Chapter 57: Spiritual Vein Evolution

It was a tree beyond description, not a species that could be found in the mortal world. At first glance, it seemed like a piece of clear, soft crystal carved into the shape of a tree.

Its roots were thick and sturdy, with green motes of light flowing within them. Its branches were supple, like countless ribbons drawn along by an invisible pair of hands, slowly and swiftly weaving a dense net over the exit of the Sea of Suffering Path.

The trunk was perfectly straight, but upon closer inspection, one could see traces of winding, intertwined growth upon it, as if several tree seeds had sprouted together and supported one another as they grew.

And at this moment, the branches were still climbing upward. They spread open like an umbrella above the exit of the Sea of Suffering Path. Bud tips emerged, growing one golden leaf after another.

There was no wind, yet the leaves swayed and sang on their own. Their rustling did not sound like rain. Instead, it sounded like the clash of weapons.

The residents who had hurried over in anxiety lifted their heads and stared at the tree, their expressions blank.

Qiu Ping’an, Fan Huilan, Ma Hongxuan, and the others gathered together to look as well, their expressions equally blank, their words forgotten.

Guard Ma silently let go of Qian Dingning. Bewilderment appeared on his usually shrewd face.

After the shock on Qian Dingning’s face passed, his gaze emptied, and no one knew what he was thinking.

For the first time, such a silent scene appeared in the valley. The crowd was like a heap of frozen puppets, blank and wordless. If someone unaware of the situation arrived at this moment, they would probably be startled.

Fortunately, this silence lasted only a short while. Before long, the crowd’s discussions boiled up.

“What is that? It looks like a tree!”

“Nonsense. Isn’t it just a tree? It’s just a little unusually shaped.”

“How exactly did it grow? Could it be some new seed the stewards brought over? The seeds scattered over at the spiritual fields earlier have all grown too, and they look very different as well.”

“Hey, is there even any need to guess? Didn’t you see that even the stewards don’t know? This must have been planted by the Immortal Master. This is an immortal tree only an Immortal Master could grow!”

“Aiya, I should have thought of it earlier. Other than the Master, who else could cause a commotion like this?”

“Wrong, wrong. We should call him City Lord now.”

“Aiya, this old fool really is muddled. I can’t call him that anymore in the future.”

After the residents of the valley admired the “immortal tree” for a while, they were about to disperse, but one person blocked their path. Holding a bag of copper coins, Qian Dingning found a few people who looked friendly and asked them how they had dared to rush toward the Sea of Suffering Path. Weren’t they very afraid?

These people were neighbors who lived together. Hearing this, one old uncle raised his head and said loudly, “Who says we’re afraid? If we were scared, we wouldn’t be living here!”

Qian Dingning asked doubtfully, “I remember you. When you rushed over just now, your legs were shaking and your face was pale!”

The old uncle: “…”

Seeing this, the people beside him all laughed. An auntie laughed and said, “Young man, don’t make fun of him. If you’re talking about fear, who wouldn’t be afraid after seeing the Sea of Suffering Path? It’s just that something else was holding us up!”

“That’s right. We live right beside it. If the Sea of Suffering Path really rushed out, we old folks would be the first to block it. Only then would the children have a chance to run.”

Only then did Qian Dingning understand. “So that’s how it is!” He looked left and right. Seeing few young people around, he said, “Where are your sons and daughters? Why haven’t I seen them?”

The elderly people said they were all outside building the city wall and had not returned yet.

Qian Dingning was stunned again. “Then if your sons and daughters are outside, what are you blocking the front for?”

The old uncle from before rolled his eyes at him and pointed at the children nearby who had gathered around to observe the immortal tree. “Aren’t they children?”

The auntie said, “They’re all our neighbors. We have to protect their little ones too.”

Qian Dingning was shocked again. If it had only been one or two people acting like this, then so be it, but with a rough count, there were over a hundred elderly people who had rushed over. This could not help but make him feel a kind of terror.

Qian Dingning stammered, “Then you’re all quite kindhearted.”

Unexpectedly, those words opened the floodgates for the aunties and uncles. Even other residents nearby who were about to leave gathered around.

The auntie lifted her neck like a big mother hen. “If we’re talking about kindness, who could compare to our City Lord? You’re an outsider, so you don’t know. Our City Lord treats us very well.”

The old uncle waved his hand. “An outsider like you definitely doesn’t know how good-hearted our City Lord is.”

As soon as the two finished speaking, the residents around them also began cutting in from all directions.

“Our City Lord has saved us several times! He must be an immortal from the heavens who descended to save people from suffering.”

