Chapter 96: Crafting Soothing Incense, Initial Formation of the Meridian Diagram

Chapter 96: Chapter 96: Crafting Soothing Incense, Initial Formation of the Meridian Diagram

「Noon.」

Li Changsheng leisurely returned to his small courtyard atop Xiaohua.

With a flicker of his thoughts, a swarm of insects rose and scattered around the small courtyard.

Li Changsheng dismounted, landing on his feet, and strode into the kitchen.

Wisps of smoke soon curled up from the chimney, and the crisp sound of chopping vegetables echoed from the kitchen.

While he was busy cooking,

Dong Xing pushed open the courtyard gate and walked in, sporting a large bump on his head and carrying a basket of fruits and vegetables.

Making himself right at home, he strode into the living room, sat down in the grand armchair, and called out, "Junior Brother, make some extra food. I’m eating here today."

"Alright, Senior Brother. Have a seat."

Li Changsheng’s voice came from the kitchen.

Over two hours later,

Dong Xing looked at him speechlessly and said, "I’m telling you, Junior Brother, aren’t you tired from being so busy?"

"Why don’t you hire a servant? Buying one wouldn’t even cost more than a few Spirit Stones."

Li Changsheng served him a bowl of Spirit Rice, paused, then smiled. "I find it too noisy. I don’t mind being a little busy on my own."

Dong Xing shook his head and said as he ate, "Just think about it. You’re so busy every day, your cultivation is falling behind."

Li Changsheng nodded, swallowing a mouthful of Spirit Rice, and asked curiously, "How are Junior Sister Dong and Senior Brother Wu?"

Dong Xing sighed. "They just sent a message through someone saying they’re fine. I don’t know the specifics." He paused, then added, "Did you know? Quite a few Spirit Farmers from A and B Zones have already been transferred to the new Spiritual Land."

"According to Yaoyao, the Spiritual Land over there is vast and requires a lot of Spirit Farmers."

"And few Spirit Farmers from the sect are willing to go there. I think it’s about time they start sending people from our D Zone."

Li Changsheng asked, puzzled, "Can’t they recruit Loose Cultivators?"

"Hah..."

Dong Xing sneered and said disdainfully, "You think it’s so easy to be a Spirit Farmer?"

As he said this, there was even a hint of pride on his face.

Li Changsheng shot him a speechless glance.

’Aren’t Spirit Farmers just... farmers? What’s there to be so smug about?’

Dong Xing said, "You may not believe me, Junior Brother, but what are Loose Cultivators?"

"The vast majority of them have poor Spirit Veins, poor comprehension, and so on... If they excelled in any area, they would have been recruited by a sect long ago."

Dong Xing scoffed, "Even if you gave one a Minor Cloud and Rain Art manual, do you think he could possibly master it? And even if he did, casting it with his garbage Cultivation Technique would probably only summon a palm-sized cloud before his Spiritual Power runs out in the time it takes to take a piss."

"On top of that, they’d have to change their Cultivation Technique and all... it’s just too much trouble. It’s better to just pull some new disciples from the sect to come here..."

Li Changsheng shook his head.

’It’s really tough being a Loose Cultivator in the Cyan Yang Sect’s territory... They really don’t give you a single chance.’

After seeing Dong Xing off,

’The new Spiritual Land...’

Li Changsheng frowned, picked up a wooden basin, and went up to the second floor.

He went to the study and cleared the desk.

Li Changsheng took out five Bright God Flowers, a section of Jade Spiritual Bamboo, several Spirit Stones, and a porcelain vial of Spirit Water.

He recalled the recipe for Soothing Incense and got to work.

He ground the five Bright God Flowers into a powder, scraped dust from the Jade Spiritual Bamboo with a small knife, and then crushed the Spirit Stones. He poured in a little Spirit Water and stirred clockwise for several minutes, then counter-clockwise for several minutes, until the mixture formed a fragrant paste that no longer stuck to the sides of the basin.

Then, he channeled his Spiritual Power to squeeze out the air bubbles and excess water, shrinking the fist-sized ball of paste by nearly half.

