Rising from Small Cloud Rain Technique

The Stone Turtle naturally wouldn’t answer Ji An’s question; if it really did, he would probably be scared to death.

At this moment, he noticed the Eight Trigrams Pattern on the turtle’s back pulsating with spirit light, as if breathing.

The space began to change, the frequency of lightning and thunder outside the gray fog decreased, and the Gang Wind became a bit smaller.

The yellow sand on the ground seemed to gain some vitality, and a spring appeared, flowing with muddy water.

However, the spring quickly disappeared into the Desert Sea, and Ji An felt a swirl, with his Divine Sense returning to his body.

His heart pounded like a drum being struck by a giant hammer, thumping non-stop; the space, the lightning, all indicated that the Gourd Stone might be the World Core!

’Something’s wrong; if it is the World Core, why did it appear in the hands of a few Earth Evil Sect disciples? If it’s truly the World Core, how could that old monster Netherworld True Monarch not discover it?’

The initial joy in his heart slowly dissipated, and Ji An couldn’t fathom the reason for all of this.

He probed his Divine Sense into the Gourd Stone, only to find it was still pitch black and empty inside.

Ji An couldn’t help feeling embarrassed; without the Stone Turtle, he couldn’t possibly have entered it on his own, nor discover the internal space.

He gained a new understanding of the Stone Turtle’s strength, ’What other abilities are you hiding, little guy?’

He immediately introspected his Dantian, seeing the Stone Turtle still calmly resting inside, unmoving.

Connecting his mind with the Stone Turtle, characters like brush strokes emerged in his Sea of Consciousness, allowing him to roughly understand what had happened through changes in the Spiritual Mechanism’s values.

[Master: Ji An]

[Dao Rhyme: 0]

[Spiritual Mechanism: 0]

’Damn, what’s going on!’

Ji An was dumbfounded; he initially thought the Stone Turtle could absorb spiritual energy, but ended up getting nothing, and even lost a lot; both Dao Rhyme and Spiritual Mechanism reset to zero.

If he knew it would turn out like this, he surely would have used the Spiritual Mechanism to first enhance various escape techniques.

Unfortunately, life doesn’t allow foreknowledge; he sighed helplessly.

At this moment, Ji An vaguely understood, this space should be incomplete, so the Stone Turtle utilized resources to repair its Great Dao Law.

’I wonder how long it will take to stabilize this space and truly make it mine!’

’Can it hold living things inside?’

His thoughts wandered unconsciously, then suddenly shook his head after a moment.

Now is not the time to think about these things; at this moment, the responsibility is to properly ensure guardianship.

...

Two double hours later, the sky was dazzling with countless stars, brightening the deep night.

Ji An and his companion left the cave, riding a cloud through the canyon in search of a place to settle.

They found a sheltered hollow amid steep ridges and descended there.

Night searching is too challenging and it’s unclear what conditions are like here, so they decided to find a more suitable place come morning.

At midnight, a wailing wind erupted from countless caves, like the wailing of thousands of souls, with a chilling cold spreading from all directions.

Ji An noticed a layer of white frost forming on the rocks.

The ghostly wind blew for about a double hour before gradually dispersing, and Han Yan exhaled and said:

”The sound was really horrifying; I felt my mind was shaken, and fear seeped into my body with the cold wind through my pores.”

She woke from meditation, startled when the wailing wind arose, unease rising within her.

Ji An nodded slightly, ”Indeed, the wind sounds peculiar, seemingly having the power to shake the Spirit Soul.

However, by condensing my Divine Sense to resist it, I felt it actually had the effect of tempering the Spirit Soul.”

Han Yan was surprised, ”Junior brother, that’s a brilliant idea, turning calamity into resource, impressive.”

While they were talking, they suddenly felt a sound of the air being cut overhead; Ji An looked up to see a bat the size of a millstone rushing down with bared fangs.

He sensed it was a demon beast at the late-stage Qi Refining level, and couldn’t help but smile wryly, instinctively pinching the Geng Metal Spirit-Slaying Sword.

A silver light flashed, and the head and neck of the bat demon beast parted, the wound withered quickly as if burned, without any trace of blood.

After this small incident, the two of them each released the Golden Feathered Eagle to guard them, encountering no more demon beasts with poor judgment.

...

In the morning, sunlight shone into the Qianren Mountains, the peaks draped in golden robes.

Ji An and his companion stood atop a mountain peak, preparing to consume Five Elements Qi.

After a moment, Han Yan smiled and said:

”I absorbed five wisps of Qi; what about you, Junior Brother?”

”Haha, I absorbed seven wisps of Qi.”

”Not bad at all; just one mountain can provide us with so much Earth Qi of Wu, increasing the efficiency of consuming Qi.

By the way, I still don’t know how much Five Elements Qi you can consume in a day at most, could you share?”

Han Yan wanted to calculate their gap, deeply realizing her own weakness from recent battles.

”Eighteen wisps.”

Ji An reported a relatively conservative number; his limit was twenty-two wisps, but by only consuming eighteen wisps, he could engage in high-intensity combat for a while longer.

In the wild, unlike staying in the sect, one must maintain a certain state to respond to sudden situations.

Upon hearing this answer, Han Yan remained silent. Qi Eating consumes a lot of Divine Sense, and her Divine Sense can only synthesize fourteen strands of Wood Element Qi.

To maintain combat readiness, she could synthesize a maximum of twelve strands per day.

Each day, she was six strands behind the other party; over time, the gap would only widen.