“Although everyone lives here, we’re still afraid of the Sea of Suffering Path. The City Lord must have known that, so he planted an immortal tree to help us block the Sea of Suffering Path.”

“In the future, if the children run over there to play, we won’t worry either.”

“That’s an immortal tree planted by the City Lord. We ought to go offer incense to it every day!”

“The City Lord treats us like his own children. We must have accumulated merit in our past lives to meet the City Lord in this one.”

“How could an outsider like you understand? The good deeds our City Lord has done are too many to count. But you’re lucky. I have free time today, so I’ll tell you all about them.”

“Aiya, I’ll go first, I’ll go first…”

These residents caught Qian Dingning and began showing off their City Lord the way people showed off their own children. Seeing Qian Dingning completely surrounded by the common people, Guard Ma and the others could not squeeze their way in no matter how they tried. They could only glare helplessly from the outer edge of the crowd.

Qiu Ping’an said to them, “Don’t worry. Not a single hair on your lord’s head will be harmed. We of Zhaoge are all good people.”

Fan Huilan said, “After all, the Sea of Suffering Path is personally being suppressed by the boss. There was never much to worry about in the first place. I didn’t know before that the people below were still anxious over this matter, yet the boss once again anticipated it before everyone else.” She pursed her lips and smiled softly. “The boss’s thoughts are indeed still so delicate and considerate.”

Ma Hongxuan looked at the large tree and said softly, “There is more to it than that. If the boss merely wanted to block the exit and make everyone stop being afraid, stone would have been enough. Yet he went to the trouble of bringing over such a tree. Look. The body of the tree is like water of life, and the leaves are like weapons guarding the city. The boss wants to tell us to transform fear into hope and strength!”

Hearing this, everyone’s pupils trembled. Guard Ma’s face was dazed, while Fan Huilan looked dejected. “Sigh. As expected, you still understand the boss better.”

As for this, Chi Yixuan only wanted to say: Enough, all of you.

It was over. His toes had once again, after a long absence, started digging out a castle.

Could someone tell him how he had only wanted to look at that tree’s condition, yet ended up seeing such a dramatic scene?

Heaven have pity on him. From beginning to end, his first priority had been blocking the exit of the Sea of Suffering Path to prevent practitioners from coming because of its reputation in the future and discovering something fishy. He had not taken the residents’ feelings into account at all. No one had told him, so how could he have known the residents still felt a little afraid? The residents’ happiness level had been so high last month that he had thought everyone was not the least bit afraid!

As for whether that tree was beautiful or not, please. It was not as if he had designed it. Before using it, he had never thought this tree could become a scenic feature. What transforming fear into hope and strength? That was pure overinterpretation!

Chi Yixuan covered his face. When he heard an auntie say that the hens at her house laid eggs every day because of the City Lord’s blessing, he could not endure it any longer. He immediately turned off the screen, jumped onto the bed, and rolled around nonstop.

“Ahhh!” While Chi Yixuan grabbed a pillow and beat it violently, the life-bound artifact felt a little regretful that the image had been shut off too early.

A moment later, Chi Yixuan calmed down again. He lay on the bed and opened his mouth, waiting for the drink on the table to fly in.

This could train his fine control over spiritual power. It absolutely was not because he was lazy.

However, after waiting a while this time, no drink flew in. Chi Yixuan sat up in confusion and discovered that the cup on the table was empty.

He froze slightly.

This drink had not been bought outside. It was something he had made himself in imitation of the milk tea from his old home. The tea leaves, fruit, and sugar were all spiritual food. The flavor suited his tastes perfectly, and he loved drinking it. At the same time, because the tea leaves were somewhat expensive, he cherished every cup. He clearly remembered that half a cup had still been left.

Chi Yixuan’s face was expressionless, but his ears twitched slightly. The next instant, his figure abruptly vanished, and he caught a long, slippery thing in the corner several steps away.

The thing was cold in his hand, its surface clear as crystal. Upon closer inspection, green motes of light flowed within it. What else could it be if not a root of the “immortal tree” outside?

The small residence was rather far from the exit of the Sea of Suffering Path, yet the roots of that tree had actually burrowed into his bedroom in such a short time and secretly sucked up his half cup of milk tea!

Chi Yixuan watched with his own eyes as the final drop of evidence merged into the tree root. His mind was flooded by a barrage of absurdity.

The golden leaves were the external manifestation of metal spirit. The tree roots, trunk, and branches, transparent as crystal, were the external manifestation of water spirit. As for the green motes of light flowing within, they naturally represented wood spirit.

