Chapter 214: Harvesting Source Energy

Chapter 214: Harvesting Source Energy

Ji Xinghuo quickly came up with a plan.

He left the canyon and mounted Qinghong, searching within the Juefeng Valley. It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for.

"Heart-Losing Leaf Hemp."

Ji Xinghuo parted the bushes to reveal a green plant, about half the height of a man. Its leaves were palm-shaped, split into five segments, and it bore no flowers or fruit, looking rather ordinary.

He had seen this plant before in Ren Jie's garden.

By grinding the leaves and stems, a volatile potion could be created. When creatures inhaled it, they would become impulsive, irritable, and even frenzied.

This particular plant wasn't in the best condition, and its quality was mediocre. After all, wild plants were not as good as those cultivated by humans.

Ji Xinghuo wasn't very knowledgeable about plant witchcraft, so he could only give it a try. He pulled out the Heart-Losing Leaf Hemp and stored it in his dimensional pouch before continuing his search.

There weren't many Heart-Losing Leaf Hemp plants in Juefeng Valley, and they were quite scattered.

It took him an entire morning to find just over a dozen of them.

"I still need a lot more," he thought.

During his noon break, he took out all the Heart-Losing Leaf Hemp he had found and attempted to create the potion.

His dimensional pouch, now upgraded to level two, provided a four-cubic-meter space. Before setting off on this trip, he had bought a lot of miscellaneous items, including various tools that might come in handy, and even two sets of kitchenware, which finally proved useful.

Ji Xinghuo carefully handled the plants, cutting off the leaves and stems and putting them into a pressure cooker to grind into a pulp, extracting the juice.

A faint scent wafted into the air.

It smelled unpleasant at first, but it quickly faded, and after a few seconds of adjustment, it became rather pleasant, invigorating and refreshing.

A sense of warning surged in his mind.

Ji Xinghuo hurriedly held his breath. Inhaling more of the scent would likely have unpleasant consequences.

Although he had the protection of the Myriad Phenomena Star Pupils for his mental state, he still needed to be cautious with this type of drug that acted directly on the brain's nerves through scent.

He poured the green juice into a glass bottle and sealed it tightly.

"The scent is too strong," Ji Xinghuo remarked as he shook the bottle, causing the small amount of green liquid inside to slosh around. "The Stone Scythe Imps have a decent sense of smell. Even though they are monsters, they could easily detect this."

"I need to find a way to neutralize it."

He racked his brains, trying to recall the bits and pieces of plant knowledge that Ren Jie had occasionally mentioned when they were together.

Soon, he remembered a particular fruit.

In the afternoon, Ji Xinghuo found a large patch of cactus-like plants in Juefeng Valley, bearing fist-sized fruits. The fruits were edible and had a pleasant fragrance. He juiced the fruits and mixed the juice with the extract from the Heart-Losing Leaf Hemp, successfully reducing the potency of the scent.

Although the mixture wasn't completely odorless, it was usable.

Over the next few days, Ji Xinghuo wandered through Juefeng Valley, collecting large quantities of Heart-Losing Leaf Hemp and cactus fruits, constantly manufacturing the potion.

During this time, he would sneak into the canyon every night, gradually figuring out the pattern.

About every other day, two groups of monsters would gather in the canyon, and the two Stone Scythe Giants would engage in a fight that lasted until dawn.

The Stone Scythe Imps under their command did not participate in the battle.

Even though they shouted and postured, they were merely putting on a show in front of the Stone Scythe Giants and had no intention of actually fighting.

Even monsters understood the intricacies of social interaction.

"This should be enough!"

Ji Xinghuo looked at the hundreds of tiny fruit shells laid out before him, each no bigger than a thumb, with an opening at the top, filled with the potion he had prepared.

He didn't have enough containers, so he had to make do with these fruit shells.

"Qinghong."

Ji Xinghuo woke Qinghong, who was sleeping nearby, and gestured, "Put all these into your dimensional pouch. I'm counting on you tonight."

Qinghong nodded in her usual bewildered manner but did as she was told.

