Chapter 152 - 147: Ruined Secret Realm, Tearing Off the Facade

Chapter 152: Chapter 147: Ruined Secret Realm, Tearing Off the Facade

"What are you doing?"

"Is this revenge against our Divine Wood Sect?"

"Don’t be so wantonly destructive! There are only a few Longevity Cyan Wood trees left in this world!"

Seeing Jiang Zuo’s actions, Wu Zhonghai was instantly beside himself with shock and fury.

If Jiang Zuo dug up the Longevity Cyan Wood, the Cyan Wood Secret Realm would be ruined.

Jiang Zuo ignored him, simply keeping his head down and digging furiously.

"Young man, you really don’t have to do this. Destroying this Spirit Wood won’t do you any good. How about this? Don’t destroy the tree, and I’ll teach you the Divine Wood Sect’s Secret Technique. What do you say?"

Wu Zhonghai tried to persuade him with earnest words, hoping to change Jiang Zuo’s mind.

But when he saw that Jiang Zuo remained unmoved, he fell silent.

He said nothing more to provoke Jiang Zuo, but his heart was already brimming with killing intent.

The Cyan Wood Secret Realm was extremely important to the Divine Wood Sect.

Setting aside the chance to obtain the Cyan Wood Longevity Technique, the Secret Realm’s opening every hundred years alone provided the Divine Wood Sect with over ten outstanding disciples.

This was one of the core foundations of the Divine Wood Sect’s prosperity.

And Jiang Zuo was now in the process of destroying that very foundation.

The Longevity Cyan Wood’s root system was incredibly extensive, and it took Jiang Zuo a great deal of effort to finally unearth the entire tree and place it in his Pet Beast Spirit Garden.

Great Black and Xiaoqing had already dug a large pit inside the Pet Beast Spirit Garden.

As soon as Jiang Zuo tossed the Longevity Cyan Wood inside, the two of them excitedly rushed over, hoisted it up, and planted it in the pit they had dug.

The nameless Spirit Wood that Jiang Zuo had dug up from the Xu Family’s estate had already grown into a dense grove within the Pet Beast Spirit Garden.

Jiang Zuo deliberately had Great Black and Xiaoqing plant this Longevity Cyan Wood far away from it, just in case any accidents occurred.

"Something’s wrong! A storage bag usable by a mortal is at most three cubic meters—it couldn’t possibly fit the entire Longevity Cyan Wood. Where did you put it?"

Wu Zhonghai suddenly spoke up.

He glanced at the pangolins and Gray Rock Rats around them, and a possibility slowly dawned on him.

"You... you have a Pocket World Spirit Treasure?"

"But that’s not right either... You’re not a Cultivator, so even if you had a Pocket World Spirit Treasure, you couldn’t use it. And besides, you can’t bring a Pocket World Spirit Treasure into a Secret Realm!"

Jiang Zuo listened, his interest piqued.

’A Pocket World Spirit Treasure... sounds a lot like my Pet Beast Spirit Garden, a world of its own.’

’But my Pet Beast Spirit Garden is clearly superior. It can enter the Secret Realm with me.’

Having dug up the Longevity Cyan Wood, Jiang Zuo then walked toward the flower buds where the Wood Spirits resided.

Jiang Zuo found the Wood Spirit that had cooperated with him a while ago, peeled open the flower bud, and woke it with his Divine Sense.

The Wood Spirit woke up and stared at Jiang Zuo, completely baffled.

’What’s happening? Didn’t I just fall asleep a moment ago? Has it already been another hundred years in the blink of an eye?’

’And why does this person look almost identical to the one who woke me up a hundred years ago?’

"Can you understand human speech?"

Jiang Zuo looked at the Wood Spirit.

’These Wood Spirits have been dealing with humans for thousands of years. They should be able to understand what I’m saying.’

The Wood Spirit nodded.

"I can take you away from here. Do you want to leave?"

"Also, I’ve already dug up the Longevity Cyan Wood."

Jiang Zuo said to the Wood Spirit, pointing at the empty spot where the Longevity Cyan Wood used to be.

The Wood Spirit whipped its head around to look, freezing in shock when it saw that the Longevity Cyan Wood was gone.

"WAA WAA WAA!!"

The Wood Spirit thought for a moment, then pointed to the other Wood Spirits and babbled at Jiang Zuo.

"You want me to wake up the other Wood Spirits?"

Jiang Zuo asked after a moment of thought.

The Wood Spirit nodded vigorously.

"Alright!"

