Chapter 771: Chapter 699 Fiery Serpent (Extra, Please Subscribe)_1
"Roar!"
Although the virtual shadow of the poisonous flood dragon transformed by the Mysterious Dark Banner was not as powerful as a real sixth-tier flood dragon, its divine skills and magic power were indeed extraordinary.
Not to mention, it also possessed the inherent poison of that Returning to Emptiness old dragon from back in the day.
In Fang Xi’s opinion, even Fu Wuer should be dead by now, entangled by this poison dragon.
How has this scholar who changed his surname survived until now?
With a release of his Divine Consciousness, he instantly understood.
Within the ceaselessly rolling poison cloud, a pure white building struggled valiantly, its structure four-square with flying eaves and bucket arches, resembling a scholarly academy, with the sounds of reading aloud emanating from it.
A faint white light emerged, miraculously repelling the poison fog!
"The divine skill of Confucianism, the Haoran Qi... It’s said that at its ultimate cultivation, it can be immune to all laws... Now it looks like there’s some truth to that."
Fang Xi cracked a slight smile. The divine skills of Confucianism had their unique quirks, and resisting poison fog seemed to make sense.
Not to mention, this academy-like palace was already on the verge of collapse under the erosion of the poison fog, and its destruction was only a matter of time.
Moreover, the Mysterious Dark Banner had been unattended before, which was why it had struggled until now.
But with Fang Xi, the Array Taoist Grandmaster at work, a whole Nine Nether Underworld River swept over, with countless Mysterious Dark Divine Sand flying out.
Pfft, pfft!
Numerous huge holes appeared atop the Righteous Qi Palace.
The clear sound of reading was gradually drowned out by the flow of the black water...
The palace doors swung open, revealing the figure of the scholar who had changed his surname, who transmitted through Divine Consciousness, "Senior, I am not close to that surname Fu; this is all a misunderstanding... I am a certified colonel of the Sky Brahman Army, please show mercy..."
"Hehe, let’s forget about Fu Wuer; in my eyes, you are the real mastermind, aren’t you?"
Fang Xi sneered, watching the changing expressions of the scholar, then fell silent.
The phantom of the poison dragon roared in delight, merging with the Nine Nether Underworld River, and it seemed to gain a physical body, its strength skyrocketing!
Roar, roar!
With a dragon roar, it clawed at the Righteous Qi Palace.
At once, a large gaping hole appeared in the palace, the endless poison fog pouring in.
Boom!
A surge of pure white Qi suddenly rose, cleansing the poison fog, with one ray of white light attempting to escape.
Pfft!
One after another, divine sand hit the white light, causing it to relentlessly flicker, eventually revealing the frightened face of the scholar.
Crash!
Mysterious Dark Heavy Water poured into his body, causing his magic power to collapse rapidly, and the light from his life-saving talismans dimmed in an instant.
Whoosh!
A dark red blade of light flashed, and the body of the scholar was split in two, revealing a confused Nascent Soul.
A dark demonic hand grabbed the Nascent Soul and brought it before Fang Xi.
"Senior... spare my life..."
The scholar’s voice was shrill, showing none of the integrity you’d expect from a learned man.
Fang Xi snickered, as strands of Sky Demon Secret Knowledge burrowed into the man’s orifices, beginning the soul search...
Moments later, he casually tossed a ball of Six Paths Demon Flames, turning the Nascent Soul to ashes, his expression contemplative:
"This surname Yi actually isn’t from the Sky Brahman Army, yet he secretly joined another organization, tasked with wooing more Ascending Immortals..."
"Although there is no evidence, I feel it’s somehow related to Changqingzi..."
Fang Xi stroked his chin, then reached out his hand.
The scholar’s Storage Bag fell into his possession, and after a brief search, he extracted a stack of papers.
These papers were immaculate white, exuding an aroma of ink that could easily remind one of descriptions such as ’profoundly learned.’
