Chapter 429: Chapter 252: Withered and Flourishing Wood

Li Mu took out the black severed wood, its wrinkled surface devoid of any spiritual energy, resembling an ordinary chopping board.

Under the Innate Divine Power – Recognition of Ten Thousand Spirits, its true attribute information was exposed.

[Withered and Flourishing Wood Heart]

[Grade: Tier Six Spirit Wood]

[Attributes: Life and Death Transformation, Instantaneous Withering and Flourishing, Cycle of Life and Death, Withered Years, Years of Glory]

[Status: Power of Time Condensed, Balance of Life and Death, Unity and Mortality]

[This wood heart, from a Withered and Flourishing Wood with five thousand annual rings, undergoes one cycle of withering and flourishing every three hundred years, condensing the power of time. After five thousand years, it achieves a balance of life and death, the power of time becoming unobtrusive, returning to the ordinary. This wood heart is one of the main materials for refining an Artifact of Time and an Instrument of Cause and Effect.]

Having seen the attribute information of the Withered and Flourishing Wood Heart, Li Mu weighed the pros and cons for a long time, caught in a dilemma, unsure of what type of Spirit Treasure to refine with it.

The Withered and Flourishing Wood Heart, this high-tier refining spiritual material, contains an extremely rare power of time, which is very valuable. This is also why Li Mu selected it from among the many Treasure Pearls of the Snow Fox Race.

Using the Withered and Flourishing Wood Heart, one can cooperate with Tier Seven Star Beast Pearl and Tier Six Spirit Rhythm Profound Turtle Shell, both of which contain power of cause and effect, to refine a Divination Spiritual Treasure. Alternatively, one could seek other time spiritual materials to refine a Spirit Treasure specifically catered to wood element spirit plants.

With the power of time bestowed by a Time Spiritual Treasure, the growth time of high-tier spirit plants can be accelerated, which in turn can shorten the time needed to obtain Plant Spirit Attributes, or alternatively, can assist in mass cultivating spirit seeds of high-tier spirit plants to expand the planting scale.

The two options each have their advantages and disadvantages, and Li Mu found it difficult to make a decision at the moment.

The first option favors safety when traveling, allowing one to foresee the future and detect crises in advance. However, equipping a Spirit Treasure with both power of time and power of cause and effect makes the refining process extremely challenging, and Li Mu feared failure.

The second plan involves successfully refining a Time Spiritual Treasure, which can speed up the cultivation of spirit plants and help select suitable plants for cultivation. The difficulty, however, lies in the search for other high-tier spiritual materials with time attributes, which are scarce and difficult to gather.

…

Unable to decide, Li Mu sighed. Currently residing in the Snow Fox Race’s territory within the Ten Thousand Demon Mountain Range, it was not suitable for artifact refining. Choosing the attribute for the Spirit Treasure to be refined using the Withered and Flourishing Wood Heart would have to wait until his return to the Yin Yang Valley.

Li Mu set aside this dilemma, storing the Withered and Flourishing Wood Heart in the storage compartment, and focused, cupping his hand to gather a cluster of Five Elements Spirit Fire. He then retrieved a large amount of Tier Five Spirit Grass and Spirit Medicine from the Nine Treasures Spirit Pearl to begin refining Tier Five Spirit Pills.

With the experience of refining the Tier Six Supreme Profound Clarity Pill, Li Mu felt calm and confident while refining the comparatively lower-tier Tier Five Spirit Pills.

The Five Elements Spirit Fire arose effortlessly, transforming into a vortex of spiritual fire. One by one, Tier Five Spirit Medicines were thrown into it, including Purple Gold Spirit Flower, Golden Jade Bamboo Reishi, …, rapidly melting within the vortex of spirit fire, quickly condensing and being refined into a batch of liquid medicine, eventually separating into four evenly sized, round cyan spirit pills.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Li Mu refined four Tier Five Cyan Yuan Calming Pills.

Repeating this process, Li Mu tirelessly refined spirit pills, passing the time.

The next day, at Snow Cloud Ridge.

Xue’Er and Bai Jinling bid each other farewell reluctantly. After a while, they followed Li Mu, landing on the enormous head of the Two-Horned Cyan Moon Flood Dragon.

“Roar!”

The next moment, the Two-Horned Cyan Moon Flood Dragon let out a long cry towards the sky, surrounding itself with vast clouds and mist. With a swish of its tail, it instantly transformed into a streak of cyan light, swiftly disappearing into the horizon, speeding towards the territories governed by the Human Race.

The peak Tier Six Two-Horned Cyan Moon Flood Dragon possessed rapid flying speed, making a journey of ten thousand miles a day effortless.

