A Farmer's Journey To Immortality

Sooner or later, the truth would begin to surface.

Especially when Aksai took that recent fate probe into account.

Not long after he had stored the Void Water Pond inside the Enchanted Everwood Farm, his Aether Clone had detected someone attempting to trace his fate.

The clone had barely managed to interfere with the process even with all his advantages from Aether cultivation and Aether resources.

At the time, he did not know who was responsible. At this point, however, the answer seemed obvious.

The Ignis Clan.

Who else could it be?

The timing was too perfect. Only someone like the Ignis clan from the Eternal Sea had the means and motive to launch a fate probe on him as soon as he robbed the royal faction’s base.

They had likely noticed something wrong with the Void Water Pond and attempted to use fortune and fate techniques to locate the culprit.

Fortunately, they had failed.

Unfortunately, failure would only encourage them to investigate through more direct means.

Aksai chuckled softly. It was not a happy sound.

"Even with all my precautions, there are some troubles I simply can’t avoid."

Arkaal looked at him.

"My liege?"

Aksai shook his head.

"Nothing."

He stared upward at the giant branches of the Demon Tree. His expression gradually became calm again.

Fear alone solved nothing. The threat was real. That much was undeniable.

The Ignis Clan would eventually discover that something had happened to Qishan. They would investigate. And there was a good chance that powerful cultivators from the Eternal Sea would arrive in the Dadangar Subcontinent sooner or later.

However, worrying about it endlessly would accomplish nothing.

What mattered now was preparation.

He still had advantages.

He possessed the Enchanted Everwood Farm and controlled the Void Gu. He had also obtained the complete inheritance of the Heavenly Poison Sect.

Plus, he had allies in the form of guild members and more.

Most importantly, he had much-needed resources and time.

Perhaps not much time. But some time nonetheless.

Aksai slowly smiled.

"Looks like the quiet days are ending for the subcontinent."

Arkaal lowered his head. He didn’t understand what Aksai was thinking about but he didn’t dare to ask.

"My liege, what are your orders?"

Aksai looked toward him.

The smile on his face remained.

But there was a dangerous glint hidden behind it.

"For now?"

He turned around and began walking away from the Demon Tree.

"For now, we continue growing stronger. If guests from the Eternal Sea are truly coming, we should make sure that they have a pleasant stay here."

***

A few days later.

Deep beneath Aksai’s palace, hidden inside the heart of Emerald Cove Island, lay his personal cultivation cave.

The cave was enormous. By this point, it was less of a cave and more of an underground world carved into the island itself.

At the center of the cave stood a massive tree.

Or rather, a child of the Demon Tree. It had grown even further than before after being inside the cave for so long.

Its thick trunk rose toward the ceiling before splitting into countless branches. The roots spread throughout the underground tunnels of Emerald Cove Island like a giant living network.

Some roots stretched into secret passages. Others reached storage chambers, cultivation rooms, and hidden defensive points scattered across the island.

Many of its branches had already broken through the surface and emerged from different parts of Emerald Cove Island.

The tree was not alone either.

Far away, outside the palace grounds, another Demon Tree stood at the core of the modified Devil’s Den Formation that protected the entire island.

The two trees remained connected through their roots and bloodline.

Because of this connection, Aksai could feel almost everything happening throughout Emerald Cove Island while remaining safely inside his cultivation cave.

The rustling of leaves. The movements of guards. The activities of his maids. The operations of the island’s farms.

Even the Spirit flow of the island’s protective formation.

Everything was connected through the Demon Trees.

Basically, the Demon Tree had become a type of central nervous system for the entire island. It could not be seen by mortals and most of the Spirit cultivators but its presence was critical for the well functioning of Aksai’s massive territory.

The Spirit farmer sat cross-legged beneath the giant tree while countless thoughts passed through his mind.

More than a week had passed since Arkaal’s rebirth.

During that time, Aksai had squeezed almost every useful piece of information from him. Anything Arkaal knew had already been thoroughly examined.

After that, Aksai immediately put the reborn Woodland Fiend to work. There was no reason to waste such a valuable asset.

Arkaal had been an accomplished alchemist during his first life. More importantly, he had spent centuries assisting the Gu Poison King with various poison-related projects, Gu refinement methods, and medicinal experiments.

His knowledge was extensive.

Thanks to his rebirth through the Demon Tree, most of those memories and experiences remained intact.

