Chapter 340: Farming! Elixir Making

"Zhao Yanzi is now at level 10 of the Qi Refinement Realm. If she cultivates here, she will reach the Foundation Establishment Realm sooner." Hao Ren looked at Xie Yujia again and said, "Why don't you go and try your cave abode?"

"Ok...." Xie Yujia's excitement was now almost gone. Sitting on Little White's back, she slowly flew to the new cave abode about eight meters away from Hao Ren's.

This cave abode was bigger and deeper than Hao Ren's, and he had considerately cut out a small bedroom with his sword energies.

Zhen Congming had pandered round the valley and checked out the array formation Hao Ren built. He flew into Xie Yujia's cave abode and looked around, tossing an object at her.

It was a decorative object with a gold base, and in it sat a night-illumination pearl that was as big as a fist. With this object in her hand, the bedroom that was hidden in one corner was instantly illuminated.

"So basic..." Zhen Congming muttered before flying out of the cave abode.

He had sensed the existence of some small sects around the valley. Since Hao Ren and Xie Yujia would stay here for a while, he decided to investigate the nearby area and try to steal something from the sects.

Even a mosquito has some meat on it. Zhen Congming would never 'disregard' small sects just because of their small sizes.

Holding the pearl Zhen Congming gave her, Xie Yujia smiled. The fist-sized pearl emitted mild light, neither blinding nor dim. The heavy gold base helped it stand steadily on the stone wall of the bedroom.

Zhen Congming was overbearing, but he was a kind kid.

This object would sell for an astronomical price in an auction on the land. Although Xie Yujia didn't know where he got it, she knew it showed his approval of her. After all, he was super stingy.

After placing the pearl on a ledge in the wall, she walked out and sat on a wide stone chair, closing her eyes to cultivate. Sure enough, the essence here was at least four times more intense than that on the land. She slightly circulated the Qi Refinement Scroll and felt it went smoother than it had in her dorm room.

Although the Life Note could activate the power of nature, after knowing the drawbacks, she didn't want to use it casually. She used the basic cultivation method documented in the Qi Refinement Scroll to absorb the traces of essence in the valley.

In the cave abode next to hers, Hao Ren was also busy cultivating. In the form of hundreds of sword energies, the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll encircled him at great speed. Like shadows, the sword energies moved against his skin and through his pores.

With 72 openings unlocked, his realm had significantly improved compared with the initial state of only 40 openings. Although the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll had slow cultivating speed, it solidified the cultivation foundation, and it wasn't too dangerous like other more aggressive techniques.

Now he could release as many as 160 sword energies. If one class had 40 students, Hao Ren's sword energies were equivalent to the number of students in four classes. If all the students from the four classes stood on the playground, they would occupy a big area. If he could control 320 sword energies, it would be the number of students in eight classes. If he could move to 640 sword energies...

The more sword energies he could control, the stronger the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll would be. In the end, he would be unrivaled in one-to-one combat.

In Zhao Kuo's Heavenly Tribulation, Hao Ren had witnessed the magnificent view of tens of thousands of soldiers blocking heaven lightning. The Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll could eventually release a similar power.

Crack! In his dragon core, another opening was unlocked.

Dozens of tiny sword energies entered the new crevice on the dragon core, filling the new opening. Meanwhile, the silent dragon core began to spin at a great speed, and his body instantly absorbed the essence in the cave abode.

In one second, his body felt like it had expanded, but it was instantly pushed back by the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll around him.

After successively unlocking so many openings on the dragon core in Fifth Heaven, he was no longer surprised. Instead, he steadied his mind and nerves and allowed the essence outside of the cave abode to enter.

Xie Yujia sensed the fluctuation of the nearby essence, but she didn't know that Hao Ren made another small breakthrough.

"I'm back! I'm back!"

Outside of the cave abode, Zhen Congming shouted.

In his arms was a cloth bag. When he landed on the ground outside of the cave abode, he yelled, "Xie Yujia! Xie Yujia!"

Xie Yujia who had been cultivating in her cave abode walked to the entrance. "What is it?"

"The nearby sects are too poor, and they don't have any spiritual herbs over 200 years old. I only dug out some seedlings..." Zhen Congming muttered before raising his voice, "Hao Ren! Hao Ren!"

