Ye Mingcheng explained for a while before Guo Xingyue understood: Cultivators can marry and have children, but both parties need to sacrifice nearly a hundred years of cultivation. Since cultivators prioritize the enhancement of their realms and strive for ascension through tribulation, dual cultivation, which incurs the loss of power and intensifies the mental tribulation during ascension, is not common. It usually only occurs when both parties are deeply in love and reluctant to part. The only advantage is that the offspring of dual cultivators have a slight edge over ordinary people in cultivation.
Ye Mingcheng's dual cultivation partner is a disciple from the Hundred Herbs Sect on Ju Shou Star, focusing on alchemy. He plans to forge a high-grade alchemical cauldron as a betrothal gift, which is a personal endeavor and cannot use the resources of his sect. Thus, he has been gathering materials for artifact refinement. This green luminescent stone, being a wood attribute crystal, is essential for making the alchemical cauldron. Ju Shou Star is a major source of green luminescent stones, but most mines are controlled by local sects. Ye Mingcheng has no valuable minerals to trade, so he decided to take a chance in the desert.
Guo Xingyue weighed the green diamond in his hand and handed it to Ye Mingcheng, saying, "Big Brother, let this be my token of respect for you." Ye Mingcheng declined, "Little Brother, do you know how precious this green diamond is? It's a treasure coveted by cultivators. I can't accept such a valuable gift. Besides, the remaining crystals are mostly high-grade, and a small piece is enough for me to refine. You should keep this diamond for yourself." Guo Xingyue laughed, "Big Brother, these are all external possessions. How can they compare to our brotherly bond? Moreover, I need to prepare some gifts for my future sister-in-law. So please, do accept it."
After considering, Ye Mingcheng agreed, "Alright, I'll take half, and you keep the other half." He used that strange knife to slice off a small piece of the green diamond, forcing Guo Xingyue to put the larger piece into his storage ring. After finishing this, it was already dark, and both of their true essence was nearly depleted, so they decided to spend the night on the sand dune.
Ju Shou Star is a massive planet, about four times the size of Pan Gu Star. Sixty percent of the planet is covered by oceans, with only a single continent. The central part of the continent is a vast desert, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, and behind the mountains lies the ocean. The desert is dotted with numerous oases, varying in size. The largest ones cover thousands of square miles, while the smallest are just a few miles. Most mortals on Ju Shou Star inhabit the three largest oases. There are three cultivator sects on Ju Shou Star: Chang Mo Sect, Ming Xin Sect, and Chen Lou Sect, each residing on the high mountains of the three major oases. These are all small sects, and each has a teleportation array leading to other planets, along with a public teleportation array located in the high mountains at the desert's edge. Most external cultivators arrive on Ju Shou Star through this public teleportation array.
The spiritual energy on Ju Shou Star is not particularly rich, and its resources are scarce, with green luminescent stones being the most notable. Hence, external cultivators are rarely seen. Ye Mingcheng arrived through the public teleportation array and did not plan to interact with the local sects, having come from a large sect that generally disregards smaller ones. With his goal of collecting green luminescent stones achieved, he set off with Guo Xingyue toward the public teleportation array.
Ju Shou Star is indeed vast; they flew for seven days without even seeing the desert's edge. During this time, Guo Xingyue took the opportunity to study the three jade tokens that Ye Mingcheng had given him. Whenever he encountered something unclear, he would ask Ye Mingcheng, making great progress, especially in understanding formations. He often proposed unique insights that amazed Ye Mingcheng—this guy truly seems to be a natural-born cultivator.
After flying for several more days, the distant mountains gradually came into view. Suddenly, Guo Xingyue felt an indescribable energy fluctuation emanating from the oasis beneath them, prompting him to quickly urge Ye Mingcheng to check it out.
After circling the oasis, they discovered it was not large, only a few miles in circumference, with low shrubs covering the mountains and a small lake filled with floating weeds, obscuring the lake's depth. This oasis seemed like just one of countless others in the desert, showing no signs of anything special. If one had to point out a difference, it was that no small animals could be seen in this oasis.
Ye Mingcheng trusted Guo Xingyue's instincts and followed him down to the small hill. Guo Xingyue carefully discerned that the mysterious energy fluctuation was coming from the small lake, so he descended beside it and spotted a peculiar plant in the lake's center. Its leaves resembled lotus flowers from Pan Gu Star but only had seven petals. The bottom two petals rested on the water's surface, while the remaining petals spread outwards, with the largest petal coiled up, concealing whatever was inside. The entire plant continuously emitted faint energy fluctuations.
Guo Xingyue's heart stirred: Isn't this the Seven-Grade Lotus Platform? There was a record of it in the jade token Big Brother gave me. He turned to Ye Mingcheng and said, "Big Brother, this should be the Seven-Grade Lotus Platform, right?" Ye Mingcheng responded excitedly, "Exactly! This is a heavenly material and earthly treasure, a holy herb for alchemy." After a brief pause, he continued, "Little Brother, your intuition is remarkable; you could sense the existence of the Seven-Grade Lotus Platform. This plant has been growing for nearly ten thousand years and is about to mature. If the cultivation world knew, there would be a mad rush for it!" Just as Guo Xingyue felt proud, a sudden wave of danger washed over him, and he quickly grabbed Ye Mingcheng's hand to fly backward.
As they retreated, a black beam struck the spot where they had just stood, creating a massive crater in the ground. Had it not been for Guo Xingyue's instinctual reaction to danger, they would have been severely injured if not killed. They swiftly released their magical treasures, remaining on high alert.
With a splash, a giant snake head emerged from the lake's surface, its head as large as a millstone, adorned with two horns, and its eyes wide open like copper bells, fixating on the two of them as it continuously flicked its black forked tongue. That black beam just now had been a strike from this giant snake's tongue. Its body was covered in black scales that shimmered in the sunlight, with just the exposed part nearly five zhang high. If the entire snake were to emerge, it would likely be three or four dozen zhang long. No wonder there were no small animals in this oasis—it had probably eaten them all.