Chapter 153: The Unlucky Wood Spirit Seed

The cavern was deep enough to hold a dozen people. Its surrounding stone walls looked as though they had been hacked by knives and axes, and a dim, secluded sheen seemed to emanate from them.

Only at a height of some twenty feet above the ground did a large stone jut outward. Perhaps because water had dripped without pause for countless millions of years through the cracks in the rock above, its surface had been hollowed out, naturally forming a vast stone bowl.

The dripping had stopped by now. The bowl was nearly full of a milky-white liquid, from which spiritual energy bubbled and streamed outward. Floating in that spiritual fluid was a transparent seed.

Hong Jian could not tell whether the fragrance came from the liquid or the seed. Her divine sense soon noticed that the spiritual fluid in the bowl was diminishing. In the short time since she had entered the cavern, an additional half-inch of the bowl’s rim had been exposed.

The seed was consuming the spiritual fluid.

Could this seed be the rare treasure? Hong Jian, who knew little about such things, found herself at a loss. How was she supposed to collect it? Would there be danger if she acted rashly? If she accidentally damaged the treasure, that would be a terrible waste.

It had grown in the spiritual fluid, so the most likely course was to collect it together with the liquid.

To gather the unknown treasure, Hong Jian had prepared containers made from all kinds of materials. She took a jade bottle from her universe pouch, tilted its mouth downward, and slowly lowered it into the stone bowl.

The spiritual fluid in the bowl suddenly surged upward. The seed seemed to have been startled and shot away with a soft whistle.

Realizing that something was wrong, Hong Jian hurriedly withdrew the bottle. Not a drop of spiritual fluid had touched it, yet that brief attempt had already caused the liquid in the bowl to sink by half an inch.

What was she supposed to do? At this rate, the spiritual fluid would soon be completely consumed. Once that happened, would the strange seed disappear, or would it take root and sprout?

Hong Jian was somewhat bewildered. She slowly extended her hand and stopped it a little over an inch from the seed. The seed seemed to sense something, spun once, and sank to the bottom of the bowl.

It was that perceptive?

Hong Jian could not help bending down to examine it more closely.

“What exactly are you?” she murmured. “When the spiritual fluid is gone, will you still be all right?”

Remaining locked in this stalemate was pointless. The seed grew in spiritual fluid, and Hong Jian guessed it would not be too resistant to water elemental energy. She therefore circulated her true essence around her fingers and reached into the liquid.

The spiritual fluid was faintly cool. Before Hong Jian could properly sense it, an enormous suction force rose from the bottom of the bowl. Her water elemental energy poured out uncontrollably. Startled, Hong Jian yanked her hand back.

The seed spun once more at the bottom of the bowl. This time, Hong Jian sensed a smug satisfaction radiating from it.

Hong Jian gritted her teeth and widened her eyes. If the seed at the bottom of the bowl had possessed a pair of eyes, the scene would have been one of two creatures glaring at each other.

There was nothing she could do with it. After thinking for a while, she again wrapped her fingers in water elemental energy and lowered them into the spiritual fluid. At the instant the mysterious seed began drawing in her true essence, she activated the Great Tribulation Scripture.

She had heard that true treasures of heaven and earth possessed spirits of their own and could communicate with people. This seed had certainly not reached that level. Yet from its reactions, it seemed to possess a rudimentary ability to make judgments. Hong Jian hoped that the Great Tribulation Scripture would allow her to sense its emotions, or at the very least tell her what it actually was.

This time, Hong Jian did not withdraw her hand until nearly half her true essence had been drawn away. From within the spiritual fluid, she sensed some hazy images. The seed was still far from developing intelligence; the few fragments lingering within it were chaotic and disordered. Hong Jian remained dazed for a long while, painstakingly sorting through them before she finally understood.

It was a wood-element spirit seed.

If it had not been growing in a secret realm, if no one had discovered it, then after tens of thousands of years it might perhaps have grown into something comparable to the ancient spirit spring of the Pill Cliff Sect.

But at present it was still extremely weak. Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator like Hong Jian could destroy it with ease.

“If that is so, why did you make such a tremendous commotion? Look at how you have alarmed the people from all the major sects and brought them rushing here. Do you really think anything good will come of that?” Hong Jian muttered to herself, not caring that the seed could not yet understand her words.

Then a thought stirred in her mind.

“Is it because the spiritual fluid here is about to run dry? If so, you simply lack a little fortune.”

At that, she could not help sighing.

“And it is not only you who lack fortune. Shi Qingxiang took the trouble to write a letter asking Jiang Yan to bring me into the secret realm. Unfortunately, neither Jiang Yan nor I possess a wood spirit root, while the one who does is far away at the Pill Cliff Sect. As for Fang Zheng, who knows where he is? Such an enormous opportunity can only be watched from the sidelines. In the end, who knows whose hands it will fall into.”

These thoughts flashed through Hong Jian’s mind and disappeared just as quickly. Since she had already come this far, she could not simply leave empty-handed. Thinking of Fang Zheng suddenly gave her an idea, and she associated it with the Myriad Transformation Life-Death Art.

She tried extending her hand into the spiritual fluid while circulating the art, murmuring, “I can transform wood elemental energy too. Do you want to come with me?”

The passive drain on her true essence was much lighter than before. The transparent wood-element spirit seed lay stupidly at the bottom of the bowl, showing no inclination to draw close.

