Chapter 355: Natural Treasures of the Herb King Valley!

"What happened?" Hao Ren inhaled deeply and asked.

"I don't know the details. It's just that he wants to buy gifts for a girl in the class next to his, and he looked quite nervous about it," Xie Yujia said.

Hao Ren was speechless; after all, it was quite rare for Zhen Congming to offer gifts to someone.

"Well, I'll continue with my cultivation. Zi has reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, and I'll work harder to catch up!" After waving at Hao Ren, Xie Yujia walked back to her cave abode.

"You've always been working hard..." Hao Ren thought to himself.

Stomping lightly on the ground, Hao Ren leaped up over ten meters with ease before landing on the rocks on the side of the steep hill, and he returned to his cave abode within seconds.

While human cultivators relied on dharma treasures and techniques, the dragon cultivators put more emphasis on physical strength and realms. That was why the dragon cultivators practiced weapons such as sword and spear and learned proficient skills in using them.

Thanks to the fundamental boxing techniques, Hao Ren was now so agile that he could easily leap onto the steep hill.

Otherwise, with the range-attack method offered by the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll, he wouldn't try to temper his body.

Wang Xi, the Dui-level cultivator who once fought with Hao Ren, used his physical strength at close-range combat. Fighting only with dharma treasures and powerful techniques from hundreds of meters away was not the battle style of dragon cultivators.

That was because the higher realm the dragon cultivators got, the more difficult it would be to break through. They had to increase their combat ability by making use of their great physical strength.

When Zhao Haoran fought in the great war, he killed dozens of masters in the Nascent Soul Realm with his fierceness. Among those cultivators, only a few fought him for several days and nights, and the others were killed by him instantly with just one attack.

He got close to those Nascent Soul Realm cultivators almost instantly, and he broke their defense abruptly and killed them before they could cast any spells or use any techniques.

Those Nascent Soul Realm cultivators were not used to such swift attacks and died in physical combats despite their great cultivation strength.

Since Hao Ren was now in the dragons' circle, he saw Su Han who used a white jade sword, Qin Shaoyang who attacked him using a golden weaving shuttle, Zeng Yitao who fought with him with a long spear, and Elder Sun who owned martial arts dojos. That was why he accepted the practicing of both martial arts and nature essence cultivation.

After some quick leaps, he returned to his cave abode before sitting down on the stone bed cross-legged to continue cultivating.

With the Small Cloud Rain Array in the cave abode, Hao Ren could absorb it and turn the essence in the valley into lightning power. When it was not activated, the white and black chess pieces of the array formation that were placed in the stone wall of the cave abode sparkled like stars.

With these sparks, Hao Ren's cave abode was lit up and had a mysterious look.

Lying at the entrance of the cave, Little White was still sleeping. With the abundant nature essence in the valley, it was automatically increasing its cultivation strength while it slept thanks to the demon core in its body.

"If I can find a proper cultivation technique to nurture the meridians in Little White, it will have a faster elevation process," Hao Ren thought to himself while he looked at Little White at the entrance.

The Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll began to circulate essence swiftly in his body.

Little White lifted its head from its paws and yawned before rubbing its rump on the floor. Hesitating for a few seconds, it finally flew out of the cave abode in a crooked line and landed in the spiritual herb garden before leaving a pile of poop in it.

Shivering, it immediately flew back to the warmer cave abode after that.

When the sunlight shone into Hao Ren's cave abode, a night of cultivation came to an end.

Like a white arrow, Hao Ren flew out of the cave abode and practiced the fundamental boxing techniques in the thick morning fog in the valley.

With his Zhen-level realm, each of his punch pierced a big hole in the fog. After some kicks and punches, the surrounding fog backed off ten meters from him.

Merging the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll into the boxing techniques, Hao Ren's boxing movements emitted the extra nature essence in his body into the valley.

He left distinct footprints in the ground while the rocks under his feet were shattered into dust.

Hacking down the Mount Hua! Fei used one of the strikes in the fundamental boxing techniques.

Hao Ren launched another palm strike before withdrawing his stance.

Swoosh... The intense fog in the valley was separated in half for 100 meters.

Hu!

Hao Ren inhaled deeply, feeling the swift recovery of his strength all over his body.

After one night of cultivation, he had unlocked several openings, and the number of openings he had in his dragon core now reached 90!

Standing at the entrance of her cave abode, Xie Yujia watched in amazement while Hao Ren did his morning exercise.

Although she didn't understand martial arts, she knew each of his movements contained sword energies, which could wound enemies with its invisible force. These invisible sword energies were more powerful than visible and solid swords!

"Ugh?" Hao Ren turned his head and saw Xie Yujia standing at the entrance of her cave abode.

"You up?" Hao Ren asked.

"Yeah!" Xie Yujia answered loudly with a smile on her face.

Last night, she took the last level 4 Foundation Establishment Pill, and she would need to make elixir pills this weekend.

