After returning to his true nature, Yun Lie’s behavior was indeed utterly different from when he was demonically corrupted. Everything seemed unchanged from before.
Xu Ziqing was melancholy, but he promptly stored away his bottle and followed. To him, however, something had changed, and his heart was filled with complicated feelings and an affection he could not readily relinquish.
After a few steps, they reached the edge of the ninth tier.
Most of their true essence had recovered, and their cultivation arts were circulating automatically once more.
But when Xu Ziqing looked down, he was startled.
From their height they could see clearly that the cultivators below had fallen into disorder.
Those sword cultivators who had concentrated on comprehending the Dao sensed their cultivation returning and began to view those around them differently.
The Sword-Shaped Wood held numerous sword-shaped leaves on each tier, but divided among so many cultivators, they were still insufficient.
The more leaves one obtained, the greater the benefit. Those who had already tasted their power found their resolve wavering.
At some unknown moment, someone began fighting. Before long, cultivators on the lower six tiers in particular were battling one another.
Those remaining on the seventh tier, however, were either consolidating their third realm of sword intent or striving to advance within it like Xi Lin. There were fewer of them, and little fighting. Their Dao hearts were clearer, and they better understood when to seek and when to yield.
Yun Lie said, “Use the opportunity to find Xuan Ze’s treasure.”
Xu Ziqing’s heart stirred, and he came to his senses.
Indeed, now was not the time to brood over feelings. They had accepted a commission and ought to carry it out faithfully. Xuan Ze had invited them long ago and had treated them with generosity and propriety over the past five years. Now that the opportunity had arrived, they should naturally fulfill their promise.
And why should he remain so indecisive when he had long since prepared himself? Whether Yun Lie remembered their time together or not, Xu Ziqing would treasure those days in his heart. There was no need to become greedy for more.
With that thought, he swept aside his troubled feelings and began searching for Xi Lin and the others.
As expected, they too took their promises seriously. Though the Sword-Shaped Wood offered great rewards, they had pledged to help Xuan Ze and were looking for an opening to descend amid the confusion.
Soon several on the lower tiers pretended to be struck by sword intent and threw themselves down. Others above did likewise, landing at the base from different directions. Xi Lin looked about and saw that the people around him were meditating. He gathered a few leaves, seemed to make a decision, and leaped down.
This was just what Xu Ziqing had expected. What surprised him was that he no longer saw the two resentful sword venerables from the Myriad Swords Immortal Sect.
Where had they gone?
Yun Lie said, “They came for the Sword Dao Fruits. Having failed to obtain them, they naturally left.”
The fruits were the only prizes those venerables considered worth their attention. They had lost to a junior and suffered an enormous loss of face. Causing another scene before everyone would only drag their sect’s reputation through the mud. After waiting some time without seeing Yun Lie descend, they had likely understood he was using the fruits on the ninth tier. In their anger, they could do nothing but return empty-handed.
By now, the venerables had probably left the Sword-Shaped Wood and rejoined their sect’s companions.
If so, that was for the best.
Xu Ziqing sighed inwardly. At least the two had retained enough shame not to lie in ambush upon the eighth tier. Had they disregarded their dignity as immortal-path sword venerables, the moment everyone’s cultivation returned would have put the martial brothers in serious danger.
Yun Lie’s Sword Dao attainment was superior, but an opponent with sufficient true essence could augment the power of sword intent. Then the balance would reverse, placing the opponents at an advantage.
Xu Ziqing did not wish to draw attention. If the two of them descended openly from the tree’s summit, countless people might take notice.
After considering the matter, he sensed that ninety percent of his true essence had returned and his art was circulating normally. He turned toward Yun Lie. “Senior Brother, shall I use the Wood escape technique?”
No matter how closely the Sword-Shaped Wood resembled metal, it was still a tree.
Yun Lie agreed, but first tossed him something.
Xu Ziqing caught a small silk pouch. Opening it, he discovered several dozen iron-gray seeds. Though dull in luster, their skins were smooth and gleaming. They were Sword-Shaped Wood seeds!
Delight rose in his heart.
While collecting the ‘sweet rain,’ he had also been looking for seeds from the tree but had found none.
Yet his senior brother had somehow obtained these seeds and handed them over to him.
Yun Lie apparently sensed his confusion. “Inside the fruit shells.”
Xu Ziqing understood and swiftly put away the seeds. After a moment’s hesitation, he extended a hand. “Senior Brother.”
Yun Lie nodded and placed his hand upon Xu Ziqing’s.
Xu Ziqing closed his fingers around it. Azure light surged around him and soon enveloped Yun Lie too.
Together they became a point of light and sank into the trunk.
The Wood escape technique was extremely swift. Although the tree’s Wood qi had changed greatly, it remained Wood qi.
