Earth Immortal Ancestral Temple

The next day, Liu Yuanchen went to the Mission Office once again.

Mo Lianshan was currently handling official business, and seeing him enter, he asked, "You just received a reward yesterday, yet you're already here to take on a mission today?"

Liu Yuanchen gave a light chuckle, "My master told me to go out for practical training, which means improving my strength through head-on combat.

Out of those two fights, not a single one allowed me to truly unleash my strength.

There's no help for it; I still need to find a few more evil cultivators to fight."

Mo Lianshan nodded, "Where are you patrolling this time? Still going to Yujin Mountain?"

"That's right, Yujin Mountain is not far from Jintong Mountain.

The evil cultivator stronghold over there was just trampled flat, and the mine has reinforced its personnel.

Evil cultivators in the Sea of Qi Realm won't dare to take risks near Yujin Mountain, but on the contrary, they might dispatch high-strength disciples in the Qi-Nourishing Realm to scout the situation at Jintong Mountain.

If I go over at a time like this, it will be easiest to run into evenly matched opponents."

Mo Lianshan smiled, "That actually makes some sense, and the rules are the same as last time.

Remember to send me a message if you encounter danger."

Liu Yuanchen accepted the mission and directly left Qinghe Town.

He walked upstream along the Qingshui River.

Having just experienced a major battle, the evil cultivators were also being exceptionally quiet.

The vegetation on both banks of the Qingshui River was lush, which normally made it the most suitable place to hide.

Along the entire way, he did not even encounter a single evil cultivator.

The Yellow-Scaled Pines he had planted during his last patrol had grown a bit taller.

He even deliberately walked to the location of those Yellow-Scaled Pines and infused some mana into them using Ten Thousand Woods Become a Forest to make them grow a bit faster.

Arriving at Yujin Mountain, Liu Yuanchen first patrolled the situation within a fifty-li radius of Yujin Mountain step by step.

Along the way, he also took a stroll near the Jintong Mountain mine and swiped some pine nuts.

After sending a message to Qinghe Town to report his safety, he ran over to a hilltop east of Yujin Mountain to hide, quietly waiting for night to fall.

After dark, Liu Yuanchen rushed rapidly to Bluestone Mountain.

Upon entering the Blessed Land, Xiao Yu hurried over to claim credit.

"Father, the Golden-Thread Rice you gave me has all sprouted now.

Their vitality is much stronger than the previous ones, and they are smarter.

Communicating with them saves a lot of effort.

During these past few days, I've already gotten well acquainted with them."

Hearing this, Liu Yuanchen was somewhat surprised.

According to what Xiao Yu had said before, vegetation could communicate with him.

That meant the vegetation possessed a certain degree of spiritual intelligence.

Although this spiritual intelligence was extremely low-grade, inferior even to some insects.

In the eyes of humans, it could not even be considered spiritual intelligence.

Yet they were able to express their intentions to Xiao Yu, so the existence of this spiritual intelligence could not be ignored.

Now Xiao Yu said that these Golden-Thread Rice plants nurtured through the Yi Wood Origin-Nourishing Art were smarter and easier to communicate with.

In other words, their spiritual intelligence was higher than that of ordinary spirit plants.

It could thus be deduced that spirit plants cultivated using the Yi Wood Origin-Nourishing Art would experience an enhancement in spiritual intelligence.

As for spirit plants wanting to gestate a wood spirit, the most crucial thing was also the birth of spiritual intelligence comparable to that of beasts.

The Enlightenment Secret Art that came attached with the Heaven-Reaching Divine Wood Technique was likewise raising the spiritual intelligence of vegetation.

Furthermore, when the Enlightenment Secret Art was used to enlighten spirit plants, it required one's own mana and the energy of the Ginseng Fruit Tree.

The special functions possessed by spirit plants cultivated out via the Yi Wood Origin-Nourishing Art also originated from the Heaven-Reaching Divine Wood Technique.

Liu Yuanchen recalled the myths and legends he knew from his past life, as well as the contents of Primordial World novels.

Aside from controlling the earth veins, Grand Immortal Zhenyuan also held the authority to edify and transform earth immortals.

As for spirits of vegetation, they also fell within the scope of earth immortals and naturally answered to Grand Immortal Zhenyuan.

