Cultivation Starts from Farming

Xu Ping nodded slightly, indicating his understanding: "Naturally, Xu Mou understands the difficulty of this matter."

"Precisely because it is difficult, I need to discuss it with the Golden Clan Leader, combining the strength of our two clans to see if we can plan a chance for opportunity."

Xu Ping paused, then added: "Of course, I would never let the Golden Clan Leader and your esteemed clan expend effort for nothing."

Upon hearing this, Jin Yuxuan waved his hand broadly, appearing quite generous:

"Fellow Daoist Xu, there’s no need to be so formal. Shui Hu Mouse is also my son-in-law, and a core member of our Golden Spirit Mouse clan."

"Helping family to secure a future, where does compensation even come into it? This is our duty!"

"The Golden Clan Leader is righteous, Xu Mou is impressed."

Xu Ping smiled slightly, understanding in his heart that this was a statement from the other party to further solidify alliance relations.

Jin Yuxuan’s tone shifted, a glimmer of brilliance flashing in his eyes: "During normal times, searching for the heaven and earth spiritual objects to assist in breaking through the Fourth Rank Upper Grade is indeed extremely difficult and requires great fortune."

"But now... with the magic calamity approaching, in the midst of crisis, there might actually be an opportunity!"

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Ping’s interest was piqued immediately, "Willing to hear more details."

Jin Yuxuan leaned slightly forward, lowering his voice:

"Fellow Daoist may not know, regarding this magic calamity, while the True Dragon Hall may not have organized an allied army like the Human Race, they have not been inactive."

Within the hall, they have issued a ’Demon Slaying Order’ to the major demon races under their command, where anyone who slays ancient demons and provides their core or specific proof can go to the True Dragon Hall to exchange for merits."

"Among the rewards listed on the merit leaderboard... there are several rare treasures that can help demon beasts break through to the Fourth Rank Upper Grade!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Ping’s eyes brightened suddenly; this was indeed an unexpected path.

For the True Dragon Hall, situated deep within the outer sea with unfathomable foundations, even though the magic calamity is fierce, it does not reach a destructive degree.

Not to mention the legendary Divinity Transformation stage Dragon King’s strength reigning supreme in the human domain, even solely considering the unique environment deep within the outer sea.

The rules of the heavens and earth favor demon beasts greatly and suppress other races, allowing the True Dragon Hall to remain unshakeable and undefeated.

Hence, they do not need to organize a full-scale resistance, merely assigning tasks to send the demon races under their banner to deplete the ancient demons.

In the meantime, they can also take this opportunity to hone the demon races, eliminate the weak, retain the strong, and even profit from it.

And this, precisely increases the possibility of Shui Hu Mouse breaking through the Fourth Rank Upper Grade.

"This is indeed a fine opportunity."

Xu Ping clapped his hands together, "But I wonder specifically what tasks there are, and how much merit is required for exchange?"

Jin Yuxuan, seeing Xu Ping’s interest, was invigorated and explained in detail:

"The tasks are segmented by the levels of ancient demons, ranging from Tier Three Demon Soldiers to Fourth Rank Demon Lords, with corresponding merits, with the highest merits obtained from slaying Demon Lords."

"And to exchange for those realm breakthrough treasures... the merit required is astounding."

Jin Yuxuan’s face showed a slight bitter smile, "Even if our Golden Spirit Mouse clan exerts every effort, it would be difficult to gather enough before the magic calamity concludes."

"Therefore, we still need Fellow Daoist Xu’s help."

"This is Xu Mou’s duty, I will certainly not decline." Xu Ping, after hearing this, readily nodded.

For him, slaying Fourth Rank ancient demons posed no danger, at most it would just take away some time.

However, at this moment, Xu Ping couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

With the onset of the magic calamity, he realized he was busier than anyone.

He needed to fulfill his commitments to the Human Race, assisting in resisting late-stage Nascent Soul ancient demons.

And now, for Shui Hu Mouse’s sake, he had to risk slaying ancient demons to earn True Dragon Hall merits... never truly having a moment of peace.

Nonetheless, this was a double win.

It could help Shui Hu Mouse break through, and he might also exchange some other good items from the True Dragon Hall, so it wasn’t a loss.

The two then discussed concrete details for quite a while before Jin Yuxuan got up, satisfied, to bid farewell.

"Time is of the essence, I will return to the clan immediately to prepare, and contact Fellow Daoist when the time is right!"

"Very well, take care, Golden Clan Leader."

Xu Ping personally escorted Jin Yuxuan out of the hall, watching as he turned into a beam of golden light and vanished into the distant sea, before turning back himself.

...

Xu Ping wandered to Duan Shuang’s training cave.

In the cave, cold air permeated, and Duan Shuang was sitting cross-legged on a jade bed, her eyes slightly closed, hands forming seals, with a strange aura of the divine soul surrounding her.

She was cultivating the ’Thousand Mechanism Skill.’

Xu Ping did not disturb her but stood silently to the side, his gaze gentle as he watched her.

With his current Divine Sense realm and insight, he could easily perceive Duan Shuang’s state of training.

He observed Duan Shuang’s condensed Divine Sense, running smoothly, with her understanding of the ’Thousand Mechanism Skill’ evidently having reached a deep level.

Her Divine Sense strength far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators at the peak of the early-stage Nascent Soul.

The gap to breakthrough that barrier into the Mid-Stage Nascent Soul level of the Divine Sense field seemed only a step away.

"Not bad..."

Xu Ping nodded slightly, a look of satisfaction in his eyes.

Duan Shuang’s rate of progress was even faster than he had anticipated.

Once her Divine Sense officially breaks through to the Mid-Stage Nascent Soul level, the bottleneck in her cultivation realm will also loosen, and advancing to the Mid-Stage Nascent Soul will yield twice the result with half the effort.

The time to enhance the Divine Sense through Dual Cultivation was not far off.

Xu Ping quietly stood guard, with only the sound of Duan Shuang’s even breathing and faint divine soul waves echoing in the cave.

An entire hour passed before the divine soul waves around Duan Shuang slowly calmed down.

She gradually opened her eyes, as clear as a cold pool.

As her gaze flowed, Duan Shuang naturally saw Xu Ping standing guard nearby at first glance.

Her exquisitely beautiful face immediately broke into a gentle smile, like ice and snow melting in the first spring sunlight.

"Xu Lang!"

She got up gracefully, like a butterfly dance, and naturally nestled into Xu Ping’s embrace.