[Year 915]
The entire Li family had entered a strict, semi-reclusive state of focused cultivation.
Li Wei briefly pulled up his system panel to glance at his own condition.
After spending years manifesting beside Li Yaotie, who constantly utilized the Great Dao of Heavenly Fire, the Fire Dao rules Li Wei comprehended had also rapidly increased due to the blacksmith's explosive influence.
However, the further along the path he went, the exponentially harder it became. Once his comprehension of the Fire Dao rules hit 8%, it became exceedingly difficult to make even the slightest bit of further progress.
Thus, adapting to the bottleneck, he quietly arrived by Li Yaoqing's side to comprehend the gentle Wood-attribute rules instead.
[Your descendant Li Yaoqing has tirelessly refined pills for many years. Her profound cultivation of the Divine Art has miraculously reached the absolute limit of the sixth tier.]
At this exact moment, Li Yaoqing was standing gracefully next to the roaring pill furnace, having the Immortal Child—who had remarkably already broken through to the Void Refinement realm—diligently fan the scorching flames.
Despite possessing the terrifying might of a Void Refinement expert, the Immortal Child still maintained the innocent, harmless appearance of a young boy and remained incredibly obedient to her every command.
"The Enlightenment Pill, Tier-4. It is a truly excellent pill that can forcefully trigger rare epiphanies.
Right now, our family certainly doesn't lack the spiritual liquid needed to replenish raw Spiritual power.
Once this fresh batch of Enlightenment Pills is ready, we will immediately send them to Eldest Brother.
I heard from the scouts that he has already reached the desolate Snowy Region," Li Yaoqing calculated aloud.
Right by her side stood a plump little ginseng spirit, clumsily holding a woven grass fan and tirelessly fanning a cool breeze over her.
The little ginseng spirit cast a deeply fearful, trembling glance at the roaring pill furnace and squeaked,
"A-Apothecary, after you finish violently refining all my plant friends into pills, you promise you won't eat me, right?"
Resting comfortably under the cool shade, the ancient Old Tree slowly opened its wooden eyes and glared strictly at the little ginseng.
"What kind of ungrateful nonsense are you spouting? Sister Qing kindly enlightened your roots, allowing you to miraculously develop sentience. Why would a benevolent fairy like her casually eat you?"
Hearing this, the little ginseng spirit patted its chest and breathed a massive sigh of relief.
"At the very least, you'll be properly chopped up and used as a prime medicinal ingredient," the Old Tree added faintly, instantly scaring the poor little ginseng into a dead faint right on the grass.
Li Wei couldn't help but shake his head in amusement. Settling down to cultivate beside Yaoqing, he slowly closed his phantom eyes.
Under the sweeping observation of his immense Spirit Soul, he could see that Li Yaoqing's entire private cultivation ground was absolutely overflowing with extraordinarily rare, priceless spiritual herbs.
Having meticulously cultivated her core technique all the way to the sixth tier, the passive effects of her Divine Art had become increasingly, undeniably heaven-defying.
Accelerating plant growth by centuries, naturally enlightening ignorant flora spirits, flawlessly healing all living things—this was no longer mortal cultivation; it was simply the miraculous method of true gods and immortals.
By now, even the prideful Old Tree couldn't resist forcefully rooting itself to cultivate right beside Li Yaoqing, as the ambient cultivation speed in this courtyard vastly exceeded that of any other place in the estate tenfold.
If a perfectly ordinary cultivator merely took a casual stroll around Li Yaoqing's herbal garden, they might literally stumble face-first into a life-changing karmic opportunity.
The family had indeed gained a massive, historic windfall from the Tian Xing Grotto-Heaven in the past, but right now... Li Yaoqing's personal courtyard was easily ten times richer in pure worldly essence.
It was only because she was remarkably kind-hearted and strictly refrained from consuming any Spirit Plants once they gained basic sentience that the courtyard was now utterly overrun with chatty, spiritual Spirit Plants running about everywhere.
[Wood Rules Progress: 5%]
"Sister Qing, over the past few years, I've repeatedly used destiny arts to help you track down the person stubbornly occupying your Dao path. I finally have a concrete lead," the Old Tree rumbled, raising a bark-covered eyebrow slightly.
"They are currently hiding somewhere within the Central Plains."
"I know."
Li Yaoqing nodded slightly, her expression placid.
Inhaling the intoxicating fragrance of the nearly finished medicinal pills wafting from the furnace, she quietly closed her eyes to rest her weary mind.
Turning her perception inward, she gently sensed the mysterious blade of grass rooted deep within her Dantian.
Having broken through to the sixth tier, it had fully evolved into a brilliant six-leaf clover.
This tiny six-leaf clover was what forcibly elevated her baseline aptitude to that of the world's most terrifyingly formidable Alchemy Saint Master.
It had essentially transformed her very being into a supreme Nurture spirit, even granting her the heaven-defying ability to enlighten lesser living beings—this was, without a doubt, a god-like method.
It had been nearly a millennium since she first awakened it. The original, fragile tiny seedling had grown incredibly robustly alongside her.
The six-leaf clover constantly exuded a pristine, fairy-like spiritual aura, appearing as a sacred relic meant to be admired reverently from afar but never profaned by mortal hands.
It was the absolute source of her current power, the very thing allowing her to act as a mountain god and casually lift the crushingly heavy Mountain-Suppressing Demon-Subduing Ring without the slightest bit of physical effort.
"God-like methods... The Old Ancestor said that there used to be true gods and immortals, and that their ancient remnants are still hiding in this world."
Li Yaoqing's soul gazed intently, almost sorrowfully, at that glowing little grass.
"Are you a remnant of a god or an immortal? I am just a simple, uneducated child from the mountains. I am not a heaven-defying genius like Eldest Brother or Fourth Sister.
Although I'm very reluctant to ever admit it aloud, even Third Brother is much more naturally formidable than me. If it weren't for your presence, I never would have reached where I am today."
The little grass was growing increasingly, terrifyingly powerful, yet deep down, Li Yaoqing could acutely feel that this profound strength had never truly belonged to her.
In response to her melancholy thoughts, surprisingly, a single radiant leaf twitched.
Li Yaoqing wasn't the least bit surprised by the reaction. Her mental voice remained incredibly calm.
"Can you let me live just a little longer? I still have so many important things left to do for my family."
The glowing leaf remained completely silent for a long time, as if the ancient will inside it didn't understand what else the mortal vessel it had inhabited for nearly a millennium possibly had left to do, or just how much longer she greedily wanted to live.
After a long silence, it finally swayed in a slight, consenting nod.
Outside, in front of the quaint thatched cottage, the blazing pill cauldron emitted a deeply fragrant scent, enlightened flora spirits happily roamed about the grass, and the elegant woman kept her eyes closed to rest her weary mind.
Swept up by the clear, nostalgic breeze, Li Yaoqing felt as if her soul had drifted all the way back to those harsh, impoverished mountains of her childhood.
A scrawny little girl lay in the dirt, stubbornly hugging a basket of withered green vegetables as she wept bitterly over her own uselessness.
Her outwardly mean eldest brother, her completely silly younger brother, and her sweet little sister all ran over to clumsily comfort her, while her exhausted parents could only sigh softly as they continued turning the dry soil in the vegetable patch.
Remembering the warmth of that difficult, mortal past, the corners of Li Yaoqing's mouth curled up slightly into a beautiful, genuine smile.
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