”It seems I’ve become a drag on my junior brother.”

Han Yan’s smile was somewhat unnatural. When the two of them traveled together, even though his Earth Element Divine Mansion core was perfected, he didn’t abandon her to return to the Sect alone.

In the Sect, she was a respected Alchemist, but outside, she became a burden.

”Haha, what are you talking about, Senior Sister? Cultivators have different talents. Your alchemy skills are unmatched in the Sect, while I just have naturally powerful Spirit Soul.”

Ji An comforted her, vaguely understanding the disparity she felt in her heart, so he changed the topic:

”Senior Sister, shall we switch to another mountain to absorb the Earth Qi of Wu?”

”Sounds good,” Han Yan responded as they rode on clouds and flew away.

Ji An absorbed two more strands of Qi as they started looking for a secluded valley. After absorbing the Qi of Ji Earth, the harmony of Wu and Ji created strands of Earth Element Qi absorbed by the Divine Mansion core.

Han Yan looked up, seeing only a narrow strip of sky with a faint glimpse of the sun. She chuckled lightly and said:

”At this moment, I suddenly feel like a frog looking up at the sky from the bottom of a well, realizing my own insignificance.”

”One’s state of mind is greatly influenced by their surroundings; when you’re flying on clouds and overlooking the mountains, such feelings won’t appear.”

”Haha, my junior brother speaks truly. At that time, my state of mind was such that grasping the clouds and the moon was as easy as casual play.”

Ji An laughed in agreement, saying:

”This mountain range is called Qianren Mountain; you can see there are many peaks.

Judging by the concentration of Spiritual Qi, the Spiritual Vein here is only Tier Two Middle Grade, and even if there are some Demon Beasts, they are merely at the First and Second Transformations of the Chao Origin Stage.

With so many peaks and secluded valleys, it’s enough for us to absorb the Five Elements Qi here.

Today, let’s simply overlook the mountains and survey the position of each mountain, setting a route for Qi Eating; what do you think?”

”Well, but I don’t want to spend the night in this mountain range today.

Why don’t we find a place outside to set up a dwelling, enter in the morning to absorb the Qi, and return with the night wind, wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

In the night, all the mountains and valleys echoed with ghostly cries, which always unnerved Han Yan.

Ji An slightly frowned and said:

”If we set up a dwelling outside, we’ll inevitably encounter passing cultivators.

Even though we are thousands of miles away from the Earth Evil Sect’s territory, should we coincidentally encounter their cultivators, it wouldn’t be good.”

In his view, it was better to avoid potential troubles and quickly strengthen the Earth Element Divine Mansion in these vast mountains.

Those Earth Evil Sect cultivators ambushed them, so there might be undetectable markers on them.

At the mention of the Earth Evil Sect, Han Yan’s expression immediately became much more serious, and she nodded solemnly:

”My junior brother is right; why don’t we hide in the mountains for two years, then look for a secluded place outside?”

Ji An smiled; Senior Sister still had an aversion to spending the night deep in the mountains.

He tapped the Grotto Void Stone pendant under his collarbone and said:

”Senior Sister, before leaving the Sect, I had a set of miniature Defense Arrays made, capable of covering an area five meters around.

We can adjust the intensity of outside noise reaching us through the Array Disc, allowing us to find a suitable place along the Qi Eating route to carve out a Grotto Mansion.”

In this way, the noises of the whistling undercurrents at midnight would be largely sheltered.

”Junior Brother, you are well-prepared; let’s do it this way.”

Two red Auspicious Clouds rose and sped among the myriad peaks and valleys.

...

In the mountains, there is no reckoning of time, and ten years passed mercurially like smoke.

In the secluded valley, Ji An pursed his lips like a tube, with his tongue slightly curled upward, emitting a ”hu” sound.

Once the turbid Qi in his spleen was expelled, his body instinctively inhaled.

A strand of Qi of Ji Earth was swallowed into his mouth, naturally swallowed down, and flowed into the spleen through the Immortal Vein.

The harmonious blending of Yin and Yang forces of Wu and Ji Earth resulted in a fusion, causing the illusionary Earth Element Divine Mansion core to shine brightly, expanding and merging with the spleen.

Simultaneously, Ji An’s mouth opened by instinct, drawing in the surrounding nature’s spiritual energy as mighty as a whale sucking water, emitting a powerful Spiritual Pressure spreading all around, like a tidal wave.

A droplet of yellow Earth Element Spirit Liquid formed in the spleen, flowing into the Dantian through the Immortal Vein.

The crystal-clear Spirit Liquid dropped precisely onto the Primordial Life Fire.

It penetrated the black Spirit Flame, the silvery-white Spirit Flame, and as it entered the third layer of Spirit Flame, it exploded suddenly, and the yellow flames instantly expanded a circle.

The light flickered, rendering the Dantian a colorful view.

While in the midst of Qi Eating, Han Yan was startled awake by the released Spiritual Pressure, covering her little mouth with her hand.

Broke through?!

Joy welled up in her heart; from now on, she would have a companion at the Fourth Transformation of the Chao Origin Stage by her side.

A cultivator’s Cultivation improvement implies an increase in Spiritual Strength, a considerably higher total of Magical Power stored within, and even an improvement in the quality of that power.

It is an all-round enhancement, which is why with higher levels of cultivation, even a gap in a small realm can suffocate opponents.

This phenomenon becomes more evident starting at the Golden Core Stage, and by the Nascent Soul Stage level, surpassing a small realm results in comprehensive dominance unless various external aids are used to bridge the gap.