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303. Tree Time
🕑 Added 2022-08-13 15:00:01 +0000 UTCThe inheritance roared through him. Golden light flared up all around his body. His hand gleamed golden, as if made of the metal. Trees flitted past his eyes. He saw the young Mount Mu grow majestic and old again, and a thousand other trees come to life and die in its shadow, worn away by the passage of time. The gold light grew brighter. His life qi surged, all if it surging along with the inheritance, whether he liked it or not. Hui gritted his teeth and pushed on. It pushed at his sanity and consciousness, struggling to push him out of the way. The gold crawled up his arm, creeping toward his chest.
Hui fought back, refusing to be shoved aside so easily. Structuring his mental energy, he shoved the inheritance out of his mind. He called out the death ducks, sending them flapping around his body. If the life qi invades me, I can repress it with the death ducks. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s better than nothing!
Though… for some reason… I feel like I have fewer ducks than usual. Did something happen?
In the moment of Hui’s distraction, the gold energy surged out of his hand and toward his mental defenses. Hui braced for the blow, but at the last second, his eyes shot wide open. He slammed his palm on the ground and directed his elbow at the sky. Stirring the inheritance in his arm, he fed it life qi and pushed it to circulate at full speed, then laid the sword at the inside of his elbow and cut.
His fingers became roots. The blood spurting from his severed elbow became a canopy of branches and leaves. The inheritance raced, raging upward, the tree rapidly growing from a small sapling into an adult tree. It punctured his barrier and kept going, searing up into the sky.
As the tree’s canopy spread, blooming like a flower bud unfurling, golden light burst up into the sky. It struck the sky and spread, stretching branches across the heavens.
Hui swallowed. Er… Mount Mu, are you trying to give me away? That’s a bit flashy! I wasn’t expecting fireworks from a tree’s inheritance, dammit!
It’s okay, it’s okay. No one knows Xiao Hui received Mount Mu’s inheritance. No one even knows what Mount Mu’s inheritance looks like in the first place. I’m just a normal cultivator, using a normal, slightly flashy move! There’s no need to take a look or examine anything!
In the distance, three beams of sword light flashed up and flew toward Hui.
Argh, these tiny clans! Don’t you have anything better to do than nose around? He glanced at the tree. I can’t cancel it now. It’s in the middle of growing. If I kill the technique, now that I’ve cut it out of myself, I’ll lose everything.
Argh, I never would have activated it if I thought it would shoot a beacon into space! Ah, that’s my own miscalculation for underestimating the number of traps Mount Mu built into its inheritance. Although… I suppose it wouldn’t be a trap if I was anyone but me.
Hui glanced around, then flew into the forest, hiding himself behind a tree and instinctively suppressing his cultivation. Let’s see how this plays out.
The first beam of sword light approached, resolving as it grew closer into Mo Gonglu. This time, no hussy joined him on his sword; he flew alone, without Ying Min. Circling around the tree, he drew close to the ground, then hopped off and landed at its roots.
Hui frowned. Eh? Isn’t he fighting with the Fu Clan? What’s he doing here, brazenly rushing into the middle of their territory?
The second beam arrived seconds later. Fu Renyi gave the tree a slow look, revolving around it like the Moon around the Earth. He stroked his chin.
“What do you think?” Mo Gonglu asked.
“It emanates strong wood-element qi and… is that… life qi? Some kind of plant-based magic. An inheritance…? I can’t say exactly. Perhaps it’s a natural eruption of the deep forest glen,” Fu Renyi mused.
Hey, hey, aren’t you two meant to be deadly enemies? What’s with acting all buddy-buddy now? Hui shouted silently. His brows furrowed. Is Mo Gonglu in cahoots with Fu Renyi and Han Qin? But… why? He’s a casanova, but he didn’t seem particularly skilled. Other than being a bit handsome, there’s nothing remarkable about him. I do mean ‘a bit’ handsome, too. I don’t mean to brag, but even this small cultivator is more handsome than him.
“Is it related to that interference you mentioned?” Mo Gonglu asked quietly.
Fu Renyi paused, then shook his head. “The interference is… taken care of. In the end, he was merely a mortal. This kind of working is far beyond what he would have been able to make, even in his life.”
Hui’s ears pricked. He swallowed. Er, Seniors, this small interference—er, cultivator, is exactly the person who created that working.
Mo Gonglu looked over the tree again, then hopped back on his sword as the third sword light grew closer. As he started to fly away, he glanced back one last time. “You don’t think it’ll get in our way?”
Fu Renyi shook his head. “If anything, it might be an opportunity to get rid of another few… potential interferences.”
In the distance, Fu Suyin rushed into sight, her teeth gritted in anger. “Mo Gonglu! After trampling on my sister’s heart, you trample on my clan’s territory, too? Are you so free? Is this your backyard, that you can wander about wherever you like?”
“Ha! This little village is your clan’s territory? I should have known, from how shabby it looks!” Mo Gonglu shouted back, even as he sped off into the distance.
Fu Suyin chased Mo Gonglu off, then circled back and flew down to the tree. At the sight of Fu Renyi, she quickly cupped hands and bowed. “Patriarch, I didn’t see you there.”
Fu Renyi waved his hand. “Come, cultivate by this tree. I can sense an inheritance deep in its heart. If you study here, your cultivation will benefit, and who knows? You may be able to comprehend the inheritance.”
Cupping hands again, Fu Suyin settled in at the base of the tree and entered lotus pose to meditate. She sent her mental energy into the tree.
Hui flinched. Ugh, that feels disgusting! Can I feel everything the tree does? Instinctively, he projected his mental energy, forcing her out.
Fu Suyin flinched, frowning. She furrowed her brows and fought back, trying to wriggle past his defenses.
Hui snorted. A mere fourth-stage cultivator? Nice try. He barely had to put in conscious effort to keep her out.
Fu Suyin said nothing. Diligently, she sat at the base of the tree and continued to struggle against his mental energy.
Fu Renyi vanished, flying back into the sect. In the blink of an eye, cultivators gathered around the tree, both servants and the clan’s disciples. Fu Liyu settled down in a corner, only for Fu Yenfei to hurry over and sit down right beside her. He peeked open an eye and quickly adjusted his pose to match hers, then settled in again.
More and more mental energy pressed against Hui’s, but even the might of the entire small clan’s mental energy couldn’t defeat a fifth-stage cultivator’s. A slight tension grew between his brows, but he could manage it.
Hui glanced around. Everyone’s sitting under the tree. I should join them! After all, I’m Li Huang right now. There’s no reason for me to hold back! He waited until no one was looking at him, then darted around to the path from the manor. Checking one last time to ensure he was alone, he stepped onto the path and walked casually toward the tree. He found a place where the roots of the tree poked through the ground and sat down, reaching out to his connection with the tree.
Alright. Let’s see what this tree can do! He surged into the tree, searching for his first clone’s mental energy.
