Chapter 446: Slime-Worked Spiritual Veins

Three Origins Sect, mountain peak

Clouds surged beneath their feet, and the slanted sunlight dyed the layered peaks in patches of shifting gold.

The charcoal in the stone furnace had long burned out, but residual warmth still lingered.

Dao Master Guanshan and Old Wu had departed a few days prior, journeying back to the South Sea with the various Dao Masters of the Eighteen Islands of Zhan County. Before leaving, they had taken several Golden Core elders from various sects who had been invited along.

Although the commotion at the Abyss had been temporarily quelled, that world-destroying demon lurking beyond the boundary was still a sword suspended over the entire Xu Xuan Heaven.

They needed to return to the South Sea as soon as possible, take up their posts at the Abyss, and simultaneously host the sect elders who had been invited to investigate.

Hearing is false; seeing is true. Only by letting them witness the anomalies at the end of the Abyss with their own eyes could they truly believe that the great heavenly calamity was not an alarmist exaggeration from the Three Origins Sect.

Now, atop the stone platform on the mountain peak, only Chen Yu and Wu Shouzhuo remained, sitting across from one another.

Wu Shouzhuo’s complexion today was much better than in previous days.

Ever since stepping down as Supreme Elder, it was as if a heavy burden had been lifted from him. The weariness in his brow had mostly dissipated, replaced by a serene calm like a spring breeze.

He raised his teacup, took a sip, and chuckled warmly. “Junior Brother Ning Jiao, having you in our Three Origins Sect is truly a great fortune.”

Chen Yu was about to humbly decline, but Wu Shouzhuo waved his hand. “The blueprints for the Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation have already been handed over to Junior Brother Zhao and his team for survey and stakeout. If all goes smoothly, construction can officially begin in a few more days. This old man’s greatest wish in life will finally have a resolution.”

“Since my wish is fulfilled, I plan to enter a death seclusion in a few days. If I don’t ascend, I won’t leave seclusion.”

He smiled, relieved. “If there’s still no movement after five years, Junior Brother can personally knock on that stone door and collect my corpse for me.”

“At that time, I hope you won’t blame me for leaving too hastily, without even leaving a proper last word.”

As he said this, the atmosphere grew a little heavy.

Chen Yu set down his teacup and spoke in a gentle tone. “Senior Brother, if you plan to wash your hands of all sect affairs like this, that won’t do.”

“I’ve already found some leads on the method of ascension, but there are still some concerns I haven’t sorted out, so I dare not let you attempt it recklessly.”

Wu Shouzhuo laughed heartily. “Ascension is the ultimate romance for every cultivator. How could this old man not long for it?”

“If there truly is hope for ascension, I ask Junior Brother to lend me a hand.”

“That’s only natural.”

Chen Yu chose his words carefully, then spoke his thoughts.

“I’m searching for a way to allow ascenders to remain in Xu Xuan Heaven without being rejected by heaven and earth. If I can truly find that path, the great heavenly calamity will no longer be an unsolvable problem.”

Wu Shouzhuo didn’t rush to press for details, but instead asked with curiosity, “Old Guan has always had a question, but never had the chance to ask you.”

“This cultivation and enlightenment of yours, which pierces through heaven and earth-where exactly did it come from? If it’s merely innate talent, then your talent is simply too excessive.”

Chen Yu didn’t dodge the question.

He knew that at this point, some things no longer needed to be hidden.

“To be honest, since I was young, I’ve had a unique talent-able to wander outside the realm in my dreams.”

“Perhaps it’s because I’ve seen so little of this boundless and borderless void that cultivation became a matter of natural progression for you.”

Wu Shouzhuo was stunned for a long moment, his expression shaken. “Wandering... outside the realm?”

After a long pause, he solemnly cupped his hands. “Junior Brother, can you tell this old man-what kind of world lies beyond the realm?”

Chen Yu reached out and lightly brushed his hand across the stone table.

A soft golden light flowed across the surface, revealing the outline of a vast map.

Wu Shouzhuo looked at it, his gaze sharpening.

Because this map didn’t match the mountain and river terrain of any place in Xu Xuan Heaven. It was an unfamiliar continent he had never seen before.

