Chapter 496: Accomplished In Just One Turn

　　Early the next morning, Shi Mu finally woke up from his deep sleep. After resting for a night, he felt as refreshed as ever. His body had completely recovered from exhaustion.

　　He stood up and walked away from his cave to the hall of the main house right outside.

　　At the entrance stood a servant. It was none other than the petite Cui Huan. Upon seeing Shi Mu, she quickly greeted him.

　　“Young master, the surrounding spirit lands have been cleared. Are you planning to take a visit anytime soon? Have you ever visited the past?” Cui Huan’s expression was ice-cold as she asked.

　　“In a minute. There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Shi Mu said after some thought.

　　“Do ask, young master.”

　　“Do you know how the old disciples manage the welfare of this residence?”

　　“The disciples of each sect manage the residence based on the spiritual energy vessel that it emits. Especially when it comes to a cave residence that housed the oldest disciples, the quality of the spiritual energy vessel here is formidable. The older disciples would plant various types of medicine and rare spirit animals in exchange for spirit stones. They didn’t bother with these since whatever they harvest belongs to them.”

　　“Oh, I was not aware of such good deals. Well then, did the former disciple of this residence do the same?”

　　“Yes,” Cui Huan said with a blank expression.

　　“What kind of medicinal herbs did he plant? Do you have a list of them?”

　　Cui Huan seemed to have come prepared. She immediately took out a jade slip and handed it to Shi Mu.

　　Shi Mu took over and released his spirit sense into it.

　　There were several kinds of spirit plants listed inside. However, they were not rare types but rather those that were easy to plant.

　　“In the future, I will continue to plant these whatever is on the list. With the spirit stones earned from them, you can divide it among yourselves and distribute them on your own,” Shi Mu said as he returned the jade slip.

　　Cui Huan’s face was unexpectedly colored. These people were only servants and already had the opportunity to cultivate in this place with great qi and aura. Shi Mu could easily avoid giving them any compensation, like how the last master of the residence had done.

　　“Thank you for your generosity, young master,” Cui Huan bowed and thanked him sincerely.

　　Shi Mu arbitrarily waved his hand. He did not care much at this point about the spirit stones, hence he had chosen this part of the region as it was quiet. No one could bother him.

　　The harvest of the disciples was not a high priority in Qinglan.

　　The Holy Land provided them with such a good cultivation environment, and it was not provided in vain. They needed these disciples to do things in return such as heading to the Convention Pavilion to take on tasks.

　　That Qingan manual had already mentioned that Shi Mu and the other disciples would need to complete at least ten tasks issued by the Convention Pavilion every ten years. There was no requirement for the task content, hence they were able to choose freely and the stated rewards would also be given.

　　Those who failed to do so would be punished, even to the point of depriving their status as a disciple and driven out of Qinglan.

　　Shi Mu asked several other questions and Cui Huan answered them honestly.

　　This woman did not have a humble tone when she spoke but her attitude toward Shi Mu’s questions said otherwise. There was nothing she did not know and would not hesitate to tell Shi Mu honestly.

　　Shi Mu had some appreciation for this attitude. His temperament was relatively free and easy. He didn’t like having to pester people for answers.

　　In this way, the woman had saved him a lot of trouble.

　　Next, Shi Mu called out to Cai. Under the woman’s leadership, Cai began to patrol the spirit lands of the residence.

　　He was only about a hundred miles away from the cave but he had seen them all already.

　　In the end, Cui Huan took Shi Mu to the spring in the spiritual land.

　　The spirit fountain was located in a mountain valley. One could feel the burning sensation even from a distance.

　　“Such a rich fire aura! It is almost equal to the ones back in the Twenty-two Isles of West Land,” Cai said.

　　Shi Mu was intrigued. The main reason why he chose this part of the region was due to the rich fire attribute of its aura. His choice was not wrong.

　　He moved and fell toward the valley.

　　There was a red mist rolling in the valley. The mountain wall was also reddish. A slightest green vegetation could not be seen throughout the entire valley together and the nearby mountains.

　　In the middle of the valley, there was a red-colored spring that was several feet in size. It was full of fascinating red light, which added to its spiritualness.

　　Shi Mu walked towards the spirit fountain and looked down.

　　Countless tumbling red magma would emerge from time to time. Everytime as the magma emerged, red light would appear in the spirit fountain, blocking the magma from erupting out.

　　“Fire essence!” Cai who had landed on the spirit fountain looked down and screamed at the top of his voice.

　　In the spirit fountain below, there were plenty of fire-attribute species such as fish and snakes that began to appear from the magma.

　　Cai suddenly screamed in hunger, as if he was indirectly asking Shi Mu to capture them so he could have a bite.

　　Shi Mu quickly grabbed two of them and ignored Cai in the process. He closed his eyes and felt the powerful fire around him and his face showed a pleased smile.

　　The environment here was much better than any fire spirit fountain he had ever encountered. He immediately had a plan in mind and intended to move his place of cultivation here.

　　As long as a surplus fire array had been arranged, the power of the fire aura here could be improved. It would be of great help to the cultivation of his Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art.

　　Thinking of this, he immediately started to take action. He took out the pieces of jade in order to burn them and set up an array. There were other materials he needed, which he instructed Cui Huan to purchase on his behalf.