This was what Jiang Zuo intended to do anyway, so he walked over and woke up the remaining seventeen Wood Spirits one by one.

The group of Wood Spirits awoke and gathered together, holding a meeting filled with babbles of "WAA WAA WAA." Every so often, one of them would turn its head to look at Jiang Zuo.

Their meeting didn’t last long. Afterward, they all approached Jiang Zuo in unison.

"Does this mean you’ve decided to come with me?"

Jiang Zuo looked at the group of Wood Spirits.

The group of Wood Spirits nodded in unison.

"Good."

Jiang Zuo then collected them one by one into the Pet Beast Spirit Garden.

While talking with the first Wood Spirit, Jiang Zuo had already confirmed that though the creatures were intelligent, they weren’t human and could therefore enter the Pet Beast Spirit Garden.

After placing them in the Pet Beast Spirit Garden, Jiang Zuo had no plans to let them out for the time being, even after he left.

’However, I won’t keep them locked up forever. Once I’m strong enough, if they want to leave, I’ll have no problem letting them go.’

"A Pocket World Spirit Treasure!"

"You really do have a Pocket World Spirit Treasure!"

Seeing Jiang Zuo directly absorb the group of Wood Spirits, Wu Zhonghai exclaimed again in shock.

"But that’s not right. Leaving aside whether you can even use a Pocket World Spirit Treasure, it’s impossible to bring one into a Secret Realm."

"Young man, can you tell me, how on earth did you do it?"

Wu Zhonghai really couldn’t hold back anymore and asked aloud.

Jiang Zuo, of course, paid him no mind and continued searching the area for treasure.

However, it seemed any other treasures were located by the giant stone stele. Jiang Zuo found nothing else of value in the immediate vicinity.

Anything that might have been there had been ruined by the Innate Spiritual Soil.

Seeing this, Jiang Zuo simply had the pangolins and Gray Rock Rats resume digging underground.

’There’s still a Spirit Vein in the Cyan Wood Secret Realm, but I don’t have the means to take it yet.’

’But where there’s a Spirit Vein, there’s a Spirit Stone Mine.’

’I can’t take the whole Spirit Vein, but mining some Spirit Stones would be the next best thing.’

Before long, one of the pangolins signaled that it had reached the Spirit Stone Mine.

Jiang Zuo immediately directed the other pangolins and Gray Rock Rats to swarm the area and start digging.

Simultaneously, Jiang Zuo opened the channel connecting the Pet Beast Spirit Garden and the Cyan Wood Secret Realm as wide as it could go.

The Spiritual Qi in the Cyan Wood Secret Realm frantically poured into the Pet Beast Spirit Garden.

And so, Jiang Zuo began to frantically plunder the Spirit Stones and Spiritual Qi of the Cyan Wood Secret Realm.

「Three days passed in the blink of an eye.」

Leading his group of Pet Beasts, Jiang Zuo had mined nearly 100,000 low-grade Spirit Stones and over a thousand mid-grade Spirit Stones in just three short days.

Jiang Zuo had also placed the Innate Spiritual Soil in another part of the Spirit Vein to absorb Spirit Stones.

After three days, there was no telling how many Spirit Stones it had absorbed.

’But I have a feeling it’s not a small number.’

’That thing absorbs Spirit Stones at an astonishing rate.’

By now, the Spiritual Qi in the Cyan Wood Secret Realm had grown much thinner; it was nothing compared to when Jiang Zuo first arrived.

As Wu Zhonghai watched Jiang Zuo ravage the Cyan Wood Secret Realm beyond recognition, his heart was bleeding.

The Longevity Cyan Wood, dug up. The eighteen Wood Spirits, abducted. The underground Spirit Vein, damaged. The Spiritual Qi, drained away.

If the Cyan Wood Secret Realm had no way to repair itself, it could be considered completely and utterly ruined.

’The three-day limit is up. Kid, the moment you’re back outside is the moment you die!’

Wu Zhonghai thought viciously to himself.

’This brat has to die. Nothing less will appease the hatred in my heart.’

The three-day limit had been reached.

A green light appeared under Jiang Zuo’s feet.

The scene before him changed, and Jiang Zuo found himself back in the secluded valley where he had been living.

Jiang Zuo immediately summoned Great Black. With a great opening of its maw, it spewed streams of fire, incinerating every trace that he and Xu Xiuyun had ever lived there.

After recalling Great Black, Jiang Zuo summoned his fastest Seated Mountain Eagle. He mounted it and flew straight for the Mortal Territory.

