I Outworked the Entire Cultivation World-Chapter 228 - 199: (Cultivation) There Is Demon Energy
Before leaving, Jiang Yuebai stepped into the hut by the lake, where the furnishings were very simple.
A bookshelf covered one wall, filled with Buddhist scriptures, the desk placed under the window, with the writing brush resting on the inkstone and half-transcribed scriptures spread over the long table.
Tools in the corner were stained with earth, and a stack of flowerpots was haphazardly piled up.
Everything inside the hut gave Jiang Yuebai the feeling that the owner had only temporarily left, and would soon return to continue transcribing scriptures and planting new flowers.
Jiang Yuebai turned and walked out of the hut, noticing a small yellow flower swaying in the wind beneath the wall.
"A Prajna Flower?"
Jiang Yuebai performed the Cloud Rain Technique to water the small yellow flower.
"I will keep my promise and, when I am able, find someone suitable to rebuild the Prajna Temple here. Hopefully by then..."
Jiang Yuebai didn’t finish the sentence, because she wasn’t sure if Ruosheng could ever return.
She carried Ruosheng’s Buddha Seal, yet couldn’t sense any trace of him at all.
She closed the door of the hut and stepped out of the air vortex behind the house.
The small yellow flower in the corner produced dandelions, which scattered in the wind and took root.
One thought gives rise, and Prajna lives.
...
Over No Return Sea, Jiang Yuebai awkwardly watched a Sand Worm and a Desert Snake fighting in front of her.
They fought fiercely, yet didn’t harm her at all. The Sand Worm even laid quicksand around her to ’protect’ her.
The Desert Snake summoned a bunch of small snakes, which filled into the quicksand one after another, trying to ’rescue’ her.
Jiang Yuebai scratched the bun on her head; the Lingzhi constantly made her scalp tight and itchy.
These two had started fighting over her, wanting to become her Companion Demon Beast.
Demon beasts are very sensitive to spiritual objects; the Lingzhi on her head was constantly emitting faint demon energy, attracting demon beasts to claim the Lingzhi for themselves.
Yet none of them had asked her consent, so Jiang Yuebai sent them to see Buddha with a burst of Earth Thunder.
"Clearly I used the Hidden Sky Robe to hide my presence, yet I was still detected by demon beasts."
Jiang Yuebai maneuvered the Flying Core Boat swiftly at low altitude, encountering several demon beast battles over her throughout the journey.
"I need to find a way to mask the demon energy from the Cloud Mushroom Grass on me quickly, or I’ll be dragged back to a High-Level demon beast’s lair to be fattened up and eaten."
Heading east, Jiang Yuebai moved nonstop straight toward the outside of the pass.
Halfway, she encountered several Demon Hunting Teams, and learned from them that she’d stayed in that Small Secret Realm for over three years.
Jiang Yuebai carefully calculated the time, realizing she would be twenty-one by next spring after this lunar month fast, while she had accidentally ingested the Face Stabilizing Elixir at seventeen.
Not too young, but still a bit youthful.
"Next time I meet Anan and Yun Shang, I’ll have to make them all consume the Face Stabilizing Elixir too; I don’t want to stand next to them later and look like their daughter’s age."
Jiang Yuebai sighed faintly, actually preferring the mature and elegant appearance of True Monarch Fuyi.
After over three months of travel, Jiang Yuebai smoothly reached inside the pass.
Along the way, she roughly figured out the effects of the Earth Dao Platform’s mutation, discovering she could instantly transform part of her body into sand through thought, and sand could continuously pour out from her palm.
Though the sand appeared ordinary, it contained extremely pure Earth Spiritual Energy and a hint of Buddhist power, providing strong restraint against evil things.
The Earth Evil Fire is yin, while the quicksand is yang, exactly balancing each other.
Once there’s a corresponding cultivation technique, she can better manipulate and utilize these sands using the technique, or she could attempt some practices based on her past spell studies.
On this journey, she experimented with compressing and solidifying the sand into shields or swords, seeing some initial results.
Upon entering the Gobi Marketplace, Jiang Yuebai rushed to the Mountain and Sea Building, using the token given by Xie Jingshan to request help from the shopkeeper to find an Artifact Refiner to custom-make something that can conceal demon energy.
This item is extremely special and difficult to make, requiring Sixth-Grade Magic Treasure Level to achieve the desired effect.
Jiang Yuebai paid a deposit of three thousand Mid-Grade Spirit Stones and needed to leave another five thousand Mid-Grade Spirit Stones to be paid upon collection.
She couldn’t find particularly suitable Earth Attribute Cultivation Techniques at Mountain and Sea Building, mainly because the techniques were extraordinarily expensive, and she had no money.
She disposed of the Magic Artifacts and storage ring obtained from Sha Yingjie, selling anything unnecessary and exchangeable for Spirit Stones.
She purchased several books for learning ancient demon clan languages and some Spiritual Medicine for Body Refining.
Afterward, she went to Hongyan Building to retrieve letters received over the past three years, then headed to Mingsha Square to collect items exchanged for the Pill Furnace.
I originally thought the pill furnace that Tai Sui slept in would be hard to sell, but surprisingly, someone was willing to trade a drop of Primordial Essence for it.
After paying a hefty transaction fee, Jiang Yuebai successfully obtained that drop of Primordial Essence and rented a room at an inn to go into retreat while waiting for Mountain and Sea Building to refine the magic artifact.
After this trip, she was completely broke; she only had enough spirit stones to cover two months’ rent, and couldn’t even afford spare healing pills. She still had quite a few poison elixirs obtained from Xue Liuzhi earlier, and since they’re rare, she didn’t sell them.
