Chapter 63: The Little Blessed Land Bottle

With only a tenfold surge in power, Zhang Shen firmly suppressed the remaining guardian puppet. Apart from the white light spewed from the puppet’s mouth that posed some threat to Zhang Shen, its other capabilities couldn’t trouble him at all.

They could only leave faint marks on Zhang Shen’s robust pectoral muscles. Even a moment of inattention, a mere blink, and these would self-heal.

Mountain Seal!

Wisps of grey aura twirled around his fists. With each collision with the guardian puppet, Zhang Shen infused a bit more of the grey aura into its body.

The aura, which bore the power to seal, entwined around the puppet’s internal arrays and core.

It took a full incense stick’s time for Zhang Shen to completely immobilize this last puppet. To prevent any accidents, Zhang Shen injected a massive amount of the grey aura into the puppet’s body to ensure it wouldn’t break through the Mountain Seal’s suppression.

“Three puppets, I shattered one’s core, its body broken. Another had its puppet body torn apart, but its core intact. The last one is the most complete, though its internal patterns are missing some pieces and need fixing, otherwise, it can’t be used if it cannot discern friend from foe.”

Zhang Shen stored the three puppets in his storage bag. The two destroyed puppets could be patched up and repaired to make up one whole.

The prerequisite was that the pagoda contained the methods for crafting and repairing the guardian puppets.

He shook the puppet arm in his hand, a part of the one he had torn apart.

The entire puppet was made from True Core-grade spirit wood and spirit iron, inherently quite valuable.

These pieces of spirit wood and spirit iron shattered by Zhang Shen couldn’t be reused. But that didn’t render them valueless.

They could be consumed.

Licking his lips, Zhang Shen snapped off an iron finger and tossed it into his mouth.

“Quite hard.” 

Zhang Shen chewed, producing a crunching noise.

Only a body as formidable as Zhang Shen’s could ingest spirit wood and spirit iron in such a manner. A regular True Core practitioner couldn’t even digest them if they tried, and might even break their teeth on the spirit iron.

As he continued to crunch on the spirit iron, Zhang Shen broke off a piece of spirit wood from the puppet’s forearm and tossed it into his mouth.

“Mmm, a bit fibrous, but there’s a surprising hint of woodsy aroma. Not bad at all,” commented connoisseur Zhang Shen. 

In the grand scheme of delicacies he’d sampled, this flavor was far from inferior. After all, it was a True Core-grade treasure. As long as one dared to eat it, it was bound to taste exceptional.

Watching the experience points steadily increase on his panel, Zhang Shen estimated that if he finished gnawing through that one shattered puppet’s body, he could certainly break through to the next layer.

“This is indeed the right way to recycle waste.”

After eating a few more chunks of spirit wood, Zhang Shen stowed the puppet’s arm into his storage bag.

A few small pieces at a time were enough, digesting them would take a considerable amount of time anyway.

With the spirit iron not yet fully chewed and the spirit wood slowly digesting in his stomach, Zhang Shen simply kept it in his mouth, savoring it leisurely.

Ensuring there were no more dangers around, Zhang Shen headed straight for the three-story pagoda. He didn’t pause for any of the heavenly and earthly treasures along the way. They were all his for the taking, there was no rush. The pagoda was of utmost importance at this moment.

The tower was nameless, windowless.

There was only a wooden door.

After some thought, Zhang Shen stood a good distance away and used a bit of his slightly restored spiritual qi to push the wooden door open from afar.

“Good, nothing happened.”

Zhang Shen stepped inside. Beyond the door, he saw rows of bookshelves, shelves of elixirs, and racks adorned with magical instruments and treasures of heaven and earth.

His heart leaped. It wasn’t that he was unworldly, it was just that he was poor.

He walked past them, casting only a cursory glance. They were all Innate treasures, but there were so many that they could suffice for the cultivation of hundreds of Innate stage practitioners.

“Could it be?” Zhang Shen murmured to himself as he moved toward the second floor.

The layout on the second floor was almost the same, only in lesser quantities. But they were all True Core grade treasures.

“Indeed, each level houses different grades of items, each ascending in value.”

