"Right, Spiritual Root... Spiritual Root?"
"Damn it! Where's my Spiritual Root!"
Just as Fang Ren was about to continue exploring the secrets of the great tree, he suddenly realized that the grey root vein inside his body had vanished!
After a moment of chaos, Fang Ren focused his attention on the tree again.
Could it be... the Spiritual Root really transformed into a Spirit Tree?
After thinking for a while, Fang Ren started to walk a few steps.
He discovered that the big tree began to move with his body, leaving no trace on the ground around him, adding no weight to himself.
It was quite magical.
Fang Ren withdrew his consciousness; he could no longer see the tree in front of him, nor could he touch any part of it with his outstretched hand.
Smack—
He plopped down on the ground and immediately took out a prepared Space Ring from his pocket.
If the thing inside his body was really akin to a Spiritual Root, he could totally perform a blood recognition on the ring. If the ring didn't recognize its master, then it would mean that whatever is inside him isn't like a Spiritual Root.
He took a Silver Needle and pricked a small blood hole on his hand; Fang Ren immediately squeezed a drop of blood onto the ring.
Hum—
Suddenly feeling a buzzing around his brain, Fang Ren held the Space Ring and discovered that a Void Cube seemed to have appeared around him.
"Damn... Damn... Damn!?"
Fang Ren was completely dumbfounded, and after two seconds, he sprang up from the ground, looking at the Space Ring in his hand with a face full of shock.
"It's really a Spiritual Root... No! It's a freaking Spirit Tree!"
Tossing the Space Ring into his bag, Fang Ren could not contain the excitement in his heart; he ran to a nearby bush, grabbed a large rock, and started spinning around frantically, his face gradually becoming crazed, almost kissing the stone.
Some people are the abandoned children of the heavens; after closing a door on them, the heavens also close a window, leaving them unable to escape their fate with their own abilities—like Liu Qianqian.
But some people are born lucky; when the heavens close a door for them, they smash the walls around them instead, allowing them to run wherever they want—just like Fang Ren.
After a bout of excitement, Fang Ren gradually calmed down. He'd delayed for quite a bit and needed to hurry up and catch up with Mu Huanqing.
------
In the distance on the mountainside, Jian Qi'er was climbing up the mountain.
Suddenly, she stopped moving, turned her head around, and looked in the direction of the small waterfall where Fang Ren was. The innocent and harmless look in her eyes instantly turned sharp.
Is someone going to make a move on him?
Jian Qi'er was slightly conflicted inside, then turned her face with a full smile towards Mu Huanqing and said, "Sister Hui Qing, I suddenly want to go to the toilet too; you go ahead by yourself."
"But the toilet is just ahead," Mu Huanqing said, looking puzzled.
"I can't help it, I can't hold it in," said Jian Qi'er with a troubled face and ran straight towards the nearby woods.
Mu Huanqing shook her head seeing her urgent manner and continued to walk up the mountain. The scenery here was very beautiful, making her feel very relaxed.
Being an ordinary person... isn't so bad after all.
In the woods, Jian Qi'er looked around, made sure no one noticed her, and immediately opened her backpack, taking out a set of black clothes. She then transformed into a blur and rushed towards the small waterfall where Fang Ren was.
"Fang Ren, I didn't kill you last time as repayment for the Space Ring, helping you this time is to repay you for the Three-level pill."
------
------
Hum—
Just as Fang Ren was preparing to leave, suddenly, a white shadow descended from the sky, blocking his path.
When Fang Ren saw the person, he immediately stepped back; his heart, that had been so excited, suddenly cooled.
He saw that Wang Shuai, wearing a white, specialized Cultivation System uniform, was smirking at him while holding a sword.
No one was around; even if Wang Shuai wanted to kill him, it'd be too late to cry for help.
"Fang Ren, you've made me look for you for quite a while," said Wang Shuai with a cold smirk, pointing a silver Longsword at Fang Ren's throat.
"What, are you harboring a death wish for me now?" Fang Ren frowned and said.
"I'm not stupid, if I kill you here, anyone in school would guess that a Cultivation System student did it," Wang Shuai coldly replied. "But I'd be very happy to give you a free package that cripples you for life."
"We don't have that much enmity; you're going a bit too far," Fang Ren said, appearing calm on the surface but panicking internally.
He wasn't afraid of breaking bones or getting torn tendons; even if his bones were broken or tendons torn, he could still concoct a pill for recovery.
But he feared that, since his Cultivation had just begun, if his Spiritual Root was destroyed, how could he help Sister Hui Qing get her revenge?
"Too much? Bullshit!" Wang Shuai's expression suddenly raged: "I warned you in the cafeteria that day, kid; steer clear of Liu Qianqian. And yet, you didn't listen. Just yesterday afternoon when I flew over your teaching building, Liu Qianqian was actually crying with you. Yo, has your relationship progressed to that extent?"
"You're really sick!"
Fang Ren was at a loss; yesterday afternoon's events had been witnessed, and judging by Wang Shuai's reaction, it seemed he had misconstrued Liu Qianqian's crying over her family affairs as if she was crying because of a romantic relationship gone sour with him.
"Cuss all you want; the harder you curse, the more brutal I will be," Wang Shuai said with a smile.
"Aren't you afraid this thing will blow up? If you get expelled from the academy and your cultivation resources are taken back, your future path would also be cut off," Fang Ren said.
