Chen Shuangbai first turned his gaze to the green gourd.
According to Senior Listening to the Waves, this treasure was called the Life-Accepting Gourd.
Judging by its name, this Law Treasure was probably a wood-aspect Law Treasure.
Chen Shuangbai circulated his Law Power and refined it. He closed his eyes and studied it carefully for a while. When he opened them again, he could not contain the delight in his eyes.
I struck it rich.
The Life-Accepting Gourd was indeed a wood-aspect Law Treasure. It had two wondrous uses: "spirit absorption" and "medicine preservation."
Spirit absorption allowed it to actively absorb the surrounding water- and wood-attribute vital Qi, converting it into spiritual liquid for storage.
This spiritual liquid could help cultivators restore their Law Power and heal their injuries, and it was quite effective at both.
Medicine preservation, meanwhile, allowed it to preserve the medicinal properties of pills or spirit medicines for a long time.
But since the gourd could preserve medicinal properties, why had the cave abode's owner not put the pill inside it, instead leaving it outside to lose its medicinal properties?
Chen Shuangbai pondered the matter carefully, but he could not make sense of it and could only give up.
Chen Shuangbai stroked the green-skinned gourd in his hand. It was smooth and slightly cool, and thoughts raced through his mind-
The two functions seemed unremarkable, but they suited his current cultivation and pill refining.
At the same time, Chen Shuangbai thought of the Water and Wood Pure Splendor Incantation he cultivated, a spell focused on enhancement.
With the spiritual liquid produced by this Life-Accepting Gourd, a single Sweet Dew Incantation of mine might truly be able to bring the dead back to life and put flesh on bare bones someday.
Just as he was about to put the Life-Accepting Gourd away, something suddenly occurred to Chen Shuangbai.
I think I hear water inside this gourd... could it be spiritual liquid?
At that thought, Chen Shuangbai probed inside with his spiritual sense. Sure enough, he found some spiritual liquid shimmering with a jade glow at the bottom of the gourd.
He drew it out with his Law Power and suspended it before him. The liquid glowed with a jade hue and gave off a peculiar fragrance. Clearly, it was no ordinary liquid.
Chen Shuangbai was wondering how to test its effects when the Dao Fruit suddenly stirred.
"This is..."
Chen Shuangbai turned his hand over, and the Jade Platform Lotus Marsh appeared in it. It then sucked in the floating mass of liquid, along with all the spiritual liquid in the Life-Accepting Gourd.
A wind sprang up out of nowhere inside the cave abode.
Had he not already laid down restrictions, it might have caused quite a disturbance.
Chen Shuangbai did not stop it, allowing the Jade Platform Lotus Marsh to absorb every last bit of the spiritual liquid.
Before long.
The Lotus Marsh drew in the entire mass of spiritual liquid. The jade platform, which had been dim all over, suddenly lit up. Then jade light flashed, and Chen Shuangbai vanished from where he stood.
When the scene before his eyes became clear again, Chen Shuangbai found that he was no longer inside the cave abode.
"Could it be... am I inside the Lotus Marsh?"
Suddenly.
A splashing sound came from the pool. Chen Shuangbai walked over and looked inside, where he saw three drops of milky-white liquid floating within the Jade Platform Lotus Marsh. They were creamy as fat and gave off a delicate fragrance.
Chen Shuangbai stepped forward, and understanding dawned in his heart.
"This is... Moon Soul True Water?"
The Jade Platform Lotus Marsh was a scene that accompanied his Dao Fruit. When it had first come into being, Chen Shuangbai had known it could transform spiritual water into Moon Soul True Water, but he had been unable to find such water and had been forced to set the matter aside for the time being.
He had never expected the liquid inside the Life-Accepting Gourd to be that spiritual water!
Looking at the three drops of Moon Soul True Water before him, Chen Shuangbai tried conveying more of his questions to the Jade Platform Lotus Marsh, and then he learned how to use it.
Moon Soul True Water could cleanse and purify, as well as awaken and nourish.
Chen Shuangbai's consciousness returned to the outside world. With a thought, a drop of Moon Soul True Water appeared before him. After a moment's thought, he took out the spirit seed that had lost most of its vitality and was about to place a drop on it.
