Chapter 148 - Cocoon Break
Chapter 148: Cocoon Break
The five Yin land demon subjugation missions were completed.
Due to Ma Donggui’s influence, the Foreign Affairs Hall showed them sufficient respect.
A large number of mortal craftsmen worked together. With the help of cultivators with both earth and wood attributes, the construction work was quickly completed.
Moreover, the Nightless City was actually divided into two areas of the inner and outer city. The inner city was the area where cultivators lived and interacted, while the outer city had mortals who existed to serve cultivators.
Under Jiang Li’s request, besides the shops in the inner city, a large inn was also built for him near the edge of the outer city.
After hanging up the signboard of the Scripture Storage Valley, no one dared to provoke them.
After all, it was impossible for those weak demons to be allowed to enter the inner city. If they wanted to continuously obtain the souls of the dead, he naturally had to make it more convenient for the movers.
Soon, the preparations were completed. As long as the signboard was hung, these two money trees would start working their effect.
However, who would have thought that the inner city store he spent so much effort to create was actually not the focus? The outer city small business that others looked down on was his true goal.
Yan Hong was watching over the cultivation market. Although everything was not considered orderly, Jiang Li did not have to worry about it.
On the day Jiang Li returned, everything was already prepared. With an announcement from him, the two shops in the inner and outer cities opened for business at the same time.
The two shops had the same name. They were called ‘Prosperous Jiang Hong’.
Jiang naturally referred to Jiang Li, and Hong referred to Yan Hong. The word “Prosperous” implied that the shops could fill their pockets with money.
In the beginning, Jiang Li had even complained about Yan Hong’s terrible naming, but the fatty had many good reasons to do so. He explained in a logical manner.
“We’re running a business, not to drag our customers into the store and slaughter them. It’s fine to have a harmonious sounding name. Why the need to make it imposing?”
Yan Hong was a professional in this aspect, so Jiang Li did not pay any better attention and did not probe further.
Although this name had a nice meaning, in this Nightless City, other large and old stores had at least a hundred years of history. Their reputation, popularity, and reputation were all there. How could an ordinary new store compare to them?
The inner city’s Prosperous Jiang Hong did not become famous on the first day.
Fortunately, unlike the cold and cheerless opening of the inner city, the outer city’s Prosperous Jiang Hong Inn, which could accommodate thousands of people at the same time, was almost full after sun set.
With Yan Hong’s promise, the food and drinks on the first day of business were completely free. Naturally, there was an endless stream of little demons who came after hearing the news.
Then, they promoted their main business to all the weak demons. Apart from souls, Jiang Li also bought information, materials, secret techniques, and other valuable things.
In the cultivation world, there were countless low-level demons. They covered a wide range of areas actively. Perhaps there was something good that they would accidentally find.
However, with their cultivation level and almost illiterate knowledge of the cultivation world, good things would be useless in their hands.
It was better to sell it to Jiang Li. If he could really pick up a peerless treasure from the trash, then he would make a killing.
Jiang Li did not cheat them. He had the intention of buying these items properly. If it was really a good item, he would use real spirit stones to purchase it from them at the normal price in the cultivation world. This was a treatment that low-level demons like them would absolutely not be able to enjoy elsewhere.
After staying there for a day, Jiang Li even specially hired a few small demons to put up a show. They brought over a few magic artifacts and spirit herbs that they had obtained by ‘accident’ but could not use.
The deal was completed in front of thousands of demons.
An ape demon took 20 low-grade spirit stones that could only be found in its dreams and left.
A fox demon even exchanged spirit stones for Qi Nourishing Pills used for cultivation on the spot and a low-grade Yellow-rank artifact with ‘boundless might’. Moreover, it directly applied to join the Prosperous Jiang Hong Inn to become a shop attendant.
This made countless lesser demons who wanted to play tricks on it no longer dare to act recklessly. In the hearts of the thousands of lesser demons present, there was only endless hope and desire.
With their brains, they could not understand what false advertisements were. This group of demons only knew that the Prosperous Jiang Hong Inn would be the place where their dreams began.
Moreover, as word of mouth spread, there would naturally be more and more monsters in this region that would be attracted to the Prosperous Jiang Hong Inn and work hard for the same dream.
