Lu Nanzhi and Xie Jingshan were talking about the same thing in their letters, saying that they had recently moved to Tianjian Peak, which was governed by Guanghan Sword Lord, and were living with the inner disciples who practiced swordsmanship.
He had to familiarize himself with the environment, deal with miscellaneous matters, and learn new sword techniques, so he did not go to the lecture hall.
Now everything is settled. I’ll meet Jiang Yuebai at the Dharma Hall tomorrow.
After reading the letter, Jiang Yuebai carefully put it into his storage bag.
In the small courtyard, Tao Fengnian placed a complete set of leather armor in front of Jiang Yuebai.
"After a long delay, I finally finished this set of wolf-patterned armor on your birthday. Go inside and try it on."
Jiang Yuebai nodded and happily went back to the house to change clothes.
A moment later, Jiang Yuebai came out of the house, wearing black leather armor, arm guards, leg guards, and leather boots. There was also a dark wolf head pattern on his chest, and he looked very heroic.
The leather armor is light and close-fitting. Like the servant's grey coat, it can change its size automatically, and it will not be noticeable when worn with a wide robe and wide sleeves.
Jiang Yuebai took two steps, her figure as light as a swallow as if carried by the breeze. She immediately took out her spear and performed some tricks, like a majestic little general.
"Grandpa, I like this set of wolf armor. You made it so well."
Tao Fengnian said with a smile: "Grandpa is still old, otherwise he would not be able to refine the eighth-grade spiritual armor. Now it can only reach the upper ninth grade. This leather armor uses the skin of the iron-back wolf and the skin of the green rock monkey. Both have strong defensive power. Even if you don't inject spiritual energy into your body when you wear it, it will be difficult for the ninth-grade magic weapon to hurt you."
"If you inject spiritual energy into it to activate the defensive array, it can resist the spells of the eighth-grade magic weapon for a while. There is a rock shield array on the arm guard, which can activate a small rock shield. There are wind arrays on the leg guards and boots to lighten the body and increase speed."
Jiang Yuebai smiled, "Grandpa is not old, this set is equivalent to many ninth-grade magic tools. But grandpa is obviously a spiritual farmer, why is he learning to refine tools instead of alchemy?"
Tao Fengnian said, "Who says that knowing how to grow spiritual herbs means you have the talent for alchemy? My father was originally a blacksmith. Although he was devoted to my studies and didn't let me do ironwork, my bloodline inheritance made me learn to refine weapons when I entered the world of cultivation. You should familiarize yourself with the various rune formations on the wolf pattern armor. Grandpa will serve the meal."
Jiang Yuebai nodded, and activated the talisman array on the wolf-pattern armor one by one in the courtyard. He stretched his arm horizontally in front of him to draw in the spiritual energy, and a green rock shield as big as a basin instantly appeared on his arm, just like the Green Rock Monkey's innate magic.
Jiang Yuebai performed the Star-Chasing Step, and with the breeze wrapping around him, he jumped onto the roof and moved back and forth along the ridge like the wind.
The moonlight was bright and Jiang Yuebai was having a lot of fun.
"Come down and eat, little monkey."
Tao Fengnian was happy today and took out a jar of spirit wine he brewed, and Jiang Yuebai also got a small cup.
After drinking the sweet and refreshing wine, it felt like a ball of fire burning all the way down his throat. Jiang Yuebai felt as if his dantian was burning, and the spiritual energy that he had just consumed was replenished quickly.
"Grandpa, can this spiritual wine quickly replenish spiritual energy?"
Tao Fengnian nodded, "Yes, many cultivators will bring a gourd of spirit wine when they go out for training. It is very useful in battle."
After eating and drinking, Jiang Yuebai's face flushed and her head felt dizzy. She shook her head hard and a green light burst out from between her eyebrows, turning into the shape of a palace lantern, swaying from side to side as if she was drunk.
"Is this... a ghost lantern?" Tao Fengnian asked in confusion after seeing the lantern clearly.
At this time, the palace lantern had returned to normal, with the wick flickering with silver light and two balls of phosphorescence surrounding it, fiercely making a false move of collision with Tao Fengnian.
