Bonus chapter (5/5)
That heaven-defying treasure was called the Lingxi Root[mfn]Lingxi Root, a rare mystical herb root used in cultivation and alchemy. It directly translates to: “Spirit Rhiocerous Root.”[/mfn] and was used for cleansing one’s spiritual roots.
The only difference was that Yu Tianze’s disciple had washed himself down from four spiritual roots to three, while this Lingxi Root could directly wash a person down from any kind of spiritual root to a Heavenly Spiritual Root. In short, as long as one consumed it alongside another corresponding element of the Five Elements—i.e., the specific spiritual root attribute they chose—all other spiritual roots would be cleansed, leaving only that one unique one. Therefore, this Lingxi Root could be said to be extremely rare and precious.
However, if that were all, it wouldn’t have caused such a bloody uproar leading to murder over a treasure. While the thing was rare enough to be almost nonexistent, it was only “almost” rare. Even the major sects held some reserves, enough to provide to disciples with exceptional comprehension but mediocre spiritual roots. While spiritual roots were indeed precious, they wouldn’t normally cause such a great alarm. Not to mention the final outcome: after the woman snatched the unfortunate cultivator’s treasure, she inadvertently leaked the news, attracting numerous powerful sects to attack her. This resulted in her being annihilated and the spiritual root being lost.
However, the reason why the Lingxi Root went from being a particularly attractive treasure to a heaven-defying one was because of its size… it was extremely large. How big was it?
Generally speaking, it only took one qian[mfn]1 qian = roughly 3.73 grams[/mfn]to wash away a person’s spiritual root, but this specific specimen was about the size of an adult’s palm and weighed… ten jin[mfn]one jin is roughly 0.5 kilograms[/mfn]. That’s right; it had the potential to turn a thousand ordinary people into people with Heavenly Spiritual Roots! It was conceivable that if a single cultivator obtained it, his descendants would have many Heavenly Spiritual Roots for dozens or hundreds of generations, and he could develop a massive family on his own. If a sect obtained it, they could practically create an army of Heavenly Spiritual Roots!
Even among the nine great immortal sects, disciples with Heavenly Spiritual Roots were not easy to come by; having one out of every thousand was considered a high frequency. That was a whole thousand people… If the major immortal sects knew this, which one wouldn’t be tempted? Once they obtained it, they could become the leader of the nine immortal sects in about a hundred years!
After the incident in his past life, because the competition had been so fierce, each of the nine immortal sects took a jin, and then each person took a liang (roughly 50 grams)of the remaining jin. The last liang was then divided into one qian for each person. In short, the division was extremely detailed, and the final qian was given to the current leader of the immortal sect.
Then, from the last bit of the female cultivator’s soul that had been intercepted, they learned that the unfortunate cultivator had obtained the Lingxi Root in the Tao Wang Secret Realm. The place where it grew was not only almost safe, but also very easy to find and very ordinary. However, they searched the place thoroughly afterward and never found another again. At that time, the entire cultivation world knew about this news. Since then, the secret realm of Tao Wang had become even more sought after.
For Yu Tianze, who had been reborn, this was undoubtedly a great opportunity. Although he had never explored this secret realm in his previous life, he was very clear about the greatest dangers and the greatest benefits of this exploration. If he acted cautiously and seized the opportunity, he could not only escape unscathed from this investigation but also secretly gain sufficient benefits.
Afterall, he really needed to save up more resources. The opening time of the Tao Wang Secret Realm was three months away. Yu Tianze calculated that this secret realm required that only cultivators below the Void Refinement stage could enter, but there was no restriction for those of lower levels. So… should he bring his apprentice in as well? Leaving him to cultivate alone in the Zhenggang Immortal Sect might not be safe.
Seeing that Yu Tianze was lost in thought, Mu Zirun scrutinized his master for a long time before finally speaking up: “Master, you…”
Yu Tianze snapped out of his daze: “What?”
Mu Zirun had no choice but to ask, “Did Master have any… disagreements with the people of the main sect in the past?”
Yu Tianze replied with a blank expression: “No.”
Mu Zirun continued, “If that’s the case, then my master and I only have a grudge against one person in the main sect. Could it be that he secretly played a trick on my master this time?”
There was nothing Mu Zirun could do. Although his master seemed to know that someone was trying to trip him up, he didn’t seem to be planning to pay much attention to the perpetrator. Instead, he seemed quite interested in investigating the matter itself. Mu Zirun certainly had faith in his master, but he was also helpless against his master’s decisiveness. As the saying goes, “One should not have the heart to harm others, but one should not be without the heart to guard against others.”
After thinking it over, Mu Zirun still couldn’t help but remind him. Looking at Yu Tianze’s consistently aloof expression, he sighed, “I wonder if they left any backup plans in the secret realm. Master, you must be careful.”
