Chapter 660: Four-level Heavenly Calculation Bead

As time passed, the people Chen Mobai knew were gradually growing old and decreasing in number.

The return of Luan Jingsheng and Chan Si, having successfully established their foundations, brought a long-absent joy to his heart.

At the very least, after they established their foundations, Chen Mobai would have two more friends to converse with for nearly two centuries whenever he thought of them.

Although the Danfeng Chaoyang Diagram remained at the first layer, Chen Mobai genuinely felt that the auspicious aura blessing him had grown more potent.

Soon after his two old friends returned, another piece of good news arrived.

Revered Master Yuanxu called him, informing him that his fourth-tier Heavenly Computation Orb was ready and asking whether he wanted it couriered or preferred to pick it up himself.

Although logistics within the Immortal Sect were completely reliable, the fourth-tier Heavenly Computation Orb was simply too important to Chen Mobai, so he decided to make a personal trip to Xixuan Grotto-Heaven.

As he was also curious about the Immortal Sect's progress in researching Dharma Body Nascent Souls, he used the pass Revered Master Yuanxu had arranged for him and traveled there overnight.

"The cultivation principles of this Asura Dharma Aspect have basically been thoroughly researched; now, all that's left is to test for something that can replace Soul Nourishing Wood."

After Chen Mobai received the fourth-tier Heavenly Computation Orb from Revered Master Yuanxu, he inquired about it, and the latter, without concealment, directly informed him of the current research progress.

It truly showed the intellect of someone almost at the Deity Transformation stage, effortlessly comprehending the Dharma Body Nascent Soul.

"With so many True Lords at the Golden Core Perfection stage in the Immortal Sect, they must all be highly interested in this experiment, right?"

Revered Master Yuanxu glanced at him, his hands not stopping their work, continuing to simulate various spiritual plants, trees, minerals, and jades of the Immortal Sect to see which could replace the Soul Nourishing Wood.

"Although this Asura Dharma Aspect can also form a Nascent Soul, my research has found that breaking through with it leads to the loss of all potential, making further advancement impossible."

"Therefore, within the Immortal Sect, only those who have truly lost all hope of forming a Nascent Soul yearn for this method and the Rebirth Spiritual Water."

"Your talent is exceedingly rare in this world; you must never cripple your own future."

Revered Master Yuanxu, seeing that Chen Mobai was also a student of the Heaven-Mending Dao Academy, uncharacteristically offered a few more words. After all, Chen Mobai had acquired a portion of the Rebirth Spiritual Water, and Yuanxu feared that with the latter's unparalleled talent, he might actually cultivate the Asura Dharma Aspect using it.

"Thank you for your guidance, Principal."

Chen Mobai naturally understood this, as Dharma Body Nascent Souls, though rare in the Tianhe Realm, had numerous records there.

Seeing Revered Master Yuanxu busy with his research, Chen Mobai did not disturb him further.

He immediately returned to Danxia City with the fourth-tier Heavenly Computation Orb.

After upgrading his equipment, Chen Mobai excitedly headed to the Divine Tree Secret Realm.

Given his cautious nature, he naturally used the Formless Puppet again to enter the Longevity Trial.

The fourth-tier Heavenly Computation Orb was indeed far superior to the third-tier one. Chen Mobai successively had all the spells he cultivated, those capable of eliciting a response from the Grand Dao Tree, imbued to the fourth-tier level.

Among these, what pleased him most was that his Azurewood Divine Lightning had advanced to become "Myriad Illusions Azure Thunder."

If he could get assistance from a fourth-tier alchemist, he would be able to condense "Myriad Transformation Thunderwater."

Besides this spell, all his other techniques, such as Wood Planting Art, Jia Wood Art, Leaf-Shrouding Blindness, Outer Body Incarnation, and Echoes from an Empty Valley, were also elevated to the fourth tier.

