Chapter 1684 Rooting the Jian Tree
The true shock had just begun.
After exchanging the potions he concocted himself for a large amount of Contribution Points and resources, Sun Hao proposed exchanging for a seventh-level Potioncraft formula and the spiritual medicine required for configuration — he was ready to roll up his sleeves and concoct seventh-level potions.
However, formulas above the seventh level were considered secret teachings within the Male and Female Shaman Clan and could not be disclosed without fulfilling specific, stringent conditions.
The steward very tactfully informed Sun Hao of some basic rules.
Sun Hao understood that, in principle, within the Kaelmen Dragon Domain, the highest Potioncraft cultivators who were not members of the Male and Female Shaman Clan could learn was the sixth level.
Above the sixth level, only descendants of the Male and Female Shaman Clan could learn it.
Although unexpected, it made sense.
Sun Hao did not feel disheartened in his heart; it was inevitable that every race set up obstacles to preserve its inheritance and status.
Evidently, his Potioncraft studies could only end here for now; later, perhaps after Little Lan completed this phase of cultivation, he should be able to find a way to obtain formulas above the seventh level.
Sun Hao smiled and bid farewell.
The steward of the Warlock Clan shook his head and sighed softly — this was a remarkable barbarian, a barbarian with explosively strong Potioncraft talent; in fact, he very much wanted to see how this barbarian concocted potions and how far he could go.
But the rules of the Male and Female Shaman Clan had to be upheld; even though this barbarian was a Guardian Knight, once the contract period ended, he would become part of the barbarian domain, and by then, Potioncraft secrets might leak from the Male and Female Shaman Clan.
This was a major matter; unexpectedly, a barbarian could also have Potioncraft talent — indeed, one could never judge by appearances, and barbarians were unimaginable.
Sun Hao’s Potioncraft studies came to a temporary end; although he ultimately failed to learn higher-level formulas at that time, in reality, Sun Hao had already grasped the basic principles of Potioncraft, and if he settled down to create new seventh-level potions, it might not be completely impossible.
More importantly, Potioncraft had opened a new door for refining spiritual medicine.
With this refinement method, Sun Hao’s Alchemy undoubtedly improved further.
Secretly, Sun Hao started Pill Refining in his courtyard and suddenly realized that his Pill Success Rate and the quality of his Spirit Pills had progressed significantly with more meticulous Herb Refining.
Moreover, during this period, while practicing Potioncraft configuration, Sun Hao had also elevated his Lunar Rabbit Cold Jade Energy to a higher level, reaching a point where he had to shift his main focus.
Over the past years, Sun Hao had not actively driven his Lunar Rabbit Cold Jade Energy, mainly because he feared the Witch Clan was monitoring him, after all, the way he obtained this technique was not entirely honorable.
Long-term, Sun Hao studying Potioncraft was partly to conceal his actions; after so many years, Sun Hao could fully feel that the Witch Clan had completely lost interest in him — in the first decade, he had a vague sense of being watched, but by now, that feeling had vanished entirely.
The technique, which had been quietly cultivated by an anomaly autonomously absorbing spiritual energy, could finally be practiced actively.
In fact, after years of stealthy cultivation, the Lunar Rabbit Cold Jade Energy had reached a crucial juncture: Sun Hao needed to find a way to refine an Array Pill like a Sword Pill into the lunar rabbit, which would grant many wondrous effects typically possessed by Witch Clan cultivators; moreover, the refinement process could also rapidly advance the Lunar Rabbit Cold Jade Energy.
Compared to his previous cultivation, Sun Hao’s current practice of the Lunar Rabbit Cold Jade Energy was quite different; previously, Sun Hao practiced techniques primarily through conversion cultivation, but this time, he was starting anew from scratch.
However, compared to other cultivators starting from scratch, Sun Hao’s situation was completely different — a tiny error could lead to vast mistakes.
After reaching the Divine Separation Stage, his Five-Elements Divine Sword Art underwent the miraculous transformation of Five Elements Return to Metal.
The Five-Element Sword Essence uniformly converted into Metal Attribute Sword Essence, highly beneficial for sword cultivators; this outcome, for Sun Hao’s Water Attribute technique, was like forging a bucket, filling it with True Essence, then extracting the essence, leaving the bucket empty.
Originally, this bucket, made of Sword Essence, repelled other types of True Essence; but under the regulation of Sun Hao’s wondrous Five Elements Wheel Spirit Art and Yin-Yang Fusion Art, the bucket became a highly adaptable universal bucket, so naturally, Sun Hao began pouring the Lunar Rabbit Cold Jade Energy into it.
