The surface of the spiritual fruit in Jiang Li's hand was smooth and plump, and its color was crimson red like fire. Just holding it in his hand made it feel very appetizing.

This was a fire attribute Nine Nether Earth Fruit.

Jiang Li had been very vexed previously. Was he going to consume the water attribute or the fire attribute Nine Nether Fruit?

From the looks of it, he could only obtain one more artificial spiritual root after consuming the Nine Nether Earth Fruit.

Water attribute spiritual qi could augment his Nine Nether spiritual qi and increase the power of the spiritual qi.

On the other hand, even if the fire attribute spiritual qi cultivation method was ordinary, it could still obtain the enhancement of the Nine Nether spiritual qi and possess extraordinary might.

Jiang Li was originally conflicted about these two choices.

But later on, he realized that he had fallen into a thinking trap.

If he needed water-attribute spiritual qi, why did he have to cultivate it by himself? If he got other water-attribute cultivators to help him and give him a few shots of spiritual qi, the effect would be the same.

Back then, after the first competition ended, Jiang Li went to look for Senior Sister Qi Yu. Although he did not find her and was later interrupted by the Immortal Ascension Pavilion's attack, Jiang Li did not forget this matter.

After returning to the sect, he went to look for Senior Sister Qi Yu again.

Senior Sister Qi Yu, who was ranked on the Goddess Ranking Board, was tired to the point where her face was red and covered in sweat, and her cherry lips opened slightly as she breathed continuously. He left in satisfaction afterwards.

He received a new status.

[A large amount of water-attribute spiritual qi entered the body. The five elements complement each other. Added Status: Water Spirit Life Wood (Foundation Establishment)]

[Water Spirit Life Wood (Foundation Establishment): Wood attribute spiritual qi recovery speed increases by 100%, Wood attribute spiritual qi strength increases by 50%, Health Points recover 15 points per second, Fire resistance increases by 30 points. Duration: 10 minutes] (− +)

After Jiang Li made this status last for an infinite amount of time, it was equivalent to permanently having Senior Sister Qi Yu use her spell on him.

Although Senior Sister Qi Yu's combat strength was not very strong, she was also one of the best disciples in the Rejuvenation Hall. She was also at the Foundation Establishment realm, so the quality of her spiritual qi was naturally not bad, and it brought Jiang Li the help of taking a step further.

This was equivalent to a Foundation Establishment water attribute cultivator continuously instilling spiritual qi into him. This effect was much better than eating a Nine Nether Earth Fruit and casually cultivating a cultivation method.

Therefore, Jiang Li finally decided to get himself a fire attribute spiritual root.

Crack!

When the fiery red Earth Fruit entered his stomach, the smell was dense and fragrant. It was different from the Wood-Yin Earth Fruit.

Soon, a strange feeling quickly arose in his body.

This was the feeling when an artificial spiritual root grew?

Jiang Li felt that wonderful experience. He casually took out a volcano ore and crushed it in his hand. The fire attribute spiritual qi that surged out from it was immediately captured clearly by him.

This was the disadvantage of the Water Element Peak. The fire attribute spiritual qi was suppressed to a tragic state.

However, Jiang Li did not mind. He used the talisman paper to set up the array formation. After isolating the spiritual qi in the room from the outside world, he pulled out the storage bag at his waist and poured out a pile of high-quality volcano rocks.

He took out a gourd of Red Ginseng Wine from inside, removed the stopper, and poured all of it on the pile of volcanic rocks.

Immediately, a ball of fire rose and the strong smell of alcohol filled the room.

With Jiang Li's physique, he was also overwhelmed by the smell of alcohol. If one drank this, even a Golden Core cultivator would probably have a dream for three days.

The combined price of these volcano rocks and red ginseng wine was at least 3,000 spirit stones. In fact, they could not be bought on the market that easily.

However, he did not have to worry. These things were all brought along by the Immortal Ascension Pavilion.

