Chapter 120: Chapter 55 Cloud Sea Giant Cocoon, Rotten Stump Refining Mansion
The Cloud Sea Realm, located on the thirtieth floor of the Demon Locking Tower.
According to what Senior Sister An had said, this place should be a sea of clouds where the sky was not seen above and the ground not touched below, enveloped by hazy clouds, requiring the constant maintenance of a Sword Control flying posture.
However, at this moment, the place where the two of them stood had firm ground underfoot, and there were clear deep waters reaching up to the knees.
Ling Yunpo looked down and saw, between the mists, a clear reflection of himself on the surface of the water.
An Zhisu held his hand, her gaze vigilantly sweeping the surroundings.
Unable to see clearly.
Just a few steps away, obscured too much by the clouds, the line of sight simply couldn’t reach, and they could only rely on Divine Sense to probe.
For now, there appeared to be no creatures or buildings around the two of them.
Upon closer inspection, both the water currents at their feet and the clouds in the air were slowly moving and drifting in one direction.
The two continued to move in the direction of the water flow. Before long, they arrived at a cocoon forest.
There were a large number of white giant cocoons, nearly ten feet in length, which could easily accommodate an adult lying within.
An Zhisu and other Refining Mansion stage disciples had come to this Cloud Sea Cocoon Forest for their mission in the Demon Locking Tower, but…
“This is strange,” An Zhisu said with surprise after circling a giant cocoon a few times. “The cocoon forest I know of is supported by extremely thin silk threads wrapped around pillars hanging in the midst of the cloud sea.”
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“These horizontally lying cocoons in the water are something I’ve never seen before, nor have I heard others speak of them.”
“Supported in the air by silk pillars?” Ling Yunpo asked with curiosity, “Wouldn’t that require a supporting ground?”
“Not sure,” An Zhisu replied. “Many seniors have tried flying at full speed upward, downward, or in all other directions, but the boundaries of the Cloud Sea Realm have never been detected.”
“Among the clouds, there lives a kind of ferocious avian Demonic Beast. Anyone outside the cocoon forest will be attacked by such beasts. The further one strays from the height of the cocoon forest, the more numerous the beasts become…”
An Zhisu paused there, exchanging a glance with Ling Yunpo.
If this place was indeed part of the same world as the Cloud Sea Realm, then it must certainly be the lowest level of the Cloud Sea Realm.
The cocoons whose supporting silk pillars broke would fall here, and also because of the low height, there would be no harassment from those avian Demonic Beasts.
Verification was simple: one only had to fly upward from here to see if they could find the silk-pillar-supported cocoon forest.
But according to what Senior Sister An had said, the cocoon forest was vastly extensive in every direction, upwards, downwards, and to the southeast, northwest, such that ordinary cultivators could never detect its end.
Heaven knows how far this bottom part is from the height of the cocoon forest. If it would take a very long time (such as several days) to reach it just to verify whether this world was the Cloud Sea Realm, it definitely wouldn’t be worthwhile.
Ling Yunpo’s gaze landed on a giant cocoon.
For Refining Mansion stage cultivators, what mattered lay within this very cocoon.
According to the records, this type of giant cocoon possessed a peculiar ability related to time and space.
Cultivators who fell into the giant cocoon could maintain a state of cultivation and rapidly fast-forward their bodies by thirty years.
These thirty years would be equivalent to day and night cultivation without interruption, free from any external disturbances, single-mindedly perfecting the Purple Mansion for thirty years.
Although it consumed thirty years of lifespan, it could probably compensate for about thirty-four or thirty-five years of normal cultivation. After all, in the outside world, cultivators couldn’t maintain the highest efficiency of cultivation every day, and would inevitably encounter periods when they weren’t in top form.
The two climbed onto the giant cocoon and tentatively placed their feet on the mouth of the cocoon.
Soon, the mouth of the cocoon began to move, engulfing Ling Yunpo and An Zhisu’s ankles, then their calves, thighs, and half of their bodies, until finally, they were entirely enveloped.
Ling Yunpo felt an incredibly subtle sensation, with warm, omnipresent, rhythmically pacing pressure coming from all around, which inexplicably reminded him of a womb filled with amniotic fluid.
However, consciousness soon became groggy, indicating that the speed of time was slowly increasing.
The “Accounts of the Marvelous” by the Southern Dynasty once recorded a tale of a woodcutter who stopped to watch children playing chess and singing. He was so engrossed that only after the children finished did he realize his axe handle had completely rotted away; upon returning to his village, he discovered that a hundred years had passed, and everyone he knew had vanished.
As the flow of time accelerated, the thoughts of cultivators would also begin to slow down, much like the woodcutter watching the chess game. Eventually, the body could only mechanically repeat actions without any capacity for thought.
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Therefore, Ling Yunpo quickly calmed his emotions and began to stimulate the rotation of the Qi Sea. While breathing and refining Qi, compressing True Qi into True Yuan, he attempted to use True Yuan to nourish and perfect the flaws of the Purple Mansion’s inner walls.
