A long time later.
Ye Qingxiao, who had been in a meditative state, opened his eyes.
The light in his eyes had become much calmer, and even the aura around him had softened and retracted significantly, no longer as sharp as it had been initially.
Sensing the change in himself, Ye Qingxiao exclaimed excitedly:
“Qingxuan, what kind of tea is this? The effect is amazing!”
Originally, the demonic baleful aura he had absorbed would have taken at least ten years or so to completely remove.
But with the aid of this tea, he could potentially shave off a third of that time, cleansing the baleful aura completely.
Seeing Ye Qingxiao’s excitement, Ye Qingxuan smiled and said:
“This is a third-tier Heart-Calming Tea I cultivated. If you want some, you can take some with you when you leave.”
Ye Qingxuan himself hadn’t expected that one of the original second-tier Heart-Calming Tea plants, after being baptized by the origin of his cave heaven and blessed land, would break through its own limits and evolve to the third tier, even showing signs of continuing to grow.
After advancing to the third tier, the Heart-Calming Tea not only greatly enhanced its effect of calming the mind but also gained a slight ability to improve a cultivator’s comprehension.
However, this effect was still very subtle. If Ye Qingxuan hadn’t integrated his consciousness with his origin of essence, energy, and spirit, achieving complete mastery over himself and possessing remarkable perception, he might not have noticed this change either.
Unfortunately, currently only one Heart-Calming Tea plant had broken its shackles and successfully advanced; the other second-tier plants still showed no signs of advancing for the time being.
Ye Qingxiao didn’t stand on ceremony with Ye Qingxuan’s kindness and agreed directly:
“Haha, it’s a deal then! I didn’t expect you to have so many good things, Qingxuan. Looks like I’ll have to come by often to mooch off you, haha!”
After speaking, Ye Qingxiao cautiously looked around to make sure no one was there, then took a storage pouch from his bosom and secretly handed it to Ye Qingxuan.
Seeing Ye Qingxiao acting so mysteriously, Ye Qingxuan took the pouch and asked curiously:
“What’s inside?”
Faced with Ye Qingxuan’s question, Ye Qingxiao didn’t answer directly. He just smiled smugly and said mysteriously:
“After I leave, go back to your blessed land and open it. Then you’ll know.”
“Give me a few dozen catties of your third-tier Heart-Calming Tea first. I’m off.”
“A few dozen catties? You must be dreaming. The current annual yield of third-tier Heart-Calming Tea is only about ten catties.”
Ye Qingxuan shot Ye Qingxiao a look, then took out about three catties of Heart-Calming Tea from his storage ring and handed it to him:
“Take this for now. Come back to me when you’ve finished it!”
Ye Qingxiao took the tea, grinning cheekily:
“Hehehe, well, I won’t stand on ceremony then? I’ll come find you again in a while.”
Having said that, Ye Qingxiao prepared to leave.
Seeing this, Ye Qingxuan instructed him:
“Before you head to the battlefield next time, come see me first.”
“Okay, got it!”
Ye Qingxiao didn’t ask why; he agreed casually and then flew off from Qingxuan Blessed Land on his sword.
After Ye Qingxiao left, Ye Qingxuan returned to Qingxuan Blessed Land with the storage pouch he had been given.
Opening the pouch, inside he found a fruit crackling with lightning, a small sapling also surrounded by lightning, and a sound-storing talisman left by Ye Qingxiao.
Looking at the fruit in the pouch, Ye Qingxuan was both surprised and delighted:
“A Lightning Source Fruit? Where did Qingxiao get such a good thing?”
Possessing an Earth Immortal inheritance, he naturally knew what it was. He just hadn’t expected Ye Qingxiao to have one, let alone leave it for him.
After activating the sound-storing talisman with his spiritual power, Ye Qingxiao’s voice rang out in the air:
“Hehe, Qingxuan, what’s in the pouch is a Lightning Source Fruit and a Lightning Source Tree sapling I accidentally obtained on the battlefield.”
“The Lightning Source Fruit can perfect and activate the lightning spirit root within a cultivator. I’ve already taken one myself. Now I’m a peerless genius with a six-element spirit root, haha.”
“As for that Lightning Source Tree sapling, once cultivated properly, it can bear Lightning Source Fruits. But it would take at least ten thousand years, and I don’t have the patience for that, so I’m giving it to you too.”
After listening to Ye Qingxiao’s message, Ye Qingxuan tossed the Lightning Source Fruit lightly in his hand and chuckled:
“Looks like Qingxiao’s luck is pretty good. To get something this good on the outer edges of the battlefield.”
