Plant VS Cultivation

Chapter 158: The Golden Scissors

In truth, the intel Shi Yuwei had received about human cultivators from other sea regions coming to join Gu Mo was already outdated.

To be precise, the Crab Archipelago was gradually becoming a gathering place for human cultivators.

After the news of General Golden Claw's death spread—and especially after the terrifying individual who had killed him took up residence there—the sea demons inhabiting the archipelago quickly fled. After all, no sea demon would dare stay near someone capable of slaying General Golden Claw.

As a result, there were now few sea demons left in the Crab Archipelago.

The newly vacated land was promptly occupied by the human cultivators flocking to Gu Mo's side, slowly forming a hub of human cultivator activity.

To begin with, human cultivators in the sea had always lived harsh lives, constantly under threat from sea demons whose numbers and power far exceeded their own. They had no choice but to hide and struggle to survive in remote corners.

But now, with the emergence of someone capable of killing a top-tier demon like General Golden Claw, these cultivators saw a glimmer of hope. The main reason they had long been oppressed was the lack of a pillar of strength among their ranks.

To them, Gu Mo was now that pillar—and so, without needing to coordinate, they all rushed to the Crab Archipelago, hoping to find protection under his name.

Naturally, Gu Mo made no promises and did not go out to meet these cultivators. After all, he would be leaving eventually, and he didn't want them to pin all their hopes on him.

Moreover, the more human cultivators gathered here, the more likely it was to provoke a retaliatory response from the sea demons. The Crab Archipelago wasn't some remote place like the Crimson Coral Isles—it was a core territory. Having it taken over by humans would be a serious provocation to the sea demons.

For now, with Gu Mo present, this wasn't a problem. But once he left, things might change.

Even though they hadn't seen Gu Mo in person, those cultivators weren't discouraged. They understood that a powerhouse like him wasn't someone easily approached. They weren't here for a personal pledge of protection—just being near him was protection enough.

After all, to the sea demons in the region, the Crab Archipelago was now a forbidden zone. The cultivators could train here in peace, without fear of being attacked.

Ignoring the growing crowd of outside cultivators, Gu Mo turned his attention back to the golden pincers in his hand. Ever since obtaining them from General Golden Claw, he had been investigating their properties. These pincers had survived both the demon's self-detonation and the explosion of a Cherry Bomb unscathed—there was clearly something extraordinary about them.

After lengthy study, Gu Mo finally discovered a clue: it seemed the pincers contained a hidden treasure, which was the true reason they had remained intact.

However, the treasure was fused with the pincers, making extraction difficult.

And unless the treasure could be removed, the pincers couldn't be refined. Gu Mo couldn't very well go into battle dragging a pair of giant claws.

"Wait a minute!"

Suddenly, a thought struck him—if the pincers were fused with a treasure, didn't that mean the pincers themselves were a treasure? Perhaps he could extract it using the traditional method of sacrificial refining.

With that in mind, Gu Mo squeezed out a drop of his essence blood and placed it on the pincer, initiating the refining process.

"It's working!"

Watching the blood be absorbed, Gu Mo was overjoyed. Though the process was slow, it was indeed working—and that was all that mattered.

"Whew…"

When the refinement of the first pincer was finally complete, Gu Mo let out a long breath. He hadn't expected it to take so much time—and there was still one more to go.

Now that he was the pincer's rightful owner, he could examine its inner workings and quickly detected the hidden treasure.

"That golden glow… is that the treasure inside?"

Confirming that the golden energy within the pincer was the essence of the treasure, Gu Mo guided the energy to coalesce. As it gathered, the pincer's color faded back to its original bluish hue.

At the center of the gathered golden energy, Gu Mo saw the blade of a golden scissor—so the treasure concealed within was a pair of scissors!

"Rise!"

With a soft shout, he drew the blade out. The moment it left the pincer, the pincer disintegrated into a pile of bluish-gray powder.

The blade, however, solidified into a tangible, palm-sized scissor blade. Gu Mo grasped it, astonished by the power it radiated.

It emanated a razor-sharp aura—it was clearly a powerful metal-type treasure. In terms of quality, it even surpassed Gu Mo's top-tier ice-element flying sword. However, he sensed no spirit consciousness within the blade, meaning it didn't meet the criteria for a true spirit artifact.

Or perhaps it once had a spirit but had since lost it. Otherwise, such a weapon couldn't have been refined so easily.