As such, the reputation of the Prosperous Jiang Hong Inn was immediately spread. As long as they did not do something stupid in the later stages, their gains would only keep increasing.
That first night, Jiang Li obtained more than two thousand souls, spirit herbs and spirit mine ores.
Although it seemed that the quantity and speed of the soul harvest was far inferior to that of Cloud Stream City, the situation here was different.
The people of Cloud Stream City were directly massacred. Hundreds of thousands of souls were right in front of him. He just had to reach out and take them. Although the speed was fast, it would only last for a few days.
The Prosperous Jiang Hong Inn was a long-term business. As long as its reputation was spread, it would give the small demons enough motivation. Then, no matter how many people died in this region, Jiang Li would be able to obtain as many souls as he wanted. This was a long-term stable income.
As long as the spiritual qi and Yin qi in the Yin Burial Coffin could keep up, there would be a million ghost soldiers in his ever-expanding army!
…
Another two weeks later.
Jiang Li had long returned to the sect. At this moment, he was sitting cross-legged in the cultivation room, motionless like a statue.
His consciousness quietly stared at an ordinary corner of the Scripture Storage Valley.
In the sect’s Internal Affairs Hall, in a bucket of swill in the large kitchen area, a fly was happily eating the food in front of it.
How bored must one be to pay attention to the actions of a fly? Yet now, in the Scripture Storage Valley, the genius Jiang Li who was said to be the favored son of the heavens and was invincible with his iron fists was doing such a thing. His master would definitely beat him up upon seeing it.
The fly sucked and spat, its huge compound eyes staring warily at everything around it.
However, no one paid much attention to the smelly bucket.
Soon, after eating and drinking its fill, the fly wobbled out of the barrel, intending to find a female fly to chat about life.
Without realizing it, it crashed into an almost transparent web.
The spiderweb was extremely sticky. The poor fly tried to flap its wings, but could not escape. Soon, the struggle attracted the attention of a huge and terrifying predator, a spotted spider!
In the end, the weak body was injected with poison and wrapped in spiderwebs, turning into a drop of insect soup.
The Parallel Mind separated from the fly the moment it died, returning to Jiang Li’s body with the memories of the past few days.
Jiang Li’s body suddenly shook, and then his mind and body slowly underwent some changes while he was comprehending these gains.
“In my first life, I was reincarnated as an ancient winged mayfly. I lived and died in glory, but in the end, I exhausted my essence and died on the lotus leaf.”
“In my second life, I reincarnated into a twin-needle black mosquito, causing Senior Sister Little Four to be unable to sleep for seven consecutive days. In the end, because of my greed, she killed me with one palm strike.”
“In my third life, I turned into a multicolored butterfly and danced among flowers, chasing after my kind. In the end, I accidentally fell into the pond and became food for the fish.”
“In my fourth life, I became a fly and ran away while eating in the kitchen. I competed in wits and courage with a cultivator who was a chef, and in the end, I accidentally trespassed into a spider’s web and was brutally hunted and killed.”
Jiang Li sat cross-legged in the quiet room as the second Parallel Mind’s experiences flashed through his mind.
Gradually, the white hair on his body thickened.
If one touched it with their hands, they would discover that his skin had become dry and hard, as if it had become a shell, protecting the flesh inside.
A gentle heat radiated from it, causing the temperature in the nearby chamber to rise several degrees. Within the cocoon, there seemed to be a violent change.
Four hours later, Jiang Li’s cocoon suddenly started to squirm, and a large hole was torn open from the inside.
Jiang Li, who still had some mucus on his body, crawled out from inside.
It had to be said that his skin was ridiculously tough. When he came out, it took a lot of effort to successfully tear it open.
However, was this the so-called “Cocoon Break”?
Jiang Li was slightly surprised by this. He did not expect that after reincarnating four times in a row, he would actually gain such a technique.
It felt like an innate talent or simple instinct. He could use it naturally.
The specific function was to make slight adjustments to his body during the cocoon transformation. Other than that, he could also achieve dream-like effects such as regrowing limbs, second-stage puberty, and beautification.
But to him, the last one did not seem to be of much use…
Jiang Li looked at himself in the mirror and saw that he had grown a size bigger. He had become taller and his face had become more handsome. He nodded in satisfaction.
