Spirit Peach Tree

Chen Nianzhi held Seventh Granduncle's icy hand and silently recited the Chen Clan's sixteen-generation poem. Those brief sixteen characters carried the founding ancestor's hopes for his descendants.

Third Elder handled Seventh Granduncle's funeral arrangements. His several sons had been unable to cultivate and had passed away years before him. Even his grandchildren were already seventy or eighty years old, and none of them had been as close to him as Chen Nianzhi.

The funeral was kept simple. Only after the old man's first seven days had passed and he had been laid to rest did Chen Nianzhi leave Qingyuan Mountain for Spirit Lake Isle, five thousand li away.

Spirit Lake Isle lay a full five thousand li from Qingyuan Mountain. Fortunately, Chen Nianzhi's cultivation was not weak. Traveling with the Wind-Controlling Art, he could cover a thousand li a day, reaching Spirit Lake Isle in merely five or six days.

Along the way, he roughly finished taking stock of Seventh Granduncle's belongings. Seventh Granduncle had not left much behind; the only truly valuable treasures were two spirit talismans and a Green Leaf Sword.

One of the two talismans was called the Scarlet Flame Talisman, while the other was the Golden Armor Talisman. Both were Tier 1 High-grade spirit talismans, and fine works Seventh Granduncle had left behind after years of talisman crafting.

The Scarlet Flame Talisman could unleash Scarlet Flame True Fire. Used well, it could heavily injure a Ninth Layer of Qi Refining cultivator, making it a trump card even against cultivators in the Late Stage of Qi Refining.

The Golden Armor Talisman could form a suit of golden armor to protect its user, capable of blocking a full-force attack from a Late Stage of Qi Refining cultivator. Moreover, this talisman could be used three times.

The Green Leaf Sword was refined from the leaves of Greenleaf Bamboo, a Tier 2 Mid-grade spirit bamboo of extremely high value. Its leaves could be used to refine large quantities of Tier 1 spell swords.

The Green Leaf Sword was not only fairly powerful, but also inexpensive to make. Its only flaw was that only cultivators with a Wood Spiritual Root could unleash its full power; cultivators with other Spirit Roots could at most bring out sixty or seventy percent of it.

Even so, the great Chu Kingdom sect, Azure Sun Sect, relied on its own Greenleaf Bamboo groves to dominate the entire Chu Kingdom's low-grade magical artifact market with its output of Greenleaf Bamboo, bringing in considerable profits each year.

The Green Leaf Sword Seventh Granduncle had left Chen Nianzhi was Tier 1 High-grade and immensely powerful. As a cultivator with a Five Element Spiritual Root, Chen Nianzhi could naturally wield it to its full potential.

"Is this Spirit Lake Isle?"

Standing before a vast lake, Chen Nianzhi looked at the breathtaking scenery ahead and could not help feeling stunned.

Spirit Lake Isle was a lake stretching for hundreds of li, with Lakeheart Island at its center. Lakeheart Island was not only breathtakingly beautiful, but also home to rare treasures and exotic beasts.

More than a decade ago, this place had still been a barren wasteland.

Later, the clan head had happened upon a Tier 1 High-grade Spirit Vein here. He then gathered men to slay the Tier 1 High-grade demonic beast occupying the area and seized this treasured land.

Over the years, the Chen Clan had arranged a Tier 1 High-grade formation on Lakeheart Island and used the Spirit Vein's spiritual energy to breed Azure Spirit Fish in the lake. After much careful management, this uninhabited treasure land had become an additional Chen Clan outpost.

When Chen Nianzhi arrived at Lakeheart Island, the two Chen Clan cultivators stationed there breathed a sigh of relief.

"The clan has finally sent someone."

During this period, the ones responsible for guarding Lakeheart Island had been Chen Nianzhi's ninth brother, Chen Niangan, and Chen Nianyuan, who ranked fourteenth among the Nian Generation.

Chen Niangan was thirty-two this year. Unfortunately, his aptitude was poor, and his cultivation was only at the Third Layer of Qi Refining. He would likely never break through to the Late Stage of Qi Refining in his lifetime. Chen Nianyuan was even worse off, possessing the useless Five Element Spiritual Root. At twenty-five, he had only just broken through to the First Layer of Qi Refining.

Originally, a Chang Generation granduncle at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining had also been stationed at Spirit Lake Isle. But when the Foundation Establishment Pill needed protecting, the Lineage had transferred away all the Chang Generation Ninth Layer cultivators whose lifespans were running short. In the end, not one of the seven or eight Ninth Layer of Qi Refining cultivators returned alive.