As with lightning cultivation, one couldn't make elixirs continuously and must allow the body to rest. With her current realm, the highest-grade pills she could make were level 4 elixir pills which were also the highest-grade elixir pills she could take. With this cultivation method, she could achieve a cultivation speed ten times faster than with the Life-Death Notes!

"Let's head back!" Hao Ren's resonant voice woke up Little White who had been sleeping.

With a roll, it returned to Hao Ren's feet.

Xie Yujia walked into the valley, and her eyes lit up. On the edge of the field, a dense golden fruit grew out of the Power Spirit Grass overnight!

It was as big as a fist, dangling heavily on the branch with abundant nature essence!

Quickly, she plucked the mature Power Spirit Fruit. Holding it in both hands, she said, "Hao Ren, eat it now!"

"What is it?" Hao Ren looked at her in confusion.

"Power Spirit Fruit. It can increase your nature essence, and it is a much-coveted natural treasure for cultivators who want to elevate their realms!" Flushed with excitement, she said.

"Then, you should eat it yourself!" Hao Ren pushed her hands back.

"My realm is too low, so it's useless for me. The mature Power Spirit Fruit can remain fresh for only one day, and it will rot tomorrow before falling into the soil. If you don't eat it today, it will be wasted!" Xie Yujia urged him anxiously.

In fact, she was surprised that the Power Spirit Grass could grow out a Power Spirit Fruit all of a sudden in the fields.

"Ok. I'll try it." Hao Ren was reluctant to elevate his realm with elixirs. However, such an ultimate natural treasure would be wasted if he didn't eat it.

After taking the fist-sized golden fruit, he peeled it before devouring it in two bites.

"How do you feel?" Xie Yujia watched him anxiously.

She had only heard about the effects of the Power Spirit Fruit from Zhen Congming and didn't know how it worked.

"It has almost no flavor..." The moment Hao Ren said this, a surge of intense warmth rose in his dantian!

Abundant essence spread through his body while Hao Ren's dragon core was trying its best to absorb the nature essence.

Pu! Pu! Pu! Pu! Another four openings were unlocked in his body.

Hao Ren's complexion turned from red to golden then to white. With a bang, abundant nature essence shot out from the top of his head into the valley.

With the current storage ability of the dragon core, he could only contain half of the nature essence of the Power Spirit Fruit!

Boom... His palm released a grey beam of sword energy.

It seemed like he had broken through to a higher realm!

Seeing Hao Ren's eyes shining intensely, Xie Yujia knew he had achieved another breakthrough!

Hu... Looking down at the peel at his feet, Hao Ren realized that it had merged into the soil without a trace.

"How do you feel?" Concerned, Xie Yujia asked again.

"Very good!" Hao Ren said.

"Good! I almost missed it!" Patting her chest, Xie Yujia said with relief.

Little White trotted over and sniffed the root of the Power Spirit Grass, finding that it was the spot where it pooped last night...

"Let's go, Little White!" Hao Ren nudged its rump with the tip of his feet.

With a roll, Little White immediately turned into the snow lion form.

It moved the soil around the root of the Power Spirit Grass with its paw to cover its scent. Then, as if nothing had happened, it carried Hao Ren and Xie Yujia on its back before shooting out of the Ethereal Summit down to First Heaven with familiarity.

"The Ethereal Summit is indeed full of essence; even the Power Spirit Grass has begun to grow fruit!" Xie Yujia said happily as she sat on the back of Little White.

"It was probably just luck. Anyway, you won't need to worry about the lack of materials for making elixirs in the future," Hao Ren said.

"Yeah. Zhen Congming will transplant more spiritual herbs in the fields. We'll have a great garden," Xie Yujia said, placing her hands lightly on Hao Ren's shoulder.

"With Zhen Congming constantly moving all the spiritual herbs from the herb gardens of the sects on Fifth Heaven, the Herb King Valley will one day become a place that fits its name," Hao Ren thought to himself.

"Do you have any problem with the final exams?" Xie Yujia changed the subject and asked Hao Ren.

"I skipped many classes, but I'll attend the last few classes before the exams and get the key concepts. I'm sure I'll pass," Hao Ren answered without much confidence.

He tutored Zhao Yanzi tirelessly each day while his own studies were lagged behind. However, with the Dragon God Shrine's exams drawing near, he had to give up on some of the exams in East Ocean University.

"You must try to study for the exams; It's not good for you to fail the courses," Xie Yujia said.

"Yeah..." Hao Ren thought of his parents. After all, Hao Zhonghua and Yue Yang wouldn't let it pass if he failed several courses in one semester.

"If Zhao Yanzi fails her exams as well..." Hao Ren thought.

"Well, well! I was wondering where you have been. And here you are, sneaking into Fifth Heaven."

Qin Shaoyang's cold voice suddenly sounded behind Hao Ran and Xie Yujia.