Chapter 23: Essence of Energy Fourth Layer

  Li Ruo slowly turned his back and headed in another direction, struggling to make his way through the bushes, trying hard to identify something in the weeds.

  Not far away, a small yellow flower bloomed quietly in the weeds, swaying gently in the wind. Li Ran quickly walked a few steps and squatted in front of the little yellow flower, took out his dagger and dug up the root of the little yellow flower, stripped off its stem and leaves, leaving only a thin rod to put in his mouth and chewed, a bitter taste flowed into his mouth, and he felt invigorated.

  Li Ran shook his head in disappointment, knowing that this was just an ordinary medicine for dispelling wind evil. However, since it grew in the Misty Valley, its medicinal properties would be stronger than those outside. The depths of the valley might still have some unknown miasma, so picking this herb could be considered a precautionary measure.

  Li Ran continued to search forward, and nothing eye-catching could be seen in the weeds anymore.

  Searched in two directions, but there was no sign of the accompanying spiritual medicine of Tianma and Gouji.

  Li Rendao continued to turn around, continuing his search in the third direction. Adding the path he had taken to get there, this direction was now his last hope. However, Li Rendao was not discouraged; he knew that his deductions would never be wrong.

  With a rustling sound, the collar of Li Ranno's clothes was scratched by the bush, and Li Ranno frowned, turned around and pulled down the collar that was hanging on the bush. He was about to continue moving forward when he suddenly turned his head again. More than 20 feet away, a bright red light flashed and disappeared into the weeds.

  Li Ran's heart skipped a beat, and he couldn't help but rush towards the spot, ignoring the thorns of the shrubs. As he got closer, a deep red flower bloomed quietly among the weeds, its bright color dazzling, and a faint fragrance wafted out.

  "Ah, it's Radix Lithospermi, isn't it a companion medicine for Polygonum multiflorum? I finally found it."

  Li Ruo was overjoyed, and carefully took out the dagger. The main medicinal properties of this spiritual herb, apart from its stem and petals, also lay in its roots. The roots of the Cinnabar Flower were extremely fine and dense, and if one wasn't careful while digging, they might accidentally damage the precious part.

  Li Ruo knew the habits of the red flower, and was about to carefully dig out this spiritual herb intact. Just then, he suddenly felt a sense of alarm in his heart, and heard footsteps coming from the fog again, two figures in green robes were searching towards this direction not far away.

  "Senior brother, could there be spiritual medicine in this strange forest? I think we should change direction."

  "No, Qin Feng, this strange forest is indeed strange, but the density of spiritual energy here is not inferior to other places. How can we be sure that we won't encounter any spiritual herbs here? Let's separate a bit and expand our search range."

  "Alright then, big brother, I'll listen to you."

  The younger brother nodded in agreement, and the two separated, with the younger brother getting closer to Li Ran's knife.

  Li Ran's heart grew anxious, and he hastily lay down his body in the bushes, holding his breath with force. He pulled over a few pieces of wild grass to block the bright color of the hidden red flower. His whole body was tense, his left hand pressed on the hilt of his long sword, his eyes fixed on the green-robed figure who was patrolling nearby.

  The Safflower itself is a rare spiritual medicine, its value is even higher than the Red Practice Ginseng that Li Ruo last purchased. If those two were to find out, wouldn't they come and snatch it away?

  Based on the Qin family's unreasonable behavior of blocking the mountain valley entrance and not allowing others to enter, Li Ran couldn't think of any reason why they would be polite to him.

  The companion spirit medicine of Fuling's Wuhuo is born by chance with the local energy, and it may not be useful for Li Rendao to dig up other Fuling's Wuhuo in the future. If the hidden red flower is snatched away, then the Fuling's Wuhuo in Li Rendao's hand will also become a useless medicine.

  However, it would take half a minute to dig out the safflower completely, and Li Ran's knife could not dig out the safflower before the two men discovered themselves rushing over.

  Exhale... Inhale...

  Li Ran's mind entered a unique state of mind, the Flowing Cloud Sword Intent slowly brewed, if the opponent really made a move, he didn't mind showing off his skills again.

  That junior brother walked closer and closer with a bored expression on his face.

  Li Ruo's left hand tightened its grip, and if he found anything amiss, the long sword would immediately shoot out.

  "These strange trees have grown too ugly."

  That junior brother punched the strange tree with his fist, and walked quickly forward with a cold hum, passing by Li Ruo's knife more than ten feet away. In the fog, Li Ruo's knife was wearing a gray robe, which was quite close to the color of the bushes. Moreover, that junior brother was not very careful in searching for spiritual medicine, and unexpectedly did not find that there was a living person lying not far away.

  The two brothers walked further and further away, gradually unable to hear each other's voices.

  Li Ruo Knife took a deep breath and jumped up from the ground, raising his head to scan around him. The forest was quiet and there were no other sounds. There's no danger anymore, Li Ruo Knife felt excited in his heart, crouching down carefully to dig towards the hidden red flower.

  Little by little, peel off the soil and dig out the fine roots of safflower one by one.

  When the last fine root was completely dug up, Li Ruo quickly took over the package, put the safflower into the package and backed it up, with his toes pointing to the ground and swiftly sweeping away from the distance.

  After running for a while, he dashed out of the strange forest and entered a mountain valley. Li Ran's hands and feet were used in unison, like a gecko climbing up to a cliff, until he climbed halfway up the mountain, where he found a cave behind a rock that was just large enough to hold his body. With great effort, Li Ran squeezed inside and sat down, feeling quite satisfied and joyful.

