Please show your spirit to our ancestors

Chapter 107: Taking Advantage of Wu Tu Palace
……

As soon as you enter the Wu Tu Hall, what comes into view is a front hall that is about ten meters long and wide.

The hall is about twenty feet high, and on the top are earth-colored shadows with many dark yellow light spots lingering and circling, like a magnificent cloud of stars.

This front hall has no facilities and looks empty.

Only in the middle, there stood a stone pillar half a person's height, above which floated a crystal ball the size of a basketball. Inside the ball, there were many ochre halos that kept rotating, making it look very mysterious.

The scene before him was exactly the same as what the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord had described.

Chen Ningzhuo stepped forward cautiously, slowly stretched out his hand and pressed on the earth-colored crystal ball.

Suddenly, the crystal ball emitted a ray of light, and pictures and ancient seal characters appeared in Chen Ningzhuo's mind.

"This is the Taixuanmen Outpost Development Hall No. 539."

"According to Article 73 of the Taixuan Development Order, the Palace Master has authorized the activation of the emergency assistance mode. Anyone who meets the requirements of the four spiritual roots, including the earth spiritual root, can apply to become a non-staff member of this development palace."

"The benefits for non-staff members are as follows: they can receive a full set of Qi Refining techniques and skills for free, can be taught cultivation tips and experience for free, and can apply for a free breakthrough to the foundation-building method."

"Non-staff personnel have the right to accept missions in the [Heart of Wu Earth], earn Taixuan merits and contributions, and can exchange them for spiritual tools in the exchange list, and are allowed to teach the foundation-building period Condensation Chapter, Guarding Chapter, and Lingtai Chapter skills and secret techniques."

Then, there was a list of tasks, all about collecting medium-grade earth spirit stones, high-grade earth spirit stones, and various materials.

These are exactly the same as what the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord told us.

Chen Ningzhuo took his hand away from the [Heart of Earth] and excitedly recounted to Chen Xuanmo what he had seen and heard.

Chen Xuanmo was also cheered up and immediately became excited.

When he first joined the sect in his youth, he saw that the sect had a task system, merit and contribution points, and an exchange list. He always felt that something was not right, as if it was incompatible with the style of the sect of cultivating immortals.

Later I learned that the sect's contribution system is a common phenomenon in the world of immortal cultivation, and has been extended to the family system. Moreover, this system was not created by the sect itself, but originated from ancient cultivators.

In the ancient water palace that Chen discovered last time, there was no existence similar to the "Heart of Earth", which means that the owner of the water palace was not a member of the system, but more like an independent entrepreneur like a wandering cloud and wild crane.

But this Wu Earth Palace is different. After getting some information from the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord last time, Chen Ningzhuo looked up a lot of information in the sect's Sutra Library.

Originally, according to his identity, a lot of high-end information was difficult to find. Fortunately, Chen Shiyun has now officially joined the sect. Her identity is the successor of Master Xuanyang. Through this relationship, she has obtained a lot of confidential information.

"Father, the Taixuan Sect was one of the most powerful sects in ancient times. They were very keen on developing wild areas to expand the habitat for human reproduction." Chen Ningzhuo introduced quickly, "Numbered Wu Tu Palaces like this are usually portable palaces refined by the Taixuan Sect, and often serve as strongholds and outposts during development. This kind of palace is often a whole, with a top-grade spiritual vein sealed inside as the core. Once the spiritual power in the spiritual vein is exhausted, it can be replenished by spiritual stones, or by absorbing spiritual power from natural spiritual veins to replenish itself."

There was a pause.

Chen Ningzhuo added: "I haven't found out the specific content of 'Law 73 of Taixuan Development Order', but it is not difficult to judge that this Wu Tu Temple has suffered a huge crisis and trauma, and most of the monks inside have been killed. They can only recruit temporary native workers from outside for emergency rescue."

"But for some reason, it later hid here and was buried underground."

"From the requirements in the task list, which are all about replenishing spiritual power and obtaining repair materials, we can infer a lot of causes and consequences."

Chen Xuanmo nodded repeatedly after hearing this, and agreed very much with Chen Ningzhuo's inference.

"The previous Thousand-Faced Demon Lord accidentally entered this place and became a non-staff member of this Wu Tu Palace. With the free Qi Refining Stage exercises and experience guidance, he gradually broke through the Foundation Establishment Stage."

