The Wandering Immortal

Chapter 59 Finding a needle in a haystack
Shennong Peak has been quite lively these past few months. First, the Taiyi Sect sent over a hundred Golden Core cultivators to surround the Immortal Market, leaving no stone unturned.

The Golden Core cultivator from Laoshan woke up, and the Taiyi Sect demanded that he describe the murderer's features. However, having already received strict orders from the sect, he only said that he hadn't seen clearly and that it was possible that a Nascent Soul cultivator had made the move. The two of them didn't even have time to react.

They couldn't very well say that two Foundation Establishment cultivators had taken care of them; that would be too embarrassing.

The Taiyi Sect naturally sent Nascent Soul cultivators to investigate the scene, but there was no sign of a Nascent Soul cultivator making a move. The Nascent Soul rogue cultivator from Wanmiaoxuan also confirmed that it could not have been a Nascent Soul cultivator. Although the explosion was intense, it was only at the Golden Core level.

As for why one of the two Golden Core cultivators died and the other was seriously injured, no one could explain it clearly. After three months of investigation, the matter remained unresolved.

The two Pill Kings, Mo Qiuren and Zhang Xuanyong, visited Wanmiaoxuan again, exchanged a few words, and then left.

Old Mo naturally wouldn't take out the new Foundation Establishment Pill. He had secretly crushed one, trying to figure out what herb had replaced the rare ingredient, but to no avail.

Originally, alchemy involves extracting and fusing the effective components of herbs; one cannot deduce the herbs from the resulting pill.

Wan Miaoxuan had naturally tried to track down the VIP plaque, but there was no response; it must have been destroyed.

All that is known about the Golden Elixir of Laoshan is that it was a man and a woman, the man was in the early stage of Foundation Establishment and the woman was in the late stage of Foundation Establishment, and both of them had changed their appearance.

The battle was extremely short. The man used water-based techniques and possessed extremely powerful Ice Soul Divine Ability, while the woman used wood-based techniques and could also release a fire-based red lotus.

Zhang Xuanyong expressed his confusion, "It's not surprising that a late-stage Foundation Establishment alchemist is proficient in wood and fire techniques, but it's absolutely impossible for an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator to injure a Golden Core cultivator with ice techniques. Our Laoshan Dao Sect is based on water techniques, don't you understand that, kid?"

The Golden Elixir of Laoshan was speechless; it was impossible to explain.

The secret agents of Laoshan Hall received an order to investigate a man and a woman, around thirty years old, who were likely rogue cultivators. The man practiced water-based techniques, and the woman was a wood-fire alchemist, possibly at the late Foundation Establishment stage or early Golden Core stage.

The undercover agents were dumbfounded when they received the order. How were they supposed to investigate this? Wasn't this like looking for a needle in a haystack?

If you can't even tell if someone is hiding their cultivation level, then what you see is obviously an illusion. Cultivation techniques are even less reliable as a basis for judgment. When the Laoshan Hall of Affairs is on official business, they never reveal their water-based supernatural abilities to avoid being investigated. This is common sense.

But even with such vague information, some people still make the correct connections.

At this time, Shen Wangzhi had already formed his Golden Core. He invited a few friends to get together, including Liu Caiwei, Li Shouzhong, and Zhang Chi. Naturally, they were still in Shennongding Immortal City.

Such a big thing happened at Shennong Peak. As the news spread, all that was known was that two Foundation Establishment cultivators defeated two Golden Core cultivators, killing one instantly and severely injuring the other.

If the secret agents of Laoshan Hall wanted to pursue them, they would have to inquire in private. One of them was a male cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage who was skilled in ice magic, and the other was a female cultivator at the wood element who was skilled in fire magic.

Zhang Chi was the kind of person who didn't think much of things. When he heard about this at the teahouse, his expression changed drastically. Li Shouzhong glared at him, and only then did Zhang Chi realize what was happening. Fortunately, no one paid any attention to them.

Shen Wangzhi and Liu Caiwei were even more deeply impressed, and immediately thought of Guan Canghai and Cui Qinghe. The two exchanged only a glance and remained silent.

Shen Wangzhi left a talisman for Guan Canghai. Whether he left it or not, he certainly wouldn't dare to contact him now and would just pretend nothing happened.

If Jiang Yuan wants to form a golden core, he needs to open at least seven or eight acupoints; otherwise, his magical power will be insufficient. Without spirit stones to open a spirit-gathering array, he will need to cultivate diligently for at least five years.

