"Once I obtain a Spirit Vein Essence, I can use the Natural Sanctuary's restorative effects on my contracted trees to extract Spirit Tree Essence and rapidly strengthen the vein."
"I also need to find a way to increase the number of contracted trees. With my current mental strength, I can handle quite a few more high-level spiritual trees."
Finding a solution to his spiritual energy problem made Qi Ping incredibly excited. This solved his most fundamental dilemma. By using the sanctuary to grow his own spirit vein, he could avoid the brutal conflicts over natural veins in the cultivation world. All he needed were more high-level trees. Once the vein was established, he could use arrays to lock the energy within his territory. He could hardly imagine how dense the spiritual energy would become.
At the very least, he wouldn't have to worry about his own cultivation or the growth of his animal companions. If the vein grew fast enough, it could even power more powerful defensive arrays. An array anchored to a spirit vein was infinitely more powerful than one running on spirit stones.
With his Level 6 skills selected, a new attribute panel was generated. Compared to a year ago, his data had seen a massive leap.
(Skill Selection Complete. Generating Attribute Panel...)
(Name: Qi Ping)
(Level: 6 (26/3200))
(Class: Beast King Druid (Primary), Shepherd of Trees (Advanced Forest Druid) (Secondary))
(Talents: Animal Companion, Heart of Nature, Tree-Spirit Contract)
(Animal Companions: (4/6) Golden Marrow Bee, Sun-Fire Crow, Bewildering Spirit Fox (First Mark), Hundred-Eyed Flower Spirit)
(Wild Shape: (1/2) Golden Marrow Bee (Can transform into any Rank 1 or Rank 2 variant))
(Shared Talents: Brewing Artisan (Rank 2), Solar-Fire Physique, Bewildering Spirit Mark, Hundred-Eyed Illusion Realm)
(Special Talents: Blessing of Heaven and Earth, Farming Domain)
(Skills: lv4 Plant Growth (451/800), lv1 Beast King's Grace (51/100), lv5 Barkskin (Explosive), lv3 Healing (100/400), lv4 Beast King's Flame (75/800))
(Constant Skills: Animal Speech, Beast Friendship, Wild Heart, Natural Perception, Beast King's Will, Curse Immunity)
(Natural Sanctuary lv1 (6/100) (100-meter radius))
'This is the fruit of my labor over the past year!'
Qi Ping was satisfied. His efforts had not been in vain. Plant Growth at level 4 allowed him to grow five-hundred-year herbs, which was the key to his swarm's evolution. The upgrade to Beast King's Flame had increased his fire-attribute talent and combat power.
Furthermore, his old Grand Brewmaster talent had been replaced by the superior Brewing Artisan talent from the Rank 2 Pharmacist Bee. He also had two empty slots for new animal companions.
'I want to find a companion with a high Comprehension talent. I have too many things to study—formations, law meanings, and spells. If my comprehension increases, it will be much easier.'
He also wanted a five-element talent. The path of the Five Elements was his ultimate goal. Finally, he had an empty slot for a new Wild Shape form. He was a bit conflicted about this. He wanted to save the second slot for a rare or powerful creature.
At the current level, Wild Shape was only a partial transformation. Only when it reached the second stage, the "Perfect Form," could he completely alter his biological structure and bloodline. Once he reached that stage, he could even use Wild Shape to travel through demon-beast territories. Trading with beasts as a human was hard, but doing so as a fellow demon would be much easier. He would have access to resources that humans could never reach.
"With resources and a place to hide, my growth has been huge without anyone noticing."
"The only issue is that after one more batch of Rank 2 bees, the energy here will be gone."
He had to venture out for resources. Having lost Meng Yan as a middleman, his ability to trade had plummeted. Over the next few months, while he nurtured more bees and worked on a battle array for the Earth-Armor Bees, he pondered new channels for trade.
He considered the core city of the Great Sky Domain, black markets, neighboring domains, or even contacting Hong Li of the Ningshan Family. He thought about how to use his advantages to travel safely. Eventually, he found a way.
'I didn't realize Natural Perception could be used like this.'
'It's basically a simplified version of predicting good and bad fortune!'