Starting with a daily divination to build an immortal clan

Chapter 168 Harvest
Blackwater Pavilion.

Shen Yuan came up to the second floor with a letter in his hand.

Shen Wen'an, who was cultivating, opened his eyes: "Father, is something the matter?"

Shen Yuan nodded and handed over the letter, saying, "This was sent by Chongming. He said that a forest shrouded in poisonous miasma has been discovered in the mountains."

“A group of poisonous centipedes live inside, and it is suspected that there are some rare and precious treasures there.”

After taking the letter and glancing at it, Shen Wen'an said in a deep voice, "Go and see, son."

The Shen family rose too quickly and lacked sufficient foundation, and now they are under pressure from the Hundred Beasts Mountain and the Western Wilderness Barbarians.

We must not miss any opportunity to enhance our strength and build up our foundation.

"Be careful on this journey. If it's too dangerous, don't rush to retrieve it."

"If you encounter cultivators from the Western Wilderness barbarians, you must refrain from attacking."

Shen Yuan pondered for a moment before speaking.

Hundred Beasts Mountain has already made its statement; if they abide by this rule, the Shen family will still have some breathing room.

If it really provokes their Nascent Soul Realm experts to take action, things will get complicated.

"Don't worry, Father."

Shen Wen'an stood up, cupped his hands in greeting, and then flew towards the depths of Hidden Dragon Mountain on his sword.

After arriving at the front line in the mountains and meeting Shen Chongming, he inquired about the location of the poisonous miasma forest and then went directly to it.

Looking at the dense, impenetrable miasma before him, Shen Wen'an frowned slightly.

He immediately took out a pill from his storage bag and put it under his tongue.

This is the simplest antidote, which can be refined by any alchemy apprentice, and almost every cultivator keeps some on hand.

With the antidote in his mouth, Shen Wen'an strode into the depths of the poisonous miasma.

sand!
rustle!

As you stroll through the poisonous miasma, you can hear a faint rustling sound from time to time, as if something is crawling quickly along the ground.

Shen Wen'an released his divine sense to scan the surroundings, and seeing that they were just some small centipedes that had not yet grown into anything, he was too lazy to take action.

He had already sensed the chilling aura that Shen Chongming had mentioned, so he headed straight for that place.

As they ventured deeper, the surrounding poisonous miasma became even denser, and even began to display eerie, mottled colors.

Shen Wen'an frowned, and the sword energy within his body surged, immediately forming a cyan protective shield on his body surface.

The poisonous miasma here is potent enough to threaten cultivators, and ordinary antidotes are not very effective.

Just to be on the safe side, he decided it would be better to use the power of his sword essence to isolate the poisonous miasma.

despair!
despair!
……

The decaying leaves underfoot, eroded by rain over the years and deprived of sunlight, had long since turned into mud, emitting a nauseating stench.

Shen Wen'an stomped on a short centipede that had rushed up to him without thinking, and a small hill appeared in his blurry vision.

The small hill was about several tens of feet in circumference, and hundreds of giant centipedes of all sizes were crawling around it.

As he appeared, all the centipedes stared at him with icy eyes.

After glancing at the centipedes, Shen Wen'an's gaze went straight past them to the top of the small hill.

A larger centipede was coiled up on top.

"squeak!"

Meeting Shen Wen'an's gaze, the giant centipede on the top of the hill, which was four or five zhang long, immediately raised its head like a guard dog protecting its prey and let out a sharp screech at him!
"Peak of Qi Refining..."

Sensing the aura of the giant centipede in front of him, Shen Wen'an murmured something, his mind stirring slightly.

hum!
The three-inch Dragon Soul Magic Sword suddenly appeared before me, with streaks of sword energy emanating from it.

The giant centipede seemed to sense a danger, its massive body becoming restless, yet it still couldn't bear to leave the top of the mound.

Upon seeing this, Shen Wen'an narrowed his eyes and looked at the central area where its body was coiled.

A strange plant appeared and disappeared amidst the poisonous miasma.

