Lord of Time: From a Five Elements Cultivator to a Master of All Daos

Chapter 186: Increased Authority
"Thank you, senior, for the gift!"

Wei Zhong bowed his hands in thanks, but Cheng Zhenglu just shook his head:
“It’s just an exchange of interests, there’s no need to do this.

"In the future, if our sect needs a weapon, we will come to find you..."

After leaving a few words, Cheng Zhenglu handed Wei Zhong to Cheng Ruirui, and then turned around and left, citing the busy sect affairs.

Wei Zhong was very anxious when he obtained this spiritual method.

Cheng Ruirui originally wanted to invite Wei Zhong to tour the sect, but seeing that he was absent-minded, she had to let him leave.

"Brother Wei, why don't you take care of the important matters first and come visit my Shadow Moon Sect later?"

Wei Zhong apologizes:

"Then I'll visit you again someday. I'm very sorry."

Then he left in the eyes of Cheng Ruirui and the disciples guarding the mountain.

After leaving Shadow Moon Sect, Wei Zhong did not rush back to Yunji Chamber of Commerce, but directly escaped into his portable cave.

Recalling the inheritance of "Secret Records of Soul Replenishment" in his mind, Wei Zhong walked to the depths of the bamboo forest in the cave.

"It would be more accurate to call it 'Secret Records of Replenishing Spirits' rather than 'Secret Records of Cultivating Spirits'. It contains a large number of methods for cultivating spiritual medicines and secret methods for accelerating the growth of spiritual plants."

After reading the entire secret method, Wei Zhong found the part he needed.

"Spiritual creatures that are nearly ten thousand years old or more can be brought to life using this 'Tongcui Method'...

“There are a few key points to this method:

"First, there must be multiple spiritual plants of the same species. Choose one of them as the main plant and use various methods to seize the nutrients of the other spiritual plants to accelerate the cultivation of the main plant...

"Second, we need a spiritual object, five-colored spiritual soil. It looks black, but actually contains the five elements of spiritual energy..."

'Isn't this the spiritual soil in the secret cave?'

Wei Zhong and others discovered that there was a lot of five-colored spiritual soil in the secret realm where the golden thunder bamboo was.

Wei Zhong also used it to give birth to Dajin's companion spiritual plants. At this moment, there was a lot of this spiritual soil in the bamboo forest.

"This thing is not missing."

"Third, using the cultivator's lifespan as a guide and the formation as a supplement, we can reverse the natural laws of the growth of spiritual plants..."

"A ten thousand year old spiritual plant would need to live for about twenty years to achieve the state of Dan...

"The life span consumed is not much. After all, it is just a trigger, not a secret method of using the life span of the cultivator to transfer to the spiritual plant."

"In addition to these three conditions, there is also a suitable growth environment and sufficient spiritual energy. These can be created using spiritual stones, and it is not difficult."

After comprehending this method, Wei Zhong left the cave and returned directly to the Yunji Chamber of Commerce.

For this cultivation method, Wei Zhong still lacks a lot of spiritual materials, and must get some replenishment from the Chamber of Commerce before he can proceed.

On that day, Wei Zhong purchased a large number of various rare spiritual materials in the Chamber of Commerce. After the preparations were completed, he escaped from the Chamber of Commerce and found an uninhabited place in the outside world and entered the cave.

He came and went so quickly that even Miaoli Shan and Shan Qin, who were looking for Wei Zhong for something, couldn't catch up.

"This guy, after going to Shadow Moon Sect, has become even more elusive. I wonder what he is busy with?
"Probably he made some gains in Shadow Moon Sect and is busy cultivating spiritual plants."

"What a pity. I also wanted to ask the other party about his level of alchemy and whether he is confident in refining the Fengyuan Pill."

Recently, in order to make up for his own shortage of spirit stones, Wei Zhong started to refine a large number of fourth-grade pills, and medium-grade pills appeared frequently. After Miaoli Shan learned about this, he set his sights on refining Fengyuan Pills on Wei Zhong.

"Qin'er, you can't just sit there and wait. The sooner you enter the Nascent Soul stage, the greater the possibility of advancing to the Divine Transformation stage in the future."

Shan Qin smiled bitterly:
"Aunt Miao, I've just formed my elixir."

"Haha, it's not difficult for you, Qin'er, to reach Nascent Soul. If it weren't for that unique foundation, there would be no need to wait until now.

"Let's wait and see when that kid Wei comes back, then we'll ask him again..."

What Miaoli Shan didn't know was that this wait would last five years.

In the cave, Wei Zhong was setting up a magic circle in the golden thunder bamboo forest.

The grade of this magic array is not high. Even with Wei Zhong's mediocre attainments in array formations, he can still set it up by copying others.

"The golden thunder bamboos here are so dense that they have already met the conditions for performing the secret technique. The entire bamboo forest is used as a supplement to provide growth for this nine thousand year old spiritual bamboo.

"The effect of promoting childbirth should be very obvious."

Wei Zhong also moved a large amount of five-colored spiritual soil in the cave to various places in the bamboo forest.

"The only ones left are the cultivators who can use their essence, blood and lifespan as a guide to perform spells!"