After all, it was an investment for his future, so Jiang Li naturally would not be careless.

After setting up the cultivation environment, he was only lacking a suitable fire attribute cultivation method.

It just so happened that among the many fire attribute cultivation methods, there was a cultivation method that he was familiar with and was sufficiently powerful. It could be used at this time.

Naturally, it was the Shu Mountain Sword Technique that the sword cultivator clone cultivated, the Liquor Fire Sword Song!

Now, Jiang Li had a fire attribute spiritual root (artificial) and a Sword Heart talent (pseudo). What was wrong with cultivating the Liquor Fire Sword Song?

After removing his clothes, he stepped into the raging fire and sat cross-legged on the pile of volcanic rocks.

He was burned by the fierce spirit fire, but unfortunately, with Jiang Li's current fire resistance, it was still too far away to injure him.

Ordinarily, it would take a period of time for an ordinary spiritual root seed to grow a proper spiritual root. However, as a cultivator who cultivated the Nine Nether Dao Scripture and the owner of a Nine Nether Branch, Jiang Li had a way to accelerate this process.

In next to no time, Jiang Li who was within the flames sensed the cultivation that surged into his body.

With his understanding of the Liquor Fire Sword Song, it was impossible for him to make a mistake. He successfully completed the Qi Circulation in his body.

An endless stream of fire attribute cultivation began to be refined by him, and the blazing wine and fire qi that filled his body was swept into his body and transformed into the cultivation of the Liquor Fire Sword Song.

Coupled with the water, wood, and fire, the enhancement of the Nine Nether spiritual qi, and the endless flow of high-grade spiritual qi, the first spiritual qi he cultivated was of extremely high quality.

The spiritual qi of the initial-stage Qi Refinement realm was almost on par with the spiritual qi of the late-stage Qi Refinement realm.

Even Jiang Li did not expect that the fire attribute spiritual root that he originally thought was just better than nothing could actually reach this level.

However, as his cultivation level increased rapidly, Jiang Li discovered that he had made a rather serious mistake.

The Nine Nether Earth Fruit he consumed contained a fire-attribute cultivation base that had reached the peak of the Qi Refinement realm.

On the other hand, the Liquor Fire Sword Song was not a monstrous cultivation method like the Nine Nether Dao Scripture. it did not require the spiritual qi quantity of several normal cultivation methods.

In other words, just by eating this Nine Nether Earth Fruit, he could advance the Liquor Fire Sword Song to the ninth level of the Qi Refinement realm.

Now, with the help of so many cultivation statuses, his cultivation level actually headed straight for the Foundation Establishment realm.

Jiang Li was shocked. If he reached the Foundation Establishment realm with an artificial spiritual root, then his future cultivation path would at least be ten times more difficult.

He quickly pulled over the two parallel minds for an emergency meeting.

At this moment, the sword cultivator clone was flying in the sky and hurrying along. When he was called by Jiang Li, he almost fell from the sky. He hurriedly lay on the Burning Rainbow Sword before answering Jiang Li.

As soon as they communicated, it was fortunate that the sword cultivator clone had a deep understanding of the Liquor Fire Sword Song. He had also learned it in the secret treasure vault of Shu Mountain for a few months. Only then did he immediately recall the life sacrificial technique inside.

Blood Dripping Sword Pill!

This was also a spell technique that consumed a lot of energy. Sword cultivators also knew it, but he had never used it before. This was because for ordinary cultivators, if they used this spell technique a few times, they might die directly.

Just as the Liquor Fire Sword Song was about to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm, Jiang Li's expression suddenly turned pale.

His fire attribute cultivation level also decreased three times. In the end, his cultivation level in the Nine Nether Earth Fruit was completely exhausted. Only then did his Liquor Fire cultivation level safely stop at the ninth level of Qi Refinement.

He took out the gourd that contained the red ginseng wine and spat out three small blood-red beads.

It was no wonder that sword cultivators who did not know sacrificial techniques were not good sword cultivators.

He was a fake sword cultivator who had just started cultivating for a few hours, but he could actually use a life sacrificing move like the Blood Dripping Sword Pill.

Each of the three sword pills condensed a large amount of his spiritual qi cultivation and five years of lifespan!

The 30 years of lifespan after eating the Nine Nether Earth Fruit had yet to be used, but in the blink of an eye, half of it had disappeared.

Jiang Li puckered his lips and stood up from the extinguished fire. He opened his mouth and took a deep breath, and then he swept away the smell of alcohol that still suffused the air and stored it away.

He opened his palm and with a thought, an explosive spirit fire immediately rose from his palm, burning the air and distorting it.

Under such circumstances, Jiang Li mobilized a bit of the Nine Nether spiritual qi in his body and enhanced it with the Liquor Fire spiritual qi.

Immediately, the spirit fire that was originally burning gently rose to the height of a person. Its color became dark green, and just looking at it made one's hair stand on end.

Jiang Li hurriedly extinguished the spirit fire, but the roof above was already charred black.

Fortunately, he was quite cautious when using his spiritual qi. Otherwise, if he used more spiritual qi, he would be able to directly tear down the roof.

However, the Liquor Fire spiritual qi that was enhanced by the Nine Nether spiritual qi did not disappoint Jiang Li. This degree was already sufficient to serve as icing on the cake for him.

However, icing on the cake was not his ultimate goal. Up until now, Jiang Li was actually only preparing.

He turned to look at a large vat in the room.

He had just asked a female cultivator from the Water Element Peak for it. There were still some water stains and a few flower petals in the vat. She did not know what they were used for.

However, regardless of its original use, Jiang Li was prepared to use it to boil himself into soup.

Jiang Li wanted to refine his fifth beast blood tattoo here!

Previously, after returning to the sect after the competition ended, Elder He actually wanted to help Jiang Li find a new beast blood tattoo.

However, Jiang Li found an excuse to temporarily decline.

Later on, Elder He thought about it and said that the mystic realm on the side of the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak happened to have some decent demon beasts locked inside. It just so happened that he wanted to make a trip to Shu Mountain.

He got Jiang Li to bring the medicinal herbs needed for the Beast Blood Diagram to Shu Mountain and find beast blood to condense the blood tattoo.

This suited Jiang Li's thoughts perfectly, but in the Demon Vanquishing Hall's storeroom, he immediately took away two sets of medicine.

That was because Jiang Li planned to condense two blood tattoos in a short period of time.

Furthermore, the beast blood material he wanted to use was too special. It was not convenient for others to know about it, so he deliberately avoided Elder He and condensed the beast blood tattoo alone.

It was a mystical fish that should have been extinct since ancient times, Ghost Lantern Fish!

Due to the two Golden Core sword cultivators slaughtering the Southern Seal Kingdom, the Mother River's graveyard was practically at the center of the storm.

If someone discovered the Ghost Lantern Fish living there and he brazenly took out such an ancient fish, it was obvious that he was related to that place.

Therefore, he could not even let Elder He know about his Ghost Lantern Fish.

"My little cuties, I'm going to need your help this time."

Jiang Li took out a sealed wooden barrel from his storage bag. Now that the Yin Burial Coffin was not by his side, he could only make do with it.

He tore off the talisman paper and opened the lid of the barrel. Thick Yin qi spread out.

In the wooden barrel, nine fat, ugly, and ghost-faced Ghost Lantern Fish were wriggling uneasily.

Today, they seemed to have sensed that something was amiss. The ancient fish that had been carefree for countless years finally had a human raise their butcher's knife at them.

Jiang Li grabbed a Ghost Lantern Fish in his hand and allowed it to struggle and sway in his hand, but no matter what, it was unable to escape this demonic palm.

Even the most powerful weapon of the Ghost Lantern Fish, the Soul Igniting Ghost Lantern, was no longer a threat.