But he stopped.
No, I still can't be sure whether it belongs to Jia Wood... I need to find someone to identify it first.
After putting away both the spirit seed and the true water, Chen Shuangbai suppressed his excitement and turned to his other two gains.
The Listening to the Waves Notes contained Listening to the Waves Rogue Person's insights into cultivation.
This great Foundation Establishment cultivator also had water- and wood-aspect Spirit Roots. Unlike Chen Shuangbai, however, his primary aspect was wood, with water as the secondary. Even so, his cultivation insights would be of great benefit to Chen Shuangbai.
I need to study this carefully and use it to check my own cultivation. It should save me many detours.
Next was the Green Wood Pill Explanation.
Senior Listening to the Waves Rogue Person had clearly come from a Rogue Cultivator background. As a Rogue Cultivator, he was bound to have had limited access to higher-level Pill Formulas. Yet aside from the basic pills in his explanation, two pills made Chen Shuangbai's eyes light up.
Besides the Green Wood Transforming Rain Pill mentioned in his final writings, there was a Pill Formula called the Mystic Light Illuminating Life Pill.
The Green Wood Transforming Rain Pill was a First-Tier Superior-Grade pill, primarily used to restore vitality and heal injuries, while the Mystic Light Illuminating Life Pill was a first-tier mid-grade pill, primarily used to clear the spirit and soul.
But Chen Shuangbai's delight did not last long. When he turned to the later pages of the pill explanation, he learned that both Pill Formulas were actually still incomplete.
Senior Listening to the Waves Rogue Person filled in most of the Green Wood Transforming Rain Pill Formula, but its main ingredient is hard to find. As for the Mystic Light Illuminating Life Pill, it's only half a formula, and its derivation is nowhere near complete.
On second thought, since the pill explanation had been handed over to the sect, presumably its Alchemists would find time to complete the formulas.
Chen Shuangbai was still quite pleased.
Even setting the Life-Accepting Gourd aside, these two Pill Formulas alone had made this trip well worth his while.
Looking at the pill explanation before him, Chen Shuangbai was deeply moved.
Leaving his cultivation aside, this pill explanation alone is enough to prove Senior Listening to the Waves was a heaven-given genius.
But the road of a Rogue Cultivator is fraught with hardship and danger, and resources are scarce. It was no easy feat to carve out his own path in the Dao of Alchemy and leave behind so many precious insights and unfinished thoughts.
Yet in the end, his aptitude held him back, and he could only pass away in meditation. It truly makes one sigh.
Without attaining the Great Dao, one would ultimately be nothing more than a pile of dry bones.
If he had to name his greatest gain from this trip, it was the change in his State of Mind.
Putting aside his sighs, Chen Shuangbai immersed himself in cultivation.
The next day.
Chen Shuangbai left the cave abode and told Feiguang not to wander off. He summoned the Flowing Cloud Flying Pouch and shot straight toward the Expenditure Hall as a streak of white.
Before long.
Chen Shuangbai arrived at the Expenditure Hall.
People were coming and going as usual. Most were sect disciples, with a few mortal attendants among them, but all wore hurried expressions.
Lu Zhiyuan did not seem to be on duty today.
Chen Shuangbai found a senior brother in the hall who was skilled at appraising Spirit Plants and asked him to determine the attribute of the spirit seed he had obtained.
The senior brother looked somewhat fierce, but he quickly reached a conclusion.
"This should be a maple, and a relatively tall variety that's rare even among spirit maples. It's called... hmm, let me take a closer look... yes, that's right, it's a Frostleaf Red Maple."
"This kind of spirit maple generally grows along Jade Province's northwestern border with the neighboring Zhao Kingdom. Too many have been felled in recent years, and they've grown increasingly scarce..."
"Junior Brother, this seed has already lost most of its vitality, and the little spirituality within it has fallen almost completely dormant. Are you looking to sell it?"
"No."
After thanking the senior brother, Chen Shuangbai headed off to find Lord Zhang Yin, the Book Spirit.