Chapter 548 - 234: Silent Calamity Forbidden Land: First Meeting Su Li
Chapter 548: Chapter 234: Silent Calamity Forbidden Land: First Meeting Su Li
TING!
The red cord swayed, its crisp chime chasing the wind.
She seemed to be moving at a leisurely pace, yet a single step carried her dozens of yards away. In the blink of an eye, she was gone.
’Hmm?’
’She’s leaving just like that?’
Xiao Chen blinked, then decisively went to retrieve the Moon-Dyed Jade Marrow Ganoderma first.
He deliberately chose the one that looked the most vibrant and potent, then stored it away.
Only then did he get his bearings on the island and, following Su Li’s instructions, head to the other side to find the Spirit-Extinguishing Cloud Wood.
To be honest, the task was far simpler than he had imagined.
The other side of the island was a tapestry of red flowers and green grass. Especially near the coast, a vast, lush forest stretched for dozens of miles.
It was a stark contrast to this side of the island, which was barren save for a few Spirit Plants.
The Spirit-Extinguishing Cloud Wood grew within that forest, and there were several hundred trees in total.
Xiao Chen was stunned for a moment. ’Does a task this simple really require me?’
But he quickly realized she must be from some major power and would naturally disdain such menial labor.
As its name suggested, the Spirit-Extinguishing Cloud Wood was highly resistant to the erosion of a Cultivator’s Spiritual Power. To cut one down, you had to rely on pure physical strength, slowly grinding away at it—a task utterly beneath a Great Cultivator.
He figured she probably had subordinates who came periodically to handle such chores, but she had just happened to run into him first this time.
So, she was just conveniently ordering him to do the work for her. This kind of attitude wasn’t at all uncommon in the cultivation world.
"Alright then. I’m a brute anyway, I don’t mind chopping some wood."
Xiao Chen took out his Flying Sword, held it horizontally like a saw, and bent over to begin cutting.
「Meanwhile.」
Su Li had returned to a simple, old bluestone hut by the sea.
She gazed silently at several worn-out wooden carvings arranged in different positions.
She reached out with her long fingers, gently tracing the marks of the curse’s erosion on a statue, a complex emotion flickering in her eyes.
"He went to great lengths to break the Illusion Array to get here. He can’t be a good person. It would serve him right to be infected by the curse."
Su Li murmured to herself, her voice as soft as a breeze, her sigh almost inaudible.
The slightly warped statue before her remained silent, as always.
"Senior, I’m back. What’s next?"
In just two hours, Xiao Chen returned, carrying two ten-foot-long pieces of Spirit Wood on his shoulder, and placed them directly in front of the stone hut.
"So fast?"
Su Li snapped back to her senses, staring at the fresh lumber in astonishment.
Spirit-Extinguishing Cloud Wood was a Tier Four Spirit Wood. It was no simple task for a Golden Core Cultivator to chop it down.
She had originally thought the process would take at least two days, but he had finished in less than half a day.
"Who told you to come straight here!"
Su Li’s expression suddenly changed. "Get away from me. Move it over to the beach."
’Huh?’
’Didn’t you tell me to meet you at the stone hut?’
Xiao Chen rolled up his sleeves on the spot, heaved the Spirit-Extinguishing Cloud Wood back onto his shoulder, and said, "Alright."
’A great man doesn’t sweat the small stuff. Besides, it’s not like I can beat her.’
’I’ll endure this little hassle for the other two Moon-Dyed Jade Marrow Ganodermas.’
Watching Xiao Chen back away, Su Li sighed inwardly.
The closer he got to her, the stronger the curse’s effect would be.
’To keep this tool alive for a few more days so he can do more work, it’s best for me to maintain some distance.’
"For the next few days, stay over there and help me make some statues."
Su Li’s voice carried from a distance. "There’s a cave at the base of the cliff. On the innermost wall, there are a few portraits. Carve the statues in their likeness."
"Once you produce two acceptable statues, our deal will be complete."
’Of course, in reality, this was an impossible task.’
’Even though Xiao Chen had chopped the wood so quickly, which led me to guess he also practiced Body Refining, the difficulty of sawing and carving are on completely different levels.’
’It would be impossible to finish in less than four or five days.’
To be fair, carving looked simple, but it was actually quite difficult to get the hang of.
Although Xiao Chen had excellent control over his body, he had never done anything like this before. Coupled with the difficulty of working with Spirit-Extinguishing Cloud Wood, the statues he carved were naturally not very appealing.
But it didn’t matter, because Su Li didn’t seem to care in the slightest.
It was hard to imagine that a Nascent Soul True Monarch would only do two things every day.
First, she would stare blankly at the dilapidated old statues.
Second, she would stare blankly at the distant sea.
Xiao Chen found it baffling. ’Are Nascent Soul Cultivators really this idle?’
’Don’t you need to cultivate?’
During another one of his breaks, he glanced over and saw Su Li still holding a mottled, worn-out statue in one hand, lost in a daze.
’When things are this strange, there’s always a reason.’
’A dignified Nascent Soul True Monarch couldn’t possibly neglect her cultivation. There must be some profound meaning behind her actions.’
Xiao Chen observed her carefully and soon realized that whenever she fell into a trance, the surrounding ocean waves would quicken their pace.
’Whoa. Could she be trying to attain enlightenment this way?’
According to legend, there were indeed geniuses who walked the Path of Enlightenment, and it seemed he had met one today.
Once he understood she was on her Path of Enlightenment, Xiao Chen’s curiosity vanished, and he went back to studying the wood in his hands.
As the saying goes, delays breed trouble. The most important thing was to hurry up, finish the two statues, complete the deal, and get out of here.
TAP! TAP! TAP!
The rhythmic tapping of the Flying Sword rang out. Su Li came to her senses and glanced over at Xiao Chen.
’It’s been almost two days. The curse should be starting to take effect by now.’
She was eager to see what a sorry state this bold and greedy Golden Core youth would be in when he discovered he was entangled by the curse.
Would he curse her out in a rage? Tremble in terror? Or fall to his knees and beg for mercy in despair?