"At the beginning, the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord seemed quite keen on accepting the mission of the Heart of Earth. Picking flowers was just a way to relax in his spare time. However, as his needs for skills, spiritual tools, treasures, etc. were met, picking flowers gradually became his main job, and he began to slack off on the mission of the Heart of Earth. In the past twenty years or so, he has never come to the Wu Tu Palace to accept missions, and all his energy has been used to pick flowers!"

Su Yuanbai laughed when he heard this: "Isn't this quite normal? The Thousand-Faced Demon Lord is a lonely man with mediocre four spiritual roots and doesn't need to think about forming a pill. After the mission reward meets his needs, he will continue to work for the Wu Tu Palace. Unlike me, Old Su, who works so hard just to find a better future for Yushan."

Su Yuanbai's words hit the nail on the head.

Not counting the energetic young people, Chen Xuanmo has never seen any "old bachelor" working hard to build a career. Only men with families will work hard and be willing to do so.

Take Chen Xuanmo for example. After he married and established a family of immortal cultivators, he has never had a day of rest. After a lifetime of hard work, he wanted to remarry and enjoy life in his later years, but was stopped by his wicked sons and grandsons. Just thinking about it makes me angry.

Look, he has been dead for more than 20 years, but he is still working for the family and worrying about all the matters of his descendants and grandchildren. What a hard life.

And there is that old friend Chi Qiu. Chen Xuanmo saw that he only had two years left to live, but he still followed him here happily to do one last job. It was because he couldn't bear to leave his children and grandchildren at home, and wanted to save some belongings for them before he died.

Chen Ningzhuo reported again: "Father, time is tight this time, so I will follow the original plan and exchange two copies of the Condensation Chapter and one copy of the Guarding Chapter of the Wu Tu Zhen Jue Gongfa."

"Buzz!"

Chen Xuanmo agreed with a trembling sword.

Because I had already roughly understood the situation and pattern of the Wu Earth Palace from the information provided by the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord, I had naturally done some preparation before coming here and had already thought of a preliminary plan.

The main purpose of coming here this time is to make a preliminary exploration of the situation of this [Wu Tu Palace] and simply exchange some skills. As long as it is confirmed that there is no danger here, the Chen family can slowly reap the benefits of this Wu Tu Palace in the future.

The Chen family is different from the lonely and wild Thousand-Faced Demon Lord. It is an endless family force that has demands for everything in the Wu Tu Palace, and even for the Wu Tu Palace itself.

It’s not enough to just take it out in one generation, it can be taken out in two or three generations…

One day, this Wu Tu Palace will be completely destroyed and moved back to Qingyu Cliff.

Just when Chen Xuanmo was full of fantasies.

Chen Ningzhuo placed his palm on the [Heart of Earth] again and chose [Accept the Call].

Then, a yellowish-brown light enveloped Chen Ningzhuo and quickly disappeared.

A message appeared in his mind: "Foundation Building Period Condensation Realm High Stage, Four Spiritual Roots Earth Element Wild Method Practitioner, welcome to respond to the call and accept the call. Are you sure you want to become a non-staff member of Taixuan Sect's Outpost Development Hall No. 3000? Because of your outstanding cultivation, once you accept the sign, you can get an additional [Merit] and contribution points."

Chen Ningzhuo was delighted. This was unexpected wealth.

But it is normal when you think about it. When the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord came here before, he had not yet established his foundation. Wu Tuzhi had to train him to become a foundation-building cultivator for free before he could assign him any tasks. And since Chen Ningzhuo can be used with his ready-made achievements, naturally he should receive some extra treatment.

"Accept." Chen Ningzhuo, who had already made a plan, responded immediately.

"Congratulations on becoming a non-staff member of the Taixuan Sect's Outpost Development Hall No. 3000. Your code name is: Wu. Your current contribution account balance is one merit, contribution points."

It's really the treatment of a non-staff member. They don't even ask to know their names, but just give them code names.

"Check the task list." Chen Ningzhuo didn't care about these and directly opened the task list.

"Long-term task 1: Contribute thirty medium-grade earth-element spirit stones at once, and you will receive one [Merit] and three thousand contribution points."

