Chapter 665 - 451: Moisturizing Heaven and Earth

Before the Purple Bamboo Forest, Nanli crouched beside Yinbao, watching as the beast rapidly devoured the mountain-like pile of Pig Fish before it.

As the sound of crunching filled the air, Yinbao let out happy, contented grunts.

Next to Yinbao, Nanli was like a fava bean beside a giant pumpkin. The beast’s back was now wide enough for a horse to gallop across, and the rough, wild patterns on its skin revealed a deep, settled power.

The Bee Queen drifted over, her eyes on Yinbao’s enormous body.

"What a good hauler," she said, her tone dripping with envy. "With a body that big, imagine how much cargo it could pull."

Fang Qingyuan shot a glare at the Bee Queen. ’Yinbao just broke through to the Golden Core Realm. It’s not appropriate to say that in front of him. I should at least let him be happy for a few days before bringing up the topic of hauling cargo. That’s the considerate thing to do.’

Seeing Yinbao gorge itself, Fang Qingyuan thought, ’With an appetite like that, you’d better work hard to earn your keep. Otherwise, supporting a beast of this size will bankrupt me sooner or later.’

This single pile of Pig Fish for Yinbao contained at least a thousand fish. At one Low-grade Spirit Stone per fish, that amounted to ten Middle-grade Spirit Stones—more than a Foundation Establishment Cultivator could earn in a month of hard work. And for Yinbao, it was just one meal.

That was why Zhao E Lian always wore a look of disgust whenever he talked about his own Companion Beast. The Flying Manta Rays simply ate too much.

In comparison, even Jinbao, who was also in the Golden Core Realm, likely couldn’t match Yinbao’s appetite. Fang Qingyuan thus proudly declared Yinbao the biggest glutton among all his Companion Beasts.

Pushing aside his worries about Yinbao’s food bill, Fang Qingyuan began to contemplate the new Innate Divine Technique the beast had just awakened.

[Moisturizing Heaven and Earth: A Celestial Tier Lower Grade Talent. It can stimulate the growth of all living things and revive withered trees. It also provides powerful Life Essence Qi recovery for allies and moderately increases the resistance of affiliated Cultivators to Water Attribute Techniques.

Furthermore, at critical moments of life and death, Yinbao can use its own life essence as a catalyst to instantly condense an indestructible aquatic barrier—the "Torrent of Life" Protective Shield—to resist all external attacks. Even at the cost of some of its own life force, it can ensure that any Cultivators on its back remain under absolute protection for a short period.]

As Fang Qingyuan understood it, Yinbao’s newly awakened Talent was geared toward military formations. When combined with its original [Rising Clouds and Spitting Fog: An Earth Tier Upper Grade Talent. It can summon a dense fog that spreads over a hundred-li radius, confusing the Divine Sense of all Cultivators other than itself, and slightly enhancing the power of allied Water Attribute Techniques.]

If Yinbao were used as the core of a military formation, it would provide a tremendous boost to the entire force.

With both effects combined, the resistance of Cultivators around Yinbao to Water Magic would increase by at least thirty percent.

The slight resistance to Water Magic from [Rising Clouds and Spitting Fog] was about ten percent, while the moderate increase from [Moisturizing Heaven and Earth] was twenty percent.

Then there were the development-focused abilities, like stimulating the growth of all living things and reviving withered trees, along with the supportive function of providing powerful Life Essence Qi recovery to allies. Capping it all off, the "Torrent of Life" Protective Shield offered ample defense.

Although it didn’t seem to have as much overall potential as the Bee Queen’s [Destiny] talent, it was perfectly suited for use as a War Giant Beast.

According to information received by the Qingyuan Sect, the next pioneering war would target a region teeming with Water Element Demon Beasts: the Fengshui Basin.

Of course, no one would know what decision the Divinity Transformation Cultivators would make until the final years. But regardless of the battlefield, Yinbao’s Lifebound Talents would undoubtedly be of great use.

’After reaching the Golden Core, Yinbao still needs some time to stabilize in the Nurturing Realm. During this period, I’ll just have him work in the Immortal Mansion.’ He could use [Moisturizing Heaven and Earth]’s abilities to stimulate growth and revive withered trees on the Mulberry Spirit Plants and garden herbs to see the effects.

Furthermore, after reaching the Golden Core Realm, Yinbao’s lifespan increased dramatically. Its original lifespan was just over 430 years, but now its life expectancy was around a thousand years.

This lifespan was double that of a normal human Golden Core Cultivator. However, for a demon beast of Yinbao’s size, advancement was also quite slow, and Fang Qingyuan could no longer gather Water Spirit Objects wantonly to boost its growth as he had during its Foundation Establishment Stage.

Spiritual Objects effective for a Golden Core Demon Beast were all incredibly expensive. Factoring in Yinbao’s size, it was more practical to let it cultivate slowly than to try to push it to the Mid-stage Golden Core early. That way, the saved Spirit Stones could be used to buy Pig Fish for Yinbao, which would make them both happy.

"I’ll leave Yinbao with you for now," Fang Qingyuan said. "Take him and study the catalytic effect of his new lifebound ability on these Mulberry Spirit Plants. See if you can get them to mature earlier or even produce a mutated variety. This is a long-term task, so no slacking."

The Bee Queen nodded lightly, then looked over at Yinbao with a hint of secret delight in her eyes. With Fang Qingyuan’s order, Yinbao was doomed to become a miserable wage-slave fish for the foreseeable future.

Poor Yinbao was still oblivious. He had just been sold down the river by Fang Qingyuan and the Bee Queen. He was still happily gorging himself on Pig Fish, his eyes filled with pure bliss.

