Back at the wooden hut, only half of the setting sun remained on the horizon. After placing Xiaobai on the leaf-covered bed, I felt a pang of hunger. I quickly started a fire to cook. I killed the fish, salted it, and pan-fried both sides in a purple bamboo pot, then added water to stew it.
After eating my fill and drinking, I went to fetch spirit spring water. By then, it was already dark. Although my body didn't feel tired that day, my spirit was somewhat listless. I couldn't help but fall asleep holding Xiaobai.
After Ye Ju fell asleep, Yushou floated out of Ye Ju's mind. Yushou had also changed drastically, exuding a subtle pressure. Its golden-red body now shimmered with a green light. With the revival of the spirit spring, the Divine Wood, which Ye Ju had used as a fire poker, had coincidentally soaked in the spirit spring, replenishing its spiritual energy. Furthermore, as Ye Ju's life-bound magical treasure, it had advanced alongside Ye Ju's cultivation, mutually benefiting each other.
This island was protected by a barrier, which had always been guarded by the Divine Wood Yushou. When the Divine Wood's spiritual energy was on the verge of depletion, its life force fading, and the spirit spring sealed by ancient divine arts was nearly dry, it used its last bit of spiritual energy to guide Ye Ju through time and space to this place. Ye Ju's arrival broke the seal on the spirit spring, and life gradually returned to the island.
The spirit spring and the Divine Wood Yushou were symbiotic. When one was sealed, their bond was severed, and they were unable to break their respective barriers. A catalyst was needed. After millions of years of depletion, they were on the verge of disappearing. When Ye Ju found Yushou while digging the spirit spring pond, the spirit spring's seal was broken. At that moment, the Divine Wood and the spirit spring revived, their life force eternally regenerating, yin and yang circulating, and the five elements in motion. Fortune was born!
Yushou flew towards the sea, heading in the direction of the setting sun. It reached the edge barrier. Due to Ye Ju's arrival, a crack had appeared in the barrier. This barrier, which utilized the circulation of the five elements, would self-repair. Although it would mend itself, it had been depleted over millions of years and was on the verge of dissipation. If that happened, this small world would be exposed to the cultivation world, leading to instability.
This was the domain of the Divine Wood, leaving only this palm-sized isolated island. Compared to the Divine Wood Realm that Ye Ju had seen before, this could truly only be called a solitary speck.
Now transformed into Yushou, the Divine Wood suddenly shone with brilliant light. Green energy repaired the barrier and further reinforced it. "My little master is still too weak; the barrier cannot be broken." The golden-red body faded back to its initial humble gray color, its spiritual energy depleted.
Meanwhile, Ye Ju, asleep, felt a faint sweat on her forehead, appearing to be in great pain. At that moment, her dantian's qi sea began to operate on its own, drawing vast amounts of five-elemental energy into Ye Ju's body. Ye Ju's meridians had been widened, and a massive influx of five-elemental energy poured down from above, converging in her dantian. The qi sea began to spin faster and faster. White spiritual energy flowed along her meridians back to her sea of consciousness. Ye Ju, in her dream, endured unbearable pain, which was now somewhat relieved. The lake in her sea of consciousness had shrunk to the size of a well opening, but it was continuously replenished by the spiritual energy overflowing from her dantian. It continued until it returned to its previous vastness!
At the barrier, Yushou, having exhausted its spiritual energy, almost lost its ability to hover and fell into the sea. Suddenly, it received a surge of spiritual energy. It realized this was due to Ye Ju's small master's five-elemental constitution, which operated on its own to absorb spiritual energy.
Suddenly, Yushou rushed out of the barrier and knocked a white-robed figure unconscious with a single blow, also sending the flying boat they were on flying away. A speck of light flashed across the sky and disappeared. It was unknown who this unfortunate passerby was.
A wisp of aura leaked from the crack in the barrier. Fearing that cultivators might detect it and intrude upon the isolated island, Yushou resolved the hidden danger and flew back into Ye Ju's sea of consciousness.
The sky was now bright. Ye Ju woke up, feeling as if her whole body had been crushed. What had happened last night? She saw Xiaobai was still fast asleep.
Ye Ju remembered that she had collected many pearls yesterday and felt overjoyed, eager to shake Xiaobai awake right away. She took out the pearls to play with them. She then recalled that she needed to help the electric eel by bringing it spirit spring water. She felt that she couldn't go back on her word. After breakfast, she would go to collect the spirit spring.