Right, the mayfly, mosquito, butterfly, and fly all had wings. Could it be that he had grown a pair as well?
Jiang Li suddenly thought of this, and he turned around to look at his back in the mirror. It was smooth there, and there were no wings or anything like that.
It seemed that this was indeed just a cocoon break and not a complete metamorphosis. He would not grow any strange organs.
Apart from this, Jiang Li looked at the Mind attribute that had once again increased sharply on his attribute panel. Now, he did not need to rely on his second Parallel Mind to control his strength anymore.
Then, it was finally time to subdue his second clone.
Jiang Li shook his hand and threw out the coffin before walking inside as the cover opened automatically.
He looked up at the top of the coffin space, where a strange ancient tree that looked like a statue was planted on the ceiling.
It was the root of the ancient Spiritual Root Branch that he had ‘rescued’ from the Scaled Demon Tribe.
On the Spiritual Root Branch, there were hundreds of talisman papers stuck on it. It was also bound by runic chains, preventing this thing from stirring trouble in the coffin space.
Right now, Jiang Li’s intended clone was this ancient tree that definitely possessed an astonishing background.
Appraisal was unable to analyze it, and Jiang Li did not have the ability to directly refine the tree with just his cultivation level.
Therefore, he might as well make this Spiritual Root Branch a part of him.
With the might of the Great Carefree Bodhisattva Heart Sutra, Jiang Li did not believe that after turning it into a clone, he would not be able to get anything useful.
Moreover, once this Spiritual Root Branch truly became Jiang Li’s strength, then wouldn’t he be able to use the few spiritual root seeds he obtained earlier?
Especially Elder Duan Shuang’s golden core. It was a real treasure. Just thinking about it made Jiang Li so excited that he drooled.
Stepping on the air, Jiang Li walked to the front of the Spiritual Root Branch step by step.
Following that, he silently circulated the Bodhisattva Heart Sutra in his mind and sent the second Parallel Mind into the Spiritual Root Branch.
Jiang Li was already extremely curious about this ancient tree. He immediately communicated with his Parallel Mind and checked the situation over there.
After that, Jiang Li’s eyes rolled upwards, and his figure slumped down from a height of over 20 meters.
Fortunately, his body was as strong as steel. He did not feel any pain from falling from such a height.
Jiang Li naturally knew the condition of his body, but a shocking scene was surging towards him through his Parallel Mind. This caused him to feel dizzy and be unable to stand straight for a time.
He knew that he had been careless.
The successes of the previous reincarnations had given him immense self-confidence and courage. He had nearly forgotten the dangers of the confrontation in his spiritual mind.
Among his first five reincarnations, one was a dead person who had died several months ago, and the other four were tiny insects that could not even differentiate north from south. How could they resist Jiang Li at all? That was why his reincarnations had been so smooth.
However, his current goal was a Spiritual Root Branch that was still alive and had existed for hundreds and thousands of years. Moreover, it might be extremely powerful.
Jiang Li’s second consciousness was currently in an extremely vast and huge mental world.
In front of him was an ancient deity statue that was more than five meters tall and still floating in the air. Its lush leaves and roots were fluttering in the air, forming a sharp contrast with the palm-sized Parallel Mind that had yet to grow.
However, that was not all. There were hundreds of human-shaped fruits hanging on the ancient tree.
As the branches shook, fruits fell down one after another, and immediately, they transformed into dozens of Scaled Demons with long hair and the appearance of young girls.
It was obvious that this ancient tree had the same magical ability as the ghostwood tree. It could capture ghosts and turn them into slaves.
This situation already made the second Parallel Mind helpless, but this was still not all!
Behind the ancient statue, in the distance of the spiritual world, there was an ancient tree that was huge to the point of reaching the heavens. Its leaves were also rooted to the ground.
In the middle of the tree roots and leaves, there were also statues sitting cross-legged. However, the difference was that there were three statues sitting with their backs facing each other on the tree trunk. Moreover, their images were different.
The Parallel Mind could only peek from one direction and could see the face of one of the statues and the side image of two of them.
One was transcendent, one was dignified, and one was terrifying. They were respectively Immortal, Buddha, and Demon!