Jiang Yuebai said: "I call it Xiaolu. It is a ghost lantern, but it is not an ordinary ghost lantern. I don't know what its function is..."
Jiang Yuebai told Tao Fengnian about the incident in Yinfengjian.
Tao Fengnian tried to use his spiritual sense to investigate, and phosphorous fire grew stronger all over Xiaolu's body. Tao Fengnian felt a burning pain in his head, and his spiritual sense was completely burned by the phosphorous fire.
He thought for a moment and took out a small white jade bottle from his storage bag. There were a few balls of gray light inside.
"This is the residual soul I collected from the corpse of the Qingyan Monkey when I was refining leather armor."
Tao Fengnian opened the bottle stopper, and a grey ball of light emerged. The hungry green tiger pounced on the ball of light and swallowed it. The silver light of the wick and the two balls of phosphorescence suddenly became brighter.
"Huh?"
Jiang Yuebai frowned, her mind sank into her sea of consciousness. She had been carving the Divine Stone these days, and the wheat seedlings in her sea of consciousness had grown from three leaves to five, while the drifting snowflakes were still three.
At this time, Xiaolu devoured the remaining soul, and a wisp of yellow air suddenly appeared under the wheat seedlings, wrapping the roots and turning into soil.
"Grandpa, my spiritual awareness has increased. What's going on?"
Tao Fengnian understood and gave the remaining soul to Xiaolu to devour.
"You are really lucky, girl. The phosphorous fire of this mutant ghost lamp can burn the spiritual consciousness of cultivators, and it can also nourish your spiritual consciousness by devouring souls. This is a ghost method, which cannot be said to be good or evil. There are also many righteous cultivators who cultivate their spiritual consciousness by devouring the souls of monsters."
"Spiritual consciousness plays a very special role in cultivation. It has an impact on breaking through bottlenecks, using magic, fighting, refining elixirs, refining equipment, and setting up formations. However, apart from the two paths of demons and ghosts, there are few ways for human cultivators to improve their spiritual consciousness."
"Devouring animal souls or even human souls is the easiest method, but devouring too many souls will have a great impact on the mind. At the very least, it will cause mental confusion, and at the worst, it will cause demonic madness and cut off the path to immortality."
"You devour and refine this mutant ghost lamp. Even if the improvement is small, there is no disadvantage. Over time, your spiritual awareness will definitely be far superior to that of ordinary people. I have been practicing for forty years and have never heard of or seen anything like this."
"This is the rune used to contract a spirit beast. Use your spiritual sense to engrave it on the ghost lantern, and it will not be able to hurt you in the future. Also, the secret of this ghost lantern must not be leaked, otherwise someone will steal the treasure and kill people, understand?"
Jiang Yuebai wrote down the rune that Tao Fengnian gave her. In fact, she felt that Xiaolu's wick contained Ye Shiming's obsession. Before finding Wuweishanren, Xiaolu would never hurt her.
To be on the safe side, I'd better listen to grandpa.
Nothing happened that night. Jiang Yuebai took a rare break from practicing and had a good sleep under the influence of alcohol.
The next morning, she asked Tao Fengnian to take her to the lecture hall.
The appointment with Lu Nanzhi and the others was in the afternoon. There happened to be a class on inner sect formations given by the uncle-master in the morning, so Jiang Yuebai got a good seat early to listen to the lecture.
"The Dao of Formation is the most difficult to learn and master among the six arts of cultivation. To enter the Dao of Formation, it is not enough to just learn the spells. First, you need to lay a solid foundation in magic and numbers..."
The inner sect foundation-building uncle lectured loudly, but Jiang Yue Baiyun was confused and did not understand most of it. She suddenly felt how complicated the art of formations was. Just for the list of books for laying the foundation, the uncle had listed more than a dozen books.
After finally waiting for the lecture to end, Jiang Yuebai plunged into the library and borrowed all the books including "The River Chart and the Luo Shu", "Tai Xuan Jia Zi Shu", "Yin Yang Ying Xiang Lun" and so on.
No matter how difficult it is, you will understand it by reading and memorizing more.