"Once I’ve read everyone’s letters to me, I’ll consume the Snake Shedding Fruit during this period and start practicing the ’Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique’. The body is the foundation of cultivation. I won’t stop until even a Heavenly Tribulation cannot affect me."
Jiang Yuebai took out a long wooden box and two letters, placing them on the table. She had thought she would receive many letters over the past three years, but there were only three.
The wooden box was sent by True Monarch Fuyi, and the remaining two letters were sent by Xie Jingshan two years ago and Qii Yue from Huaxi Valley last year.
"Looks like Master is still in the Land of Chaos and hasn’t come out, so there’s no letter from her. Yun Shang has gone traveling somewhere and hasn’t written to me either. She has Yuu Qiuqi at the Early-Stage Golden Core accompanying her, probably forgetting about me."
"The strangest thing is Anan; I’ve been away from the sect for almost five years, yet she hasn’t sent me a single letter. Could something have happened?"
Jiang Yuebai felt a bit worried, but she didn’t know Lu Nanzhi’s contact code at Hongyan Building, making it impossible to send a letter proactively.
"I remember the Lu Clan Land is in the Pingjiang Domain... I’ll write to Qii Yue first to ask if Anan is still in the sect. Given Anan’s status and background, major issues certainly wouldn’t occur, perhaps she’s on some training..."
Jiang Yuebai composed herself, picking up the wooden box. The array seal on it required the token from Lii Jiuchuan at Hongyan Building to unlock.
Inside was True Monarch Fuyi’s response to her array questions, with both text and array maps. She quickly skimmed through it, seemingly having answered only half.
Aside from answering questions, there was still no extra word, but the bottom of the box contained five Golden Core Stage demon cores.
"Wow! True Monarch Fuyi is so generous! I only mentioned it casually, and she really sent me specialties from the North Sea."
Jiang Yuebai was so happy she almost jumped up, internally praising True Monarch Fuyi for being warm-hearted despite her cold appearance, generously giving demon cores just like that.
"With these five demon cores, at least three or four drops of Primordial Essence can be refined. Besides using it myself, I can also sacrificially refine one or two primordial spirit magical artifacts. So awesome!"
Jiang Yuebai carefully stored the box and temporarily put aside True Monarch Fuyi’s letter, planning to slowly digest the array knowledge in her spare time.
Qii Yue’s letter was sent last year, reporting the situation in Huaxi Valley over the past few years. With Lii Jiuchuan backing it, Huaxi Valley is now a hot commodity, getting favorable treatment in everything it undertakes.
Qii Yue mentioned her brother Qii Ming and Guo Zhen have successfully established their foundation, and Huaxi Valley’s income has doubled compared to before, meaning they can now annually hand over about 20,000 low-grade spirit stones to Jiang Yuebai, equivalent to 2,000 mid-grade spirit stones.
"I nearly forgot, I haven’t collected Huaxi Valley’s spirit stones for these past years; I can use these for settling the outstanding payment with Mountain and Sea Building."
Spirit stones not yet in her possession feel like they’re not hers, so she doesn’t mind spending them.
"Last but not least is Xie Jingshan’s letter, let’s see what fun things he’s written."
Jiang Yuebai opened the letter Xie Jingshan sent two years ago. There’s no formal letter format, only a few lines of scrawled text.
[Jiang Yuebai, you would never guess what happened when I reached Foundation Establishment—the heavens showed signs, with sword qi traversing mountains and rivers!
Our entire Baishui Domain was shocked, hahaha, I’ve solidified my name as the reincarnation of the Sword Immortal.
A few more years and it’s the Wind and Cloud Meeting in the Earth Spiritual Realm, where geniuses from the Nine Domains will gather.
Do you dare come to Baishui Domain and face me at the Wind and Cloud Meeting?
This time, I will definitely defeat you!]
After reading Xie Jingshan’s letter, Jiang Yuebai laughed and scolded, "Childish!"
After scolding, she immediately picked up a brush to reply.
[Dear Junior Brother Jingshan,
I just came out of retreat and accidentally broke through to Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment. I am not quite used to it and didn’t respond promptly, I hope Junior Brother Xie won’t mind.
Rest assured, three years later at the Wind and Cloud Meeting, I will definitely come to Baishui Domain to meet as promised, hoping Junior Brother will diligently prepare.
Otherwise, if there’s too much of a gap in our cultivation levels, it’d be embarrassing for me to use my advantage over you.
Evenly matched opponents are true rivals; otherwise defeating you wouldn’t be honorable.
Enough said, I just took down three late-stage foundation cultivators, I need to rush away quickly to avoid their forces seeking revenge.
Respectfully, Senior Sister Yuebai]
Jiang Yuebai folded the letter and placed it in an envelope, grinning maliciously as she said, "You’re too inexperienced to challenge me!"
However, seeing Xie Jingshan returning to his old self made her quite happy.
Could it be he sent this peculiar letter to imply he’s doing well?
Jiang Yuebai remembered how Lu Nanzhi said Xie Jingshan was coarse yet meticulous, making her think it quite likely.
After replying to True Monarch Fuyi and Qii Yue, Jiang Yuebai wrote another letter to the Supreme Elder, briefly explaining her experiences and asking if there’s a suitable earth element cultivation technique within the Heavenly Interence Sect.
Sealing all the letters, Jiang Yuebai returned to her bed to sit cross-legged, took out a Snake Shedding Fruit, and began her first practice of the ’Nine Revolutions Golden Body Technique.’