Jiang Li’s main body saw this scene through his Parallel Mind, which was why his mind was shocked, causing him to fall from the sky.
Right at this moment, a domineering and powerful dragon roar seemed to resound from within Jiang Li’s body.
The two drops of dragon blood burned in Jiang Li’s heart, instantly pulling him out from his shock.
Jiang Li breathed heavily as a drop of cold sweat slowly rolled down his forehead.
The thing in his coffin was a Spiritual Root Branch. That huge divine tree that was far away from his spiritual world should be the main body of the Spiritual Root Branch.
Just looking at the might from afar through his Parallel Mind made him lose his consciousness. If he faced it directly, wouldn’t he be finished on the spot?
Jiang Li looked at the Spiritual Root Branch that still stood on the ceiling as if it was not affected at all and could not help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.
Nonetheless, no matter how powerful it was, Jiang Li still had to fight this spiritual war!
The palm-sized second Parallel Mind rushed left and right in his mental world. From time to time, it would suddenly tear apart the soul body of a Scaled Demon.
It even deliberately rushed in the direction of the spiritual root’s main body in order to obtain more information by sacrificing itself.
However, the distance in his mental world seemed to not be determined by space. No matter how it advanced, it could not get close to the other party.
It seemed that this Spiritual Root Branch was only slightly related to the spiritual root’s main body and could not affect each other much.
If that was the case, then there was a chance of victory!
Far away in the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak, the clone Tang Yan, who was discussing sword kinesis with his fellow disciples, immediately found an excuse to leave. After returning to his residence, he collapsed to the ground.
The first Parallel Mind had already been transited through Jiang Li. Along with the second Parallel Mind, they invaded the consciousness of the Spiritual Root Branch together.
Swoosh!
The sword cultivator clone attacked with the Sword Heart activated. After the curved sword light tore apart more than ten Scaled Demon souls, it ruthlessly chopped at the divine tree trunk of the spiritual root, leaving a long and narrow cut on it.
An attack amplified by the Sword Heart could only be used once a day, but in the spiritual world, this slash was practically unstoppable.
Then, the roots of the ancient tree swept over. The sword cultivator clone and the second Parallel Mind began to escape together.
Although that move was cool, they were suppressed immediately after that.
Jiang Li was helpless, but his main consciousness still did not dare to intervene.
Activating the Ghost Wood Art with his mind, the ghostwood trees in his consciousness were also sent into the battlefield.
Thump.
The lush ghostwood trees descended from the sky. In the next moment, the 30 ghosts captured by the ghostwood tree’s roots were released. Under Jiang Li’s command, they roared and rushed towards the Spiritual Root Branch on the opposite side.
The ghostwood tree that had already matured looked even taller and denser than the spiritual root branch on the other side. However, in terms of quality, the ghostwood tree was clearly inferior to the other party.
More than 30 ghosts collided with the Scaled Demon souls. It was difficult to differentiate between the two. Or rather, they were surrounded and beaten up in a group.
The roots of the Spiritual Root Branch were even stronger as they swept towards the ghostwood trees. Not only were the ghostwood trees’ counterattacks useless, but they were also entangled immediately.
Jiang Li’s main body looked anxious and speechless. He could only order them to retreat.
The sword cultivator clone and the second Parallel Mind exerted all their strength and barely managed to cut off the roots before they were pulled back by Jiang Li’s main body.
Jiang Li took back the ghostwood trees and sent the sword cultivator clone back to Shu Mountain. He was slightly disappointed by the outcome and was unable to accomplish everything in one go.
However, with the gap between the two sides, if he wanted to produce an outcome in one go, the only result would be Jiang Li’s side being completely annihilated.
In other words, the “Great Carefree” trait of the “Great Carefree Bodhisattva Heart Sutra” was indeed powerful. Jiang Li did not win this mental battle, but the Spiritual Root Branch could not trap his Parallel Minds.
However, even though Jiang Li was slightly disappointed, he was not discouraged.
This was because the Spiritual Root Branch was in his hands and was controlled by him. Within the spiritual battlefield, it was alone and helpless.
He did not need to rush this now. Every day, he would send the sword cultivator clone into the spiritual root’s consciousness and give it a Sword Heart Slash. He believed that it would not be long before he could completely dominate this Spiritual Root Branch!