Chapter 68: Bringing the Metallic Creature out of the Cave

The progress in spells and the increase in life essence were both sources of confidence for Fang Yun as he prepared to leave Ling Shui Island.

With these preparations nearly complete, Fang Yun turned his attention to the cave.

After a year of careful guidance from Fang Yun, Fang Kangseng had finally entered closed-door training a few days ago, aiming to break through the last hurdle in his body's meridians.

As long as he could break through that final hurdle, he would no longer face any obstacles in advancing to the first layer of Qi training.

Two days later, standing outside the cave, Fang Yun felt a wave of mana fluctuations emanating from within.

A faint smile appeared on his face; he had finally broken through.

To be honest, Fang Yun was even more eager for Fang Kangseng to make this breakthrough than Fang Kangseng himself.

This way, he could leave Ling Shui Island sooner and officially enter the world of cultivation.

Before long, Fang Kangseng excitedly emerged from the cave.

"Patriarch, I've broken through!!"

Fang Yun patted his shoulder and nodded, "Congratulations! You can now be considered a member of the cultivation world!"

Fang Kangseng excitedly nodded in response.

Then, Fang Yun said, "In the next few months, I will teach you how to plant spiritual rice, as well as the use of spiritual symbols and magical artifacts.

From now on, the Fang family will be under your protection!"

Hearing this, Fang Kangseng's expression dimmed from excitement.

"Patriarch, are you really going to leave?"

Fang Yun comfortingly patted his shoulder, "Ling Shui Island is too small. Our Fang family cultivators, as long as there is a possibility for progress, who would want to live and die here in solitude?

In the future, if you break through to the second layer of Qi training and feel hopeless about progress, you will also want to leave.

But I hope that before you leave, you can cultivate another cultivator for the Fang family."

Fang Kangseng's expression brightened at this, "Then, Patriarch, can I come find you later?"

"Of course, if I'm still alive then!" Fang Yun smiled and replied.

However, it would take at least a decade or more for Fang Kangseng to reach the second layer of Qi training and cultivate another cultivator for the Fang family.

By that time, if he was still alive, he should have some ability to protect himself, making it feasible to shelter one or two people in the cultivation world.

After chatting for a while, Fang Yun began to guide Fang Kangseng step by step in planting spiritual rice.

At the same time, he taught him how to practice the only spell he could use, the Earth Force Technique.

Aside from that, they also covered the use of the magical artifact long knife and the use of spiritual symbols.

Half a year later, Fang Yun had imparted everything he needed to teach to Fang Kangseng, essentially completing his mission.

After ensuring that Fang Kangseng consolidated what he had learned during this time, Fang Yun once again headed to the canyon where the metallic plant was located.

Following the same passage he had entered before, he arrived once more at the cave.

Seeing the metallic plant again, Fang Yun was still amazed by its growth pattern.

After carefully sensing the growth state of the metallic plant, he discovered that it had only absorbed a bit more metallic essence during this time and hadn't undergone any significant changes.

Fang Yun didn't find this surprising, considering its earlier performance and the life essence consumed to stimulate its growth.

The life level of this plant was much higher than that of the vines, so without any stimulation, a year's time wasn't enough for it to undergo much change.

After roughly investigating the metallic plant, Fang Yun began to focus on the main task of the day:

to take this plant away.

After all, he was about to leave Ling Shui Island, and he naturally wouldn't leave such a treasure behind.

Over the past year, Fang Yun had thought of many ways to better utilize the characteristics of this metallic plant to enhance his own strength.

However, after considering various options, most of them seemed unreliable.

The most suitable approach was to remove the surface plants of the metallic plant and then connect the vines to it, performing another grafting process.

This wasn't too big of a problem.

The benefit was that the vines, nourished by the metallic essence within the plant, could become harder and significantly stronger in combat.

However, two issues arose from this approach.

One was the rejection issue between the vines and the metallic plant.

If problems arose between the two plants for this reason, the loss would be unacceptable for Fang Yun.

The second issue was that once the vines were connected to the metallic plant, the weight of the massive plant would hinder the vines' speed, effectively reducing their combat power by more than half.

For someone like Fang Yun, who relied on the vines for self-protection, this was also not an appropriate solution.

After much contemplation, he ultimately decided to set aside the development of the metallic plant for now, waiting for a more suitable opportunity in the future.

Thoughts about the metallic plant flashed through Fang Yun's mind during this time.

Then, he had a sudden idea and began to drive the metallic plant away from the ground.

However, as soon as he moved, he sensed the difference between the metallic plant and the vines.

The metallic plant was not a vine that could naturally move, so Fang Yun's actions were contrary to its nature.

Despite his strong control over it, he could only get it to slowly detach from the ground, which took much longer than expected.

No matter how anxious Fang Yun was, he couldn't rush the process.

He waited in place for five days before the metallic plant's roots finally completely detached from the ground.

After sensing that the metallic plant showed no signs of discomfort after being uprooted, Fang Yun felt relieved.

It seemed that as a plant that absorbed metals to survive, its need for nutrients underground wasn't very high.

Once the metallic plant was completely out of the ground, Fang Yun guided its roots to curl up, forming a sphere over a meter in diameter.

Then, he extended some of the roots from the sphere to intertwine with the roots of the vines.

Afterward, Fang Yun drove the vines to slowly carry this metallic sphere out through the passage.

In comparison to Fang Yun's strength, the 80-meter-long vines were far more powerful.

Additionally, with some strength from the metallic plant itself, the entire process wasn't particularly strenuous.

Even if he exhausted too much energy, Fang Yun could replenish the vines using mana and life essence.

After several hours, he successfully brought the metallic sphere out of the passage.

Then, the metallic plant unfurled and, under the guidance of the vines, made its way up the mountain.

With the vines leading, the extended metallic plant moved much faster than it had in the passage.