Chapter 502 - 471: Hope to Complete the Vast Sea Grotto Heaven

As the grayish-green centipede’s bladed legs whirred, a hazy green smoke sprayed from its underbelly.

Song Ciwan switched to Inner Breathing, careful not to inhale any of the surrounding air. At the same time, she raised a hand and pointed. A wisp of flame from her Blazing Flame Technique shot out, striking the centipede’s body like a bolt of lightning.

FWOOSH! The moment the thin wisp of fire touched its body, it was like a spark landing on dry tinder. The flames on the centipede erupted violently.

The centipede, so ferocious just moments before, writhed and curled up within the inferno. In a few short moments, it was burned to a blackened crisp.

The Blazing Flame Technique was just an ordinary Basic Magic. Although Song Ciwan’s Power was immense, and she had long ago cultivated the technique to the point of Mastery, that didn’t change its fundamentally basic nature.

Furthermore, her strength was actually suppressed in this massive world.

Yet, she had still managed to incinerate the giant insect with such ease using her Blazing Flame Technique.

As Song Ciwan observed and pondered, a realization dawned on her. ’These giant insects seem powerful, but perhaps because their Five Elements attributes are too pure, they’re incredibly easy to counter.’

’Clearly, while some things become purely powerful when taken to an extreme, others lose their balance and develop critical weaknesses.’

Song Ciwan thought of the Nine-Layer Foundation Establishment Tower in her Dantian.

Though she wasn’t Refining a Golden Core, she had still constructed a Tao Foundation within her Dantian.

This Tao Foundation stood in the very center of her Dantian Sea. It seemed silent and unobtrusive, having no apparent effect on her Cultivation.

In truth, however, this Tao Foundation granted her an incredibly keen perception of the Five Elements, of Yin and Yang, and of the fundamental forces of the universe.

’If I were to cultivate my Tao Foundation into a Golden Core,’ Song Ciwan mused, ’this perception would probably grow even stronger. But I resist Refining a Golden Core; I simply don’t want to.’

To this day, Song Ciwan had not changed her mind.

’Still,’ she thought, ’I might not be Refining a Golden Core, but I can certainly make use of the heightened senses granted by my Tao Foundation.’

’I could learn from my enemy to defeat them, or perhaps, turn their own strengths against them.’

Song Ciwan placed the charred corpse of the insect into the Heaven and Earth Scale, which displayed a notification: [Five Elements Demon Insect, one charred corpse of a Slaughter Spirit Level Thousand-legged Cyan Wood Insect. Available for trade.]

Slaughter Spirit Level!

This centipede was actually a Slaughter Spirit Level Demon Insect!

The Slaughter Spirit Level for a Demon was a realm equivalent to the Divinity Transformation Stage for a Cultivator in the Mortal World.

Back in the Mortal World, Song Ciwan could slaughter Divinity Transformation experts as if they were dogs, but in this massive world, her strength was suppressed.

Her ability to kill this Demon Insect so easily wasn’t just due to her own strength. More importantly, the principle of the Five Elements countering one another had played a major role!

Hadn’t she seen it herself? When Master Chen, an Innate Second Transformation expert, faced the Demon Insects on this stone mountain, he could often win with ease as long as he had Five Elements Crystal Pearls in hand.

The Heaven and Earth Scale accepted the Thousand-legged Cyan Wood Insect’s Demon Corpse and, at the same time, received a mass of Death Qi.

[Death Qi, from a Slaughter Spirit Level Five Elements Demon Insect (Thousand-legged Cyan Wood Insect). Weight: one jin and five taels. Available for trade.]

The Death Qi wasn’t particularly heavy; its weight was not proportional to the Demon Corpse’s massive size.

However, when collecting the body, Song Ciwan had deliberately touched the Demon Corpse, so the Heaven and Earth Scale also received a mass of Demon Spirit Malice.

