Chapter 893: Chapter 892: Half-Knowledge
Hou Niao was a bit confused, not knowing what he had encountered in the face of danger and opportunity.
Just one little green man had tormented him for an hour, consuming a lot of energy. Fortunately, after swallowing, he could still replenish the surplus. Otherwise, he didn’t know how he would proceed on this path.
He wasn’t one to retreat in the face of difficulty, so he continued forward, but more cautiously. In the Green Mist, his Golden Core divine sense was ineffective. If he relied solely on his eyes to search, it would be difficult to ensure he wouldn’t encounter the same strange creature again.
He now had a bit of understanding of what this thing feared, but he couldn’t be certain yet and needed more encounters. He needed to be cautious. One wasn’t a concern, but if a group came, he was afraid he couldn’t swallow them all.
Instead of moving in a straight line, he searched in a zigzag pattern. For someone like him, rich in combat experience, it was essential to master the skills to deal with these things before finding his senior sister; otherwise, he’d end up being a burden to her.
Soon, while dragging his search, he encountered a second monster, another little green man, but the details differed; for instance, it didn’t have two legs but a mass of tendrils, like an octopus.
But he knew it certainly wasn’t an octopus monster, more like a ginseng doll?
Once he understood the weaknesses of these things, dealing with them became simpler. Although these monsters were strong, their bodies nearly invincible, they had almost no combat experience. In the hands of an experienced fighter like him, it wasn’t hard to seize the opportunity to spit at them.
This time he consumed virtually nothing, and after he swallowed the ginseng doll whole, he replenished all the energy into his Golden Core. This method was even quicker than enduring long cultivation with the Thunder Whip. Most importantly, the energy of these little green men was pure and pristine, without a trace of impurity, providing great convenience for the cultivator’s absorption.
Days later, Hou Niao, cautiously, had encountered dozens of monsters along the way, still similar creatures, and by then, he had made his own judgment.
These things should be plant essences, possessing a certain level of intelligence. They mostly acted alone, though some moved in groups, but when grouped, moved slowly. In terms of threat, he was no longer very afraid of them and could handle a few at once because they shared a common trait: they feared saliva!
Actually, it wasn’t saliva they feared but rather the powerful digestion and decomposition ability in human saliva.
They feared being swallowed into a human’s stomach!
Considering the Medicine King Furnace as an Innate Spiritual Treasure, the origins of these things could be understood. They were certainly spirit plant medicinal herbs once refined by the Medicine King Furnace, but for some reason, they weren’t completely refined, leaving some residues?
According to Yue Duo, the Medicine King Furnace had belonged to an Immortal’s cauldron, the age of which could be imagined, starting from hundreds of thousands of years. The number of spirit plant medicinal herbs it had refined was countless, absolutely immeasurable. If his guess was correct, there wouldn’t be any need to imagine the number of these monsters in the Green Mist.
That was simply not something he could handle alone, not even when combined with other cultivators entering, all of whom couldn’t eliminate more than a fraction of these monsters.
These speculations didn’t have much practical use for his current situation. He still didn’t understand the intention of the Innate Spiritual Treasure. Was it bringing them in to eliminate these spirits? To increase the mana of the cultivators?
Could it really be that simple?
His instinct told him it wouldn’t be, but limited by his insight, he couldn’t think of much more because he lacked the historical accumulation of tens of thousands of years or even longer from the Daoist tradition. This wasn’t something that could be understood through simple words but required decades or even hundreds of years of accumulated reading, an opportunity he simply didn’t have.
However, based on the mindset of taking advantage of what was available, it was natural for him to improve his cultivation while advancing. Racing ahead was just an emotion; drawing in a large number of monsters surrounding him wouldn’t help. Being buried here before finding his senior sister would be the most foolish.
He also understood why the Medicine King Furnace didn’t allow all Hell Star cultivators to enter. For those of moderate strength who committed breaches, if they didn’t know this trick of spitting, it wouldn’t be impossible for them to be swallowed by the spirits, which was probably a common phenomenon.
It’s both for worry about the loss of offenders and because without merit, there is no reward. They were originally punished to atone for their sins here; how could they be given a chance to increase their cultivation? This wouldn’t align with the principles of the Innate Spiritual Treasure.
Realizing a lot, yet not understanding more, he only hoped to meet a visitor from the Upper Realm to see if they could shed light?
His current realm was in the mid-Golden Core stage, which had just been achieved after fifty years of accumulation. If measured by whether his Golden Core was full, it was about a little over thirty percent.
At the Foundation Establishment Stage, cultivators didn’t pay as much attention to their mana cultivation. They focused more on things like God Sensing and understanding of natural barriers. But upon reaching the Golden Core Realm, mana cultivation became central throughout the entire process, a crucial stage for laying the foundation for mana.
He had already been working hard, cultivating diligently for fifty years, strengthened even by the Thunder Whip. Nonetheless, he had just entered the mid-Golden Core, far from matching those Upper Realm talents.
For instance, Yue Duo, who, even without regular cultivation of her main technique, was already in the late Golden Core stage. She mentioned how those from the Daoist Sect, like Zhi Xuan, Rong Guang, and Hong Xiu, had all entered the late stage.
Though they all formed their cores around the same time, such a vast disparity left him hurt. Yue Duo told him that it wasn’t just his gap in the main cultivation technique and supplementary arrays but also because of the additional Purple Mansion in his Inner Secret. This made the cultivation path of Jinxiu cultivators slower compared to those outside.
Whether this was good or bad was hard to say, as Jinxiu’s cultivators’ highest realm was no more than the Nascent Soul. Such an influence didn’t seem significant. But if it were a normal Boundary Domain with a normal realm system, the influence would be substantial. Many would regret missing the Upper Realm time window for life. Yet this influence couldn’t be fully realized until Jinxiu’s Heaven and Earth Chains were unlocked.
In this context, the spiritual plant spirit monsters had special significance for helping him!
It could be said to be made to order for him!
The offenders couldn’t enter, so that was aside. Those who came in were so-called visitors from the Upper Realm. These people could be divided into two groups: one group was their twelve people, and another group was those who came in after them, their number unknown, estimated by Yue Duo to be at least over a hundred.
Among the dozen or so who came in with him, they were originally cultivating faster. In such an environment, although they benefitted, the Golden Core cultivation has a limit. Once they reached that limit, the help became tasteless.
As for the hundred or so who came later, there’s no need to mention; like Lou Yiren, they were all in the late Golden Core stage, even on the brink of the Nascent Soul when sent over, aiming to quickly form their Nascent Soul after entering Jinxiu. They had no need for further cultivation improvement.
Only for him, the environment became the best place to narrow the cultivation gap. While becoming the Nascent Soul wasn’t entirely dependent on cultivation; other more important reasons existed. But at least, after leaving here, his mana would no longer be a shortcoming in battle, and he would have time to shift focus from growing cultivation to other aspects.
Quite a nice place!