I am in Yellow Maple Valley, and I have a demonic beast clone!

Chapter Four: Little Gold Advances! Feedback from the Main Body!

Inside the quiet room, Zhou Ding sat cross-legged.

He was able to operate the eleventh level of the "Green Wood Technique" smoothly, and the magic power in his body flowed freely. It was much more profound and pure than when he first entered this realm, and his realm had been completely stabilized.

Just as he completed a full cycle of Qi circulation and his mind was clear and empty, a strong throbbing sensation, originating from a connection of souls, suddenly came through!

It wasn't pain, but a feeling of fullness, swelling, and restlessness, like someone about to break free from their cocoon!

"Xiao Jin!" Zhou Ding opened his eyes instantly and looked towards the corner.

Little Jin was curled up there, its previously restrained aura uncontrollably emanating outwards, carrying obvious fluctuations of metal and earth spiritual power, and growing stronger and stronger.

Its gray fur faintly glowed with gold and yellow light, and its body trembled slightly, as if it were enduring some kind of internal shock.

Through his clone, Zhou Ding could clearly "sense" that the demonic power within Xiao Jin's body was frantically condensing, compressing, and undergoing a qualitative change; his meridians were expanding; and his flesh and bones were becoming denser and stronger under the influence of spiritual energy.

The process of advancing lasted about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

With a faint hum that only Zhou Ding could sense, originating from the soul of a demon beast, Xiao Jin's aura suddenly subsided, then slowly radiated outwards again, becoming much stronger than before!

Its already robust body seemed to have become even more refined, with smoother and more powerful lines. Its gray fur was so shiny that it looked as if it could drip water, and the golden light in its double pupils was even more dazzling and captivating, with a faint spiritual light flowing through it.

A high-level, first-tier monster!

However, just as Zhou Ding was rejoicing over Xiao Jin's successful advancement and carefully observing the changes in him...

A familiar yet gentler and more profound heat flowed in from the other end of the soul connection without warning, instantly surging into Zhou Ding's body!

"It's here!" Zhou Ding was shocked and immediately cleared his mind of all distractions, focusing all his attention on feeling the feedback.

The heat flowed like a hot spring, passing through my limbs and bones, seeping into every inch of skin, every bone, and every meridian.

Initially, there was a comfortable warmth, but as the renovation progressed, waves of soreness, numbness, and swelling followed, especially in the meridians, as if they were being violently stretched and reinforced by an invisible force.

Zhou Ding held fast to his spirit platform, gritting his teeth and enduring the pain.

Half an hour later, the feedback heat finally subsided.

Zhou Ding slowly exhaled a long breath, slightly turbid, his whole body soaked in sweat, but his eyes shone with an astonishing brightness.

He couldn't wait to begin examining the changes within himself.

The power of divine sense!

With a thought, his divine sense spread outwards like mercury, easily breaking through the previous limit of 130 meters, 150 meters, 180 meters...

It eventually stabilized within a range of exactly two hundred meters!

This is already close to the spiritual strength of a cultivator at the peak of the Qi Refining stage!

And there's the physical body!

Clenching your fist, you can feel a stronger power surging beneath your skin. Your body seems much lighter, and with the slightest exertion, your bones make a soft crackling sound, a sign of a comprehensive improvement in your physique.

Strength, speed, endurance, and even the five senses are significantly enhanced.

Looking inward at his dantian, the originally blue gaseous magical power seemed to have deepened in color, and its circulation was more smooth and efficient, with a significant increase in purity.

To his even greater surprise, his meridians had been widened and strengthened, which meant that his efficiency in absorbing and converting spiritual energy during future cultivation would be higher, and he would be able to withstand more intense magical output when casting spells!

"The clone's advancement actually provides such a comprehensive boost to the main body?!" Zhou Ding couldn't hide his excitement.

The results far exceeded his expectations!

It's not just a single enhancement, but a comprehensive nourishment from the mind and body to the foundation of magical power!

Suppressing his excitement, he immediately switched his attention to Xiao Jin, personally experiencing the changes after the advancement.

With its power surging, it lightly scratched the stone bricks on the ground, leaving deep marks as easily as if they were tofu.