Of course, while his Outer Body Incarnation also received empowerment to comprehend the Heavenly Star realm, achieving its fourth-tier power would require vast amounts of Five Elements Essence Qi to form the Celestial Orifices and the seventy-two Earthly Fiend Qi to condense the various acupoints.

Chen Mobai planned that once Zhou Shengqing successfully cultivated his Dharma Body Nascent Soul, he would attempt to impart the method of condensing Five Elements Essence Qi within the Divine Wood Sect.

At that time, even if he hadn't comprehended the Primordial Dao Fruit, he could still leverage the strength of the entire Divine Wood Sect's cultivators to first cultivate his Outer Body Incarnation's Celestial Orifices realm.

Furthermore, this Five Elements Essence Qi could be accumulated infinitely, and even if Earthly Fiend Qi were to be synthetically produced in the future, these would still be necessary.

The sooner it was passed down, the quicker Chen Mobai's Outer Body Incarnation would achieve full mastery in the future.

And what if he suddenly comprehended the Primordial Dao Fruit?

After upgrading all his spells to the fourth tier, Chen Mobai had a sudden thought: Could the Grand Dao Tree's empowerment elevate them to the fifth tier?

As soon as this thought emerged, he felt an irresistible urge.

The fifth tier was equivalent to the Deity Transformation stage!

If he possessed a fifth-tier spell, even a Nascent Soul cultivator would likely not dare to directly face its power.

However, after careful consideration, Chen Mobai still refrained from acting on it.

This was because the Grand Dao Tree itself was only at the peak of the fourth tier; he believed it wouldn't be able to bestow fifth-tier comprehension.

Even if it could, he worried that his fourth-tier Heavenly Computation Orb would not withstand the oppressive power of a fifth-tier empowerment.

Moreover, he was merely at the Golden Core stage; even if he genuinely received a fifth-tier spell empowerment, his mind might not be able to bear it.

Considering all aspects, Chen Mobai prudently abandoned the bold idea that had suddenly surfaced in his mind.

The path had to be walked step by step; matters of the fifth tier could wait until after he formed his Nascent Soul.

After leaving the Grand Dao Tree, Chen Mobai went to inspect the puppet factory he had established in the Divine Tree Secret Realm.

Developing the resources of this secret realm was an idea he had harbored for a long time.

According to his initial plan, he wanted every Foundation Establishment cultivator in the sect to touch the three divine trees of the Longevity Sect, to see if they could quickly extract all the hidden heavenly materials, earthly treasures, cultivation techniques, and secret manuals, thereby enhancing the sect cultivators' strength.

However, upon further reflection, he realized that once Zhou Shengqing formed his Nascent Soul, the Divine Wood Sect could reign over the Eastern Barrens, effectively eliminating any strong external pressure. There was no need to rush; long-term development would be more beneficial.

Nevertheless, he had discussed with Fu Zongjue and Zhou Shengqing that in the future, if any cultivator in the sect performed a great service, the opportunity to touch the three divine trees of the Longevity Sect could be awarded as a merit.

Regarding this matter, Chen Mobai even conducted a survey, and the entire Divine Wood Sect was very enthusiastic about it, with some even proposing to exchange sect contributions for this opportunity.

After all, over two-thirds of the Divine Wood Sect's Foundation Establishment cultivators did not succeed in forming their foundations on their first attempt with Foundation Establishment Pills, which meant they had a chance to extract valuable items from the three divine trees.

Furthermore, rumors within the Divine Wood Sect claimed that the reason Sect Master Chen could advance so rapidly, besides his exceptional talent, was because he had obtained the supreme inheritance of the Longevity Sect from the three divine trees in this secret realm.

Consequently, after word got out, many Foundation Establishment cultivators began frequently entering and exiting the Spiritual Treasure Pavilion to take on tasks, hoping to accumulate sect contributions so they could be among the first to benefit when this welfare was introduced.

However, this matter involved many aspects, so Chen Mobai temporarily held off, intending to use numerous tasks to incentivize the sect's cultivators once the Eastern Barrens were unified and everything was ready for revival.

