Chapter 80: The Formation of a Water Spirit

Chapter 80: The Formation of a Water Spirit

Chapter 80: The Thousand-pound Water Spirit Body

When Wei Zhong saw the spiritual energy cyclone rising, he knew that Xie Linghua had officially begun to build her foundation.

A huge amount of spiritual energy was poured into the training room. Xie Linghua endured the impact of this spiritual energy and groaned in pain...
The spiritual energy cyclone lasted for several days, and suddenly it collapsed in an instant and half dispersed.

Everyone on the island couldn't help but exclaim when they saw this.

Wei Zhong frowned and looked up into the air: "Is this a failure?"

'Although I prepared a top-grade foundation-building pill for it and used many spiritual objects to consolidate its foundation, it still failed in the end.'

To be honest, Xie Linghua's aptitude is not much better than his own. She only has three spiritual roots, and all of them are of low quality.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the other party's failure, and the other is the heart of pursuing the Tao.

After all, he had practiced under Wei Zhong's protection for most of his life, and facing the hurdle of foundation building alone lacked the bloodiness and decisiveness that a cultivator should have.

Waving his sleeves and pushing open the door of the training room, Wei Zhong felt a little distressed when he saw Xie Linghua collapsed on the ground with blood flowing from the corner of her mouth.

He helped him up and stuffed a pill into his mouth.

"master······"

Seeing the guilt in his eyes, Wei Zhong shook his head to indicate that he didn't need to say more.

"It's just a failure. Take good care of yourself and there will be another chance in the future."

The latter nodded, but no longer dared to look into Wei Zhong's eyes, knowing that the other party was still immersed in the guilt after failing to build his foundation.

Helping the other person to the bedroom to rest, Wei Zhong took out many recuperation items.

"Ling'er, have a good rest," Wei Zhong lifted her hair from her forehead, stroked her cheek and said, "You don't have to worry about the island's affairs anymore, just focus on taking care of your body."

"If you feel bored, you can take Jiucai out to relax. Don't worry too much about the foundation building, it's just a small hurdle on the way of cultivation.

Even Li Haowen, who had a mid-level spiritual root, failed once. With me as your backer, you still have many opportunities, Ling'er."

Despite Wei Zhong's efforts to persuade her, Xie Linghua still looked gloomy.

Wei Zhong had no choice but to flick his forehead with his fingertips and said, "Don't think too much."

After settling Xie Linghua down, Wei Zhong called over the three people who were in charge of miscellaneous chores on the island and assigned all the tasks on the island to them.

This means that Xie Linghua no longer has to worry about the miscellaneous matters on Spiritual Island.

The three of them have been working on Yunxia Island for many years, and they can ensure the smooth operation of the spiritual island even without Xie Linghua.

Wei Zhong then contacted Ling Ziwei, who was somewhat regretful when she learned that Xie Linghua had failed in building her foundation.

"Why don't we let Sister Ling'er come with me to relax? If we continue to practice so hard, it will probably be difficult to achieve results in building the foundation next time."

Since the other party took the initiative to propose, Wei Zhong naturally had no reason to refuse and immediately agreed.

He promised to use spirit stones as a reward, but Ling Ziwei sternly refused.

He said that Xie Linghua was his sister, and helping her was his duty, and there was no reason for him to accept any reward from Wei Zhong.

On the second day, Ling Ziwei rushed to Yunxia Island and explained the whole story to Xie Linghua, with a hint of reluctance in her eyes.

Wei Zhong stepped forward and pinched the other person's cheek:
"Silly girl, don't worry, just go with your sister Ling to relax.

After all, I am a foundation-building cultivator, and I will not die without you.

All the affairs on Lingdao have been handed over to Tang Yanhong and the other two. You have been the chief steward for so many years, so you are well aware of their abilities..."

After some consolation, Xie Linghua finally nodded.

When leaving, Wei Zhong stuffed the Nine Colors into his hands.

Watching the two girls leave, Wei Zhong murmured:

"With this bird following closely and Ling Ziwei, who is in the late stage of foundation building, leading us, there shouldn't be any problem in keeping us safe along the way."

Wei Zhong closed his eyes and could still sense the location of the true seal in Jiucai's body.

It was not until the other party was a hundred miles away that Wei Zhong could barely sense the direction.

Jiucai is the spiritual beast that Wei Zhong contracted using the "True Seal Treasure Technique", and the connection between him and Wei Zhong is extremely close.

Not only can he determine the other party's location through the true seal, but when the other party is in crisis, Wei Zhong can also sense it and provide timely rescue.

As the two women left, Wei Zhong sighed and returned to the cave to begin practicing.

