Within the area covered by the cyan light, spiritual herbs also grew, but the number was pitifully small, only five or six plants.
However, Zhang Ling's gaze turned fiery as he looked at these few spiritual herbs. He immediately noticed a cyan little flower closest to him.
It was actually a Green Leaf Flower, containing rich wood spiritual energy.
Not far away, a bare blue spiritual tree was a piece of Xuan Wood, a hard material. If it grew for over a thousand years, it would be enough to refine a high-quality magical artifact.
Zhang Ling scanned these spiritual herbs, all of which were of the fourth grade. The Green Leaf Flower and a Black Light Grass were both auxiliary spiritual herbs for refining the Core Formation Pill. He hadn't collected them outside, but he didn't expect to see them here.
At the very center, there was also a black patch of land spanning over ten zhang, on which a solitary red sapling, about two zhang tall, grew.
This sapling wasn't large, with only four or five small branches and leaves, bearing some black-red leaves and a few flat, round, unripe fruits.
These fruits looked very strange, only the size of a fist, but covered with dense white fluff, shimmering with a cold light, like little hedgehogs.
After noticing this sapling, Zhang Ling couldn't take his eyes off it.
This was a Earth Spirit Fruit Tree, and the green fruits on it were Earth Spirit Fruits, but they hadn't matured yet. Once they were old enough, the fluff would fall off. Then they could be used to refine the Core Formation Pill.
He smiled silently, the corners of his mouth turning up. Seeing this Earth Spirit Fruit meant that he had hope of forming his core.
This was a fatal temptation for any Golden Core cultivator.
He stared at the Earth Spirit Fruit Tree for a while.
Zhang Ling deduced that the green Earth Spirit Fruits were already three to four hundred years old. However, there weren't many, only seven or eight.
That was enough for him. As long as he transplanted this Earth Spirit Fruit Tree and used the mysterious bead to catalyze its growth, he could obtain mature Earth Spirit Fruits.
But transplanting a fifth-grade spiritual herb was not easy.
The Earth Spirit Fruit Tree was rooted in a black soil, and his divine sense could sense that it contained abundant five elements spiritual power. This was a Five-Colored Soil, the best spiritual soil for cultivating spiritual herbs.
Five-Colored Soil was rare, and it could generally only be found near the spiritual spring eyes of high-grade spiritual veins.
Zhang Ling released his divine sense to envelop the area where the Earth Spirit Fruit was located, probing deep into the ground. He discovered that this layer of Five-Colored Soil wasn't much, only a thin layer covering it, probably no more than two hundred pounds.
But this was already very rare. Ordinary spiritual herbs planted on it would accelerate their growth considerably.
And Five-Colored Soil also had its limits. This kind of spiritual soil had to be placed in a place with abundant spiritual energy to maintain its activity, just like this layer of Five-Colored Soil was laid on a medium-grade spiritual vein. This was the minimum requirement.
If it was only a low-grade spiritual vein, the Five-Colored Soil would have long turned into ordinary soil and stone.
He circled the Earth Spirit Fruit Tree, first collecting the fourth-grade spiritual herbs.
Then, with a wave of his hand, the Two Elements Gourd appeared beside him. He cast a spell on it, and the gourd instantly turned into a zhang-sized object, and a large amount of Heavenly Star Sand flew out.
Zhang Ling controlled the Heavenly Star Sand to fall on the ground, merging into the Five-Colored Soil, instantly dyeing this layer of black soil into a golden color.
After a moment, the ground trembled. The Earth Spirit Fruit Tree was slowly pulled out of the ground.
This spiritual tree didn't look big, but the root system below was intricate and complex, much larger than the entire trunk.
Zhang Ling's divine sense moved, and he was about to put this spiritual tree into the gourd first, and then transplant it after going out.
But at this moment, the ground shook, and strange popping sounds came. A large pit appeared where the fruit tree was pulled out. At this moment, more than a dozen black tentacles shot out from the pit, directly wrapping around the spiritual tree.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Ling snorted coldly. Two flying swords shot out, slashing at these tentacles. Although they didn't cut them off, they left several sword marks on them, scattering a black blood.
A strange gurgling sound came from underground, and then a scarlet red thing emerged from the ground.
A sweep of his divine sense, Zhang Ling discovered that this was not a snake-like monster, but a huge earthworm monster. This body was huge, more than twenty zhang long, with circles of scarlet red hard skin covering the body, looking like a headless snake.
This monster broke out of the ground, directly destroying the ground into powder, and the aura it emitted was actually a seventh-order desolate beast.
The Twin-Tailed Cat meowed and howled, spitting out a ball of flames, first attacking the earthworm monster.
Zhang Ling flew into the air. Urging the Heavenly Star Sand to turn into a sand ball, wrapping the entire Earth Spirit Fruit Tree inside, and then turning into a yellow light, it disappeared into the Two Elements Gourd.
After collecting this Earth Spirit Fruit Tree, Zhang Ling glanced at the suddenly emerging earthworm monster.
The earthworm was entangled with the Twin-Tailed Cat. The beast's figure swayed, and most of its body split into more than a dozen huge scarlet tentacles, attacking the Twin-Tailed Cat in a panic.
And the flames shot out by the Twin-Tailed Cat had little effect on this beast.
Zhang Ling swept his divine sense and discovered the reason.
This earthworm secreted a layer of bright red mucus, covering its entire body. The flames would be extinguished when they hit its body, leaving only some charred black marks.
Zhang Ling snorted, summoned three flying swords, and joined the attack.
At the same time, with a flick of his hand, the purple-black copper bell flew out of his sleeve, making two clang sounds.
Hearing the bell, the beast's body stiffened. Taking advantage of this time, the three flying swords quickly merged into a cyan light sword that was several zhang large.
With a single finger, the sword light turned into a cyan arc, and with a hiss, it slashed on the body of this giant earthworm.
Suddenly, the beast let out a shrill cry, and its huge body was cut into several pieces.
But this monster, the severed body twisted frantically, and they all burrowed into the ground, seemingly trying to escape. In an instant, it burrowed into the ground.
This kind of earthworm monster is quite rare and is known for its tenacious vitality. It is said that as long as there is a small half of its body, it can recover as before, as if it has a regenerative body.
But Zhang Ling was prepared, and sprinkled a large amount of yellow light with his fingers, covering an area on the ground.
Then, with a wave of both hands, he transformed into two three-zhang-sized yellow light hands, and slammed them hard on the ground.
With a loud bang, the ground was filled with dust, and a large amount of soil and stone was directly lifted into the air. The earthworm that had just escaped into the ground was also exposed in the air.
Under the flash of cyan light, the flying sword turned into sword lights, slashing on the body of this beast with a hissing sound.
Most of the monster's body was cut into countless small pieces. Finally, with a loud thud, only half of its body was left, and it fell to the ground and stopped moving.
