Ryu's eyes trained on the Black Vein Lilies. Suddenly, he felt his pupils pulsing. It wasn't painful, but rather incredibly comfortable. Ryu could feel their excitement.
'These Black Vein Lilies… They have some connection to my Heavenly Pupils?' Ryu turned pensive for a moment.
The good news about the Mental Realm Path was that its rules differed from the Body and Qi Paths. Just like how Mental Realm techniques didn't restrict who could use them by cultivation level, so too did their spirit herbs not restrict their consumption. This meant that Ryu could ingest these lilies without fear of imploding from too much excess energy.
This wasn't because Mental Realm type spirit herbs didn't have a lot of energy within them. Rather, it was because Spiritual Qi was the closest thing to Essence that was readily available. Essence was the purest energy in existence and was what made Natural Orders so powerful. As for Spiritual Qi, it was especially gentle in its natural form.
If it wasn't for the fact the Spiritual Qi Pool was made up of incredibly concentrated qi, it wouldn't be dangerous either. So, Ryu wasn't worried about ingesting the unknown Black Vein Lily. However, he had a better path to take: the Zu Clan Library.
The only problem was that this wouldn't be a sure solution. After all, Heavenly Pupils were in their infant stages during the time of the Zu Clan. So, they might not have information on why his pupils would be excited. Still, it was better to check than to blindly take an unknown herb.
Putting this to the back of his mind, Ryu carefully put away the Spirit Seeking Lilies away one by one. Because of how gentle they were, he could directly bring them into his Incubator, though it took several minutes per flower. Still, it was worth it. With the help of the Incubator, the effects of the petals would be even more potent. In addition, he could continuously rely on the Incubator to produce more Lilies.
The maturation of Spirit Seeking Lilies depended on both time and Spiritual Qi abundance. Their life had two phases. The first was the growth phase, and the second was the absorption phase. The growth phase took ten thousand years. After this ten-thousand-year period, the Lily would then need a set amount of Spiritual Qi to reach full maturation.
After being upgraded by Origin Essence during Ryu's Rite of Origin, the Incubator's growth acceleration had increased from one hundred times to one thousand times. Though this was incredibly slow by the standard of the Shrine Plane, growth acceleration wasn't what made the Incubator such a great treasure.
This aside, this meant that from a seedling to the end of its growth phase, Ryu would need to nurture the Lilies for ten years. Then, it could proceed to absorb Spiritual Qi. Luckily, Ryu had now created a small lake of Spiritual Qi, meaning it would only take a few days after this ten-year period for the Lilies to be ready.
At this moment, Ryu's Incubator had regained some of its beauty. The lush grass was still present, along with the long, snaking river. But now the heart of the Incubator had a manmade lake of Spiritual Qi surrounded by beautiful, multicolored Lilies.
As of now, Ryu had forty-five Gold Vein Lilies, thirty-six Silver Vein Lilies, and seven Black Vein Lilies. This corresponded to 270 Gold Petals, 216 Silver Petals, and 42 Black Petals. Ryu also believed that it was possible for the Tor Clan to have a greater deposit, so he'd take his time to find them later.
With that, he got to work. Even with the unexpected gain of the Spirit Seeking Lilies, what made his heart palpitate more than anything else was the prospect of completing the Zu Clan's crystalline jade.
Due to the Tor Clan's interference, Ryu had much less work to do. Since only one-quarter remained, it would take him a bit more than a month at most to get to the bottom.
Time ticked by and the Higher Mortal Plane settled into a new balance. There were too many strong cultivators remaining in the Heavenly Body Sect for the Nature's Emblem and the Whispering Willow Sects to take them all out. Although their greed was trained upon their resources, the Opes Kingdom unexpectedly made a move to take the Heavenly Body Sect under their wing.
With the support of the Garis Clan's army, the Opes Kingdom was too powerful to provoke wantonly, especially with what remained of the Heavenly Body Sect backing them. As such, the Plane gained a new balance, going from the older four Kingdoms and four Sects to three Kingdoms and three Sects.
Sometime weeks later, Ryu finally reached the bottom of the Spiritual Qi pool, smiling lightly as he held the final piece in his hand. He had slaved for almost two years for these four pieces, his eighteenth birthday was already quickly approaching. But, he felt like it was all worth it.
It wasn't just the resources of the Zu Clan that were so great. One had to remember that the mind worked much faster than the body did. For a normal mortal, experiencing things at two to even three times normal speed in one's mind wouldn't make much of a difference. This was even more exaggerated for a Mental Realm cultivator like Ryu. He could experience things at up to ten times the speed without much effort.
What did this mean? This crystalline jade was incredibly special. It allowed one to project their minds into a realm where you could train. This meant that Ryu could experience ten times the comprehension speed by relying on this crystalline jade!
Of course, this wouldn't impact his cultivation speed. After all, it was just something his mind was experiencing, not his actual body. However, this hardly diminished the value. With this crystalline jade's help, even if Ryu's cultivation speed was increased, it would greatly decrease the time he needed to master techniques and comprehend Natural Orders. It was invaluable!
Ryu took out the remaining three pieces. Just as he was about to allow them to fuse together, his expression turned grave. He realized immediately that he made a mistake, but it was already too late.
The jade pieces shot together against his will, emitting a blinding light as it finally formed a cohesive whole after almost two years of Ryu's hard work. In that moment, a seal branded itself into Ryu's chest. A searing pain that reached down to his soul caused his body to quiver. Even Ryu who believed himself to have a high pain tolerance couldn't help but roar out in anguish even as the jade fell onto his palm.
During that exact same instant of time, an old, wrinkled man's eyes shot open, shining a piercing light. An oppressive cultivation aura shot out from within him, shattering the garden platform he sat upon.
'Someone's finally found it! Destroying that arrogant Natural Order Sect was definitely the right move.' The old man shot into the skies, cutting through the air toward Ryu's location.
If Ryu had been there, he would have been incomparably shocked… Because this man was none other than Headmaster Leopold!