Chapter 1712: The Hundred Battles Arena

The old man took a sip of tea and said calmly, "Heh, making a young man with the Imperial Spirit owe me a great favor is naturally something I'd be willing to do. It's just that I lack the strength to do so!"

Ye Yuan's face was filled with despair, never expecting such an outcome in the end.

"Hall Master, is there... really no way at all?" Ye Yuan asked unwillingly.

The old man handed him another cup of tea and said with a smile, "Drink slowly, don't rush."

Ye Yuan's gaze sharpened, and he realized he had been somewhat impolite.

"Thank you, Hall Master!"

He took the tea and took a shallow sip. An extreme bitterness instantly filled his mouth.

But soon, a faint sweetness emerged from within the bitterness, penetrating his abdomen and spreading through his limbs and bones.

In an instant, his divine essence seemed to increase considerably.

Ye Yuan's eyes lit up, and he praised, "Excellent tea! Excellent tea! I was somewhat rash earlier; I hope you won't take offense, Senior."

With that first sip, Ye Yuan had not even tasted the wonderful flavor of this spirit tea.

Now that he had calmed down, he immediately sensed the tea's extraordinary nature.

A glint of approval flashed in the old man's eyes, and he thought to himself, Truly worthy of being a young man with the Imperial Spirit, calming down so quickly.

The old man smiled and said, "This tea is called the Cicada Dew Heavenly Tea. One cup is equivalent to a peak fourth-grade divine pill. You've just consumed two cups! For anyone else, they would have long gone into seclusion to refine it, but you show no reaction at all. Truly worthy of the Imperial Spirit!"

Ye Yuan was inwardly startled, not expecting this tea to be so precious.

One must know that an ordinary martial artist at the second level of the Divine Lord realm, after consuming a peak fourth-tier divine pill, would need to go into seclusion for several days to refine it.

Taking two pills in succession would put a strain on the meridians, inevitably causing a feeling of fullness and distension.

But Ye Yuan drank two cups in a row and appeared perfectly fine, which inevitably surprised the Pavilion Master of the Mysterious Mechanism Pavilion.

He was unaware, however, that Ye Yuan consumed pills like candy, and even that was not enough.

To break through a minor realm at the first level, Ye Yuan now needed to consume an incalculable amount of divine pills; it was like a bottomless pit.

Let alone two cups of spirit tea, even ten cups would not make him bat an eye.

After two cups entered his stomach, Ye Yuan's Chaos Divine Origin barely increased.

Ye Yuan said with some surprise, "So it's the Kongchan Tianlu tea. No wonder, no wonder! But... what a pity!"

"Oh? How is it a pity?" the old man asked, puzzled.

This Kongchan Tianlu was something he had painstakingly cultivated, having expended no small amount of effort.

From Ye Yuan's tone, it seemed there were still some shortcomings!

Ye Yuan said, "Kongchan Tianlu is a fifth-tier spirit tea, but yours, Pavilion Master, only has the effect of a fourth-tier tea. Isn't that a pity?"

The old man smiled bitterly and said, "Kongchan Tianlu is the most delicate and extremely difficult to cultivate. Being able to nurture it to the peak of the fourth tier, I have already paid an unknown price."

Ye Yuan smiled and said, "That's because your method of cultivation, Senior, is wrong! The hardest thing to preserve in Kongchan Tianlu tea is its spiritual energy. If one is not careful, the spiritual energy will leak out, causing its grade to drop."

The old man trembled all over and said, "Do you have the method for cultivating Kongchan Tianlu? Kongchan Tianlu is extremely rare, and very few cultivation methods have been passed down. I have tried every method but could not find the cultivation method."

Fourth-grade spirit tea and fifth-grade spirit tea meant very different things to the old man.

Fourth-grade spirit tea was, to him, merely spirit tea, just a drink.

But fifth-grade spirit tea was greatly beneficial to his cultivation!

