Others basically did not notice the reactions of the three martial brothers. Having finally entered the forbidden area of the world’s number one spiritual plant sect, they were surrounded by a dazzling array of exotic flowers and rare grasses. Others could not take their eyes off the sights, and basically no one had the mind to pay attention to their reactions.
The leaves of the two trees were emerald green and dripping with moisture, their gnarled branches vigorous and strong. Among the branches and leaves bloomed pink and tender flowers the size of fists, trembling vividly in the gentle breeze, which was exceptionally beautiful. The only flaw was that amidst the green leaves and pink flowers were strands of black veins, giving that beauty a somewhat unusual and bewitching charm.
Walking to the base of the trees, Lu Youming explained to the crowd, “These two peach trees have a great origin. They are immortal peach trees from the Little Cloud Realm. Nurtured in the spiritual valley, they have already bloomed. It is just that this flowering period is a bit long. They have been blooming for nearly two years and still look like this, never bearing fruit. I truly do not know how many years the flowering period lasts, nor how long the fruiting period is.”
“So these are the immortal peach trees!” Xiao Changdao exclaimed in surprise.
Chan Shaoting nodded and said, “That is correct, but the immortal peach trees I have seen before had not bloomed.”
As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately made the three martial brothers look at him vigilantly, suspecting whether he had seen them at the Miaoqing Hall, and whether he had also seen them. But thinking about it again, they felt it was not right, as he did not look like he recognised them.
Little did they know, this was also the reason for their panic. How could they not recognise the immortal peach trees? Even the ones that had bloomed could be recognised at a single glance. Back in the immortal peach orchard in the Little Cloud Realm, they had spent nearly a year day and night among the rows of immortal peach trees, making them more familiar with the trees than most people.
As soon as the three martial brothers saw the immortal peach trees in this spiritual valley, they immediately realised they must have been bought from their Miaoqing Hall. They looked around at the Kunling Mountain personnel everywhere, fearing that the person who bought the trees back then was here, and afraid they would be recognised.
Nan Zhu immediately asked, “Senior Chan, where did you see the immortal peach trees before?”
Hearing this, Chan Shaoting’s tone unconsciously carried a slightly arrogant meaning. “I went to the gardens managed by the Sinan Prefecture with the elders of the sect, and I saw some there.”
These words indeed attracted envious glances from some people, making them realise that having a good background was truly different, allowing one to see things that ordinary people might never see in their entire lives.
Confirming that this man had never been to the Miaoqing Hall, the three martial brothers immediately breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Nan Zhu turned and asked Lu Youming, “Mr Lu, why are there immortal peach trees here?”
Lu Youming smiled gently. “Bought from Youjiao Bu.”
Xiao Changdao also helped explain, “Brother Zhu, Youjiao Bu once sold them in large quantities. I heard that the shop later offended someone they should not have offended, and could not sell them anymore.”
Nan Zhu hummed and continued to ask, “It must have been Mr Lu who bought them personally, right?”
The others looked at him with slight surprise, noticing that this fat man’s focus seemed a bit strange.
Lu Youming shook his head. “I rarely leave the mountain. There are personnel in the sect specifically in charge of external affairs for buying and selling things, which has nothing to do with us.”
Hearing this, the three martial brothers finally completely let their hearts down. Since there was such a distinction, as long as they did not show their faces to participate in the competition, they probably would not happen to run into the Kunling Mountain procurement personnel who had seen them before.
Yu Qing then asked, “I heard that the immortal peach trees were invaded by evil energy. The black in the veins of the branches and leaves is the evil energy, right?”
Lu Youming hummed in agreement. “Yes.”
Yu Qing asked, “Can the spiritual plant methods of Kunling Mountain not dispel the evil energy in the immortal peach trees?”
Lu Youming replied, “This is not an ordinary erosion by evil energy. The evil energy has already symbiosed with the immortal peach trees. Without finding an appropriate method, it is not good to act rashly. If we forcibly remove the evil energy, the immortal peach trees will die.”
Yu Qing hummed, looking as if he had been enlightened, but feeling somewhat disdainful in his heart. What kind of number one sect was this? It was not even as good as the water boiled by Big Head.
