Chapter 169: Chapter 169: Jade Qilin Snake’s Opportunity
The moon was bright, the stars sparse, and the cool breeze exceptionally refreshing.
After drinking a few sips of spirit tea, Ye Jingyu departed, leaving Ye Jingcheng with a jade box.
Inside the jade box was the spirit tea recently picked from the Spring Welcoming Tea Tree of Ye Jingcheng.
Besides the large tea tree, the small tea tree had also begun to bud, and the tea harvested was particularly fresh, though Ye Jingyu picked very little from the small tea tree.
As it was still the first year, letting the tea trees grow larger and more lush was more important.
Besides spirit tea, Ye Jingyu also gave Ye Jingcheng plenty of Poison Thorn Fruit.
As for the spiritual honey of the Five Poison Bees, it remained in the hive.
After Ye Jingyu left, Ye Jingcheng went to the spirit field.
Under the moonlight, Ye Jingcheng activated the array.
Inside the spirit field, the purple poisonous fog still shrouded the area, with some Purple Illusion Flowers already withered while others were in full bloom.
There were constantly Five Poison Bees weaving in and out of the Purple Illusion Flowers.
Aside from Purple Illusion Flowers, the Poison Thorn Flowers nearby were almost fully bloomed, and some flowers were already beginning to form small, unripe sections.
These sections also had thorns.
In a few weeks, these sections would turn into thumb-sized Poison Thorn Fruit.
However, clearly, this year’s Poison Thorn Fruit was not as remarkable as last year’s scene when he infused Treasure Light.
Ye Jingcheng wasn’t bothered, as achieving this result was already satisfying for him. According to the jade talisman records, normally only sixty percent of what was achievable should be expected, considering the seeds he bought at the market weren’t particularly good.
Such a harvest was also related to the advancement of the spirit vein at Lingyun Peak.
And one must know, most of this spirit vein was contained within the Beast Valley atop the peak.
Just a small portion of it leaked out, but it increased the spirit field’s yield significantly.
Ye Jingcheng patted the Spirit Beast Bag, first releasing the Jade Ring Rat, which was still bursting with spiritual light.
However, despite having taken two Spirit Cultivation Pills, it still hadn’t broken through to the late stage of Tier One.
The difference in bloodline was now starkly evident.
"Squeak squeak squeak!" The Jade Ring Rat became even more excited once in front of the spirit field.
In the Taihang Mountain, it was too fearful, surrounded by powerful demon beasts, but only here did it feel a profound sense of safety.
With the array present, not even the Golden Scale could pounce on it.
"You must also work hard!" Ye Jingcheng said, not caring whether the Jade Ring Rat understood him or not.
He naturally had feelings for the Jade Ring Rat.
But sometimes, the most heartless were those members of the Ye Family who raised beasts.
When they were no longer useful, they were returned to the family to become the family’s heritage spirit beasts.
Just like Ye Jingyu and Ye Jingyong’s late stage Tier One Golden Feathered Eagle.
As long as the Jade Ring Rat could work in the spirit field, he had reason to continue raising it.
But ultimately, it relies on the Jade Ring Rat itself.
Ye Jingcheng released the Jade Ring Rat and then released the Five Poison Bees.
In just a year, of the Five Poison Bees Ye Jingcheng had taken specifically for magical combat, now only about thirty were left.
The other seventy-plus had perished in the Taihang Mountain Range.
Among these, one Five Poison Bee was as big as a child’s fist, more than half bigger than other regular Five Poison Bees.
Compared to the bees specialized in honey gathering, it was nearly twice their size.
This spirit peak was precisely that bee king; at this moment, the bee king had already consumed an Advancement Pill and advanced once, but unsurprisingly, failed.
Without a successful advancement, the spirit shadow on the Treasure Book remained unchanged.
But after consuming the Five Poison Pill, this Five Poison Bee, like the Golden Scale Beast during its first advancement, gained considerable benefits.