Hao Ren was busy solidifying his realm and ignored him. But Zhen Congming yelled again, "Big brother! Big brother!"

Since he was called big brother, Hao Ren had no choice but to walk to the entrance of the cave. "What?"

"I got some seedlings. You should straighten up the valley and grow some herbs so that it can be used as materials for Yujia's future's elixir making journey!" With the cloth bag in his arms, Zhen Congming looked up at Hao Ren who was standing at the cave entrance and shouted.

"You can't call Yujia by her name! Call her 'sister'!" Hao Ren frowned slightly.

He didn't like the fact that this kid was cold to everyone else but only favored a few people including Xie Yujia.

Since he had his big plan of elixir making, Zhen Congming didn't care about the superficial formalities. Like Little White, he could play cute as long as he could get the benefits.

Hearing Zhen Congming calling Xie Yujia 'big sister', Hao Ren was satisfied.

With his right hand, he abruptly released 16 earth-elemental sword energies.

The sword energies swept over the ground, and 16 deep ruts appeared in the ground. With a horizontal wave of his left hand, another 16 earth-elemental sword energies flew toward the flat ground in the valley.

Instantly, 225 neat squares of earth patches appeared. Wherever the sword energy went, the weeds and wildflowers were eliminated, and the brown soil was exposed to the air!

Hao Ren's clean and crisp movements earned secret admiration from Zhen Congming.

"One has the techniques of sword array formations, and the other possesses the note techniques. Both five-elemental and contains Yin and Yang; their cultivation techniques are unique and complementary to each other." Zhen Congming wondered as he leaned his head one way.

He then called out to Xie Yujia, "Big sister, the seedlings are here. You must put them in the ground, or they will die!"

Surprised that Hao Ren had opened the fields in two seconds, Xie Yujia rode Little White to the open ground in the valley.

The seedlings Zhen Congming carried back were plants she had never seen before. Some had triangle leaves, some were red and green fruits, and some had colorful buds...

"This is Bone-Healing Bamboo Shoots, this is Lantern Grass, this is Wind Blue, and this is Soul Reclaim Fragrance... They won't die if you grow them in a place with intense essence..." With great enthusiasm, Zhen Congming explained to Xie Yujia.

Then, he took out a trowel and planted the seedlings into the soil.

Xie Yujia listened to his explanations while helping him cover the roots with soil. Surprisingly, the withered seedlings instantly revived once they were planted in the ground, and their colors were brighter than before.

"My Big Dipper Constellation Array can accumulate essence, and all the spiritual herbs except the high-level ones can live as soon as you put them in the soil here..." Zhen Congming said smugly while planting the seedlings of the spiritual herbs to different patches according to their various properties.

If it had been before, he wouldn't have bothered with such troublesome tasks. He would have stolen some materials from Sixth and Seventh Heavens to make elixirs.

However, his master Qiu Niu was now in seclusion cultivation in the Nine Dragon Palace which was isolated from the rest of the world. Without the protection of his master, he didn't dare to mess with Sixth or Seventh Heaven. He could only mess around in Fifth Heaven with Hao Ren behind him.

After a demon beast transformed into a human, it had to cultivate the same way as a cultivator. Thus, Zhen Congming was now barely at Li-Level in the dragon's cultivation system. Qiu Niu didn't want him to cultivate too fast, so he didn't each Zhen Congming any advanced cultivation techniques.

Li-level cultivators were at the bottom of the cultivation system, and this level was equivalent to the Foundation Establishment Realm for human cultivators. Although Zhen Congming had powerful dharma treasures, he needed more protection. If he didn't want to stay in the East Ocean Dragon Palace, he had to rely on Hao Ren's protection.

Of course, if he was in great danger, he could always turn into his original form as a demon beast, but it would be a great transformation and get too much attention.

While Zhen Congming and Xie Yujia planted the herbs cheerfully in the valley, the Seven Star Sect, Qiong Hua Sect, and Qin Yin Sect were in an uproar.

In one hour, the herb gardens of the three sects had their array formations broken, and spiritual herbs were stolen. All the seedlings were gone, no matter if they were ten years old or 200 years old!