The large tree that had woven its branches into a great net and completely blocked the exit of the Sea of Suffering Path was in fact the spiritual vein beneath Zhaoge.

This was one of the methods recorded in Spiritual Vein Cultivation, which the life-bound artifact had inscribed. That book was thicker than the city wall. Without the life-bound artifact’s help, Chi Yixuan might not necessarily have found that method even if he flipped through it until next year.

Put simply, it involved finding an object compatible with the spiritual vein’s attributes, then using complex spells to turn the spiritual vein from intangible to tangible. This was called shaping a vessel. It was a method of fabricating a suitable container for the spiritual vein so that the spiritual vein no longer had to be trapped underground.

It was usually used for relocating spiritual veins, imprisoning spiritual veins, and so on.

Chi Yixuan had studied the book’s contents for a long time and failed several times before finally succeeding. It really was not because his brain was slow. To use an analogy, when he saw that pressing a button on a fan could make it oscillate, he would not stop after pressing it once. Instead, he insisted on taking the fan apart and observing the principles inside before he was willing to let the matter rest.

The method of shaping a vessel was the same. Only after he had figured out the principles was he willing to follow the method in the book and shape a vessel for the spiritual vein step by step.

Precisely because of this, once he understood one part, the rest became clear, and he very quickly understood why the life-bound artifact had told him to find the sandworm.

Although the spiritual vein was not a living thing and had no physical body, it was a mass of energy. It could not be grasped, but it could be sensed. It was like how a person could not grasp sunlight, but could feel its warmth.

A spiritual vein without a shaped vessel was like a burning bonfire. Right now, it looked fierce and bright, but without a continuous supply of firewood, sooner or later it would weaken and go out. After a vessel was shaped, however, it would use the “vessel” to possess a channel for replenishing energy.

According to the records in Spiritual Vein Cultivation, only earth-grade and higher spiritual veins could condense physical bodies on their own, achieving an endless cycle of spiritual qi.

Zhaoge’s spiritual vein was only yellow grade. Although it was at the peak of yellow grade, compared to earth grade, it was still as different as clouds and mud. After a vessel was shaped for it, it gained functions similar to an earth-grade spiritual vein.

But the “vessel” could not be chosen casually either. Besides being compatible in attribute, its grade also could not be low. It was best for it to be one grade higher than the spiritual vein. Otherwise, it would be like forcing a fat person into small-sized pants. It would burst.

The sandworm itself was an ungraded yao thing. For some unknown reason, this sandworm had actually been able to absorb the nutrients from the body of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Foundation Establishment corresponded to mystic grade, barely one grade higher than the spiritual vein. The sandworm was also a plant, innately belonging to water and wood. After undergoing refinement by fire, burial beneath sand and earth, and being thoroughly soaked with quite a lot of metal water, it could barely claim a touch of metal attribute too.

Other than the sandworm, Chi Yixuan could not find anything else. And so, he refined the sandworm into the spiritual vein’s “vessel.” After the spiritual vein poured into the sandworm like a mass of water, the sandworm underwent a heaven-and-earth transformation, becoming a large crystal-like tree.

The exit of the Sea of Suffering Path could not be blocked by ordinary things, because they could not obstruct a practitioner’s divine sense. But the spiritual vein could.

Never mind outsiders. Even the Wei brothers, who had worked so hard to dredge up the sandworm, absolutely could not imagine any connection between that large tree and the sandworm if they saw it.

However, what Chi Yixuan had not expected was that after Zhaoge’s spiritual vein gained a physical body, it would actually run into his bedroom to steal his milk tea.

“You really are bold enough.” Chi Yixuan asked the tree root in his hand, “Was the milk tea good?”

The tree root did not move at all. It seemed to be analyzing what his words meant. Only after a long while did its tip nod, like a slow-witted little snake.

“So dumb!” Chi Yixuan said in disdain. In the blink of an eye, he smiled again. “But you have good taste. Like me. Wait here. I’ll make you a cup.”

He let go of the tree root and turned to walk toward the table.

The tree root fell to the floor. Its clear body twisted and wriggled, swelling for a while and shrinking for a while. Finally, it shaped itself into the form of a small crystal snake, dragging a tail whose end could not be seen as it leisurely swam to Chi Yixuan’s feet.

It propped up its head and looked left and right. When Chi Yixuan turned and bumped into it, it abruptly shrank back, seeming frightened. A moment later, it changed direction and followed beside Chi Yixuan’s feet again, occasionally bumping his clothes hem and tapping the toe of his shoe. When it was tired of playing, it raised its body upright, lifted its head high, and stared at the tabletop like a child eagerly waiting to be fed.