"Long-term mission 2: Contribute thirty high-grade earth-element spirit stones at once, and you will receive one [Great Merit], 300,000 contribution points."

"Long-term mission three: Contribute one hundred kilograms of [Earth Spirit Essence] at one time, and you will receive three [Merits] and 10,000 contribution points."

"Long-term mission 4: Contribute 100 kilograms of [Fire Spiritual Essence] at one time, and you will receive three [Merits] and 10,000 contribution points."

"Long-term mission five..."

There are dozens of tasks in total. Except for a few that are unique tasks, most of the others are long-term tasks. It seems that the Wu Earth Hall is extremely short of spirit stones, and the damage to the hall is probably serious. Various repair materials are urgently needed.

The modes and reward specifications of these tasks are almost identical to those of the Yunyang Sect. I don't know who is imitating whom, haha~~
This time, Chen Ningzhuo came well prepared.

He prepared sixty medium-grade earth spirit stones so that he and Su Yuanbai could complete a task each in exchange for the [Earth True Art Foundation Building Chapter - Condensation Chapter], because this one just needed one [Merit] and three thousand contribution points.

But now, since the Heart of Earth has given a merit and corresponding contribution value in advance, it just saves a lot of spirit stones.

He was about to open the redemption list when he suddenly noticed a red-marked [Urgent and Only Task] at the bottom of the task list.

"Unique emergency mission one: There is a nest of [Earth-walking Gold-eating Ants] that have invaded the outer wall of this hall. They have been gnawing at the outer wall for a long time, absorbing the metal nutrients in it to reproduce and thrive, and continuously causing damage to this hall. Please ask non-staff personnel to accept the mission as soon as possible and eliminate this nest of Earth-walking Gold-eating Ants."

"Mission Reward: One [Merit], three thousand contribution points."

Even the Heart of Earth was considerate enough to display a map, marking the location of the group of earth-walking gold-eating ants.

It is very obvious that the defensive ability of the Wu Earth Palace now mainly comes from the Wu Earth Puppets, which are very inconvenient for it to deal with the Earth-borne Gold-Eating Ants.

"Earth-walking gold-eating ants?"

Chen Ningzhuo's eyes lit up.

The reward for this task is secondary. This earth-walking gold-eating ant is a very rare [alien spirit ant].

Some families would specifically raise earth-walking gold-eating ants to devour some metal spiritual ores that were difficult to mine and smelt. By collecting their excrement, they could extract high-purity spiritual metals and make considerable profits.

However, those families are extremely strict in protecting the spirit ants. Neither the technical data nor the individual spirit ants will be leaked to the outside world, so he has only heard of them but never seen them. Now that this nest of spirit ants has been captured and brought back, if they can be successfully bred, it can become a family industry and fill the gap in the family's spirit ant smelting!

Accept the task.

After accepting the task, Chen Ningzhuo did not quit immediately, but continued to look through the exchange list and found the Ningyuan chapter of the Foundation Building chapter.

After consuming the gifted merits and contribution points, he successfully redeemed it.

Information about practicing martial arts techniques suddenly flooded into Chen Ningzhuo's mind.

at the same time.

[Heart of Earth] glowed slightly, and a mysterious earth-colored mark floated out from it and imprinted on Chen Ningzhuo's brows, emitting a sparkling earth-colored light on his forehead.

Soon, the mark sank into Chen Ningzhuo's spiritual platform, and all the light disappeared.

However, Chen Ningzhuo could easily sense the [Wu Earth Seal] in his spiritual altar. Through this Wu Earth Seal, he could easily recall all the contents of the technique. At the same time, when he was practicing the technique, he had to activate this Wu Earth Seal, and it would also serve as the core center of the technique and participate in the practice of the technique.

"Warning, the holder of the technique is not allowed to teach the Wu Tu Temple technique to others privately. Without the Wu Tu mark, forcibly practicing the Wu Tu Zhen Jue Foundation Building Chapter will not only fail to practice successfully, but will also cause the consequences of going crazy and exploding and dying."

That's right.

Without this Wu Earth Seal, it is impossible to practice the Wu Earth Secret!

This is also the fundamental reason why Chen was unable to obtain the foundation-building chapter of the Wu Earth True Art from the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord.

