Beast Tamer Ascension-Chapter 34Book 4: : Bodhi Leaf

Vol 4 Chapter 34: Bodhi Leaf

While the entire cultivation world was still debating the Fortune Gold List and the Beast Taming Path, Lin Jing and the Pine Leaf Mouse had already begun their next major project.

Plotting for the Buddhist Sect’s Bodhi Tree!

By then, secret techniques, rare trees, and the Gold List would form a trinity. Whatever Lin Jing studied would be like having divine assistance.

At the moment, although the Pine Leaf Mouse and the Ice Soul Gu also wanted to follow Lin Jing’s example and get on the Fortune Gold List by beating up the Dragon Carp, unfortunately, the two of them couldn’t win against the Dragon Carp at all.

The Dragon Carp may be meek and submissive when facing a Beast Tamer, but against fellow beasts, it definitely wouldn’t hold back its heavy punches.

So, the Pine Leaf Mouse and Ice Soul Gu could only settle for second best. Under Lin Jing’s arrangement, they would first work on improving their strength.

As for the Ice Soul Gu, it was deeply shaken after the battle in the Cavern Heaven and began to doubt its life.

Even when it used its divine ability to support Lin Jing, it couldn’t even break the defenses of the Creation Immortal Physique and needed Lin Jing to burn his lifespan to create an opening...

In contrast, the two Mountain Spirits casually enlightened by the Creation Immortal Physique gave Lin Jing a boost that the Ice Soul Gu couldn’t even dream of.

One could say that many Void Mystical cultivators treat a Gu like this as a treasure, but with Lin Jing, it was getting the short end of the stick everywhere.

Still, you couldn’t really blame the Ice Soul Gu. Historically speaking, the Creation Immortal Physique isn’t just beyond the level of any Rare Gu—it’s probably stronger than the entire Gu God Sect combined...

To strengthen the Ice Soul Gu, having it devour the Golden Light Gu’s essence would be the fastest path. Lin Jing originally planned to wait until they returned to Qingzhou and had a stable cultivation environment before letting it do so. But seeing as they’d have to stay in the Western Desert for a while, Lin Jing just sent it into the Hourglass of Time to start devouring the Golden Light Gu’s essence early.

As for the Pine Leaf Mouse, if it wanted to improve its strength, it didn’t really need to do anything special—leveling up its cultivation realm was the key. As long as it reached the Nascent Soul Stage, the cost-free Core Formation Divine Ability would be its biggest trump card!

And to raise its cultivation level, there were two shortcuts. One was taking the cultivation Core Pills refined by the Dragon Carp—but Lin Jing himself didn’t even have enough of those yet, so there was no spare to share with the mouse.

So the second shortcut, the old method of improving its cultivation through advancing techniques, became the fastest path. After all, within the Demon Court, it had access to unlimited spiritual plants to consume. The only hurdle in this shortcut was that either Senior Pine or the Pine Leaf Mouse itself needed to deduce the next layer of the Everlasting Emperor’s Longevity Art.

No one knew how far Senior Pine had gotten. But even if he succeeded, deducing one more layer would likely be the limit. The rest of the path might have to be walked by the Pine Leaf Mouse alone.

Which made the Bodhi Tree even more crucial—it could assist the Pine Leaf Mouse in deducing follow-up techniques.

Soon after, the Pine Leaf Mouse managed to create the clone Lin Jing asked for.

It consumed twenty years of lifespan to make this plant-based illusionary body, and it was far stronger than the two clones used when heading to the Sky Lion Clan. As long as it didn’t get killed, it should last a long time.

Other than being used to retrieve the Bodhi Tree in place of the real body, this clone could be handy in many future scenarios.

“The clone’s just there to run errands, so it won’t waste the real body’s time and energy. But if we send only the clone, we won’t get the Bodhi Tree,” Lin Jing murmured as he looked at the clone.

A thing like the Bodhi Tree, aside from the Spirit Dao Sect’s rare Insight Fish, was already the most powerful known comprehension resource. And since it was hard to cultivate, it was also extremely precious to the entire Buddhist Sect.

Even the Buddhist prodigies couldn’t say they’d get an entire Bodhi Tree—at most, they’d be granted the chance to cultivate at Bodhi Temple.

