Chen Fan walked on the path made out of mist against the wind, looking like a transcendental sage who walked among the clouds. Yukishiro Sa felt conflicted to take the first step. The path was made out of flowy mist and looked insubstantial. No ordinary person would dare to walk on it.
However, Yukishiro Sa was not just anyone, she was the Queen of Kyushu island’s underground world.
She gritted her teeth as determination flashed in her eyes. She extended one foot to tap the mist. To her surprise, despite the soft and fluffiness of the mist, the path was very sturdy. It was formed by water elemental Spirit Qi harnessed by the Green Dragon Grand Array. It was similar to the misty web of Lei Qianjue’s Qi Net of the Thousand Trickeries. It might appear to be soft, but it was tough and solid in reality.
Yukishiro Sa felt relieved after having confirmed the path was solid. She hurried to catch up with Chen Fan.
Then, she embarked on the most inexplicable journey in her life.
While walking a few hundred meters above the ground, she couldn’t see anything but a sea of clouds beneath the path. There was no railing on either side of the path so she had to walk cautiously to avoid falling off. Yukishiro could see that in the distance, the valley was filled with planted herbs. Even from this far, she could smell the fragrance of fresh herbs.
As she inhaled the herbal scent, she felt a warm and relaxing sensation sweep across her body as if she was in a hot tub.
Suddenly, she heard a beast’s roaring came up from the valley.
Yukishiro Sa rounded her eyes in disbelief as she saw a few hundred-meter long azure dragon rise from the cloud sea. The dragon had long flowy whiskers and strong powerful talons on its feet. A pair of horns similar to that of an antler erected from its forehead. Its round eyes opened widely and its body was about as thick as a water tank. It writhed in the air, tossing its body around as it let out a peal of roars that sounded like a bell chime.
“Is this… really a dragon?”
Yukishiro Sa was stunned by what she saw. She pointed a finger at the Azure dragon and asked.
“That’s just a White Drake, the Array Spirit of the Green Dragon Grand Array.” Chen Fan linked his hands behind his back and walked ahead of the girl. “It is not a dragon, not yet. Think of it as a baby dragon. However, it’s much stronger than the Demon God that possessed you.”
White Drake used to be the soul of the Yin Snake. Chen Fan had adopted it and nurtured it in the Misty Cloud Array. Over time, it had reached the Divine Sea level and transformed from a Yin Snake into a Naga. At that level, it was already able to rival grandmasters. After Chen Fan had moved it to the Green Dragon Grand Array, its power had improved by leaps and bounds and started the second transformation to become a White Drake.
By then, the White Drake had become a Divine Sea level Divine Soul. It was not only deadly but was also just a step away from reaching the Connate Spirit level. Once it had done that, he could finally live outside of the Green Dragon Grand Array and became a free-roaming Connate Spirit Being. Even Chen Fan was not confident that he could subjugate the White Drake if he had to fight it inside the Green Dragon Grand Array, much less the Demon God of Dark Mist.
If the Demon God of Dark Mist ever appeared near the array, the White Drake would be able to gobble it down as a Qi supplement.
“If I don’t really need the White Drake here to guard the Green Dragon Grand Array, I would have turned it into a Primordial Spirit for a Dharma Artifact. That would save me a trip to Japan.” Chen Fan lamented.
Under White Drake’s curious watch, Yukishiro Sa hurried to catch up with Chen Fan and reached the end of the path.
They were deep inside the valley now and saw an intricate pavilion surrounded by a wash of azure light. They were at the center of the Green Dragon Grand Array where the Spirit Qi was the most concentrated. Chen Fan had planned to build an Immortal abode for his parents and Xiao Qiong.
“North Qiong Pavilion.”
Yukishiro Sa saw read out loud the three large characters etched on the sign hanging above the entrance.
Chen Fan didn’t say anything. He cracked open the door and walked into the main hall. He had decorated the rooms the exact same as his Immortal abode while he was cultivating in the True Martial Celestial Sect. The hall was large and empty. It had only a few pieces of furniture including a futon set before a painting of a girl.
Yukishiro Sa studied the painting and was enamored by the image of a girl.
Her beauty was beyond description: words such as pristine, sublime and gorgeous failed to do her beauty justice. She was in a purple coat and looked as serene as a goddess from heaven. Yukishiro Sa was convinced that the girl in the painting did not exist in the real world.
“Master, who is this?” Yukishiro Sa asked quietly.
“That’s none of your concern.” Chen Fan wave a dismissal and ordered: “Tong Shan, take her to the guest room. I need it to be quiet and do now allow anyone to disturb me.”
“Yes, master.”
Tong Shan answered obediently.
Tong Shan’s voice caught Yukishiro Sa by surprise, she didn’t notice that there was a hulking frame in the corner. The man was over two-meters and fifty centimeters tall, over a few heads taller than Yukishiro Sa. His skin had a metallic sheen as if the man’s body was made out of bronze. Yukishiro Sa also noticed a strange light shining in the big man’s unblinking eyes. As he made his way toward Yukishiro Sa, she felt the floor tremble after each step he took. His looming presence unnerved the girl.
Yukishiro Sa followed Tank Class to the guest room. Chen Fan was not worried that the girl would double-cross him. The Array Spirit aside, just Tong Shan alone could ward off enemies as powerful as Lei Qianjue. He had submerged himself in the Qi rich environment for so long that he had strengthened his physique condition to an unimaginable degree.
