Immortals of the End Times

Chapter 17: Resource Crisis, Sacred Artifacts in the Cold Palace
For a poor bachelor, happiness might be nothing more than having a wife and a complete family.

However, once you actually possess all of this, you discover that new troubles will follow.

To support a family, one must work even harder than before to survive.

The same was true for Zhao Wuji; before embarking on the path of immortality, he longed to step into it.

Only after truly cultivating to the level of immortality do you realize that the joy is fleeting, and the troubles that follow are far more numerous.

In the days following his breakthrough, Zhao Wuji cultivated at night and wandered around the inner and outer cities of the capital during the day.

Or they might take advantage of their turn to enter the palace for medical treatment to investigate the spiritual energy within the palace.

However, it was discovered that the Xuan Kingdom's capital, a vast and blessed land, had no area with spiritual energy in its air; instead, it was filled with other impurities.

For example, the bustling atmosphere of the city, filled with the mixed energy of its people, is a kind of turbid energy produced by the intermingling of different personalities, which is of no benefit to spiritual practice.

Even if he had too much contact with him, it might have subtly corrupted his spirituality and hindered his spiritual cultivation.

This made Zhao Wuji understand even more why cultivators preferred to hide in secluded, spiritually rich places like mountains and forests.

"No wonder cultivation of immortality emphasizes aptitude. If one's spirituality is weak, in this Dharma-ending Age, even if one cultivates spiritual power, without a treasure land to cultivate in, over time, one's cultivation will either stagnate or regress..."

Those with strong qualifications can barely manage, but they still need resources…

"Perhaps only forces like the Xuan Kingdom's royal family, who possess some special cultivation secrets, such as using the impurities of human beings to condense dragon energy to aid cultivation, can avoid the corrosive influence of the impurities in a spiritless environment..."

Zhao Wuji sat in the official residence, lost in thought.

He possesses the Nine Yin and Nine Yang Pearls, yet he is unlike ordinary people. He can diagnose and treat patients with cold-related illnesses, or absorb the Yin and Yang energies from medicinal herbs and then transform them into spiritual energy through cultivation.

It is equivalent to creating spiritual energy in a spiritless environment, which allows one to remain virtuous and stand firm in the torrent of the mundane world, carving out a small piece of sacred land.

However, the yin and yang energy extracted from ordinary people or common medicinal herbs is far too weak.

It was barely enough for daily cultivation, and not enough to accumulate more Yin and Yang energy for the Yin and Yang Beads, let alone cultivate spells.

"A single strand of yin energy or yang energy cannot be used to cultivate a spiritual energy. Only by combining yin and yang can a spiritual energy be condensed."

But the yang energy within my yang pearl is too little. In this degenerate age, resources are scarce, making cultivation extremely difficult.

Zhao Wuji put down the formula for the Golden Jade Elixir and frowned in thought.

Perhaps, if he could gather all the ingredients for refining the Golden Jade Pill and produce a batch of Golden Jade Pills, it would aid his cultivation.

It even led to the introduction of elixirs to accelerate cultivation.

This elixir formula was created by Liu An, the King of Huainan, who gathered his alchemists for the purpose of refining the elixir and then consuming it for cultivation.

Even now, there are some ingredients for elixirs that he has never heard of.

However, items such as gold, silver, lead, and mercury are still relatively common.

If other materials such as moon dew grass, sunflower, and yin sunflower liquid are found, there is hope of refining a batch of immortal pills.

Besides, if he could find the Supreme Sect's sacred artifact, he might also be able to unlock the secret of how the Supreme Sect could cultivate people to become immortals.

"The message that Protector Xu of the Supreme Sect gave me at that time was a line of poetry: 'Sacred traces are hidden on the cloud-shrouded peaks, the beauty of nature is condensed in the jade-like sky. The scenery is clear and the realm is like a jade terrace, the palace is deep and the traces of the Dao are hidden.'"

"Cloud Peak, Jade Vault, Jade Terrace, the palace is deep and hidden, the sacred artifact seems to be hidden in a deep palace with mountains, ponds and waterside pavilions?"

Combining the information provided by the lean man from the Supreme Sect whom he encountered during his first spiritual journey, as well as the trail of Protector Xu, he guessed that the sacred artifact might be hidden in a palace within the imperial palace.

However, it is not easy to find the exact whereabouts of the sacred artifacts solely through these poems.

Zhao Wuji shook his head, temporarily setting aside his thoughts and observing his dantian.

In the past two days, he has consumed two strands of yin and yang energy, cultivating his spiritual energy from the size of a mung bean to the size of a soybean.

On the surface of the Nine Yin Nine Yang Pearl, his immortal cultivation level appeared as 'Qi Induction Level 1 (3/100)'.

This kind of cultivation speed is still quite fast.

If he spends all his time cultivating in seclusion, consuming Yin and Yang energy, he should be able to reach the second level of Qi Refining in a little over three months.

However, doing so would also deplete a great deal of the yin and yang energy he had accumulated.

