“Next, as long as I obtain a single Ley Line Essence, I can use the Natural Sanctuary’s ability to restore contracted trees, continuously extract Tree Spirit Essence, and rapidly strengthen my ley line.”
“I also need to find a way to increase the number of spirit trees under the Tree Spirit Contract. With my current mental strength, I can still contract quite a few high-level spirit trees…”
Having found a solution to the problem of acquiring spiritual energy, Qi Ping was incredibly excited.
This directly solved one of his fundamental difficulties!
Being able to continuously enhance his ley line using the Natural Sanctuary meant he could avoid the cruel competition for ley lines in the cultivation world. All Qi Ping needed to do was obtain and contract more high-level spirit trees.
Once the ley line was cultivated, and formations completely sealed all the spiritual energy inside, Qi Ping couldn’t even imagine how dense the spiritual energy in his territory would become.
At the very least, he wouldn’t have to worry about the spiritual energy needed for his own cultivation or for nurturing his animal companions.
If the ley line could be upgraded quickly enough, it could even help him set up even more powerful formations.
A formation established with a powerful ley line as its foundation is far stronger than one based on spirit stones or common materials.
This not only means greater strength but also the ability to leverage the ley line’s energy for powerful recovery and self-repair capabilities.
This is why ley lines serve as one of the foundational elements for most sect-protecting grand formations in the cultivation world. With the support of a powerful ley line, an enemy might need several times their normal combat power just to have a chance at breaching a sect.
After finalizing his Level 6 Druid skill selection, Qi Ping’s new status panel quickly generated.
Compared to over a year ago, Qi Ping’s overall stats had seen a tremendous increase.
【Skill selection complete. Generating status panel…】
【Name: Qi Ping】
【Level: Lv6 (26/3200)】
【Class: Beastmaster Druid (Primary), Tree Herder (Advanced Jungler) (Secondary)】
【Talents: Animal Companion, Heart of Nature, Tree Spirit Contract】
【Animal Companions: (4/6) Golden Marrow Bees, Sunfire Crows, Enchanting Fox (First Seal), Hundred-Pupil Flower Fairy】
【Wild Shape: (1/2) Golden Marrow Bees (Tier 1, any derivative bee species can be transformed)】
【Shared Talents: Brewing Artisan (Tier 2), Sunfire Body, Enchanting Fox Divine Seal, Hundred-Pupil Phantom Realm】
【Special Talents: Blessing of Heaven and Earth, Farming Domain】
【Skills: Lv4 Plant Growth (451/800), Lv1 Beastmaster’s Blessing (51/100), Lv5 Bark Skin (1092/1600) (Explosion), Lv3 Healing Art (100/400), Lv4 Beastmaster’s Flame (75/800)】
【Skills (Constant): Animal Speech, Beast Bonding, Wild Heart, Natural Perception, Beastmaster’s Will, Curse Immunity】
【Natural Sanctuary Lv1 (6/100) (Radius of one hundred meters)】
(Druid Level EXP +1625, Plant Growth EXP +478, Beastmaster’s Blessing EXP +9, Bark Skin EXP +782, Healing Art EXP +189, Beastmaster’s Flame EXP +307)
“This is the result of my hard work over the past year!”
Qi Ping was very satisfied with his progress over the last year or so.
Heaven rewards the diligent; none of his efforts this past year had been in vain!
Plant Growth had reached level four, Healing Art had reached level three, and Beastmaster’s Flame had reached level four!
Reaching level four in Plant Growth allowed him to cultivate the five-hundred-year-old blood ginseng, which in turn enabled the evolution of his bee colony. Upgrading Beastmaster’s Flame further enhanced his fire-attribute talents and increased his combat power.
Besides the improvement in these skill levels, other aspects had also seen significant progress.
First, his original Grand Brewer talent had been replaced by the stronger Brewing Artisan talent from the evolved Tier 2 Apothecary Bees.
The number of available Animal Companion slots had increased again to two. Qi Ping could now contract two more animal companions and share two more talents with them.
For his new animal companion, Qi Ping was still thinking of getting one with a strong comprehension talent.
He had quite a few things to cultivate now. Understanding formations and the true meaning of laws was essential, and there were many spells that required some effort to practice. Having diverse cultivation methods was one thing, but the main point was to deepen his foundation in techniques and spells.
Each of these tasks required Qi Ping to invest energy in research. If he could improve his comprehension a bit further, things would become much easier. Additionally, enhancing his soul talent a little more would also be highly beneficial.
Secondly, Qi Ping wanted to acquire a talent related to the five elements.
The path of the five elements was one he was determined to follow, so he wouldn’t pass up any suitable five-element talent.
Besides these, rare spirit beasts with special attribute skills were also a possibility.
Finally, there was one more thing that caused him a bit of hesitation: an additional Wild Shape slot.
He hadn’t yet decided on the form for his second Wild Shape.
He planned to reserve the second Wild Shape form for a spirit beast with a rare attribute.
This touches upon another aspect of the Wild Shape skill: the first stage of a Wild Shape form is a special transformation, subject to many limitations.
Only upon reaching the second stage, the complete transformation state, could he fully transform his entire physical structure and bloodline, allowing him to learn skills and improve attributes in that form.
However, his current Druid level hadn’t yet met the conditions for accessing this complete transformation state.
Therefore, unless absolutely necessary for the next Wild Shape slot, Qi Ping intended to keep it reserved for a spirit beast with powerful bloodlines or special attributes.
For example, a spatial-type spirit beast, or one possessing the bloodline of a mythical beast.
Once he had access to the complete transformation state of Wild Shape, Qi Ping could even use it to enter territories ruled by beast races for trade and resource exploration.
It was very difficult for a human to trade with beasts, but it would be much easier if he transformed into one of them.
This would give Qi Ping an advantage other cultivators didn’t have. Due to their rough and less structured management, beast territories often had far more abundant resources than human regions, and they were easier to find. Unlike the human world, where even a small ley line would be cordoned off and rented out.
“By quietly building up my resources, I’ve already made great progress without even realizing it.”
“It’s just a pity that after nurturing another batch of Tier 2 bees, the spiritual energy resources here will be just about depleted.”
In this situation, Qi Ping had no choice but to think about going out to obtain more resources.
After losing Meng Yan as a channel, the difficulty for Qi Ping to acquire and trade resources had increased dramatically.
So, over the next two or three months, while nurturing his Tier 2 bee colony and creating the Earth Armor Bee battle formation, he was also constantly thinking about new avenues for trade.
For instance, going to the core city of the Azure Sky Domain, Azure Sky City, the black market, the core cities of the neighboring domains, or the Ning Family’s Red Carp Koi, among others.
At the same time, he continuously pondered how to use his own advantages to travel and trade as safely as possible, as people like Meng Yan were extremely rare.
And through his efforts, Qi Ping finally found a way to ensure his safety as much as possible when traveling abroad.
“So this is how the [Natural Perception] skill can be used.”
“Isn’t this just a simplified version of ‘seeking good fortune and avoiding disaster’?”