After the crowd gathered around the immortal peach trees to look for a while, they continued forward. Next, they saw the series of forms of the spiritual rice plants from seedlings to maturity.
The spiritual valley was not a single flat piece of land. It had slopes and small hills, with a small number of pavilions and buildings set up.
The group walked, stopped, and looked along the way. During the trip, Lu Youming even let the guests pick and taste a few kinds of spiritual fruits by the roadside. Although the spiritual energy contained in them was far from comparable to the immortal peaches, and even not as good as the spiritual rice, they were still rare items. Strengthening the body, invigorating health, and nourishing the spirit were no problem. They were not good things that ordinary people could casually eat.
Strolling under the fruit trees, Yu Qing casually picked a spiritual fruit similar to a plum and gnawed on it. Just as he was feeling the taste was not bad, a weak whisper of warning from Baili Xin suddenly came to his ear. “That scruffy old man seems to be staring at us from the mountain.”
He could feel that Baili Xin was standing very close behind him, almost able to feel her body temperature.
Yu Qing subconsciously glanced over at Nan Zhu. Sure enough, he found Nan Zhu staring eagerly, looking as if the spiritual fruit in his mouth was very hard to bite. This behaviour left him speechless and helpless, so he simply pretended not to see it. He turned his head to look in the direction Baili Xin was looking, following her gaze.
Taking a look, he found that Baili Xin’s eyesight was indeed extraordinary. Because the distance was too far, if she had not reminded him to observe carefully, he really would not have been able to see that there was someone there. Now that he could see it, it was just the appearance of a tiny figure, and he really could not tell who it was, which made him secretly marvel.
It was different from what his Guan technique saw. Hers was purely eyesight, a direct and clear visual discrimination.
Nan Zhu forced his way over. After understanding what was going on, he breathed a sigh of relief. In his heart, he found comfort to himself in the fact that the reason she reminded Old Fifteen first was simply because she happened to be close to Old Fifteen.
Anyway, the group walked and toured like this until they reached the end.
The crowd thought this narrow opening was another entrance or exit, but who knew the end was truly the end. The road was broken. It was a transverse canyon. The spiritual energy was ethereal and misty. Especially at the bottom of the canyon, it was impossible to tell whether it was spiritual energy or mist, making it impossible to see how deep it was below. It gave a mysterious and unfathomable feeling, just like an endless abyss.
A group of people stood at the edge of the cliff looking down. The three martial brothers, Yu Qing included, not only had no mind to look at those things, but instead looked at each other from time to time. They had seen some other things.
They discovered that many orchids grew at this opening, either on the ground or on the slopes on both sides, swaying in the gentle breeze that came from time to time. Some had bloomed, some were in bud, and more were quietly waiting for their flowering period. From the various flowers that had already bloomed, it could be seen that the varieties of orchids here were mixed. It could not be described merely by seven colours. They gathered into a romantic and gorgeous scene. One truly did not know how beautiful it would be when they all bloomed. This area was simply a world of orchids.
The three martial brothers naturally subconsciously thought of the clues provided by Lady Li. After carefully examining this orchid area, their gazes also gradually turned to the abyss at the end. They slowly walked over, carefully observing their surroundings as they walked, for fear of missing any clue.
Just then, Chan Shaoting at the edge of the cliff pointed to the thick iron chains hanging on the cliff wall below his feet and asked, “What is the deal with these iron chains hanging down to the bottom of the valley?”
As soon as the words fell, it seemed the abyss below responded to him. The thick iron chains suddenly clattered and shook. Judging by the sound, the opposite side of the abyss obviously had the same sound coming from it. It was as if some giant creature at the bottom of the abyss wanted to break free from the restraint of the iron chains.
The three martial brothers quickly jumped to the edge of the cliff to look down. Because of the cover of the mist, they could only see the iron chains shaking, but could not see clearly what it was.
Yu Qing used his Guan technique to investigate, but he also failed to see clearly what the thing was. It felt like a huge monster, but also felt like many living creatures gathered together.
He immediately turned back and asked Lu Youming, “Mr Lu, what is going on down there?”
