The tokens in their hands were finally taken back by the competition authorities. However, with their statuses, it would not be difficult for them to obtain a better one through the sect in the future.
In addition, they had another pleasant surprise, which was that the top ten cultivators had the right to skip the next round and directly participate in the final round.
To Jiang Li, this was good news. Right now, he needed some time to enter into closed door cultivation and digest the benefits he obtained from his spiritual root clone.
While the jade board was being updated, Jiang Li’s thoughts were no longer here.
After bidding farewell to Shenshan Qiuhua and then rejecting the offers of many fellow disciples, Jiang Li directly returned to his room.
Jiang Li’s current cultivation level was already close to Foundation Establishment. If he did not change his cultivation method soon, it would be too late.
In the small room, he shattered the tiles with a punch, then threw out the Yin Burial Coffin. After entering the coffin, he sank into the ground together.
Since he wanted to cultivate, then to Jiang Li, there was no environment better than the coffin space.
He took two deep breaths in the coffin space. It was extremely dense and practically formed a layer of thin mist of spiritual qi and Yin qi on the ground, causing Jiang Li to feel refreshed.
After adjusting his state for a moment, Jiang Li immediately sat cross-legged.
Due to the fact that his Mind and Enlightenment attributes were incomparable to before, his spirit had already entered a meditative state in just a few breaths’ time.
This was the reason why spirit refinement cultivation methods were rumored to be able to assist in cultivation in the cultivation world.
It was because they really could.
Although the two attributes of Mind and Enlightenment were extremely difficult to improve, the effects of these two attributes could be said to be extremely useful. They could increase all aspects of a cultivator.
Even as a body cultivator, Jiang Li was restricted by his Mind attribute several times. Only after the Bodhisattva Heart Sutra developed a certain effect did the situation change.
After calming down, he entered his spiritual world again.
The environment in Jiang Li’s consciousness was currently a night sky. Under the illumination of the moon, lush and strong ghostwood trees were shaking their leaves slightly.
This was the ghostwood tree that Jiang Li had visualized for more than half a year from the Qi Refinement realm.
In the beginning, what he visualized was only a seed. As he continued to cultivate, the seed sprouted and grew, eventually forming an excellent tree trunk that was five meters tall.
“But now, it’s time for you to play your final role.”
The Ghost Wood Art that was slowly circulating in Jiang Li’s body suddenly stopped, and then the pure and dense spiritual qi started to circulate in a strange and unfamiliar manner.
The rules of this sort of spiritual qi circulation path were different from the cultivation methods of the current cultivation world, and it revealed an ancient and mysterious aura.
The Nine Nether Dao Scripture deserved to be called a Dao Scripture. It was extremely profound and matched the wonders of heaven and earth.
Before Jiang Li officially started, the Yin qi and spiritual qi in the surroundings started to gather spontaneously, as if they were worshiping an emperor.
What was the reason for being surrounded by spiritual qi and yin qi in the center? Even Jiang Li, a cultivator of this cultivation method, currently knew how but not why.
However, he did not have to think too much about it for the time being. After another complete Qi Circulation, the effects of the cultivation method that was superior to the Ghost Wood Art in Jiang Li’s body made the tree start collapsing.
However, the Ghost Wood spiritual qi did not dissipate and disappear directly. Instead, it was firmly locked in his body by the newly formed cultivation method.
In Jiang Li’s sea of consciousness, the ghostwood tree was already swaying in the wind and rain. The Ghost Wood cultivation method that was originally circulating smoothly under many buffs suddenly suffered a huge blow.
On the other side, Jiang Li connected to his Nine Nether clone again, and he sent over the memories and fragments of the former Spiritual Root Branch.
At this moment, Jiang Li, who was visualizing the creation of the Spiritual Root, Nine Nether Wood, had these fragments that contained precious memories and comprehension insights. Without a doubt, he had placed the answer and the steps to solve the question in front of him, and he could directly copy them.
It was even much easier than when he had first cultivated the Ghost Wood Art.
In next to no time, a pitch black oval seed appeared in Jiang Li’s sea of consciousness.
Immediately, the illusory figure of the ghostwood tree swayed even more, as if it was deeply afraid of something. A large amount of leaves fell, forming a thick layer on the ground!
Jiang Li’s consciousness appeared out of nowhere. He grabbed the seed and directly shot it into the trunk of the ghostwood tree.
As the ghostwood tree withered, the seed representing the Nine Nether Wood finally began to sprout.
