Chapter 29
Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Mundane Bonds and Dao Companions Emerge (3)
"Only one use left, huh."
Riding the bronze bowl to the location Geum So-ryeo had indicated, I watched Wi A-han dismantle the formation while marveling at the sect ruins buried deep in the earth.
Whoa... How ancient must this sect be to be buried like that?
Didn't it take tens of thousands of years at the shortest to form a single layer of strata?
No, wait—I had to remember this was a xianxia world.
A place teeming with monsters who could flip the heavens, cleave the seas, and make the earth dance with a flick of a finger.
For all I knew, this sect might have been sunk whole into the depths just a few hundred years ago for irking some almighty expert.
Yeah, that seems more plausible.
As I pondered this, Wi A-han called out to me.
"Young master, it's open."
"Ah, thanks."
"But, young master, there's something I'd like to say..."
Listening to Wi A-han, I passed through the formation and scanned the sect ruins, my heart pounding with anticipation.
A heavenly treasure that enhanced one's spiritual root aptitude was incredibly rare. Especially if someone with a Single Element Spiritual Root used it—they'd gain the supreme Heavenly Spiritual Root.
Those with a Heavenly Spiritual Root cultivated at least twice as fast as a Single Element holder and could ascend smoothly to the Soul Transformation Realm without a hitch. It was the aptitude every cultivator dreamed of.
Yeom Suk has a wood spiritual root, so I could've given it to her to make a Heavenly Spiritual Root... but she gave it to me instead.
Thank you, Master.
Silently expressing my gratitude to Geum So-ryeo, I cautiously explored the surprisingly pristine sect ruins buried in the earth.
Geum So-ryeo had only told me the location of the fortuitous encounter and how to enter the outer formation—no internal details whatsoever. And above all, the info Wi A-han had just shared put me on edge.
Moving carefully inside, I reviewed what I'd just heard from her.
"A-han, is what you said true?"
"Yes. The formation had opened 'twice' before we arrived."
"No idea on the numbers?"
"Sorry, not that far..."
"It's fine. We have to assume at least two people—or two groups—of enemies."
At my words, Wi A-han gripped the talisman I'd given her tightly.
With her wind spiritual root, Wi A-han had an edge in escape over others. Wind root holders could innately use escape arts, and their speed and stealth were the best among peers.
Think of it as the opposite of lightning roots—the most aggressive and powerful, but hardest and riskiest for escape arts.
Anyway, if things got dangerous, she needed to bolt immediately. I couldn't lose the servant Geum So-ryeo had prepared for me.
Plus, combining spirit farming with formations had made Foundation Establishment spirit crops and herbs grow faster and better than I'd expected, letting me appreciate Wi A-han's value firsthand. Personally, she was crucial to me now.
"No dangerous formations?"
"Seems the ones who came first destroyed or bypassed them. It's safe now."
Wi A-han, her silver eyes like clear mirrors, was vigilantly scanning the surroundings.
Those eyes weren't innate; she'd gained them through the No Cloud Bright Eyes Method, a peculiar technique.
True to its name—eyes clear and bright without blemish—it granted special vision to read formations and feng shui without spiritual power. Channel divine sense and spiritual power, and she could even decipher formations beyond her realm.
An exquisitely marvelous technique, but the training was agonizingly painful and risky. A single mistake could blind her and ruin her formation master aptitude.
No master would force such a dangerous art on a servant without consent—but Wi A-han was Wi Hong-taek's descendant and a pottery department servant, so she had no say.
The result: forced into the most exceptional yet perilous technique.
Honestly, there was no need to make her learn it. The resources alone were substantial.
Just like how they'd forcibly dyed her hair a conspicuous red to make her easier to track if she fled—despite the soul brand ensuring recapture anyway.
Forcing the No Cloud Bright Eyes Method on her was just some grudge against Wi Hong-taek's line tormenting her.
When I heard that, I told her if she hated it, she could redye her hair and veil her eyes. With my silk veil, she could secure vision while covered.
But Wi A-han said she'd accepted it and it was fine. She even trained diligently to be more helpful to me.
Seemed smitten with my face, making her so loyal... Not that I'm complaining. Always grateful to her.
"Ah, here..."
"Hm?"
"A hidden formation. It signals if someone passes, so the setter knows."
Wi A-han showed me a talisman concealed in a wall crack.
She found two more, then pulled out a fine brush, dipped it in ink ground from spirit stones, and drew lines over all three.
Just five-ish strokes per talisman, but she nodded satisfied and stowed the brush and ink.
"Done, young master."
"What'd you do?"
"Destroying it might alert them, so I tweaked its spatial influence to create a bypass. Pass near the right ceiling corner."
Wi A-han used Wind Escape Art to go first, and I followed with Water Escape Art.