That evening, Ji Xinghuo arrived early at a hidden spot on a cliff overlooking the canyon. As night fell, he lay down to rest, conserving his energy.

When the night of stars approached, he woke up.

After waiting for over an hour, he heard the distant calls of the Stone Scythe Imps.

"They're here," he murmured.

Gradually, two groups of Stone Scythe Imps entered the canyon from opposite ends, each led by a Stone Scythe Giant. One group had over five hundred members, while the other had seven hundred. As expected, they met in the middle of the canyon and faced off from a distance of two to three hundred meters, posturing for a few minutes before the two Stone Scythe Giants began their fight.

The Stone Scythe Imps on both sides shouted and roared, cheering for their leaders.

Ji Xinghuo lay prone on the cliff top, a spot he had carefully chosen during the day. It was both concealed and positioned almost directly above the battlefield, about two hundred meters above the valley floor.

He watched the commotion below without rushing to act.

According to past patterns, the two Stone Scythe Giants would fight until dawn, and it was still early.

Although they possessed Earth Pulse, allowing them to constantly draw energy from the earth to restore their stamina and heal their wounds, appearing to be tireless, in reality, their combat strength would still diminish significantly after several hours of continuous fighting. They were not truly perpetual motion machines.

Time ticked by.

The canyon echoed with roars, the ground became pockmarked, and stones flew everywhere.

The two Stone Scythe Giants clashed, and overall, the older one was stronger, usually dominating the younger one and suppressing it. However, having lost an eye, it couldn't deliver a fatal blow to its challenger.

The younger Stone Scythe Giant, though consistently overpowered and physically weaker, displayed greater agility. Moreover, it possessed a certain level of intelligence.

On multiple occasions, Ji Xinghuo witnessed it grabbing dirt and flinging it at its opponent in moments of peril. It would also pick up large rocks and throw them with impressive accuracy, and it even used thick tree trunks as weapons—abilities that none of the other Stone Scythe Imps demonstrated. Its intelligence was approaching that of a five or six-year-old human child.

"If they continue fighting like this, a winner will emerge in three or four months at most," Ji Xinghuo mused, favoring the younger Stone Scythe Giant to emerge victorious.

The Stone Scythe Imps' posturing had calmed down considerably, with only a few occasionally letting out roars.

Some of the imps farther away had even sat down and fallen asleep.

"The time is now."

Ji Xinghuo glanced at his mechanical watch and mentally instructed Qinghong to spring into action. She shrank to her smallest state, only three or four centimeters long, resembling a tiny green gecko that was difficult to spot in the starry night. She crawled out from the cliff into the bushes and made her way down into the canyon.

Through the audiovisual bracelet, Ji Xinghuo could simultaneously see what Qinghong was seeing.

Soon, Qinghong reached the canyon floor.

Following Ji Xinghuo's instructions, she scurried across the ground among the grass and rocks, approaching one of the groups of Stone Scythe Imps.

"Here, take one out," Ji Xinghuo signaled.

Qinghong hid behind one of the larger imps, concealed in a crevice, and spat out one of the fruit shells, carefully placing it in a gap where the imp couldn't see it. The shell's opening was left uncovered, allowing the potion to begin evaporating, releasing a subtle fragrance into the air.

Then she quickly moved to another location.

In her miniature state, the imps paid no attention to Qinghong, and even if they did notice her, they wouldn't perceive her as a threat.

She silently and swiftly navigated through the horde, quietly placing the fruit shells and emptying the potion.

In just a few minutes, she had circled around this group of imps.

Qinghong carefully climbed up the cliff to the opposite group of imps and repeated the process, placing over a hundred fruit shells filled with the potion among the monsters.

"Success!"

A weight was lifted from Ji Xinghuo's mind.

He had been worried that Qinghong might be discovered by the Stone Scythe Imps, but it seemed that these monsters were completely indifferent to her presence, treating her as nothing more than an insignificant insect.

Qinghong crawled back up to the cliff, her tiny eyes filled with pride.