Wei Zhong stepped onto a node in the formation and sat cross-legged. He pounded his chest and golden blood dripped onto the formation pattern drawn below.

Although his essence and blood were lost, Wei Zhong did not look depressed. Instead, he was aware of his close connection with the essence and blood outside the body.

The key to how to consume a cultivator's lifespan lies here. This bit of essence and blood is what created a wound in Wei Zhong's body.

The life force is continuously flowing out and being injected into the golden thunder bamboo in this bamboo forest.

Taking a deep breath, Wei Zhong injected his spiritual power into the formation pattern under his feet, and the entire formation lit up layer by layer.

With Wei Zhong's many years of krypton-level experience, he immediately noticed the loss of his lifespan.

"But isn't this speed too fast?"

Wei Zhong looked around:

"Is it because there are too many spiritual bamboos inside the formation? I hope it doesn't suck me dry!"

Wei Zhong closed his eyes again and concentrated on casting the spell.

After the formation was activated, a huge cyclone of spiritual energy hovered above the Golden Thunder Bamboo.

All the free spiritual energy in the entire cave was attracted here.

Although there was only a third-level spiritual vein in the cave, there was still a spiritual stone vein supporting it underground. Therefore, there was no lack of spiritual energy, but such a big commotion disturbed the soul-eating ghost bees in the cave.

The bee colony became restless for a moment due to the massive loss of spiritual energy, but soon calmed down under the control of the queen bee and continued with its honey-making work.

Jin Mei in the winery also scratched his head and looked at the spiritual energy cyclone not far away with a puzzled look on his face.

Outside the workshop, Dajin and Jiucai stopped playing, then continued after a while.

Time passed quickly, and Wei Zhong had been sitting cross-legged in the formation in the bamboo forest for nearly five years.

Opening his eyes, Wei Zhong gave a bitter smile.

"It's not twenty years of life, these five years have taken away at least forty years of my life.

"Fortunately, these forty years are just a drop in the bucket for me. If an ordinary cultivator were here, he might be sucked to death by the formation."

Wei Zhong severed the connection between himself and the formation and stood up:
"The passage between the spiritual bamboos has been built by my own lifespan, so I don't have to sit here anymore."

For five years, in order not to affect the growth of the Golden Thunder Bamboo, Wei Zhong did not practice any martial arts and truly sat in meditation for five years.

Looking around at the spiritual bamboos, he found that the entire bamboo forest had undergone tremendous changes. Most of the thousand-year-old spiritual bamboos had fallen in grade, and only a few remained strong.

The hundred-year-old and ten-year-old spiritual bamboos were even worse, and almost retreated to the ranks of ordinary bamboos.

The nine thousand year old golden thunder bamboo at the core of the formation became increasingly golden in surface, with golden lightning occasionally seen flowing between the bamboo body and leaves.

Wei Zhong sensed something and found that in just five years, it had increased by nearly three hundred years.

"It's really a terrifying growth rate, but it's more like plundering than forcing growth." This spiritual bamboo uses this unique magic array to transform the entire bamboo forest into a root system for extracting spiritual energy, and even takes away the nutrients and spiritual energy of the 'root system' itself.

"That's why the growth rate is so obvious. But in the next period of time, I'm afraid the growth rate will slow down. After all, the grade of the entire bamboo forest has dropped a lot."

Wei Zhong recalled the other secret methods in the "Secret Records of Replenishing the Soul" as well as the various methods of inducing childbirth that he had collected in the past.

“Perhaps while performing the co-extraction method, we can also use other secret methods to accelerate the growth of these auxiliary plants.”

Thinking of this, Wei Zhong left the cave and returned to Yunji Chamber of Commerce.

They were also making large purchases within the Yunji Chamber of Commerce.

This time, the two Miaoli Shan girls finally caught Wei Zhong. After Wei Zhong finished collecting the herbs, they invited him to a pavilion.

"I wonder what the senior and young lady want to talk to me about?"

The two girls looked at each other, and then Miaoli Shan spoke:
"How is Fellow Daoist Wei's alchemy now?"

Wei Zhong looked surprised for a moment:

"I have only been in the fourth level of alchemy for a few decades. How much progress do you think I can make?"

Upon hearing this, the latter sighed quietly.

He took out a jade slip and pushed it in front of Wei Zhong:
"Fellow Daoist, can you take a look at this pill to see if it has any promise?"

Wei Zhong picked it up and probed his spiritual sense into it.

"Phoenix Yuan Dan?"

After reading the entire prescription, he frowned deeply.

The complexity of this pill recipe was far beyond what Wei Zhong had ever seen, and so was the difficulty of refining it.

It is far from being comparable to the so-called Peiying Pill and Dixuan Pill.

Estimating his own level, Wei Zhong found it difficult to make a judgment.

"Is this thing prepared for Miss Shan?"

The latter nodded:

"To be honest, Brother Wei, this is the opportunity for the Nascent Soul that my father prepared for me. As long as I can refine this pill, I will enter the Nascent Soul stage in no time."

