You said you would practice martial arts. Have you mastered the Tiangang Dharma?

Chapter 492 Northland
In the north, before the morning mist dissipates, the first thing that awakens in the Emerald Forest is the dew hanging on the whiskers of the ancient banyan trees. Those crystal clear water drops slide down the moss-woven net and are caught by the antler girl holding a pottery jar before they touch the ground. She walks barefoot on the ground covered with evening primrose, and each petal stretches into a small umbrella in the morning light, marking the path for the upcoming dew-collecting team.

The young man in white robe stood on the observation tower of the thousand-year-old hemlock, watching the mist flowing like silver yarn passing through the densely packed tree houses. The houses woven with living vines rose and fell slowly as the branches grew, and the evening primroses wrapped around the window frames were closing their last trace of blue. In the distance came the clear sound of ocarina, it was the forest rangers riding crystal-horned antelopes passing through the treetops, the dewdrops swept by their dark green cloaks condensed into a rainbow bridge in the air, attracting several green-feathered thrushes to dance after the rainbow light.

The midday sun shines through the layers of fern leaves, casting golden patterns on the bluestone slabs. The demon market spreads along the crystal stream, and the tents made of shark silk emit pearly luster in the wind. The old man with a fox tail is repairing the cracks in pottery with firefly slurry. The bear demon girl next to him is selling honey wine brewed with morning dew. The amber liquid shakes out tiny starlight in the bamboo tube. There is a sudden cheerful noise from the other side of the stream. It turns out that a few civet cat children are chasing glowing dandelion seeds. The light drops fall on the water and turn into silver fish, wagging their tails and swimming towards the shallows where glowing mushrooms grow.

The twelve black crystal pillars in the altar area began to glow, indicating that the evening primrose was about to enter its blooming period. The young man in white robe quickened his pace and walked through the corridor with wind bells hanging. He saw the priests drawing formations with star sand. Glowing vines were entwined in their snow-white hair, and the traces of their fingertips left emerald afterimages in the air. When the last rune was completed, the entire altar suddenly floated with thousands of fluorescent lights, as if someone had crushed the Milky Way and sprinkled it on the black jade ground.

As dusk deepened, strange silver streaks appeared on the surface of Mirror Lake. A young man in a white robe squatted on a mossy driftwood dock, watching the reflections in the water gradually emerge into stars that did not belong to this time and space. This was the monthly star sand collection time, and tiny light spots began to float up from the depths of the dark blue lake, like a star rain falling in reverse. Not far away came Bai Ze's low humming, and the spirit beast that had guarded Mirror Lake for a thousand years was walking on the waves, its silver-white fur flowing with moonlight, and three blue phoenixes with shed feathers perched on its coral-like horns.

As the night wind, carrying a cool fragrance, brushed across his cheeks, the young man in white robes tightly grasped the net woven from evening primrose stems in his hand. The moment the star sand touched the air, it made a slight explosion and condensed into flowing liquid starlight in the net. The auspicious beast similar to Bai Ze suddenly lowered its head and lightly touched the forehead of the young man in white robes. The nebula pattern rotating in its eyes reminded the young man in white robes of the past recorded in the annual rings of the ancient tree - the ancestor who advanced to the fourth heaven tens of millions of years ago, and finally turned into a rock statue that always looked out at the lakeside.

The sound of the midnight bell rang from the top of the ancient tree. It was the resonance of a giant drum made of dried thunder beast skin. The young man in white robes returned to the tree house along the path paved with glowing moss. Along the way, he saw the sentinels of the Night Owl Clan adjusting the angle of the moonlight lens. These huge crystals embedded in the tree canopy would refract the starlight to the roots, nourishing the spiritual veins that maintained the entire demon clan barrier. The mushroom bush at the corner suddenly emitted a soft blue light. It turned out that several dream tapir cubs were stealing the stored moonlight dew. Wherever their fluffy tails swept, translucent dream bubbles bloomed in the air.

The North is a world rich in special resources. Star sand is extremely expensive here, and even Qingqiu and Yunmeng Lake are invisible.

When the first ray of star sand emerged from the Mirror Lake, the ripples on the water surface unexpectedly formed a perfect geometric hexagon. Qingluo dipped the net into the lake and found that the light particles did not rise in a straight line, but swam along a mysterious spiral trajectory. The snake-shaped silver bracelet on her wrist suddenly became hot. It was the star tracker left by her grandmother, which was now projecting a miniature starry sky projection that resonated with the star sand in the lake.