Li Mu led Xue’Er into the Painting Realm Treasure Mansion to rest in the Four-sided House.

“Take these spirit pills and use them! Following me requires diligent cultivation; your cultivation level is too low, and you won’t be able to help when needed in the future.” Li Mu handed several bottles of spirit pills to Xue’Er, instructing her solemnly.

“Thank you, Lord Li! I will!” Xue’Er’s eyes brightened, joyfully accepting the pill bottles.

Life with Li Mu was much more comfortable compared to the Snow Fox Race. The Treasure Mansion World’s abundant spiritual qi, along with the company of Xiaojin, Xiaowa, and others, allowed for effortless cultivation, easily improving one’s cultivation level by eating spirit pills.

Li Mu turned and walked towards the secret chamber of the Four-sided House.

“Lord Li, these are the artifact refining materials I requested from my mother. Didn’t you promise to refine a Spirit Treasure for me? Here!” Xue’Er suddenly remembered something, calling out to Li Mu, handing over a rustic storage bag with both hands.

The storage bag was old and worn, its original embroidered patterns barely discernible from wear.

This made sense, as the Snow Fox Race was not proficient in artifact refining; the storage bag likely came from the spoils of war against Human Race cultivators, having been used for many years.

“Alright! I’ll help you refine it later.” Li Mu took the storage bag with a smile and headed towards the artifact refining room.

Suddenly remembering something, Li Mu turned to Xue’Er with concern, “By the way, did you tell your mother that I can refine artifacts?”

“My mother did inquire about your origins, but don’t worry! I’m very tight-lipped and didn’t say anything. Lord Li, I didn’t know you knew how to refine artifacts!” Xue’Er grinned mischievously, looking at Li Mu with feigned surprise.

When Xue’Er first met Li Mu, she had already witnessed his cautious nature. The lecherous fat man and his senior brother had been locked in a cage for years, living a dismal, miserable life.

After years of interaction, Xue’Er deeply understood Li Mu’s character. Wanting to continue to follow him in the future, she was cautious when questioned by her mother, not revealing too much useful information, keeping secrets wherever possible.

In hindsight, this decision was evidently correct.

“You sly fox, go off and play! Later, I’ll craft you a Storage Magical Treasure; this storage bag is too unsightly.” Li Mu was very pleased with Xue’Er’s answer, smiling happily as he signaled.

“Thank you, Lord Li!” Xue’Er beamed with happiness, expressing her gratitude joyfully.

Li Mu waved his hand and walked straight into the artifact refining room.

Watching Li Mu enter the artifact refining room, Xue’Er hopped around excitedly, going off to find Xiaojin and Xiaowa.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Inside the artifact refining room, halfway through artifact refining, Li Mu suddenly accelerated the refining of a Tier Five Spirit Sword. Then, in a flash, he disappeared from the Painting Realm Treasure Mansion.

“Master, do you need me to help them?”

Li Mu appeared, the Two-Horned Cyan Moon Flood Dragon overlooking below, observing a Venerable Divinity Transformation leading four Nascent Soul True Monarchs struggling against a Tier Six demon beast. It asked for instructions.

“No need, they’re old acquaintances. I’ll handle it myself!”

Seeing five familiar figures, Li Mu smiled and politely declined.

Afterward, Li Mu gestured, and a small, ancient, black mountain appeared out of thin air. The black mountain grew rapidly in size, bearing down on the Tier Six demon beast that the group struggled to weaken, threatening their precarious situation.

The Tier Six Fierce Demon Bear abruptly sensed danger but found it too late to evade. Urgently turning, it assumed an Overlord Lifting the Tripod stance, its entire body surging with demon power to resist the impending threat.

The black mountain came roaring down with thunderous force!

“Boom!” A loud crash.

The Tier Six Fierce Demon Bear was thrown like an ant trying to halt a wagon, launched into the air, “Crack, crack…,” a series of concentrated bone-breaking and bone-cracking sounds echoed.

The gigantic, sturdy body of the Tier Six Fierce Demon Bear was sent flying several miles, its mighty form shrinking considerably, sprawling in a rocky pit, instantly turned into mush, its massive body transforming into strands of shredded flesh, in a state of utter disarray.

The massive shockwave scattered the group attacking the Tier Six Fierce Demon Bear, blowing them apart and filling them with terror.

That was a Tier Six Demon Yellow! Renowned for its robust, majestic physique.

Yet, that black mountain smashed with such ruthless force, the Tier Six Demon King, ferocious and defiant, reduced to paper, letting out a few pitiful cries before perishing.

This attack power was frighteningly formidable, a black mountain studded with Spirit Swords, what kind of Spirit Treasure was this, to be this terrifying!

All five turned to look at Li Mu, collectively dumbfounded.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep