Chapter 1152: Chapter 635: Beginning to Level Up Chapter 1152: Chapter 635: Beginning to Level Up After Chen Mobai and his two companions reached a consensus, the matter progressed swiftly.

Zhuo Ming and Luo Yixuan first took the Soul Nourishing Wood to Xiao Nanshan to prepare the environment for its advancement and to establish a connection with the local mountain spirit vein.

Following that, Chen Mobai issued a directive from the Sect Leader to do something he had long wanted to do: to let the Spirit Vein Division and the Formation Division work together to upgrade the spirit vein level of Xiao Nanshan.

For this task, both the Spirit Vein and Formation Divisions were worried and troubled.

If it were a minor upgrade, it wouldn’t be too difficult for them.

But Chen Mobai’s order was to elevate Xiao Nanshan’s spirit vein by a whole rank, jumping from a Rank-3 to a Rank-4.

For the Divine Wood Sect, this would require a significant and costly effort.

In the Tianhe Realm, there are mainly two methods to upgrade a spirit vein.

One is for an Earth Master to intervene, moving mountains and redirecting pathways to draw nearby spirit veins over, essentially sacrificing other spirit veins to achieve the upgrade.

The second is to bury Spirit Stones and use formations to integrate them with the spirit vein, leveraging the infinite spiritual energy of the Spirit Stones to continuously nourish and raise the level of the spirit vein.

Generally speaking, a Rank-1 spirit vein needs ten thousand Spirit Stones, a Rank-2 requires one hundred thousand, a Rank-3 needs a million, and a Rank-4 starts from ten million at the very least.

If the first method were to be used, it would involve diverting the flow from the core of Giant Tree Ridge’s three Longevity Wood dojos, which would damage the spirit veins used by our three venerable elders for their cultivation.

Both ministers value their lives too much to consider such a course of action.

Therefore, they could only choose the second method.

But this raised a big problem!

It must be noted that the Divine Wood Sect’s net annual income from Spirit Stones is only about one to two million.

In recent years, due to the war with demonic beasts in Yun Meng Ze, a large portion of the savings that had been accumulated steadily during Chen Mobai’s decade-long tenure had already been spent.

If another ten million Spirit Stones were to be taken out now to upgrade Xiao Nanshan to a Rank-4 spirit vein, it’s estimated that for the next three years, disciples of the sect wouldn’t receive any spirit stone compensation.

Luo Xue’er, faced with the ministers of the Formation Division and the Spirit Vein Division who came asking for Spirit Stones with Chen Mobai’s edict, was also deeply troubled. She dared not defy the order, but she also couldn’t bear to empty the sect’s reserves entirely.

She could only say that the Reward Virtue Hall didn’t have that many Spirit Stones, hoping to stall the situation for a while.

Yi Shaoqing from the Formation Division and Ma Gang from the Spirit Vein Division, upon hearing her response, knew they couldn’t do much and had to report the situation to Yue Zutao to inform the Sect Leader.

“The Sect Leader is already aware of this matter; he told me to give this to you.”

However, Yue Zutao was waiting for them in Shenmu Hall and then took out a storage bag, pouring its contents onto the table.

A thousand shining, crystal-clear top-grade Spirit Stones with a dazzling brilliance made Yi Shaoqing and Ma Gang, both of whom were quite experienced, tremble with excitement.

In their lifetimes, they had each only ever possessed a maximum of five top-grade Spirit Stones!

“Complete the Sect Leader’s orders as quickly as possible; he is paying close attention to this matter,” Yue Zutao emphasized, with Yi Shaoqing and Ma Gang nodding solemnly. With a thousand top-grade Spirit Stones in hand, they felt immediately empowered.

Moreover, upgrading a spirit vein to Rank-4 was an extremely rare and valuable experience, so the elite members from both divisions were eager to take part.

But there was another problem.

Using Spirit Stones to upgrade a spirit vein to Rank-4 would still require an object to stabilize it.

Otherwise, this forcibly upgraded spirit vein would slowly dissipate, eventually reverting to its original grade.

For example, the Mother Earth Stone that was used at Mountain Shaker Peak, a Rank-4 Spirit Plant like the Everlife Wood, or several stalks of a Rank-4 herb could barely manage it, or perhaps special spiritual treasures designed for concentrating spiritual energy, and so on…

The Spirit Plant Department hadn’t received an order from the Sect Leader yet, but the minister, Shi Fengping, was already searching for a suitable Grade-4 Spirit Plant among the seven countries under Divine Wood Sect’s domain.

He personally inspected Spiritual Objects such as Giant Tree Ridge’s Xu Xian Zhi, the Jade Spirit Flower, the Revitalizing Yang Grass, Yun Country Tianpeng Mountain Branch’s Five-Cornered Ancient Maple, Jianguo Dayun Proving Ground’s Cloud Wood Dragon Vine, and others, preparing transplanting plans in advance and planning to perform well when asked by the Sect Leader.

But soon, Shi Fengping realized he had worked in vain.

Yi Shaoqing and Ma Gang, who went to Xiao Nanshan to upgrade the spirit vein, communicated with the local Zhuo Ming, who told them about the breakthrough phenomenon with the Immortal Peach Tree at the mountain’s summit. In order to ensure its successful advancement, Chen Mobai had mobilized the sect’s cultivators and even took out his ten years’ remuneration from the medium-sized Spirit Stone Mine in Wind Country after Core Formation, all to assist in the Spirit Plant’s upgrade.

If the Immortal Peach Tree were to successfully advance, there would be no need for any other Rank-4 Spiritual Objects to stabilize the spirit vein.

Upon hearing this, Shi Fengping’s expression showed clear disappointment.

He had thought he would have a chance to curry favor with the Sect Leader.

Shi Fengping was also in the late phase of Foundation Establishment; although he might already be over two hundred years old by the time he reached Foundation Establishment Completion, after witnessing Meng Hong regaining his youth, he too began to yearn for Core Formation.

Not just him, but all Foundation Establishment practitioners in the late phase in the Divine Wood Sect were now keenly observing every move Chen Mobai made.

They were all aware that Chen Mobai still had a Heterodox Golden Core in his possession. Even if it was incompatible with their attributes, they could still expect the Sect Leader to make a grand display and slay a Rank-3 demonic beast in the future.

Thus, upon Chen Mobai’s return, he found that many practitioners from the Three Halls and Twelve Divisions were trying to find excuses to meet with him.