Wherever Bai Ze's hoofs stepped, the water surface condensed into an ice crystal platform. The spirit beast lowered its head and sniffed the jumping star sand in the net bag, and suddenly raised its neck and howled. The sound waves shattered the reflection on the lake, and thousands of light particles formed a constantly changing star map in the air. Qingluo saw that one of the constellations completely overlapped with the arrangement of the altar's black crystal column, and then she realized that the star sand collected every month was not only a source of energy, but also a coordinate anchor point to maintain the balance of space.

When the first rays of morning light penetrated the emerald dome, the dormant tree canopy was the first to glow with phosphorescence. The luminous butterflies parasitizing on the backs of Alsophila spinulosa leaves began to fold their wings, and their scales and powder fell to the group of monsters below, ready to catch the morning dew. The eyelashes of the deer-horned girl Qingluo were stained with the remaining glimmer of star sand. She was tying twelve ice-cracked pottery jars around her waist, and the ancient talismans on the jars were faintly visible in the morning mist.

The aerial roots of the ancient banyan tree suddenly made a crisp sound like wind chimes, which was a signal that the tree spirit had awakened. Qingluo immediately placed her palm on the gnarled bark and felt the vibration coming from deep in the earth veins - the crystal veins sleeping in the rock strata were opening energy channels. The morning dew collectors at the highest point of the tree canopy blew the bone flute, and thousands of glass dragonflies took off in response. Their transparent wings stirred the mist, forming a spiral vortex of airflow above the forest.

"Qingluo, catch the rainbow bridge in the East Third District!" The forest ranger shouted from above. The girl looked up and saw the seven-colored mist condensing between the treetops. She immediately threw out the silver grass wrapped around her waist. This spiritual plant that grows in the cracks of the rocks grows when it encounters water, and instantly weaves a network of suspension cables a hundred meters in the air. The collection team members jumped onto the terrace with the elasticity of the vines. The evening primrose corollas in their hair trembled in the air currents, and the pollen that fell off turned into tiny spots of light.

In the Morning Dew Workshop, thirty feet above the ground, twenty-seven crystal funnels were filtering dew. Qingluo noticed that the light from the third funnel was a little sluggish, and lightly tapped the lily of the valley bud hanging on the edge of the funnel. The sleeping flower spirit yawned and stretched its petals, exhaling a purifying breath with the fragrance of mint. At this time, cheers suddenly came from the west side of the workshop. It turned out that a "dew crystal" had accidentally condensed in a pottery jar. This hexagonal crystal will automatically play ancient ballads on full moon nights.

The level of development in the North is beyond the imagination of other regions. The ecosystem here is far more advanced. After all, this is the region that once produced a great demon that advanced to the fourth level of the sky.

When the crystal streams with the most dense light spots begin to steam rainbow mist, the Monster Market welcomes its busiest moment. The stalls of beaver craftsmen are piled with newly mined mica sheets. They use their tails to knock out sound waves of a specific frequency, shaping these flexible minerals into breathable lanterns. A groundhog vendor with a sunflower on his head is shouting: "Freshly unearthed sun tubers! Burying them next to glowing mushrooms can double the spore production!"

Qingluo stopped in front of Jiaoxiao's tent and watched the old mermaid woman slap the wooden trough filled with lapis lazuli with her tail fin. The ore oozes out blue gel under the catalysis of sound waves, which is the important material for repairing the cracks in the barrier. Suddenly, a clear fragrance wafted over, and several children with deer antlers ran by holding lotus leaf bags, which were wrapped with snow honey cakes fermented with morning dew - this kind of food needs to be stored in the firefly nest for three days before it can take shape.

In the floating island farming area, Qingluo's brother was directing the vine monsters to weave a windbreak net. These spiritual plants, which were a cross between starlight grass and hemp vines, would automatically adjust the pores, blocking strong winds without affecting the penetration of sunlight. In the mist 30 meters below, a group of feather monsters were herding cloud sheep. Those cotton candy-like creatures would shed their fluff every two hours, which would fall to the roots of the floating island and become natural fertilizer.

"Watch out!" someone suddenly shouted. A huge shadow passed through the western sky, and three black turtles carrying cargo boxes were slowly landing at the post station. The lichens growing on their shells had the property of space folding, and the bear demon porters were taking out baskets of volcanic crystals from the palm-sized moss. The post station manager was busy feeding the black turtles with moon moss, a plant with silver spots that could help them adjust their magnetic poles. The energy of the north was also traceable, and the strength here was beyond imagination.

The black crystal column in the altar area was fully lit up when the horizon swallowed up the last ray of sunlight, and a flowing star map appeared on the column. Qingluo, as an apprentice priest, was learning from the elders to use star sand to calibrate energy nodes. She injected the rainbow mist collected at noon into the glass bottle. The moment the liquid came into contact with the star sand, a strange collapse occurred, turning into a glowing silk thread that was wrapped around the sundial in the center of the altar.