Li Changsheng looked at the ball of paste in his hand. After a moment of thought, he used the small knife to cut it into a dozen or so pieces. He then rolled each piece into a straight stick and placed them on a wooden board to air-dry in the shade.

Once they finished air-drying, the Soothing Incense would be complete.

Li Changsheng returned to the soft couch, took out a stick of Soothing Incense, placed it in an incense burner, and lit it.

Before long, cyan smoke began to curl upwards, entering his body with each breath.

Li Changsheng closed his eyes and visualized the Three-leaf Spirit Absorption Vein Map.

As time passed, the distracting thoughts in his mind slowly dissipated, and his spirit grew calm.

After an unknown amount of time,

Li Changsheng suddenly opened his eyes. He formed a sword finger, which glowed like jade as he channeled his Spiritual Power, and swiped it across the spot between his eyebrows.

Instantly, blood trickled down, running along his cheeks and dripping onto his robes.

His expression unwavering, Li Changsheng inserted two fingers into the flesh of his forehead and tugged at what was inside, up and down, three times in succession.

Inside his mind, three successive sounds echoed, like the plucking of zither strings...

Li Changsheng’s face suddenly contorted. He wiped his palm over the spot between his eyebrows, and the bleeding stopped instantly. He then simply stared, eyes wide, at the Soothing Incense.

With every breath, the cyan smoke slowly seeped into his body.

「By dusk.」

The Soothing Incense in the burner had turned into a pile of gray-white ash.

"Hooo..."

Li Changsheng slowly exhaled a turbid breath and murmured to himself, "The three main veins are established. Next is to ’pluck’ the branch veins, and after that, the intricate leaf veins..."

"But before plucking the branch veins, I need to use Spiritual Power to support the main veins, letting them adapt and stabilize. Otherwise, if they collapse, all this effort will be wasted."

As the saying goes, pulling a single hair can move the whole body.

Because he had directly pulled out and established the three main veins, the other veins in his body had shifted in response.

As a result, his eyelids were pulled up so he couldn’t close them, three deep furrows ran across his cheeks, his nostrils were turned up, and his mouth was stretched down to his chin.

His face looked like a terrifying demonic mask.

And his face would only return to normal after the veins adapted to the changes.

Li Changsheng touched the spot between his eyebrows where three distinct ridges had formed. He then got up, went downstairs, and entered the kitchen.

Days passed, one by one.

Seven days later, the Soothing Incense had finished air-drying, and the three main veins of the Three-leaf Spirit Absorption Vein Map had stabilized.

Li Changsheng then began the work of plucking the branch veins.

Unlike the main veins, the Three-leaf Spirit Absorption Vein Map was composed of a full thirty-six branch veins.

And their direction, position, degree of curvature, and so on were all different...

The hardest part was bending the branch veins. This had to be done in one smooth, continuous motion, without the slightest deviation.

A slight deviation wouldn’t actually affect the functionality of the Vein Map due to the interconnectedness of the veins.

It might just mean, however, that one of his eyes would be permanently stuck open, or a corner of his mouth forever curled upwards. The exact consequences were unknown.

Therefore, every time Li Changsheng plucked a branch vein, he had to recuperate for several days before moving on to the next.

Half a year passed quickly.

Just as Dong Xing predicted, D Zone began transferring people to the new Spiritual Land.

Among them were people he knew, like Yun Wan and Sun Wen Yu, as well as acquaintances he could chat with, like Huang Ping and Ma Shan...

Someone from the Spirit Field Hall came looking for him as well, but upon seeing that he was cultivating the Three-leaf Spirit Absorption Vein Map, they reported it up the chain of command.

Because of this, Steward Ma paid him a visit. Seeing that Li Changsheng had indeed made some progress, he rescinded the transfer order to the new Spiritual Land. He also left five sticks of Soothing Incense, advising him not to rush and to take his time with his cultivation.

And so, a month slowly passed.

Li Changsheng successfully constructed all the branch veins for the Three-leaf Spirit Absorption Vein Map, forming a complete, closed-loop network.

In truth, by this point, he had already successfully cultivated the Three-leaf Spirit Absorption Vein Map.