Hong Jian scratched her head. This ignorant spirit seed had probably grown up in the spiritual fluid and was clearly more eager to absorb water elemental energy. No matter how she tested it, it showed no intention of following her. Hong Jian had a vague feeling that, judging from its appearance, even a wood-spirit-root cultivator might not be able to obtain it easily.

A thunderous boom suddenly came from outside the cavern. The sound reverberated through the cave, and Hong Jian felt even the ground beneath her feet tremble. It was the sound of a metal-element spell striking the mountain wall. Some cultivator had relied on profound magical power to forcibly break through the illusion.

Hong Jian’s heart tightened.

Such ferocity, and such obvious ill intent—there could be no doubt that the intruder was Pu Pingping of the Talisman Diagram Sect.

After entering the secret realm, she had searched everywhere for Pu Pingping, intending to kill him, yet had never found him. Since they had encountered each other here, they might as well settle the matter once and for all.

Still, he could never have imagined that someone was already inside the cavern. Hong Jian revealed a strange smile, found a corner, and stood with her back to the wall. Relying on Immortal Rainbow Radiance, she completely concealed her aura. Thick mist instantly merged her with the stone wall.

The newcomer was indeed Pu Pingping.

He had followed the fragrance here. After wandering through the illusion for half a day, he had finally located its source and shattered the illusion in one stroke with a metal-element spell.

When the hiding place of the rare treasure revealed its true form before him, Pu Pingping was somewhat excited. He released his divine sense and quickly located the cavern.

Deep down, Pu Pingping felt it impossible that anyone could have arrived ahead of him. He had only just beaten several young cultivators from the other sects into utter disarray. Even if Jiang Yan and Qiu Feng had recklessly followed him, they would certainly still be trapped in the illusion. As for the wandering cultivators, their cultivation levels made them even less worthy of consideration.

Even so, to guard against any unforeseen circumstance, Pu Pingping first carefully examined the cavern with his divine sense.

There were no demon beasts, nor any abnormalities. The rare treasure sat alone in the spiritual fluid.

This journey had been far too smooth.

Pu Pingping strode forward. He wanted to take a careful look at the treasure that had caused such a tremendous disturbance.

Hong Jian held the Hollow Sword in her hand, ready to strike. The corner she had chosen was very close to the wood-element spirit seed. As Pu Pingping approached to examine the treasure, he naturally drew closer and closer to her. Soon, even through the white mist, his shadow was visible.

At this distance, if Pu Pingping happened to glance toward the corner, he would surely discover someone there. Yet Hong Jian still did not attack.

She was waiting for an opportunity to kill him with a single blow. Although she seemed on the verge of being exposed, Hong Jian knew perfectly well that Pu Pingping would no longer have the slightest inclination to look around. It was like the time she had just spent communicating with the wood-element spirit seed: she had been completely absorbed and had never considered whether someone nearby might be preparing an ambush.

Pu Pingping stopped in front of the wood-element spirit seed.

“Eh?”

He sounded as though he could not believe what his divine sense had detected, and he bent down, intending to move closer for a look.

The moment had come.

At this time and from this distance, even if Pu Pingping was still at the middle stage of Core Formation, he would be unable to evade the attack.

Hong Jian abruptly activated the Hollow Sword. Several points of icy light flashed through the white mist and shot toward Pu Pingping.

It happened too suddenly. By the time Pu Pingping sensed something wrong, the nearest streak of cold light had already reached his neck. His heart turned cold. He had no time to see what it was, and there was nowhere to dodge. He could not summon a magical artifact or talisman in time, so in his haste he could only resist with his true essence.

Several sharp impacts rang out in succession. Multiple bloody holes appeared in Pu Pingping’s body, and blood gushed from them. The most serious wound was at his neck, where a deep gash had been carved open.

As he retreated rapidly, Pu Pingping slapped a talisman onto the wound.

Hong Jian secretly lamented the result. When water elemental attacks encountered metal-element defenses, their power was simply too limited. She had already poured out all her strength and had riddled Pu Pingping with wounds in an instant, yet after he merely attached a talisman, he seemed almost unharmed.

This was no time to dwell on that.

Holding the initiative, Hong Jian pressed her attack relentlessly. She continued casting spells to drive the Hollow Sword, trying to make Pu Pingping’s injuries even worse.

Pu Pingping had been careless and was now being beaten down by a Foundation Establishment wandering cultivator who did not even dare reveal his face. The frustration nearly made him vomit blood.

To make matters worse, the Golden Bell warding talisman he had possessed had been destroyed by Jiang Yan. He had not brought any defensive artifacts with him this time. He had even felt that carrying an extra Healing Talisman would have been excessive.

The Healing Talisman he had now brought out was actually inferior to a healing spell in terms of its true effect. Its advantage lay in its speed. Unfortunately, the effect was temporary. Once the talisman’s power was exhausted, his injuries would return to the state they had been in when he was first wounded.

He had to subdue this furtive wandering cultivator as quickly as possible.

Pu Pingping had already realized that although his opponent’s magical artifact was fast enough to catch him off guard, it was not powerful enough to inflict a fatal injury on a Core Formation body.

A viciousness rose within him.

He allowed the Hollow Sword to continue carving blooming wounds across his body, then freed both hands to form seals and cast a spell. A sinister smile appeared on his face as he shouted harshly, “Die!”

At this point, Pu Pingping no longer cared how much true essence he consumed. The spell he unleashed was his most powerful technique: the Heart-Wisdom Sword.

There was very little room in the cavern to evade an attack. Almost the instant a blinding white light burst into being, the spell arrived before Hong Jian, carrying the force to destroy both heaven and earth.