Xu Ziqing carried Yun Lie through it at great speed. They soon neared the base, and the wonder of the Wood-Escape Aura-Concealing Art ensured no one noticed them.
Yun Lie had completely restrained his aura, and Xu Ziqing concealed both of them. They emerged in a secluded place without attracting attention.
From afar they saw Xi Lin and several of Xuan Ze’s subordinates moving apart and slowly searching around the giant tree.
Many sword cultivators had fallen injured. Their companions were tending them, so the searchers could simply pretend to do likewise without arousing suspicion.
Xu Ziqing and Yun Lie were concealed so well that they had no need of the pretense. Besides, most who were still competing on the tree possessed cultivation below Nascent Soul and could not penetrate their concealment.
The leap from Golden Core to Nascent Soul was hundreds or thousands of times harder than advancing from Essence Transformation to Golden Core. The gap between Nascent Soul and Golden Core likewise far exceeded the gulf between Golden Core and Essence Transformation.
Thus, when Yun Lie had been at Essence Transformation, his fearless Sword Dao had allowed him to kill Golden Core opponents. But at Golden Core, he could not simply slay Nascent Soul experts in the same way. Even at the peak of late Golden Core, half a step from Nascent Soul, he might only manage a mutually destructive fight. His early comprehension of an embryonic Minor Cosmos, however, gave him greater confidence. Any Nascent Soul cultivator who tried to kill him would likely suffer a fierce counterattack.
Yun Lie said, “This is a place of death. Search for something overflowing with life.”
Xu Ziqing nodded. He understood.
The Sword-Shaped Wood grew only where countless sword cultivators had died. Such places were saturated with death, and no living thing should exist there apart from the tree itself.
Xu Ziqing cultivated the Dao of Wood. He had a pure Wood constitution, a single Wood spiritual root, and an art of myriad Woods. As Wood governed vitality, he was especially well suited to detecting such an extraordinary medicine.
Yun Lie had his own method.
The Sword-Shaped Wood was full of killing intent, and sword cultivators were fighting nearby. The air was thick with murderous energy, with danger at every step.
But the miraculous herb capable of bringing the dead back to life and regrowing flesh upon bones contained no killing intent.
He merely had to seek the place where killing intent was faintest, or perhaps completely absent.
And who in this vast area could be more sensitive to killing intent than Yun Lie?
The martial brothers undertook different searches, but the place was dangerous, so they did not separate physically. Instead, they spread their senses while moving together.
Xu Ziqing half closed his eyes and focused. He extended his spiritual sense and expanded his perceptions, continuously searching for the strongest source of vitality.
Yun Lie released a wisp of sword intent. His perception of killing energy became ten times more sensitive, and he searched as well.
As they moved, both independently began walking toward the southwest.
Xu Ziqing opened his eyes. He had sensed exceedingly faint Wood qi there, but its vitality was more than a hundred times that of an ordinary spiritual object. Even if it was not Xuan Ze’s medicinal herb, it was certainly extraordinary.
He might as well investigate.
Xu Ziqing looked at Yun Lie.
Yun Lie said, “The killing intent there is extremely faint.”
Xu Ziqing understood.
Where killing intent spread, death energy was usually concentrated. And when death energy reached its extreme, it could give birth to life.
The stronger the life force, the weaker the death energy and its associated killing intent would become.
That strengthened his suspicion.
Worried about being detected, the martial brothers kept their pace steady but moved faster.
After roughly a hundred steps, they reached the area they had sensed.
Xu Ziqing asked, “Senior Brother, is this the place?”
Yun Lie answered, “It is.”
Since both agreed, they were probably right.
But if they had found the correct place, why could they see nothing?
A few rocks lay beneath the Sword-Shaped Wood, but not a blade of grass grew there.
Xu Ziqing had thought the herb might be hidden behind a boulder. Looking now, however, he could not determine where it was.
After thinking hard, an idea suddenly came to him. He crouched beside the trunk and inspected it closely.
He seeped Wood qi into the roots of the giant tree, then tried moving it upward.
The Sword-Shaped Wood did not resist such gentle Wood qi, perhaps also because of the aura of the Essence of Yi-Wood. Everything proceeded smoothly. Before long, his energy followed the root channels upward, carefully extending feelers in every direction.
That thin strand of Wood qi divided into even finer filaments and wove a net. Slowly, as it traveled through a certain place, some unknown object suddenly absorbed it!
Found it!
Delight lit Xu Ziqing’s face. His Wood qi could not distinguish the object precisely, but the instant it was absorbed, he sensed the identical vitality he had detected before.
It had to be the miraculous medicine Xuan Ze was seeking!
After reaching this conclusion, he looked up at Yun Lie. “Senior Brother, the herb may be inside the trunk.”