Bamboo Mound

The disciple quickly brought back the pills, which were neatly arranged on the counter.

Ning Chang waved his hand to accept all the medicine bottles and jade tokens, not paying attention to his disciple's actions. He turned and left the square, taking a fourth-grade Rejuvenation Pill halfway there.

In an instant, the pill transformed into a powerful life force, autonomously surging through his lower limbs!

The medicinal power of this fourth-order Rejuvenation Pill was far superior to that of a third-order Rejuvenation Pill. One pill was equivalent to more than ten pills. In just a few breaths, it completely reshaped his legs. Nearly half of the medicinal power remained, circulating throughout his body several times before finally dissipating.

"The fifty bottles of Rejuvenation Pills I exchanged this time should be enough for me to reach the peak of the Fetal Heart stage. Even if that doesn't work, I'll definitely reach the sixth or seventh level of the Fetal Heart stage. Two pills can restore my entire body once. After all, I don't fight often, and most of my injuries are self-inflicted."

With his legs restored, he immediately activated the Azure Cloud Steps and quickly returned to the valley.

Looking at the black, rotting fibers covering the mountainside, Ning Chang suddenly felt a bit overwhelmed.

These humus materials definitely need to be treated, otherwise they will affect the bamboo forest that will regrow later. However, there are no conditions for deep tilling in these areas, as the soil layer is not far below hard rocks.

As for digging separate pits and then burying them all together, he couldn't possibly collect all that decaying matter, or rather, he didn't want to.

"Then... burn it. After burning, turn the soil over, then scatter some weeds to decompose it, and plant the green bamboo a year or two later."

Having made up his mind, he immediately dug out a firebreak outside the area to prevent the flames from spreading to other hills. Then, he hastily learned about the Five Elements and activated the fire element to ignite the decaying matter.

When the Green Bamboo dies, it turns directly into dry powder. At this moment, it has only retained its approximate shape due to the withering and growth process. It also has little moisture, so it will catch fire easily.

Soon, the raging fire engulfed the entire mountaintop. It was dusk, and together with the sunset, it painted the entire sky crimson. Thick smoke billowed, blotting out the sun... at least from the direction of the three sects, it completely blocked out the sun...

This change immediately alarmed the people of the weapon-refining workshop and the Medicine King Valley, and within moments, several Lingtai disciples were sent to observe the situation.

Left with no other choice, Ning Chang rushed forward to explain before the two sides could take action, promising that the fire would not affect areas outside this zone, thus allowing the wildfire to continue burning.

However, the fire lasted much longer than he expected, burning fiercely for more than ten days before finally coming to an end!

This was after he manually intervened halfway through. The decaying matter covering the mountain was like charcoal. After burning fiercely for a while, the flames subsided, and it continued to emit dazzling light and heat in a reddish-brown form!

Moreover, only the surface layer participated in the burning. In the lower layer close to the ground, half of the corrosive material did not even participate in the initial burning and still retains its initial form!

After he turned over the corrupted material piece by piece, the hilltop reignited until it was completely consumed.

When the time was right, he thoroughly searched the entire mountain and exchanged a bunch of grass seeds from the exchange hall. With the spiritual rain, he sprinkled them down, and the dusty mountain instantly turned green again.

"Then we just have to wait for it to degrade naturally, which won't be a short time. Let's set up camp somewhere else first."

Finally, after covering the waste pit that was still burning in the valley, Ning Chang hastily found a flat spot nearby and settled down there.

This danger did not interrupt his research; he still had some questions to verify regarding withering growth.

However, before clarifying all the potential risks, he would not allow the bamboo forest to grow on a large scale, but simply encouraged the growth of a small clump as an observation case for the experiment.

When he tried to restart the withered growth program, his operation became somewhat clumsy due to the several-day hiatus. It took him more than ten attempts to successfully take over.

This time he was prepared, placing the spirit core several meters away. However, the moment the replacement was successful, the corruption invaded his body just like last time, but not as severely. It only started from the outside and progressed very slowly.

Moreover, since he activated the Heavenly Origin Spirit early on, the initial effects were negligible. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he focused on verifying his ideas.

After several attempts, the results were ultimately unsatisfactory. The moment the spirit core connected with the withered and growing green bamboo, his connection with the spirit core would be affected, and his commands could not be transmitted. Although spiritual power could be transmitted, it was of little use.

Only after several experiments were completed did he shake his head, take a third-tier Rejuvenation Pill, and repair his slightly damaged body.

"In other words, it can be used alone, but it cannot be used in parallel with the main body, and it also requires such a large proportion of spiritual energy that is not easy to recover."

Now, his main attack methods, whether it's bamboo leaves or the Azure Bamboo swarm controlled by his spirit core, all consume spiritual energy that is attached to the body and can ultimately be returned to his body without loss.

The withering growth process only uses spiritual energy to stimulate it, which cannot be recovered. The resulting product will also decay on its own and will not release the spiritual energy contained within it. It can be said to be a pure output.

"It can't be used as a permanent attack method, but compared to the main group system controlled by the spirit core, a fast startup speed is still very necessary. Let me think..."

"Hmm, then let's use it as a first move, quickly spawning a small amount of Azure Bamboo to defend against sudden attacks, and then block the enemy's position to buy time for the main group to activate... or in some places where large-scale attacks are not needed... no, that's not right, bamboo leaves will suffice for that, let's still use it as a first move to buy time."

The bamboo forest manipulated by the spirit core is indeed very fast in terms of offense, defense, or relocation, but it all depends on the mature bamboo that exists nearby. In places he has never set foot in, the battle still requires the bamboo to be regenerated.

"Next is the blood transplant; hopefully, it won't wither and die."

After disposing of the newly generated waste through deep burial, Ning Chang calmed himself down and then began practicing blood grafting.

He first took out several containers containing the meat of the Crimson-winged Horned Tiger, identified the markings on them, and then arranged them to the side according to their cultivation level.

He left only the container with the weakest internal flesh in his hand.

As soon as it was opened, a strong, pungent fishy smell instantly filled the air, making him almost vomit!

"Depend on!"

Nearly a month had passed, and he had forgotten the suffocatingly fishy smell of the Red-winged Horned Tiger meat, failing to take precautions in advance.

"When we were exchanging them, I was already wondering, damn, why is it so bloody? Did they not bleed it or what? How did the other disciples manage to use this stuff?"

Fortunately, it wasn't too late. He quickly circulated his spiritual power to form an invisible barrier on his face, with the ventilation holes extending into the sky to block the ominous stench before opening the wooden box again.