The plant was no more than a foot tall, with roots and stems that were purple, red and white, and only two thick leaves the size of a palm at the top. It had no flowers and no fruit.

Is that what this beast wants to protect?
Shen Wen'an walked forward slowly.

With each step he took, the poisonous centipedes around the mound would stir and shriek.

However, because of the aura of the Fetal Breathing Realm emanating from it, they dared not launch an attack easily.

When he arrived at a spot about ten feet away from the mound, the giant centipedes had already surrounded him. Although they were all afraid of the aura emanating from him, they seemed to have reached their limit.

They would swarm him if he took just one more step forward.

The largest centipede leader at the top of the mound raised its head, displaying its body covered with strange patterns, and shrieked repeatedly, as if asserting its dominance.

Shen Wen'an frowned, and just as he was about to kill all these demons, he suddenly seemed to sense a strange divine consciousness trying to contact him.

He glanced at the centipede leader with a puzzled look and finally confirmed that the faint spiritual connection was coming from the other party.

"Can you understand me?"

Shen Wen'an spoke in a deep voice.

The giant centipede leader immediately began nodding its head frantically.

Seeing this, Shen Wen'an found it rather strange.

He had heard his master, Pei Zhao, say that most spirits and monsters do not have special opportunities and can only communicate with humans with their divine sense when they reach the late stage of the Fetal Breathing Realm.

A few exceptional beings, or those enlightened by masters, can refine their transverse bones at the Fetal Breathing Realm, speak human language, shed their fur, and transform into human form, but will still retain some beast-like characteristics.

To fully transform into human form, one must achieve the Golden Core Dao.

The centipede leader before me, though only at the peak of Qi Refining, had already developed sentience and knew how to communicate with me using divine sense. It was truly strange.

"What kind of treasure is this?"

Shen Wen'an thought for a moment and then spoke.

After the centipede leader gestured and then provided a jumbled description using his divine sense, Shen Wen'an roughly understood what it wanted to say.

It was a poisonous plant that had been guarding this place for a hundred years.

This poisonous plant originally had seven leaves, five of which it had already eaten, and the remaining two were not yet mature.

The centipede leader's divine sense surged wildly, essentially saying that this thing was useless against cultivators and pleading with Shen Wen'an to show mercy.

Shen Wen'an naturally wouldn't easily believe its words, and carefully examined the strange plant with his divine sense.

The aura emanating from that thing was indeed so cold and unsettling.

Even if he managed to take it back, it probably wouldn't be of much use. More importantly, upon learning that the centipede leader could understand human speech and communicate with people, he had other ideas in mind.

"It's not impossible for me to let you go."

Shen Wen'an calmly said, "This mountain forest belongs to my Shen family. If you pledge allegiance to my Shen family, I can spare your life and let you lead your descendants to guard this place."

"If you agree, I will leave this treasure to you."

"Otherwise, I will raze this place to the ground to prevent future troubles."

As he spoke, a sharp sword aura emanated from his body, instantly dispelling the surrounding colorful poisonous miasma!

Sensing the aura containing pure killing intent, a look of horror flashed across the compound eyes on both sides of the centipede leader's head.

The aura of these two-legged beasts is terrifying!

As a demon beast, it only gained intelligence by chance at the peak of Qi Refining.

But even this meager wisdom allowed it to understand a principle.

The strong are respected.

The two-legged creature was stronger than him. If he agreed to its request, he and his descendants could not only live peacefully in this poisonous miasma, but also seek help from the two-legged creature if they encountered other enemies.

More importantly, it can also save that treasure.

If he didn't agree... the centipede leader felt a chill run down his spine, as if he dared not imagine what would happen if he refused Shen Wen'an.

While his simple thought process was still considering gains and losses, Shen Wen'an had already lost patience.

"Don't agree?"

Upon hearing this, the centipede leader dared not hesitate any longer and hurriedly nodded his head.

Upon seeing this, Shen Wen'an nodded slightly.

"If that's the case, you should wait here. If any members of the Shen family come here seeking help, you must do everything in your power to help them repel the enemy."

