Chapter 265: Using the Long-Life Tree Sap

Chen Mobai looked at the names and images of the seven magic tools displayed on the tablet—the Six-Yang Divine Fire Mirror, Blazing Light Fan, Azure Flame Rope, Crimson Jade Ribbon, Brahma Crossbow, Li Fire Bell, and Great Sun Golden Needle. He felt the two academic credits were well spent.

"No one, not even the Headmaster, knows exactly how many third-tier magic tools are in the Myriad Treasure Cave," Lu Tiansuan explained. "The Myriad Treasure Map, inherited by our student association, only lists those that are confirmed to be there." Lu Tiansuan then requested Chen Mobai's contact information and sent him a file containing the search results.

"So, these seven third-tier magic tools are definitely located somewhere in the Myriad Treasure Cave," Chen Mobai mused, his eyes gleaming with anticipation after receiving the file.

In the Sky River Realm, even the cheapest third-tier magic tools cost tens of thousands of spirit stones. As these are magic tools used by Core Formation cultivators, some high-quality ones can even serve as embryos for Natal Artifacts, making their value truly immeasurable.

"We can only confirm that these seven magic tools were once sealed within Tool-Containing Orbs and placed in the Myriad Treasure Cave. Whether they are still there now, we cannot guarantee," Lu Tiansuan stated, his meticulous nature evident in his precise words, leaving no room for misunderstanding.

"After all, some students don't publicly announce it even if they find something good," Mi Yudao added. "So, we can only try our best to update the information on the Myriad Treasure Map." Mi Yudao usually earned academic credits by improving the map's information.

"The Tool-Containing Orb I found earlier should contain a broken flying sword, gold attribute..." Chen Mobai began. He sold the information about the Tool-Containing Orb he had discovered to the student association, reasoning that one academic credit was too good to pass up.

"Alright, thank you for the information," Lu Tiansuan replied. After hearing Chen Mobai's description, Lu Tiansuan cross-referenced it with the student association's treasured alumni records and already had four or five theories about the flying sword's origin.

Afterward, Mi Yudao led Chen Mobai away. "Junior, are you interested in teaming up with me?" he asked.

Mi Yudao specialized in Earth Evasion arts. Combined with Chen Mobai's Spirit Eye technique, they could earn a decent amount of academic credits. Chen Mobai considered this and found it quite reasonable.

After all, finding Tool-Containing Orbs was the most challenging part; examining the sealed magic tools within them using various detection methods was comparatively simple. Coincidentally, Mi Yudao had found eight Tool-Containing Orbs this year that were not listed on the Myriad Treasure Map—four with "dead seals" and four with "live seals."

The four live-sealed orbs had already been examined by another Foundation Establishment Cultivator in the student association who also practiced the Spirit Eye technique, so Mi Yudao had to share the one academic credit information fee.

"Since you're offering, Senior, I'd be glad to," Chen Mobai replied. "You don't need to give me any academic credits; you're the one doing the hard work." Chen Mobai simply wanted to broaden his horizons.

Moreover, if he were to search for third-tier magic tools on his own, it would take ages; it was better to work directly with Mi Yudao, who was experienced in this field.

"Let's go," Mi Yudao said. Chen Mobai followed him to a Tool-Containing Orb hanging at the entrance of a tunnel.

Activating his Void-Piercing Spirit Eye, he saw a bell-shaped magic tool inside, seemingly guarding the tunnel entrance and absorbing fire spiritual energy.

Next, they visited three more live-sealed locations. Inside, he saw a pagoda, a jade tablet book, and a water-splitting trident, respectively.

"Excellent, excellent. Junior, your Spirit Eye technique is no worse than Vice-President Ming's," Mi Yudao praised. "You both saw the exact same things." After testing Chen Mobai's capabilities, Mi Yudao nodded in satisfaction.

He then took Chen Mobai to see the remaining four dead-sealed Tool-Containing Orbs. Unfortunately, even with his full effort, Chen Mobai could not discern the shape of the magic tools inside.

"For this Tool-Containing Orb, Vice-President Ming saw a square shadow and said it might be a box," Mi Yudao explained, pointing to an orb placed in an underground current. His words slightly surprised Chen Mobai.

Knowing that this orb was "dead-sealed," being able to see through such a seal meant that Vice-President Ming's Spirit Eye technique was superior to his own.

"Not exactly," Mi Yudao replied, shaking his head after hearing Chen Mobai's sigh. "His Spirit Eye technique is biased towards the water attribute, so if the sealed magic tool is water-attributed, he can see a vague outline."

"What about you? What attribute is your Spirit Eye focused on?" Mi Yudao asked.

"Fire, I guess," Chen Mobai replied.

Chen Mobai hesitated before stating an attribute. In reality, the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye was not biased towards any attribute; it was the most common and widely adaptable Spirit Eye technique in the Immortal Sect.

"What a pity. It would have been great if it were gold or earth attribute," Mi Yudao said, a look of regret on his face. He possessed a true spiritual root with both gold and earth attributes, which allowed him to practice Earth Evasion arts, enabling him to travel freely underground.