Ye Jingcheng planned to provide the Five Poison Bee with two more Advancement Pills in half a year.
Perhaps there might be a chance for this Five Poison Bee to reach Tier Two.
The bee king, upon joining the previous swarm of bee insects, cried out loudly, appearing exceptionally fierce.
It also burrowed into the hive, driving out the other two queen bees.
Ye Jingcheng did not intervene at this moment; the integration of spirit insects was more ruthless than cultivators congregating, as bee kings and queen bees would engage in combat.
Doing so ensured the bee king’s authority and was more conducive to Ye Jingcheng’s control through the Master Blood Contract and Child Blood Contract.
Ye Jingcheng’s concern was merely to prevent the deaths of the two queen bees.
The most terrifying moment of the Five Poison Bee swarm was when it maintained a thousand Five Poison Bees.
These thousand must be the strongest, capable of reaching the peak of late stage Tier One, and then form poison needles and fearless tenacity.
Even Foundation Establishment cultivators would have to avoid them.
There was a vast gap between bee kings and queen bees, so quickly, the Five Poison Bee swarm began integrating and enjoying the spiritual honey within the hive.
Of course, they hadn’t consumed much before Ye Jingcheng approached.
A year later, there was only about ten to twenty pounds of spiritual honey in the hive.
This was partly due to the consumption by the Five Poison Bees, and also because of Ye Jingcheng’s absence, causing these spirit bees to consume uncontrollably.
For both demon beasts and demon insects, their instinct was to maintain ample energy within.
And Ye Jingcheng hadn’t provided regular honey to mix, so leaving this much was already due to the command left in the Blood Contract by Ye Jingcheng.
Otherwise, even less would remain.
Ye Jingcheng extracted twelve pounds of spiritual honey, leaving about three to four pounds for the Five Poison Bee swarm.
Then, he infused all the spirit bees with some scattered Treasure Light.
This could enhance the overall growth speed of the swarm.
After more than a year, the Five Poison Bees had yet to reach their peak, with room for improvement in both combat power and honey-gathering capabilities.
Then he went to the Spirit Tea Tree.
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The large and small spirit tea trees were like an old man with a mischievous child.
The leaves of the large tea tree were mostly dark green with a few tender ones, while the small tea tree was the opposite, sprouting numerous tender shoots that made one want to pinch them.
Ye Jingcheng also infused some treasure light; although the rank of these spring-welcoming teas wasn’t high, their taste was exceptional.
No member of the Ye Family who drank tea disliked it.
Finally, Ye Jingcheng turned his gaze to the spiritual bamboo.
The Cyan Stone Bamboo appeared quite large, but after a year without any infusion of treasure light, its spiritual energy had dimmed considerably.
Though still stronger than ordinary Cyan Stone Bamboo, the yield for Ye Jingcheng was the least.
This left Ye Jingcheng somewhat disappointed.
Even the newly emerged bamboo shoots were the same, lacking compared to the spirituality of the spring-welcoming tea.
Ye Jingcheng continued to infuse some spiritual light and then returned to his courtyard.
The courtyard was exceptionally clean, with the stone table and benches seeming to have been wiped daily; it was obvious that Ye Jingyu also helped him clean the courtyard.
The long-closed door finally opened, and inside, unlike the courtyard, it was covered with dust, though for a cultivator, it was merely a matter of a dust-removal skill.
After using a spell, Ye Jingcheng released the Red Flame Fox, Golden Scale Beast, and Jade Qilin Snake.
The three spirit beasts, having stayed inside the Spirit Beast Bag for so long, were all a bit excited upon emerging, with the Jade Qilin Snake eyeing the Golden Scale Beast, its triangular pupils full of longing.
Then, it couldn’t help but communicate a divine soul fluctuation with Ye Jingcheng.
It was hungry...
The Golden Scale Beast let out a low growl, seemingly admonishing the Jade Qilin Snake not to look anymore.
