Cultivating with Symbiosis Panel-Chapter 746 - 415: You Failed, and So Did I (2)
So, I wish to give you all a small gift.
These lotuses.
Each one can substitute death nine times.
I hope that when the great calamity ends, you all can return here, and I will prepare a banquet for you, not parting until we’re drunk!"
A hundred lotuses.
This was quite a strain even for Li Ye.
His complexion began to turn pale at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Neither Jianmu nor the small world could quickly replenish his original spiritual power, and the sword cultivators were visibly moved by this sight.
Substitute death nine times!
Just saying it carries a heavy weight.
Although they had also received some life-saving treasures from their sects before they left, who would dislike having more treasures?
They did not ask Li Ye to stop.
This was Li Ye’s goodwill.
This heavy sentiment would be remembered, and they would certainly repay it in the future.
One among them seemed to have just advanced to a Golden Core Cultivator.
He was quite young.
His face still carried the youthful or fearless air of a young man, taking the lotus with a broad grin and thanking Li Ye:
"Thank you, Brother Li!"
"With this, I will surely be able to return."
"By then, I will marry my childhood sweetheart, and I will certainly shamelessly send you a wedding invitation!"
Li Ye was stunned for a moment.
Such words shouldn’t be said.
Why did they feel so strange?
He closed his eyes briefly, then looked at that sword cultivator.
He naturally also knew the Qi Observation Method.
But when he opened his eyes, he dispelled this power and merely smiled, "Alright, by then I will definitely give a generous gift."
Wei Qingye might have sensed something.
He looked at Li Ye with a questioning expression, but the latter merely shook his head.
Until he sent them off.
Li Ye quietly said: "Golden Core Cultivators are still too fragile, it’s best to watch them carefully, a dead genius is no longer a genius."
This time Wei Qingye understood what Li Ye meant.
"I understand."
He decided to keep that guy by his side and watch over him.
"Thanks, I’ll be off!"
Wei Qingye patted Li Ye’s shoulder, took his sword back, and waved casually.
He left with his juniors — and they were not the only cultivators leaving this realm, it wasn’t just Celestial Vein Sword Mountain.
Escape lights flew toward the Heavenly Dome from the Five Domains and Four Seas.
Those bright escape lights looked like shooting stars flying upward, heading into the gradually darkening, deepening sky.
Li Ye stood there watching quietly for a while.
It was unclear what he was feeling.
The great calamity, why would there be a great calamity?
...
He quickly returned to Spirit Leaf City.
There, originally all of the Seven Great Sects had sent disciples.
But now, only Cizhu and that female cultivator from the Yaoxiang Demon Sect remained.
"Where are the others?" he asked.
Cizhu didn’t stop rubbing the prayer beads.
He calmly replied, "They all went to the Chaotic Outer Domain. Originally, I was supposed to go as well, but the abbot requested me to stay here and not leave."
"Oh."
Li Ye casually asked.
He directly sat at the head seat.
Watching the map of Spirit Leaf City that was under construction, he was planning to get busy when he suddenly discovered...
Here.
Tao Furnace had already issued the first task.
It only appeared before him.
It read: The land withers, what can be done to save it?
Then.
A water mirror appeared, visible only to him — inside was a world that looked mundane, with mountains and rivers, a picturesque landscape, and lush flora.
Some people lived and worked here in peace.
They relied on the mountains for sustenance.
Daily, they gathered wild fruits and vegetables, hunted wild beasts in the mountains, leading a very ordinary life, neither starving nor eating till satisfaction.
After all, they truly lived by what the mountains provided.
Their resources depended entirely on the Mountain God’s benevolence.
It was peaceful, and very harmonious.
However, the once lush land began to... dry and crack, streams and water veins influenced by unknown forces started to dry up, without water sources, not only the flora withered, but even the beasts became restless.
They began to frequently invade human-inhabited valleys, and grew increasingly smart, knowing to catch those alone, targeting children first, even understanding how to counter traps set by humans.
One must understand that this was originally their mountain, originally their territory, for them, hunting humans in familiar grounds was simple.
First the young men in the valley, then the children, and later the elders... they devoured the entire village step by step.
Li Ye could clearly see the blood splattering as their fangs pierced human bodies.
Children’s wails, women’s sobs, young men fighting desperately but in vain, elders tremblingly picking up weapons only to be easily knocked down and bitten...
As they feasted on humans so frequently.
The "bewilderment" in their eyes belonging to beasts quickly faded, replaced by cold and ruthless "thought."
They soon occupied the valley where the human race lived.
Then they started killing each other.
This was even more brutal, and more direct.
And even more protracted.
When the entire valley turned barren, as the wind swept across the land, it only stirred up dust and bones buried beneath.
Of course, some beasts survived.
They devoured humans, devoured their kin, gathering some abnormal spiritual power in their bodies, they left this already barren land, heading toward farther territories belonging to the Human Race.
The desolation followed in their footsteps, spreading outward.
Like messengers bringing disaster.
"..."
"And the root of this all was just the loss of food, the land drying up."
Li Ye felt a headache.
He had thought that even if the catastrophe began, it would take some time to reveal its might, but unexpectedly it had already started unleashing its force.
Indeed.
If there’s no food, there’s nothing they can do.
That is the most fundamental "need" to sustain life.
"So what do you intend for me to do?" he murmured to himself.
Then.
Words appeared again in the water mirror— 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
"A spring, a river, a fruit-bearing tree, which shall you choose?"
Li Ye’s expression suddenly turned serious.
What does this mean?
He instinctively felt something wrong.
Choices like these always felt like... a simulation.
"Will my choice affect anything?" he asked again.
This time, no new words appeared on the water mirror, just the same line, indicating Li Ye had to make a choice.
So what kind of divine technique is this?
Could it be the Tao Furnace Realm itself applying "nothing new under the sun"?
Is it personally intervening to "save" this world?
Li Ye had an idea upon reaching this thought.
Then he began to consider what choice to make.
A spring, a river, a tree.
He thought a spring was more fitting.
Springs typically flow from deep within the earth, countless springs converge into rivers, even Weichuan initially transformed from a single flowing spring.
After much consideration, he answered:
"The spring."
With his voice.
The scene within the water mirror rapidly rewound.
Returned to when the land hadn’t dried up yet.
As desolation was about to emerge, a spring unknown from where, gushing clear water, suddenly appeared.
It persisted tenaciously amidst the desolation.
Barely preserving a sliver of green.
But that haze of green, or rather... the grass, under the influence of the surrounding desolation began to develop a thread of spiritual intelligence.
It began to resist the approach of all life around.
It evolved thorns and poison, any creature approaching would swiftly be torn apart.
At first, it would suffer injuries due to the cunning beasts and human assaults, but as more and more bones were interred, it grew wiser.
In the end.
The entire mountain remained barren.
Only the area where the spring was, remained verdant.
It remained quietly here, never moving, naturally, no beasts evolved into demons.
But at this moment.
The water mirror suddenly flickered, revealing—
"You failed, no rewards, because I also failed."
Then the water mirror disappeared completely.
Leaving Li Ye unsure of what to say.
