Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Zhang Wushan raised his sleeves and flicked them, and twenty-two wooden boxes appeared out of thin air in front of him: "I am not as good as Brother Chen, I can only break the restrictions of seventeen spiritual medicine gardens."

Ye Wendi took out twenty-eight wooden boxes and opened the lids: "This is all that Ye has gained. Please have a look, fellow Taoists."

Chen Yuan glanced at it and nodded secretly in his heart.

The wooden boxes the two men took out contained the same number of spiritual herbs as the one he had noticed with his spiritual sense when he broke the formation just now.

There were no sealing talismans on the wooden boxes of the three people. Chen Yuan flicked his sleeves, and the lid of the box opened, revealing fifty-eight spiritual herbs, twice as many as Ye Wendi.

Although the restrictions in the spiritual medicine garden are not mainly for defense, it is also a protective formation set up for the thousand-year-old spiritual herbs. It uses large spiritual veins as the source of spiritual energy, and even a cultivator in the early Nascent Soul stage cannot break it easily.

Chen Yuan held the Zixu Sword in his hand, and his true energy was pure and strong. He was not stingy and with one sword he was able to break through the protective formation of a spiritual medicine garden. His efficiency was far higher than that of Zhang Wushan and Ye Wendi.

Zhang Wushan and Ye Wendi also opened the wooden box, and hundreds of thousand-year-old spiritual herbs slowly flew out of the wooden box, floating in the air.

The spiritual energy was dense and the strange fragrance was lingering. Zhang Wushan and Ye Wendi took a deep breath and felt that their cultivation was quietly loosening and seemed to have increased a little.

Zhang Wushan said seriously: "After picking the spiritual herbs, they must be sealed up as soon as possible to prevent the spiritual energy from leaking out. Let's not waste time."

He turned around, clasped his fists and bowed to Chen Yuan, and said solemnly: "Brother Chen just insisted on giving the low-level spiritual herbs to the two of us, and I couldn't refuse."

"But the thousand-year-old spiritual herbs are too precious. We were able to reach the core of this secret realm this time thanks to Brother Chen's efforts. Brother Chen, please stop being modest."

"Of these 108 thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, Daoist friend can take 80%, and the two of us can each take 10%."

Chen Yuan hesitated for a moment and looked at Ye Wendi: "I wonder what Fellow Daoist Ye thinks?"

Ye Wendi nodded slightly: "It should be so. I have contributed very little. If I can get even 10% of the spiritual herbs, I will be satisfied."

"If you are interested, you can take all these 108 thousand-year-old spiritual herbs. I will not object."

Zhang Wushan quickly added: "I think the same thing. It is only natural for Brother Chen to take all the spiritual herbs."

The two did not discuss the matter in advance, but they seemed to have telepathic connection and made the same choice.

Ye Wendi knew that he and Chen Yuan had only met once, and that was a battle between them for a fight over a spirit stone mine. Although they had some mutual admiration for each other, their friendship was not very deep.

Zhang Wushan and Chen Yuan had a very close personal relationship. His teacher, Qingliu, even saved Chen Yuan's life. They called each other brother and were very close.

However, in front of hundreds of thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, the master and disciple can still turn against each other, let alone just fellow Taoists.

Both of them are outstanding people, and they know that human hearts are hard to predict and cannot be tested. No matter how precious a treasure is, it is not worth a single cent of one's life.

In front of the treasure, they were able to suppress their greed and take the initiative to give the thousand-year-old spiritual herb to Chen Yuan, even without taking a single cent.

Seeing that the two were so understanding, Chen Yuan stopped refusing and said, "Since both Taoist friends think so, I will be disrespectful to refuse."

"But it would be a bit too much for me to take 80% so I can just leave 70%."

"The remaining 30% will be divided equally between the two Taoist friends, how about that?"

Thousand-year-old spiritual herbs are different from low-level spiritual herbs. Each one is extremely precious.