The Heaven-Reaching Divine Wood Technique was created by Grand Immortal Zhenyuan, so perhaps it inherently possessed the potential to enlighten spirit plants.

As for the Enlightenment Secret Art, it merely paid a certain price to fully unleash this potential.

The mana required to cast the Yi Wood Origin-Nourishing Art was also cultivated through the Heaven-Reaching Divine Wood Technique, and similarly carried this potential to enlighten spirit plants.

If the above deduction held true, using the Yi Wood Origin-Nourishing Art to cultivate spirit plant seeds was actually also casting a weakened version of the Enlightenment Secret Art.

It had a similar function, but was weaker by an unknown number of times.

Thinking up to this point, Liu Yuanchen was in high spirits.

Casting the Enlightenment Secret Art inflicts wear and tear on the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling.

Now, using the Yi Wood Origin-Nourishing Art can yield a similar effect.

Even if the effect is a bit weaker, through generation-after-generation of cultivation, as the effects pile up, it will always be useful.

Coupled with casting a wide net, cultivating a wood spirit is not completely impossible.

At worst, the spirit plants cultivated can also reach the state Xiao Yu was in before he was enlightened.

By that time, casting the Enlightenment Secret Art again will result in much less wear and tear on the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling.

Of course, whether this deduction was correct still needed to be verified.

As for the method of verification, it was also exceptionally simple.

"Xiao Yu, I've cultivated a spell that can make vegetation become smarter and smarter.

As time goes on, these pieces of vegetation might become just like you in the future."

Upon hearing these words, Xiao Yu's face was filled with yearning, "Father, is that true?"

He had always stayed alone within this Spirit Realm, so he inevitably felt somewhat lonely.

Although he could communicate with other spirit plants, the spiritual intelligence of those spirit plants was far too low.

If he spoke of anything slightly complicated, those spirit plants were completely incapable of understanding.

Liu Yuanchen nodded slightly, "This is merely my guess, and it still needs to be verified.

To verify its effect, I'll need your cooperation."

Xiao Yu nodded repeatedly, "I am willing to cooperate."

Looking at Xiao Yu's naive appearance, Liu Yuanchen couldn't quite bring himself to use him as a test subject.

However, giving it a second thought, the Yi Wood Origin-Nourishing Art was inherently a secret art used to cultivate seeds and would cause no harm to spirit plants anyway, so giving it a try wouldn't hurt.

"Get ready, I'm going to cast the spell."

With that, a ball of azure-green mana gathered in his hand and slowly poured into Xiao Yu's body.

Over a hundred breaths later, Xiao Yu absorbed all the mana completely.

Liu Yuanchen waited quietly until Xiao Yu woke up before asking, "Do you have any special feelings?"

Xiao Yu answered without hesitation, "I sensed a special kind of energy within your mana.

I was able to succeed in taking human form precisely because I relied on this energy.

Moreover, Lord Sapling also has this energy on him.

It's just that within this spell of yours, the special energy is relatively scarce and simply cannot compare with the energy I obtained when I successfully took human form."

Liu Yuanchen nodded slightly, "Try another kind of spell."

He cast Ten Thousand Woods Become a Forest once more, injecting mana into Xiao Yu's body.

In an instant, Xiao Yu dropped straight to his knees on the ground.

The capability of the Heaven-Reaching Divine Wood Technique to reign over vegetation was simply this overbearing.

After withdrawing the spell, he asked again, "Did you sense that special energy this time?"

Xiao Yu nodded, "Yes, it's slightly less than the previous spell."

Liu Yuanchen had a clear grasp in his heart; it seemed his previous deduction was entirely correct.

The mana cultivated using the Heaven-Reaching Divine Wood Technique indeed contained special energy capable of enlightening spirit plants.

With things this way, cultivating wood spirits in batches in the future was not impossible.

The Yi Wood Origin-Nourishing Art is mainly for cultivating spirit medicine seeds and has little effect on spirit plants that have already grown into mature flora.

Ten Thousand Woods Become a Forest is mainly used for combat; accelerating the growth of spirit plants is merely an incidental effect.

It seems I will still need to learn a spell specifically for accelerating the growth of spirit plants in the future.

