Cultivating with Symbiosis Panel-Chapter 750 - 417: Life Is Verdigris (Part 2)

A voice suddenly sounded from the side:

"You child, are you not even listening to the village chief these days!"

The little girl immediately froze.

She looked up and saw the village chief staring at her sternly, but she immediately knelt down and begged:

"Grandpa chief, please let me go!"

"No." The village chief shook his head: "Go back quickly. If I don’t let you go, I’ve never seen an Immortal in all these years.

You wouldn’t take even this little hope away from your grandpa, would you?"

"..."

The girl was stunned.

She blankly watched the village chief pass through the thorns and disappear soon after.

...

The village chief was panting heavily.

He had exerted all his strength to reach the gigantic tree that seemed to connect heaven and earth.

Then he directly knelt down at the base of the tree.

Bowing to the tree, he pleaded:

"I implore the Immortal to manifest!"

"I am willing to offer my life."

"Just ask the Immortal to show a way out!"

The tree remained silently there, but a voice suddenly emerged, lofty and ethereal:

"Are you willing to be the one to meet the tribulation?"

"This will require you to pay a price."

"A very high price."

The village chief was stunned at first.

Then he immediately said: "Willing! I am willing!"

There was no response.

Only a small bronze ball fell.

The ball fell directly onto the village chief’s head, then merged into his body, as an awareness flowed from it, transmitting into the village chief’s mind—

This object is a treasure bestowed by the Immortal.

As long as you complete the "task" left by the Immortal, you can obtain some treasures that will help you survive the impending great calamity.

Just a few words, yet they left the village chief frozen in place.

Immortals actually exist!?

Can this treasure really help them survive the great calamity?

He hurriedly bowed to the tree a few more times, then tried to perceive the round ball, which floated in his mind, delivering the first task—

[Collect sunlight.]

[The sun will dim, and you must collect sunlight from ninety-nine magnolia trees to receive a new reward.]

At the same time.

A tree about half a person’s height.

Its entire body seemed to be cast from glass.

Lots of magnolia flowers bloomed radiantly, like goblets reaching up to the heavenly dome, and the tree appeared out of thin air.

Then, a second tree, a third tree...

In total, ninety-nine flowering trees appeared in all, filling the surrounding area to the brim.

From the moment they appeared, they seemed to be "absorbing" sunlight. It was clear that sunlight from the sky was flowing toward them, making this area increasingly brighter while the surrounding environment grew somewhat dim.

The sunlight being absorbed transformed into strands of golden radiance, quietly staying in the glass-like magnolia flower goblets, barely piling up at the bottom.

"So many."

The village chief’s expression was somewhat grave.

He was really afraid that after he left, these flower trees might be destroyed, but if he didn’t leave, how could he find people to move all these trees?

While he was hesitating.

A shaky voice came: "Grandpa chief?..."

The little girl poked her head out from the woods nearby, shocked beyond words, afraid she might have ruined Grandpa chief’s good thing.

Why else would there be so many trees?

Moreover, these trees were so beautiful...

"You came just in time!" The village chief sighed in relief and called to the little girl: "Quickly find the young men in the village to move all these flower trees, these flower trees are our guarantee for survival!"

Upon hearing this, the little girl did not dare to hesitate.

She immediately ran off.

Not long after.

A group of young men came running, panting heavily.

Without a word, under the guidance of the village chief, they moved all these flower trees back to the village and planted them in the original threshing ground.

Everyone came upon hearing the news.

Curiously and excitedly, they looked at these flower trees that were absorbing sunlight.

The village chief sat on a chair to the side.

He touched his chest.

Somehow, he felt as if his heart was slightly damaged, and a slight movement caused pain, could this be the price the Immortal had mentioned...

He was not a cultivator so he could not see.

On his heart, strands of copper rust were forming, seemingly trying to cover the vigorously beating heart.

But he didn’t care at all.

In his view, this was the price he had to pay.

After all, he wouldn’t live much longer, it didn’t matter.

He released the hand clutching his chest, energetically stood up, and shouted: "Don’t crowd over there, let them collect more sunlight, this is a treasure bestowed upon us by the Immortal!"

"Hey!"

"Quick, make way, make way!"

The villagers quickly cleared the area, gazing at the radiant flower trees, their eyes now filled with hope for the future.

Li Ye saw this scene.

He sighed lightly.

Spread open his hand.

In his pale, jade-like palm, a trace of copper rust also appeared.

He pinched a bit of the copper rust with his other hand.

Brought it up close to examine carefully, his eyes growing increasingly serious.

This thing...

Was quite unusual.

It should have been the essence of his Jianmu transformed.

But it seemed to also carry some "Tribulation Qi" and "life", becoming a particularly exotic material, never before seen or heard.

But its power should be strong.

For instance.

It could...

Li Ye gently sprinkled it on a nearby magnolia blossom.

The originally crystal-clear magnolia instantly became tainted with a layer of copper rust, then, it began to split, producing a magnolia flower with both bronze and clear brilliance interwoven.

[Name]: Rust Magnolia

[Mood]: None

[Status]: A magnolia flower formed by the interference of Jianmu and Tribulation Qi along with a mortal’s "life", it carries the primordial and ultimate longing for the sun, currently incomplete.

Once the rust covers the entire flower, it will be fully matured.

Hmm?

What use is this thing?

Even Li Ye had never seen such an object.

Moreover, a mortal’s "life" could actually cause Jianmu to change—he knew Jianmu’s essence was actually the "Bronze Divine Tree", copper rust was not unexpected, but why such a transformation?

What was even stranger, Li Yulan seemed entirely unaware.

He was just floating there, dumbfounded, looking at the bronze magnolia flower perched atop his head.

"What is this?" Li Yulan asked curiously.

"I don’t know either." Li Ye shrugged.

"But it certainly has something to do with you, why don’t you take it and study what’s going on."

He handed it directly to Li Yulan.

Then continued observing that world.

What could he say.

There was both good and bad news.

The good news being: with this "hope" brought by the bronze ball, he could even see some vitality returning to that village.

But the bad news was, Tribulation Qi wouldn’t let them off so easily, if the nature of a great calamity meant that enough people had to die.

In a world with many cultivators, it meant many cultivators dying.

In the mortal world... it would be a real bloodbath.

In some sense, great calamities are quite fair; at least they truly treat cultivators and mortals equally, just wanting you dead, that’s all.

So accepting Li Ye’s "Golden Finger" meant facing more severe tribulations, which was also part of the price he had to pay to intervene in the world.

"But it’s indeed useful."

"Compared to having no hope, at least it gives me a reason to intervene rationally in the world, next is to attempt more interventions."

He took a deep breath.

Began scattering more bronze balls worthy of being called Golden Fingers into various worlds.

They certainly were Golden Fingers.

Within them were resources, Dharma Methods, even divine techniques and inheritances needed to survive tribulations, giving a little something like this was no big deal for him.

But the gains were immensely gratifying.

Hmm...

A heap of bronze creations.

Just quietly floating in front of him.

Wheat, magnolia flowers, talismans...

Almost everything he provided to withstand the great calamity could be transformed by that copper rust, generating more bronze creations.

Looking at the heap of bronze creations.

Li Ye touched his chin.

Decided to consult to find out exactly what was going on.