Dense roots and vines crawled out, piercing through the lush ghostwood tree.
Jiang Li wanted to use the Ghost Wood Art as nutrients to quickly push the Nine Nether Dao Scripture forward.
This was also the correct way to change cultivation methods.
Soon, under the nourishment of the Ghost Wood Art, the cultivation of the Nine Nether Dao Scripture began in his body.
It was as if a bottomless hole had appeared in Jiang Li’s stomach, greedily absorbing all the spiritual qi.
It had to be known that the Ghost Wood Art and the Nine Nether Dao Scripture were both Yin-Wood attribute cultivation methods. The conversion of spiritual qi between them was practically without any loss.
However, it was still a top-grade ancient scripture after all. The amount of spiritual qi required to cultivate this thing was far from what the Ghost Wood Art could compare to.
The first level of the Nine Nether Dao Scripture was quickly reached, followed by the second level, and the third level…
The cultivation of the Ghost Wood Art in his body was quickly devoured by the bottomless Nine Nether Dao Scripture. At the same time, Jiang Li absorbed and refined it as well. There was an endless flow of high-grade spiritual qi in his body and the Yin Burial spiritual qi was everywhere in the coffin space.
Regarding cultivation and spiritual qi, the Nine Nether Dao Scripture welcomed all the nourishment it could get. The speed of cultivation was far above the Ghost Wood Art.
His cultivation progressed very smoothly. By converting the cultivation base while adding in his own spiritual qi, by the time this conversion was completed, Jiang Li’s total spiritual qi would not decrease but increase instead.
However, that did not happen.
Jiang Li roughly calculated that he usually had to use three or more portions of the Ghost Wood Art to be able to form a portion of the Nine Nether Dao Scripture.
This was because the Nine Nether Dao Scripture cultivation method was truly too high-level. The quantity of Jiang Li’s spiritual qi was already extremely shocking, but it was much inferior when compared to the Nine Nether spiritual qi.
If this continued, even though Jiang Li would still become stronger, or even much stronger, his Qi Refinement cultivation would probably return to its former state because of this.
According to this ratio, returning to the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm was inevitable. It was not impossible for him to return to the initial-stage Qi Refinement realm.
After all, the Nine Nether Dao Scripture was a top-grade cultivation method in the ancient era where Immortals and Buddhas coexisted. It was normal for there to be such a gap between it and the Ghost Wood Art.
When faced with such a situation, ordinary people might accept their fate, but Jiang Li could not endure it!
He had painstakingly cultivated to the late-stage Qi Refinement realm. He absolutely could not accept this.
Fortunately, Jiang Li had quite a few good things in his possession. His usual accumulation and preparations allowed him to have a little capriciousness in front of key issues.
Long before he embarked on the path to immortality, Jiang Li had obtained the first spiritual root seed from a Scaled Demon.
The second time was in Cloud Stream City. From the rat’s body, he forced out the largest one that was suspected to be the traitor Elder Duan Shuang’s Golden Core realm spiritual root seed.
The third time was when he controlled his sword cultivator clone to attack the Scaled Demon Lair. He obtained two cherry-sized spiritual root fruits and four spiritual root seeds. Among the four spiritual root seeds, there was one seed that originated from a Foundation Establishment Scaled Demon.
In the end, he harvested the 19 spiritual root seeds from the Misty Mountain Range a few hours ago.
(Originally, there were 31 pills. The 11 pills were returned to the cultivators of the sect, and the last was given to Huangfu Tai.)
He could convert all these spiritual root seeds into the Nine Nether Earth Fruits.
Currently, Jiang Li could condense a total of 27 spiritual root fruits!
He could create 25 Qi Refinement realm spiritual fruits, one Foundation Establishment realm spiritual fruit, and one Golden Core realm spiritual fruit.
Of course, the spiritual root seed that had absorbed the essence of a Golden Core cultivator was extremely precious. Jiang Li did not plan to use it here, so he did not touch the spiritual root seed for the time being.
Among the other 27 spiritual fruits, there were four wood attribute spiritual fruits and two yin attribute spiritual fruits that Jiang Li could consume directly. They were all from Qi Refinement realm cultivators.
Jiang Li controlled his spiritual root clone and used the energy in his clone’s body to continue infusing nutrients into the six Nine Nether Earth Fruits.
He had to try to instill all of them into the limit of a one-star spiritual fruit. In other words, a single spiritual fruit was equivalent to the full cultivation of a cultivator at the ninth level of the Qi Refinement realm.