[Malice, from a Slaughter Spirit Level Five Elements Demon Insect (Thousand-legged Cyan Wood Insect). Weight: two jin and seven taels. Available for trade.]

In succession, three items were taken into the Heaven and Earth Scale.

Song Ciwan hadn’t made any trades yet today, so she immediately decided to sell all three items to see what she would get.

[You have traded one charred corpse of a Slaughter Spirit Level Five Elements Demon Insect (Thousand-legged Cyan Wood Insect). You have received one Four-star Level Wood Spirit Source Stone.]

Wood Spirit Source Stone: A Four-star Level source stone, an aggregate of pure Wood Attribute Primordial Qi. Its energy is rich and gentle. It can assist Wood Attribute Cultivators in their Cultivation, be used to nurture various Wood Attribute Spiritual Materials, accelerate the growth of Spirit Medicine, and be used in Artifact Refining, Alchemy, Array Formation...

The Heaven and Earth Scale provided a long list of uses for the Wood Spirit Source Stone. As Song Ciwan read through it, she was left with a single impression:

’This Wood Spirit Source Stone is practically a panacea, a treasure that can be used for anything and everything!’

Most importantly, the final description stated: When buried within a Grotto Heaven, a Wood Spirit Source Stone can be used to complete it, effectively regulating the Wood Element Transformation within the Pocket Realm.

Reading this, Song Ciwan’s spirits soared.

Her Vast Sea Grotto Heaven, despite its high level and powerful foundation, had never been able to house living beings. Not even her own physical body could enter it.

This was all because the Five Elements within the Vast Sea Grotto Heaven were incomplete!

The fact that the Wood Spirit Source Stone could complete a Grotto Heaven’s Five Elements was, without a doubt, fantastic news.

’Taking that thought a step further,’ she mused, ’if Wood Spirit Source Stones exist, then doesn’t that mean Fire, Water, Gold, and Earth Spirit Source Stones might exist as well?’

’If I can just collect enough Five Elements Source Stones, can my Vast Sea Grotto Heaven become a complete and mature Grotto Heaven?’

This was a wonderful find. Song Ciwan suppressed her joy.

’This haul is so good, I can’t even be bothered to keep tracking Master Chen. Wouldn’t it be great to just stay on this stone mountain, hunt all sorts of insects, kill them, trade them to the Heaven and Earth Scale, and watch the rewards pour in?’

Of course, the stone mountain wasn’t going anywhere, so Song Ciwan ultimately chose to continue tracking Master Chen.

As she continued to trail him, she sold off the other two items she had just acquired.

[You have traded the Malice from a Slaughter Spirit Level Five Elements Demon Insect (Thousand-legged Cyan Wood Insect), weighing two jin and seven taels. You have received two hundred seventy years of Lifespan.]

Two jin and seven taels of Malice for two hundred seventy years of Lifespan. The ratio was about what she expected.

It was a standard conversion. After all, this was Malice from a Slaughter Spirit Level Demon Insect. One jin of Malice for one hundred years of Lifespan was perfectly understandable.

One hundred years per jin might not seem like much compared to Song Ciwan’s already immense Lifespan, but it was still an excellent return. Every little bit helped, and it was quite valuable.

She sold the next item.

[You have traded the Death Qi from a Slaughter Spirit Level Five Elements Demon Insect (Thousand-legged Cyan Wood Insect), weighing one jin and five taels. You have received three Four-star Level ’Verdant Spring’ Spirit Talismans.]

Verdant Spring Talisman: Can be used to heal all types of damage to Spirit Plants and aid or accelerate their growth.

It was something Song Ciwan didn’t have much use for, but it was valuable nonetheless.

By trading these items, Song Ciwan had gained not only objects, but also valuable information.

She continued tailing Master Chen. He encountered a total of six Demon Insects along the way, using up six Five Elements Crystal Pearls.

Meanwhile, Song Ciwan, who was actively searching for Demon Insects as she followed, managed to find seven of them.

She killed all of them, reaping a considerable harvest in the process.