Wei Zhong didn't have much to do about Xie Linghua's foundation building. All he could do was to give her full support in terms of resources.

Since then, Yunxia Island has been missing the general manager Xie for several years, and Hu Zongfu, Zou Ruiyuan and Tang Yanhong, three subordinates of Wei Zhong, are in charge of Lingdao affairs.

A year later, Wei Zhong stopped practicing, but Xie Linghua returned.

Instead, two unexpected guests arrived.

The person was still wearing a red silk dress, and was followed by a long-legged female cultivator.

They were none other than Shan Qin and Miaoli Shan.

"Miss Shan, Senior Miao, long time no see," Wei Zhong saluted with a clenched fist and invited the two to sit in the pavilion at the edge of the cliff.

"Now I don't know whether I should call you Fellow Daoist Chu or Fellow Daoist Wei?" Shan Qin asked after sitting down.

Wei Zhong replied: "Please forgive me, Miss Shan. I had to hide my identity because I offended a powerful enemy in my early years. Now that I have come to Luohe Mansion, I have changed back to my original name."

"Haha, because you changed your name, we have to look for you carefully," Shan Qin said with a smile on her face, obviously just teasing and not blaming.

“If I hadn’t learned from Elder Yan that you were staying in Luohe Prefecture, and compared it with the information of independent cultivators renting the Spirit Island at that time, I would never have been able to find you, fellow Taoist.

What surprised me even more was that Fellow Daoist Wei not only had great accomplishments in making spirit wine, but he also became a second-class alchemist in just a few decades. This really impressed me."

At this point, Shan Qin's eyes showed a strange look, as if she regarded Wei Zhong as some kind of rare treasure.

"Haha, Miss Chengdan, that's a compliment. There are similarities between brewing wine and refining pills, and I'm willing to spend the spirit stones.

Most of the spiritual stones earned from the spiritual wine over the years have been invested in it, which has enabled me to make rapid progress in alchemy."

"Oh, fellow Daoist has made rapid progress in the way of alchemy, I wonder if you have made any breakthroughs in brewing skills in recent years?

You should know that fellow Daoist's second-level Qingluozui has made a big splash in Yunzhou City. It is on par with the Wang family's body-refining pills and has become the number one spiritual item needed by cultivators who are building their foundation and refining their bodies.

If you reveal your identity, I wonder how many Yuanying forces will try to win you over in Yunzhou City."

Wei Zhong probably knew that what the other party said was true, and the amount of spirit stones he got was not a small amount.

Moreover, the speed of accumulating contribution points is terrifying. In the past twenty years, there are only a handful of monks who have obtained nearly 7,000 contribution points in the history of Yunji Chamber of Commerce.

However, he was indifferent to what the other party said about revealing his identity. He couldn't even hide from those Nascent Soul forces, so how could he get close to them?

Wei Zhong shook his head with some regret:
"Unfortunately, I have neglected my winemaking skills over the years in order to learn alchemy. I have not yet broken through to the third level, but I have a spiritual wine that I would like you to taste."

Wei Zhong took out Luoyuehong and poured a glass for each of them.

Looking at the red wine in the glass, they were a little curious.

When they drank it, their eyes lit up.

"This, this is actually something that enhances spiritual awareness?" Shan Qin could hardly control her surprised expression and asked Wei Zhong.

Wei Zhong nodded: "That's right, this wine is called Falling Moon Red. I classify this wine as second-grade, which is most suitable for foundation-building cultivators."

"Fellow Daoist Wei has somewhat underestimated this spiritual wine. Although this spiritual wine is of the second grade, it still has some effect on Jindan cultivators," Shan Qin said with emotion.

Miaoli Shan beside him also nodded: "To be precise, it has some effect on cultivators in the early stage of Jindan, but it is not very effective for cultivators in the middle stage of Jindan."

"Oh?"

Wei Zhong recalled the Golden Eyebrow in his cave, which was a spiritual beast in the early stage of the third stage. It seemed that it liked to drink this wine, not just because it coveted the fine wine, but most likely because this spiritual wine had some beneficial effects on it.

"Friend Wei, are you willing to entrust this wine recipe to my Yunji Chamber of Commerce?" Shan Qin seemed to have discovered a business opportunity again.

Wei Zhong was a little entangled: "I am sorry to disappoint Miss Shan, this thing was not invented by me, but was deduced from some spiritual wine residue obtained from a secret realm.

Moreover, it is suspected to be brewed by monsters, which contradicts the brewing logic of cultivators like us.

Although I have figured out the recipe, the chances of it being a successful wine are extremely low, so I'm afraid the recipe doesn't have much reference value."

