Chapter 312

Chapter 312: Promotion to Gathering Spirit

In the deep of night, there was a sudden "knock knock knock" on the door.

Lin Er groggily got up and heard someone call from outside, “Second Brother, what are you doing? Hurry and open the door.”

“Brother, why are you here again? The bank is closed at night and doesn’t lend out points.”

“Am I stupid enough to go to the bank at night? Are you selling spirit talismans for someone? We need Cleansing Blood Talismans and Pine Tree Talismans for tomorrow’s trip to the Hongfu Cave.”

“Buying talismans? Please come early tomorrow!” Lin Er flopped back onto the bed, but the voice outside shouted, “You brat, I’m your elder brother. Don’t play this game with me.”

“Ah, ah, ah! Big Brother, sorry! I was half-asleep. If you want talismans, they’ll be eighty percent off.” Lin Er hurried to open the door. If he could get in touch with Huo Qiniang, it would be great! Thanks to his elder brother borrowing a spiritual bird to go to the bank, he had just the right amount of artifact fragments on hand. Not only did he make a big profit, but he also opened up new channels. In just half a month, he had earned as much as he did working hard for two years before.

Lin Da saw Lin Er and slapped his brother on the back, “You sneaky brat! You have connections and don’t think of your brother? There are spirit talismans everywhere these days. Last time we couldn’t travel far into the Hongfu Cave; a few of us were discussing preparing more talismans to explore the cave again. There’s no reason we shouldn’t get the Bat Fangs.”

“Then you’d better go quickly. Luo Qi and the others bought two hundred Cleansing Blood Talismans and three hundred Pine Tree Talismans from me tonight. It seems like they also have their eyes set on the Hongfu Cave.”

“Damn! They dare to compete with me for business? Get me five hundred Cleansing Blood Talismans and five hundred Pine Tree Talismans, and put it on my tab.” Lin Da’s temper flared.

“Big Brother, I’m already giving you an eighty percent discount. Even if you sold me, it wouldn’t be worth that much.”

“No saying no! I only have half the money here, you figure it out!” Lin Da threatened his brother, knowing Lin Er would agree.

Not long after, Lin Da left satisfied, and Lin Er shook his head, thinking, “You don’t even know how low my purchasing price is. If you did, you’d probably choke me to death. By the way, this time, the supply from above has opened up; will it cause a flood of spirit talismans soon? Can talismans really be printed?”

Of course, it wasn’t about printing; nothing was that fast!

Li Hui waved his hand, spilling a large amount of talisman ink, transforming it into droplets in the air before executing the Cloud-Brush Dragon Claw Technique. Thousands of dragon claw phantoms grasped the ink shadow, gently pressing down and printing it onto the blank talisman paper. The strokes swept across with precision, achieving a success rate for creating talismans of nearly one hundred percent.

With the help of the silver snake bracelet, Li Hui could turn waste into treasure.

The Haotu Sect had accumulated vast amounts of artifact fragments and treasure fragments. Huo Qiniang received an unimaginable number every day from the merchant teams purchasing and exchanging resources. However, the consumption of treasure fragments was extremely terrifying; in fact, he hadn’t managed to save even a single piece, having spent quite a bit of money on it.

Where were the artifact fragments being used? Li Hui’s ambitions were astonishing; he prepared nearly a hundred monster-conjuring talismans, from one pattern to nine patterns, intending to breed tree demons on a large scale. At the same time, he painted three thousand Nine Patterns Three Exotics monster-conjuring talismans, planning to cultivate insect-type half-demons with spiritual insects.

There was a reason for all this. Ever since he injected vast amounts of spiritual energy into the Mysterious Pearl, the internal space had continuously expanded, reaching an impressive six hundred acres. Even with all the spiritual plants from the lake bottom transplanted inside, it still wouldn’t be full. He also procured a large quantity of rare spiritual plants from the sect, dividing them into Yin and Yang sides, each forming small climates by incorporating properties like gold, wood, water, fire, earth, lightning, wind, frost, and poison, creating a mutually beneficial environment.

Thus, even if Yao’er drove the insect demons, she would be overwhelmed! There were many intricate arrangements involved and more tree demons were needed to help complete them.

Demons were anomalies of heaven and earth, and the greatest role of turning spiritual plants into demons lay in managing the spirit herb garden, which was usually dozens of times more efficient than manual care, guaranteeing abundant harvests.