The continent was curved and fragmented, surrounded by vast blue waters, dotted with a few green plains and gray-brown mountain ranges.

The coastline didn’t match any region of Xu Xuan Heaven at all, presenting an entirely foreign landscape.

“This world is very different from Xu Xuan Heaven.” Chen Yu slowly traced his finger across the map. “The people here don’t cultivate the Dao or practice Qi training. Instead, they pray to true immortals to receive blessings and gain power. They call those beings ‘Deities.’”

He had chosen this moment to reveal this information to Wu Shouzhuo not on a whim.

On one hand, he could see that Wu Shouzhuo’s greatest worry had been resolved, and he had already begun to embrace the thought of death.

For a Golden Core cultivator who had lived five hundred years, once his heart’s knot was untied and he lost a new goal, the passage of his lifespan would accelerate faster than anyone else’s.

He needed to give him a direction that could reignite his interest.

On the other hand, there were indeed many matters in Zeyarila that required the wisdom of these old monsters from Xu Xuan Heaven.

He planned to replicate the Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation in Zeyarila. With the current level of the Empire’s Monastery Slimes, forget designing a formation of this magnitude-they could barely even read the formation diagrams.

And in this regard, Wu Shouzhuo was the most top-notch formation cultivator in all of Xu Xuan Heaven.

Moreover, with his current status as the Dao Leader of Xu Xuan Heaven, revealing some information about the outer realm wasn’t a big deal. Instead, it could serve as an opportunity to channel the power of Xu Xuan Heaven into the construction of Zeyarila.

Wu Shouzhuo finished listening, slowly stroked his beard, and seemed deep in thought. “So, the people outside the realm all cultivate the Divine Dao?”

“Divine Dao?” Chen Yu was slightly taken aback. “What is the Divine Dao?”

Wu Shouzhuo said, “The All-Through Dao of the All-Through Dao Sect is already quite close to the scope of the Divine Dao. But strictly speaking, it’s still different from the true Divine Dao.”

He narrowed his eyes slightly, as if recalling certain ancient records. “It’s said that in the ancient times, there were many Divine Dao sects in the Southern Wastelands. They didn’t cultivate Golden Cores or comprehend the Dao. Instead, they cultivated using the incense and willing power of mortals, inviting deities into their Dao, summoning wind and rain, and possessing omnipotent divine powers.”

“But later, for some unknown reason, those methods of incense and divine Dao gradually lost their resonance. True immortals no longer responded to prayers, and the Divine Dao sects declined as a result.”

Chen Yu suddenly understood.

This was indeed similar to the Divine system of Zeyarila. He didn’t refute it, but simply followed the thread of conversation. “When I wander outside the realm at night, I’ve made many friends.”

“I promised to help them transform that world, to allow Qi cultivators and Dao cultivators to reappear outside the realm.”

“After it’s done, they will also lend their aid-help locate that world-destroying demon, and even invite their deities to take action and eliminate it.”

“To deal with the great heavenly calamity, I ask Senior Brother to advise me-how should we set up the Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation in this world?”

Wu Shouzhuo became intrigued. He studied the map, slowly stroking his beard, and mused, “This terrain is quite peculiar. It doesn’t have any advantage in feng shui at all.”

“There are no intersecting spiritual veins, no earthen veins to breathe and respond, and even the mountain and river directions show no traces of any innate formation structure.”

“In this place, I’m afraid it would be difficult to deploy a traditional Terrestrial Formation.”

Chen Yu cupped his hands. “Senior Brother’s eyes are as sharp as a torch. This world has thin spiritual energy, no spiritual veins at all, and no distinct earthen veins. It has no geographical advantages, and the celestial phenomena are completely different from Xu Xuan Heaven.”

Wu Shouzhuo’s gaze roamed over the map repeatedly for a moment, then he looked up. “This formation is not impossible.”

He slowly stood up and walked shoulder to shoulder with Chen Yu to the cliff’s edge, gazing at the surging sea of clouds in the distance, his Dao robe billowing.