As Wei Zhong spoke, he took out a jade slip, which recorded the recipe for brewing the wine, as well as Wei Zhong's winemaking process and some of his experience.

Shan Qin took it hesitantly, looked at the image in the jade slip and frowned.

Although Shan Qin is not a winemaker, under the influence of Wei Zhong, he has gained a lot of understanding of the winemaking process.

The records in this jade slip are indeed very different from the conventional winemaking method.

Then he handed it to Miaoli Shan beside him: "Aunt Miao, as a winemaker, why don't you take a look?"

The latter took it, checked it and frowned.

"Shan girl, we may not be able to brew this wine.

Although it is not difficult for the winemakers in the association to master this recipe, the chance of success is probably pitifully low.

The income is far less than the consumption, it is a loss-making business."

Wei Zhong was somewhat surprised to see that Miaoli Shan saw the key point at a glance.

After several years of hands-on teaching by Jin Mei, Wei Zhong could only stabilize the success rate of brewing Luoyuehong at 30%.

Jin Mei has a 60% success rate when brewing this wine herself, which is much better than Wei Zhong.

Therefore, most of the time, Jin Mei was responsible for brewing this wine, and Wei Zhong would only brew it occasionally to improve his proficiency.

If a winemaker took the jade slip provided by Wei Zhong to learn how to brew, Wei Zhong himself estimated that the success rate would be no more than 10%.

This is not because Wei Zhong is hiding something, but because Wei Zhong's level is only so high. He has only a partial understanding of many techniques in the process, and only knows the results but not the reasons. The apprentice he taught is naturally far inferior to Wei Zhong.

Shan Qin felt a little unwilling to hear what Miaoli Shan said, and turned to look at Wei Zhong and said:
"Could Brother Wei provide some finished spirit wine?"

Wei Zhong had no reason to refuse and took out five jars of Luo Yue Hong.

"Thank you, Brother Wei. I bought these jars of spirit wine."

Wei Zhong wanted to refuse, but when he saw the items he put down, he immediately took back his polite words.

"Thousand Spiritual Water Stones, more than twenty of them. They are worth at least more than 20,000 Spiritual Stones. They are so expensive that they are out of stock."

Wei Zhong was stunned by Shan Qin's generosity.

Seeing Wei Zhong stunned, Shan Qin smiled and said, "Don't worry, Brother Wei, accept it. This is only the price of five jars of spirit wine. If you can successfully replicate this Falling Moon Red, it will still follow the same rules as your Green Luozui." Wei Zhong then took the Thousand Spirit Water Stones into his hands. With his previous accumulation, the number of Thousand Spirit Water Stones in his hand finally exceeded four hundred, and he could officially start casting the thousand-jin heavy water spirit body.

"Fellow Daoist Wei has been collecting thousands of spiritual water stones over the years, but are you ready to forge a thousand-pound heavy water spirit body?"

Wei Zhong nodded: "Indeed."

Shan Qin clenched his fists and said, "Then I would like to congratulate you in advance on your success."

"Thank you, Miss Shan."

"You are already a cultivator in the middle stage of foundation building now, right? With this kind of spiritual body, your chances of breaking through to the Jindan stage are better."

Wei Zhong nodded: "I feel that my cultivation speed is too slow, so I spent all my family wealth to obtain this kind of spiritual body."

Miaoli Shan seemed to be somewhat moved as he saw that Wei Zhong's practice was not easy:

"Unfortunately, the effect of the thousand-pound heavy water spirit body is almost at the level of forming a pill. If you want to go further and form an infant, you need to explore the higher ten-thousand-pound heavy water spirit body."

Wei Zhong smiled bitterly upon hearing this: "How could this junior not know? It's just that my strength is limited, so I can only look for the Thousand Spirit Water Stone first and give priority to the matter of forming the elixir.

As for the Wanling Water Stone, I cannot collect it with my own means. Can you two seniors give me some pointers?"

The two girls looked at each other, and then Miaoli Shan said:

"Do you know the significance of the ten thousand year old spiritual creature?"

Wei Zhong thought for a moment and then said, "It seems to correspond to the Nascent Soul level."

Miaoli Shan was a little surprised:
“I do have some knowledge.

A hundred years to build the foundation, a thousand years to form the elixir, and ten thousand years to form the Nascent Soul. These are the realms corresponding to the spiritual materials of different years.

You were able to collect so many Thousand Spirit Water Stones when you were building your foundation, which means you are financially strong.

But this financial resource is useless for spiritual creatures of the ten thousand year level.

