Having quickly adapted to the changes brought by his improved aptitude, Li Ye first refined the two strands of Voidrealm Essence, savoring the once-a-year experience of complete enhancement in body and magical power.
He casually opened his status panel and invested the 1,000 experience points into Puppet Technique, tidying things up a bit.
[Name: Li Ye]
[Spiritual Root: High-Grade Earth-Wood Dual Root]
[Age: 41]
[Lifespan: 196 years]
[Skills:
Planting: Tier 3 (Low) (28,000/150,000)
Alchemy: Tier 3 (Low) (2,432/250,000)
Artifact Crafting: Tier 3 (Low) (1,411/250,000)
Talismans: Tier 3 (Low) (2,366/200,000)
Gu Arts: Tier 3 (Low) (1,356/220,000)
Formations: Tier 3 (Low) (25,000/300,000)
Puppetry: Tier 3 (Low) (17,000/220,000)]
[Herbal Spirit Essences:
Qingxuan Essence ×540
Jade Cluster Essence ×522
Blood Amber Essence ×500
Bloodmelt Essence ×400
Witherbone Essence ×400]
[Planting Traits:
Vitality Lv2
Absorption Lv2
Wood Spirit Lv2
Tongtian Lv2
Toxicity Lv2]
[EXP: 0]
A full year had passed. He had just harvested recently, and the accumulation of essences was brimming.
After five or six years of steady progress, Li Ye had managed to push all of his current skills to Tier 3.
His mastery of Planting and Gu Arts greatly aided the cultivation of his spiritual plants.
Li Ye had high hopes for Gu Arts once it reached Tier 3, expecting it to finally display its unique mystical qualities. Unfortunately, he had no Tier 3 Gu recipes at hand.
So he could only try deducing some in his spare time. Though nothing practical had come out of it yet, he did manage to create quite a few auxiliary bugs for farming covering nearly all stages of a plant's growth.
As for combat power, reaching Tier 3 across several disciplines had brought about a dramatic leap.
Tier 3 Talismans, for instance, needed no further explanation the Earth-Leaping Golden Light Talisman used by that rogue cultivator of Bihu was one such example. If not for the heavy formation restrictions and his severe injuries, the talisman's thousand-mile instant escape might have saved him.
Once he'd reached Tier 3 in Artifact Crafting, Li Ye technically gained the ability to craft magical treasures. But with his current cultivation, they wouldn't be very useful.
Attempting to forge them would only waste the Tier 3 materials he had painstakingly scavenged from the lava ruins over the years.
His real reason for leveling this skill was to enhance his puppets and he eventually found a way to incorporate the core treasure left behind by Bihu's rogue cultivator.
In the end, these two goals merged into one: Li Ye successfully used the magical treasure to push his main puppet past the "quasi" barrier elevating it fully to Tier 3!
Though its combat strength couldn't match a true Golden Core cultivator…
It still carried some of a Golden Core expert's might. Paired with Li Ye's Green Vine Verdant Wood Formation, he was confident he could even spar with such elites.
If it was just a fake Golden Core cultivator one who relied on refining demon cores Li Ye was fully confident he could repel them.
His defensive capabilities had reached a whole new level compared to before.
Putting all that aside, Li Ye focused on the description of [Tongtian (Level 2)].
Now, the aptitude boost had risen to two tiers, and the chance for spiritual plants to evolve in quality had improved from "extremely slight" to "somewhat slight."
The former already brought about tangible, joyful results he was now enjoying the increased spiritual energy absorption.
As for the latter…
"I hope this Tier 2 effect isn't just for show… I've been farming for years now, and only one stalk of Qingluo Grass has evolved. That chance is just too pitiful. Even if my spiritual rice got an upgrade, I'd be thrilled…" Li Ye muttered, unable to hide his frustration.
He even began to daydream, "If it does work, I might be able to directly cultivate the spiritual plants I want. If I manage to pull that off, I'd tear out those two plots of poison grass and flowers from Dengjin Mountain and try to make a whole Tier 3 field for growing spiritual rice. That would be amazing!"
Ever since that one stalk of Qingluo Grass evolved and birthed the Qingluo Wood Spirit, none of the other plants had shown any signs of transformation.
He was beginning to think it hadn't been a result of a large sample size but merely a stroke of luck and he wasn't holding out hope for another.
After reviewing everything, his eyes lingered on the line "High-Grade Earth-Wood Spiritual Root."
A slow smile spread across his face.
Improving one's spiritual root wasn't just about cultivation speed it also significantly reduced the difficulty of future breakthroughs, like the leap to Golden Core.
High-grade roots didn't boost the success rate of forming a core, but they also didn't drag it down just that alone was enough to satisfy Li Ye.
It was still a vast improvement over the days when, with his low-grade root, even with abundant pills, progress had been painfully slow.
"With things finally calm for now, and no one eyeing my little corner of the world, this is the perfect time to focus on breaking into late Foundation Establishment…"
With that thought, Li Ye quietly sat cross-legged under the Voidrealm Tree.
As he activated his Wood God Art, spiritual energy surged toward him with far greater efficiency than before.
His consciousness sank, and in his dantian, radiant light danced as true fire flickered.
Seventy-one drops of violet-blue liquid magical power swirled in a pure, condensed state his magical power was now on par with any late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.
It wasn't even much weaker than some cultivators who had reached peak Foundation Establishment but practiced inferior techniques.
He was now just under 30 liquid drops short of the 100-drop peak of the mid-foundation stage. Before his aptitude upgrade, it would've taken seven or eight years of hard cultivation to get there.
But now… that timeline had been dramatically shortened!
Bathed in a tide of unprecedentedly active spiritual energy, Li Ye's mind calmed.
He fully immersed himself in cultivation.
.....
Three years later…
"Alliance Leader, the news is spreading that the rogue cultivator Bihu from Thousand-Isle Water City hasn't been seen for many years and is believed to have perished from old age…"
As Luo Feibai reported beside him with slight urgency, Li Ye showed no reaction to the news that was causing a stir across the Four Nations.
He simply continued tending to a lush green rice stalk before him its head heavy, each grain round and gleaming like tiny pills.
To have hidden it for so many years… that's already quite impressive.
Li Ye thought silently, without the slightest ripple in his heart.
With that black flood dragon raised by Bihu from a dragon carp and now at Tier 3 still around, the foundations of Thousand-Isle Water City remained solid.
Unless a Golden Core cultivator personally showed up, no one would be able to shake the city.
"But with one less Golden Core cultivator, the balance of power in the Four Nations is bound to shift…"
Li Ye sighed softly, still not turning his head as he said calmly:
"Keep a close watch on Thousand-Isle Water City. Report immediately if there's any unusual activity."
"If a large number of unfamiliar cultivators suddenly start showing up in the Chidi Mountains, be alert… We don't need to worry about other peaks, just make sure we aren't being targeted."
"Yes, Mountain Lord!"
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