Wi A-han navigated formations while her exceptional feng shui senses charted the terrain for me. For physical traps—not formations—I took over.
Growing adept at controlling Water Essence Bullet Art power, I fired tiny shots to silently wreck mechanisms without noise.
With unknowns lurking in these ruins, I couldn't announce our presence with bangs.
The best plan: snatch the Verdant Branch Spirit Lotus Fruit undetected and flee.
Even if my spells punched above my weight, my spiritual power was only Foundation Establishment layer 2. No telling the foes' realms or treasures—I didn't want needless mental strain.
I wasn't alone in thinking that.
Fighting other cultivators always risked life.
Even in the original Black and White Immortal Chronicle, high-realm cultivators fell to complacency against tricky treasures or divine abilities. Even immortals past ascension tumbled to the mortal realm that way.
Oh yeah, how to survive that event?
About 3,000 years post-story start, a massive tribulation sweeps the mortal realm: the Descent of Immortals Tribulation.
A calamity sparked by fallen immortals, plummeting from noble celestial realms to lowly mortal dust.
No plans to preempt it or hunt the fallen immortal early.
Impossible anyway—my circle couldn't even scratch them.
Tribulations weren't mere disasters; they were inevitable events dictated by unfathomable cosmic principles.
Even if we somehow blocked the Descent of Immortals Tribulation, some new one would surely follow amid the massive changes.
Better to prep for the known one and boost survival odds.
At least it's a relief it targets only top spiritual root cultivators? With my Three and Five Elements Roots, I'm safe.
As I mulled this, guided safely by Wi A-han, a massive boom echoed from afar.
Kwaaaang!!
The stagnant spiritual qi in the ruins churned chaotically.
"...!"
"Young master! This is...?"
"No one's making that racket for nothing... Someone found the Verdant Branch Spirit Lotus Fruit and is fighting its guardian setup."
Puppet? Guardian spirit beast? Powerful formation?
Whatever guarded it.
With this commotion, the fruit falling to someone was just a matter of time.
Wi A-han and I halted our stealthy advance and raced toward the noise.
When the huge uproar erupted somewhere, the three from Nakseong Sect also moved swiftly to find the intruders who'd arrived before them.
The blood-red robed man—higher realm than his juniors, cultivated to near lifespan's end—was first to reach the warehouse with the Verdant Branch Spirit Lotus Fruit, leaving his martial siblings behind.
This Two Elements Spiritual Root madman, refusing breakthroughs to force a Single Element Nascent Soul, wouldn't miss this chance.
He hadn't griped about his root originally, but at 300, his barely-100 junior overtook him—now that peak's elder. The humiliation burned deep.
If I become Single Element! Just Single Element!! And who dares steal my Verdant Branch Spirit Lotus Fruit!
His bloodshot eyes swept the warehouse. No divine sense to avoid detection—pure eyesight revealed a red-armored woman battling a green dragon-scaled dog.
Gauging her plight, he spotted her storage pouch bound by spell characters and smirked.
She's trapped in the pouch-binding formation!
She was Core Formation Perfection, like him.
But the key was her foe: the guardian spirit beast.
Behind the glowing Verdant Branch Spirit Lotus Fruit lurked a hu—dragon-dog hybrid born of dragon and hound.
This qi-bearing dog innately lived sky-spanning lifespans and wielded divine abilities at Nascent Soul level.
Long imprisoned, its power waned below full Nascent Soul—but deadly to an unequipped Core Formation Perfection.
Take out the woman first!
The blood-red robed man unleashed his spell: a massive dragon-headed tree sprouted, lunging at the woman.
Startled, woman and hu scattered. He detonated his wood dragon, blasting both.
"Such...!"
Grrrrowl!!
Ignoring the hu's roar, he charged the woman, blowing a flute treasure. Its sound plunged her into illusion instantly.
"Die!"
Another wood dragon devoured her—but stone spears erupted inside, shredding it in seconds.
"Tch!"
"What is this?!"
Failing to finish her, he faced the fang-baring hu and the woman forging a stone sword, plus his belatedly arriving juniors.
"...Pin her down from now. I'll grab the fruit and we bolt!"
"Core Formation Perfection! Brother, you want us to hold her?!"
"I'll share my treasures—do it!"
Yelling at his protesting juniors, he tossed them valuables. Recognizing worth, they stunned but took the job.
As they clashed with treasures, he focused the hu—
Doooong! Doooong!!
A colossal bell toll spread green spiritual power, binding everyone in the warehouse.
"What!"
"This?!"
"Verdant Vine Binding! Wood restraint spell for foes!"
As bodies locked, a water stream slipped in, streaking toward the Verdant Branch Spirit Lotus Fruit.