Thinking of the third floor still above him, a fiery eagerness surged within Zhang Shen.

The resources on the third floor were even more scarce, sufficient only for three or four martial artists to cultivate from the first to the ninth layer of the Law Manifestation stage. Yet each item, if brought out, would be enough for a True Core master to consume for fifty to sixty years.

These treasures were not of a level that could be compared to those below.

Zhang Shen’s heart surged with excitement.

“I’ve struck it rich, truly struck it rich this time.”

Thinking of his storage bag, which had been pitifully empty since he advanced to the True Core stage, he was moved to tears.

The days of poverty were finally behind him.

“Fiery Star Meteorite! So large, so splendid!”

“Eh? Enlightenment Fruit? Truly mouthwatering.”

“Hisss, Eternal Soil! So moist, so soft, so tempting!”

“Wow, there’s even White Robe Spirit Rice? Absolutely delicious!”

Zhang Shen was like a wealthy old landlord on an inspection, his eyes brimming with tiny hearts of joy.

“Don’t worry, I am a man of great love. I’m destined not to favor just one of you. Each and everyone will enjoy my affection and not a single one will be neglected.”

Just as Zhang Shen was proclaiming his playboy manifesto, a solitary, cackling figure appeared in his line of sight. Like a firefly in the dark, so dazzling, so distinctive, so outstanding, so heart-stirringly charismatic.

“That is?” Zhang Shen quickly approached.

He carefully inspected the white jade bottle before him. Ordinary yet mysteriously connected to the entire small space.

“Could it be?” 

A bold idea popped into his mind, and Zhang Shen immediately sat down cross-legged. His True Core fire and Blood Flame leaped out, touching the white jade bottle. As soon as they made contact, Zhang Shen knew, the white jade bottle was indeed a spirit vessel.

Without another word, Zhang Shen flicked his finger, and a bottle of elixirs that he had verified could restore spiritual energy on the second floor flew up to him.

He needed to restore his qi to refine it.

Unleashing the full force of his True Core stage spiritual power and the physical strength of the seventh layer True Core stage, he went all out.

For an entire month, Zhang Shen dedicated all his energy to this task.

Even so, he only managed to refine one-fifth of it. The remaining four-fifths were beyond what Zhang Shen could refine with his current cultivation level.

He wasn’t surprised. During the refining process, he had learned from the spirit of the white jade bottle about its origins.

The Little Blessed Land Bottle!

A supreme talismanic treasure, just shy of being a demi-godly artifact.

This secret cache, this space, was actually the interior of the Little Blessed Land Bottle.

The revelation genuinely caught Zhang Shen off guard.

Though he had spent years submerged in the mainframe tree network, peeking at screens, absorbing knowledge and gossip from the world of superior warriors. Still, he lacked systematic training, and there were many things he simply didn’t know or could not conceive.

“Only a demi-god powerhouse could craft such a little blessed land bottle or a nascent blessed land space. To use it as the capital for the sect’s resurgence, indeed, it is an unimaginable stroke of genius.”

Zhang Shen was moved.

Years ago, the demi-godly ancestor of the Vanishing Mountain Sect had hidden this nearly perfected Little Blessed Land Bottle deep within the earth’s veins, nurturing it with the power of the ley lines as a hidden trump card for unforeseen times of crisis for the sect.

As the long years passed, the guardian automatons malfunctioned due to lack of maintenance, which led to the lack of descendants of the Vanishing Mountain Sect coming here. Their insufficient strength turned out to be Zhang Shen’s gain.

Zhang Shen could hardly conceal the shock and joy in his heart.

The spirit of the Little Blessed Land Bottle was without intellect, only essence, operating in a predetermined manner.

This meant that although Zhang Shen had only refined a fifth of it, he had effectively become the master of the Little Blessed Land Bottle. Except for some features that were beyond his control, everything else was under his command.

With a beckoning gesture, the spirit flew to him.

At the base of the spirit, two glowing lines shone.

They were two massive spiritual veins embedded in the space of the Little Blessed Land Bottle.

These were not the workings left by the demi-godly ancestor of the Vanishing Mountain Sect but the accumulation of spiritual energy from the earth’s veins gathered by the Little Blessed Land Bottle over the years.