But Fang Xi’s eyes twinkled, allowing him to see the streaks of crimson hidden deep within the paper.
"Wanmin Paper, the top-grade paper used for talismans in Confucianism... It can be crafted by depleting one’s own Haoran Qi, but there is also a heretic method of drawing ’scholarly Qi’ from many great Confucians to refine it..."
"This stack of Wanmin Paper clearly comes from the latter!"
Fang Xi sighed.
A single sheet of Wanmin Paper was difficult to craft, and judging by the quantity of this stack, this surname Yi Cultivator must have drawn the scholarly Qi from thousands of Confucian disciples.
Such deeds would be quite a challenge even in the Earth Immortal Realm, because to commit them without being discovered was extremely troublesome.
But in the Lower Realm, there are none of these scruples.
This scholar who changed his surname, too, was an Ascending Immortal!
"Oh, his realm must have been unlucky; seems like he caused considerable harm to many Confucian disciples before ascending, effectively severing the scholarly lineage of an entire realm..."
Fang Xi shook his head.
Some contraband items are very difficult to refine in the Earth Immortal Realm, but in the Lower Realm, there are far fewer restrictions.
This surname Yi was clever, amassing quite a collection of good stuff for himself before ascending...
Among them, several items were now of particular interest to the present Fang Xi.
Especially a set of writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, which would likely be effective for crafting talismans.
"And there’s the Heaven Origin Sacred Fruit Tree?"
This fruit is only effective for Transcendent God cultivators, and not something the current Fang Xi would value much.
However, during the creation of certain sixth-tier Spiritual Pills, such a Spiritual Fruit could also be valuable as a supplementary ingredient.
And furthermore...
The growth of the Earth Immortal Spiritual Realm requires abundant vitality and a diversity of species.
Recently, Fang Xi’s original form had been wandering through countless worlds, collecting various rare spiritual objects and relocating anything he found worthwhile into the Earth Immortal Spiritual Realm.
It was for this reason that the Mother Qi of All Woods within the Spirit Realm had surged to about three hundred acres in one breath.
And as more and more strange and precious species were included, the Spiritual Roots that could cause fluctuations in the Earth Immortal Spiritual Realm became increasingly rare.
Fang Xi’s cultivation progress began to visibly decrease.
Although it was still faster than those cultivators who cultivated laboriously towards Returning to Emptiness, it was unclear how long it would take to cultivate to the peak of the early stages of Returning to Emptiness.
To speed up the progress, one still had to spend money!
Once the collection of Spiritual Roots in the Lower Realm that posed no risk was complete, naturally, it would be the turn of the Earth Immortal Realm.
The Heaven Origin Sacred Fruit Tree was not yet present in the Earth Immortal Spiritual Realm, so it could be transplanted.
In the memories of the scholar who changed his name, there was its location.
Fang Xi discerned the direction for a moment and instantly turned into a streak of light, disappearing deep into the swamp.
...
Sssss!
Several days later.
Fang Xi manipulated the Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy to form countless wild beasts, and creature after creature like wild wolves and wild tigers, lifelike in every detail, were besieging a Mix Burning Snake!
This snake was a thousand zhang long, each scale the size of a basin, the surface covered with numerous complex and ferocious patterns, as if it had been scorched with iron.
Raising its neck, it continuously spewed poisonous fog from its mouth.
This fog was of a greyish-white color, with eerie faces within it, wailing in agony, chilling to the bone...
Wherever the greyish-white fog passed, a wild wolf let out a miserable cry, suddenly exploded, and turned into boundless spiritual energy raindrops.
But soon, a white cloud floated over and transformed into a white cloud Flood Dragon, entangling with the Mix Burning Snake...
"Indeed, it’s Contagion Qi... This snake may even have a bit of ’Contagion Serpent’ bloodline..."
Fang Xi hid high above, watching this scene, muttering to himself.