Herb gardens were not forbidden places in the sects, but with all the herbs stolen, it became a big issue and was reported to the sect masters.

Although the three sects were rivals, they lived in one area, and the sizes of the sects were similar. Therefore, they had to work together on big issues. With all their herbs stolen, the three sect masters held an emergency meeting.

In his cave abode in the valley, Hao Ren continued to cultivate and didn't stop until he unlocked another two openings. Then, he walked to the entrance of the cave.

In the fields of the valley, herbs were planted into different sections. He estimated that there were at least 100 different kinds.

With mud-covered hands, Xie Yujia and Zhen Congming were planting the last herb seedling.

Looking at the fresh herbs, Hao Ren knew they must be stolen goods. Since the sects stole from each other each day, he didn't want to waste his time on scolding Zhen Congming.

Above the valley, dozens of cultivators were flying around and seemed like they were investigating something.

Knowing they couldn't come into the valley guarded by the array formation, he was about to fly to the foot of the mountain to see how Xie Yujia and Zhen Congming were doing when a voice transmission note flew in from outside the valley.

The array formation could block attacks and cultivators, but it couldn't block voice transmission notes which contained weak essence.

Standing where he was, Hao Ren pointed his finger at the voice transmission note and opened it.

"Senior in the valley, greetings from the Seven Stars Sect, Qiong Hua Sect, and Qin Yin Sect! We are cultivation sects around the Herb King Valley, and a thief has just stolen our herbs from our herb gardens. We're afraid that the herb thief is still around. If we are disturbing your cultivation, we apologize for it!"

Hao Ren thought for a moment and understood the hidden messages in the voice transmission note.

The first was that the three nearby sects took the excuse to seek acquaintance of the senior who was living in the valley; the second was that they wanted to test the water to see if he was related to the theft; the third was that if the thief broke into the valley, they hoped that the senior in the valley wouldn't blame it on them.

"Nonsense! Do you think I stole your herbs?" Hearing the content of the voice transmission note, Zhen Congming roared toward the entrance of the valley with a faked deep voice.

He was bluffing, but the three sect masters at the valley entrance were frightened. They didn't expect that the Senior was now in the valley, and the carefully worded message in the voice transmission note displeased this senior.

"From now on, no one is allowed to get close to this valley!" Zhen Congming shouted fiercely.

He was bluffing, but his voice through the array formation had a strong resonance in it, deafening the three sect masters.

The patrolling disciples near the valley immediately left the edges of the valley.

Hao Ren looked at Zhen Congming and smiled. This kid was a master at bluffing, and the results were quite good. Anyway, it was annoying to see the cultivators flying around the valley even though they couldn't get in.

"However, since you called me 'Senior' so respectfully, I'll reward you with some elixir pills. Come to the entrance of the valley in three days!" After a moment of consideration, Zhen Congming continued.

Outside of the valley, the three sect masters were about to leave. When they heard his words, they were exhilarated.

The Sky Mountain Sect from Sixth Heaven excelled not only in raising spirit beasts but at growing spiritual herbs and making elixir pills. Obviously, this 'senior' from the Sky Mountain could make elixirs.

They didn't know Zhen Congming's calculations. In fact, he knew that Xie Yujia would produce some low-level pills in her practice of elixir making, and he planned to give those to the sects. After all, even Little White didn't want to eat elixir pills lower than level 3.

If he frightened off these sects, he would have to travel very far to steal herbs. With these small sects around, they could run some errands for him in the future.

With the promise from the 'Senior' in the valley, the three sect masters left after thanking him effusively. The hard life the small sects on Fifth Heaven were beyond the imagination of Hao Ren who lived below = First Heaven.

The three sects always worked together despite their occasional bickering, and they lived in the remote mountains with a low profile. Otherwise, they would have long been destroyed by the distant prominent sects.

Even the White Sand Sect that Zhao Yanzi had tried to trick had a strength equivalent to the combined force of these three sects!

Meanwhile, Zhao Yanzi who was now grounded in the dragon palace was reading the physics textbook and wondering when she would be able to revisit Fifth Heaven and plunder the Technique Palace of the White Sand Sect!