Qinghe was able to do it faster, so Jiang Yuan used all those tens of thousands of spirit stones on Qinghe to first raise her cultivation to the late Foundation Establishment stage.

With the essence of that seventh-level flower fairy, one should be able to form a golden core in one fell swoop.

The flower fairy's soul was trapped in the red thread and wouldn't dissipate anytime soon. However, he dared not release it now, as without the cultivation of a Golden Core cultivator, it was impossible to place a restriction on it. Jiang Yuan pondered that obtaining opportunities from ghosts and spirits twice in a row was quite strange. Could it be because he too had been reborn into a different body?
Although the little devil swallowed the dragon, its intelligence was too low. It needed to be nourished with soul-nourishing wood for a period of time to awaken its potential before it could cultivate on its own.

The flower fairy hasn't had time to take human form yet, so her soul must be incomplete. She also needs the nourishing wood to nurture her soul, otherwise, over time, her soul will inevitably be scattered.

The Soul-Summoning Banner can indeed lock away souls, but should I refine a Soul-Summoning Banner artifact? That thing is the mark of ghost cultivators and demon cultivators; if I go out in the future, I'll be beaten to death by a mob. Absolutely not.

Two more years passed, and Qinghe finally achieved the late stage of Foundation Establishment.

Jiang Yuan instructed her to retrieve the flower demon's main branch and refine and absorb the wood-elemental essence within it.

Tree and flower spirits are more difficult to cultivate than demonic beasts. They usually take thousands of years to develop intelligence, and they cannot leave their original body before they take human form.

If Jiang Yuan and the others hadn't broken in, the flower demon would surely have been able to transform and escape in a few hundred years.

Although the flower branch was slender, the wood element essence it contained was quite rich, comparable to a level seven demon core.

Having absorbed the essence of the flower fairy, Qinghe could easily form a golden core, but Jiang Yuan was more concerned about whether Qinghe could obtain the flower fairy's wind-based supernatural powers.

The wind-based supernatural power cultivated by wood-type spirits by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is fundamentally different from the golden wind supernatural power generated by metal-type sword cultivators through acupoints.

The characteristic of Metal Wind is the swift and sharp power of the Five Elements, while Wood Wind is the power of Yin and Yang of Heaven and Earth that transcends the Five Elements, and has greater potential.

This process was undoubtedly extremely dangerous, but Qinghe was a person with extraordinary luck. After three months of hard work in refining, she finally absorbed most of the flower fairy's essence and began to condense her golden core.

At this time, Qinghe's two spiritual veins, Jia Wood and Yi Wood, had opened a total of forty-two acupoints, which was quite remarkable. However, the fire spiritual vein had only opened one acupoint, the right hand Shenmen acupoint. This was the result of deliberate control over the years.

Single-attribute spiritual veins are the easiest to successfully form a core. That little bit of fire-type spiritual power is at most like a single red flower in a sea of ​​green, which is not a big deal.

The formation of the Golden Core inevitably involves inner demons and tribulations. Jiang Yuan had only mentioned this to Qing He briefly, warning her not to get lost in illusions, as saying too much would be counterproductive.

Even if the core is formed in a spiritual spring ten miles underground, there will still be strong celestial phenomena in the sky above the Five Ridges, which cannot be concealed.

Jiang Yuan then told Lao Lu to empty the cave and take Jing Xuan on a trip for a while.

If a high-level cultivator passing by were to witness the Core Formation phenomenon, this cave dwelling might not be able to be preserved.

Old Lu naturally knew the gravity of the situation; staying here wouldn't help Qinghe at all, so he might as well go out for a stroll.

Jiang Yuan gave all the dozens of bottles of third-tier pills he had accumulated over the years to Lao Lu, asking him to sell them in the Immortal Market. That would amount to tens of thousands of spirit stones.

Old Lu took the pills, but he never dared to bring the Earth Core Emulsion and the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Ember Wood, leaving Jiang Yuan to figure out how to deal with them.

Jiang Yuan admired Lao Lu's open-mindedness; only by not being greedy can one live a long life.

While Qinghe was in seclusion forming her core, Jiang Yuan repeatedly ventured beneath the spiritual spring to harvest the ancient, submerged wood, fearing that once the cave was discovered, he would never be able to obtain it again.

(End of this chapter)