The ley lines, the foundation of the earth, the very source of spiritual energy.

All spiritual energy originated from the ley lines. The spiritual energy generated by the ley lines gathered to form spiritual veins, and from these veins came spirit stones.

Warriors didn’t cultivate directly near the ley lines for several reasons.

Firstly, ley lines were buried deep underground and were not easily accessible. Secondly, ley lines did not only give birth to spiritual energy, they were the source of all that the earth creates, resulting in a complex mix of essences they emit.

If one were to cultivate using this energy, they would have to filter out the impurities, making the effort disproportionate to the gain.

Thus, without a specific need, no one would cultivate near the ley lines.

This also explained why a sacred cultivation site was underpinned by robust and flourishing ley lines, whereas a barren wasteland of spiritual energy was inevitably marked by shattered and withered ley lines

The quality of the ley lines determined the abundance of spiritual energy.

In the endless wilderness, the ley lines, fragmented by wars between two races, have turned into mere scraps. It was already difficult to provide enough energy for a True Core master to cultivate, let alone a Law Manifestation.

One might roam the endless wilderness for a while, but not reside here long-term. One’s cultivation wouldn’t regress but it wouldn’t advance either.

The spiritual veins that could supply the spiritual energy needed for Law Manifestation cultivation were precisely the large spiritual veins. A single large spiritual vein could support three to four Law Manifestation practitioners, not to mention two.

Zhang Shen felt that this find was far more lucrative than he had imagined.

The only problem was, if Zhang Shen wanted to take the Little Blessed Land Bottle with him, he would have to detach it from the ley line of this place.

“The significance of a spiritual vein lies in its ability to gather and purify spiritual energy, enhancing its quality. Once separated from its ley line, it becomes a rootless source, rapidly depleting.”

Although it would take an unfathomable time for a large spiritual vein to be exhausted, those without foresight will face immediate worries.

“I wonder if the ley lines near the Ancient Covenant are as powerful as these?” Zhang Shen murmured to himself.

He had originally thought this secret cache was a natural small space, but now realizing it was the Little Blessed Land Bottle and transportable, he would, of course, take it with him. Only a fool would leave it here.

Above the ley line, a spatial gateway opened, and Zhang Shen stepped out.

Raising his hand, a white jade bottle flew out from the ley line and landed within Zhang Shen’s dantian.

With his mission accomplished and pockets heavily lined, Zhang Shen felt a twinge of unease that only the warmth of home could ease.

Over the past month, both the Ancient Covenant and Lin Yuan City remained serene and uneventful. It couldn’t be more perfect. Aside from Li Shuang, no one was aware of Zhang Shen’s absence.

He returned to Shanshui Residence discreetly.

Li Shuang was still diligently manning his post, faithfully monitoring the ever-updating messages on the Lin Yuan City token for Zhang Shen. His eyes were swollen, ringed with dark circles, making him look like a panda.

The experienced Zhang Shen could tell at a glance. He had encountered another one lost in the thrall of the mainframe network.

“That’s enough, take a break. You’ll ruin your future like this,” he chided.

The sudden eruption of Zhang Shen’s voice startled Li Shuang as if thunder had struck. His embarrassed reaction was like that of someone caught in the midst of wrongdoing.

“I asked you to watch over things, not to forsake sleep altogether.” 

How could Zhang Shen not see that Li Shuang’s panda-like appearance was the result of relentless vigilance? Otherwise, how could a seasoned Innate stage martial artist look like this?

Zhang Shen felt a mix of frustration and disappointment.

Was the mainframe network really that fascinating? Where’s your willpower?

In his reprimand, Zhang Shen seemed to have momentarily overlooked the fact that he himself, even in silence, had also been steadfastly keeping a watchful eye on the screens.

Li Shuang was flushed with embarrassment, offering no excuses, just bowing his head in shame.

“Alright, you’ve done well these past days. Take a good rest, your spirit seems to be in dire straits.”

A few teasing words were enough, Zhang Shen meant no real reproach. After all, which warrior, unexposed to such realms, wouldn’t be utterly captivated upon witnessing even the fringe of the world of elite martial artists?