Arc 15: Heavenly Secret Realm | Chapter 298: Clear-headed

Arc 15: Heavenly Secret Realm | Chapter 298: Clear-headed

After Yun Lie returned to his true self, his actions were indeed quite different from when he had been influenced by the demon energy. It was as if nothing had changed, and everything was just as it had been before.

Although Xu Ziqing felt a pang of melancholy in his heart, he quickly put the bottle away and followed Yun Lie. However, from his perspective, there was still something subtly different, which left him with mixed emotions and a lingering sense of attachment.

After walking a few steps, they reached the edge of the ninth branch.

By now, their true essence had mostly recovered, and their cultivation techniques had begun to circulate on their own.

But as soon as Xu Ziqing looked down, he was startled.

From their elevated position, they could clearly see the scene below, and it was apparent that the situation had descended into chaos.

On the lower branches, the sword cultivators who had previously been focused on comprehending the Sword Dao now sensed their cultivation recovering, which in turn led to shifts in their mindset toward those around them.

Although there were plenty of sword-shaped leaves on each level of the sword-shaped tree, if they were to be distributed among all the sword cultivators, there would undoubtedly be too few.

Moreover, the more sword-shaped leaves one could collect, the more beneficial it would be to their own progress. Those who had experienced the advantages of the leaves became increasingly tempted.

At some point, someone made the first move, and soon enough, especially among the cultivators on the sixth branch, fighting broke out.

In contrast, those on the seventh branch were mostly cultivators consolidating their third realm of sword intent, or those like Xi Lin who were striving to break through to the third realm. Their numbers were fewer, and thus, there was less conflict. Their Dao hearts were clearer, allowing them to make more deliberate choices.

Yun Lie then said, “Take this chance to find something for Xuan Ze.”

Xu Ziqing’s mind immediately cleared, snapping him back to focus.

That’s right, this was not the time to dwell on emotions. They had been entrusted with a task, and they needed to fulfill it with loyalty. Xuan Ze had invited them early on, and over the past five years, his hospitality had been flawless. Now that they had an opportunity, it was only right to put in effort for him. Since Xuan Ze had prepared for this, why should Xu Ziqing hesitate? Whether his Shixiong remembered him or not, that time had already been cherished in his heart, so there was no need to foster any greedy desires.

With this thought, Xu Ziqing pushed away his restless emotions and focused on searching for Xi Lin and the others.

As expected, those individuals were also people of integrity. Having made a promise to Xuan Ze, even though there were many benefits to be gained from the sword-shaped tree, they immediately realized what needed to be done. They began looking for gaps in the chaos, trying to make their way to the base of the tree amidst the disorder.

Soon, a few people standing on the lower branches pretended to be struck by sword intent, throwing themselves off the tree. Those slightly higher up followed suit, falling in different directions. Xi Lin glanced around, seeing that everyone else was in meditation, and decisively plucked a few sword-shaped leaves before flipping down from the tree.

This behavior was within Xu Ziqing’s expectations, but what surprised him was that he no longer saw the two Sword Lords from the Wanjian Immortal Sect, who had been unwilling to accept their loss.

Where had they gone?

Yun Lie explained, “They came for the Sword Dao Fruit. Unable to obtain it, they naturally left.”

Aside from the Sword Dao Fruit, nothing else could catch the interest of those two Sword Lords. Earlier, losing to a junior had been a great blow to their pride. If they had lingered in the presence of so many witnesses, it would have been disgraceful, trampling the sect’s reputation. After waiting a long time without seeing Yun Lie descend, they realized he must have consumed the Sword Dao Fruit on the ninth branch. In their fury, they had no choice but to leave in defeat. By now, the two Sword Lords had likely departed from the sword-shaped tree and returned to their sect.

If that were the case, it was all for the better. Xu Ziqing sighed inwardly, relieved that those two weren’t shameless enough to wait on the eighth branch. Otherwise, with everyone’s cultivation gradually recovering, it would have been a bad situation for both him and his Shixiong.

While Yun Lie’s Sword Dao was profound, if the opponent had enough true essence, it could still diminish the power of sword intent. In that case, the enemy might gain the upper hand, reversing the situation—something that would be disastrous.

Xu Ziqing didn’t want to attract attention. If the two of them descended the tree in full view, who knew how many eyes would be on them? Thinking quickly, he noticed his true essence had recovered by ninety percent, and his technique was circulating smoothly. He turned his head and said, “Shixiong, why don’t I use the wood escape technique?”

Though the sword-shaped tree had properties akin to metal, it was still a tree at its core.

Yun Lie, on the other hand, released a sliver of sword intent, becoming ten times more sensitive to killing intent as he searched.

As they searched and moved forward, they both instinctively headed toward the southwest.

Xu Ziqing opened his eyes. He had just sensed a faint trace of wood energy from that direction. However, the vitality contained in this wood energy was more than a hundred times greater than that of ordinary spiritual objects. Even if it wasn’t the miraculous herb Xuan Ze was searching for, it was certainly something extraordinary. He decided it was worth investigating and looked toward Yun Lie.

Yun Lie said, “The killing intent there is very faint.”

Xu Ziqing understood.

In places where killing intent was prevalent, the atmosphere would be filled with deathly energy. When death energy reached its peak, it could give rise to new life.

The more abundant the vitality, the fainter the death energy, and in turn, the killing intent would avoid such places.

This only reinforced Xu Ziqing’s hypothesis.

Worried about being detected by others, the two brothers quickened their pace without disrupting their steps.

After about a hundred paces, they arrived at the location they had been sensing.

Xu Ziqing couldn’t help but ask, “Shixiong, is it here?”

Yun Lie replied, “This is the place.”

Since both of them agreed this was the right spot, it was probably correct.

But if they had found the right location, why was there nothing to be seen?

There were some rocks beneath the sword-shaped tree, but no grass grew.

Xu Ziqing had thought the miraculous herb might be blocked by the large rocks, but now it seemed he couldn’t detect its exact whereabouts at all.

After thinking hard for a while, a thought suddenly struck Xu Ziqing. He squatted down by the tree trunk and began to carefully inspect it. He infused some wood energy into the roots of the massive tree and attempted to guide it upward.

The sword-shaped tree didn’t seem to reject the gentle wood energy—perhaps it was because the energy shared the essence of Yimu—so Xu Ziqing’s actions went smoothly. Soon, he traced the veins of the tree’s roots upward, cautiously extending his tendrils of energy in all directions.

Through this thread of wood energy, he further split it into even finer strands, weaving them into a network. Gradually, as the wood energy traveled to a certain point, it was suddenly absorbed by an unknown object!

He had found it!

Xu Ziqing’s face lit up with joy. Though his wood energy couldn’t discern the object in detail, at the moment it was absorbed, he sensed the exact same vitality as before.

Without a doubt, this had to be the miraculous herb that Xuan Ze was seeking!

With that certainty, Xu Ziqing looked up at Yun Lie and said, “Shixiong, that herb might be inside the tree trunk.”

Translator: Lynn

Translations are not 100% correct. Please let me know if there are typos/mistakes in the chapter.

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