…

The Wei brothers, Wei Huo and Wei Hai, indeed could not recognize any connection between the large tree and the sandworm.

They had been taken away to rest, and someone had brought them medicine. They had slept from exhaustion, and just as they began to feel comfortable, they were woken by the commotion outside.

They got up and went out to take a look, only to discover that a large tree had appeared by the Sea of Suffering Path!

The exit of the Sea of Suffering Path had originally stood wide open. Looking inside, one saw only a deep, shadowy expanse. Even mid-level practitioners like them would feel their hearts grow cold at the sight.

But now that exit was blocked by such a beautiful crystal tree. Not only did it no longer have its former gloominess, it had also become a strange scenic sight. Even people passing by could not help stopping to admire it.

The brothers highly praised the Golden Core Perfected One’s elegant taste in front of the large tree, dropping a few pedantic phrases in a half-classical, half-vernacular style. They thought they too had stepped across the same threshold as a Golden Core powerhouse, and felt somewhat pleased with themselves.

Wei Hai said, “Brother, after all our hardships, we finally helped the Perfected One find what he wanted. This time, we should be able to become the Perfected One’s confidants, right?”

But Wei Huo no longer had his previous optimism. Before entering the sewer, he had clearly seen that the Left Envoy of the Xuanyuan Guard was only a fourth-level cultivator. How was it that after they came out, not only was the Left Envoy of the Xuanyuan Guard about to advance to the sixth level, but the other stewards in Zhaoge had also increased greatly in cultivation, and there was even an additional pair of sisters at the sixth level of Qi Refining? This was unreasonable!

The cultivation that had once made the brothers proud had now actually become utterly ordinary.

He had to think of a way to attract the Perfected One’s attention.

Unfortunately, after thinking for several days, he still had not come up with a method. Meanwhile, that Perfected One seemed to have forgotten them, and never summoned them again. This made Wei Huo so anxious that heat rose within him. Yet his younger brother Wei Hai was still cheerful because of Zhaoge’s spiritual qi, and the sight made Wei Huo truly want to kick him.

Idiot. Just this bit of spiritual qi had made him so happy he could no longer find north. Compared to that, obtaining instruction from the Golden Core Perfected One was the true priority.

Fortunately, although Wei Huo had not thought of a method, he had found an unconventional move.

His eyes narrowed slightly, locking onto a man carrying a bamboo basket on his back.

When Xiao Haonü had first been locked up in Zhaoge, he had been resentful and indignant, pointing at mulberry trees while cursing locust trees, making straw dolls day and night to curse this place.

After Xiao Haonü had been locked up here for a period of time, he rose early and slept late, working hard so that he would not be beaten with a broom by that jinx, then slacked off whenever the guards were not paying attention.

After Xiao Haonü had been locked up here for two months, he had already grown used to life here. Under comparison with the people around him, he felt that his “house” was too shabby and old, and began secretly earning money to repair it.

The original residents of the valley disliked him very much. Fortunately, Granny Mo, who moved in later, did not dislike him.

Granny Mo had originally made shoes. After she moved over and reunited with her child, she opened a shoe shop in Zhaoge. At first, business was not good. After all, at that time, the residents of Zhaoge had only recently left their slave status behind and did not have much money to buy shoes, preferring to weave straw sandals for themselves.

Later, no one knew what happened, but a new cultivation method became popular in the valley, and shoes wore out very quickly. Granny Mo’s business flourished as a result. She did not know what Xiao Haonü had done before. Seeing that Xiao Haonü worked diligently in the valley but lived miserably, she recruited him to help make shoes.

So Xiao Haonü secretly made shoes and earned money behind the jailer’s back after finishing his work, quietly saving up a sum.

That day, Xiao Haonü was carrying a bamboo basket of newly finished shoes on his back and walking quickly toward the shoe shop. Who would have known that halfway there, someone would trip him? He fell to the ground, and the shoes in the bamboo basket rolled out.

Xiao Haonü raised his head and took a look, discovering that it was the Wei brothers. He suppressed his anger and did not make a sound, silently picking the shoes back up. He knew these brothers were at the fifth level of Qi Refining. The current him could not afford to provoke them.

Xiao Haonü thought he had already swallowed his anger enough, but unexpectedly, just after he had walked a few steps away, he heard a shout from behind him.

Wei Huo pointed at him and shouted, “Someone, come quickly! This thief stole my money pouch!”

Xiao Haonü froze, anger shooting straight up in his chest. He turned the bamboo basket over and shook it, trying to prove his innocence. Unexpectedly, a money pouch really did fall out of the basket.

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