Rising from Small Cloud Rain Technique - Chapter 119 - 116: Conspiracy
Chapter 119: Chapter 116: Conspiracy
Celebrating until dawn, ultimately the crowd must disperse, leaving only Du Huaiyuan behind.
“Junior brother, when are you going to start making the spiritual charcoal you promised me?”
“It’ll be another three or four months. Before I took over Red Flame Peak, the sect had already cut down all the mature spirit wood. The growth of the Clear Spirit Bamboo now is all thanks to my daily magic techniques.”
Ji An laughed, understanding that without a year’s growth for the spiritual materials requested for two types of charcoal, it would be impossible to produce good charcoal.
He reckoned it would be around seven or eight months after he took charge of Red Flame Peak before he could start making charcoal, all because his planting technique level was high enough.
He paused, voicing a long-held curiosity:
“Senior brother, what exactly do you intend to do with so much spiritual charcoal?”
Du Huaiyuan chuckled a few times, no longer being mysterious, and revealed the answer:
“The gourmet food you served today would have tasted even better if cooked with spiritual charcoal.”
For him, one of the main motivations for supporting his cultivation is to drink spiritual wine and eat good food daily. Spending some spirit stones on non-cultivation-related resources is very worthwhile.
“Senior Brother has high standards. Once there’s a sufficient supply of spiritual charcoal, I’ll try your method too.”
Ji An laughed, thinking the other likely didn’t know the extra cost involved.
He didn’t mind this kind of enjoyment, provided it was after fulfilling cultivation needs.
The other party’s daily pill supply was insufficient, yet he spent heavily on brewing spirit wine and cooking food, which was indeed not a good example.
But everyone has their ambitions; he had no standing to advise.
“Haha, once you try it, junior brother, you’ll fall in love with this cooking method.
From my experience, cooking meat with Purple Sun Charcoal tastes best, while Clear Spirit Bamboo Charcoal can best preserve the freshness of spiritual vegetables….”
Du Huaiyuan, finding a kindred spirit, started talking nonstop about various cooking techniques. Liang Hill, listening intently, occasionally asked questions.
Whenever they hit upon something intriguing, it excited Du Huaiyuan even more.
The sun rose, its golden light shining on Red Flame Peak; a night had passed.
Atop the mountain, golden-red mist rose as Du Huaiyuan shook his head in lingering excitement:
“Ah, it’s tough, my Water Element cultivation method can’t withstand the intense Fire Element spiritual energy burning and boiling the veins. I’ll come again one day when I have time to drink and chat with everyone.”
He took out jars of spiritual wine from his storage bag, saying:
“There are thirty jars of passion fruit wine in total. Bury them in silt at the bottom of the pond; the flavor will mature to its best in five years.”
Ji An nodded slightly:
“I can’t use water techniques, so I can’t help. Senior brother, please go ahead and place the spiritual wine yourself.”
Liang Hill volunteered, saying: “I’ll help. It’s inevitable to get into the water when raising spirit fish. Over the years, my Water Control Technique has reached perfection level.”
…
After the Foundation Establishment celebration ended, Red Flame Peak returned to its usual quiet, with few outdoor activities during the day.
This tranquility persisted for two months before it was broken.
Huang Feihu, with more than a dozen spirit farmers, rode on talisman birds picking pine nuts in the Red Cloud Pine Forest.
Even though there’s moonlight at night, the light is ultimately no match for daylight; collecting at night would lead to many oversights.
The pine nuts of the Red Cloud Pine not only contain a considerable amount of spiritual qi but are also exceptionally delicious after roasting.
This year, Ji An didn’t need to complete a sect mission, but since he rented sect land, he had to pay rent this year, and the roasted pine nuts were part of the rent, which also couldn’t be substituted with spirit stones.
Zhang Erniu looked at the pine nuts in his hand, saying:
“The pine nuts this year are much plumper than before.”