Last year, when he established the puppet factory, he needed to bring in a group of disciples from the Puppet Department. Therefore, he had Yi Shaoqing of the Array Formation Department lead a team to set up a grand array around the Grand Dao Tree, Talent Tree, and Artifact Tree, preventing the disciples from entering those areas and encountering danger.

Of course, the main reason was that Chen Mobai frequently anchored himself to these three locations, using the Turtle Treasure to travel between the two realms, and sealing them off eliminated the risk of being discovered.

Beyond these three locations in the Divine Tree Secret Realm lay vast forests.

These served as raw material for the puppet factory's talisman paper production.

Aside from the protected Golden Sun Spiritual Trees and Azure Sun Spiritual Trees, Li Yixian had nearly finished felling all the Crimson Sun Spiritual Trees near the puppet factory this year.

When Chen Mobai arrived, he saw that the previously barren site had expanded further.

Considering the future need for more spiritual wood resources, Chen Mobai began implementing sustainable development practices.

He posted tree-planting tasks at the Spiritual Treasure Pavilion, instructing disciples from the Spiritual Plants Department to enter and replant saplings in the felled areas for cultivation.

Seeing the lush green saplings, he nodded in satisfaction.

Beside him was Sun Gaochang, an inspector from the Spiritual Plants Department and also one of Chen Mobai's friends.

Chen Mobai still trusted his own people more, so he entrusted the tree-planting task to him.

"Sect Master, six Golden Sun Spiritual Trees and seventy-six Azure Sun Spiritual Trees have been discovered in this secret realm. However, since most of the spiritual energy from the ley lines here is concentrated around the Longevity Wood, it might be better to transplant them to the Eastern Barrens if you wish for them to continue growing."

Over the past year, Sun Gaochang had led the disciples of the Spiritual Plants Department to do more than just plant trees in the secret realm.

Their primary task was to ascertain the spiritual wood resources within the secret realm.

"Elder Sun, do you mean to transplant all of these to Giant Wood Ridge?"

Chen Mobai asked upon hearing this. Sun Gaochang hesitated for a moment but then expressed his true opinion.

"Reporting to Sect Master, Giant Wood Ridge already sustains a considerable number of Golden Sun Spiritual Trees and Azure Sun Spiritual Trees. Coupled with the nearly ten thousand acres of spiritual fields developed for cultivating spiritual rice over the years, the spiritual ley lines' capacity is almost at its limit. I believe it would be better to transplant them to a different compound or even directly process them into tree seeds."

Although Giant Wood Ridge possessed the Eastern Barrens' top-tier fourth-grade spiritual ley lines, sustaining three Longevity Woods, combined with the development of all idle and barren spiritual lands into spiritual fields under Zhuo Ming's guidance over the past two or three decades, had pushed the ley lines' usage to their limit.

As the supervisor of the Spiritual Plants Department, Sun Gaochang was most aware of this issue.

In Giant Wood Ridge, besides the Longevity Woods, there were also thirty-five Golden Sun Spiritual Trees and four hundred and ninety-eight Azure Sun Spiritual Trees, all requiring third- and second-tier spiritual ley line sustenance. These also formed the foundation of the sect's Myriad Woods Grand Array, so a sufficient supply of spiritual ley line energy was crucial.

However, in recent years, the large-scale conversion of spiritual ley lines into spiritual fields had led to insufficient spiritual energy in some areas where spiritual trees were located.

Yet, this was a top priority personally decreed by Sect Master Chen Mobai, and the spiritual rice cultivated within the sect was a benefit distributed to all disciples. If it became scarce, even the disciples in their own departments would be dissatisfied. Therefore, although the Three Halls and Twelve Departments discovered this problem, they dared not intervene.

