

With a thought.

The next moment, the Golden Book in his vision turned into a streak of light and plunged straight into the spring.

About half an hour passed.

Under Lu He's heartbroken gaze, the node slowly collapsed before finally vanishing without a trace.

The Golden Book in his vision became quiet again.

Lu He's gaze swept over all the information concerning himself, then settled directly on the two thread-thin wisps of spiritual light that had appeared below.

A strand of information, following the format of the attribute panel Lu He had adjusted, abruptly appeared in his heart.

[Origin Creation Spirit Radiance]

[Quantity: 2 wisps]

[Use: Can be used to condense or upgrade blank pages in the Golden Book.

Condensing a new white-grade page requires 3 wisps of Origin Creation Spirit Radiance. Upgrading an existing white-grade page requires 97 wisps...]

"Origin Creation Spirit Radiance..."

Lu He opened his eyes, and a fiery light filled them.

He had guessed correctly.

The Golden Book truly could condense new blank pages again!

Even if the material required to condense pages was Origin Creation Spirit Radiance, which required devouring spiritual nexus nodes under extremely harsh conditions, at least he could see hope.

That was enough.

Besides, if one truly counted them, this world was not lacking in spiritual nexus nodes.

"Right, that cave abode should have another node that hasn't formed yet. I'm still short one wisp of Origin Creation Spirit Radiance to condense the third page..."

Lu He's eyes shone so brightly it was frightening.

At the same time.

Outside a palace in the central region of the Azurehold Herb Garden.

The many stewards who should have been cultivating in their cave abodes had all gathered there.

Some periodically looked toward the pitch-black sky, their faces filled with anxiety. Others lowered their heads, obscure ripples of dharma power emanating from them as though they were communicating with one another.

"What's going on? Wasn't the Inner Garden supposed to send people only in March next year? Why have they come early?"

"It's not what you think. I heard something has changed again on the White-Scale Lake battlefield. The situation isn't looking too good. The Inner Garden is probably selecting a batch of seeds, pouring resources and inheritances into them in hopes of cultivating some elites as quickly as possible."

"It's not like they haven't done this before..."