His long and arduous search in the Myriad Treasure Cave was precisely to find a third-tier gold-earth magic tool suitable for himself.

However, no one in the Martial Arts Daoist Academy had unsealed a third-tier magic tool for nearly twenty years.

After bidding farewell to Mi Yudao, Chen Mobai found a random tunnel entrance, set up a formation to signal his presence, and began reviewing the information Lu Tiansuan had given him about the seven third-tier magic tools.

The documents included not only appraisal certificates for the magic tools but also biographies of their previous users. Even the year each item was placed in the Myriad Treasure Cave was recorded.

Most remarkably, the cultivation and usage incantations for the magic tools were also included.

One could say these two academic credits were incredibly well spent, or perhaps the Martial Arts Daoist Academy's student association intentionally wanted them to open more Tool-Containing Orbs.

After all, once one had the cultivation incantations, there was a subtle feeling of being "just one magic tool away" from completion.

After reading the introductions to the seven third-tier magic tools, Chen Mobai felt an irresistible urge. He took out his own tool fragment, eager to open an orb and test his luck.

However, he ultimately calmed himself. "As long as I persistently cultivate the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye, I'll eventually be able to see through dead-sealed Tool-Containing Orbs," he thought.

Thinking this, Chen Mobai applied two drops of Clear-Sight Bamboo Spiritual Dew to himself.

After completing his cultivation of fire-attributed spells in the Myriad Treasure Cave, Chen Mobai teleported to the Divine Tree Secret Realm to continue practicing the wood-attributed spells from the Everlasting Life Sutra.

After improving his proficiency in both spell systems, Chen Mobai was about to make an appearance at Lesser South Mountain.

Looking at the towering artifact tree before him, he suddenly remembered he had a drop of "Everlasting Tree Sap." Could this be used to cultivate the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye?

Experimenting rashly on himself was not Chen Mobai's style, so he went to the Divine Wood Sect's library.

As a Foundation Establishment Elder, he could claim three Qi Refining cultivation techniques annually for free. Last year, he had claimed the Earth Mother Technique and two other unnamed techniques for Zhuo Ming. He hadn't used this privilege yet this year, so it was a good opportunity to exchange it for the Qi Refining volume of the Everlasting Dao Body to examine.

After greeting Senior Brother Hu, he discovered that the Everlasting Dao Body didn't actually have a Qi Refining volume; it could only be cultivated starting from the Foundation Establishment stage.

Left with no choice, he paid one mid-grade spirit stone for a hardcover edition.

Upon returning to Lesser South Mountain, he first patrolled the sixty acres of fertile fields.

Under Zhuo Ming's meticulous care, and with the Earth Mother Technique gathering earth energy and condensing the Mother Qi of All Things during cultivation, the rice seeds in these spiritual fields were vibrant, surpassing even what Chen Mobai had planted last year in Lesser Yang Ridge.

However, this wasn't because Zhuo Ming's agricultural knowledge surpassed his own. Instead, the spiritual fields in Lesser Yang Ridge were only first-tier, while the sixty acres of spiritual fields beneath Lesser South Mountain, after their tilling and fertilizing last year, had all reached the second-tier level.

The ten acres with the most abundant spiritual energy were planted with jade bamboo, preparing for the Divine Wood Sect's only second-tier spiritual rice.

It seemed this year would bring a bountiful harvest.

He reached down and grabbed a handful of soil, then put on his gold-rimmed glasses to examine the spiritual energy across the vast area. Watching the once barren spiritual fields grow increasingly vibrant, even attracting the spiritual energy of Lesser South Mountain, Chen Mobai was extremely satisfied with Zhuo Ming's achievements.

If this continued, perhaps in a few decades, Lesser South Mountain would once again upgrade to a fourth-tier spiritual vein.

Speaking of spiritual veins, Chen Mobai remembered Yun Yangbing.

Didn't his good brother have a special Spirit Gathering Array that could enhance spiritual veins? He could set one up on the mountain peak, at least for his own immediate benefit.

Even if it couldn't reach fourth-tier, a peak third-tier would still be excellent.

Chen Mobai pondered whether to get a set for his two disciples as well, but after some thought, realized that Giant Wood Ridge wasn't the Immortal Sect; Liu Wenbai and Zhuo Ming weren't short on spiritual energy at all.

Moreover, a hasty increase in cultivation level could lead to an unstable foundation, becoming a hidden danger during future Foundation Establishment.

After all, not everyone was like him, able to combine Immortal Sect cultivation techniques with Sky River Realm resources to forcefully achieve Foundation Establishment.

Soon after, Zhuo Ming arrived, accompanied by the two disciples from the Alchemy Department, both bowing to Chen Mobai upon their arrival.

"Master, why didn't you call me when you finished your seclusion?" Zhuo Ming asked.

"I just felt like moving around after a long period of quiet," Chen Mobai replied. "Don't mind me; I'm just taking a casual look around."