Yu Tianze felt a sense of satisfaction seeing the worry in his usually composed apprentice’s eyes. He hadn’t seen this kind of heartfelt concern in a long time. He paused, then decided that happiness was happiness, and patted his apprentice’s head: “I’ll take you with me.”
Mu Zirun was taken aback, then felt relieved: “Okay, Master.”
That was good. Although Mu Zirun hadn’t organized the information comprehensively yet and might have been overestimating himself, he decided he would think about the things that his master didn’t want to think about, make up for any oversights his master might make, and quickly absorb anything his master could teach him. He needed to experience more to grow faster. It could also repay his master.
Seeing the subtle change in the boy’s expression, Yu Tianze felt a mix of emotions. This was probably what a master and apprentice should be like. Once he obtained the Lingxi Root, he would cleanse his disciple’s roots all at once. This would allow his disciple to cultivate faster, and his future path to immortality would not be too lonely. Moreover, it could also help cover up the mysterious encounter that had happened to his apprentice.
In the following months, Yu Tianze did not allow Mu Zirun to go into seclusion to accumulate true essence, because the boy had already reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment and only needed time to reach the peak before looking for an opportunity to break through. It was useless to work behind closed doors. Since Yu Tianze had decided to bring his apprentice, he wanted to improve the boy’s strength as much as possible in this short period, so he decided to spar with him.
And so, Mu Zirun began to live a painful life of being beaten up by a Soul Transformation cultivator every day. At the same time, the gains were enormous. Many high-damage, high-defense, and bizarre techniques that he found in the system—those which could be used in this realm—were gradually mastered through repeated beatings. He became more proficient than when he practiced on his own. The true essence in his dantian was also tempered into a more solid state through repeated depletion and accumulation, and his dantian expanded quite a bit. Every night, he would soak in a medicinal bath prepared by his master using a recipe obtained from the system. After a night of tingling pain, like ants gnawing at his body, his physical form became even stronger.
Yu Tianze repeatedly knocked his apprentice away, only to find that the boy was becoming more and more resilient with each blow. This was a good thing. Therefore, each “next time” Yu exerted more force than the “last time,” frequently releasing the powerful pressure of a Soul Transformation cultivator to force his disciple to fight back under such weight. Later, he even released killing intent.
From being unable to move to being able to cast spells freely and even escape, his apprentice’s progress was visible to the naked eye, which made Yu very satisfied. When Yu Tianze had been instructing Ming Yuan before, he felt only that his patience was being tested. He had felt that being a teacher was so painful that he never wanted to take on disciples again! But now that he was teaching Mu Zirun, he realized that comprehension was truly important. Not everyone in the world was hopeless. At least with this disciple, he felt a great sense of accomplishment.
After three months, Yu Tianze discovered that his disciple was at least ten times stronger than when he had first emerged from seclusion—this was the difference between having power but not knowing how to use it, and being able to wield it with perfect control. Once he selected a few more good magical artifacts for his disciple, his confidence in protecting him once they entered the secret realm would be even greater.
At dawn, Yu Tianze stood outside the Thunderfire Hall, accompanied by the composed young man. Their robes fluttered as they prepared to meet up with the other members of the Zhenggang Immortal Sect who were heading to the secret realm. Then, Yu Tianze whistled. In an instant, a strong wind rose in the distance, and a bolt of lightning pierced the sky, casting a large shadow. With a howl, the enormous Thunder Eagle King landed in front of the master and disciple.
Mu Zirun nodded to the creature politely, “Senior Lei Huang.”
The Thunder Eagle King proudly raised its head and, to give him face, let out a cry. Yu Tianze pressed the bird’s head down: “Lei Huang, Mu Zirun is already my personal disciple. From now on, you must treat him the same way you treat me.”
Mu Zirun was deeply moved: “Master…”
Yu Tianze replied, “…Enough with the nonsense.”
Mu Zirun was silent. The Thunder Eagle King tilted its head and looked at Mu Zirun for a while. Of course, it recognized this guy as the little cub that often fed it. Thinking about Yu Tianze’s tone, it nodded and acknowledged this other “companion.”
Mu Zirun looked at the magnificent eagle and was very pleased with it. In his past life, men loved luxury cars, and he was no exception. Now, as a cultivator, he craved majestic mounts. Unfortunately, this one belonged to his master; in the future, he would seek one that rivaled even the Thunder Eagle King.
Yu Tianze was not a talkative person. When he saw Lei Huang arrive, he simply said, “I’m leaving.”
Mu Zirun quickly followed behind him and sat on Lei Huang’s back. When the Thunder Eagle King and Yu Tianze had arrived, they had made a pact. Now, hearing that he was going on a trip, the eagle was overjoyed and took flight. Several years had passed since it had arrived on this island in the lake. Although it had no worries about food or drink, it had been incredibly bored. Finally, it could leave!
The two men and the eagle, just like when they had first come to the main sect together, were now leaving the island together. In his previous life, Yu Tianze had wasted almost all of those decades, but this life was just the beginning of his continuous progress.
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