“The Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation is a typical Terrestrial Formation, relying on the spiritual veins and earthen energy that already exist in Xu Xuan Heaven. In that world outside the realm, which has no spiritual veins, it indeed cannot be directly applied.”

He turned around. “But there is still a way. As long as that world still has spiritual energy, we can use objects that carry spiritual energy to forge spiritual paths, replacing natural spiritual veins. In other words, using Spirit Stones to forge veins.”

“Once the formation is complete, spiritual energy will circulate through the spiritual paths in an endless cycle. Over time, these spiritual paths will gradually nourish the surrounding earthen veins, revitalizing the barren land.”

“At that point, the appearance of earthen veins and the self-generation of spiritual veins will only be a matter of time. A thousand or a hundred years later, that place may not be inferior to the level of Xu Xuan Heaven.”

After hearing this, Chen Yu immediately thought of Gray Gravel Crystal.

Gray Gravel Crystal itself was a medium for storing magical energy, with characteristics very similar to Xu Xuan Heaven’s Spirit Stones. It could also be used to store spiritual energy.

But even just laying the spiritual paths would require an astronomical amount of Gray Gravel Crystal.

With the reserves of the Empire’s currently controlled crystal mines, it was likely far from enough.

Even starting with just transforming the Empire wasn’t simple.

Chen Yu had no choice but to settle for the next best option. He used his Divine Sense to hand over the map of the swamp to Wu Shouzhuo.

“Senior Brother, given the current abilities of my friends over there, building a formation that covers an entire continent is not yet realistic. Can we first take this place as a pilot project and design a small formation?”

Wu Shouzhuo looked at the new map in his Sea of Consciousness, chuckled while stroking his beard, and his eyes were full of eager interest. “Consider it done, Junior Brother. You go handle your business. I’ll sketch out a draft, and we can discuss it in detail later.”

Chen Yu watched his back as Wu Shouzhuo slowly walked away along the mountain path, his pace much lighter than in previous days.

Now that the Universal Xu Xuan Spirit Mountain Grand Formation had a chance to be realized, and a brand-new world was waiting for him to study, this five-hundred-year-old old cultivator seemed to have found a renewed motivation to live.

When the time was right, Chen Yu could even let Wu Shouzhuo access the Gel Network and directly communicate with the Elf Sages.

The formation grandmasters of Xu Xuan Heaven and the arcane scholars of Zeyarila might just spark some unexpected creativity.

But for now, he had another, more urgent matter-to make money.

The Empire’s Mobile Suit Project was itself devouring massive amounts of gold coins day after day.

And to lay the small Spirit Mountain Formation, Wu Shouzhuo’s Zeyarila version, in the swamp region, the amount of Gray Gravel Crystal and various spiritual materials required wouldn’t cost less than the Mobile Suit Project.

With two major projects weighing on his shoulders at the same time, given the Empire’s current financial situation, they probably couldn’t hold out for long.

He rubbed his brow and sighed silently in his heart: I need to find a way to make money.

If he didn’t think of a way soon, with the Treasury getting emptier by the day, Little Flower would probably stand in front of the Throne and nag him for a long time.

...

Slime City, Sky Harbor.

In the winter morning, the entire city was still shrouded in a thin layer of mist, but the streets were already packed with onlookers.

Humans, Dwarves, Lizardfolk, and a large crowd of colorful slimes clogged the main road leading to the City Wall.

“Move over, move over! I can’t see!”

“My gel is going to get squished flat!” A pale blue water slime beside it was pressed against a dwarf’s leather boot.

The dwarf looked down at it, grinned, and said, “Hop up here, Little One.”

With that, he placed it on his shoulder.

Of course, even their combined height wasn’t as tall as the human adventurer in front of them, so they could only keep pushing forward.

Today was a special day.

At the newly completed Sky Harbor beside the City Wall, a group of Slime Engineers and dwarf artisans were making final adjustments to a ship.

The ship was about twenty feet long, with a beautifully streamlined hull. A row of pale blue crystal arrays was embedded in its bottom, and both sides of the hull were densely engraved with runes.

Morning light bathed the ship, flowing along the edges of the wood grain and metal inlay, reflecting a soft glow.