In that situation, for someone like the Leaf Mouse to get a Bodhi Tree, it might actually be easier than getting the Golden Light Gu from Golden Light Temple.

But since the Leaf Mouse had taken an interest in the Bodhi Tree, there was, naturally, a plan in place...

“You remember if there’s still some Bodhi Leaves in his Monster Core Space?”

The Leaf Mouse turned toward the utterly pale, sweat-drenched, and panting Lin Jing Mouse who had just finished creating the clone.

Lin Jing Mouse was already exhausted. Hearing what the Leaf Mouse said now nearly gave him a heart attack, his pupils contracting.

“Ugh...” Lin Jing Mouse sighed wearily. You wanna mess with that now?

Bodhi Leaves, leaves from the Bodhi Tree... While the Buddhist Sect wouldn’t give away full Bodhi Trees, naturally fallen leaves were allowed to circulate.

These Bodhi Leaves also had a minor effect of boosting comprehension, but compared to Bodhi Fruit or meditating beneath the tree, the difference was like heaven and earth. Some Academy teachers even said it wasn’t as good as the boost from the Hidden Dragon Secret Technique.

Still, as a rare resource for enlightenment, even with moderate effects, it was quite valuable. Bodhi Leaves were one of the main items the Buddhist Sect traded externally.

Among the spoils from Tongtian City, there happened to be some Bodhi Leaves.

And those Bodhi Leaves were one of the Pine Leaf Mouse’s favorite hidden treasures, stored deep within its space.

“No leaves, no tree.”

The green Bodhi Tree itself was a fifth-tier rare plant. The Bodhi Fruit was fourth-tier, and the leaves were third-tier.

In other words, with the Pine Leaf Mouse’s current Immortal Eyes, it had the means to synthesize the Bodhi Leaves.

“The Buddhist Sect has been researching how to cultivate the green Bodhi Tree into the golden or silver Bodhi Tree of the Bodhi Heaven, but they’ve never succeeded.”

“Your rare beast divine ability, in some ways, can mutate Bodhi Leaves. As long as the mutation effect is good, we can use that as a reason to pretend we’re cultivation masters and negotiate with the Buddhist Sect to help them grow their Bodhi Trees!”

“With the precedent of the Mutated Transformation Grass, plus the Beast Taming Sect possessing an extremely rare Grass-Type Void Mystical Beast, and finally, using the mutated Bodhi Leaves we produce as our bargaining chip—even if we can’t get them to give us a Bodhi Tree outright for research, as long as we sign a contract to share results in the future, borrowing it for a hundred and eighty years shouldn't be a problem.”

That was Lin Jing’s plan to get the Bodhi Tree. Whether it succeeded would largely depend on what kind of mutated Bodhi Leaf the Pine Leaf Mouse could create.

“Ugh...” The Pine Leaf Mouse thought for a moment, then nodded painfully. Fine...

There weren’t many Bodhi Leaves in the space to begin with. After fusion, there’d be even fewer. But if they could get a Bodhi Tree in return, and a terrifying number of leaves, the trade-off was totally worth it—the Pine Leaf Mouse could do that math.

With that, it took out all the Bodhi Leaves, laid them out on the ground, and activated its divine ability!

Then... failure.

The Pine Leaf Mouse collapsed weakly and fell asleep.

“Mm... I just barely recovered from my injuries, then spent lifespan to make a clone... better sleep a bit before trying again...”

The next day.

Just as Lin Jing and the Pine Leaf Mouse were hoping to fuse the green Bodhi Leaves into at least second-tier silver Bodhi Leaves like those in the Bodhi Heaven, the many green leaves scanned by the Glazed Immortal Eyes... turned into a single ink-black leaf.

Lin Jing and the Pine Leaf Mouse fell into deep thought, a bad premonition rising. Please don’t turn into a Malignant Plant... We’re still hoping to use this to get the Buddhist Sect’s tree...

They looked over.

[Mutated Bodhi Leaf: After ingestion, for one year, comprehension of cultivation techniques and spells not aligned with one’s nature will greatly improve... But for techniques that are aligned with one’s nature, progress will become increasingly difficult—ranging from stagnation to even Qi deviation...]