Chen Yun exhausted all his efforts to enter the extremely cold cave, only to find that it had been in ruins for a long time.
Fortunately, the extremely cold cave was only a small part of that vast ice-filled pool, so it didn't affect the water surface too much.
"If I knew the earth-body technique, I wouldn't have to go through all this trouble. But unfortunately, I don't know the five elements technique."
Standing among the ruins, Chen Yun channeled his sight and looked forward, seeing that the small island where the red fruits and snow cang Rou grew remained intact.
It seems there's more than just the red fruits and snow cang Rou growing on that island.
Chen Yun also saw many other divine earthly roots, some of which can be faintly recognized, such as the colorful lingzhi and wandering spirit seedlings that are quite easy to identify, while others are difficult to see due to the great distance.
"The varieties seem quite diverse."
Chen Yun decided to go take a look.
Although the water serpent had been slain, Chen Yun did not let his guard down and activated his spiritual consciousness to survey the surroundings, ensuring there was no danger, before flying towards the small island.
Perhaps it was due to the water serpent once ruling this area, no spirit animals were found near the bottom of the water.
Chen Yun flew for several dozen miles before his extended spiritual awareness detected something from several tens of miles away at the bottom of the water. There, he caught a faint glimpse of some weak aquatic creatures. Moreover, he sensed that there was something extremely powerful far away, as his spiritual awareness picked up intense energy fluctuations beneath the water.
"That intense energy fluctuation is quite far away from here, it could be the spirit beasts driven away by the water serpent, of course, it could also be a biological that drove the water serpent to this side."
He knew the distance was quite far and would not pose a threat to him in the near future, so he didn't bother worrying about it.
He arrived at the small island quickly.
This is a small island, with an estimated area of about 3-4 square kilometers.
As soon as Chen Yun arrived here, he saw many strange flowers and grasses. Most of them were ordinary plants, only a small part had medicinal value. And among these plants with medicinal value, even fewer had become divine earthly roots.
The so-called divine earthly roots either come into being from the nurturing of Dao energy, or from the "mutation" of ordinary plants that are nourished by the spiritual energy of mountains and rivers. The spiritual energy within a celestial cave far exceeds that outside, hence the probability of birth of divine earthly roots is much higher than outside.
Chen Yun first examined the red fruits near the shore, finding that they were almost ripe and expected to ripen within a day or two.
"Wait until they are fully ripe before picking them, otherwise the efficacy will not be as strong."
He did not rashly pick the red fruits, and his gaze shifted to the nearby snow cang Rou at the shore.
Snow cang Rou is a variant of chuan xiong. Its efficacy is similar to that of chuan xiong, possessing powerful effects of activating blood and promoting qi flow. If someone's qi flow goes wrong, they can take this medicine to harmonize it. In addition, it can also increase the amount of "qi" in the body to some extent.
Of course, that is not the greatest efficacy of snow cang Rou. Its greatest efficacy is in treating the condition of 'running wild with one's spirit' or spiritual mania.
Like many cultivators who focus solely on their life force rather than their cultivation of character, they often fall into various calamities. For instance, even though Chen Yun practices both the refinement of life and the cultivation of character, he accidentally fell into the calamity of desire. Those who only hold power without inner cultivation are even more prone to such calamities. He estimated that Kang Yuan must have had an issue with his mental state, leading to deviations in his cultivation practice, which is why he wanted to collect snow cang Rou to regulate it.
"I might also fall into the calamity of desire in the future, and the snow cang Rou may have a big role to play."
After thinking it over, Chen Yun decided to not only pick a dozen snow cang Rou for Kang Yuan but also pick another dozen for himself, just in case he was affected by the calamity of desire and fell into a state of spiritual mania in the future.
Not long after, he had picked the snow cang Rou and placed ten of them in the hidden compartment of the small copper furnace.
Subsequently, he began to sweep through the small island.
He picked up as many of the divine earthly roots as he could see, but he was very restrained and did not completely uproot them all at once.
