Chapter 66: Spirits Roots - I

Chapter 66: Spirits Roots - I

After a brief talk with everyone regarding my plans for Taizhou, I set my eyes towards Cao Chen. The boy stood in the back, his arms and chest broad and sturdy with dirt coating them in a way that somehow only added to him.

I’d barely interacted with Cao Chen in all the time I’d known Su Lin. Now that I thought about it, the same went for Zhang. Even with everything I’d done, I barely knew the boy himself, or how Su Lin and the rest of them had come to swear each other as brothers.

Cao Chen looked at me, dipping his lightly. “Do you need something?” he asked, hauling over a large bag that looked to be filled with dirt.

“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “I was just curious, you see. For better or for worse, all of you are involved with me and my plans, and I am involved with you. But I realize that outside of Su Lin, I don’t really know the two of you too well. Like, say how you came to the seventh peak or the cloudy peaks sect and became sworn brothers.”

Cao Chen looked at me for a moment, glancing briefly towards Su Lin and Zhang.

“If you don’t mind sharing, then I’d like to know more.”

“The heavens will strike me down if I refuse after everything you’ve done Lu Jie. But I’m afraid there is not much to be heard in this story like you seem to be expecting,” Cao Chen said, putting the heavy bag down with a thud.

I eyed the bag momentarily and the ease with which he moved it around. For a second realm cultivator, he may very well be close to being pure physical strength.

“Where to even begin...” Cao Chen trailed off walking closer and taking a seat and I followed along. Zhang and Su Lin looked at each other once, before they too settled down on the floor with me.

“Wasn’t it Su Lin who stole from me when we met?” Zhang said and Cao Chen laughed as Su Lin looked around feeling a bit embarrassed.

“Well, ya’d challenged him to a duel and lost in five blows,” Su Lin countered back as Cao Chen’s smile slipped and Zhang laughed even harder.

“I want the two of you to cultivate again.”

Su Lin and Cao Chen stared at me in surprise. “You want us to? Why? We’d tried and we’d failed, the two of us will never reach the third realm, much less beyond that. It’d be pointless.”

“I‘ve to agree with Chen here. That’s a fool’s game Lu Jie.”

“No it is not. Now that Zhang is better, granny can help you out with pills and herbs, you’re in a village with a Qi vein nearby and naturally growing spirit herbs, and I also plan to start a spirit herb farm here if I can. There are a lot of ways to increase your cultivation. I plan to completely fix Zhang’s core as well so this might be the only chance you will ever get to catch up to him. Do you truly intend to let this go to waste?” I asked, looking at the two boys.

Su Lin looked up at me, his face scrunched up as she stared. Cao Chen glanced at Zhang, before he turned to look at me. “Very well. I’ll do it.”

I smiled at the reply, turning to look at Su Lin who sighed. “Fine, I’ll try.”

“Thank you,” I said with a smile as the two of them waved their hands. I turned to look at Zhang, my smile still remaining on my face.

“Now then. It’s about time I inspected your core as well, don’t you say? Can’t fix what I can’t understand after all.”

Zhang nodded and I moved closer. Closing my eyes, I felt the spirit anchor I’d set in his core. Qi pulsed through the flower within, spreading outwards through little channels of roots that spread through his pathways.

The flower was the core, tied to his spirit, and coiled around it. I sensed the fraying shards present in it, the cracks in his core that despite the blossom, remained just as broken. I would need to find a way to heal those.

I spread my senses through Zhang’s core, channeling my Qi through it as I felt a tug at my own spirit come. Surprise rose within me, as I felt the pull on my spirit even without Sheldon around. After a moment’s thought, I let myself be swept as the world twisted around me, before darkness covered my sight.