Eating the fish and meat buns, Li Zhuo narrowed his eyes in happiness.
The skin was thin and soft.
The filling was generous and tender.
With one bite, his mouth was filled with oil.
It was truly delicious…
Wait!
Li Zhuo looked at Little Flower in front of him and asked with great curiosity, “Where did you get the oil from?”
Little Flower turned its head and looked in the direction of the Little Squirrel.
Seeing that the Little Squirrel was strolling through the wheat field with its paws behind its back,
and completely oblivious to them.
It then lowered its voice and whispered slyly, “Reporting to Immortal Master, you said before that nuts can be pressed for oil, so I just…”
“Alright, alright, say no more.”
Li Zhuo gave Little Flower a look that said, “Well done.”
The man and the leopard started laughing sinisterly.
They were practically two big villains.
“What are you eating? It smells good, give me one!”
Just then,
the Little Squirrel's voice suddenly rang out from behind Little Flower.
This startled the leopard, making it shiver.
It almost collapsed to the ground.
Looking at Little Flower's appearance, the Little Squirrel asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing, Immortal Master is eating buns, this is it.”
Little Flower quickly handed a bun to the Squirrel.
The bun wasn't very big, but it was still about half the size of the Squirrel.
The Little Squirrel held the steaming hot bun, not minding the heat.
With one bite, its mouth was filled with oil.
Even the Little Squirrel couldn't resist this deliciousness.
It ate one bun in a few quick bites.
Only then did it rest its chin and show a satisfied smile.
“It's much tastier than the food down the mountain, no strange taste, and it has a nutty fragrance~”
“Y-you like it, that's good, I-I'll go deliver some buns to Crimson Patterned Snake Immortal Master…”
Leaving these words, Little Flower ran off like a shot.
Leaving behind the Little Squirrel, full of doubt.
It looked at the remaining buns, then at Li Zhuo.
Not knowing what had happened.
It rather boredly returned to the wheat field.
After sending off the Squirrel,
Li Zhuo also returned to the Daosheng Qingwen Banyan.
He sat cross-legged in the Gathering Spirit Formation.
And looked inward.
The magical power in his Dantian was abundant, and all of it was solidified wood-attribute magical power.
Moreover,
at this time, when Li Zhuo breathed in and out,
and Spiritual Qi entered his Physical Body, circulated through the Great Zhou Heaven, and transformed into magical power at the Shanzhong Acupoint,
even without Li Zhuo's deliberate guidance and refinement,
there was not even a trace of ethereal magical power.
All of it was solidified like a thick paste.
This indicated that
Li Zhuo had completely mastered his own magical power.
He could Breakthrough.
The first three stages of the Qi Refining Realm required Cultivators to control magical power.
From the fourth stage of the Qi Refining Realm onwards, it was necessary to use solidified magical power to expand the three most important Acupoints in the body.
Namely, the Dantian, Shanzhong Acupoint, and Niwan Palace.
In the fourth stage of the Qi Refining Realm,
Cultivators needed to use magical power to expand their Dantian to accommodate more solidified magical power.
Li Zhuo sat cross-legged under the Daosheng Qingwen Banyan.
Continuing to breathe in and out.
The solidified magical power started from the Shanzhong Acupoint, circulated around the Meridians, and finally all gathered in the Dantian.
“There is no so-called Bottleneck in this Realm; it all depends on persistent effort.”
“Cultivation requires patience.”
Even so,
Li Zhuo did not feel bored.
Because he could clearly feel his Dantian expanding little by little.
The amount of solidified magical power it could contain also increased significantly.
Moreover,
at this time, there was no longer even a trace of ethereal magical power in his body.
Li Zhuo could clearly feel his strength continuously increasing.
This feeling intoxicated him.
After Cultivating for most of the day,
Li Zhuo exhaled a turbid breath and looked up at the large Banyan tree beside him.
The Daosheng Qingwen Banyan naturally understood and offered a larger branch.
“I can make a new Puppet Soldier now.”
“A humanoid Puppet Soldier.”
“I wonder if I can make this Puppet Soldier like a real person.”
“I only have Cultivation Technique for the Qi Refining Realm right now, and I still lack defensive Divine Ability and escape techniques.”
“If this Puppet could go down the mountain in my place, that would be great~”
He muttered a few words under his breath.
Li Zhuo's gaze became serious.
He chanted incantations and formed a sword-finger gesture with his hand.
He began to outline mysterious runes.