In this way, I can continuously nurture a spirit plant, causing it to absorb more special energy and speed up the process of spiritual transformation.

Having verified his conjecture, Liu Yuanchen began preparing for the grand undertaking of cultivating wood spirits in batches.

To cultivate a wood spirit, naturally the higher the grade of the spirit plant, the better.

First-grade spirit plants were temporarily out of consideration; there were only two kinds of second-grade spirit plants, which were respectively the Toxic Thorn Vine and the Azurewater Spirit Peach.

He took out his only five Toxic Thorn Vine seeds, and after nurturing them with the Yi Wood Origin-Nourishing Art, planted them in the tiny patch of newly added land at the edge of the Spirit Realm.

Subsequently, he took out the Azurewater Spirit Peach.

He peeled away the flesh of the fruit and buried the pit into the spirit field.

After nurturing the peach pit for a spell using the Yi Wood Origin-Nourishing Art, he planted it beside the spring eye in the center of the Spirit Realm.

Having finished tossing the Azurewater Spirit Peach about, Liu Yuanchen continued practicing beside the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling.

From then on, he went out to patrol during the daytime every day and cultivated in the Spirit Realm at night.

Afterwards, he continuously completed four missions to patrol Yujin Mountain.

For over a month, he practiced in the spirit realm almost every night.

To keep things looking reasonable, Liu Yuanchen even went to other places to capture a few evil cultivators and sent them to Qinghe Town to rack up some contributions.

Practicing frequently in the spirit realm improved his cultivation quickly, and he was already not far from the Eighth Qi-Nourishing Layer.

If he maintained this pace, he would only need about a month to break through.

Over this past month or more, he had spent a considerable amount of time in the spirit realm.

Yet when he entered meditative concentration, the scene of Grand Immortal Zhenyuan expounding the Dao still failed to appear in his sea of consciousness.

He tried many methods, such as re-engraving the image of the Ginseng Fruit Mother Tree in his sea of consciousness and infusing his own mana into the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling.

No matter how much he fussed and tried, it was completely useless.

On the contrary, Xiao Yu repeatedly received teachings on the cultivation method imparted by the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling.

Xiao Yu spent the vast majority of his time tending to the spirit fields and chatting with the spirit plants.

The time he spent next to the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling could not even match Liu Yuanchen's, yet he happened to win the favor of the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling.

Through observation, Liu Yuanchen could determine that his inability to see the scene of Grand Immortal Zhenyuan expounding the Dao was definitely not just a matter of contact time; there had to be other reasons.

Over the next few days, he observed Xiao Yu's daily activities whenever he had nothing to do.

Through observation, he discovered that besides working and practicing, Xiao Yu frequently bowed and saluted the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling with great reverence.

Liu Yuanchen guessed that this was perhaps the reason Xiao Yu had won the favor of the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling.

Xiao Yu gained favor perhaps because he is extremely respectful toward the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling.

If I want to continue reaping benefits from the scene of Grand Immortal Zhenyuan expounding the Dao, I might also need to maintain respect.

Regardless of whether this is the reason, I should give it a try first.

During the following days, when he was free and had nothing to do, he frequently bowed to the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling.

However, there was still no movement whatsoever.

He fell into deep contemplation once again: Xiao Yu was able to become a Ginseng Doll mainly relying on the energy of the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling.

Now that he can cultivate, it is also thanks to the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling imparting the cultivation method to him.

His bows to the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling stem from heartfelt respect.

As for my bows, they are purely intended to freeload some benefits.

According to the claims of those charlatans in my past life, worshiping deities requires wholehearted sincerity; if the heart is insincere, the deities will not bless you.

The crux is that the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling and I are interdependent.

Although I have obtained benefits from this sapling, without me, it would be impossible for the sapling to grow steadily.

On a subconscious level, I treat the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling as a cooperative partner, or a good friend and brother.

To bow to it with genuine sincerity is something I simply cannot manage.

With a sudden shift in thought, he mused: Whether I owe the Ginseng Fruit Tree is debatable, but I truly owe Grand Immortal Zhenyuan.

Whatever I have today is due to the grace of Grand Immortal Zhenyuan expounding the Dao.