The biggest difference between practicing the orthodox method and the wild method is often in the imprint or the Dao seed brand. When practicing the Jindan orthodox method in the foundation-building stage, there are often not many restrictions on practice. However, if you want to practice to the Jindan stage, you have to accept the Dao seed brand in the orthodox method.

The Dao Seed Imprint can assist in comprehending the origin of the Great Dao, allowing cultivators to more easily grasp the artistic conception of the Great Dao. It also has a great auxiliary effect in cultivation and forming the elixir.

A set of golden elixir methods often has only one Dao seed imprint passed down from generation to generation. Once it is passed on to the next generation, the cultivation level of the person will basically stagnate.

This is why, among the thirteen lineages of the Yunyang Sect, there can be many direct disciples, but only one disciple who can inherit the legacy. This is not only because the three spiritual roots are too rare, but also because there is only one Dao Seed Imprint corresponding to the skills, and it can only be passed on to one disciple.

As for the situation where a mark is required during the foundation-building period, it only means one thing, that is, this technique is not only authentic, but also has a high probability of coming from a branch of a certain [Taoism].

By the way, the prerequisite for practicing the Blood Evil Magic Art is to accept the blood mark. From this point of view, the Blood Evil Magic Art can most likely be traced back to the Taoist level!
This can be seen.

In this world, the more powerful and promising a martial art is, the more stringent its restrictions tend to be. On the contrary, those inferior and wild methods can be practiced at will as long as one's spiritual roots are suitable, but their prospects are also very limited.

Now that Chen Ningzhuo has the [Wu Earth Seal] and the Condensation Yuan Chapter of the Foundation Building Stage, he can spend some time to practice the Wu Earth Secret Art. However, due to the limitations of the Condensation Yuan Chapter, he can only practice to the peak of the Condensation Yuan Realm, which is the peak of the third level of the Foundation Building Stage.

Originally, he was thinking that he had just broken through to the third level and was not in a hurry to exchange for the [Guardian Chapter]. But now that the Ningyuan Chapter was given away for "free", he might as well take a look at the price of the [Guardian Chapter].

Well, it doubled directly to the second [Merit] level, 6,000 contribution points.

As for the Lingtai chapter of the foundation-building period, it is simply ten [Merits] and thirty thousand contribution points.

This made Chen Ningzhuo speechless. It seemed that his own sect was very generous. It only cost one merit and three thousand contribution points to exchange for a superior wild method, and the whole family could practice it at will.

Of course, the sect’s control over the Dharma is even stricter.

If you don’t join a sect, you won’t be able to exchange for the foundation-building chapters for practicing the orthodox methods. Even if you join a sect, you must have the status of a direct disciple to be eligible to practice the foundation-building chapters of the orthodox methods, and this status will accompany you for the rest of your life!
Just like Chen Xuanmo, even if he applied to establish a family, he would be a disciple of Master Chiyang of Yunyang Sect for his entire life. Once the sect summoned him, he would have to go back. It would be impossible for him to join other sects casually. That behavior is called [treason]!
As for the Chen family, their entire lives were marked with the mark of the Yunyang Sect.

With such close ties between them, it is basically impossible for them to rebel and go to Wanhua Palace or Wuhen Mountain.

Of course, once one becomes a direct disciple of the Yunyang Sect, there will be fewer restrictions on practicing the orthodox method to build the foundation, and there will be no need to redeem such a huge amount of merit.

闲话不提。

After Chen Ningzhuo saw the subsequent merits, he temporarily gave up the exchange. His consciousness withdrew from Wu Tu's heart and explained the situation one by one.

Su Yuanbai was delighted when he heard this. There were actually free merits to be gained. In this way, he would not have to withdraw thirty middle-grade earth spirit stones from Chen Ningzhuo. After all, these were not given to him for free. They had to be deducted from his salary or family contribution.

This was a mid-grade spirit stone, a mid-grade earth spirit stone with attributes, and the value of one was about two hundred low-grade spirit stones. After thirty pieces, all the family contributions he had accumulated over the years were not enough, and he still owed Chen a large sum.

It pained him to think about it.

Afterwards, Su Yuanbai happily repeated Chen Ningzhuo's method and became a temporary worker serving in the Wu Tu Hall part-time, and got the Ningyuan chapter of the foundation-building chapter of the orthodox method for free.

As for Shouyi Realm, that’s another matter. The price is so high that he needs to think carefully about whether he is willing to exchange it.