Everyone also looked at Lu Youming.
Lu Youming stared at the bottom of the abyss and frowned for a while, before raising his eyes to look at the crowd and say, “It is just an old vine that has gained spirituality. Speaking of which, it is also because the grand formation of the spiritual valley gathered a large amount of spiritual energy to nurture it. After a long time, it has become a spirit and possesses spirituality.”
Hearing these words, the guests were all surprised. It must be known that plants becoming spirits were very rare. The key was that it was very difficult to breed an enlightened spirituality. It was like cursing someone by calling them a block of wood, describing them as unenlightened. There were many thousand year old trees in the mountains, but those that became enlightened and could become spirits were extremely rare. It was countless times harder than animals of flesh and blood becoming spirits, not to mention the latter also had the Sin Spirit Pill to help them.
Lu Youming also said this. “Considering that spiritual items of the wood attribute are not easy to appear, our sect did not eradicate it, giving it a chance to transform its form. But its wild nature is hard to tame, and it easily harms people. Those who accidentally fell to the bottom of the cliff have been injured by it quite a few times. It even reaches out with tentacles to disturb the spiritual valley. Thus, we used iron chains to trap it at the bottom of the cliff. This saves it from causing trouble, and can also serve as a barrier guarding the bottom of the cliff, preventing people from secretly entering the spiritual valley from the bottom of the cliff.”
So that was how it was. The crowd sighed with emotion.
Yu Qing also finally understood what was going on. It turned out to be an old vine. No wonder he could not figure out what it was. But according to his observation with the Guan technique, the scale of this old vine at the bottom of the cliff was probably not ordinary. Just looking at those thick iron chains was enough to tell.
Xiao Changdao praised, “I did not expect Kunling Mountain to have already nurtured a wood spirit. It truly is worthy of being the world’s number one spiritual plant sect!”
Lu Youming humbly said, “Achieving a wood spirit is not easy. It is not simply a matter of nurturing it. Opportunity and destiny are also very important.”
A gentle breeze blew. Smelling the fragrance of the elegant orchids, bathing in the abundant spiritual energy, and conversing with great knowledge, the crowd, whose horizons had been broadened, felt quite happy.
And after the iron chains at the bottom of the cliff struggled for a while, they gradually returned to peace.
Everyone had seen this place. Lu Youming called for everyone to return. Almost everyone started moving, except for Yu Qing, who was standing at the edge of the cliff. No one knew what he was spacing out about. He was quietly staring at the spiritual energy or mist floating above the abyss.
No one saw the shock and doubt that flashed in his eyes.
His Guan technique had seen something others could not see.
To others, it looked like the floating spiritual energy or mist was being moved by the wind. In fact, most of it was indeed like this, being moved by the natural wind in heaven and earth. But at this moment, it was not all of it.
He saw some other left and right forces from the stirring of the mist. It was as if there were invisible rifts in the void, and it seemed there was also wind force overflowing from the rifts. Wind force that had no source, appearing out of thin air like a fault line.
This kind of invisible force, even Baili Xin’s eyesight could not see, but he could see it.
To be honest, if he had not come with intention, if he had not come with the purpose of observing carefully, he himself would not dare to guarantee that he would definitely pay attention to it.
The inexplicable wind in the void blew up huge waves in his heart, making his heart surge like a stormy sea. He secretly asked himself, could it really be here? Could it really be this easy to find?
Whether it was looking for the Little Cloud Realm or the Golden Ruins before, or going to the Nether Sea to find Lady Li, it had never been this easy. He found it a bit hard to believe.
And indeed, he could not be certain.
A hand suddenly patted Yu Qing’s shoulder. It was Nan Zhu. “What are you spacing out for? Let’s go.”
Yu Qing turned around in silence, not knowing what he was silently thinking about. His gaze flickered constantly. He quietly followed behind the group. After coming to his senses, he suddenly raised his eyes to look at the mountain, searching for Yan Yao’s figure again. After discovering that the person was still there, he immediately reached out and hooked his arm around Nan Zhu’s neck, and turned back to grin at Baili Xin, who was inseparable from him, signalling her to avoid them for a bit.