As he spoke, he used the power of his sword to draw the emblem of the Shen family in the air, saying, "Let your insect offspring see this clearly. This is the emblem of my Shen family. If you encounter it, you should know what to do."

“Even if you are not a member of the Shen family, you must fulfill your responsibilities.”

"Of course, if you encounter any danger, I will also step in to help you resolve it."

The centipede leader nodded frantically.

That's exactly what it wants.

With a powerful human cultivator protecting it, it felt much safer.

Shen Wen'an reached out and grabbed a rusty broken sword from the ground, then infused it with a wisp of sword energy and sealed it inside.

"If you encounter danger, you can break this broken sword. I will sense it and come to your aid."

As he tossed the broken sword to the centipede leader, Shen Wen'an sighed inwardly. Back in Qiyun Valley, he had only focused on cultivating his swordsmanship and had forgotten to ask his master if there were any spiritual techniques or spells that could tame and subdue demonic beasts like those in Hundred Beast Mountain.

For now, he could only forcefully intimidate the centipede leader with his strength. If the leader truly harbored rebellious intentions, he would have no choice but to kill him.

After leaving the area, Shen Wen'an returned to the front line in the mountains.

Shen Chongming hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Third Uncle, are there any treasures inside?"

Shen Wen'an nodded: "There is an unknown poisonous herb."

Poisonous weeds?

Shen Chongming looked somewhat disappointed upon hearing this; he had thought there might be some powerful spiritual treasures inside.

"Don't be discouraged, this trip wasn't without its rewards." Shen Wen'an said, "There is a centipede leader in that poisonous miasma who is at the peak of the Qi Refining realm, as well as dozens of other poisonous miasma centipedes that have also reached the Qi Refining realm."

"My third uncle has already reached an agreement with the centipede leader, and it has agreed to submit to our Shen family."

"If you encounter trouble in the future, you can ask it for help."

Shen Chongming was stunned when he heard this.

He had personally witnessed the terror of that poisonous centipede.

With over a hundred of them deployed, they devoured more than ten barbarian cultivators into a pile of broken bones in just a dozen breaths.

Who would have thought that Uncle Three would be able to subdue them?
"Go and find some jade slips."

Seeing Shen Chongming looking at him with such admiration, Shen Wen'an forced a smile and spoke.

"Third Uncle, please wait a moment!"

Shen Chongming hurriedly ran into the wooden house and found some jade slips.

Shen Wen'an infused each of them with a wisp of sword energy and said, "You carry the aura of my Shen family; the centipede leader should be able to sense it."

"If anyone else wants to ask it for help, they can bring this jade slip with them. It contains my sword energy, and it will be able to recognize it when it sees it."

Shen Chongming nodded repeatedly.

"Your third uncle is gone. Take good care of yourself."

Looking at his ten-year-old nephew, who had to guard the most dangerous place for the Shen family, Shen Wen'an felt very uncomfortable.

But there's nothing we can do right now.

If he dares to make a move, all the embryonic beings from Hundred Beasts Mountain will surely be mobilized.

At that time, the Shen family will be in even greater danger.

Their strength is still not enough.

At that moment, a thought suddenly popped into Shen Wen'an's mind.

Having embarked on cultivation for over a decade, he never cultivated solely for the sake of strength. Instead, he systematically practiced swordsmanship, naturally breaking through to the realm of embryonic breathing.

The thought that suddenly popped into his mind made him feel that his previous sense of clarity regarding the sword had been slightly affected.

He handed the jade slip to Shen Chongming, who didn't say anything and simply flew away on his sword.

Inside the Blackwater Pavilion, Shen Wen'an returned to the second floor and sat down cross-legged.

Within his dantian, the golden sword embryo floated silently.

Looking inward at the sword embryo, his turbulent state of mind gradually returned to calm.

purely……

Shen Wen'an suddenly had a sudden realization.

I need to have a pure heart, just like always.

Otherwise, it will be difficult to achieve a flawless sword mind in the future.

Thinking about this, he vaguely understood that this might be the most difficult hurdle for sword cultivators to overcome.

(End of this chapter)