Moreover, the effect of spirit tea was not limited to increasing cultivation; it also greatly benefited the body.

That was why he had gone to great lengths to cultivate it.

Unfortunately, it all came to nothing.

Ye Yuan nodded and said, "The method for cultivating Kongchan Tianlu lies precisely in these two words: 'Tianlu'! At the time when dew rises each day, that is when the spirit tea absorbs spiritual energy most vigorously, and more fertilizer should be applied. At other times, it should be reduced as appropriate. Moreover, the amount of fertilizer differs with each of the four seasons, making it extremely difficult to cultivate. For you, senior, to have cultivated it to the peak of the fourth grade, you have clearly put in a great deal of effort."

Upon hearing Ye Yuan's words, the old man suddenly realized and said, "No wonder! No wonder! So that's it! So that's it! Young friend Ye Yuan, this... this method of cultivating Kongchan Tianlu... could you... could you pass it on to me?"

Spirit tea is also a type of spiritual herb, and its cultivation is extremely delicate, not something that can be explained in a few words.

Ye Yuan knew this because Xian Lin was also a tea enthusiast and had collected many methods for cultivating spirit tea.

Kongchan Tianlu was one of them.

The Xuanji Pavilion Master was now extremely excited, having completely lost his air of a lofty expert, and looked at Ye Yuan with eager eyes.

Ye Yuan smiled and said, "Of course!"

With that, Ye Yuan took out a jade slip, inscribed the method for cultivating Kongchan Tianlu, and handed it to the Xuanji Pavilion Master.

The Xuanji Pavilion Master swept his divine sense over it, his eyes growing brighter and brighter, as if he had found a treasure.

"So that's it! So that's it! Why didn't I think of that?" The old man looked as if he had suddenly understood, and seemed eager to give it a try.

Ye Yuan was not in a hurry and waited quietly.

This reading took nearly an hour.

The old man put away the jade slip and then suddenly snapped back to reality, saying with slight embarrassment, "Heh heh, you must have found me amusing, young friend Ye Yuan. You don't know how much effort I've put into this Kongchan Tianlu. Now that I've found something I love, I got lost in it and couldn't help myself."

Ye Yuan smiled and said, "I am also an alchemist, junior, so I naturally understand the Pavilion Master's feelings."

The old man laughed heartily and said, "We've talked so much about tea that I almost forgot the main business! Young friend Ye Yuan, you bear the Emperor Ling Qi, so divining for you would consume a considerable amount of my lifespan! For certain reasons, I cannot act frequently. Therefore, I have set a rule of acting once every three hundred years!"

Ye Yuan sighed inwardly. He had not expected that his own fortune would become the greatest obstacle to finding Li'er and the others.

"Senior, may I ask how much longer until the three hundred years are up?" Ye Yuan asked.

The old man said, "There are only seven years left until the three-hundred-year mark."

Ye Yuan was overjoyed upon hearing this and said, "Senior, I want this opportunity for you to act this time, and I am willing to pay any price!"

But the old man shook his head and said, "This opportunity, you must earn it yourself."

Ye Yuan asked in confusion, "Earn it myself?"

The Xuanji Pavilion Master nodded and said, "Seven years from now, the Aurora Imperial City will set up a Hundred Battle Arena! At that time, geniuses from all sides will gather there to compete for the chance to have me observe their qi and perform divination. If you want me to act, you must win on the Hundred Battle Arena!"

Ye Yuan's expression changed slightly and he said, "This... if I happen to encounter a late-stage Divine Lord realm cultivator, wouldn't I have no chance of winning?"

Ye Yuan was strong, but not strong enough to defeat a late-stage Divine Lord realm cultivator.

The Xuanji Pavilion Master smiled and said, "You need not worry about that. According to the rules I have set, anyone with a bone age exceeding two thousand years is not allowed to participate in the Hundred Battle Arena. Your opponents will all be your peers!"