"Well done!" Ji Xinghuo praised her.

Now, all they had to do was wait for the potion to take effect.

Gradually, some of the Stone Scythe Imps caught a whiff of the Heart-Losing Leaf Hemp juice. They sniffed the air, the scent was faint, but once it entered their bodies, they began to grow restless. Those who had been sitting or lying down stood up, their breathing becoming heavy and their eyes slightly reddening.

"Roar!"

The imps in the front row, closest to the two Stone Scythe Giants, continued to roar in support of their leaders.

Suddenly, one of them was bumped by the imp next to it. It immediately shoved back, baring its teeth and growling in discontent.

After a few more shoves, the two imps began wrestling with each other.

Their sharp claws swung, and blood began to flow.

The surrounding imps had initially given them space, but upon smelling the blood, their eyes turned redder, and they suddenly turned on the imps beside them.

In an instant, hundreds of imps in the canyon lost control.

"Roar!"

A loud roar echoed as one of the imps charged towards the opposing group, triggering a chain reaction. Both sides, with red eyes, launched a frontal assault, crashing into each other like tidal waves. The canyon descended into chaos as friend and foe became indistinguishable, and claws swung indiscriminately.

The two Stone Scythe Giants fighting in the middle did not stop due to the commotion. They had no concept of breaking up a fight, and instead, the chaos influenced them, causing them to fight even more fiercely.

The canyon reverberated with roars, and blood flowed across the ground.

Amidst all this, Ji Xinghuo, the instigator of the chaos, remained motionless, perched on the side of the cliff, watching the tigers fight while sitting on the mountain.

He activated the interface of the Myriad Phenomena Star Pupils.

Spiritual Source Energy +1

Spiritual Source Energy +3

...

At first, a few seconds would pass between each increase in spiritual source energy, but as the Stone Scythe Imps descended into madness and began slaughtering each other, the values on the interface kept fluctuating, and the spiritual source energy continued to rise.

In just a few minutes, the spiritual source energy surpassed 1,000 points.

And it was still climbing.

Most of these Stone Scythe Imps were ordinary monsters, each providing only 1 to 2 points of spiritual source energy. Occasionally, an elite imp would be killed, resulting in a jump of 5 points or more.

Spiritual Source Energy +22

A super-elite Stone Scythe Imp was surrounded and killed, its body torn into several pieces by its own kind.

Ji Xinghuo witnessed this scene and took note of the location.

The super-elite imps had a chance to awaken the "Obsidian Body," a super-limit variant that was very valuable. The last time he was at Wang Longtai, one had sold for 14 million.

More and more Stone Scythe Imps fell, their corpses littering the canyon.

The two Stone Scythe Giants continued their vicious battle.

Some of the imps nearby were unfortunately caught in the crossfire, perishing under the giants' claws or being crushed beneath their weight. Less than two hundred imps remained alive, most of them elites, with about a dozen super-elites among them. Each survivor bore numerous wounds, and as the mutual slaughter continued, they gradually regained their senses.

The canyon remained in a state of chaos, the battle raging on.

But it would have to end eventually.

"It's time."

Ji Xinghuo activated the Stealth Ring, stood up, and summoned the Invisible Thorn, loading it with a capacitor arrow. He drew the bow, aiming at the bottom of the canyon.

His right eye also lit up with a glowing circle, entering the Myriad Phenomena State.

Time seemed to freeze.

Ji Xinghuo's eyes were filled with countless flickering lights, showing possible future scenes. A line extended from the arrowhead, pointing towards the two Stone Scythe Giants battling in the canyon. He chose the older one and aimed at its remaining left eye.

Starlight transformed into a large amount of electric charge, concentrating on the capacitor arrow and amplifying its lethality.

The rotating magnetic field and electrostatic field operated at full capacity.

Boom!

A thunderous roar echoed as the capacitor arrow was released, leaving the refraction range. Instantly, a dazzling lightning bolt illuminated the canyon, streaking across the sky towards its target.

A moment later, a painful roar reverberated through the canyon.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end