"No, as long as you don't tell anyone, who would know I am the one who crippled you?" Wang Shuai's smile grew colder.
Having said that, Wang Shuai put away the longsword in his hand, and began to condense a ball of green Spiritual Energy in his other hand, sneering, "Remember, when the teachers in the school ask you, you'll say you fell because you weren't paying attention. If you dare to utter a single word about me, once I drop out, I'll kill you."
Damn it!
Fang Ren cursed in his heart. He had no choice, for he figured that the more he ran, the more severe his injuries would become. It might be better to just take this hit. As long as his Spiritual Root wasn't damaged, everything else could be argued.
"Go to hell, Green Snake Seal!"
Wang Shuai slapped the green Spiritual Energy from his hand and a three-meter-wide circular green seal flew toward Fang Ren, with a green snake twisting and turning within it.
"Damn it, I'm one step too late!"
Seeing this, the dark shadow on top of the waterfall immediately sped up, but it was already too late to stop the Green Snake Seal from hitting Fang Ren.
Smack——Tsk tsk tsk——
With the Green Snake Seal hitting Fang Ren's body, followed by a dull thud, the sound of trees cracking followed.
Fang Ren listened as the noises around him faded, slowly opened his tightly shut eyes, only to discover that the gray tree around him had become real, and it had just taken the hit from Wang Shuai's attack.
As the mist around the small waterfall cleared, the sneering expression on Wang Shuai's face turned to shock and rage in an instant, "Damn it! I didn't expect a mere medical student like you to be a cultivator!"
In the blink of an eye, Wang Shuai once again condensed two Green Snake Seals in his hands and threw them over, roaring with anger, "I want to see how many hits your rotten tree can take!"
Boom boom——
The two seals smashed into the gray tree, and the patterns on the tree started to twist. The cracked bark transformed into dozens of branches that wrapped around the Green Snake Seals that had entered within, consuming them in less than a second.
Fang Ren also knew that he could not just sit and wait for death. He immediately used his consciousness to sense his surroundings and discovered that the tree grew more robust after consuming Wang Shuai's Green Snake Seals, and the cracked gray bark started to heal.
"What the hell is this thing!"
Seeing this, Wang Shuai immediately picked up the longsword by his side and poured his green Spiritual Energy into it, his face twisted with irritation as he charged forward.
"See if I don't hack you apart! Azure Dragon Sword! Slash!"
With a roar of fury, sharp green streaks of light began to spurt from Wang Shuai's longsword, transforming into a dragon head shape with the sharpness of a blade, turning the longsword into a ten-meter-long massive weapon in an instant.
From a distance, Jian Qi'er frowned at this scene. She wanted to go over but paused in brief conflict before stopping her advance.
A pair of piercing eyes watched Fang Ren from afar, murmuring to herself, "I had thought you only knew how to refine tools and perform alchemy, but I didn't expect you to be a cultivator as well. Fine, let's see how many more secrets you have?"
...
"Isn't there a way to attack!"
Fang Ren watched the ten-meter-long giant dragon blade coming down and felt his inner world turn to chaos. If that were to hit him, he would be split in two!
Wang Shuai was bent on putting him to death!
Fang Ren tried his best to control the branches of the tree with his consciousness, but found that his consciousness simply couldn't merge into the tree.
"You wrap around him!"
In his panic, Fang Ren gave up on using his consciousness and yelled at the gray tree in front of him.
Swoosh——
A gray branch from the tree shot out swiftly, colliding with the ten-meter dragon blade in the sky.
Crack——
A crisp sound in the sky, and the gray branch directly shattered the exceedingly sharp dragon blade, the green fragments scattering and vanishing into the air.
"This… how is this possible! What the hell is this!"
Wang Shuai had not even landed yet, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw the snapped blade in his hands, the aftershock from the collision numbing both his arms.
Swoosh——
Then, other branches from the tree lunged out swiftly, entangling Wang Shuai in midair.
"Cough!"
Wang Shuai spat out a mouthful of blood, feeling as if his whole body were being constricted by a python, his bones and internal organs almost crushed, and even his breathing was stifled.
Fang Ren was stunned… Were the two hits all it took to subdue him?
Crack——
At that moment, another branch from the tree lashed out at Wang Shuai. This strike was solidly on Wang Shuai's face, with such force that it sent him flying out.
The ordeal wasn't over, as the gray branch did not retract.
Hum——
A trace of green Spiritual Energy appeared on the branch and then instantly took the shape of the Green Snake Seal, slapping towards Wang Shuai, who was still in the air.
Wang Shuai, bloodied and hanging in midair, looked down at the branch below, panic clearly plastered across his face as he realized it could mimic his own technique!
Seeing the Green Snake Seal appear, Wang Shuai felt a threat to his life. His expression turned from fear to rage as he shouted, "Fang Ren, stop! If you kill me, you will definitely…"
Hum——
Before Wang Shuai could finish his sentence, a Green Snake Seal ten times the size of his own passed through him, striking his chest directly. Then his chest burst open, blood spattering everywhere.
His body, like a kite without a string, was propelled a hundred meters away from the ground, his landing spot unknown.
Fang Ren stared blankly at the gray tree in front of him, thinking this thing was just too fierce…
Wang Shuai, after all, was one of the top ten talents in the Cultivation System, and he had been subjugated so easily?