The demonic power was even more powerful, and when it was in operation, there was a faint golden and earthy shimmer.

After the Earth Hearing Technique was activated, the range of perception returned by feedback suddenly expanded to nearly a kilometer!

The clarity and detail of the exploration have also been improved.

With its concealment ability fully restrained, if it weren't for those dazzling golden eyes that couldn't be completely hidden, Little Gold would be almost indistinguishable from a lifeless piece of earth or stone in Zhou Ding's divine sense at this moment!

"As expected! Mutual feedback leads to mutual growth!" With this confirmed, Zhou Ding's last trace of doubt completely vanished, replaced by an unprecedented sense of security and hope.

This extraordinary mechanism for connecting and responding to his clones is undoubtedly his greatest asset in traversing this world.

This is also the reason why he strives forward on the cruel path to immortality and pursues eternal life!

The road ahead is still long, but at least he has a unique key in his hand.

…………

In the small courtyard, the first rays of dawn were just beginning to appear.

Zhou Ding stood on the bluestone ground in the courtyard, took a deep breath, and felt the surge of power within him, far exceeding anything he had ever felt before.

He walked to a corner where several blue stone slabs, each weighing several hundred kilograms, were placed to stabilize the base of the formation.

He bent over, gripped the bottom of a stone slab with both hands, and used his waist and abdomen to exert force—

"rise!"

He steadily lifted the heavy bluestone, weighing hundreds of kilograms, overhead, his arm muscles bulging slightly, but without the slightest tremor.

He did not deliberately use his magic to enhance his arms; he relied purely on his physical strength.

The stone slab was gently placed down, producing a muffled thud.

Zhou Ding walked to the other side, sat down in front of a landscape stone about half a person's height in the courtyard, and threw a punch!

"Bang!"

Stone fragments flew everywhere, and he punched a hard rock, creating a dent the size of a bowl, with cracks spreading like a spider web.

The fist was slightly red, but there was no damage whatsoever.

"What a powerful physique!" Zhou Ding's eyes flashed with satisfaction.

In the world of cultivation, there is indeed a path of physical cultivation that focuses on the physical body and strengthens the bones and muscles. Those who achieve mastery can even withstand magical artifacts and treasures, and their power in close combat is boundless.

However, Zhou Ding cultivated the orthodox wood-attribute technique "Azure Wood Technique," which was by no means a physical cultivation method.

The physical enhancement brought about by this clone's advancement directly gave him a basic physical strength that was no less than that of a body cultivator of the same level!

This is undoubtedly a huge advantage in combat. Imagine, when fighting a cultivator of the same level until their mana is exhausted, the opponent is usually at their last gasp, while he can still launch a fatal counterattack with his powerful physical body.

After testing his strength, he had a thought, and the Wooden Spirit Sword flew out of his storage bag and hovered in front of him.

He pointed to a spot, and the green wood magic flowed into the sword.

"Buzz—"

The jade-like sword emitted a clear, melodious sound, its azure light intensified, and its sharpness far surpassed anything seen before.

Zhou Ding keenly noticed that the mana required to drive the flying sword to the same power was about 20% less than before!

Moreover, the sword light is more solid and the sharpness is stronger.

"The effect of increasing the purity of magical power is so remarkable!" he realized to himself.

The reason why Foundation Establishment cultivators can overwhelm Qi Refining cultivators is not only due to the difference in the total amount of mana, but more importantly, because after Foundation Establishment, mana changes from a gaseous state to a liquid state, and its purity undergoes a qualitative change.

The same magical artifact, when activated by a Foundation Establishment cultivator, becomes far more powerful than that of a Qi Refining cultivator.

Although his mana purity is far from reaching the liquefaction level, it has already clearly surpassed that of other cultivators at the same level of Qi Refining 11. The direct benefit of this is that he can cast spells faster, consume less energy, and have greater power!

This is not all.

Looking inward, one finds that the meridians are gently widened and strengthened, meaning that they can accommodate and circulate more magical power, thus improving cultivation efficiency and combat endurance.

His spiritual sense range has increased dramatically to 200 meters, comparable to the peak of Qi Refining, giving him a huge advantage in detection, early warning, and control of multiple magical artifacts.