With a large amount of Nurturing Turtle Jade and talisman formations at play, and if the tree demons assisted, the Mysterious Pearl would surely exhibit splendid phenomena in harmony with favorable weather…

At the lake bottom, the excellent spiritual fields lay overgrown with weeds.

Li Hui walked over slowly, looking up towards the heights.

The Water Moon Mirror Sky was so named because the lake served as a mirror, reflecting the blue sky and white clouds during the day and the bright moonlight at night. Often, moonbeams would descend, accelerating the growth of spiritual rice.

It was indeed a beautiful and precious land, yet it was now left in neglect. Who knew how many people in the sect were cursing it.

“It’s about time; I will promote to Gathering Spirit today.” Li Hui activated the spirit marks, first forming the dragon claw patterns on both arms, rising with golden lines, then erupting with dragon body patterns that rippled outwards, followed by his head growing prominent with dragon horns and legs adorned with dragon claw patterns, winds swirling.

The Fengchi acupoint at the back of his neck showed the dragon’s tail. Finally, the Reverse Scale pattern at his dantian let out a dragon’s roar, swiftly stirring the surrounding airflow, opening all nine patterns!

Attracted by the energy, spiritual energy rushed towards him like a tidal wave.

The lake bottom was rich in spiritual energy. Li Hui sat in mid-air, already brimming with potential. He had a thought, and his body emitted a "whoosh" sound.

In his perception, all the meridians and acupoints manifested. Reaching the peak of the Spirit Motion stage, he was ready to break the shackles. This would solidify his meridian and acupoint positions. For most others, a promotion would take hours, but for him, it was no challenge at all.

With the help of the Celestial and Earthly Arrays, his meridian width and acupoint breadth eclipsed many mid-Gather Spirit cultivators. After enduring hardship and cultivating to this day, he was finally reaping the rewards, allowing him to rise, step onto the path of success, and bid farewell to the struggles of the Spirit Motion stage, becoming a Gathering Spirit stage cultivator.

“Boom…”

The sound originated from within, rippling intense waves from his center. The spirit marks rapidly converged, seemingly connecting to an array behind him.

Another booming sound echoed as a red-gold Ruyi emerged behind him, like a shining wall guiding the golden Dragon Shadow. Moments later, it appeared as if a vivid golden dragon was carved onto his back.

Dragon horns, dragon claws, dragon body, dragon tail, and dragon scales were all present, while the other parts were obscured by golden clouds, forming clusters of golden lotuses amidst the flickering of light and shadow.

Such a phenomenon was rare in the world!

“I have achieved the initial stage of Gathering Spirit!” Li Hui closed his eyes and did not immediately promote to the mid-Gather Spirit stage. Instead, he silently operated his profound skills, familiarizing himself with The Mystical True Explanation of the Three Elements, concentrating all efforts to condense his spiritual energy.

Upon entering the Gathering Spirit stage, his perception and control over spiritual energy greatly increased, allowing him to conduct spiritual energy transport. He officially began to practice the cultivation methods.

Cultivators often establish their main and secondary cultivation methods at this stage. If one could manage to obtain a complete set, they would commit to a lifelong endeavor in refining it, so this decision was of utmost importance.

In the blink of an eye, Li Hui felt the spiritual energy in his body becoming viscous. The treasure cabinet continually replenished it, while the Celestial and Earthly Arrays accelerated the speed of its circulation. The operation of the profound skills burned deeply, reaching its limits.

He waited, anticipating the outburst of the monkfruit.

Each time he promoted, a tumor would form on his left arm, unleashing murderous intent. Its delayed eruption was due to searching for opportunities to seize the moment, yet the progression had gone so smoothly without any signs of weakening.

Li Hui remained calm and unhurried, pulling out a scripture scroll, a hundred bone pieces, and two imperial edicts.

The scripture scroll, created two hundred years ago by a great Confucian scholar named Hao Ran, emanated an aura of righteous energy that could suppress spirits and ward off evil.

The bone pieces came from the Sea Suppressing Bone Sword of the Grand Xuan Dynasty. Research revealed that there must be massive ancient fierce beasts buried underground, over time forming extremely ferocious dragon veins. Also known as dragon veins, they didn’t promote growth but constantly affected their surroundings, causing anomalous transformations.

The two imperial edicts were somewhat weathered, having conferred noble ranks hundreds of years ago and passed down through ten generations. Though the family had fallen and wandered, the Fortune Ascending Talisman still sensed their noble aura.

“Without such a shortcut to the heavens, would I ever cultivate profound qi? Hahaha, now for the grand heist of the heavens and the sun!”