Moreover, I can now be considered an Earth Immortal Path cultivator.

Since Grand Immortal Zhenyuan is the Ancestor of Earth Immortals, he can also be considered my own founding master.

Having listened to his discourse on the Dao, I am naturally counted among his disciples and juniors.

As a disciple and junior, I have never once offered a bow to my teacher and elders; my observance of ritual propriety is indeed lacking.

At this thought, Liu Yuanchen slapped his thigh: The so-called " Dharma cannot be lightly transmitted"—how precious is Grand Immortal Zhenyuan's inheritance, and I have already obtained quite a few benefits for free.

I am of no use to a figure of Grand Immortal Zhenyuan's caliber.

If even my ritual courtesies are incomplete, how could he possibly be willing to impart a profound inheritance?

As for whether Grand Immortal Zhenyuan could perceive his existence, Liu Yuanchen did not harbor any doubts.

What kind of figure was Grand Immortal Zhenyuan? He was a senior of the same generation as the Three Pure Ones Sages; apart from heaven and earth, no one else was qualified to receive offerings from him.

Perhaps in a different world, he might not be able to know the specific circumstances here.

Yet by listening to his discourse on the Dao here, he had effectively established the reality of a master-disciple relationship and forged karmic ties, so the immortal should sense it.

It's just that the relationship between this Origin Spirit Realm and the Primordial World remains an unknown variable.

Even if I want to perform disciple's rites, I can't find the right place.

Why not build a small temple first, and then mold a divine statue.

Worshiping the divine statue on regular days will also count as paying respects to Grand Immortal Zhenyuan.

Thinking of this, Liu Yuanchen immediately set about making preparations.

He collected timber from outside and gathered stones.

After preparing the materials, he built a small temple beside the Ginseng Fruit Tree.

He also used jade to carve a tiny divine statue based on the scene when Grand Immortal Zhenyuan expounded the Dao, placing it securely inside the small temple.

Although his carving skills were not very impressive, he had truly put his heart into it.

Because the space inside the spirit realm was limited, the temple naturally could not be built too large; it was about the size of an Earth God temple from his past life.

With just Liu Yuanchen's individual strength, it would also be very difficult to build a magnificent, glittering grand temple.

On the lintel of the small temple, a small plaque was hung, bearing four large characters: "Earth Immortal Ancestral Temple".

After completing all of this, Liu Yuanchen picked some rice ears and pine nuts from the spirit fields, placing them on an extremely small offering table in front of the divine statue.

He also gathered fragrant spirit plants to make some simple joss sticks.

Although there was no habit of worshiping deities on the Red Wasteland, there were still quite a few practices of offering sacrifices to one's own ancestors and founding masters.

As for the incense burner, he used the Crimson Copper Furnace used for alchemy as a substitute.

After burning incense, he performed a grand bow and paid respects toward the temple gate: Disciple Liu Yuanchen, though far away in the Origin Spirit Realm, has the fortune to listen to Grand Immortal Zhenyuan expound the Dao.

For the grand immortal's profound grace, this disciple has no way to repay him.

Today, I build a small temple to enshrine Grand Immortal Zhenyuan, so as to fulfill a disciple's duty of ritual propriety.

The temple is crude and simple, and I beseech the grand immortal not to take offense.

After speaking, he began to execute the grand ritual of three bows and nine kowtows toward the Earth Immortal Ancestral Temple.

Following the salutation, a wisp of cyan-yellow intertwined flowing light flew out from the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling, drifted into the small temple, and burrowed straight into the space between the divine statue's eyebrows.

Neither Liu Yuanchen nor Xiao Yu saw this stream of light at all.

Over the next few days, Liu Yuanchen went about his usual routine, patrolling outside by day and entering the spirit realm to cultivate by night.

Only, every time he entered or exited the spirit realm, he never failed to burn incense for Grand Immortal Zhenyuan.

One day, he sat cross-legged beside the Ginseng Fruit Tree Sapling, circulating the Heaven-Reaching Divine Wood Technique.

Hardly had he entered meditative concentration when the sapling immortal seed within his sea of consciousness emitted rays of emerald-green light.

These rays of light gradually converged to form a clear and distinct image—it was precisely the scene of Grand Immortal Zhenyuan expounding the Dao.