  On this mountain cliff, not a single blade of grass grew, and the rocky mountainside was completely exposed. The cultivators who entered the valley to search for spiritual herbs would never be bored enough to climb up here. But for Li Ruo Dao, this was a relatively safe hiding place.

  In his previous life, he had escaped many dangers by this very method.

  Li Ruo Dao sat in the mountain cave, took down the coarse cloth package from behind his back, and placed two stalks of spiritual medicine in front of him, his eyes slightly shining.

  Pull down two roots of safflower, wipe off the dirt with a handkerchief, put it in your mouth and chew slowly, gradually feeling a fiery bitter numbness that makes your lips tingle. Li Ran Dao then broke off a piece of Rattan Ginseng root about the size of a fingernail, also put it in his mouth and chewed hard, two kinds of spiritual medicine entered his mouth, gradually, a hint of fragrance wafted around his face.

  Li Ran's heart was filled with joy, and he swallowed the liquid into his abdomen, continuing to chew on the remaining spiritual medicine. At this time, he felt a burning sensation in his abdomen, like a ball of fire rising up.

  For others, no one dares to take such a spiritual medicine, or they will be poisoned to death if they are not careful.

  Even if the elixir is non-toxic, its medicinal properties are fierce and overbearing, not something that ordinary cultivators can withstand. It may even cause people to go mad and die from exhaustion. Moreover, different elixirs have completely different properties, some cold, some hot, some yin, some yang, and can be further divided into the five elements of energy. Not all elixirs are suitable for one's own cultivation.

  But Li Ruo knew that the so-called spiritual medicine had to be refined into a medicinal liquid for consumption, and it was just a kind of awe-inspiring understanding of spiritual medicine by those who didn't understand spiritual medicine.

  The most crucial part of the elixir lies in its extraction and purification from other medicines.

  Just like Li Ruo added the Chi Lian Shen to the knife, and then used four kinds of ordinary medicine together to decoct a soup, adding Teng Su Wu with Hong Hua is enough to make the medicinal properties of the spiritual medicine become gentle and pure, suitable for practitioners to take.

  If a few more supporting medicines could be added, the effect would be even better, but under current circumstances, Li Ran is not being overly demanding.

  The spiritual medicine was completely chewed up, and the liquid was swallowed into Li Ruo's abdomen. He then spat out the remaining dregs of the medicine stick, and gathered his spirit to make the energy circulate rapidly in the cycle of the heavenly path. The fiery energies within his body were gradually absorbed into his elixir field, increasing his own power.

  In the Misty Valley, powerful cultivators have already ventured deep into the valley, and the crowd is gradually dispersing.

  And during these days, more and more scattered cultivators and family forces are rushing from afar to enter the valley, joining the great army of treasure hunters.

  Li Ruo was completely unaware of all this. Daybreak and nightfall, he had been sitting in the mountain cave for three consecutive days.

  Li Ran knew that the valley would be open for half a year, and only after half a year would the thick fog lock the mountain again. At present, his strength was still weak, and it was not suitable for him to venture too deep into the valley.

  More elixirs were chewed and swallowed by Li Ruo, and the high-energy supplement made his power grow extremely rapidly. The energy in his dantian grew stronger and stronger, and on this day, Li Ruo suddenly felt a loud rumble in his heart, as if he had shed the heavy shackles and locks that bound him, and an endless stream of power surged out from deep within his body, making his entire being feel light and airy, as if it were about to soar into the wind.

  Li Rando's eyes suddenly opened wide, a flash of crystal light in his eyes, and he let out a long breath of turbid air. Li Rando was overjoyed in his heart.

  "The fourth layer of Jingyuan's power has finally been broken through by me."

  Continuing to operate the power of Gong, the energy inside his body was endless. Li Ran Jian quietly sensed that his current self was more than three times stronger than when he had just condensed his Qi and spirit, and his strength had increased by twenty or thirty times compared to when he was reborn.

  His stronger abilities were gradually recovering, and Li Ran's knife was filled with infinite confidence for the road ahead.

  He didn't immediately descend the mountain, Li Ruo Knife continued to sit in the cave, refining the medicinal power for seven days and seven nights. The remaining amount of Tiexu Wu and Canghong Hua was negligible, while the energy inside Li Ruo Knife's body had become much stronger than before, he had already elevated his skills to the high-level stage of Jingyuan Jin 4th layer, with strength circulating endlessly within his body.

  Li Ran's eyes snapped open, his body slightly stretching, his entire skeleton crackling with a loud "crack", his eyes shining brightly, looking into the dark cave, some details of the rock patterns were clearly visible.

  Li Ran Dao knew that this was a physical reaction brought about by the increase in strength. He took out the package, and the remaining spiritual medicine was packed into small bags and wrapped in the package.

  Li Ran Dao didn't want to eat all of the spiritual medicine, he had to save some for emergencies.

  With the package on his back, Li Ran squeezed out of the mountain cave and stood in mid-air at the waist of the mountain, dozens of feet high. Through the clouds and mist, he looked down at the foot of the mountain, where the huge rocks below seemed as small as ants.

  Li Ruo's knife suddenly burst forth with a heroic aura, and from the clouds and fog he leaped down towards the bottom of the cliff, the mountain wind howling as his figure fell like a shooting star.

  Li Ran's knife was halfway through, and he used his hands and feet to slow down the force of the fall on the mountain slope. When there were only over ten zhang left, he flipped his body and landed lightly on both feet, then looked up at the waist of the mountain. The waist of the mountain was almost towering into the clouds, making one's heart feel a chill.

  Li Ran was extremely pleased in his heart.

  His power had increased to the fourth stage, and his light body skill had also made great progress. In the past few days, he would never have dared to jump down from such a high place, it was too dangerous.

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