Hidden Moth-Chapter 432 - 241: Cold Needle Jade Amidst the Depths of Stormy Mountains
Xiao Alliance essentially means the Carefree Wanderers Alliance.
In ancient times, loose cultivators referred to themselves as carefree wanderers. However, these individuals were not strictly loose cultivators. Originally, they were a group formed by high-tier sorcerers who had split from the magic sects.
The turmoil between Yin Niang and the woodcutter lasted nearly a century but was eventually resolved with the efforts of Ancestor Master Leidunzi and others, leading to the reformation of the magic sects and the establishment of the Ancestral Hall.
This was also a kind of historical inevitability, as the Seven Great Magic Sect Grotto Heavens and the Ancestral Hall were all located in Phoenix Tail Town, naturally integrating them into one place, impossible to move.
At that time, there were high-tier sorcerers with differing stances who left the magic sects and called themselves the Xiao Alliance. Among them were also experts above Tier Six; therefore, they could retain the complete inheritance of the Seven Great Magic Sects even without the secondary inheritance ceremonies of the various grotto heavens.
It was merely a difference in philosophy, not worth exterminating. Ancestor Master Leidunzi and others told them not to interfere with magic sects’ affairs in the future and to forget about each other in the Jianghu.
Under the ancient conditions of communication and transport, once these people left, they were often out of sight and mind. They couldn’t openly fly the flag of the Xiao Alliance and then come back to provoke the magic sects.
To most disciples of magic sects, the so-called Xiao Alliance and Hidden Moth were just legends, appearing sporadically over the millennia; if it still existed today, no one knows what it would look like.
In recent decades, with the Eastern Country at peace and transportation and communication conditions having greatly improved, disciples of magic sects are spread across the world, and there are quite a few independent cultivators in Jianghu; occasionally, fragments of news about the Xiao Alliance are heard.
It’s said the Xiao Alliance still exists, or now there is an organization under the guise of the ancient Xiao Alliance, mainly operating overseas but occasionally coming into contact with some disciples of magic sects and independent cultivators in the Eastern Country.
No one bears a mark on their forehead; sometimes even in contact, disciples of magic sects don’t know the other’s identity. If Fabre is indeed from the contemporary so-called Xiao Alliance, their motives become quite intriguing.
Why come forth at this time?
The grotto heaven summon mechanism is a troublesome issue for such organizations, as it cuts off their resources at the root. They’ve been striving hard to blacken the reputation of the magic sects, claiming they possess terrifying abilities that can monitor every sorcerer’s every move, even track every individual.
These were in fact rumors spread by the Xiao Alliance, ignored by the magic sects, but now it seems the magic sects might truly possess such abilities, causing those in Xiao Alliance to lose their composure first...
This is the conclusion He Kao has pondered out. As to whether it’s accurate, it might be plausible. So what should He Kao do in such circumstances? Do nothing!
He Kao should eat when it’s time to eat, cultivate when it’s time to cultivate, engage in snowball fights when it’s time, and soak in hot springs when it’s time. Should he stop living his life and cease cultivating because of the fear and calumny from the likes of Fabre?
He Kao has been cautious since childhood, with a typical people-pleasing personality, always treading carefully in fear of being hurt but never intending to harm anyone.
Now, with his introduction to cultivation and his growing strength from cultivation, along with encountering so many situations, his personality has changed significantly. Yet still, he does not wish to harm anyone but just refuses to go out of his way to wrong himself.
But the coming period requires appropriate adjustments in his cultivation methods.
The world’s land area is approximately 150 million square kilometers. The scope of He Kao’s heart plate, condensed along his footsteps in a "mosquito coil" pattern, roughly occupies one-tenth of it.
His tracks practically cover the entire Eastern Country and many areas bordering it. This coverage isn’t complete; it’s distributed in parallel lines about fifty kilometers apart.
In such a short time, He Kao can’t have visited every place in the Eastern Country. Not to mention two months, even with twenty years, it might be unlikely to achieve, and it’s unnecessary since highly populated places aren’t feasible for instant movement patrols.
So far, He Kao’s method of illuminating the map has been to avoid densely populated areas and patrol deep into the night.
However, theoretically, within this range, wherever he wishes to go, there’s generally a way to reach within fifty kilometers of that location and then proceed from there.
For instance, although He Kao has not been to the Southern Base Camp at Mount Everest, he can send Li Xiuyuan to its vicinity.
Continuing this method, one day he might completely cover all continents on this planet with his footsteps, though he might miss out on some small islands distant from continents...but for now, He Kao doesn’t plan to do so.
His footprint range is large enough now, sufficient for most of what he wants to do, and this range even extends beyond the traditional territory distribution of magic sect influence.
The more places he visits, the more unexpected situations he may encounter. If he suddenly encounters a master like Fabre and gets locked by the other’s divine sense, even if he were Hidden Moth, escape would be difficult.
Another more critical reason is that it’s increasingly difficult to improve cultivation solely through this method. Over the past two months, the furthest range of his divine sense has extended from one kilometer to 1.5 kilometers, then stopped increasing.
It’s like sharpening a knife: initially, the more you sharpen, the sharper it becomes, but at a certain point, it becomes excessive. If one wants it even sharper, the material and specifications of the tools have to be improved.
For a Tier Four Sorcerer to reach his current level is already admirable. To further improve cultivation, breakthroughs in inner cultivation are necessary, ideally with the support of spiritual elixirs and the most suitable environment for cultivation.
He Kao doesn’t lack a cultivation cave mansion, and now he thinks of Awakening Incense again.
Cultivating the divine sense has two dimensions: strength and subtlety. Previously, He Kao would light three sticks of Awakening Incense during each session of sitting meditation for cultivation, which significantly helps in fortifying his divine sense.