「Divine Wood Sect.」

Ge Fangrong had already taken Wu Zhonghai’s soul lamp and arrived before a massive Array.

Calculating the exact moment Jiang Zuo would emerge, Ge Fangrong immediately activated the Array.

Light flowed across the Array, and soon a dazzling beam shot up from its surface into the sky.

Ge Fangrong stood to the side, circulating his energy with his eyes closed.

After a moment, he snapped his eyes open.

"Found him!"

"He’s in the far south, near the border of the Mortal Territory."

"The closest city is Nanping City. I can take the Sect Transmission Array directly there."

"I’ll be able to find him within a day!"

Ge Fangrong grabbed Wu Zhonghai’s soul lamp and flew toward the Sect Transmission Array.

The Divine Wood Sect’s Teleportation Array had already received Ge Fangrong’s message and was waiting for his arrival.

As soon as Ge Fangrong arrived, the Teleportation Array activated.

In the next instant, Ge Fangrong appeared in a great hall where another Teleportation Array was located.

An elderly man was seated within the hall.

The elder was just about to inquire about the newcomer’s identity when he saw Ge Fangrong produce a Token. At the same time, he sensed that Ge Fangrong’s Cultivation was unfathomably deep.

’A Dao Fruit Realm expert! An elder from the Divine Wood Sect!’

The elder was greatly startled and quickly prepared to step forward and bow.

Nanping City was a large city in the vicinity, but compared to the Divine Wood Sect, the difference was like that between heaven and earth.

"I have urgent business. I’ll be back later!"

Ge Fangrong had no time for pleasantries. He left behind those words and his figure vanished from the great hall.

The elder stood stunned for a moment, then came to his senses and hurried away to report the news to the City Lord of Nanping City.

’He’s moving quickly, too? And he’s heading for the Mortal Territory!’

Ge Fangrong used the soul lamp to check Wu Zhonghai’s location, only to discover that in just that short while, the position had changed significantly.

Seeing this, Ge Fangrong’s expression darkened.

’If he escapes into the Heaven and Earth Sealing Spirit Array, my tracking methods will be useless.’

"Kid, are you trying to escape into the Mortal Territory?"

Meanwhile, Wu Zhonghai had also figured out Jiang Zuo’s plan.

He hadn’t expected Jiang Zuo to be so decisive, fleeing toward the Mortal Territory without a second thought right after leaving the Secret Realm.

He had said so much, but failed to lower the man’s guard in the slightest.

"Obviously. Did you really think I couldn’t see through your plans?"

Jiang Zuo replied, a rare occurrence.

"Fine, fine, fine! Since it’s come to this, don’t blame me for what comes next!"

Wu Zhonghai roared.

He didn’t dare act rashly inside Jiang Zuo’s Sea of Consciousness, not with the Mysterious Stele suppressing him.

But he had another trick up his sleeve, one that targeted Jiang Zuo’s body.

Jiang Zuo suddenly felt a sharp, stinging pain on his skin.

It was the dark green mist from before; a considerable portion had seeped into Jiang Zuo’s body.

And this dark green mist was under Wu Zhonghai’s control.

He hadn’t activated it before, hoping to get on Jiang Zuo’s good side and make him lower his guard.

Now that all pretenses were off, Wu Zhonghai no longer held back.

’Interesting. This mist... this poison... is it draining my Lifespan?’

Jiang Zuo focused his senses and perceived that his Lifespan was indeed decreasing at a slow rate.

"That’s right! Did you really think I’d just let you die of old age? If you don’t surrender now and insist on fleeing to the Mortal Territory, this poison will drain all of your Lifespan within twenty to thirty years!"

"Besides me, there are few in this world who can cure this poison. Even if you run back to the Mortal Territory, it’s useless. You can only wait for death!"

Wu Zhonghai said coldly.

Jiang Zuo silently gauged the insidious poison that drained one’s Lifespan. The rate of depletion felt... manageable. To him, it was nothing to be feared.

’Even if I can’t dispel this poison, I can easily replenish my Lifespan just by raising a few small animals.’

Ignoring Wu Zhonghai, Jiang Zuo simply raced back to the Mortal Territory at top speed.

Ge Fangrong was already chasing him with all his might, but unfortunately for him, Jiang Zuo was not far from the Mortal Territory.

In just over half a day, Jiang Zuo had returned to the Mortal Territory and entered the Heaven and Earth Sealing Spirit Array.

Another half a day passed before Ge Fangrong finally arrived at the spot where he had lost Jiang Zuo’s trail.