It took him about half an hour to pick up a dozen or more types of different divine earthly roots.
For example, such as the five-color lingzhi, banglingzi, nanling sand artemisia, and so on.
These are quite rare treasures outside the world. Taking the five-color lingzhi as an example, this colorful lingzhi can reduce damage, enhance strength, improve constitution, and so on. In simple terms, it is very helpful for refining one's shape.
Nanling sand artemisia is a medicinal herb for tonifying deficiency. If he were to consume a great deal of energy, taking a single root of Nanling sand artemisia could quickly restore his true qi, making it an essential treasure for waging a protracted war.
There are so many good things.
Chen Yun picked with great joy. Although these divine earthly roots were not needed for refining jing into qi, the effects of divine earthly roots were not limited to enhancing cultivation. Some could also detoxify, heal wounds, and replenish qi. He knew that collecting more divine earthly roots was beneficial. In the future, if he accidentally became poisoned or severely injured, these divine earthly roots would play a huge role.
The most surprising thing for him was that he even discovered some variant Fu Ling (poria cocos) that were needed for a high-tier Refining Jing to Qi elixir.
"It's a shame that there are no variant Bai Zhu (Atractylodes macrocephala) to complete my medium-grade Refining Jing to Qi elixir."
Standing in front of the variant Fu Ling tree, Chen Yun couldn't help but silently sigh, "Now that I've collected the variant Fu Ling, the high-tier Refining Jing to Qi elixir only needs variant Bai Zhu and Xuan Shui. What remains are 'Long Kue Ca' (Long-dried grass), 'Jiu Tian Xian Shen' (Nine Heavenly Ginseng), and 'Xian Hong Hua' (Immortal Red Flower). These are all the herbs needed for the elixir, followed by the Refining Qi to Shen elixir."
He knew that as long as he could collect all the herbs needed for the high-tier Refining Jing to Qi elixir, he would be very close to achieving the cultivation of a golden core.
Just then, he looked disdainfully at the dense forest growing ordinary Bai Zhu nearby, "Growing so many ordinary Bai Zhu, but not even one mutated one is seen."
Despite the disdain, with the extra collection of a dozen or more types of divine earthly roots today, he was quite satisfied within his heart.
Chen Yun pondered for a moment, and decided that the red fruits could not be picked up at the moment. He would first go back and meet with Wu Kejiu, Yuan Chu, and others, and then come back later to guard it.
Well, since Yuan Chu wanted the other things left on the water serpent, he should be able to get a lot of other stuff.
Speaking of today's acquisition of the dragon essence, it was all thanks to the fact that he had let Yuan Chu off earlier. Otherwise, Chen Yun would never have thought that the dragon essence was hidden in the kidney of the water serpent. After all, that kidney was already charred beyond recognition, and under normal circumstances, he would never have thought to cut it open and see what was inside.
...
Returned on the way.
As Chen Yun arrived at the place where everyone was gathered, he found that Kang Yuan and the other unconscious cultivators had all been revived.
These people seemed to have already heard what happened earlier from Wu Kejiu, Qin Ming, and others. As soon as they saw Chen Yun returning, they rushed over to gather around him one by one.
"Mr. Chen, thank you so much this time."
"Yes, if it weren't for you using that supreme technique, perhaps we would have returned to the afterlife already."
"Mr. Chen, if there are any places where you need Zhuo to help you in the future, just say the word. Whether it's climbing mountains of swords or diving into fiery seas, I will never hesitate."
"Mr. Chen..."
A group of people expressed their heartfelt gratitude with tears in their eyes.
Kang Yuan almost knelt down to thank Chen Yun. He held Chen Yun's hand and said, "Mr. Chen, if it weren't for your help in defeating the water serpent, we would all have been in trouble. There are many young disciples among us. If they were to truly encounter such difficulties, even if I survive this time, what kind of face will I have in the future when facing my old friends?"