As the Qi Sea spun faster and faster, in his half-conscious state, a strand of True Yuan began to refine itself from within the Qi Sea, clinging to the Purple Mansion’s inner walls to circulate. This was what the Daoists referred to as “the Union of Dragon and Tiger.”
“Hmm?” The Kunlun Mirror suddenly spoke, “This power of time and space, it feels like a fragment of my true form…”
Watching Ling Yunpo’s consciousness slip into silence, it knew that the flow of time had accelerated, and now the guy was unable to speak.
“However, the fragment of my true form should not be here,” the Kunlun Mirror continued to muse to itself. “This place is merely borrowing its authority.”
“The only certainty is that my fragment is definitely within the Demon Locking Tower, hmm.”
“With your current realm, it is still too early to be plotting for these things.”
“Strive to get stronger quickly.”
……
About a quarter of an hour later, Ling Yunpo’s consciousness finally began to slowly awake.
He subconsciously called upon his Divine Sense for introspection, and then was startled.
Most of the Qi Sea was now occupied by True Yuan, with only about one-third to one-fourth of True Qi remaining, slowly drifting at the top of the upper Dantian.
If True Qi could be likened to mountain streams, then True Yuan was akin to great rivers and seas, greatly eclipsing the former in quality.
The result was a dual enhancement of the power and endurance in the activation of Sword Control Technique, Daoist Magic, and Magical Treasures, among other things.
However, Ling Yunpo had no time to confirm how much stronger he had become. He quickly extricated himself from the giant cocoon and then went to look for Senior Sister An nearby.
After a short while, An Zhisu also struggled out of the cocoon and rolled over, falling right into the waiting arms of Ling Yunpo, who had been waiting for some time.
“Senior Sister,” Ling Yunpo clearly breathed a sigh of relief, “Glad you’re okay.”
“As if something would happen with this mere cocoon,” An Zhisu joked as well, her expression warming up, “You can put me down now.”
“Yes.”
Having landed on the ground and steadied herself, the two then realized they were both covered in the goo from the inside of the giant cocoon, stickily uncomfortable.
After washing briefly with the water on the ground, Ling Yunpo chuckled and said:
“Mercurial Elixir Liquid for sixty years, Cloud Sea Giant Cocoon for thirty years, isn’t it equivalent to you having endured ninety years of rigorous cultivation, Senior Sister? With this, isn’t the Pill Formation of High Grade beyond question?”
“To achieve a Pill Formation of the top three grades would, under normal cultivation efficiency, require two hundred years in the Refining Mansion.” An Zhisu pondered for a moment before calmly stating, “Considering this rate, if nothing unexpected occurs, my Core Formation should reach the third grade.”
Ling Yunpo immediately congratulated Senior Sister, his heart also starting to fill with emotion.
To form a Third Grade Golden Core requires two hundred years in the Refining Mansion; for the Second Grade, at least four hundred years are needed.
As for First Grade Pill Formation, the estimates say at least eight hundred years… and there’s no historical record of its achievement.
That’s probably because, without entering the Golden Core Realm, a human’s lifespan is at most two hundred years, deducting time for Qi Refinement and Marrow Cleansing, at most, one can only have one hundred and fifty years of cultivation. How could it be possible to spend two hundred years in the Refining Mansion?
One must join a renowned sect, like my Senior Sister and I did, then enter various secret realms, relying on one fortunate encounter after another to stack up, only then do we have a chance to strive for a Third Grade Golden Core.
As for a Second Grade Golden Core, it’s unthinkable unless one is an unparalleled genius!
Now, with my identity as a Shushan Po Yun Sword Immortal, the treatment is roughly similar to Senior Sister An’s, first gaining the power of the Mercurial Elixir Liquid, then accelerated by the Cloud Sea Empty Cocoon, I estimate I can save myself ninety years of arduous cultivation.
The Mercurial Elixir Liquid can only refine a spoonful at most; any more would be considered poison.
The Cloud Sea Empty Cocoon can only be used once for acceleration; any more would cause insanity.
Continuing this step-by-step cultivation, I should have about one hundred and fifty years of life remaining. Excluding the last ten years for Pill Formation, it is equivalent to spending two hundred and thirty years in the Refining Mansion. A Third Grade Golden Core is guaranteed, and the gap from the Second Grade is about one hundred and seventy years.
Once the Demon Locking Tower’s event ends, I will have to switch focus to Qiu Changtian and Luo Yan to see if Kunlun Taiqing Sect and Penglai Jade Pure View have any similar secret realms and fortuitous encounters that can help me stack up to a Second Grade Golden Core!
Seeing Ling Yunpo’s expression brimming with emotions, An Zhisu couldn’t help but smile.
If my junior brother and I can both achieve a Third Grade Core Formation, then the day when Master emerges from seclusion, I can say with confidence that I have not let him down, and that I have adequately maintained Qingluo Peak…
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