However, his spiritual root clone, which was already slightly malnourished, could not even provide this bit of energy. It could only begin to devour the other Nine Nether Earth Fruits to provide nutrients.
This kind of conversion was very costly and would cause a severe loss of energy. He sacrificed a total of nine one-star Earth Fruits and more than half of the nutrients in the Spiritual Root Branch.
On the treetop of the spiritual root clone, there were only six perfectly round Nine Nether Earth Fruits. Four of them were green in color and filled with vitality, while the other two were black like obsidian.
The tempting fragrance of these fruits filled the entire coffin space.
The hundreds of thousands of ghosts were all excited and restless under the temptation of the spiritual fruit.
Even Qin Shuman drooled as she looked at those fruits from afar.
However, they were all firmly controlled by Jiang Li and the coffin, unable to do anything.
This point could be deduced from the Immortal Peach and Ginseng Fruit. Although the lowest-grade Nine Nether Earth Fruit was still far from their level, they were essentially spiritual fruits of Heaven and Earth.
Its powerful effect was that even a rookie cultivator who had just entered the Qi Refinement realm could directly break through to the ninth level of Qi Refinement after eating this Nine Nether Earth Fruit and prepare to enter the Foundation Establishment realm at any time.
However, Jiang Li, who had switched to the Nine Nether Dao Scripture, was still wondering if these spiritual fruits could allow his Qi Refinement realm to not fall by a minor realm.
The expenditure of the Nine Nether Dao Scripture was truly too great.
After the third level of the cultivation method, Jiang Li also clearly felt the existence of a bottleneck, and the expenditure of his cultivation suddenly increased.
Jiang Li had always relied on his augmentation statuses. Ever since he started Qi Refinement, he had almost never felt the existence of a bottleneck.
Now that he had changed his cultivation method, he finally obtained this kind of unpleasant experience.
The Ghost Wood Art’s spiritual qi was quickly flowing away, and the spiritual qi of the Nine Nether Dao Scripture was rising along with it.
Jiang Li continued to change his cultivation method for two days.
If it was anyone else, their body and meridians would definitely suffer some injuries after being continuously refined for two days. After this, they would need a considerable amount of time to slowly recover.
Fortunately, Jiang Li did not need to consider this problem. The recovery speed of his body was much faster than the speed of damage.
When the last bit of the Ghost Wood Art’s cultivation base was exhausted, Jiang Li’s Nine Nether Dao Scripture level barely reached the fifth level. He was stuck at the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm which was neither high nor low.
“The fifth level? As expected.”
Jiang Li raised his hand and gestured upwards. A Nine Nether Earth Fruit automatically fell from the tree and landed in his hand.
It was extremely sweet and dense, and it had an irresistible smell that filled Jiang Li’s nose once more, causing his entire body to tremble.
Towards this sort of Heaven and Earth spiritual fruit that only Immortals and Buddhas could enjoy in the ancient times, he had long wanted to try it.
He ate the spiritual fruit in two or three bites. The flesh of the fruit was soft, sticky, and juicy. After it entered his mouth, the extreme delicacy and satisfaction almost made Jiang Li feel as if his mouth was about to melt.
It was truly an exceptional delicacy that was hard to forget after eating it once.
Moreover, this Nine Nether Earth Fruit was not only delicious, but as the flesh entered his stomach, a stream of pure spiritual qi instantly surged into his body, directly causing the cultivation of the Nine Nether Dao Scripture that had stagnated to advance by leaps and bounds again.
Unfortunately, this kind of effect of directly increasing one’s cultivation level was similar to using the experience fruits in a game to directly increase one’s experience value. It could not form a status. Jiang Li could only cultivate honestly.
Two days later, he reached the sixth level of Qi Refinement.
Four days later, he reached the seventh level of Qi Refinement.
Six days later…
In the outside world, the Great Mountain Cultivator Competition was still ongoing.
The ranking boards in both arenas were continuously updated.
As more and more cultivators crossed the Misty Mountain Range, the first round of the competition gradually came to an end.
There were very few Qi Refinement cultivators who could reach the end.
It was good that some cultivators could recognize reality and themselves in time and return to the entrance to give up their qualifications.
At the very least, they did not have to worry about their lives and could still watch the commotion outside.
A portion of the cultivators did not know how to act according to their abilities. If they went too deep, they would not even be able to return. They could only stay where they were and bitterly endure, waiting for the rescue team after the competition ended.
