Chapter 155: Chapter 153: Tree Demon Grandmother? (Second release, please subscribe)

The mountain is not about height, but having a celestial spirit makes it sacred.

These words perhaps hold some truth.

However, in an Immortal World, any place with a high mountain is sure to be where Spirit Veins converge.

Under the dual concealment of the “Hidden Spirit Incense” and the “Mist Dust Pearl” Magical Artifacts, Zhouyang, upon reaching the summit of this unknown thousand-zhang peak, felt a sliver of excitement amidst extreme tension in his heart.

This was his first time ever climbing such a high peak in his life.

The mountain gate of the Yellow Sand Sect, although the Spirit Vein Level reaches Tier Five Top Grade, its main peak height is just over eight hundred zhang, still quite a distance from a thousand zhang.

Yet, the peak beneath his feet, though only Tier Four Middle Grade in Spirit Vein Level, has a height of over thirteen hundred zhang, its summit shrouded in clouds and mist, difficult to discern clearly.

This misty scene atop the mountain is unlike the mist at Jade Spring Peak’s summit, which is formed by an array; this is a genuine natural phenomenon.

The mountain is eerily quiet, the silence terrifying.

The aura long emanated by the Tier Four Demon Beast has driven most sensitive beasts to dare not approach this mountain lightly, and the low-tier demon beasts that used to depend on the Tier Four Demon Beast, have by now been summoned away by the “Beast King Horn”.

Zhouyang, walking on the mountain, changed his path halfway up and started circling around, without any intention of directly reaching the summit.

Normally, the spiritual qi eye of Spirit Veins is near the summit area, and high-tier demon beasts often prefer residing atop the mountain, allowing them to easily overlook the entire Spirit Mountain to monitor territorial changes.

As long as he doesn’t reach the summit, with the dual concealment of “Hidden Spirit Incense” and “Mist Dust Pearl”, Zhouyang thinks that unless a Tier Four Demon Beast is right next to him, it would be hard to spot a tiny human in the vast forest.

Yet, this thought vanished the moment he had walked more than halfway around the mountain.

At that time, as he was circling the mountainside, all the originally normal towering ancient trees around him suddenly seemed to come alive, extending branches and roots to lash and wrap around him.

Unprepared, Zhouyang had no time to react at all, and was dragged down underground by the tree roots beneath him.

Once pulled underground, Zhouyang instantly saw countless tree roots writhing like pythons, winding tightly around him, as if to crush and suffocate him before absorbing him as nutrients.

At this life-and-death juncture, he no longer cared about hiding anything; a pale golden flame erupted from his body, instantly incinerating the roots around him to ashes.

The “Qianyang True Flame” is utterly pure and fierce, capable of burning almost anything. Though the roots underground were plentiful, they turned to ashes even before approaching, and Zhouyang seized this opportunity to release a flying sword, breaking through the soil above and reemerging on the forest floor.

Now, the entire forest seemed to have come alive; all the trees and ancient vines appeared to transform into tree demons and vine demons, rushing towards Zhouyang like moths to a flame, undeterred by being turned into ashes by the blazing flames.

Seeing this situation, Zhouyang’s face became extremely grim.

Though his “Qianyang True Flame” was formidable, it greatly depleted magical power; these branches and vines appeared to be burned away in large swathes by the flame, but compared to the entire forest, it was negligible.

By now, he finally knew what kind of demon beast ruled this Tier Four Spirit Mountain.

If he guessed correctly, the ruler of this Tier Four Spirit Mountain must be a Tier Four Tree Demon!

Only the unique demon race of tree demons can, through the omnipresent trees on the mountain, detect his trace from afar, and launch an attack by controlling other ancient trees and vines with their Talent Divine Techniques.

Of course, the ability of a tree demon to control other ancient trees at a distance must have some range limitation; otherwise, it wouldn’t have waited until now to attack.

And if Zhouyang guessed correctly, this tree demon had discovered his presence long ago and had been silently watching, intending to wait until Zhouyang reached the summit to approach its true body before launching an attack.

However, seeing that he had no intention of going to the summit, it finally couldn’t resist making a move at this time.

These thoughts flashed quickly through his mind, temporarily suppressing his guesses as he focused entirely on using his “Qianyang True Flame” Divine Technique to break through outward.

He must leave the ground, escape the tree demon’s attack range; otherwise, as his magical power is exhausted under the endless attacks of the tree demon, his fate would be to be absorbed as fertilizer by the tree demon!

The Tier Four Tree Demon might not have expected that Zhouyang, whose aura seemed only as strong as a Tier Three Middle Grade Demon Beast, would be so difficult to deal with, especially with that pale golden flame, which even made its true body tremble slightly, as if encountering a natural nemesis.

This realization filled it with extreme fear, leading to even more frantic attacks on Zhouyang, wanting to prematurely extinguish this human who was like its nemesis.

But no matter how it desperately used its magical power to activate its lifebound divine techniques to control the ancient tree’s attack, Zhouyang, engulfed in fiery flames, eventually broke through the encirclement and soared into the sky with sword flight.