It was also possible that the scissors were incomplete. If he could extract the second blade from the other pincer and reunite the pair, their full power might be revealed.

Driven by curiosity and ambition, Gu Mo was eager to uncover the scissors' true potential—he was certain this treasure would greatly enhance his combat abilities.

Even with just a single blade, the power it lent him had already surpassed his ice-element flying sword. If he could reunite the pair, the result might be even more astounding.

Without hesitation, he began refining the second pincer. With the experience from the first, the second process went much more smoothly.

Soon, he extracted the second blade.

When the two blades were brought together, they fused on their own, forming a brilliant pair of golden scissors. At that moment, Gu Mo also received the embedded information about the weapon.

These golden scissors were named Golden Jiao Shears. They were not the legendary supreme treasure of the same name, but rather a later imitation. Even so, they were of the Spirit Treasure tier.

Above magic artifacts were spirit tools, and above those were spirit treasures. A spirit tool housed a nascent consciousness capable of acting on its own.

A spirit treasure was a further evolution—its consciousness could grow, merge with the weapon, and eventually assume a physical form. Gu Mo's Golden Jiao Shears could transform into two golden dragons, a hallmark of spirit treasure-level weapons.

However, this pair was an imitation, and its spirit had already dissipated. Though it retained the framework of a spirit treasure, it lacked its soul.

Still, the transformation ability remained usable—just without the control of a spirit. That meant the dragons would require immense amounts of spiritual energy to activate and would move stiffly, needing manual control.

True spirit treasures with active spirits could unleash several times the power with just a fraction of energy, and their forms would coordinate fluidly with their wielder's commands.

Even without its spirit, the Golden Jiao Shears had immense potential—and Gu Mo now held that power in his hands.

However, none of this really mattered to Gu Mo, since his current cultivation and soul strength weren't anywhere near enough to fully activate the Golden Jiao Shears and bring out their true form.

At most, Gu Mo could only make use of the innate sharpness of the Golden Jiao Shears. And it's no exaggeration to say, if he had possessed these shears during his previous battle against General Golden Pincer, he could have likely cut straight through the general's shell and killed him outright.

Such was the tremendous boost in power granted by a spiritual treasure—even a de-spiritualized one like this. If this were a true spiritual treasure, Gu Mo estimated he could even go head-to-head with a Nascent Soul cultivator.

Well, assuming he had enough core power within his body to actually fuel the spiritual treasure.

As he toyed with the Golden Jiao Shears, Gu Mo found himself liking them more and more. Although scissors-type weapons looked rather unconventional, for a spiritual plant master, a pair of shears actually felt like a good fit. They could be used for trimming spiritual plants in daily cultivation. Given the shears' incredible sharpness, they might even be able to cut through Tier-4 spiritual plants.

In combat, he could split the shears into two blades and wield them as dual weapons. Using them to execute sword arts would definitely surpass the power of even the top-grade ice-element flying sword he had before.

Of course, when it came to increasing combat power, raising one's cultivation level was the most reliable path. Right now, Gu Mo was just one step away from reaching the Core Formation realm—he only needed to activate the Core Condensation technique.

After taking control of the Tier-3 high-grade spiritual land once occupied by General Golden Claw, Gu Mo's plant reserves had grown significantly. First and foremost, his collection of Tier-3 Sunflowers had increased from ten to thirty. And these weren't Tier-3 low-grade—they were mid-grade.

The solar essence condensed by a mid-grade sunflower was three times that of a low-grade one. As a result, these thirty mid-grade Tier-3 sunflowers were effectively equivalent to ninety low-grade ones.

Thanks to that, the accumulation speed of core energy in Gu Mo's body had skyrocketed. In just a single year, his major meridian cycle was nearly filled to capacity.

While most Foundation Establishment cultivators circulated liquid spiritual power through their major meridian cycles, what coursed through Gu Mo's core was solar energy. And not just core energy—his physique and soul had already reached the level of a Core Formation cultivator. The only thing missing now was a golden core.

As for how to condense a golden core, Gu Mo had already attempted it back during his Foundation Establishment breakthrough. He had even used his avatar to form a false core.

So, the method itself wasn't the issue. The real concern was that, as far as anyone knew, no one had ever tried to condense a golden core using pre-existing core energy.

Gu Mo wasn't sure what problems might arise. Normally, he would've let his avatar test it first—but his avatar had been destroyed by a Nascent Soul elder from the fenghua Sect. Lately, Gu Mo had been too focused on cultivation to form a new one.

