Chapter 147 - 142: Wood Spirit

Chapter 147: Chapter 142: Wood Spirit

"Don’t go in yet. Let’s wait for Lin and the others to arrive!"

The Inner Sect Disciple with the highest Cultivation in the group glanced at Jiang Zuo and said in a low voice.

Inheritors were competitors. There was no rule saying they couldn’t attack each other.

The Divine Wood Sect was willing to risk its reputation to teach outsiders who snuck into the Cyan Wood Secret Realm a lesson. They simply didn’t want to suffer unnecessary losses in the process.

This man had entered the Cyan Wood Secret Realm alone, was the first to reach the Inheritance Land, and had even tested with supreme aptitude. His strength was definitely not to be underestimated.

In a one-on-one fight, even though these disciples, the inheritors of the Divine Wood Sect’s Cultivation Techniques, were all at Grandmaster Great Perfection, they probably wouldn’t be a match for him.

What’s more, it was highly likely that he had already Promoted to Innate before they arrived.

Time passed. The teams led by Lin Huayang, Fang Changtao, and Master Jianqin soon arrived one after another before the green membrane of light.

"He’s not a disciple of our Divine Wood Sect?"

A vicious glint flashed in Lin Huayang’s eyes as he looked at Jiang Zuo.

Lin Huayang’s name sounded quite scholarly, but he was actually a burly young man with an extremely fiery temper.

However, his strength was among the top one or two of all the Dao Foundation disciples in the Divine Wood Sect.

"It seems the great name of our Divine Wood Sect isn’t enough to deter some of these scoundrels!"

Fang Changtao said with a slight smile.

Dressed in a feathered crown and green robes, his build was rather slim. He looked every bit the scholar.

Master Jianqin looked like an ice queen. She said nothing, merely watching Jiang Zuo in silence.

Several hours passed. Of the eight teams, one had yet to arrive.

"Junior Brother Shi sent word. He said there’s no need to wait. The seven of you, go in together now."

"After you go in, immediately confirm whether he has Promoted to Innate. If he has, be extremely careful."

"If he attacks you first, don’t hold back. Use all the measures we prepared beforehand on him."

"If he doesn’t make a move, don’t provoke him. Just focus on receiving the inheritance."

Lin Huayang instructed the seven Martial Arts Grandmasters present.

Although his temper was fiery, he hadn’t been chosen by Ge Fangrong to be the lead senior brother for this trip to the Cyan Wood Secret Realm just because of his great strength.

In fact, most of the time, Lin Huayang was extremely reliable.

"Yes, Lin!"

The seven replied respectfully. Then, circulating the Life Essence Returning Skill, they stepped into the green membrane of light in unison.

"Lin, this person doesn’t have the presence of an Innate yet. He hasn’t Promoted to Innate."

After entering, the seven immediately turned and reported to Lin Huayang and the others.

"Good. Go to the Cyan Wood Longevity Stele and act according to the situation."

Lin Huayang glanced at Jiang Zuo and said to the seven.

Jiang Zuo had seen the seven enter, but he showed no hostile intent toward them.

"It seems this person still doesn’t want to make an enemy of our Divine Wood Sect."

Fang Changtao chuckled.

"Of course. Sneaking into the Cyan Wood Secret Realm is already a major offense. Attacking the disciples who are our Cultivation Technique inheritors would be a death sentence!"

Lin Huayang said coolly, not surprised by this outcome.

In fact, if that man really dared to attack disciples of the Divine Wood Sect, he would have to be out of his mind.

’Is that really so?’

Among the crowd of Divine Wood Sect disciples, Wen Yusheng wondered to himself.

He was almost certain that this person was closely related to the "fierce man" the Third Elder had spoken of.

If it weren’t for all the Inner Sect senior brothers around, he would have already heeded the Third Elder’s advice and fled as far away as possible.

"All you junior brothers may go search for treasures, but remember, you must return here before the inheritance competition on the seventh day. Anyone who is late, regardless of the reason, will be punished by the sect."

Fang Changtao said to the crowd of junior brothers.

For the next few days, their staying here wouldn’t be of any help.

The Cyan Wood Secret Realm opened once every hundred years. One could find many Spirit Grasses and Spiritual Medicines over a century old, and with good luck, even Five Elements Spiritual Objects.

If not for the sudden appearance of an outsider, the three of them—Lin Huayang, Fang Changtao, and Master Jianqin—would also have gone to look around.

But now, they had to stand guard here, just in case.

Having received permission, the other disciples all left one by one.

Wen Yusheng, needless to say, was gone in a flash.

...

The seven Martial Arts Grandmasters cautiously approached.

Jiang Zuo just watched them, showing no intention of making a move.

If he wanted to fight, these seven would be no match for him.

However, based on the hints from the stele earlier, one person could probably only obtain one Cultivation Technique, one piece of Wood Element Spiritual Soil, and one Wood Element Spirit Seed.

Attacking now held no benefit for Jiang Zuo.

If there was going to be a fight, it would have to be after that.

Under Jiang Zuo’s gaze, the seven Martial Arts Grandmasters tested their aptitude at the stele one by one.

Beams of light of varying intensity shot up from the stele into the sky.

But none could compare to Jiang Zuo’s.

Subsequently, just like with Jiang Zuo, small trees grew beside each of them, bearing items for Awakening a Spirit Root.

However, what the seven received were either pieces of wood or small fruits of poor quality.

Jiang Zuo just watched, showing no interest in snatching these Spirit Root Awakening items from them.

Then, before Jiang Zuo’s eyes, the seven circulated their Cultivation Techniques one by one and Promoted to Innate.

’They all Awakened a Spirit Root? The odds are that high?’

