Chapter 516: We Have Plenty of Time Ahead
Chapter 516: We Have Plenty of Time Ahead!
Jiang Chen recalled that beasts surviving a century were merely considered minor demons.
Those enduring past a millennium earned the title of great demons, carving out their own lairs.
At several thousand years, they ascended to demon kings, claiming vast mountain ranges as their absolute sovereign territory.
Around the ten-thousand-year mark, they became demon emperors, reigning supreme over entire regions.
Beyond that lay the realm of immortal demon gods and supreme progenitors.
Demon gods possessed heaven-defying might, easily standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the absolute zenith of human cultivators.
As for progenitors, they were the very source of a bloodline, the primordial ancestors of entire demon races.
Hui Jiuming, currently sharing a symbiotic bond with Mo Yin, had once been a terrifying existence that commanded such absolute dominion.
Logically speaking, as long as it refrained from provoking ancient monstrosities or human mighty figures, it should have been virtually invincible.Initially, Hui Jiuming had shared this exact sentiment, rarely stepping beyond its borders.
Who could have foreseen that without courting death, death would come knocking on its own?
Those abyssal black lotuses had assimilated the entirety of the Abyss, freezing everything within into eternal stasis.
If it had not severed its mortal coil and fled with reckless abandon, even its soul would have been erased.
To think that the Lord of the Abyss was devoured by the Abyss itself-was there a greater, more bitter humiliation?
Seeing the terrifying “Venerable One” before him remain shrouded in silence, Hui Jiuming hurriedly pleaded, “Though I know not which ancestor of the Jade Dew Sect you are, I beg you to spare my life for the sake of our past karmic ties!”
In truth, the ancient demon’s plight was utterly pathetic.
It was once a ten-thousand-year demon emperor whose shadow blanketed the entire Abyss.
Logically, with another ten millennia having drifted by, its cultivation should have reached unfathomable heights.
Yet here it was, reduced to squatting in the flesh of a half-wit, forced to coax and coddle a mortal boy just to maintain a fragile tether to the living world.
At this moment, Jiang Chen finally broke his silence, his voice carrying an ancient weight. “Do you know of the Three Spirit Holy Tree?”
Hui Jiuming froze, then immediately answered, “I do. I once beheld such a treasure within the domain of a demon god. Does its canopy shimmer with the flowing resonance of water, wood, and fire?”
Jiang Chen pressed further, “Are you aware of its true potential?”
Hui Jiuming pondered deeply. “If my memories serve me, should this tree endure several heavenly thunder tribulations, it will undergo a transcendental metamorphosis into the legendary Undying Parasol Tree, a sanctuary capable of summoning true phoenixes.”
Jiang Chen maintained a stoic facade, but internally he was reeling. “I’ve somehow stumbled into another divine tree?”
More importantly, it wasn’t a mutation forced through the use of his Spirit Finger.
It was the fusion of a resurrected Sinking Water Tree and a wisp of Phoenix Fire left behind after nirvana.
Simply put, it was an accidental miracle born of profound karmic accumulation.
A resurrected Sinking Water Tree is impossibly rare.
Phoenix Fire forged in nirvana is even rarer.
Yet, by some heaven-defying Fated Chance, both had fallen right into his lap.
Hui Jiuming added carefully, “However, the conditions for its evolution are ruthlessly strict. It cannot rely on ordinary thunder; it requires the catastrophic baptism of Law Turbid Thunder, formed only during a true Tribulation.”
Jiang Chen found this perfectly reasonable. “It is a divine tree, after all. If tempering it were easy, they would grow like weeds across the Azure Realm.”
An oppressive silence descended between them once more.
Neither dared to breathe a word.
The ancient demon and the disguised immortal simply stared at one another.
After several long minutes, noticing that Mo Yin’s mortal coil was on the verge of collapsing under the sheer visceral spiritual pressure, Hui Jiuming spoke.
“Does the Venerable One have any further commands?”
“Is it not time you surrendered the foundations of my Jade Dew Sect?”
“Ah?”
“The mantras, mystic arts, and heavenly treasures-this Venerable One has kept a meticulous tally of them all!”
“This…”
Hui Jiuming’s soul twisted with profound grief and indignation.
The Four Seasons Fruit Tree and Jade Dew Spirit Buds had never belonged to the Jade Dew Sect; the demon had painstakingly dragged them out of the Abyss through sheer willpower!
Frankly, without its karmic interference, the Jade Dew Sect would have never existed in the first place.
But now, facing a monster it could neither defeat nor flee from, it could only bow its head to fate.
Low-tier cultivation mantras: Clear Dew Method, Green Bud Scripture.
Low-tier mystic arts: Sprout Watering Art, Growth Acceleration Art.
High-tier cultivation mantras: Rain Spring Canon, Spirit Dew Formula.
High-tier mystic arts: Spirit Moistening Art, Wound Healing Art.
Earth-tier cultivation mantra: Jade Spring Compendium.