Naturally, that granduncle from Spirit Lake Isle never returned either, so Chen Niangan and Chen Nianyuan had spent this period on tenterhooks.

Now that they had finally seen a Late Stage of Qi Refining cultivator arrive, the two of them relaxed.

Chen Niangan smiled. "Since Nianzhi is here, let's complete the handover."

Since they planned to open Spirit Fields and raise Spirit Fish, and wished to avoid insufficient spiritual energy affecting Chen Nianzhi's cultivation, the Lineage did not intend to leave any other cultivators at Spirit Lake Isle.

Of course, the main reason was still that the Lineage lacked manpower. Several Ninth Layer of Qi Refining granduncles of the Chang Generation had died in battle, leaving the Chen Clan desperately short-handed and in need of the two men's return.

In truth, Spirit Lake Isle had only been developed for ten years and was not an important Lineage asset, so there was not much to hand over.

The core asset was the Azure Spirit Fish in the lake. This Spirit Fish was a specialty of Blue-Green Lake. Not only was its flesh incomparably delicious, consuming it could also improve one's cultivation.

There were only one hundred and thirty-seven Spirit Fish in the lake. Each adult Azure Spirit Fish was worth five Spirit Stones, but unfortunately, most of the Azure Spirit Fish in the lake were half-grown fry raised over the past few years and would need more time to mature.

Yet once these Spirit Fish gradually grew up, they would undoubtedly bring the Lineage a sizable profit.

The most precious was the fish king, whose cultivation was at the Late Stage of Qi Refining. Most of the Spirit Fish in the lake were its descendants. This fish possessed an exceptionally gentle temperament and was Spirit Lake Isle's most important property.

After counting the Spirit Fish, Chen Nianzhi nodded and signed his name in the handover register.

"Good. We can finally go back."

Seeing him sign, the two could not help smiling.

Though Spirit Lake Isle had beautiful scenery and fairly abundant spiritual energy, it was still an uninhabited barren land.

Though protected by a formation, it was ultimately not as safe as Qingyuan Mountain.

After seeing the two off, Chen Nianzhi first inspected Lakeheart Island's Island-Protecting Array.

This formation was called the Two Forms Rising Sun Formation. Its formation core consisted of two Tier 1 High-grade magical artifacts: one was the Cloud-Mist Hood, and the other the Sunfire Sword.

Drawing upon the power of the morning glow and Spirit Lake Isle's water spiritual energy, the formation could unleash astonishing might.

The Cloud-Mist Hood could block divine sense. It transformed into mist that shrouded Lakeheart Island, preventing even Late Stage of Qi Refining cultivators from seeing the situation on the island clearly.

The Sunfire Sword accumulated the power of the morning glow and could be activated nine times in succession. Each strike was comparable to a trump-card attack from a Late Stage of Qi Refining cultivator, powerful enough to slay a Ninth Layer of Qi Refining cultivator.

However, once its stored morning-glow power was exhausted, it would take nine years to fill it again, so this sword could not be used lightly.

After taking control of the formation, Chen Nianzhi felt somewhat safer. With this formation guarding Spirit Lake Isle, even three to five ordinary Late Stage of Qi Refining cultivators who tried to force their way in would be courting death.

After refining the formation disk, Chen Nianzhi began exploring Lakeheart Island.

Azure Spirit Fish fed on aquatic plants and needed no special feeding, but opening Spirit Fields was no easy task.

Spirit Lake Isle's Tier 1 High-grade Spirit Vein could support three mu of Spirit Fields, but they could not be opened just anywhere. He would need to observe carefully and find where spiritual energy gathered.

Chen Nianzhi had not walked far when he found the convergence point of the Spirit Veins. To his surprise, a peach tree was growing there.

It was early spring, and the peach blossoms covering the tree were brilliant beyond compare. Faint spiritual light flickered among them.

"A Spirit Peach Tree?"

A trace of delight appeared on Chen Nianzhi's face, but he quickly shook his head. This peach tree grew at a place where spiritual energy converged and was not far from advancing into a Spirit Root, yet it was still half a step short.

A Spirit Peach Tree bore fruit once a year. The Spirit Peaches it produced were cultivation treasures for Qi Refining realm cultivators, more effective than many Qi-Absorbing Pills. On the market, a single Spirit Peach was worth five Spirit Stones.