Just as I was leaving the library, someone blocked my way.
"I knew I'd find you here, you little bitch."
Jiang Yuebai looked up and his heart skipped a beat. Jia Wei!
She glanced around and saw people coming and going outside the library. If he wanted to cause trouble for her, he would not choose here.
"What do you want to do?"
Jia Wei said nonchalantly, "I won't go against a little girl. I came here today to remind you that you should not misjudge people or you will lose your life."
"Are you talking about yourself?" Jiang Yuebai said bluntly.
Jia Wei sneered, "Do you think Tao Fengnian is being nice to you without any selfish motives? I might as well tell you directly that his life span is less than a year. He is training you just to train a new body for himself. When the time comes, he will take over your body and be reborn!"
Jiang Yuebai's heart trembled and he stared at Jia Wei fiercely.
Jia Wei laughed sinisterly and said, "You can take care of yourself."
After Jia Wei left, Jiang Yuebai felt cold all over.
He just said... Grandpa has less than a year to live? Is that why Grandpa's health has been getting worse recently
Jiang Yuebai didn't want to believe it, but after thinking about it carefully, his grandfather entered Taoism at the age of thirty, and has been practicing until he is seventy years old. He failed to build his foundation twice and exhausted all his foundation...
She originally thought that her grandfather would live to be at least a hundred years old, or at least eighty.
"Impossible, Grandpa can't possibly..."
Jiang Yuebai didn't dare to think further and immediately ran towards Huaxi Valley.
In Huaxi Valley, there is a small courtyard made of blue bricks.
Tao Fengnian listened to Jiang Yuebai's sobbing questioning, and was a little dazed. After a while, he said, "You are only worried that I will die soon, but you are not worried that I will really take over your body?"
Jiang Yuebai cried and yelled, "I'm not a fool! How could I believe what Jia Wei said!"
Tao Fengnian laughed and shook his head.
Jiang Yuebai was so angry that she wiped her tears, "You're still laughing!"
"You yourself said that Jia Wei's words cannot be trusted, why are you still crying?"
Jiang Yuebai was stunned, his nose running.
Tao Fengnian rubbed Jiang Yuebai's head and said, "Don't worry, your life span is indeed coming to an end, but the last time we went to Nangu Market, Grandpa had found a way to temporarily prolong your life."
"How long is temporarily?"
"Three years. As long as you can pass the exam to become a spiritual cultivator within three years, Grandpa can ask the sect for a ten-year longevity pill, and then strive to establish your foundation again. After that, you will have enough time to plan."
"Then why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"Tao follows nature, it cannot be forced. Grandpa doesn't want you to practice under pressure."
Jiang Yuebai wiped away her tears, "I will never let you die, and you must not abandon me, swear!"
Seeing that Jiang Yuebai was stubborn, Tao Fengnian had to pretend to swear to comfort her. Although it was a false alarm, Tao Fengnian always had a bad feeling about why Jia Wei suddenly wanted to tell Jiang Yuebai about this.
Jiang Yuebai was the same, feeling uneasy.
After much thought, she decided not to wait three years.
Prolonging one's life is an act against heaven. Even if it is just a ten-year longevity pill, the process of refining it will suffer from pill disaster, and it is difficult to guarantee the output.
Jiang Yuebai went to the lecture hall again, and Lu Nanzhi and Xie Jingshan both said they would do their best to help.
But no one can guarantee when it will be available.
The originally bright day was covered with a layer of haze. After that day, Jiang Yuebai no longer left the valley. He locked himself in the small courtyard and practiced spiritual farming magic day and night.
Tao Fengnian was right, Tao follows nature, and although practicing magic was hard for her in the past, she was very happy every day as long as she made progress.
Now she feels like a huge rock is pressing on her heart. She feels that her progress is not enough and she is still very far away from her goal. She keeps pushing herself to the limit and is so tired that she can hardly breathe.
Moreover, the proficiency in spells does not increase as much as before.
She gradually realized that too much is as bad as too little.
Only by practicing hard day after day and communicating with Lu Nanzhi through letters could she relieve the depression in her heart.
(End of this chapter)