Chen Yun didn't expect that these external sect members were so loyal. Kang Yuan, despite his own perilous situation, was still thinking about the younger disciples. He quickly comforted everyone a few words.
In the end, everyone insisted on giving a proper thank you, and reluctantly, Wu Kejiu and Qin Ming stepped forward to explain the new method of distributing the accidental acquisition of divine earthly roots that they had discussed earlier.
When these people who had just woken up heard this, they not only didn't object, but also strongly requested that the portion assigned to Chen Yun be increased from one-tenth to two-tenths.
Chen Yun was modest for a moment, but everyone insisted on this distribution method.
In the end, with no other choice, he had to agree to the plan proposed by everyone.
As soon as this matter was settled, Yuan Chu ran up again to discuss the issue of equivalent items.
"Master," Yuan Chu frowned and said, "The remaining value of the water serpent's body is too high, and I can't think of anything equally valuable to exchange at the moment. Therefore, after careful discussion with my Cloud Master brother, we decided to repay it with a favor."
Chen Yun wasn't quite clear, "A favor?"
Yuan Chu nodded and said, "I know a blacksmith master. He is the son of the legendary swordmaker Ou Yezi and has reached the pinnacle of blacksmithing. He doesn't lend his services easily to carve swords, but he owes me a favor. If you, teacher, have the two fangs of the water serpent and my Cloud Master brother has the two fangs of the water serpent, can I ask him to use them to create two divine weapons for you?"
Kang Yuan seemed to have heard of this person and interjected a question, "You're talking about the blacksmith master who is a descendant of Ou Yezi, aren't you referring to the Master Ou Hu from Minzhou?"
Yuan Chu replied, "Exactly."
Kang Yuan took a deep breath and said, "The swords made by Master Ou Hu can make even immortals covetous. How did you manage to get him to work for you?"
Yuan Chu laughed and said, "I once saved the only descendant of the Ou Hu master's lineage by chance. I happen to have some favors. Look at this sword on my back, is it sharp?" It was indeed forged by Master Ou Hu.
Chen Yun had seen Yuan Chu's divine sword before and knew it was a rare masterpiece.
Although he wasn't familiar with Master Ou Hu himself, he could see from Yuan Chu's divine sword that the master's blacksmithing skills were indeed at the pinnacle.
Chen Yun possessed many artifacts, but to be honest, he did not have a weapon that was truly suited to his needs.
The sword forged by Master Ou Hu, according to Kang Yuan's description, would make immortals covet it. If he could really have this master help forge a divine weapon, he would undoubtedly obtain a powerful weapon.
The value may be several times higher than the remaining body of the water serpent.
After all, the valuable items on the water serpent's body were all taken by him.
Chen Yun thought that this deal was worth it. After a moment of thought, he immediately replied to Yuan Chu, saying, "Alright, once we leave the Sun and Moon Lake Realm, please introduce Master Ou Hu to me."
Yuan Chu saw Chen Yun agreeing, and was overjoyed, saying, "Thank you, teacher."
Afterward, Chen Yun and the others discussed the matter of waiting at the Extreme Cold Cave.
Everyone heard that Chen Yun intended to pick the red fruit, and no one opposed it. They were all willing to wait for a couple of days and set off after he had picked the red fruit.
Yuan Chu and his disciples saw Wu Kejiu and Qin Ming, who were seriously injured, and they generously stayed behind to guard them.
……
The next day, the Extreme Cold Cave.
About noon, Chen Yun saw that the red fruit was ripe and couldn't wait to pick it.
There were probably about twenty or thirty red fruit trees here. Each tree had two red fruits growing on it, and he picked up a total of thirty to forty red fruits. Not only did he gather enough red fruits for the medium-tier Refining Jing to Qi elixir, but he even had enough for the high-tier version!
As he placed the red fruits into the hidden compartment of the small bronze furnace, Chen Yun couldn't help but secretly sigh with relief, finally having gathered all the red fruits. Now all that was left were the variant Bai Zhu and Xuan Shui.
(This chapter is completed.)