Chen Mobai sprinkled the soil from his hand, clapped them clean, and turned to return to Lesser South Mountain.

Zhuo Ming, who had been about to report on the progress of the spiritual wine development, saw her Master fly into the sky and could only shake her head helplessly, leading the two alchemy disciples back to the brewing workshop.

At the foot of Lesser South Mountain, Zhuo Ming had erected many wooden houses. Besides housing the mortals who tilled and sowed, they were also used to store spiritual rice and spiritual wine.

Chen Mobai had initially overseen things, but seeing how capable Zhuo Ming was, he had completely let go of management this year.

After finishing the Everlasting Dao Body, Chen Mobai nodded in approval.

The Everlasting Tree Sap could act on any part of the body. According to the explorations of the Divine Wood Sect's predecessors, it was the best body-tempering spiritual item in the entire Eastern Barrens, having no side effects and, if in sufficient quantity, capable of breaking through the shackles of innate talent, allowing continuous advancement.

The Everlasting Dao Body had only three realms: Ageless, Immortal, and Eternal Life.

The orthodox method for this body-tempering technique required refining all 206 bones of the human body with a single drop of Everlasting Tree Sap each. This would create an indestructible skeletal frame, after which the sap's power would be diffused from the inside out through the bone network, permeating the internal organs, muscles, skin, meridians, and acupoints.

This meant that to cultivate a Spirit Eye, one could first refine the bones around the eye socket with Everlasting Tree Sap.

It was said that body-tempering techniques were cultivation methods that developed the innate power of the human bloodline. Some cultivators with ordinary spiritual roots, by practicing body-tempering, could awaken innate divine abilities and embark on a different, broader path.

However, after reading, Chen Mobai had no intention of cultivating the Everlasting Dao Body.

This was because the technique was almost impossible to master solely by refining spiritual energy and absorbing spirit stones, without the Everlasting Tree Sap.

The Divine Wood Sect's method of refining 206 drops of Everlasting Tree Sap into the bone marrow, then spreading it throughout the body via the bone network, was already the most economical approach.

And this was merely for the first realm, "Ageless."

Chen Mobai took out his drop of Everlasting Tree Sap and applied it to the upper orbital bone of his left eye.

Instantly, he felt a gentle yet vast vital energy merge into it.

He circulated the Blazing Lamp Art to refine the vital energy, manually spreading the Everlasting Tree Sap's efficacy towards his left eyeball and the surrounding blood vessels, muscles, and orbital bone structure.

Chen Mobai multi-tasked, also circulating the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye technique to rapidly absorb the Everlasting Tree Sap's vital energy.

He didn't know how much time had passed before he finally lifted his head.

Around the pupil of his left eye, a circlet of azure light appeared, like a solar halo, appearing incredibly mysterious.

Since the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye was the Immortal Sect's most common Spirit Eye technique, lacking specific realm divisions and known only for its continuous potential for improvement, Chen Mobai didn't know the exact level of his left eye after absorbing part of the Everlasting Tree Sap.

However, he had a way to test it.

Upon returning to the Myriad Treasure Cave, he went to the dead-sealed Tool-Containing Orb that Mi Yudao had shown him earlier.

It was located in a branch of the underground current, and the orb was said to contain a square box.

Chen Mobai's eyes glowed with a clear luster, his left eye shining with a particularly mysterious and deep azure light, as he focused his gaze on the white jade orb at the bottom of the water.

Soon, dual vision appeared in his eyes.

His right eye still couldn't see clearly, only perceiving the surface luster of the white jade.

However, his left eye's vision penetrated the outer shell and the spiritual liquid, revealing the vague, cubic shape of a magic tool that occupied most of the interior space.

It seemed that although his left eye had absorbed some of the Everlasting Tree Sap's efficacy and his Void-Piercing Spirit Eye had advanced to a higher level, he still couldn't fully discern the true appearance of this dead-sealed Tool-Containing Orb.

His left eye's Spirit Eye technique was now likely on par with that of Vice-President Ming from the student association.

More precisely, their skill levels were comparable when viewing Tool-Containing Orbs that sealed water-attributed magic tools.

However, Chen Mobai's Void-Piercing Spirit Eye could see through dead-sealed Tool-Containing Orbs of all attributes.

To verify this idea, Chen Mobai visited the other three dead-sealed Tool-Containing Orbs that Mi Yudao had shown him.

However, he only managed to discern that one of them sealed a round magic tool. For the other two dead-sealed orbs, while he could see through their outer shells, he still couldn't make out their specific shapes.

Perhaps the seals hadn't been in place for long, and the spiritual liquid's insulating effect hadn't significantly deteriorated.

It seemed he still needed to find a way to obtain more Everlasting Tree Sap to further enhance his Void-Piercing Spirit Eye.

Chen Mobai checked his notes: there were seven bones in the eye socket. If he could obtain six more drops of Everlasting Tree Sap, he should be able to elevate his left eye to its utmost potential.