Not only was there no bottleneck, but with the explicit reference of the container holding True Essence, it was entirely different from ordinary re-cultivation of a technique.
The quality and total amount of True Essence were controlled by the Five Elements Wheel Spirit Art to align with the Sword Art of Five Elements Return to Metal, while the yin aura was balanced with the Barbaric Decapitated Deity Art in his body through the Yin-Yang Fusion Art.
What does this mean?
The Five-Elements Divine Sword Art, achieving Five Elements Return to Metal, transformed the Five Attribute True Essence into Metal Attribute; although there was some loss, the thickness and condensation of the True Essence were incredibly formidable.
The vigorous yang energy and fierce aura of the Barbaric Decapitated Deity Art also pressured the Lunar Rabbit Cold Jade Energy, compelling it to constantly advance to achieve an effective Yin-Yang balance.
If not for the inherently high level of the Lunar Rabbit Cold Jade Energy technique, it might never have accomplished this.
After Sun Hao’s quiet cultivation, the True Essence of the Lunar Rabbit Cold Jade Energy now continuously infused had reached the Divine Transformation Stage; beyond this, for the jade rabbit in the Water Cube to progress quickly, Sun Hao needed to refine Array Pills.
The jade rabbit itself was formed by the Array Dao array crafted from water droplets in the Water Cube; without the Array Pills’ empowerment, further progress after the Divine Transformation Stage wouldn’t be impossible, but the speed would slow significantly.
Sun Hao reached the time to refine Array Pills.
Before this, Sun Hao also discovered that through his cultivation of the Lunar Rabbit Cold Jade Energy and his accumulation over many years, his Five Elements Wheel Spirit Art was ready to complete a crucial step of the rotation of Five Spiritual Roots, specifically, the rotation of his Wood Spiritual Root.
The Cycle of Wood Art followed similar basic principles to the cycle of earth or water: using immense pressure from the pressure end to compel constant evolution of the Wood Spiritual Root.
In Sun Hao’s body, the earliest anomaly formed was the Wood Core; over many years, this Wood Core, while remarkably powerful even without a particularly robust Wood Spiritual Root, maintained an extremely fast cultivation speed for Wood Attribute techniques.
Among the anomalies in Sun Hao’s body, the Wood Core always seemed to remain the leader.
Therefore, the Wood Core’s tenacity made Sun Hao’s Cycle of Wood Art difficult.
The Cycle of Wood Art, which Sun Hao could practice after Divine Transformation, had thus been delayed until now; also, since only the Wood Spiritual Root remained unrotated and the Wood Core’s auxiliary cultivation effect was equally potent, Sun Hao had not proactively pursued it.
As Sun Hao’s cultivation advanced, as he refined the Branch of Establishment into the Wood Core, and as he accumulated experience in the Ten Thousand Extinctions Ancient Graveyard,
eventually, when Sun Hao’s Five-Elements Sword Art achieved Five Elements Return to Metal, the strong Metal conquering Wood effect manifested, and the complacent Wood Core and liver finally felt the increasing pressure.
In particular, the Wood Core desperately absorbed external spiritual energy to amplify Wood Attribute True Essence, but under the Five Elements Wheel Spirit Art’s clever conversion, it became Lunar Rabbit Cold Jade Energy, with little Wood Attribute Sword Essence retained; thus, the Wood Core had to continuously reinforce its Wood Attribute essence over and over.
This accumulation, after years of Sun Hao’s cultivation, naturally reached the conditions for rotating the Wood Spiritual Root.
Using the excuse of selecting cultivation techniques, Sun Hao traveled to the barbarian domain, found an uninhabited wilderness, activated the Five Elements Wheel Spirit Art, and began strengthening his last spiritual root.
The rotation of Wood.
During the rotation of Wood, what differed slightly from cycling other spiritual roots was that while anomalies appeared upon rotation for others, with Wood, there was already a Wood Core; this powerful Wood Core forbade the emergence of other anomalies, yet an abnormality still arose.
Within the Wood Core, that pattern-like Branch of Establishment actually sprouted roots from the core, spreading along the patterns in Sun Hao’s liver, completely covering it — this turned out to be Sun Hao’s new Wood Attribute Spiritual Root; the Five Elements Wheel Spirit Art indicated that it was also Celestial grade, like his other roots.
His Wood Attribute Spiritual Root had transformed into the Jian Tree’s root, and the Jian Tree appeared to be growing within the eggshell-like Wood Core — he wondered if the Jian Tree would break out of the core someday.
Sun Hao was filled with curiosity.