His voice was loud, almost like shouting, so everyone nearby could hear him clearly.
Huang Feihu laughed:
“Red Cloud Pine is a tier one top-grade spirit wood, the most valuable on Red Flame Peak.
Junior Martial Uncle comes here daily to perform magic, making today’s harvest expected.”
The Red Cloud Pine Forest covers only over forty acres, and collecting pine nuts didn’t take more than a day.
A few days later, during dinner, Huang Feihu reported:
“Fellow Daoist, the pine nuts have been completely roasted and fried.
After keeping the seeds, we still have four to five thousand pounds of pine nuts to hand over to the sect this year.
According to the prices I found out, this year we could earn seven to eight hundred spirit stones worth of profit.”
“Leave a thousand pounds for ourselves, and select some of the finest ones to give to acquainted cultivators, fifty pounds each.
Later I’ll hasten the planting; the season is suitable, and we can plant those spirit seeds tomorrow.”
With the spiritual qi concentration here, Ji An could treat it like a grotto mansion even if he breaks through to the Chao Origin Stage.
In other words, he might stay here for hundreds of years.
The spiritual vein here is a branch of the main spiritual vein the sect is nurturing. When the sect brings the main vein to tier three, Red Flame Peak can at least rise to tier two middle grade, greatly expanding the coverage of the spiritual vein by then.
He’s long planned for the Red Cloud Pine Forest, preparing to leave ten or more acres uncut, specifically for producing pine nuts.
The older the Red Cloud Pine, the more pine nuts it yields, and the better their quality, plus he could ask Du Huaiyuan for help in brewing pine nut wine.
Ji An paused and continued:
“From the growth state of the other spirit woods, they can be felled for spiritual charcoal now. Four months from now, it’ll be time for the sect’s collection, so make sure you have plans ready.”
“Yes, I’ve long had plans. Once the Red Cloud Pine seeds are planted, I’ll hire help to start felling and making charcoal.”
Ji An said with a smile:
“Thanks to your assistance, I can save time for demonstrating the cultivation techniques. Later, you and Liang Hill can take 50 jin of pine nuts.”
“That’s our duty,” Huang Feihu and the other agreed.
“After the Spiritual Charcoal is made, apart from handing it over to the sect and trading it to Senior Brother Du, we will keep the rest for our own use this year.
Fellow Daoist Liang can use the Spiritual Charcoal for cooking. I want to see how much the fire seed, praised by Senior Brother Du, can enhance the flavor.”
“Then we are in for a treat,”
Liang Hill laughed. His small shop once hosted a Foundation Establishment cultivator who requested dishes cooked with Spiritual Charcoal, and indeed, the fish soup had a unique flavor.
After eating, Ji An went to the storage room to cultivate the seeds. This step was to enhance the seeds’ vitality.
He first released the Jade Wood Transformation Skill, letting bits of Wood Element Spirit Light fall into the seeds.
When he purchased peach seeds before, Li Lingyu did the same thing, but he used a secret technique that Qi Refining disciples could grasp, which was far inferior to the effect of the Jade Wood Transformation Skill.
Ji An could sense the surging life force lurking within the seeds, ready to nurture even sturdier seedlings.
After half a moment, he changed the hand seal, and the stone room lit up with orange-red Spirit Light, warm and cozy.
The Red Cloud Pine is a Fire Element plant. The Fire Element Spiritual Energy contained in the Flame Fire Spell can nurture the pine seeds.
Huang Feihu came from a spirit farmer background, and nearby spirit farmers were very familiar with the planting tasks of Red Flame Peak, so Ji An didn’t have to worry about planting pine seeds.
He only needed to wait for them to plant the pine seeds and then perform the Foundation Establishment Stage planting technique to ensure more pine seedlings survive the harsh and violent daytime.
If the pine seedlings could grow to half a person’s height, they would survive.
…
Time flies like an arrow, and two more months passed in the blink of an eye.