Yet, it didn’t dare growl too loudly.
When it reached the Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer, it had challenged the Jade Qilin Snake, naturally resulting in Ye Jingcheng expending much treasure light.
In the end, it just rushed out of the room, ran around the courtyard, and headed towards the spirit field.
The Red Flame Fox lifted its fox head, completely indifferent to the other spirit beasts, and finally settled quietly at the edge of Ye Jingcheng’s bed, adopting the demeanor of a big sister.
Looking at the spirit beasts before him, Ye Jingcheng felt a mixture of joy and helplessness, as each of the three beasts had its distinct characteristics.
"Hungry..."
"Hungry..."
However, as Ye Jingcheng pondered, this time the Jade Qilin Snake was different from usual.
In the past, when it communicated hunger, it was a routine hunger.
Also, because Ye Jingcheng always fed it.
Yet it was always restrained, sending the thought once and then stopping.
Moreover, it was extremely observant, such as it felt the Red Flame Fox was fragrant too, but never looked at it.
Even if it disliked the Red Flame Fox more.
It was lazy, but in terms of spiritual wisdom, Ye Jingcheng felt it was no weaker than the Red Flame Fox.
The Golden Scale Beast, on the other hand, never learned and required a lesson each breakthrough...
"Is it advancing?" Ye Jingcheng finally noticed something off with the Jade Qilin Snake.
He saw its scales all emitting a white jade glow, the Jade Qilin Tail Saber never dimming, incredibly radiant.
This only occurred in the past when the Jade Qilin Snake was about to attack a demon.
Ye Jingcheng hurriedly brought out the Black Water Python’s corpse, and the Jade Qilin Snake was instantly delighted upon seeing it.
Though the Black Water Python had been skinned.
It was still an impressive size.
The Jade Qilin Snake opened its mouth, ready to swallow.
"Cut it before swallowing..." Ye Jingcheng chuckled bitterly, as the Jade Qilin Snake always tried to swallow beasts without considering its shape; among snakes, it wasn’t small, but one must consider the size of the opponent.
This Black Water Python was much larger than the Jade Qilin Snake.
Moreover, it was still a Tier Two Demon Beast.
Even though much of its spiritual energy had dissipated, it was still Tier Two Spirit Beast Meat.
Upon Ye Jingcheng’s words, the Jade Qilin Snake swung its tail saber, cutting the Black Water Python’s corpse into two sections.
Its little eyeballs glanced at Ye Jingcheng again, then it swung two more times.
Dividing the Black Water Python into four parts.
Only then did Ye Jingcheng relax his brows as it began devouring quickly.
Its eyes shone with spiritual light, eating with extreme satisfaction.
Ye Jingcheng then infused quite a bit of treasure light into the Jade Qilin Snake.
Its entire body immediately turned into a White Jade Spirit Snake Lantern.
That white glow, in the dark, was like a bright lamp.
Ye Jingcheng took out an array to conceal the white glow.
Then he continued to observe the Jade Qilin Snake.
This time, it swallowed only two sections.
Then it began curling up, and upon seeing this, Ye Jingcheng knew the Jade Qilin Snake couldn’t eat anymore.
The spiritual energy content in Tier Two Spirit Snake Meat was quite significant.
Eating more than half was indeed a bit over its limit.
Ye Jingcheng stored the remaining Black Water Python Spirit Meat and then opened a room beside his own for the Jade Qilin Snake to go into seclusion.
Otherwise, if the Jade Qilin Snake’s body grew larger, his own room would become too small.
When the Jade Qilin Snake had digested a little, Ye Jingcheng brought out the Black Water Python’s Demon Pill for it to consume.
After consuming the demon pill, the Jade Qilin Snake’s divine thought fluctuations became extremely calm, its tail swayed slowly, and its tongue flicked rhythmically, resembling a breathing technique.
Through the soul contract, Ye Jingcheng sensed the Jade Qilin Snake’s divine soul power growing continuously stronger...