They dared not mention this matter to Chen Mobai directly, so they could only consult with Yue Zutao. Subsequently, they decided to reduce the scale of medicinal fields in Giant Wood Ridge, returning cultivated land to forest to ensure the spiritual energy supply for all spiritual trees.

Sun Gaochang knew that if the Golden Sun Spiritual Trees and Azure Sun Spiritual Trees from the Divine Tree Secret Realm were to be transplanted, Giant Wood Ridge would need to re-establish some third- and second-tier spiritual ley lines. In that case, he estimated that there would be very few medicinal fields left, so he tactfully offered his advice.

Chen Mobai was genuinely unaware of this; upon hearing it, he was very surprised and began to press for details.

"Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

Inside the Divine Wood Hall, Chen Mobai, with a displeased expression, spoke to Yue Zutao.

Cultivating spiritual rice was indeed an order he had issued, aimed at improving the vital essence and physical condition of all Divine Wood Sect disciples. However, as he later became preoccupied with his cultivation, he hadn't delved deeper into the matter.

Zhuo Ming was also a single-minded disciple; following Chen Mobai's instructions, she tirelessly reclaimed all ten thousand idle acres of barren land in Giant Wood Ridge into spiritual fields for cultivating spiritual rice within two or three decades after her Foundation Establishment.

She was Chen Mobai's disciple, and she had Chen Mobai's direct orders; who would dare to stop her?

After Yue Zutao conceded with a bitter smile, Chen Mobai's expression softened slightly, and he began to self-reflect: "You can't be entirely blamed for this; as the Sect Master, I also bear responsibility..."

As he spoke, he had someone from the Spiritual Vein Department bring out a model map of the entire Giant Wood Ridge. Then, looking at the spiritual fields spread across the ridge, he marked some of the scattered terraced fields.

"These areas, after this batch of spiritual rice is harvested, should not be replanted..."

If the entire Eastern Barrens Plateau were developed in the future, the spiritual fields in Giant Wood Ridge would actually become optional. Thus, Chen Mobai began making bold new plans for Giant Wood Ridge.

From now on, only second-tier spiritual rice, such as Jade Bamboo Spiritual Rice—which is of excellent quality and requires careful cultivation—would be planted here.

The remaining types of spiritual rice would gradually be transferred to the affiliated clans under his command or to the Eastern Barrens Plateau.

After completing this matter, Chen Mobai made a trip to Zhou Shengqing's Longevity Wood cultivation ground.

He conversed with the Purple Sun Puppet guarding outside with Fu Zongjue, learning that no unexpected situations had occurred.

There were only normal spiritual energy fluctuations. The only notable event was late last year when Zhou Shengqing sent a message requesting spirit stones, and Fu Zongjue sent in all two thousand high-grade spirit stones he had accumulated.

This was good news, indicating that Zhou Shengqing was in the process of forming his Nascent Soul, requiring massive amounts of spiritual energy to aid in transforming the fifth-tier Soul Nourishing Wood.

Naturally, Chen Mobai was overjoyed by this.

He couldn't resist using his fourth-tier Echoes from an Empty Valley to listen to the fluctuations inside. Sure enough, a terrifying energy aggregate was consolidating.

If all went well, Zhou Shengqing would successfully form his Dharma Body Nascent Soul and emerge from seclusion in another year or so.

In high spirits, Chen Mobai returned to Danxia Mountain.

After concluding his usual cultivation with a high-grade spirit stone, he brewed a pot of Green Cicada Spiritual Tea to drink, then used the Lamp Illumination Art to slowly purify his Pure Yang spiritual power.

This was a slow, grinding effort; although it didn't require much mental exertion, it consumed a considerable amount of time.

As Chen Mobai multitasked, his gaze fell upon the fourth-tier peak Jade Phoenix Tree beside him. A thought stirred in his heart, and he couldn't help but cast Echoes from an Empty Valley.

The fourth-tier grand art of the Longevity Sect allowed him to effortlessly perceive the fluctuations of this spiritual plant.

But soon, his brows furrowed.