After all, the sea region wasn't yet stable enough for Gu Mo to set aside large chunks of time to forge a new avatar. Crafting one was quick, but strengthening it required a steady stream of resources.

And giving those resources to the avatar would slow Gu Mo's own cultivation and delay upgrades for his plants. So, in the interest of maximizing his growth rate, shelving the avatar for now was clearly the optimal choice.

Without the avatar to act as a test dummy, the risk would have to be borne by his true self. To play it safe, Gu Mo thought it might be wise to first prepare some core-condensing resources. Even if they didn't help much in a crisis, having them on hand could act as a safeguard.

The most crucial of these resources was the Golden Core Pill. But in this remote sea region, if Gu Mo didn't refine it himself, he basically had no other options.

Fortunately, the alchemist inheritance Gu Mo had obtained included the formula for the Golden Core Pill. And he wasn't lacking in spiritual ingredients either—General Golden Claw's treasure hoard contained many of the necessary materials.

The only potential shortfall was Gu Mo's alchemy skill. At present, he could refine most Tier-2 pills, including Foundation Establishment Pills.

Thanks to the three Jade Dew Fruit trees he possessed, Gu Mo had no shortage of main ingredients for Foundation Establishment Pills. Especially since those trees were planted in a Tier-3 high-grade spiritual land and nurtured by Gu Mo himself. They could mature in just one year rather than the usual five.

With materials in hand, Gu Mo personally attempted to refine Foundation Establishment Pills. Aside from his first failure due to inexperience, the rest of his attempts succeeded, yielding more than ten pills.

Among them, one was a high-grade pill, eight were mid-grade, and four were standard quality. With such results, Gu Mo's Tier-2 alchemist status was beyond doubt.

But to refine Golden Core Pills, a Tier-2 alchemist simply wasn't good enough. Pills that aid breakthroughs to major realms—like Foundation or Core Formation—were notoriously difficult to craft.

Gu Mo knew this well. In a major cultivation realm, he'd simply spend spirit stones to buy the pill. But here, in this isolated sea region, he suspected he might already be the most skilled alchemist around.

Moreover, advancing to a Tier-3 alchemist had always been one of Gu Mo's goals. The difference between Tier-2 and Tier-3 was massive. And it also served as an excellent cover for his identity as a spiritual plant master.

The higher his alchemist rank, the less likely anyone would suspect he also practiced the path of the spiritual plant master. After all, mastering even one path was difficult enough—few would ever believe that Gu Mo was not only an alchemist but also a plant cultivator.

"In that case—let's begin."

He had the materials, the pill recipe, and everything from divine sense to body and internal core energy all up to the standards of a Core Formation cultivator. Since he had everything needed to attempt the breakthrough to Tier-3 alchemist—and even possessed treasures like the Torch Tree Stump—why hesitate now?

Crimson Coral Archipelago.

Master Xuan Shui let out a long breath as he looked at his newly regenerated arm. He had finally restored his body before Lord Chisha's millennial birthday celebration. Had he attended with an incomplete body, it would surely have displeased Lord Chisha.

"Well then, it's time to bring these gifts with me," Master Xuan Shui murmured as he gazed toward the distance at the Crimson Coral Archipelago.

Over the past year, without his attention, the cultivators in the archipelago had clearly grown in strength. Fortunately, none had yet reached the Core Formation stage—otherwise, that would have been another headache.

Arriving at the largest island, Red One Island, Master Xuan Shui activated his sea demon bloodline. In an instant, his body transformed into a monstrous fish.

Under the horrified gazes of the island's cultivators, Master Xuan Shui opened his mouth wide, unleashing a powerful suction force that pulled in every cultivator and mortal on the island, swallowing them whole into a special stomach pocket he had opened within himself.

After all, storage artifacts couldn't hold living beings. And since Master Xuan Shui wanted to offer the freshest possible tribute, he had prepared a dedicated organ for that purpose.

Facing the rampage of a Tier-3 sea beast, the Crimson Coral Archipelago had no power to resist. They could only watch helplessly as everyone on the island was swallowed alive.

Among the many cultivators and mortals devoured by Master Xuan Shui, two bright, juicy cherries were also sucked in—along with various other fruits and vegetables.

(Show your support and read more chapters on my Patreon: [email protected]/psychopet. Thank you for your support!)