Ji An stopped practicing the magic techniques and immersed his mind in his dantian.
[Master: Ji An]
[Dao Rhyme: 0]
[Spiritual Mechanism: Kan Spirit 636.9, Gen Spirit 611.8, Zhen Spirit 16.4, Xun Spirit 79.4, Kun Spirit 81.8, Qian Spirit 82.4, Dui Spirit 72.3, Li Spirit 136.4]
[Magic Technique: Jade Wood Transformation Skill (Minor Achievement 42%)
Explosive Flame Technique (Great Success 66%)…]
Improvement on the Foundation Establishment Stage magic techniques was too slow. Even if he often pondered over the essence of the techniques and used them every day, the Jade Wood Transformation Skill only improved slightly over half a year.
Now that some Spiritual Mechanism has accumulated, after a good enhancement, he could start drawing the Flame Bursting Talisman. Ji An began refining Spiritual Mechanism to enhance his magic technique perception.
The related Spiritual Mechanism continuously decreased, while the understanding of the magic technique continuously improved.
[Magic Technique: Jade Wood Transformation Skill (Minor Achievement 42%→Great Success 2%)
Explosive Flame Technique (Great Success 66%→Perfection 1%)]
…
In a certain grotto mansion of Red Copper Mountain.
Chen Xingzhou exclaimed in urgency:
“Eighth Brother, we don’t have much time left. If we don’t take action, things will become impossible to conceal.
This time, I am under the order of the clan leader to lure him out and resolve the hidden danger, then re-rent Red Flame Peak.
Can you, who are in the sect, find out any exploitable opportunity?”
There were only about three months until the next eruption of Red Flame Peak, leaving them no room for delay.
Chen Xingyun frowned deeply and said with a wry smile:
“I have already inquired about the other party’s situation clearly. He hails from Little Cang Mountain’s Cyan Pine Daoist School and has no relatives at home.
After entering the sect, he makes a living by planting. He is quite perceptive in planting techniques, hence he managed to join the Ningcui Cliff lineage.
Not long after his Foundation Establishment, he and his fellow senior sister went on a trip to Cyan Cloud Immortal City, but they traveled entirely by the sect’s flying ship and never visited any black markets, leaving no opportunity for us to strike.
Moreover, he has never left Red Flame Peak since, except occasionally leaving the magic array to cast spells in the Spirit Field in the valley…”
He recounted all the information he obtained completely and accurately, feeling even more bitter, unable to fathom why a spirit farmer would choose Red Flame Peak as a grotto mansion.
Chen Xingzhou’s expression was just as grim; facing such a recluse focused solely on earnest cultivation, there truly lacked good methods.
A fierce look appeared on his face, and he said harshly:
“If nothing else works, we can only act when he goes to the Spirit Field.”
Once he realizes that the eruptions of Red Flame Peak are spewing out spiritual objects, he will inevitably connect the dots to the benefits we reaped from them over the years.
At that point, the enmity he perceives between us will be considerably deep.
We must act before the Earth Lung Fire Vein erupts, or else he will be on his guard a hundredfold, making it even harder to find an opportunity to act.
Chen Xingyun nodded:
“We must strike fatally; once he sends out a distress signal using the sect’s jade token, any participating cultivators will struggle to escape.
Nothing on them should trace back to the family, or we’re all done for.”
Assaulting a sect’s Foundation Establishment cultivator within sect jurisdiction blatantly slaps the Golden Spirit Sect in the face, surely inciting the sect’s wrath.
Moreover, he is under the Ningcui Cliff lineage, and his master holds considerable influence within the sect. The Law Enforcement Hall will undoubtedly investigate thoroughly.
If any clues point towards the Chen race, it would be a calamity of annihilation, and he would also be implicated.
“Rest assured, Eighth Brother, everybody understands the severity of this matter, ensuring it won’t involve the family.”
