Chapter 69 (continued)

At this time, neither of them spared any expense, using a large amount of Spirit Stone and Spirit Gathering Formation when planting, so the planting speed was extremely fast.

The two newly harvested staple foods are not enough for the two of them.

The two of them had been using Spirit Stone for cultivation.

The Spiritual Power within Spirit Stone is abundant and pure, making cultivation much more convenient and faster than consuming food, and it leaves no hidden dangers.

Given that they had no shortage of Spirit Stone, the two would not abandon Spirit Stone to choose food.

You can eat some food normally, but that's mainly for replenishing energy, not for replenishing Spiritual Power.

The newly grown staple food was useless in their storage Law Artifact; it just took up space.

Moreover, even inside a storage Law Artifact, food still has a shelf life, and it would be a shame if it spoiled after being stored for too long.

After discussing it, Shen Duheng took the batch of staple grains to the market to sell.

Although Shen Duheng was the main caregiver for this batch of staple crops, his cultivation level was much higher than that of ordinary people, and the soil still contained a lot of residual fertilizer when they planted it. Therefore, the quality of the staple crops he grew was much higher than that of ordinary staple crops on the market.

Good things are obvious to everyone.

Their batch of staple grains was snapped up immediately upon entering the market, and the price was 20% higher than they had anticipated.

The cultivator who did business with Shen Duheng cautiously said, "Senior, if you want to make a sale again in the future, you can just call me over. Leave a message at your door, and I'll come over with people after receiving the message. The price will definitely be higher than the market price."

Shen Duheng didn't mind a long-term partnership with a certain force, and upon hearing this, he agreed, "Okay."

The monk was delighted. "If you need anything, just leave a message and let us know. We'll send it to you once we've collected the necessary supplies, saving you the trouble."

Shen Duheng agreed and immediately provided a batch of materials for the other party to collect.

Upon returning, Shen Duheng said to Shan Heyuan, "The forces in Ridge Pine City have been consolidated once again, and the entire Dead City is on the verge of chaos."

Shan Heyuan: "Because things have gotten chaotic outside?"

Shen Duheng shook his head. "I don't know, but they clearly place great importance on material resources, especially on collecting essential survival supplies such as food."

Shan Heyuan: "It's a pity that I'm not in good condition right now and can't go out, otherwise we could go elsewhere to gather information."

Shen Duheng: "It's a blessing to find such a safe place in such chaotic times."

Shan Heyuan didn't want to discuss this issue too much, so he said, "Recently, a batch of Brilliant Creek Dragon Grass was transferred to my Dantian Small World, and the Death Qi in my Dantian Small World has already reached a certain scale."

Shen Duheng: "Have you saved enough now?"

Shan Heyuan: "More or less, but I've discovered that the life force and Death Qi within my Dantian Small World are completely incompatible, creating a strange sense of them being evenly divided."

It's hard to explain clearly with words alone.

Shan Heyuan brought Shen Duheng into his Dantian Small World showed him what it was like.

Shan Heyuan: "That's the situation. I don't know if it's because I don't have a physical body, but I always feel that my Dantian Small World is becoming more and more rigid, unlike before when it was a living world."

Shan Heyuan couldn't really explain the difference between the living world and the dead world, but while he still had a body, the Dantian Small World would automatically evolve and expand continuously.

Although the Dantian Small World is still full of life, it hasn't evolved in a long time.

When he lost his body, his Dantian Small World was exactly the same size as it is now, completely unlike the ever-expanding microcosm it once was.

Shan Heyuan felt that the most urgent task was not to find a body he could use, but to find a way to completely return to normal.

Shan Heyuan said to Shen Duheng, "I've tried everything, but the results are still not good. The most feasible option now is to use a branch of the Illusionless Tree as my body, but it can only be used as a puppet for my Nascent Soul to temporarily reside in, and cannot completely replace my body."

The two spent day and night together, so Shen Duheng knew a little about Shan Heyuan's situation.

Shen Duheng's expression became very serious.

Shan Heyuan continued, "I suspect that the banyan tree is in the same situation. It's said to have transformed into a spirit tree, but in reality, it's just temporarily residing within the spirit tree's body. That's why its cultivation level is so disconnected from the spirit tree's rank."

Shen Duheng: "Is taking the path of becoming an incarnation of the Spirit Tree ultimately a dead end?"

Shan Heyuan: "I don't think it will work. Lately, there's been a lot of Death Qi in my Dantian Small World, and there are enough dead Brilliant Creek Dragon Grass in my Dantian. Then I realized that dead things are dead, and no matter what method you use, there's no way to reverse it."

Life and death are the fundamental rules of the entire universe.

Reversing life and death is theoretically impossible.

While the death of one thing interacts with the world around it, reversing life and death requires more than just reversing the life and death of one thing; it requires reversing all things that interact with it.

This is an incredibly daunting workload.

The butterfly effect is no joke.

Perhaps, when something reverses, it's not a true reversal, but rather a transition to a parallel world.

It can never continue on the original track; it can only open up a new track.

Shan Heyuan could vaguely sense the Heavenly Dao concerning life and death.

He wants to regain his previous body, but that's unlikely to happen.

The only way to regrow the body is through another method.

Just like three thousand years ago, when he regenerated his body.

The regrown body is not the original body; everything, from physical attributes to bone age, has been altered.

If I had to put it in perspective, his regeneration of his body was somewhat similar to Shen Duheng's, where he cultivated anew as a Sword Spirit and regenerated his nascent Nascent Soul.

Flowers may bloom again, but the new flower is not the same as the one before.

That's roughly the idea.

It's unlikely he can regain his physical body while retaining his Nascent Soul; he'll have to abandon his current cultivation level and find another way.

Shen Duheng understood what he meant. "I was able to cultivate back to normal within just a few decades because I retained most of my soul power when I became Sword Spirit, and the spirit sword also possesses a large amount of Spiritual Power."

Shan Heyuan nodded. "I know. Not only that, you are also a genius. You have excellent aptitude since Root Bone and your cultivation speed is extremely fast. If I were to give up my current Nascent Soul and start cultivating again, it would be difficult to reach such a level of cultivation again in less than a hundred years."

Shen Duheng: "It doesn't necessarily need to take hundreds of years, it just means starting all over again."

For any cultivator, giving up the Nascent Soul stage and starting cultivation directly from the mortal realm is an extremely difficult thing to accept.

Even if I were to start all over again, I might not reach the same level as I do now.

Especially after giving up cultivation, Root Bone may not be as good as it is now, and the difficulty of cultivation generally increases.

The Shan Heyuan has been so conflicted lately is that he can't accept giving up the Nascent Soul and starting cultivation from scratch.

If he had given up his Nascent Soul, his Dantian Small World might not have existed.

After all, although his body disappeared, his Dantian remained. It's like a person who has had their lower body amputated but still has their upper body and can barely be considered a person. If even the upper body is abandoned, the head may not survive.

If he even abandons his Nascent Soul, leaving only his Dantian Small World, can it still maintain stability?

Shen Duheng patted Shan Heyuan on the shoulder.

This is indeed a difficult decision.

Giving up their Dantian Small World means giving up their greatest advantage.

If he doesn't start cultivating again, Shan Heyuan may never be able to regain a body, and his cultivation level may never improve again.

Of course, with the entire cultivation world nearing its end, its current state of existence doesn't seem like something particularly hard to accept.

Shan Heyuan: "Actually, there's another way, a very obscure one."

Shen Duheng: "Go ahead."