With the Immortal Mansion in the Bee Queen’s care, Fang Qingyuan could free up his mind to study his Cultivation Methods. However, while he had already reached a decent level of proficiency in the *Illusory Dragon Sword Scripture*, he had yet to begin practicing the *Six Desires Celestial Demon Transformation*.

This was because the *Illusory Dragon Sword Scripture* was derived from a Daoist Family Cultivation Technique and was inherently compatible with the Five Elements Magical Power he cultivated. The *Six Desires Celestial Demon Transformation*, on the other hand, was different. Practicing it required him to completely twist and change the very nature of his Magical Power.

Doing so would require altering his meridians and qi flow to a state suitable for practicing the *Six Desires Celestial Demon Transformation*. For this reason, Fang Qingyuan had set the technique aside for now.

He hadn’t reached a point where such a drastic change was necessary. For now, practicing the *Illusory Dragon Sword Scripture* was enough to slowly advance his cultivation. If he cultivated this Sword Scripture to the Sixth Layer, he would be able to touch the threshold of the Nascent Soul Realm.

Moreover, after his last trip to the Abyss of Black Soil, an idea had taken root in Fang Qingyuan’s mind. ’Perhaps instead of increasing my Magical Power through normal cultivation manuals, the true way to use the Immortal Mansion is to pour massive amounts of resources into it, let it level up, and then have it pull my own cultivation up with it.’

In the past, the Immortal Mansion had only expanded after Fang Qingyuan’s own cultivation level increased. But when he was undergoing Core Formation, the Immortal Mansion had seized the opportunity to absorb the Spiritual Qi from a thousand li around, expanding its territory in a sudden burst. In turn, it had propelled his cultivation from just having formed his core all the way to Golden Core Third-Layer Perfection.

That was the first instance. The second was his recent venture into the Abyss of Black Soil. By continuously absorbing the black soil for over half a year and feeding it into the Immortal Mansion, he had spurred his own cultivation to advance, naturally reaching the Fifth-Layer Golden Core.

These two examples made Fang Qingyuan feel that his previous efforts had been somewhat misguided. The Immortal Mansion was his true foundation; Cultivation Methods were merely tools to protect himself and increase his combat strength.

He had to be clear about what was fundamental and what was secondary. That was why he temporarily shelved the *Six Desires Celestial Demon Transformation*—a technique he had been very interested in—to instead focus on shoring up his weaknesses and strengthening his combat abilities by mastering the *Illusory Dragon Sword Scripture*.

「A few days later.」

After finishing his meditation, Fang Qingyuan went to the source of the Qingyuan Sect’s Spirit Vein.

This place had been converted into the core hub for exchanging Spiritual Qi between the Immortal Mansion and the outside world. It was now the most heavily restricted forbidden area in the entire sect; no one was allowed to enter except Fang Qingyuan.

Passing through layers of protective Arrays, Fang Qingyuan arrived before the Two-Realm Void Array he had constructed. A tiny hole materialized out of thin air before him, spewing an endless stream of Five Elements Spiritual Qi into the area.

Fang Qingyuan took out a Magical Artifact designed to measure Spiritual Qi concentration and glanced at the reading: 784. He nodded in satisfaction. The Spiritual Power concentration in the Qingyuan Sect was now at the upper grade of the third tier.

Although it had just crossed the threshold into the upper grade of the third tier and was still far from the upper-grade limit of nearly one thousand, this level of Spiritual Power was more than enough for Qiqi and the others to cultivate.

Furthermore, due to the increased Spiritual Qi concentration within the sect, the number of new Foundation Establishment Cultivators in the Qingyuan Sect had surged over the past two years. Cultivators like Lou Yuan could now most likely overcome the Foundation Establishment Pass simply by cultivating in one of the sect’s High-Tier Cave Mansions, without even needing to search for a separate Foundation Establishment Opportunity.

The Qingyuan Sect was thriving, but no one knew what a crucial role Fang Qingyuan was playing behind the scenes to cause the surge in Spiritual Power.

But using the Immortal Mansion’s Spiritual Power to subsidize the sect was not a viable long-term solution. Fang Qingyuan’s foundation was the Immortal Mansion, so even if he subsidized the sect, he had to maintain a balance between the inflow and outflow of Spiritual Qi.

And for this, Fang Qingyuan had his own unique method.

He rose and walked to one side of the area, where there was a Storage Room door. Pushing it open, he stepped inside. What greeted his eyes was a small mountain of Spiritual Qi-rich items: old, damaged, and even blood-stained Magical Artifact fragments, Array remnants, and similar objects, all piled high.

These broken Magical Artifacts were mostly spoils of war from the ongoing clashes between the various sects and powers in White Mountain. The constant warfare had greatly increased the rate at which Magical Artifacts were destroyed. For artifacts that were either shattered into fragments or corrupted by malicious powers, the cost of repair was simply too high to be worthwhile.

Such damaged Magical Artifacts were often left abandoned on battlefields, completely ignored. It simply wasn’t worth the effort for mentally and physically exhausted Cultivators to bother collecting them.

As for mortals, they couldn’t possibly withstand the residual energies lingering on a battlefield. Anyone who tried to scavenge would be lucky to come back alive.

Originally, no one wanted these broken Magical Artifacts, even when they were just lying on the ground. That changed when the Qingyuan Sect began offering to trade various goods for them.

And so, all the broken Magical Artifacts in White Mountain now had a destination: the Qingyuan Sect. People traded these fragments for Spirit Wine, Elixir Pills, and Talismans. The Qingyuan Sect, in turn, collected them all and piled them in this Storage Room, creating the scene now before Fang Qingyuan.

Seeing that another large batch of broken Magical Artifacts had arrived, a smile touched Fang Qingyuan’s lips. He spread his hands, released his Divine Sense, and enveloped the entire pile, sending it all into the Immortal Mansion.

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