Chen Yuan's luck was much greater than that of other cultivators of the same level. Before this, he had only harvested dozens of thousand-year-old spiritual herbs at a time in the secret realm of Dongxu Mountain.

Hundreds of thousand-year-old spiritual herbs gathered together in one place. Only in this ancient secret realm that has never been opened for tens of thousands of years can such a grand scene appear. It is rarely seen in ten thousand years.

The low-level spiritual herbs can be divided between the two of them, but Chen Yuan is the one who should take charge of these hundreds of thousand-year-old spiritual herbs.

However, he is not the kind of person who would disown his relatives just for the sake of the treasure, and he has no intention of keeping it all for himself.

But Zhang Wushan was the direct disciple of Master Qingliu, and he was only given 10% of the thousand-year-old spiritual herbs. It would be difficult for him to explain to Master Qingliu after he left the secret realm.

Ye Wendi is also a talented cultivator that appears once in a thousand years in Cangjian Palace. Chen Yuan also wants to ask him to teach Li Qingshan about his sword skills in the future.

After weighing the pros and cons, Chen Yuan decided that taking 80% was still a bit too much, so he voluntarily gave up 10%.

Zhang Wushan and Ye Wendi had already prepared for Chen Yuan to take all the thousand-year-old spiritual herbs for himself. Now that they saw that he was willing to give up 10% of the spiritual herbs, they naturally had no objection and agreed immediately.

Zhang Wushan said: "Brother Chen, please choose first."

Chen Yuan glanced at Ye Wendi, who also nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, Chen Yuan did not refuse. He raised his sleeves and gathered the seventy-six wooden boxes in front of him.

Half of these spiritual herbs were picked by him personally and he knew them well.

The rest of the spiritual herbs were identified with just a quick sweep of his spiritual sense, and he decided which ones to take away.

This is not to say that Chen Yuan knows everything. Although he has read dozens of illustrated books on spiritual herbs, he can recognize most of the spiritual herbs in the world.

But these thousand-year-old spiritual herbs were planted tens of thousands of years ago, and eight of them are likely to have become extinct, and Chen Yuan has never seen them.

However, these eight kinds of spiritual herbs were picked by him personally, so there was no need to identify them.

Zhang Wushan and Ye Wendi were very tactful. They started to break the formation from the mountainside. The spiritual herbs they obtained were all common types in ancient times and are not extinct now. There was not even a three thousand year old spiritual herb. Chen Yuan recognized it at the first sight.

Among the seventy-six spiritual herbs he picked up, fourteen were three thousand year old spiritual herbs.

The green spiritual flower was also taken into Chen Yuan's pocket in the first place.

In addition, there are three spiritual herbs that are like green spiritual flowers. The spiritual energy they contain is pure and huge, far superior to the three thousand year old spiritual herbs. Naturally, Chen Yuan will not let them go.

The remaining thirty spiritual herbs are all thousand-year-old spiritual herbs, which are considered extremely precious in the outside world, but compared with the spiritual herbs that Chen Yuan took away, they are much inferior.

However, Zhang Wushan and Ye Wendi did not show any anger. Instead, they smiled and each put away the sixteen thousand-year-old spiritual herbs. Only a few wisps of pure spiritual energy lingered in the air.

Chen Yuan acted in an upright manner and obviously had no other intentions. They no longer had to worry about Chen Yuan suddenly turning against them for the spiritual herb.

Once the spiritual herbs were divided up, the mountain lost its value.

When the three of them were searching for the spiritual herbs just now, they had already carefully explored the peak, but apart from the spiritual herbs, they did not find anything else.

This mountain is a huge spiritual medicine garden.

Chen Yuan turned his head and looked at the huge formation covering the entire mountain, and said in a deep voice: "The spiritual herbs on this peak have been taken away by us. It is useless to stay here."