As his fingers moved continuously, the large branch indeed changed.
From a branch full of wood-attribute Qi, it gradually took on a human form.
Looking at the floating humanoid wood in front of him, Li Zhuo's gaze was serious.
Although his magical power was solidified at this time, and his Cultivation Realm could be considered profound,
he dared not show the slightest Divided Soul.
Because this time, the Puppet Soldier was larger in size, and naturally could accommodate more magical power.
It was completely incomparable to the palm-sized Puppet Soldier from before.
Making it was many times more complex.
Fortunately,
“Qing Ying Kui Bing” was a Divine Ability with no difficulty, and Li Zhuo had completely mastered it.
As long as he followed the steps, the possibility of failure was extremely small.
Indeed.
Half a day later,
Li Zhuo formed a sword-finger gesture and pointed sharply at the humanoid being in front of him.
“Enact!”
All the green wood Qi on the humanoid being suddenly boiled, turning into specks of vitality.
And merged into the being's torso.
After a moment,
the being opened its eyes.
It succeeded!
“It inherited about thirty percent of my strength, let's test the effect~”
Li Zhuo closed his eyes, controlling the Puppet to put on his Cultivator's robe.
Then,
he bent down and picked up a stone, aiming it at the Little Squirrel that was secretly eating in the wheat field.
Whoosh—
Clap!
“Ouch!”
The Little Squirrel covered its head, with one or two tears still in the corners of its eyes.
It leaped out of the wheat field with a whoosh, carefully staring at the “person” in front of it.
It asked angrily, “Was it you, you guy, who threw a stone at me? Looking for a beating?!”
The Puppet sneered, “I, Li Zhi, have roamed the cultivation world, and a mere forest mouse dares to clamor in front of me.”
“What did you say?!”
The Little Squirrel's anger burned fiercely!
It let out a soft cry, and actually directly consumed its entire Qi and blood.
Activating the 【Earth-Suppressing Mouse】 state!
Its strength greatly increased!
Li Zhi was stunned.
He quickly waved his hand and said, “Hey, you're cheating, why are you using your innate Divine Ability?”
The Little Squirrel completely ignored Li Zhi.
It directly leaped up with a whoosh, gripping its small fists and heading straight for Li Zhi's face!
Li Zhi naturally dared not be negligent.
He let out a soft cry, also activating the 【Divine Bull Body】.
Seeing that the Little Squirrel had already arrived close, Li Zhi clenched one hand into a fist and slammed it downwards.
The Little Squirrel also clenched its small fists and swung upwards.
Swish!
Both of their Physical Bodies were powerful, and they had both activated special states.
Making the power of these two punches immense.
They actually generated fierce fist winds.
Bang!
The fist winds collided, erupting in a huge sound.
Li Zhi was sent flying five steps by the immense force from the punch, his arm numb.
The Little Squirrel, on the other hand, did a backflip and landed steadily.
It looked at Li Zhi not far away, waving its small fists: “You're quite strong, that smelly long worm was crushed to death by my punch.”
Li Zhi, however, looked down at his own body and whispered, “The strength is decent, barely enough for self-preservation.”
“What?” The Little Squirrel didn't understand.
Li Zhi ignored it, and instead felt the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.
He tried to breathe in and out.
After a long while, Li Zhi finally let out a soft sigh.
“I can barely breathe in and out, but I can't increase my Cultivation.”
“Moreover, the efficiency of breathing in and out is extremely slow, roughly equivalent to my Aptitude.”
“It can only be used to maintain the daily activities of this body.”
“And I can't use cheats.”
“My current Divine Sense strength is still a bit weak, I can't do two things at once.”
When controlling the small Puppet, Li Zhuo could maintain the state of breathing in and out.
Cultivating while commanding the small Puppet.
He could barely manage to do two things at once.
But Li Zhi couldn't.
This Puppet inherited thirty percent of his strength.
Controlling Li Zhi to move like a normal Cultivator.
Required a great deal of mental effort.
It would even affect Li Zhuo's Cultivation.
“First, go stay in the treasure vault. Next time I go down the mountain, I can use this body~”
“Foundation Establishment Cultivation Technique, Foundation Establishment spiritual items, defensive Cultivation Technique, escape techniques…”
“I also need a large number of Spirit Stones to continue setting up Formations.”
“If I can find some Formation or Alchemy Cultivation Technique, that would be even better.”
“I wonder if there are any spiritual items that can help spiritual plants grow quickly.”
“Continue Cultivating~”