Contagion Qi is extremely vicious, neither poison nor plague, seemingly unable to be resisted even by the body constitution of high-level cultivators.
If the original form was here, relying on the Eternal Green Body, perhaps it would not fear such Contagion Qi, but he still had to be cautious.
"The Secret Skill of transforming everything in the Self-transforming Demon Skills, Magic Power Returning to the Void Chapter, is truly powerful... Transforming into shapes with Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy, each wild beast has the cultivation of a Transcendent God, and is not afraid of any Contagion Qi. It could even drag the Mix Burning Snake to death..."
"Sadly, this Mix Burning Snake seems to have an average talent, and the bloodline it inherits is not potent, and its nature is sinister... Better not to keep it, just kill it and refine treasures."
A true ’Contagion Serpent’ is at the pinnacle of wild beasts, capable of contending with the True Dragon and True Phoenix of the Monster Clan.
But inheriting a Divine Spirit Bloodline is one thing, growing to that level is quite another.
For instance, there are many of the True Phoenix of the Heavenly Phoenix Clan in the Earth Immortal Realm, one of the ruling bloodlines of the Monster Clan as well.
Unfortunately, the only one who achieved a True Spirit was a single Azure Luan!
Even for the Little Mysterious Turtle, whose Divine Spirit Bloodline Return to Ancestor is the most concentrated in Fang Xi’s hands, he is only very confident in cultivating it to the sixth order, and there is also some hope for the seventh order.
As for becoming a Mahayana True Spirit?
That probability is equally slim.
A concentrated True Spirit Bloodline does not equal a complete True Spirit.
Moreover, a strong bloodline often becomes a shackle in the later stages...
Roar roar!
While Fang Xi was lost in thought, the battle below finally came to a conclusion.
A fierce wildcat made an agile leap to the vital area of the grievously wounded Mix Burning Snake and gently hooked with its paw.
The Mix Burning Snake was instantly eviscerated, a purple-black gallbladder exposed.
The other wild beasts, formed from Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy, fearlessly charged into the Mix Burning Snake’s body, beginning to wreak havoc...
Snakes are often incredibly tenacious, not to mention a wild beast such as this.
That’s why Fang Xi wasn’t in a rush, continually commanding the wild beasts to probe.
Only after confirming the Mix Burning Snake’s true death, did he leisurely come out to collect the body.
Flaying the skin, extracting the tendons, collecting the poison sac...
After a bit of fuss, Fang Xi dismembered the snake, cutting off plenty of good meat.
Wild beast meat is an excellent tonic, especially for body cultivators, it’s an unparalleled grace. If consumed regularly, the effect of body refining would not be inferior to ’Jade Void Rice’.
Of course, that’s only in terms of body refining. The real greatness of Jade Void Rice is that it can enhance the Taoist Cultivation of those in Returning to Emptiness.
Moreover, the qi and blood provided by wild beast meat is very fierce and domineering, and if a cultivator without a certain foundation in body refining consumed it, it could backfire.
Fang Xi quite liked eating snake soup, and immediately decided to reward himself with a pot after returning...
He approached the Mix Burning Snake’s Dongfu and ordered several Puppets that had been guarding the area to disperse, revealing a fruit tree.
The tree stood over ten meters tall, lush and verdant, but only the topmost branch bore fruit.
The fruits were the size of an adult’s fist, each with a pure white peel, marked with purple patterns.
Some fruits had numerous and deep patterns, while others barely had a trace.
"Three have matured..."
"They can be used to attempt to refine sixth-order Antidote Spiritual Pills..."
Fang Xi glanced at them and made his decision.
At the sixth-order level, both pills and Pill Recipes are extremely rare.
And for a sixth-order Grandmaster of pill refinement, the process of refining has been perfected through and through. At this point, one often needs to deduce sixth-order Pill Recipes on one’s own.
Based on the Spiritual Objects at hand, determining the Pill Recipe and quantity is also a test for the alchemist!