Jiang Zuo was a little surprised as he looked at the seven faces, each filled with joy.

And this was only the beginning.

As they Promoted to Innate and Awakened their Spirit Roots...

The sky around the stele suddenly changed.

Dense streams of cyan Spiritual Qi descended from the sky, landing on the seven of them.

The auras of the seven began to climb rapidly.

Opening their Qi Sea, first level of Qi Cultivation, second level...

Day by day, the Cultivation of the seven gradually rose.

Jiang Zuo just watched quietly from the side, not stepping forward to disturb them.

"This person... what does he mean by this? He’s not even at the Innate realm, is he? Half of the seven days are already gone. Even if he Promoted to Innate now, it would be a little late, wouldn’t it?"

The three had been watching everything happening inside the Array from the outside.

They had witnessed all of Jiang Zuo’s actions.

Fang Changtao said with a frown.

"Is he trying to show goodwill to our Divine Wood Sect? He doesn’t want to compete with us for the opportunity?"

"No, even so, he wouldn’t possibly give up the chance to Promote to Innate and receive the Cyan Wood Spiritual Qi Infusion."

"This is a massive opportunity that countless people could only dream of!"

Lin Huayang couldn’t figure it out either.

The massive boost in Cultivation over a short period from the Cyan Wood Spiritual Qi Infusion was secondary.

More importantly, the Cyan Wood Spiritual Qi was no ordinary Spiritual Qi; it was a supreme-grade Spiritual Qi related to the Cyan Wood Longevity Technique.

As long as the Awakened Spirit Root wasn’t too poor, it would provide immense benefits for cultivating Wood Attribute Cultivation Techniques in the future.

And in the Cultivation Realm, Wood Attribute Cultivation Techniques were the most numerous. Being able to achieve mastery faster would be a huge advantage.

Anyone with a brain wouldn’t give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"He... might be even more powerful than those junior brothers who received the Cyan Wood Spiritual Qi Infusion."

Master Jianqin spoke up at this moment.

"More powerful than Cultivators who have Promoted to Innate and are also in the middle or late stages of Qi Cultivation, without even being Innate himself?"

"Why? Is it because he’s older?"

Lin Huayang looked at Master Jianqin.

In the Inner Sect, many Dao Foundation junior brothers said Master Jianqin was cold and aloof.

That wasn’t really the case. Master Jianqin was just not good at communicating with people. When she spoke, she was often incoherent, her train of thought extremely erratic.

"Intuition."

Master Jianqin replied curtly.

’Intuition?’

A glint flashed in Lin Huayang’s eyes. He didn’t quite believe it.

Because often, when Master Jianqin didn’t know how to explain something to others, she would use the word "intuition" to answer.

But when she did say "intuition," it usually meant she wasn’t wrong.

"This person is that powerful? If that’s really the case, I’m afraid we’re in for some trouble this time."

Fang Changtao’s expression also turned grim.

"Hmph, so what if he’s stronger than the Qi Cultivation junior brothers? He’s just a mortal. Can he possibly be stronger than us?"

"If something happens to the junior brothers inside, we’ll make our move after the competition for the inheritance is over."

Lin Huayang snorted, speaking dismissively.

"In that case..."

Fang Changtao pondered for a moment, looking at an object in his hand.

In truth, neither Lin Huayang nor Master Jianqin knew that he was also shouldering an incredibly important mission on this trip to the Secret Realm.

However, the matter was of such great importance that besides himself, only Elder Ge Fangrong was aware of it.

Seven days passed by quickly.

After seven days of Cyan Wood Spiritual Qi Infusion, the lowest Cultivation among the seven Martial Arts Grandmasters was the fifth level of Qi Cultivation, while the highest had reached the ninth level of Qi Cultivation, just one step away from Qi Cultivation Perfection.

"Please select a Wood Spirit you believe is most compatible with yourself. You will then control your respective Wood Spirits to compete for the inheritance against the other Inheritors!"

A message appeared in the minds of all the Inheritors.

’Control Wood Spirits to compete?’

Jiang Zuo raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected it to be done this way.

’And these Spirit Woods... I’m afraid they can’t be controlled with Spiritual Power alone.’

’Hmm, it shouldn’t be that simple.’

’Otherwise, they could have just had us fight for it with brute force. No need to go to the trouble of controlling Wood Spirits.’

’To control these Wood Spirits, besides Spiritual Power, there must be some kind of compatibility requirement.’

’It’s probably related to the Inheritor’s aptitude.’

As Jiang Zuo was speculating, enormous cyan flowers began to rise from the black soil around them.

The cyan flowers then bloomed, revealing small, childlike figures with their eyes closed inside.

However, they didn’t look human; each had a pair of small green wings on its back.

There were eighteen of these children in total. They looked similar, but not completely identical.

The biggest difference was the weapons they held.

Sabers, swords, bows, axes, long spears... the list went on.

"This man truly knows nothing about the Cyan Wood Secret Realm. Without Spiritual Power, he can forget about commanding a Wood Spirit!"

Lin Huayang said with a cold laugh as he watched Jiang Zuo.

Not every disciple who entered the Cyan Wood Secret Realm was able to Awaken a Spirit Root when they Promoted to Innate.

Many disciples of the Divine Wood Sect had failed to Awaken a Spirit Root and could only watch helplessly as other disciples competed for the inheritance.

From this, the Divine Wood Sect had concluded that without the ability to use Spiritual Power, one could not command or control the Wood Spirits.

Just as Lin Huayang finished speaking, the three of them watched, dumbfounded.

The man walked up to a Wood Spirit, which immediately opened its eyes, flapped its small wings, and tried to fly onto his hand.

But the man grabbed the Wood Spirit and pushed it back into the flower.