Earth-tier mystic art: Spirit Vein Guidance.
It even handed over the “Spirit Plant Nursery Record,” a tome brimming with profound agricultural Dao.
It detailed the three waters and two woods, three fertilizers and two temperings, the three cultivation taboos, the three nursery seasons, and the three diagnoses and three remedies… serving as the pinnacle of the Jade Dew Sect’s thousand-year karmic accumulation.
Hui Jiuming wore a pained expression as if its flesh were being carved. “Mantras, mystic arts, and profound knowledge-everything is here.”
However, Jiang Chen remained unsatisfied. “For over a millennium, the Jade Dew Sect nurtured countless rare spirit plants. Where are those root stocks?”
Hui Jiuming gestured toward a spatial artifact hanging on its waist. “They are all sealed within.”
With a mere thought, Jiang Chen summoned the Storage Bag into his palm. His Divine Sense ruthlessly obliterated the soul imprint upon it. Glancing inside, his brow arched sharply. “You dare play tricks with this Venerable One?”
True, the artifact contained a decent hoard.
There were heaps of Spirit Stones, a smattering of Spirit Weapons, and a modest pile of heavenly treasures.
Yet the wealth barely eclipsed that of a formal sect disciple, completely unworthy of even a core disciple’s standing.
Hui Jiuming lowered its head in guilt, offering a feeble defense. “I beseech the Venerable One to remember, I am but a remnant wisp of a soul; my capacity to bear karmic weight is severely limited.”
Jiang Chen sneered, his voice dropping to a glacial chill. “It seems you are truly courting death.”
Hui Jiuming shuddered violently. “I remember now! There is another spatial artifact.”
Presently, a dark snake scale floated out from its robes.
It was roughly the size of a bowl.
Thorny black arrays spider-webbed across its surface, radiating a biting, abyssal chill.
Jiang Chen’s paranoia flared. Rather than touching it directly, he cocooned the scale in his Magic Power, allowing his Divine Sense to seep into it with excruciating caution. Only after verifying the absence of hidden curses did he inspect its depths.
As expected, an ocean of heavenly treasures revealed itself. Beyond the Four Seasons Fruit Tree and the Jade Dew Spirit Buds, he shockingly discovered a fully intact Jade Dew Spirit Spring.
One must understand, such a wonder was exponentially rarer than mere exotic flora.
The entire Jade Dew Sect had historically possessed but a single one, carefully coaxed from a subterranean spirit vein. It could nourish Spirit Farms, enhance spirit meals, and drastically elevate both artifact and pill refining success rates.
Jiang Chen stared down with a predatory smirk. “You wouldn’t happen to be concealing anything else, would you?”
Hui Jiuming looked as miserable as a son at his father’s funeral. “I am bled dry. There is truly nothing left.”
Jiang Chen offered a terse nod. “Very well. I shall stay my hand for now.”
In truth, a single sweep of his Divine Sense could have effortlessly stripped bare the boy’s secrets.
Prior to this, he had only detected the mundane Storage Bag.
The abyssal snake scale had evaded his perception entirely.
This proved the ancient demon still possessed terrifying methods to obscure its karmic threads.
Hui Jiuming practically wept in gratitude. “I thank the Venerable One for showing mercy!”
Jiang Chen smiled, a deeply profound look in his eyes. “We have plenty of time ahead.”
The moment those words hung in the air, his silhouette dissolved into the void, as if he had never been there at all.
Simultaneously, the suffocating water dungeon liquefied and collapsed.
Stripped of the oppressive binding, Mo Yin’s mortal coil lost all tension, collapsing limply against the forest floor.
He lay there, violently gasping for breath, before a semblance of strength finally returned to his limbs.
Slowly, Mo Yin’s own consciousness reclaimed sovereignty over his flesh. “Is… is the nightmare over?”
Hui Jiuming’s gravelly voice echoed in his mind. “It has passed.”
Mo Yin’s face twisted into an ugly grimace. “My cultivation foundations, the advanced mantras, the mystic arts… everything was plundered.”
Hui Jiuming consoled him. “Do not despair. I managed to conceal a fraction of our wealth, enough to secure your path to the Golden Core stage.”
Mo Yin immediately exhaled a heavy breath of relief. “Then the heavens have not abandoned us.”
Hui Jiuming urged frantically, “We must flee at once. We are deep within the Dark Forest; the spiritual resonance here teems with lethal intent.”
Mo Yin’s expression paled as he scrambled to his feet, instantly manifesting his Silver Belt Snake.
Though his treasures had been stripped clean, at least his spirit beast remained to spare him the arduous trek back.
A short distance away, Jiang Chen watched the foolish prince-who had merely been stumbling in circles this entire time-and chuckled. “I knew that old fox kept a reserve. But one must always leave a thread uncut for future harvests.”
With a casual wave of his sleeve, the suffocating Phantom arrays dissolved into mist.
This time, Mo Yin truly managed to escape!