Chapter 147: Chapter 124: Locust Tree Slave

Stowing the bead, Lü Zhong activated his Qi Observation Skill.

He scanned his surroundings and saw that no Demon Monsters had been missed.

Still, he felt uneasy. ’Demon Monsters aren’t intelligent,’ he thought. ’They can’t easily hide their malice.’ He subtly cast Malice Detection. Only after confirming there was no reaction did he step out of the Demon Cultivator’s hideout.

Alerted by the sounds of the earlier combat, the Yizhou City Government Office had already dispatched soldiers to cordon off a large area. A portly cultivator was now pacing back and forth at the entrance.

Seeing Lü Zhong emerge, he immediately hurried over.

"Li Yun of Yizhou City, greetings, Inspector!"

"Inspector" was the title Lü Zhong was using for this trip, one that granted him discretionary authority.

"The demon threat has been eliminated. Clean up the scene," Lü Zhong said, his expression placid.

After saying this, he declined the man’s offer of a banquet, summoned his Red-tailed Eagle, and soared into the sky.

Over an hour later, he was flying high above a primeval forest.

Seated cross-legged on the Red-tailed Eagle’s broad back, Lü Zhong kept a watchful eye on his surroundings while considering his future objectives.

After completing this Sect mission, as an Inner Sect Disciple, he wouldn’t be assigned another for three to five years, barring any unforeseen circumstances. He would be free to cultivate in peace or earn resources.

’It’s time to focus on nurturing the Spirit Ring.’

He had finished refining the Sacrificial Artifact a while ago, but the looming ranking battles had left him no time to focus on upgrading the Spiritual Artifact Embryo. Now that he was free, he naturally had to schedule it.

The importance of a Spiritual Artifact to a Foundation Establishment Cultivator was self-evident.

A properly refined Spiritual Artifact could be controlled with a mere thought. Compared to Magical Artifacts, which required Technique Mantras, Spiritual Artifacts could execute techniques far more rapidly, allowing for quicker responses in battle.

And the prerequisite for refining a Spiritual Artifact was Divine Sense.

Lü Zhong had already developed Divine Sense. Although it was far weaker than that of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, it was still sufficient to refine a Spiritual Artifact. Once he successfully nurtured the Spirit Ring into a full-fledged Spiritual Artifact, his power would increase by a huge margin.

’And I can’t just ignore that bead, the one I suspect is a Spiritual Artifact.’

He decided he would search the Sect’s records as soon as he returned to find out its origin and how to use it.

Just then, the unexpected happened.

All at once, the sound of something shattering came from within his robes.

The Qingyang Body Protection Secret Talisman had activated to protect its master! A translucent barrier formed around his body, blocking several wooden spikes that had pierced straight through the Red-tailed Eagle, averting a fatal crisis.

His expression changed. Lü Zhong looked down at a spot below and, with a flick of his wrist, sent four crimson beads flying.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Four orange-red fireballs exploded in succession, creating a vertical curtain of flame in the air. He hoped the fire would block the attacker’s line of sight and provide cover for a safe landing. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

But unexpectedly, he caught a swath of green lights shooting toward him from the corner of his eye.

’Strange,’ Lü Zhong thought, even as he deployed his Water Pattern Shield and activated his Dharma Robe’s Wind Raider Divine Technique. His body instantly became weightless, his descent halting abruptly as he dodged the incoming green lights.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! The green lights, each with the power of a giant siege crossbow, whistled past him.

It wasn’t over. Lü Zhong then detected dense volleys of green light shooting at him from three different directions.

This time, the sheer number of projectiles completely blocked off any potential escape route.

’I’ll have to block this head-on!’

Taking a deep breath, Lü Zhong pushed his Spiritual Power output to the maximum, causing the Water Pattern Shield to flare with a dazzling Spiritual Light. He held the Ink Crystal Shield in his left hand and pinched a Golden Light Talisman in his right, ready for anything.

A staccato of impacts, like dense raindrops, hammered against the barrier, and the Water Pattern Shield soon couldn’t withstand the assault.

With a POP, it shattered into a shower of brilliant light.

Despite the successive attacks, Lü Zhong finally managed to land.

He pulled the wooden spike from his left shoulder. With a flick of his wrist, he summoned the Golden Devourer Sword and, without the slightest hesitation, carved away the flesh on his shoulder, which was already rotting at a visible rate. His expression remained unchanged throughout the ordeal.

"Why did you ambush me?"

Lü Zhong stared straight ahead at what appeared to be an unremarkable tree.

Through his Qi Observation Skill, however, he could see veins of green light extending from the strange tree, connecting it to the ancient trees in the surroundings. It was this tree that was controlling them to fire the green wooden spikes.

Suddenly, several cracks split open on the tree’s trunk, forming a human face.

"Hand over the Black Muzhu, and I will spare your life."

The voice was flat and devoid of any emotion.

Lü Zhong couldn’t help but sneer. ’With an attitude like that? As if I’d ever hand it over.’

’Black Muzhu?’

Committing the name to memory, he didn’t make a rash move. While probing the strange tree’s weakness with his Divine Sense, he stalled for time. "A Black Muzhu? I have plenty of beads on me. What does it look like? How big is it?"

"You’re stalling for time!" The strange tree saw through Lü Zhong’s ploy.

Hearing this, Lü Zhong thought, ’So this thing isn’t stupid.’

Too bad for the tree. The short exchange had been more than enough time for him to find its weakness.

The strange tree was undoubtedly a Tree Spirit. For Spirit Monsters like this, conventional injuries were little more than superficial wounds. Only by destroying its core could one inflict serious damage.

A Tree Spirit’s core was analogous to the fusion of a Human Race Cultivator’s Dantian and Sea of Consciousness, making it critically important.

Taking advantage of an ability the tree didn’t possess, Lü Zhong used his Divine Sense to probe and quickly located its core.

It was located roughly thirteen feet above the ground.

And the strange tree was completely unaware.

Divine Sense was formless and intangible. Without Divine Sense of its own to counter the probe, one could not detect it by conventional means.

Having seen through Lü Zhong’s stalling tactic, the strange tree wasted no more time on words.