Wei Zhong probed into the other party's cultivation level and found that he was indeed in the late Jindan stage, which was extremely solid. It seemed that the other party had stayed in this realm for a long time.

"Has he been taking care of the Chamber of Commerce's affairs for so many years, just waiting for this pill?"

"I wonder how many documents the master has prepared for Miss?"

“One!”

Wei Zhong was somewhat embarrassed:
"This is a bit troublesome," he looked up and asked, "Have you asked Senior Du?"

“Of course I have looked for it, but Elder Du’s success rate is only 30%. However, spiritual materials are rare, so how can we be assured with a 30% success rate?

"May I ask how confident Fellow Daoist Wei is?"

Wei Zhong shook his head:
“You two think too highly of me. If Senior Du couldn’t do it, how can a rookie like me achieve it?

“If I can only refine one pill with one spiritual material, I estimate that my success rate is only about 20%.

“But if there is a second share, the 20% can rise to 50%.

"Unfortunately, spiritual materials are limited and I cannot afford to waste them like this. You two should find better jobs."

After hearing Wei Zhong's answer, the two girls could not hide their disappointment. However, looking back, Wei Zhong had only been a fourth-level alchemist for a few decades, while Du Longfeng had been around for four or five hundred years.

The difference in alchemy attainments between the two is not like a huge gap, but rather very close.

Doesn’t this mean that in a few decades, Wei Zhong’s alchemy skills will be on par with Du Longfeng’s, or even surpass him?

The two seemed to see hope. Even if the leader of the association could not find a master of the Divine Alchemy, there was still hope that Wei Zhong would be able to refine the pill after decades or hundreds of years.

"I wonder what Fellow Daoist Wei has been busy with recently. Has he studied the Dao of Alchemy?"

When Wei Zhong heard this, he instantly understood what the other party was thinking.

"I am busy cultivating spiritual plants. I just make some pills to earn spiritual stones every day."

The two girls looked at each other:
“To be honest with you, this pill is very important to Qin’er. It is related to her future path of cultivation.

"However, we don't have a good solution right now. Elder Du's alchemy skills have not improved for many years, so we can only place our hopes on you, fellow Taoist."

Wei Zhong nodded, and Miaoli Shan continued to add.

"Therefore, I intend to propose to increase your spiritual medicine quota, at least to the same level as Elder Du."

This time it was finally Wei Zhong's turn to be surprised.

"Although I am indeed jealous of those thousand-year-old elixirs, I am just a newcomer. Will the Chamber of Commerce agree to this?"

"Will this arouse suspicion from other high-ranking officials in the Chamber of Commerce? Will it be difficult for the proposal to pass?"

"Don't worry. For such important matters concerning the future of the Chamber of Commerce, members generally will not object. In addition, with the authority of the Chamber Master, this matter will not be a big problem."

Upon hearing this, Wei Zhong stopped asking questions and after talking with the two for a while, he said goodbye and left.

After returning to the cave, he arranged various methods to promote the growth of spiritual plants in order to accelerate the growth efficiency of the entire Golden Thunder Bamboo Forest.

After the arrangement was completed, it was already three months later.
When Wei Zhong came out of seclusion, he found that his authority had indeed increased.

Just as Miaoli Shan said, the proposal was passed without any hindrance.

“The amount of spiritual medicine that can be withdrawn has increased, but the corresponding medicinal medicine tasks that need to be completed have also increased.

"This Chamber of Commerce really makes sure that power and obligations are as equal as possible."

Wei Zhong looked at all the elixir tasks and found that the number of these elixirs was not a pressure for him at all.

"You just need to reallocate your future cultivation time and spend more time on alchemy. Anyway, you don't need to take care of the growth of the Golden Thunder Bamboo, so you still have a lot of free time."

In the sky above the Yunji Chamber of Commerce, Du Longfeng and Yu Tianze sat opposite each other.

"Brother Du, why didn't you object to Miao's proposal? You know, the spiritual medicine share that person increased was taken from you, Master Du."

The latter had a calm expression, showing no sign of anger:
"As I get older, my energy is running low, and I've become lazy about things like alchemy, which is a mentally taxing activity.

"Isn't it a good idea to take this opportunity to unload some of the burden on my shoulders and teach the disciples in the hall in the future so that I can live a more ordinary life?"

"Haha, what Brother Du said is quite interesting," Yu Tianze said with a laugh.

Du Longfeng shook his head slightly:
“I’m old and too lazy to fight for things, so what’s so funny about that?

"And I have also seen the pills that young man refined. Each pill is full of spiritual energy. In time, he will surpass me and catch up with Brother Jie."

"Oh, Brother Du has a very high opinion of this person. But as the chief steward of the Dan Palace, do you know his true identity?"

Du Longfeng shook his head:
"I don't know, but I have one or two guesses."

He looked up and glanced at Yu Tianze:
"I advise Brother Yu not to try to find this person. Since he has concealed his identity, there must be a reason for it.

"As the elders of the Chamber of Commerce, we only need to protect what the leader does."

"Haha, never mind, I'm just a little curious. Since Brother Du said so, I'll just put my curiosity aside."

(End of this chapter)