Although his cultivation level was still at the eleventh level of Qi Refining, Zhou Ding clearly felt that his overall strength had increased by at least 30% compared to before!

And this was merely feedback from the advancement of a clone.

"If every time my clone advances to a higher level in the future, it will bring such comprehensive feedback..."

Zhou Ding was filled with excitement, and he could almost foresee that he was about to embark on a completely different path.

A "freak" whose magical power purity, spiritual strength, and physical foundation far surpass those of others of the same level!

This will be his greatest source of confidence as he survives and climbs step by step on the cruel path to immortality!

……

A few days later, Zhou Ding, having fully adapted to the changes in his body, quietly left the gate of Huangfeng Valley and came to a more primitive mountain forest more than ten miles away.

The Taiyue Mountains stretch for thousands of miles, and the Huangfeng Valley gate only occupies its core spiritual vein area.

The outer edge of the mountain range is an endless primeval forest, with ancient trees reaching the sky, vines crisscrossing, and low-level monsters lurking around.

Zhou Ding found a secluded valley and cautiously scanned the surroundings with his newly enhanced divine sense. Only after confirming that there were no other cultivators or powerful demonic beasts around did he release Xiao Jin from the spirit beast pouch.

As soon as the little guy landed, it affectionately rubbed against Zhou Ding's trouser leg, and then its golden eyes flashed, as if it also sensed the wildness of this place, which was different from that within the sect.

"Let's begin, Xiao Jin," Zhou Ding transmitted telepathically.

With the shift in consciousness, Xiao Jin's vision and perception became dominant.

Earth Hearing Technique activated!

An invisible wave emanated from Xiao Jin and spread rapidly outwards in a spherical shape to the surrounding ground.

Within a radius of nearly a kilometer, the earth's veins, soil texture, rock structure, shallow underground cavities, water flow direction... and all the life and spiritual energy fluctuations attached to it, are like a finely drawn three-dimensional map, continuously feeding back to us.

Zhou Ding controlled Xiao Jin like a highly efficient mobile radar, carefully scanning the unfamiliar mountain forest.

He moved slowly, ensuring that the vibrations of his geomancy could cover every inch of the land he passed.

An hour later, when Xiao Jin climbed up a gentle slope and crawled into a particularly dense thicket of thorns, a "point" located about a foot underground, emitting a soft and warm spiritual light, caught Zhou Ding's attention in the feedback fluctuation diagram.

Following the ripples, Xiao Jin carefully parted the thorny roots and rotten soil with its sharp claws. Soon, a small grass, as white as mutton fat jade, with three crystal-clear leaves and a pale golden flower bud the size of a grain of rice at the top, was revealed.

A faint, calming aura lingers around the grass.

"Jade Spirit Grass! Judging from its shape and spiritual energy, it's over a hundred years old!" Zhou Ding was overjoyed.

A hundred-year-old elixir is already a rare find in the cultivation world, and it is usually worth several dozen low-grade spirit stones.

Jade Spirit Grass is a rare treasure among century-old spiritual herbs. It is the main ingredient for refining various pills that enhance magical power and stabilize the mind. This one is in perfect condition and can be sold for at least a hundred spirit stones in the market!

He manipulated Little Gold, using its claws to carefully dig out the entire Jade Spirit Grass along with a small clump of native soil, placed it in a prepared jade box, and then put it back into his storage bag.

Such a harvest on the first exploration of the Taiyue Mountains.

Zhou Ding was greatly encouraged and continued his exploration.

About half an hour later, at the base of an ancient giant tree that required several people to encircle, the Earth Listening Technique revealed an unnaturally formed "concave" outline partially encased by the tree roots, seemingly containing something.

Xiao Jin burrowed into the tangled tree roots, rummaged around for a while, and pulled out a dusty storage bag.

The bag was stained with dried, blackened blood.

"A cultivator's storage bag... It seems someone perished here, or hid their storage bag here before dying," Zhou Ding thought to himself, showing no interest in investigating the cause of death.

In the world of cultivation, there are daily battles and deaths, and countless bones are buried in the Taiyue Mountains.