Even with the contribution points used by the Chamber of Commerce, it is extremely difficult to exchange for the existence of a ten thousand year old spiritual object."

Wei Zhong nodded. He indeed did not see the ten thousand year old spiritual object in the exchange list.

“The reason for this is that ten thousand year old spiritual objects are too rare. Apart from some spiritual medicines that can be ripened quickly, most other spiritual objects cannot be cultivated by cultivators over such a long period of time.

Instead, they had to rely on exploring various secret realms and looking for opportunities everywhere. Among these many cultivators, only a handful of them could obtain ten thousand year old spiritual objects.

Once obtained, no one would be willing to exchange it for low-level resources except for some cultivators who have not yet reached the Nascent Soul stage.

The value of this kind of ten thousand year old resource cannot even be measured in spirit stones, and it is often exchanged between Nascent Soul cultivators.

Even if there is an imbalance between the spiritual objects, the difference can be made up with high-quality spiritual stones."

Wei Zhong was stunned. He had been practicing for so many years, but he only had low- and medium-grade spirit stones in his hands. He had never seen a high-grade spirit stone.

"According to Miaoli Shan, the ten thousand year old spiritual object is so precious, doesn't that mean I have no hope of obtaining it?"

As expected, Miaoli Shan immediately took over and explained:

“With your current cultivation level, it is basically hopeless to obtain a ten thousand year old spiritual object. Even if you contribute tens of thousands of contribution points, the possibility is not great.

Unless you can come up with something useful to Nascent Soul cultivators, such as fourth-level elixirs, fourth-level spirit wine, etc., there will be a slight possibility of exchange."

Wei Zhong was silent.

Shan Qin saw this and said, "Daoyou, don't be so disappointed. In this cultivation world, how many people can reach your level, and how many people can form a pill.

With Fellow Daoist Wei's financial resources, he could exchange for a few more Dust-Reducing Pills and various spiritual objects for forming pills. With the blessing of the Thousand-pound Heavy Water Spirit Body, there is still a great hope of forming a pill.

By then, you will be over 500 or 600 years old, which is a lifespan that ordinary people cannot reach. You might as well stop and study your skills. You may find another opportunity from practicing the hundred arts."

"Thank you Miss Shan for your consolation."

Seeing Wei Zhong bowing in return, Shan Qin knew that he had not given up.

'Who in this world doesn't want to achieve the Nascent Soul stage and become a god? But human power is limited, and everyone has their own destiny.'

After the two girls had a long talk with Wei Zhong, they left with the Luoyuehongling wine.

Wei Zhong returned to the cave with melancholy.

"My aptitude is not good enough, do I have to become a 10,000-year-old Jindan cultivator?"

Wei Zhong shook his head, drove away the annoyance in his heart, took out the more than four hundred Thousand Spirit Water Stones he had accumulated, and planned to start forging a thousand-jin heavy water spirit body.

"We still need to focus on the road ahead. It is a bit too ambitious to think about Yuanying before we have completed the Dan formation."

Wei Zhong took out the big cauldron and processed the Thousand Spirit Water Stone according to the method from last time. A few days later, a cauldron of blue liquid appeared in the cauldron.

Wei Zhong stretched out his hands and placed them in the spiritual liquid, and was instantly struck by intense pain.

'The difficulty of casting this thousand-jin heavy water spirit body is one level higher than that of casting a hundred-jin heavy water spirit body. I wonder how others can use this method to cast a spirit body.'

Wei Zhong frowned and practiced the "Spring and Autumn Water Refining Technique", absorbing the spiritual liquid into his body as if it were spiritual energy.

Three months later, Wei Zhong sat cross-legged beside the cauldron, practicing his skills, causing the nearby spiritual energy to be absorbed into Wei Zhong's body.

Carefully feeling the changes brought about by the transformation of his spiritual body, Wei Zhong couldn't help but smile with joy.

'As expected of a spirit body that can rival the mid-grade water spirit root, my cultivation speed has increased again.

If you do not use various cultivation resources, the cultivation speed will increase several times.

But at a time when cultivation resources are fully available, the improvement is only 40%.

However, Wei Zhong was already very satisfied with this.

It used to take Wei Zhong eight years to build his foundation from the seventh to the eighth level, but now it has been shortened to six years.

If such an increase in speed were to be made known to others, fellow cultivators of the same level would surely be shocked.

Of course, the foundation of all this, in addition to the support of the heavy water spirit body, is also inseparable from Grandmaster Wei Zhong's proficient level of "Spring and Autumn Water Refining Art" and the cultivation resources created by the spirit stones.

The improvement of the spiritual body only improves one's own foundation and the upper limit of cultivation. The supply of cultivation resources is still indispensable during the cultivation process.