"Next, we need to continue searching for the formation's center. There should be a teleportation formation that can lead us out of the secret realm, which will be enough for us to escape."

Zhang Wushan said solemnly, "Brother Chen is right, but it took us at least four hours to search for spiritual herbs. Could the Jiuli Sect monks have caught up with us?"

Chen Yuan pondered for a moment and shook his head slightly: "The secret realm is full of ferocious beasts. Even if the Jiuli Sect comes out in full force, it will not be easy to get here."

"Moreover, they entered the secret realm through the spiritual light gate after the secret realm was opened. They should have landed randomly on the edge of the secret realm, which would have consumed quite a bit of time." Zhang Wushan and Ye Wendi relaxed and followed Chen Yuan, flying towards the formation.

But when he came to the edge of the formation, Chen Yuan suddenly stopped and raised his right arm: "My two Taoist friends, wait a minute."

The two of them were caught off guard and passed Chen Yuan before they stopped.

Zhang Wushan turned around, a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes: "Brother Chen, what else do you want?"

Ye Wendi also looked over. Although he didn't say anything, there was a questioning look in his eyes, and he was obviously quite puzzled.

Chen Yuan stared at the quiet and peaceful scene in front of him, frowning slightly, as if he was thinking about something.

After a while, he turned to look at Ye Wendi: "Logically speaking, the formation should only be used to defend against external enemies, not against people inside."

"But this secret realm is full of weirdness, and the formation may also be strange."

"Please ask Fellow Daoist Ye to use the light splitting and shadow transformation technique to test whether this formation is real or not and whether we can enter and exit it without any hindrance."

Ye Wendi nodded, immediately summoned his flying sword, pointed a point, and a ray of sword light shot towards the formation.

Under the gaze of the three people, the sword light swept across the sky and shot onto the formation curtain.

Ding!
A crisp sound was heard, and the formation curtain remained motionless. The sword light dissipated and turned into thousands of lightning bolts, which disappeared into the air.

Ye Wendi was stunned: "Fellow Daoist Chen is right, this formation is also extremely strong from the inside."

"Although Ye only separated out a sword light, it was enough to withstand a blow from an ordinary cultivator of the same level, but it was unable to shake this formation in the slightest."

"It seems that just like before, Fellow Daoist Chen needs to show his silver eyes, white hair, and wings on his back before we can break through."

Zhang Wushan spread out his spiritual sense and scanned the formation carefully, his face full of doubts: "In the core of this secret realm, why would the Yuling Sect set up this kind of formation to guard against people inside? Isn't this unnecessary?"

Chen Yuan frowned. He had traveled all over the two continents and seen all kinds of sect protection formations and island protection formations.

Apart from the large formations that need to protect the entire secret realm, such as the Dongxu Mountain Secret Realm, Tongtian Island and the Yuling Sect Secret Realm, this is the first time I have encountered such a formation that cannot distinguish between friend and foe.

Each sect and school sets up formations to guard against external enemies, but people inside can go out at will.

The formation can only monitor the inside, so only the monks from the sect need a token to go out. Those who don't have a token need to be accompanied by a monk from the sect.

If someone leaves the formation quietly without holding the token, he will be noticed immediately by the formation, and monks will come to investigate soon.

This is also the common feature of all defensive formations in the world. Otherwise, the formation is extremely strong both inside and outside, and cannot be passed through at will. If it encounters a strong external enemy, it will become self-confined and fall into a dead end.

Chen Yuan also didn't expect that the Yuling Sect would actually set up such a formation that would kill one thousand enemies but injure eight hundred of its own.

He was just being cautious out of instinct. The Yuling Sect was obviously skilled in the art of taming beasts, but there were no ferocious beasts guarding the core of the secret realm. Perhaps they had set a trap in the formation to lure him into it.

Chen Yuan said solemnly: "If the formation is just unusually strong, it's nothing, just break it."