As such, Arkaal was able to resume his work almost immediately.

At this very moment, he was busy inside the alchemy lab located within the Enchanted Everwood Farm.

Aksai had assigned him numerous projects.

Several poison-related studies.

The refinement of rare Gu materials.

Research into Void Gu byproducts.

The reconstruction of various lost recipes obtained from the Heavenly Poison Sect and processing of the Spirit resources he obtained from the entire farm.

To support him, Aksai had assigned two Woodland Fiends and dozens of Sentient Fiends as assistants.

With those helpers managing routine work, Arkaal could focus entirely on research and development.

That arrangement greatly reduced Aksai’s burden. After all, he already had far too many responsibilities.

He had to manage Emerald Cove Island and prepare for the royal faction’s future actions. He had to watch for possible investigations from the Ignis Clan and continue developing the Enchanted Everwood Farm.

And above all else—

He had to cultivate.

Everything else could wait. His cultivation could not.

Although he had recently obtained countless pieces of knowledge from the Heavenly Poison Sect and the Gu Poison King’s inheritance, knowledge alone did not increase strength.

Knowledge had to be practiced. It had to be understood. It had to be transformed into personal experience. Only then could it truly become power.

Aksai slowly opened his eyes. In front of him floated several jade slips. Each contained information related to a single technique.

However, one jade slip had captured most of his attention during the past week.

Poison Metamorphosis.

Aksai reached out and picked up the jade slip. His eyes narrowed slightly.

Among all the techniques he had obtained from Arkaal and the royal faction, this one fascinated him the most.

The technique had not originated from the Heavenly Poison Sect. Nor had it belonged to the Ignis Clan.

Instead, it was something the Gu Poison King had personally created.

According to Arkaal, Qishan had spent centuries studying poison, Gu insects, body refinement, soul preservation, and rebirth techniques. This was why he could survive for as long as he did even after his lifespan as a Nascent Soul King had technically expired.

During the long and arduous research process, one day Qishan suddenly had a bit of a rare insight, resulting in the creation of this technique’s base.

Of course, this insight was not totally out of the blue. When Qishan seemed lost, he traced back his roots of the Eternal Sea and tried to find a way. In the end, he had taken inspiration from one of the Ignis Clan’s secret arts.

Eventually, all those ideas had been combined into a single technique.

Poison Metamorphosis.

A dangerous and complicated art that allowed a cultivator to survive situations that should have been fatal. Strictly speaking, it was not true immortality. Nor was it a perfect resurrection technique.

However, it came very close.

A cultivator who mastered the technique could preserve a portion of themselves inside specially prepared vessels. As long as certain conditions were met, they could return from the brink of death.

Arkaal himself was proof of the concept. Without that technique, his soul would have been much harder to preserve.

Aksai slowly closed his eyes.

He had already studied the technique for several days. The more he learned about it, the more valuable it appeared.

Especially given the dangers ahead.

The royal faction was becoming increasingly active. The righteous and demonic factions were slowly waking up to the threat. The Ignis Clan might eventually send investigators from the Eternal Sea.

Any one of those dangers could potentially threaten his life.

Under such circumstances, having a second life was far more valuable than almost any offensive technique.

Aksai looked up at the giant Demon Tree above him.

Its branches stretched across the ceiling like a living canopy. Its presence somehow eased his thoughts.

A faint smile appeared on Aksai’s face.

"Strength comes first. I can deal with everything else later."

The Demon Tree rustled gently as if agreeing with him.

Aksai then closed his eyes once more.

The jade slip floated before him.

Poison Metamorphosis began circulating through his mind again as he carefully studied every detail.

Outside, Emerald Cove Island continued its daily operations.

Inside the Enchanted Everwood Farm, Arkaal worked tirelessly alongside the Woodland Fiends.

The royal faction continued plotting. The righteous and demonic sects prepared for the storms that were slowly gathering on the horizon.

Meanwhile, Aksai slowly entered a deep meditative state.

Hours turned into days. Days turned into weeks.

While Arkaal had needed almost a century to master Poison Metamorphosis, Aksai required only two weeks. And during those two weeks, he not only mastered the technique but also modified it to suit himself, making it his own.

Aksai was pleasantly surprised to discover that the technique was highly compatible with his druidic bloodline.

Instead of remaining a purely poison-based rebirth art, it had transformed into a unique druidic blessing under the influence of his bloodline.