A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Chapter 218 Nurturing the Wood Spirit

Luo Ming's eyes flickered, his mind racing. Risk? Opportunity often comes with risk! The rich wood elemental energy in this mine, along with the massive amount of spirit stones he had just acquired, could support his attempt!

While directly refining an immature holy embryo would bring immediate benefits, he preferred to take the risk compared to the long-term potential of acquiring a spiritual body later in life! With the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, a heaven-defying treasure, it would be a waste not to take such a risky step!

"I never expected to find such a spiritual object here. It seems my luck is still pretty good." Luo Ming took a deep breath and sighed at his good fortune. But then he thought that with the spiritual energy environment of this place, which can nurture top-grade wood spirit stones, it was normal for such a spiritual object to be nurtured.

Luo Ming carefully removed the "Wood Spirit Holy Embryo" intact from the mine wall. It was warm to the touch, as if a life was pulsating within it.

Right after the Wood Spirit Holy Embryo was removed, the dark green crystal that had been surrounding it immediately turned gray like a lifeless plant, turning into a mass of gray crystal with faint veins resembling plant roots inside.

"Senior, do you know what these things are?" Luo Ming was startled as he looked at the magical scene before him.

"These crystals should be symbiotic substances of the Wood Spirit Holy Embryo. I have never seen them before, but they are definitely not ordinary objects. Let's put them away for now." Tianjing Sanren pondered for a moment but did not provide any specific information.

After all, this item is extremely rare. It was only when Tianjing Sanren was studying weapon crafting that he accidentally came across a description of it in an ancient book, and that's how he learned about it.

With a spit, Luo Ming unleashed a Xuan Yuan Pearl, which spun in the air before transforming into a golden-blue flying sword. It then slashed directly at the rocks surrounding the gray crystal. Moments later, Luo Ming held a gray crystal the size of a face plate in his hand.

It felt warm and smooth to the touch, with extremely rich wood spiritual energy. When he applied a little force with his fingers, he was surprised to find that even with his current strength, which was at the early stage of Core Formation, he could not leave the slightest mark on it.

Given his current power, even ordinary magic weapons can leave marks on them without him activating them, which shows that the crystal is harder than ordinary magic weapons.

After playing with it for a while, Luo Ming casually tossed the unknown crystal into his storage bag and began to focus his attention on the Wood Spirit Holy Embryo inside the Spirit Gathering Cauldron.

Luo Ming sat down cross-legged, his expression solemn. He threw a large number of high-grade spirit stones he had previously stored into the cauldron and began to use his own alchemical fire to temper the sacred embryo inside.

Now that he knew this item required a large amount of wood-attribute spiritual power, he prepared to use the same method he had used to refine high-grade spirit stones, relying on the high-grade spirit stones inside the cauldron, to test whether he could accelerate the maturation of the sacred embryo in a short time.

Luo Ming was initially cautious, but as time went on, he noticed that the high-grade spirit stones were gathering towards the sacred embryo in an orderly manner. He realized that his guess was correct and that the method of using the Spirit Gathering Cauldron to accelerate the maturation was feasible. This excited him greatly, and he began to fully unleash his magic power.

If he could accelerate the maturation of the wood spirit within the sacred embryo, he could attempt to refine it and awaken his wood spirit body. Although it was uncertain which type of wood spirit body he would awaken, it was certain that he would possess a wood spirit root.

Although this would turn him back into a pseudo-spiritual root cultivator, it would not affect his cultivation speed. On the contrary, it would allow him to refine the Wood Spirit Holy Embryo and gain nearly a hundred years of cultivation.

Time passed day by day. With the supply of a large amount of spirit stones, the wood spirit inside the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, whose life fluctuations were still relatively weak, slowly grew stronger. The tree ring patterns on the surface of the sacred embryo seemed to become clearer and deeper, and the faint heartbeat inside was also becoming stronger and more powerful at an almost imperceptible speed.

For the next year, Luo Ming spent his time restoring his magical power and nurturing the Wood Spirit Embryo. Finally, after consuming a massive amount of spirit stones, the Wood Spirit within the Embryo matured.

A fresh, pure, and infinitely vibrant spiritual energy awakened from within the sacred embryo and spread outwards.

"Is this the legendary Kodama?"

Under Luo Ming's astonished gaze, the jade-like sacred embryo crystal began to glow with a soft, vibrant emerald light from within. The tree-ring-like patterns on the crystal's surface seemed to come alive, slowly flowing. The crystal itself began to pulsate gently, like a heart.

"Buzz..."

A soft yet soul-stirring hum resounded. The radiance of the Holy Embryo reached its peak, then gradually receded. The next moment, a beam of emerald green light emanated from the top of the crystal, condensing before Luo Ming into a chubby, palm-sized, vibrant green phantom of a child, as if carved from jade.

The little child's features were blurry, but it was full of spirit. It seemed to look around in a daze, and finally its gaze fell on Luo Ming and the Spirit Gathering Cauldron in front of Luo Ming, which exuded an aura that made it feel familiar and longing.

It stretched out its small hand, made of pure wood spirit light, and gently beckoned towards the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, conveying a sense of affection and dependence.

At the same time, the sacred embryo crystal, which served as the "placenta," became completely stable in its light. Its size seemed to have shrunk by a circle, but its texture became more crystal clear, and the life light inside was stable and vigorous.

"It's done! The Wood Spirit has been successfully conceived!"

The voice of the Heavenly Mirror Hermit resounded with emotion, "Although it is still far from fully maturing and growing into a Wood Spirit with powerful supernatural abilities comparable to a Nascent Soul cultivator, its spirituality has already arisen and its essence has been solidified! It is enough for you to refine, Luo boy. Your Spirit Gathering Cauldron truly... seizes the creation of heaven and earth!"

Luo Ming let out a long sigh, his face showing a mixture of barely suppressed joy and exhaustion. A year of continuous catalysis had taken a heavy toll, but seeing the vibrant, emerald-green phantom before him, and the sacred embryo still brimming with astonishing vitality, it was all worth it!

He cautiously extended his finger and touched the illusory image of the child. A cool, comfortable, and vibrant feeling washed over him, invigorating him and even restoring some of the mental energy he had been drained over the past few months.

"Should I... refine this adorable creature?"

Looking at the wood spirits dancing happily around the sacred embryo inside the Spirit Gathering Cauldron, Luo Ming couldn't help but think of the ginseng fruit from his previous life.

"It's just a spiritual object. Only by refining it can you get the greatest benefit. Do you want to keep this little guy and cultivate it into an avatar later?" Tianjing Sanren replied, puzzled.

For Luo Ming, nurturing an avatar with innate wood spirit is far less cost-effective than directly refining it.

After all, Luo Ming already has quite a few spirit beasts, so having another avatar wouldn't significantly improve his strength; it would only be equivalent to having another spirit beast with special abilities. Only by directly refining it to awaken a wood-attribute spirit body could he obtain the century-long cultivation gained from refining the sacred embryo.

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