She thawed the remaining fish from yesterday. She also stewed a Blue Spirit Fish. This fish was truly exquisite. After eating it, she vaguely felt that her spiritual power had been replenished.
After breakfast, she ran into the wooden hut and found all the purple bamboo water bottles. Then, she set off for the spirit spring water pool.
After filling the spirit spring water, she discovered that the Ice Spirit Fruit tree she had planted earlier had grown to the thickness of a bowl. It looked like it was about to flower and bear fruit. She had watered it with spirit spring water when she planted it, but it had grown too quickly! Ye Ju decided to water the tree with another basin of spirit spring water. Just as she finished, Ye Ju exclaimed in surprise. Although she had guessed, she was still startled. She watched in amazement as the tree instantly grew before her eyes, its lush green branches extending, then flowering, and finally bearing fruit. In the blink of an eye, the branches were laden with bright red fruit!
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Ye Ju was stunned. People from Huaxia considered themselves the best at planting, but seeing this scene, she couldn't remain calm.
She took several deep breaths to force herself to calm down. Looking at the delightful fruit on the tree, she couldn't resist picking one to taste. It melted in her mouth, sweet and juicy. A cool sensation slid into her dantian, and she sensed a loosening within her dantian. She couldn't help but pick a few more. She then drank a whole pot of spirit spring water. At this point, a bottleneck in her dantian had significantly loosened. The feeling was incredibly profound. Ye Ju had a faint premonition that she was about to advance. She sat down cross-legged on the ground.
Her dantian's five-elemental qi sea began to circulate, converting the abundant spiritual energy of the Ice Spirit Fruit until the mass of qi condensed. The blue element liquefied first. As the qi mass spun faster and faster, the other elements gradually became more viscous and liquefied.
Ye Ju only heard a soft *pop* from somewhere, and spiritual energy surged into her body madly. Not long after, she heard four more *pops*. Ye Ju knew she had advanced. If each pop represented one stage, then she had advanced five stages in a row!
The qi sea in her dantian spun rapidly, and the liquefied elements were continuously compressed. If Xiaobai were here, they might exclaim in shock. The surrounding spiritual energy surged into Ye Ju's body, and even the vaporized spiritual energy from the spirit spring was absorbed. Outside the barrier, the sea was covered in dark clouds, with lightning and thunder. The tribulation for core formation had appeared. The heavenly lightning, unable to find the person undergoing tribulation, seemed to vent its anger by striking the outer sea, shattering it in many places. By the time the lightning dispersed, many giant fish and beasts that hadn't managed to hide were floating belly-up for kilometers.
Ye Ju was in a state of intense suffering. A massive amount of spiritual energy flooded her, nearly causing her dantian to explode. At the critical moment, Yushou emitted its green life-giving technique to repair it. When everything ended, five beads slowly rotated in her dantian's qi sea. Red, blue, yellow, green, and white. The five elemental energies had directly formed a core! However, the colors had changed again. Ye Ju was utterly bewildered.
Her sea of consciousness had also transformed into a vast ocean. Yushou had regained its golden-red color, surrounded by multicolored auspicious light.
Her rapid cultivation was because Yushou had exhausted its spiritual energy while repairing the barrier last night. Ye Ju, connected to her life-bound magical treasure through soul, sensed the danger. Her dantian's qi sea operated on its own, drawing in a large amount of spiritual energy. Her meridians had been widened and cleansed to the greatest extent.
Ye Ju didn't understand the principles of cultivation. She only knew that each depletion of spiritual energy stimulated her body's potential and broke through physical bottlenecks, leading to advancement. Even though it was so dangerous just now, she felt no fear. With nothing to hold her back, what was there to be afraid of? Now that she had advanced, it was wonderful.
This time, Ye Ju woke up not long after. She looked at the fruit-laden tree and felt delirious.
As usual, she went to her private bathing pool to wash. Some impurities still seeped out and stuck to her skin. Ye Ju, who had lived for over twenty years and eaten grains of rice since childhood, could imagine how many impurities were still being purged.
Finally, she didn't know what time it was, but seeing that the sky was still relatively early, she picked up her purple bamboo pot, intending to deliver it to the electric eel. She thought about it and picked a few fruits. That electric eel had given her so many blue scale pearls; it was only right to reciprocate. Hehe.