thefictionvixens 525. Forged Grounds
525. Forged Grounds
As Xiao Yan's soul power carefully approached the purple-gold herb, the same pressure as before descended, causing Xiao Yan's soul power to pause. The feeling of being crushed indeed made Xiao Yan freeze for a moment.
"No wonder they were blocked by this pressure." Xiao Yan understood completely after trying it himself.
This level of pressure is probably only something that can be barely resisted by those whose soul power has reached the peak of the mortal realm, allowing them to take the opportunity to extract the medicinal herbs.
Xiao Yan's soul strength was no longer at the peak of the mortal realm, but at the spiritual realm, which was above the mortal realm! He also acted quickly, taking out the first herb and holding it in his hand.
Xiao Yan's actions even elicited a small cheer from the onlookers. After all, they had been trapped by this restriction and unable to make any progress. They had been quite discouraged, but seeing Xiao Yan remove it so easily, they clearly understood that their previous failure was simply due to their lack of strength.
After obtaining the first plant, Xiao Yan did not stop, and his soul power advanced again! This time, Xiao Yan was somewhat surprised, because he also sensed the change in the pressure.
"It's actually become stronger?" Xiao Yan was very sensitive to this power and immediately noticed the change.
Despite the strengthened restrictions, they couldn't stop Xiao Yan, and he obtained the second plant without much effort.
After entering for the third time, Xiao Yan was finally able to confirm that this restriction was yet another test for the alchemists who came here. As the number of herbs taken out increased, the pressure from the restriction also increased. Ten herbs in total, simply laid out on the mountaintop, wouldn't be so easily given to some peak seventh-grade alchemist.
Xiao Yan didn't think too much about it, but simply took out all the herbs one by one, and the pressure continued to increase.
After Xiao Yan took out the fourth herb, the pressure finally reached a level that only a Spirit Realm soul could resist.
The fifth plant, with increased pressure, was removed intact!
The sixth plant, under increased pressure, was completely removed!
……
The ninth plant, pressure increased, and it was completely removed!
Under everyone's watchful eyes, Xiao Yan took out all nine herbs and held them in his hands, drawing repeated praises from the crowd.
"With your soul strength, young friend Xiao Yan, the championship of the Pill Gathering is probably yours for the taking."
"Heroes emerge from among the young! Their strength is already comparable to that of the Medicine Venerable back then."
"An eighth-grade alchemist, terrifying indeed!"
Xiao Yan simply smiled and ignored the praise. After everyone saw that all the herbs had been taken out, they exchanged a few pleasantries and then left.
After briefly assessing his gains, Xiao Yan didn't immediately descend the mountain. Instead, he continued to observe the restriction. He only retrieved nine herbs from the restriction; the last one had been deliberately damaged, so he naturally didn't take it.
Just now, when he was retrieving the ninth plant, the pressure from the restriction had already made him feel extremely troubled, almost pushing him to his limit. Xiao Yan understood: what he had just encountered was the pressure targeting someone at the peak of the early stage of the Spirit Realm, and after he retrieved the ninth plant, that pressure would increase even further.
In other words, it now requires the soul power of a mid-stage Spirit Realm cultivator to extract the last herb. Given Xiao Yan's past behavior, knowing he couldn't do it, he would have simply left. Even if the damaged herb still has value, it's very limited and not worth the effort.
But Xiao Yan felt that after all his busy work, the last bit of opportunity he lacked to cultivate the Hidden Shadow Needle seemed to be right in front of him.
Because of this restriction, any soul power entering and attempting to obtain the herbs would be severely suppressed. The constantly surging soul pressure seemed to be making Xiao Yan's soul even more resilient. Xiao Yan felt: this seemed like a very good cultivation opportunity for him!
After everyone had left, Xiao Yan remained steadfast in his choice, and his soul power continued to rush towards the damaged herbs.
The ten runes were instantly activated, and the almost tangible soul pressure enveloped Xiao Yan's soul power, causing veins to bulge on his forehead. He gasped for breath, struggling to hold on. For his soul power within the restriction to even twitch, he had to exert immense willpower.
The damaged herbs had only been moved about three inches before Xiao Yan could no longer continue. His soul power was exhausted, and he had to give up the attempt.
"Such a powerful restriction." Xiao Yan exclaimed as he took a deep breath. His soul power had been constantly depleted and was now at its limit. Without hesitation, Xiao Yan swallowed a pill, sat cross-legged, and began to recover.
Now that he had discovered the possibility of cultivating the Hidden Shadow Needle technique, he would not give up. The longer he spent in the Pill Realm, the more skillfully he felt he was controlling and using his soul power. The muscle memory that cultivating the Hidden Shadow Needle had given him made his soul attacks more concealed and efficient, no longer the crude method of unleashing all his soul power and then smashing it.
In fact, Xiao Yan possesses far more resources for cultivating soul power than for Dou Qi. He has the highly practical Heavenly Thunder Spirit Forging technique. His soul skills are the high-level Earth-rank Soul Flow Black Vortex and the Heaven-rank Hidden Shadow Needle. Not to mention, after achieving first place on the Heavenly Talent Ranking, he also obtained a high-level Earth-rank soul skill from the Spirit Clan, but recently he simply hasn't had the time to study it thoroughly, storing it in his storage ring.
In the past, Xiao Yan had somewhat unconsciously underestimated the power of his soul, since the cultivation of Dou Qi had always been the mainstream on the Dou Qi Continent. However, this trip to the Pill Realm restricted him to using only his soul power, which forced Xiao Yan to pay attention to the untapped potential of his soul.
An hour later, with the aid of the elixir, Xiao Yan's soul state had almost fully recovered. A fierce, indomitable spirit ignited in his eyes, and he made up his mind: this was a rare opportunity, and he was determined to seize it and master the Hidden Shadow Needle technique in one fell swoop!
……
"Young Master, who is the helper you mentioned? Xiao Yan's soul has already reached the Spirit Realm; ordinary people are no match for him!" one of the elders asked Chen Xian.
Chen Xian looked at the crushed jade slip in his hand and replied, "This is a Spirit Clan location jade slip that I finally obtained. It can send directions to the nearest recipient. Although I don't know who it is yet, it must be one of the six eighth-grade alchemists from the Spirit Clan!"
"In these mountains, Xiao Yan's Dou Zun level Dou Qi cannot be fully utilized. As long as that eighth-grade alchemist fights him, we can lie in ambush and wait for the right opportunity to strike!"