The two tubes of Awakening Incense that He Kao had Lin Qingshuang buy were long used up. The ones Bitter Tea left at the secret base had already been shared with Ye Liangchen and Lan Jiwan, and He Kao’s supply was now depleted.
This stuff is expensive. He Kao once spent a million to have Lin Qingshuang buy two tubes containing two hundred sticks, which works out to five thousand per stick at a friendly price.
The cost of five thousand yuan is something an average salaried person can afford, equivalent to a decently equipped phone. But Awakening Incense is a consumable, not a durable good.
With He Kao’s cultivation pace, if he were to use three sticks a day at five thousand each, it would cost five million a year. After investing his entire six million in liquid assets in Huishiming Brand, he was left with little spare cash.
In fact, it’s rare for a sorcerer to cultivate as he did. Three sticks of Awakening Incense a day? That’s way too extravagant! The main materials for Awakening Incense can also be used to make other things, so it’s impossible to use them all for incensing.
Even though his monthly salary is decent, investing in cultivation resources still feels like a drop in the bucket... So what should he do? Satisfy the needs himself.
Elder Li Xiuyuan gave him a Magic Sect alchemy formula inheritance, including a description of various spiritual materials and spiritual medicines, along with methods for collecting and preparing them. Among them was Awakening Incense, and it detailed how to use it.
Only then did He Kao realize his previous method of using Awakening Incense was somewhat wasteful.
When assisting in cultivation, Awakening Incense needs to be ignited with Divine Sense using the Artifact Control Technique. In this way, there will be no smoke or flame, leaving only pure white ash, which aids in deep meditation and nourishes Divine Soul depletion.
He Kao used to ignite it with Mortal Fire, which, while effective, wasted quite a bit. When he only had Tier Three Cultivation, he had no other choice; effectiveness was all that mattered.
Why didn’t Lin Qingshuang tell him? Because Elder Lin didn’t expect him to break through to Tier Four Cultivation so quickly. At that time, even Lin Qingshuang was still a Tier Three Cultivator.
Now that he has broken through Tier Four Cultivation, He Kao can no longer afford such wastage. Moreover, as long as the materials are collected, he can make it himself. There are two main materials for crafting Awakening Incense: Cold Needle Jade and Celestial Palace Curtain.
How lucky, he didn’t need to search elsewhere; both were found within the Hidden Moth Grotto Heaven.
The last time several elders led him to a place called Immortal Cauldron Palace within the grotto heaven, it was actually a natural cave mansion in the mountain wall, with its entrance concealed by a peculiar vine known as the Celestial Palace Curtain.
The Celestial Palace Curtain is a rare Spirit Plant, naturally capable of concealing Divine Sense. However, this effect is only present in the living vine; it disappears once it withers and dies.
He Kao had seen material capable of concealing Divine Sense, it was the peculiar ore Bitter Tea used to build the underground secret room, mined from a shaft guarded daily by the cleaner Gao Chenshu.
The effect of that ore was indeed superior, making the secret room blend into its surroundings. If He Kao hadn’t secretly observed Ye Liangchen’s movements, he wouldn’t have discovered that secret room back then.
The Celestial Palace Curtain grows on cliff walls and can only obscure Divine Sense; sometimes, instead of camouflaging, it makes a place more conspicuous, as Divine Sense sweeps over and notices something amiss.
But this effect fits certain situations. For instance, hanging it at cave mansion entrances serves as a curtain. Normal curtains block the view, while the Celestial Palace Curtain obscures Divine Sense spying.
Around the Immortal Cauldron Palace in the Floating Colors Grotto Heaven, many Celestial Palace Curtains grow in the wild, including numerous century-old vines. Collecting their fibers for processing into Awakening Incense is expected to be quite effective.
The other main material for crafting Awakening Incense, Cold Needle Jade, is actually a special pine needle from a Spirit Plant called the Cold-tailed Pine. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞
Most people cannot discern the Cold-tailed Pine from other pines. It might be a unique mutant variety. This pine produces a five-needle leaf, and after a century, one of the needles in the center of some leaves will turn translucent green.
These pine needles eventually turn yellow and decay like others. However, if mixed with other pine needles and buried under the ground, after a hundred years, they again become translucent green, known as Cold Needle Jade.
The simplest way to gather them is to search beneath century-old Cold-tailed Pines, but such mutated needles are very few, so the amount collected at a site is naturally sparse.
Cold-tailed Pines mainly grow in temperate monsoon zones, on mountain peaks two to three thousand meters above sea level, where the weather is unpredictable, with large temperature and humidity variations.
Phoenix Tail Town is located on the south slope of Zhongnan Mountain, near Cold-tailed Pines. Certain areas in the Taihang Mountains, Ba Mountain, and Qilian Mountain are also habitats for Cold Needle Jade.
Cold Needle Jade is a naturally occurring spiritual material, requiring no expenditure and just some effort to gather in the wild. However, it’s tricky to find and laborious to collect, making it quite precious.
He Kao found the joy of digging wild ginseng at the Maoluo Country border while collecting Cold Needle Jade in the Floating Colors Grotto Heaven.
Judging by the time, the Wulong River basin is nearing its frozen period, right? He could visit a few more times if free. There’s no need to intentionally dig for wild ginseng; finding a few more Xue Guanghan would be ideal.
A while back, He Kao visited the river valley in question, which to the Hidden Moth was an instant, but high water levels and strong currents during the flood season made it unapproachable. It seems finding Xue Guanghan is best after freeze-up.
He Kao feels that he has now evolved into a treasure-seeking expert...
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