　　These things were not uncommon, so the Holy Land of Qinglan must possesed the items needed.

　　Shi Mu started to do some other preparations.

　　A few days later, a new cave appeared next to the spirit fountain.

　　Shi Mu ordered Cui Huan to summon all the other servants and gave them a simple instruction. Under Shi Mu’s instruction, they immediately entered the cave without saying a word as the cave closed behind them.

　　…

　　In the secret room of the new cave residence, the red light was so rich that it almost formed a red flame.

　　Shi Mu sat on his knees. His heart was silently running the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art. His left arm gradually became darker and ignited a white flame. However, it was still stubbornly mixed with the red flame.

　　He glanced at the red flame on his left hand, snorted lightly and closed his eyes.

　　The red light in the secret room had a powerful fire aura to it. The aura began to swirl around Shi Mu who was kneel on his knees in the middle of it.

　　…

　　Time passed and three months had gone by in the blink of an eye.

　　On the mountain peak not far from Shi Mu’s retreat, two warriors in early Xian Tian level waved their hands. Their hands radiated two rays of light, forming an ellipsoidal shield that trapped a group of red bees.

　　The insects desperately hit at the surrounding shields. Although they were large in number, their strength was too weak to escape.

　　“Right. It should be fine to trap them this way. Don’t cast too much weight or they will be dead. If that happens, you wouldn’t taste good,” a colorful parrot standing over one of the Xian Tian warriors said. The parrot was none other than Cai.

　　The two Xian Tian warriors looked helplessly annoyed but they did not dare to violate Cai’s words. They continued to try their best in trapping the bees.

　　As time went by, the red bugs gradually lost their strength and no longer collided with the ray shield to escape.

　　“Open up the gap right now!” Cai’s eyes widen and shouted. He was so eager that he had unintentionally clawed on to the head of the Xian Tian warrior.

　　The Xian Tian warrior rolled his eyes and swayed his arms

　　As the shield cracked open a gap, Cai immediately flew toward it at high speed. He extended his mouth into the gap and began to swallow the bugs. By the look on his face, it was obvious he was fascinated.

　　“This kind of fire bee is the most delicious thing ever…” Cai shook his head in delight.

　　Both of the Xian Tian warriors were sweating from exhaustion but they could not stop supporting the shield. They wanted to relax but a part of them was afraid.

　　“You two of you have worked hard. Do you want a bite?” Cai looked at the two Xian Tian warriors and asked.

　　“Uh…Thank you for the offer, Elder Cai but we are unworthy. Please enjoy it for yourself,” the Xian Tian Warrior quickly replied.

　　“Since you don’t understand enjoyment then I shall indulge in it alone,” Cai said and buried himself into the bees, enjoying the taste of the food.

　　Ever since Shi Mu retreated into his cultivation, Cai had been free on his own, calling servants to attend to him anytime he wanted in the spiritual area. This kind of game of catching bugs was just recently seen. All he did was play and sleep around, as long as it was fun.

　　The sound of a long whistle came from afar, vast like a roll of waves and clouds. It was from where Shi Mu retreated.

　　Cai was shocked and suddenly turned to look at it. From afar, he could see a huge red column emitting light up at the sky from Shi Mu’s retreat.

　　The clouds in the nearby sky were all receding toward the surroundings. Strong infuriating waves were transmitted from the red beams.

　　“Great job Shi Mu, it’s been finally cleared!”

　　Cai Er laughed as he spread his wings and flew in the direction of the light column.

　　The two Xian Tian warriors looked at the light column in the distance and their faces changed greatly. The fire bees took the opportunity of them being distracted and flew away, but they did not seem to care at all at this point.

　　The other attendants in caving residence stopped what they were doing and hurried to the direction of the light column.

　　Cui Huan, who was initially looking at the grass in the spiritual land, got distracted at the sight of the huge beam of light rising from a distance. She stopped what she was doing and her eyes flashed slightly. It was hard to tell what was going on in her mind at the moment.

　　The red light column continued for a full quarter of an hour before it dissipated.

　　Then, a blue light flashed over the spirit fountain and a figure appeared within the light. It was none other than Shi Mu.

　　He radiated a faint red light. He had his eyes closed and his face was radiant and bright, as if he was a Buddha.

　　His left arm had a faint white light and the color of his skin had been restored to its originality. However, power lurking beneath the white light could be felt.

　　Shi Mu suddenly opened his eyes and two cold rays of light shot from his eyes, almost like faint lightning.

　　His face showed an expression of delight and pride. Finally after two months, he had successfully cultivated the first phrase of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art.

　　His left arm completely returned to its original color like everyone else. The heavy feeling from his arm could not be felt at the moment. The odd appearance had disappeared without a trace. There was no need to deliberately cover the palm with leather gloves anymore.

　　He could feel that the power of the flame in his left hand was much more larger and stronger than before. However, he was not able to estimate the specific size of it.

　　Due to the completion of the first phrase of the Nine Revolutions Mysterious Art, Shi Mu’s Art of Breeding A Strong Evil Ape had gradually advanced too. After breaking through the early stage into the mid-level, his overall strength had improved.