After putting away the cauldron, there was still a small portion of spiritual liquid left in it. Wei Zhong estimated that the refining of the Thousand-pound Heavy Water Spirit Body consumed about 360 Thousand Spirit Water Stones.

It did not exceed the highest record used by previous people. It seemed that 360 pieces was the upper limit for this kind of spirit.

Now that the spiritual body has been elevated, it is time to consider cultivation.

'At present, it will probably take me only twenty years to reach the peak of the ninth level of foundation building and prepare to form the elixir.

But other preparations have not been made. For example, there is still no certainty that the Dust Reduction Pill can be refined, and the Seven-Colored Golden Bamboo Umbrella, a means of dealing with thunder tribulations, has not yet begun to be refined.

As Miaoli Shan said, with his current means, he probably wouldn't have a chance to find the ten thousand year old golden thunder bamboo and heavenly silk. So he could only try to find the thousand year old golden thunder bamboo and the second-rate thousand year old spiritual silk.

At worst, I can just refine a few more swords myself, and replace one when one is broken by thunder.

If you encounter other lightning protection methods, you need to obtain them as well. You cannot rely solely on this kind of magic weapon.'

Wei Zhong recalled the ninth heavenly thunder tribulation when Ling Hua was forming his elixir. That thunder was definitely not something that could be dealt with by ordinary means.

'I wonder if the thunder tribulation I experienced when I was forming my elixir would be that terrifying.'

After the spiritual body was successfully upgraded, Wei Zhong no longer needed the Thousand Spirit Water Stones. So he went to Yuelan City to find Xu Xuan and ended the collection mission.

He also asked the other party to help issue a reward for finding golden thunder bamboo and spiritual silk.

For this mission, Wei Zhong did not mark the prices of the two items, but waited for the seller who owned the items to make an offer.

This kind of rare spiritual material will probably not produce any results for decades, and Wei Zhong will not be required to provide contribution points in the short term, so it is a good opportunity to accumulate one or two contribution points during this period of time.

After dealing with the relevant matters, Wei Zhong returned to Yunxia Island and began to retreat again.

One day three years later, Ling Ziwei brought Xie Linghua back.

When Xie Linghua returned, she was no longer as weak as she was when she was with Wei Zhong, but rather there was a sense of heroism in her every move.

Immediately afterwards, the other party went into seclusion again in an attempt to break through the foundation.

Wei Zhong asked Ling Ziwei curiously, "Where did Fairy Ling take Ling Hua to? Why has the change been so great?"

The latter smiled and said: “It’s just two years of training in the cultivation world, and two years of training in the mortal world.

When you travel around the world in the future, you may even hear the name of the Green-robed Heroine."

Wei Zhong was stunned. He didn't expect that these two cultivators would rely on their cultivation to travel around the mortal world.

However, this way of training is indeed much safer, and the effect may be very good.

Looking at the spiritual energy cyclone that was gathering in the air again, Wei Zhong suddenly felt that Xie Linghua would succeed in building her foundation this time.

Sure enough, within a hundred days, the spiritual energy cyclone dissipated, and Xie Linghua came out of retreat, having already reached the foundation-building stage.

"Master, I have established my foundation."

"Okay, okay, come and have a banquet."

The news that there was another foundation-building person on Yunxia Island spread quickly. Qingze, Xuxuan and others who were familiar with Wei Zhong all came to visit him and presented gifts to congratulate him.

Not only that, many foundation-building cultivators who were unfamiliar to Wei Zhong also came to congratulate him, hoping to establish a relationship with Wei Zhong, a second-level alchemist.

The Qi-refining families near Yunxia Island also came to visit and presented various spiritual objects.

This banquet lasted for a whole month, with table after table of buffet food, and it was much more grand than when Wei Zhong first laid the foundation.

'It seems that when I was building my foundation, I only drank a few cups with Ning Cankun. Now I am still alive, but he has been gone for many years.'

Wei Zhong suddenly felt that everything had changed and he sighed deeply.

"Master, what's wrong?" Xie Linghua came closer when she saw Wei Zhong sighing.

Wei Zhong shook his head: "It's nothing, I just remembered some past events. When I first built my foundation, I was also timid and I just drank a few cups with Fellow Daoist Ning."

Hearing the disappointment in Wei Zhong's words, Xie Linghua held Wei Zhong's right hand.

"Would you like to hold a birthday party, Master?"

"Haha, why hold a birthday party?" Wei Zhong smiled and shook his head.

"If we're going to hold it, let's hold the Dan-Jie Ceremony!"

(End of this chapter)