That was because a small cloth bag was wrapped around its ghost lantern. The bag was so tightly wrapped that the flames could not reach the outside world.

This was a method that Jiang Li finally found after going through the ancient records of the two sects.

The Ghost Lantern Fish's Ghost Lantern Flame could burn souls and destroy ghosts. It was abnormally terrifying, but its temperature was really not high. In fact, it was a little cold. Therefore, it could not even burn through a thin layer of cloth.

After raising the fish for so long, it was finally time to use them!

Jiang Li raised his blade and slashed down. First, he cut off the ghost lamp hanging on the front of the Ghost Lantern Fish's head, and then he cut open the fish's stomach. After putting away the black fish blood, he directly took out the still beating heart.

There was not much fish blood, but with the combination of the nine Ghost Lantern Fish, it was probably enough for him to draw a beast blood tattoo.

After some processing, Jiang Li obtained a small basin of black fish blood and nine still beating hearts.

He grabbed the huge water vat with one hand and placed the huge vat filled with water liquid on the ground. He did not put away the pile of volcanic rocks after cultivating just now.

He raised his hand and threw out a ball of spirit fire. The raging flames burned on the volcano stone, quickly boiling the water in the large vat.

He poured the medicine into it one by one and strictly followed the steps. This time, he was very lucky. Under the situation where the fire was completely under his control, he finally did not fail.

After pouring the Ghost Lantern Fish's heart and blood, the entire vat of medicine became pitch-black. As it boiled and rolled, it emitted an unbearable stench.

Jiang Li subconsciously took a step back. His body instinctively resisted the black water, but he was determined to obtain the Ghost Lantern Fish's flames.

Jiang Li gritted his teeth and jumped in as well. He endured the nausea caused by the stench and instinctively resisted as he circulated the Beast Blood Diagram.

After entering the mental world again, the nine Ghost Lantern Fish formed by the blood fog appeared.

The fish blood was black, so the Ghost Lantern Fish formed from the blood fiend was naturally black as well.

However, although the Ghost Lantern Fish was weak, these nine blood demons were quite troublesome.

What did the Ghost Lantern Fish eat over a long period of time?

Ghosts!

Without the obstruction of the body, after a person turned into a ghost, they would absorb and accumulate all kinds of bad things in their surroundings.

Some sects would even think that ghosts were the gathering of all negative things!

As for the Ghost Lantern Fish that ate ghosts all year round, its blood naturally accumulated such a large amount of spiritual filth. This was also the reason why its fish blood was black.

Wherever the nine Ghost Lantern Fish passed, the ground in Jiang Li's mental world was dyed pitch-black.

[Affected by the black blood of the Ghost Lantern Fish. Added Status: Mental Pollution]

[Mental Pollution: Negative emotions are amplified, and malicious hallucinations are born. Mind attribute decreases by 20%, Enlightenment decreases by 30%. Duration: 6 months] (− +)

[Golden Core Dao Heart activated. A portion of mental pollution is resisted. Duration reduced.]

Jiang Li's brows twitched violently when he saw this. These fish were truly too much. Even if they were fighting spiritually, why were they polluting his mental world?

They were… too disgusting!

The sword cultivator clone immediately slashed out with the Sword Heart active, turning the nine Ghost Lantern Fish into black fog.

Under the illumination of the full moon and moonlight that had fused with the Sword Heart, the originally weak black fog quickly melted away, leaving only a black hole in the mental world.

After pressing the minus button for five seconds, the pitch-black filth in his mental world slowly faded away.

On the other hand, Jiang Li had finally obtained the beast blood tattoo that belonged to the Ghost Lantern Fish.

[Beast Blood Diagram has successfully absorbed beast blood. Added Status: Ghost Lantern Blood Tattoo.]

[Ghost Lantern Blood Tattoo: Mind attribute +1, nurturing talent Soul Igniting Ghost Lantern. Duration: 1 day] (− +)