Unfortunately, the Lightning Source Fruit can only be taken by cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage or higher; otherwise, the body cannot withstand the violent lightning energy.
Since Ye Qingxiao had already taken one, he naturally wouldn’t refuse his kindness.
After all, the Lightning Source Fruit itself is a ninth-tier heavenly material and earthly treasure. Adding an extra spirit root would significantly boost his cultivation speed in the early stages.
However, Ye Qingxuan didn’t plan to take it immediately. Instead, he intended to wait until he had condensed his second spirit root before taking the Lightning Source Fruit.
The more spirit roots a cultivator has, the slower it becomes to condense additional ones.
His second spirit root would take less than a hundred years to successfully mature. Taking the fruit now would only delay that progress.
Furthermore, his Qingxuan Cave Heaven and Blessed Land was on the verge of advancement. Once it successfully advanced, his speed in condensing spirit roots would greatly increase. Perhaps he could condense his second spirit root in a relatively short time then.
Taking the Lightning Source Fruit at that point would allow Ye Qingxuan to have three spirit roots in a short period, giving his cultivation speed a considerable boost.
Although the advancement of the cave heaven and blessed land comes with a feedback infusion of origin that can help Ye Qingxuan raise his cultivation level.
But the higher the realm, the more energy is needed. In later stages, the feedback effect from low-level cave heavens and blessed lands gradually diminishes.
Moreover, after the second tier, cultivating a cave heaven and blessed land from the early second tier to the third tier will inevitably take a lot of time.
Therefore, regarding cultivation, even though the cave heaven and blessed land can provide immense help, ultimately, it still relies on one’s own daily accumulation and unremitting practice.
Ye Qingxuan was always very clear on this point.
He could use the cave heaven and blessed land to enhance himself, but he must not slacken his cultivation and become completely dependent on it.
Putting away the Lightning Source Fruit, Ye Qingxuan looked at the Lightning Source Tree sapling.
The Lightning Source Tree is a ninth-tier spiritual plant. During its growth, it can absorb other energies to slowly condense the origin of the lightning element, and even minute fragments of the law of lightning.
Only upon successfully growing to the ninth tier will the tree bear fruit. A ninth-tier Lightning Source Tree can yield nine Lightning Source Fruits at a time, their value immeasurable.
But to successfully cultivate a Lightning Source Fruit sapling to the ninth tier, aside from the immense time required, it’s simply impossible with Ye Qingxuan’s current first-tier cave heaven and blessed land.
At most, he could only temporarily grow the Lightning Source Tree to the third tier.
However, as the tier of Qingxuan Cave Heaven and Blessed Land increases later on, this upper limit will naturally rise slowly as well.
Although he couldn’t cultivate the tree to the ninth tier anytime soon, that didn’t mean the Lightning Source Tree was useless to Ye Qingxuan now.
For a ninth-tier spiritual plant like the Lightning Source Tree, which can directly condense elemental origin and even law fragments, even as a sapling, planting it in Qingxuan Cave Heaven could play a considerable supporting role in the growth of the cave heaven itself.
So, Ye Qingxuan brought the Lightning Source Tree into Qingxuan Cave Heaven and planted it at an energy node closest to where the cave heaven converts chaotic energy. He began to mobilize a small amount of the cave heaven’s origin to nourish the sapling.
He then casually performed the Spring Wind and Rain Art, which he had perfected after his moment of enlightenment, leveraging the cave heaven’s power to cause a silent, nurturing spiritual rain to fall throughout Qingxuan Cave Heaven.
As the spiritual rain continuously fell, it enriched the cave heaven’s spiritual land and moistened all kinds of vegetation, invigorating the spiritual essence of various plants and slightly enhancing their growth rate.
The newly planted Lightning Source Tree, under the dual effect of the cave heaven’s origin and the spiritual rain, successfully took root and survived.
Newly planted spiritual plants, unlike the origins of various spiritual ores integrated into the cave heaven and blessed land, don’t bring about immediate, noticeable changes. The influence of spiritual plants on the cave heaven and blessed land is gradual and subtle.
After taking care of the Lightning Source Tree.
Ye Qingxuan once again went to the area above the furnace within Qingxuan Cave Heaven and added another batch of various first-tier spiritual ores he had recently collected.
Feeling the increased growth rate of his cave heaven and blessed land as it slowly integrated and refined the origins of the spiritual ores, an involuntary smile appeared on Ye Qingxuan’s face.
The time for Qingxuan Cave Heaven and Blessed Land to advance was not far off