Just by performing the guiding technique to refine the yin and yang energies each day, one needs to consume a wisp of yang energy to cast the spell.

After a hundred days, a hundred strands of yang energy will be depleted. Only by using spiritual power instead of performing the spell can some of the depletion be reduced.

"Let's plan slowly. We can obtain yin energy from the concubines in the cold palace, while yang energy will have to be obtained by getting close to the emperor, finding strong liquor and aged wine, or hunting tigers."

Zhao Wuji tried it out, storing the spiritual energy he cultivated in his dantian into the Nine Yin Nine Yang Pearl in his sea of ​​consciousness. He found it feasible and could control the flow of energy freely.

It's unclear how long it can be stored; further testing is needed.

Such an attempt would help him conceal himself, so as to avoid being discovered by royal experts or other cultivators in the future, which could lead to suspicion and trouble.

One should conceal one's weapons rather than display them openly, so as to protect oneself and strike the enemy when they are unprepared. He straightened his clothes, walked out of the training room, and came to the front hall.

"My lord, you've finally completed your cultivation. There are still many matters, both inside and outside the house, awaiting your decision."

At this moment, the charming and lovely Xiao Yue, dressed in a lake-colored dress and wearing embroidered shoes, came to report that Tao Fei had sent another letter.

This time, Zhao Wuji didn't have Xiaoyue read it aloud.

Upon opening the letter, I discovered that this friend was still incredibly unreliable.

The letter mentions that he has already taken the hand of the busty heroine and is about to find clues to the alchemist Li Shaojun's elixir cauldron from the Han Dynasty. He asks her to quickly assist him in refining a batch of Golden Spear Fiery Elixir to add some excitement to the treasure hunt.

Zhao Wuji chuckled to himself.

He replied to his friend, "Once we truly find the elixir cauldron, we can talk about it. He will definitely refine the elixir himself."

He needed ancient elixirs to replace spiritual energy as a cultivation resource to aid his cultivation on the path to immortality.

If Li Shaojun's alchemy cauldron could be found, it would indeed be a very significant gain.

It's worth sacrificing some Yang energy to refine elixirs.

After replying to the letter, Zhao Wuji drank the peach gum and white fungus soup that Xiaoyue had personally cooked, enjoyed the little girl massaging his shoulders, and listened to her sweet whispers in his ear.

"My lord, this morning Miss Nan sent a servant to invite you to a small gathering at Zuiyue Tower. She said she wanted to thank you for rescuing Young Master Nantai and that she would set a time after you arrive."

"Oh?"

Zhao Wuji shook his head and smiled, putting down the porcelain bowl. "Zhixia is too kind. Given the relationship between our two families, there's no need to hold a special banquet to express our gratitude."

Xiaoyue blinked, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her skirt. "So, sir, are you going or not?"

"Of course I'll go. If I don't go, I'll be disrespecting Miss Nan."

Zhao Wuji tapped his fingers on the table and said, "Xiao Yue, you go and deliver the message yourself. Let's make it in three days."

Today I also need to go to Jingqing Palace to administer acupuncture to the ladies; the Imperial Medical Academy's application has been approved."

Jingqing Palace is also known as the Cold Palace.

Zhao Wuji had already submitted an application to administer acupuncture to the concubines in the Cold Palace.

At this point, he suddenly paused, realizing that the name 'Jing Qing' matched one of the four lines of poetry by Protector Xu.

He suddenly stood up and paced back and forth in the room, deep in thought.

"The sacred site is hidden on the cloud-covered peak."

The beauty of nature is like jade in the sky.

Jingqing Yaotai Realm
The palace conceals the traces of Taoism.

"Sacred objects, scenic spots, palaces"

As Zhao Wuji pondered how to connect the first characters of the four lines, some riddles seemed to be vaguely emerging.

"A sacred relic hidden deep within the Jingqing Palace?"

"My lord, what are you thinking about?"

Xiao Yue looked at Zhao Wuji pacing back and forth with surprise.

"Prepare the carriage; I'm going to Jingqing Palace now."

Zhao Wuji waved his hand and gave the order.

At the same time, he also had some doubts.

He wasn't sure if the leader of the Returning to Truth Realm eunuchs inside the prison, who had received the same information, could also guess the answer.

It depends on the extent to which the royal family has information about the activities of the Supreme Cult.

Logically speaking, the eunuch leader shouldn't be able to directly browse the memories of the deceased members of the Supreme Sect like he did.

The reason for the severe interrogation of Protector Xu was to find out the Supreme Sect's intentions, but in the end, they did not get many specific clues, and it was unlikely that they could connect it to the sacred artifact and Jingqing Palace.

"Let's go check out the situation in that cold palace first."

His original plan was to go to Jingqing Palace to perform acupuncture on the concubines in the cold palace and collect yin energy.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, we can subtly explore the area without arousing suspicion; at worst, we'll find nothing.
A reader told me today that there will be more monthly votes? Don't try to fool me!
Come on, write a chapter. Haha.

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(End of this chapter)