On the other hand, a large number of Qi Refinement cultivators were directly buried within the mountain. Their flesh and blood would be eaten by demons, and their souls would transform into wandering ghosts and remain in the mountains.
However, this tragic number of deaths and injuries was not noticed by the vast majority of people in the cultivation world.
No one would remember the losers, everyone’s gaze would only be on the most dazzling few people standing at the top.
In the competition, heroic cultivators from all over the world, rogue cultivators, and dark horses emerged endlessly. All kinds of trump cards were used to trick people and emerge victorious.
In this competition, even if one was the most knowledgeable elder, they might not be able to call out everyone’s cultivation methods.
Some unexpected unorthodox methods even caused many sect cultivators who were originally thought highly of to fall in defeat.
In these exciting and varied battles, many geniuses made their names known and were talked about enthusiastically by people.
There were even many people who placed their bets. The cultivators threw money and gambled their spirit stones on these young cultivators.
As the second round of the battle continued, the names on the two jade ranking boards also began to jump continuously. Some of the rankings changed drastically, while others directly disappeared from the jade ranking boards.
As the top of the Qi Refinement realm’s arena, Jiang Li’s name had already spread out of the Scripture Storage Valley and was known by more people.
Many cultivators were curious if the Scripture Storage Valley’s Jiang Li was a superhuman.
To their surprise, this top ranking contestant vanished from everyone’s sight after the first round of the competition ended.
This disappearance lasted for twelve days.
In the coffin, after the sixth Earth Fruit entered his stomach, Jiang Li silently sat on the glowing moss. Due to the long period of pressure, the layer of vegetation on the ground had already withered and died.
At this moment, the aura on Jiang Li’s body had already far surpassed his former self. If he did not say it himself, no one would think that he was still a Qi Refinement realm cultivator.
After eating the sixth Earth Fruit, he had to work hard in one go.
After another long time, the dense spirit qi that surrounded Jiang Li suddenly shrunk and entered his body. After that, it transformed into a breeze that blew towards the surroundings, and this also announced the conclusion of his long period of closed door cultivation.
“Huff~ It’s finally over!”
After taking a deep breath, Jiang Li lay down on the soft moss.
He was very satisfied with the outcome of this swapping of cultivation methods.
Of course, he was even more satisfied with the effects of the Nine Nether Earth Fruit.
[Name: Jiang Li]
[Age: 13]
[Lifespan: 282 years x 500%]
[Race: Human]
[Spiritual Root Attributes: Wood, Yin]
Jiang Li opened the interface and the first thing he saw was the new lifespan column.
He had yet to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm. In theory, his basic lifespan should still be around a hundred years.
But just now, he had eaten six Nine Nether Earth Fruits nourished by Qi Refinement realm cultivators.
Each of these Earth Fruits could bring Jiang Li about 30 years of lifespan.
This added up to 280 years.
The last “× 500%” was even more impressive.
It was an effect from the status [Dragon Tortoise Blood Tattoo]. The speed of cell aging was reduced by 80%, so one year of life was equivalent to five. It directly increased his lifespan by five times.
Counting with his fingers, he realized that he had 1400 years of lifespan!
The current Jiang Li was almost fourteen years old, and it was equivalent to only spending 1% of his long life.
In other words, he was still a baby among mortals, the kind that had not left their mother’s embrace.
Right now, Jiang Li’s entire body was brimming with vitality like a newborn baby. Overall, it was extremely comfortable.
If he wanted to hide, he could find a valley and cultivate for more than ten centuries before coming out to play. At that time, he would not be invincible, but it should be enough.
However, this was just a thought. Even if he hid in a mountain valley, there might still be a calamity that came from nowhere.
Furthermore, although it was good to get stronger passively, he still needed to interact with the outside world. He had to continuously obtain more and more powerful statuses in order to continuously increase his speed of becoming stronger.
After sweeping through the status panel again, he looked at the cultivation method column below.
[Cultivation Methods: Nine Nether Dao Scripture Qi Refinement chapter Level 9, Beast Blood Diagram Level 4, Mountain Crushing Scripture Level 8, Great Carefree Bodhisattva Heart Sutra Level 2 (Incomplete), Age Tiger Technique Level 8]
The Ghost Wood Art that had been there for a long time had already disappeared. What replaced it was a Level 9 “Nine Nether Dao Scripture”.
In other words, Jiang Li could already start preparing to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm now!