The origin of this magic ship wasn’t too distant.

The Slime City Chamber of Commerce had funded it, adopting some of the mature technologies from the Floating Fortress and miniaturizing them for civilian use. Ultimately, they had designed this civilian merchant ship, powered by absorbing energy from Gray Gravel Crystals.

Compared to traditional overland caravans, it didn’t need well-maintained roads or defenses against wild beasts and bandits along the way. As long as enough Gray Gravel Crystals were loaded, it could carry cargo and personnel directly across mountains and rivers through the sky, arriving at any city within the Empire that had a Sky Harbor.

“So this is the legendary magic ship-the kind that can fly?” A human mercenary wrapped in a leather coat squeezed through the crowd, standing on tiptoe and straining to see.

A dwarf dressed as a merchant chimed in. “Of course. From now on, no more traveling those broken mountain roads. We’ll just fly straight over from the sky.”

“Flying through the sky? Isn’t that just like the Floating Fortress?” The mercenary clicked his tongue in amazement.

Inside the Sky Harbor, a Slime Engineer wearing engineering goggles made one final check of the rune connections on the ship’s bottom. Then it tried its best to stretch itself higher, raised a small flag, and waved it down hard.

“Test flight can begin.”

“Alright, test flight starting!”

The dwarf artisan beside the landing gear pulled the brake lever. The chains securing the ship fell away one by one, producing a crisp sound of metal colliding.

The pale blue crystal arrays at the bottom of the ship lit up one by one. A humming sound emerged from the hull, and the ship trembled slightly. Then, under the gaze of countless eyes, it slowly lifted off the landing gear.

It was as if an invisible hand gently lifted the ship upward, heading toward the azure sky, sailing into the heavens on the morning wind.

The crowd on the ground was silent for a moment, then erupted into thunderous cheers.

“It really flew!”

“Oh my god, I can’t believe it!”

Humans took off their hats and waved them vigorously. The slimes were even more excited, bouncing up and down, letting out ecstatic “glub-glub” sounds.

And at a high window of the Royal Palace, Chen Yu, having finished watching the scene, withdrew his gaze.

“Big Brother!” Little Flower bounced into the room just then.

She stopped in front of Chen Yu, her gel body slightly undulating and bubbling-obviously from hopping all the way here.

“The Decision Council is planning the budget and projects for next year, and they sent me to ask you-do you have any goals for next year?”

Chen Yu immediately replied, “Make money, of course.”

Once the project to lay the spiritual paths in the swamp region started, it would require massive reserves of Gray Gravel Crystal, and all of that would need real gold and silver for mining and purchasing.

The Mobile Suit Project was also a bottomless pit that burned gold coins.

“We need a more stable source of income, or else the Empire won’t be able to proceed with a lot of its projects next year.”

Little Flower blinked, as if thinking.

“Big Brother, maybe we could sell some empire specialties!”

“Like the magic ships, and formations like the Kingdom’s Shield. These secret-magic technology devices can fetch a good price, and the later maintenance will also need to be done back in the Empire, which means another huge source of income.”

Chen Yu wobbled his gel body in approval. “Smart.”

The magic ship was actually based on the same principle as Xu Xuan Heaven’s cloud vehicles, and the Kingdom’s Shield was a completely original Xu Xuan Heaven formation. Even if he sold these empire products, he wouldn’t have to worry about enemies turning them against him.

“But now’s not the time yet. We need to wait for the right opportunity to introduce them to the market.”

Little Flower curiously tilted her gel body. “When will that be?”

Chen Yu looked out the window. The magic ship in the sky had already flown beyond the City Wall, turning into a tiny black dot, flickering in and out of sight among the thin clouds of late winter.

“When the news from the south comes back.”

Little Flower didn’t quite understand, but she wasn’t going to dwell on it. Suddenly changing her tone, she said cheerfully, “Big Brother, it’s almost the end of the year. Take a break!”

Chen Yu was taken aback. In the blink of an eye, it was about to be the third year. Time really flew.

It happened that there wasn’t much to do at the end of the year. It was about time for the slime family to have a reunion.