After the two of them completed the exchange, they began to carry out the task of clearing out the [Earth-walking Gold-eating Ants].

Following the instructions on the diagram, they went around to the side of the Wu Tu Temple. After clearing away a large area of ​​rubble and garbage, they soon found the nest of gold-eating ants on the wall of the Wu Tu Temple.

“Tsk~!”

Chen Ningzhuo finally understood why this mission was an urgent one.

The originally thick and solid walls of the Wu Tu Hall had been gnawed by gold-eating ants, leaving uneven surfaces. From time to time, mottled wall fragments fell off, and thumb-sized gold-eating ants could be seen scurrying around everywhere.

Naturally, the foundation of the Wu Earth Palace has not been damaged yet, but in the long run, as the gold-eating ants continue to multiply, sooner or later this Wu Earth Palace will be destroyed in the mouths of the gold-eating ants.

However, Chen Ningzhuo did not immediately eliminate this group of earth-walking gold-eating ants.

Instead, he took out a pile of jade boxes from his storage bag and began to work together with Su Yuanbai to capture gold-eating ants and seal them in jade boxes.

The combat effectiveness of these gold-eating ants was not high, at least with their strength in the foundation-building stage, it was easy to catch them, and they soon gathered a pile of them.

Finally, they dug deeper into the ant nest and captured a gold-eating queen ant the size of a fist.

After catching most of them, they began to clean out the nearby gold-eating ant nest by using smoke and fire.

When he returned to hand in the task, Wu Earth's Heart felt very satisfied. After self-inspection, he found that not a single one was left, and gave the task a good review.

One [Merit] and three thousand contribution points fell into Chen Ningzhuo's hands.

He looked through the reward list and exchanged for a [Fire Spirit Shield].

In this way, the two brothers will have two Fire Spirit Shields, and they can each have one without having to fight over them, which will greatly enhance their defensive capabilities and make great contributions in the subsequent operation to clear out the Blood Soul Cult's lair.

With the war approaching, it is natural that every bit of improvement will be appreciated.

In addition, according to the Thousand-Faced Demon Lord, non-staff personnel can only move within the main hall, and the other intersections are guarded by Wu Earth Puppets.

But Chen Xuanmo didn't believe in evil. As a heroic spirit, he naturally felt that he could go anywhere. Then, he swaggered around the Wu Earth puppet, passed through the protection, and went deep into the Wu Earth Hall.

As a result, it was pitch black inside, as if one was in an endless abyss.

This feeling was almost exactly the same as when he plunged headfirst into the depths of the mountains.

Chen Xuanmo didn't dare to use his spiritual sense to scan around. He could only rely on his perception and memory and leave in shame.

This initial exploration of the Wu Tu Temple was generally very smooth. After completing the established mission objectives, we also gained additional benefits.

Afterwards, Chen Ningzhuo carried the Xuanmo Lingjian and left the Wu Tu Palace with Su Yuanbai.

But before it went out of the range of ten miles, the Xuan Mo Ling Sword flew back silently, with a few jade boxes stuck on the sword.

When they arrived near the Wu Tu Palace, Chen Xuanmo quietly opened the jade box, released a wave of gold-eating ants, then went around to the back and released another wave. After several times, he released a total of nine waves of gold-eating ants.

Many species of ants will experience the phenomenon of "queen selection" after losing their queen.

That is, after losing the suppression of the original queen ant, the individuals with reproductive ability among the original worker ants will transform themselves into queen ant candidates. After a competition, the winner will become the new queen ant, thus giving birth to a brand new colony.

The earth-dwelling gold-eating ant is one of the ant species that has this phenomenon.

However, the emergence of the "queen selection" phenomenon requires many prerequisites, and in many cases the ant colony will be completely destroyed.

Chen Xuanmo hopes that out of these nine waves of small ant colonies, at least five can survive. In this way, it won’t be long before they will receive five missions to clear out the earth-walking gold-eating ants!
After doing all this.

Chen Xuanmo controlled the Xuanmo Spirit Sword and rushed back to reunite with Chen Ningzhuo, then hurried back to the spirit boat to reunite with the main force, preparing to formally launch the operation to wipe out the Blood Soul Sect.

And Chen Xuanmo's Five Elements Formation seemed to be waving at him.

……

(End of this chapter)