Yukishiro Sa wouldn’t be able to stir any trouble even if she had the audacity to do so.
Chen Fan sat on the futon, facing the painting of the goddess in purple.
“It’s about time.”
He produced a pile of Spirit Medicine from the yellow-skinned gourd. He had produced these using the first batch of harvest. The Green Dragon Grand Array and the Vitality Serum worked in lockstep and boosted the herbs’ growth by a few hundred times.
In three months, the herbs had matured as if they had grown for thirty years.
These thirty-year-old herbs were a far cry from thousand years old Ginseng, but these herbs excelled in quantity. There were plenty of them in the meadow, ready to be harvested.
“Ruellia, Silver Beard Ginseng, some slices of Red Drake Fruit and some more Grass Essence. These should suffice for making the True Essence Pills, the best supplement for Ethereal Enlightenment level cultivators. ”
The herbs lay before him mainly come in three categories.
He had found the saplings of these herbs in the vault of the Medicine Valley Sect. They happened to be the essential ingredients for the True Essence Pills. Chen Fan had conversed these saplings and planted them after the Green Dragon Grand Array was in use. The first batch of these herbs had just been harvested and could be turned into spirit pills. Although there were plenty of other herb saplings in the vault, these three kinds were the most suitable for Ethereal Enlightenment level cultivators.
“Arise!”
Chen Fan waved a hand and summoned a golden flame lancing out of his eyes.
As the golden flames floated in the air, the three piles of Spirit Medicine were stirred by an unseen force and formed then flew up toward the fire in three trickles of herbs. Chen Fan’s earth fire technique was exceptional, therefore, he didn’t need any beakers or containers, all he needed was the fire from the Li Fire Golden Eyes and the herbs.
“PeeleePaaa…”
The Li Fire Golden Eyes was much hotter than any conventional flame. As soon as those spirit herbs came to contact with the ball of golden fire, green juice dripped out from their leaves and converged together. Chen Fan started an art to infuse his Dharmic Powers and True Essence with the herbal extract. Suddenly, the extract changed its liquid form and started to solidify, forming a few dozen green pills that fell from the air. They dropped squarely into a jade bottle.
Chen Fan paused his art to consume the pills he had just created.
True Essence Pills was a mid-level Spirit Medicine and were much more potent than Essence Enhancing Pill and the Essence Gathering Pill. Although the relatively inferior quality in the herbs meant that he could only create Lesser True Essence Pills, its supply was nearly unlimited.
After Chen Fan finished all the pills, he ordered Tong Shan to harvest another batch and then he created more pills, rinse, and repeat.
After he had gone through the cycle many times, he could feel his True Essence was getting stronger and his Qi energy was getting agitated. His skin gained a greenish undertone and the azure light burned brighter by the second.
Chen Fa could feel that he was finally going to breach the bottleneck.
Three days later, Yukishiro Sa sat idly on a stone step and looked into the distant valley.
“When will master finish his cultivation? That big guy talked as much as a rock. I have been spending my days before the Tv and the computer screen, and it’s getting boring. There is no internet signal here either. That’s so dumb.”
Yukishiro Sa swayed her leg that hung from the step and yawned.
Boredom aside, this place really was comfortable to live in.
With that thought in mind, Yukishiro Sa felt a relaxing joy in her body. She would live this life every day for the next hundred years. She was fed spirit fruits and she only needed to eat one of those magical fruits to feel full for the whole day. However, she was eager to return to Japan and get back to those who had done her wrong.
The thought of her grandpa offering her to the Demon God like an object filled Yukishiro Sa’s mind with venomous thoughts. She couldn’t wait to taste the sweetness of revenge. However, without Chen Fan’s permission, she couldn’t even leave this Cave Abode.
“Are you talking about me?”
A cold voice drifted toward the girl.
Yukishiro Sa turned around and saw a tall handsome young man wearing loose hair and a long black robe stood at the entrance. The man’s handsome features were breathtaking. An Azure flame burned in his eyes, like the righteous fire of a god.
“M… master?”
Yukishiro Sa stammered.
The man looked similar to Chen Fan but was much more attractive, so much so that his face looked almost otherworldly, just like the girl in the painting.
Chen Fan linked his hands behind his back and said nothing.
The energy inside of him had increased its breadth and depth significantly. By now, it was as heavy as a mountain and as vast as the ocean. Chen Fan projected his Divine Will out of the system and found out that he could easily cover the entire valley and beyond. The effective range of Chen Fan’s Divine Will used to be around three kilometers, but now it could go as far as five kilometers. The True Essence in his system had practically doubled. Chen Fan was confident that if a foe as powerful as Lei Qianjue came to challenge him right now, he should be able to crush him using just spells.
However, that was not the only benefit of leveling up.
He reached out a palm and underneath his porcelain-like skin, azure light flashed faintly, making his hand look like it was carved out of a chunk of green jade. This was a sign that he was very close to the initial success of the Azure Thearch Longevity Body. When he finally achieved initial success, his entire body would let out an azure glow.
“My body wasn’t strong enough to use the hypersonic punch more than two times in a row, but now, I think I can use that technique repetitively with no problem. Even if Lei Qianjue and Theseus ganged up on me, I should kill all of them with ease. I wager that not even an Immortal State being could withstand my new-gained abilities.”
The thought brought a smug smirk on Chen Fan’s face. He looked to the east where the sun was rising.
“I guess I will try my new power on you…”