"Pay attention to the resonance frequency of the evening primrose roots." The elder tapped the ground with his snakewood staff, and a golden root network immediately emerged from the soil. Qingluo closed her eyes and felt the vibration of the earth veins, and found that the pulsation in some areas was delayed by 0.3 seconds. She quickly buried three morning dew crystals in the corresponding positions, and the repair membrane formed by the melted crystals allowed the energy flow to flow smoothly again.

The ethereal whale song came from the direction of Mirror Lake. It was Bai Ze calling the Star Sand Collection Team. Qingluo put on a protective suit woven with water spider silk. This material would form an air film when in contact with the lake water to prevent the energy of the Star Sand from escaping. When she paddled into the center of the lake in a birch bark boat, she found that the lake water tonight was thicker than usual - a sign that the concentration of Star Sand exceeded the standard. The star tracker on her wrist was spinning wildly, and the projected constellation map completely overlapped with the record of the spiritual vein riot tens of millions of years ago.

"Stand back!" Bai Ze suddenly warned with telepathy. A huge beam of light exploded from the lake, and countless star sand particles formed a three-dimensional mandala totem in the air. Qingluo saw the shadow of an ancient tree emerge in the center of the totem, and there were seven dim cracks on the trunk. The coral horn of the spirit beast shot out a silver light, and the star sand flowed into the cracks, and the ground veins of the entire forest hummed. It was not until this moment that she truly understood that the so-called collection of star sand by the demon clan was actually an energy dialysis treatment for the world tree.

There are still hidden threads worth exploring.

At midnight, at the Ancient Tree Observatory, Qingluo was sorting out today's data. She used a wolf-hair brush to dip into the luminous moss juice and drew an energy flow diagram on the birch bark. Suddenly, something cold brushed against her ankle. She looked down and saw transparent moonlight jellyfish oozing out from the cracks in the floor. These creatures, which were embodied by the residual energy of the star sand, would spontaneously go to the spiritual vein nodes that needed to be repaired.

There were footsteps outside the tree house, and several civet cat children passed by holding dream bubbles. These bubbles that fell off the tail of the dream tapir were showing clips of the coexistence of the demons and humans in ancient times. Qingluo reached out to touch a bubble that was shining with golden light, and suddenly heard the voice of a strange boy ringing in her ears: "The dragon blood vine at the southeast boundary monument needs to be supplemented with sulfur powder."

When she hurried to the edge of the barrier, she found that the spiritual plant wrapped around the basalt monument was withering. The moment the sulfur powder was sprinkled, the vines suddenly grew countless buds. These flowers that can detect the integrity of the barrier, the blooming form at this moment shows that there is a 0.05 mm crack in the northeast corner. Qingluo put her ear against the trunk of the dragon blood vine, and through the sound waves transmitted by the plant, she could clearly hear the car horn from the human world coming from the crack.

In the darkest moment before dawn, Qingluo stood on the observatory at the top of the ancient tree. She encapsulated the abnormal data collected tonight into dandelion seeds and blew them gently towards the twelve guarding directions. These seeds carrying information would parasitize on the lapels of the forest rangers and would not germinate automatically until they reached the target area. When the sky in the east turned pale, she saw the first batch of seeds flickering in the clouds, like stars falling in reverse.

This is the Northland, a place with a complete system, peace and prosperity. When Jiang Qiu arrived here, he couldn't help but show emotion.

In the mottled afterglow of the setting sun, Jiang Qiu, a somewhat old but still handsome man, sat on an old rattan chair. The years had left ravines on his face, but they did not hide his deep eyes, which seemed to be able to see through people's hearts, revealing a trace of kindness and wisdom. There were a few strands of silver in his black hair, adding a bit of mature charm to his handsomeness.

His eyes are the kind that can tell stories. Every time he blinks, it seems like he has endless stories to tell. They are as deep as the starry sky at night, distant yet attractive. Even when they are lazily closed, they cannot hide their former sharpness. A gentle smile lifts the corners of his lips, softening his deep eyes, as if even the air around them has become warm and heavy.

He was dressed simply and plainly, wearing a faded long gown that looked a little old, but this sense of vicissitudes was consistent with his temperament, revealing a casual handsomeness and a casual demeanor. He sat there with his back to the setting sun, his figure was elongated and projected on the ground, like a quiet and solemn painting.

Although the years have left traces on his face, these are not enough to conceal the charm that radiates from the inside out. It is a kind of calmness that has experienced wind and rain and seen the world, and a persistence that can maintain oneself even if the world changes. His existence itself is like a melodious old song, which makes people want to listen and explore the stories behind it.

He still held the cane in his hand and walked to the north. He had already spent most of his life. If he could not find the answer, he would rest in peace in the third heaven.
(End of this chapter)