The remaining fine leaf veins were merely the icing on the cake. They would just make the Vein Map more complete and stable, giving it a more solid foundation and a greater capacity.

He then rested for half a month before starting on the fine leaf veins.

Compared to the main and branch veins, plucking the leaf veins was simpler, yet also more intricate. This was because there were simply so many of them, and their patterns were so complex.

And so, he continued to pluck the intricate leaf veins at a steady, unhurried pace.

The days passed one by one.

For some unknown reason, though Li Changsheng continued to tend his Spirit Field, no one came to collect the rent, as if the matter had been completely forgotten.

’Good that they forgot,’ he thought. It was one of his few sources of happiness during the painful process of manipulating his veins.

「This day.」

Having just fed his Spirit Beasts, Li Changsheng was about to head back upstairs.

Just then, a shout came from outside the gate.

"Junior Brother, are you home? I’m here..."

The corner of Li Changsheng’s mouth twitched. He was tempted to pretend he wasn’t home, but after a moment’s hesitation, he went to answer the gate.

Outside the gate,

Stood a man whose head was swollen and bruised purple, his features so distorted that it resembled a pig’s head.

The moment he saw Li Changsheng, he burst out laughing, "Haha, Junior Brother, your face is getting more and more amusing..."

Li Changsheng let him into the courtyard and said through clenched teeth, "Senior Brother Dong, your head is getting fatter and fatter too!"

Instead of getting angry, Dong Xing just laughed smugly. "Heh, you have no idea how many people are jealous of this head of mine!"

Li Changsheng shot him a look and snorted, "Jealous of a pig’s head?"

Dong Xing shot back, "Haven’t you looked in a mirror, Junior Brother? Your face... a mere description of it could scare a crying child into silence..."

Li Changsheng pressed his lips together and said nothing.

Ever since he’d started manipulating his veins, he had removed all mirrors from his house, so he had no idea what he actually looked like.

Just as he was leading Dong Xing towards the house, Dong Xing suddenly veered off and ran into the Spirit Beast pen.

Watching him run into the pen, Li Changsheng was struck with regret. ’I never should have promised Dong Xing one of the young!’

Sure enough!

"WHOA!!!"

A cry of alarm came from the Spirit Beast pen.

A moment later,

Dong Xing came jogging out, yelling, "Junior Brother, you promised me one of Xiaohua’s offspring! You haven’t forgotten, have you?!"

"You know I’ve been waiting for a long time... And Yaoyao needs a guardian Spirit Beast too."

Li Changsheng raised a hand to stop him from continuing and said irritably, "I’ll give you one when they’re ready to leave the pen!"

"That won’t do. There are only three of them; I can’t let you take a loss." Dong Xing flipped his hand over, revealing five hundred Spirit Stones. "I know this isn’t enough to buy a Spirit Beast that has awakened an innate Magic," he said, offering them to Li Changsheng, "but it’s all I have for now. I’ll make up the difference later."

Li Changsheng accepted the Spirit Stones and nodded. "This is fine. It’s enough."

Before Dong Xing could speak, he asked, "Senior Brother, did you only come for one of Xiaohua’s offspring?"

Dong Xing said, "Mainly for that, yes. But also, Yaoyao asked someone to bring you something."

As he spoke, he handed over a storage pouch and asked curiously, "I took a look. It’s all just plants with no Spiritual Qi. What do you need them for?"

Li Changsheng took it, tucked it away, and said dismissively, "I’m researching Spirit Beast food recipes. You wouldn’t understand."

"Alright, the delivery is made. I’m heading back."

Dong Xing turned to leave. When he reached the gate, he paused and called back over his shoulder, "Junior Brother, you should probably wear a veil when you go out. Didn’t you know? You’re pretty famous now."

With that, before Li Changsheng could ask why, he strode quickly away.

’This guy...’

Li Changsheng shook his head. ’I’m famous?’

’Is it because I’m cultivating the Three-leaf Spirit Absorption Vein Map too quickly?’

’Sigh, I guess I’ll have to be more low-key from now on...’