"But if the Yuling Sect has left other means, it will be bad for us to be trapped in the formation."

When the two heard this, their expressions changed.

Ye Wendi said: "You will know after you try it."

He pointed his finger, and the flying sword in front of him split into hundreds of sword lights, which shot out and pierced into the formation.

Ding Ding Ding Ding!

The crisp sounds of metal clashing were heard one after another, and the sword lights all dissipated, but the formation remained motionless.

Seeing this, Ye Wendi breathed a sigh of relief: "The formation has no countermeasures, so we can break it without any worries."

Chen Yuan and Zhang Wushan's expressions relaxed a little, and they immediately used their own methods to start breaking the formation.

Just like before, Ye Wendi condensed a long river of sword light, while Zhang Wushan chanted poetry, summoning up his righteous energy and pouring it into the Panlong Seal.

The magical powers of Confucianism and Taoism are like this. Turning ink into soldiers and painting into formations may seem mysterious, but they are just ordinary means.

The truly powerful magical powers are all about returning to nature, and that ethereal and righteous spirit is the foundation.

After the two used their magical powers to shake the formation, Chen Yuan activated the three kinds of true spirit blood at the same time. The strength of his physical body increased dramatically, and he punched out, creating a gap about ten feet in size on the formation.

The three of them left the mountain, and Zhang Wushan and Ye Wendi looked at Chen Yuan with a bit of envy in their eyes.

This is physical cultivation. After achieving success in cultivation, there is no need to use any means. Just a simple punch or a kick will have a majestic momentum and great power, comparable to the same level of cultivators controlling magic weapons and displaying supernatural powers.

But they also know that in order to strengthen their bodies, physical cultivators need to consume a large amount of natural materials and treasures, far more than the same level of magic cultivators, so that they can shake the world with their physical bodies.

Ye Wendi's master, Elder Yan, once said that the martial art that Du Chenyuan practiced was called "Demon God Art", which required refining the essence and blood of monsters.

He has now cultivated to the point where he can change his appearance, and no one knows how much he has paid for it. It is definitely not comparable to that of ordinary physical cultivators.

There is gain and loss. Although they envied Chen Yuan's awe-inspiring power, they still believed that their own martial arts were the right way.

Chen Yuan had no idea what the two were thinking. He collected the three kinds of true blood, restored his original state, and looked into the distance.

He said in a deep voice: "There are five more peaks covered by formations. They are all of similar height and block spiritual consciousness. It is impossible to see what is going on inside from the outside..."

He turned around and looked at the two of them: "We can only break the formations one by one and find the center of the formation. Do you two fellow Taoists have enough true energy in your bodies?"

Zhang Wushan looked a little tired: "Brother Chen, don't worry, I just lost a little bit of my righteousness, but not much of my true energy."

Ye Wendi looked inward and replied, "My true essence has been consumed quite a bit, but I was well prepared before leaving the sect. I still have three Purple Palace Energy Condensation Pills left in my hand, which can restore my true essence and be enough to hold on until I break through all the formations on the five peaks."

Chen Yuan nodded slightly, his expression solemn: "Without further delay, let's start breaking the formation."

"But Chen has said before that the most urgent task is to find the center of the formation. We have harvested so many spiritual herbs, and the trip is worthwhile."

"Next, even if you come across treasure troves such as the Equipment Refining Hall, Alchemy Pavilion, and Sutra Repository, you must leave immediately and not waste any time."

Zhang Wushan said sternly: "Brother Chen, rest assured, I will never ignore the overall situation and forget my life for a small gain."

Ye Wendi said calmly: "Sixteen thousand-year-old spiritual herbs are enough for Ye, and I dare not ask for anything more."

After the three of them agreed, they immediately turned around and flew towards the nearest mountain, ready to break the formation.

But at this moment, a mountain more than 70 miles away, also covered by the formation, suddenly shone brightly, attracting the attention of all three people. (End of this chapter)