He soared higher and higher on his flying sword, reaching over a thousand zhang in height, beyond the reach of the ancient tree controlled by the tree demon.

However, the real challenge was just beginning at this moment.

Because after discovering that it could no longer attack Zhouyang, the true form of the tree demon at the mountain summit finally took action.

As a spirit tree demon, although its true form was difficult to move, its attack methods were far more than just controlling ancient trees.

Zhouyang, flying in the sky, naturally avoided the ancient tree’s attacks, yet he also became a living target.

Suddenly, a series of piercing sounds filled the air as several cyan light-flashing Cyan Wood Long Spears abruptly tore through the mountain-top clouds and shot fiercely at Zhouyang flying in the sky.

This attack was launched by the true form of the Tier Four tree demon, equivalent to an attack from Tier Four Magic, which Zhouyang could not possibly withstand or evade solely on his own.

Therefore, despite his reluctance, he immediately and decisively used the Tier Four Middle-Grade Defense Spirit Talisman gifted by Cao Wenjin.

Upon activation, the defense spirit talisman swiftly enveloped Zhouyang in a white Gang Qi Protective Shield. The Cyan Wood Long Spears hit the shield, merely dimming the white light on the shield slightly and disappearing without a sound.

This was the “Celestial Spirit Body Protection Talisman,” capable of resisting at least three attacks from Tier Four Middle-Grade Demon Beasts, extremely precious.

With the protection of the Gang Qi Protective Shield, Zhouyang felt slightly relieved, and as he swiftly fled, he used the “Celestial Eye Technique” to look towards where the Cyan Wood Long Spears came from.

Having suffered such a loss today, he couldn’t bear not seeing the face of his enemy!

Taking advantage of the gap in the clouds torn open by the Cyan Wood Long Spears, Zhouyang finally saw the true form of the tree demon attacking him. What he saw made him widen his eyes.

In the area near the mountain top, densely surrounded by clouds, a massive cyan ancient pine stood over a hundred zhang tall, which was the true form of the tree demon.

But this was not the direct cause of Zhouyang’s reaction. What caused his expression was the small tree several zhang tall growing beside the cyan ancient pine.

It was a small green tree resembling a grapefruit tree. Compared to the towering ancient pine, it appeared insignificant, but on its treetop hung five human-sized white Spirit Fruits, which in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm, are enough to make Purple Mansion Stage cultivators scramble and fight for it!

This small green tree resembling a grapefruit tree is called the “Yuan Condensing Fruit” tree, and the white Spirit Fruits hanging from its treetop are, apart from Tier Four Demon Pills, another main ingredient for refining Foundation Establishment Pills–Yuan Condensing Fruit!

Indeed, Zhouyang dared swear he saw correctly that the small green tree resembling a grapefruit tree, and its white Spirit Fruits, were the “Yuan Condensing Fruit” tree he had seen in the Spirit Medicine Atlas.

It is widely known that in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm, only the Yellow Sand Sect possesses a “Yuan Condensing Fruit” tree.

And due to the “Yuan Condensing Fruit” tree bearing fruit only once every two hundred years, the Yellow Sand Sect would always harvest it upon maturity and store them in the Sect Treasure Vault, taking out one fruit every decade to refine Foundation Establishment Pills!

The “Yuan Condensing Fruit” and its tree are so rare that, to enhance the sect’s heritage, the Yellow Sand Sect has distributed its appearance widely through picture atlases, so even many Qi Cultivation Stage Loose Cultivators in the Boundless Sea of Sand Cultivation Realm have seen these fruit atlases.

According to the terms set by the Yellow Sand Sect, anyone who presented them with a single Yuan Condensing Fruit could exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill from them. To report the discovery of a “Yuan Condensing Fruit” tree to the sect would earn five Foundation Establishment Pills in one go.

Regretfully, for all these years, aside from their original tree within their sect, the Yellow Sand Sect has only found one other “Yuan Condensing Fruit” tree.

And more than three hundred years ago, the original “Yuan Condensing Fruit” tree of the Yellow Sand Sect had already withered and died due to old age.

The rarity of the “Yuan Condensing Fruit” tree is largely because it cannot be propagated by Spirit Plant Cultivators, nor does it have any ability to reproduce, completely relying on natural formation by heaven and earth.

Such rarity has bestowed it with an exceedingly high value.

In this situation, upon seeing the “Yuan Condensing Fruit” tree and the five “Yuan Condensing Fruits” hanging on it, how could Zhouyang not lose his composure!

While fleeing on his sword, he would turn his head, gazing at the “Yuan Condensing Fruit” tree, as if stamping the look of the tree deep into his heart, until he flew out of the attack range of the tree demon and could no longer see that area, before reluctantly retracting his gaze.

Retracting his gaze, Zhouyang, hanging high in the sky above a thousand zhang, cast a long look towards the direction of the Liuyun Continent Cultivation Realm.

Although all he saw was still a vast, primitive stretch of towering mountains and ridges, it was as if he had seen hope, his face forming an expression of unyielding determination.