Chapter 592: Divine Wood Sect

Among the various sects of the Central Domain, the Moral Sect was still the most revered when it came to the Spirit Plant Technique.

With a foundation built over hundreds of thousands of years, plus the number of Grotto Heaven Secret Realms they controlled, they remained leagues ahead of everyone else, even without investing heavily in this particular path.

Many Spirit Fruits and medicinal herbs that had long since vanished—and were thought impossible to appear in the Human World—had reappeared in the Moral Sect’s Medicine Garden Secret Realms.

The disciples of Yellow Court Peak, in particular, were not skilled in Combat but excelled in their own respective areas among the Hundred Skills of Cultivation.

Not only did they have Tier Five Spirit Plant Masters, but they also had accomplished individuals in various other specializations.

Bai Zichen couldn’t possibly invite a Spirit Plant Master from the Moral Sect back to the Northern Domain. For the sake of secrecy, the person he hired could not come from a Super Sect.

The Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice was too important. He didn’t want it exposed so soon, attracting the covetous eyes of outsiders.

Of course, no secret could be kept forever; it was bound to be leaked eventually.

But as long as he could keep it hidden for the initial period, that would be enough. It would take some time for news to spread throughout the Northern Domain and then travel to the Central Domain.

With the great enemy, the Demon Race, at their doorstep, it was uncertain whether any faction would actually risk a falling-out with him over the Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice.

Besides, by the time that happened, he believed he would have the strength to protect the Cyan Dragon Spirit Rice himself.

The only thing he lacked right now was time.

Wuzhong Ridge, East Peak.

The peak was encircled by 365 Divine Trees, which naturally formed a Grand Array. Anyone who entered rashly would only end up as a pile of white bones on Wuzhong Ridge.

During the Late Middle Ancient period, as the Demon Chaos gradually subsided and the situation stabilized, the Cultivators of this world seized a critical opportunity. The Ascension Platform had vanished, and all the Super Long Distance Transmission Arrays had failed, allowing them to finally reclaim the Cultivation Realm for the Native Faction.

The number of Upper Realm Immortals and Demons from the Descent Realm steadily dwindled.

Legend has it that a Great Power from the Upper Realm, unable to return, settled on Wuzhong Ridge. He planted all 365 Immortal Seedlings he had brought with him from the Earth Immortal Realm.

Over a thousand years, they grew into towering, giant trees, which he used as the foundation to establish an Array, creating a Tier Five Grand Array.

At the same time, that Divinity Transformation cultivator from the Upper Realm began accepting disciples on Wuzhong Ridge, passing down his Cultivation Technique and establishing his own lineage, which became known as the Divine Wood Sect.

The sect enjoyed a period of glory. After all, with the Great Power from the Earth Immortal Realm at the Divinity Transformation Perfection stage of Cultivation, almost no one could stand against him, save for a few Venerable Void Refiners or monstrously talented Cultivators from the Human World who could achieve Ascension at any moment.

After he passed away, another Divinity Transformation Cultivator emerged from among his disciples and their descendants.

This continued until they provoked the Taibai Sword Sect. A Sword Sect Disciple had tried to cut off a piece of Spirit Wood from Wuzhong Ridge to use as Sword Refining Materials.

That piece of Spirit Wood was a branch from one of the 365 Divine Trees and had grown into a Tier Three Spirit Plant.

The Divine Wood Sect’s Cultivators treated these Divine Woods like precious treasures and never allowed outsiders to take so much as a single branch or leaf from Wuzhong Ridge.

This act immediately enraged the Divine Wood Sect’s Cultivators. They captured the Sword Cultivator, gave him three hundred lashes, and hung him from the top of a Divine Wood for a hundred days as a public example to deter others.

That disciple of the Taibai Sword Sect was fierce and unyielding. After being released, he felt he had brought shame upon his Sect. He detonated his Flying Sword, taking a Divine Wood Sect Cultivator with him to the Yellow Springs.

When this news got out, the Taibai Sword Sect erupted.

At that time, the Taibai Sword Sect was the number one Sword Cultivation Sect in the world, but it was still a far cry from the supreme seat of the Cultivation Realm. Not only was it no match for the Moral Sect, but it even fell short compared to several other Divinity Transformation Level factions.

Their founding Ancestor had just undergone Ascension, and having done so by forcing his way through a spatial passage without an Ascension Platform, he had taken all of the sect’s treasures with him to withstand the spatial turbulence.

The second-generation Ancestor was barely holding things together. He had only reached the Divinity Transformation realm within the last century and had no deep sect foundation to rely on.

This was why a sect like the Divine Wood Sect, with its extraordinary lineage and the confidence of possessing a Tier Five Divine Tree Formation, dared to disrespect the Taibai Sword Sect and severely punish one of its disciples.

But unexpectedly, the second-generation Ancestor arrived after hearing the news. With one sword strike, he shattered the Divine Tree Array. With a second, he broke through the Tier Five measure left behind by the Divine Wood Sect’s founder. His third strike, however, was caught by a Divinity Transformation cultivator from the Moral Sect before it could fall.

The Divinity Transformation cultivator from the Moral Sect stepped forward to mediate, urging the two sides to bury the hatchet.

With the man publicly acknowledged as the most powerful cultivator in the world present, the sword could not fall. Thus, a treaty was signed, leaving both sides dissatisfied.

The Taibai Sword Sect felt the punishment was too light, while the Divine Wood Sect believed their disciple was the initial transgressor for trying to take Spirit Wood from Wuzhong Ridge without permission. They had only detained and disciplined him; his eventual death was his own doing.

They had already suffered immense losses, and now they had to pay such a huge compensation—it was equally unacceptable.

But there was nothing to be done. The Moral Sect had led the charge to end the Demon Chaos and was at the very peak of its prestige and power.

The Moral Sect had become the unspoken sovereign of the world, and no sect dared to feign compliance while secretly defying them, especially when the Moral Sect held the moral high ground.

No matter how much resentment they harbored, they could only swallow it and hide it away.

Everyone in the Cultivation Realm believed it was this incident that led to the eventual climactic duel between the Taibai Sword Sect’s second-generation Ancestor and the Moral Sect’s Divinity Transformation cultivator.

As for the Divine Wood Sect, they had to compensate for over thirty Tier Four Divine Trees that had been cut down by the Sword Light. This directly left their Mountain Protection Array incomplete, reducing its power by nearly thirty percent.

These Tier Four Divine Trees were later used for the Refining of countless Tier Three Flying Swords, and of those, two or three were eventually refined all the way into Tier Four Flying Swords.

Additionally, they had to pay ten Top-Grade Spirit Stones as a death benefit to the fallen Taibai Sword Sect disciple’s Dao Companion, another ten for the Cultivation and care of his wife and children, and a final ten for his funeral expenses.

All told, this part of the compensation amounted to another thirty Top-Grade Spirit Stones.

From that point on, the Divine Wood Sect’s prestige plummeted. After their current generation of Nascent Soul True Monarchs passed away, the sect went into a decline from which it never recovered.

Their Grand Array had been broken, allowing the enemy to come and go as he pleased. If not for the intervention of the Moral Sect’s Divinity Transformation cultivator, their entire sect would have been nearly torn apart by that single man and his sword.

Essentially, during the several thousand years of the Taibai Sword Sect’s golden age, the Divine Wood Sect was in a sharp decline. They were considered fortunate if each generation could even manage to produce a single Nascent Soul True Monarch.