“It’s been so many years, finally, there’s someone who can take on my mantle.”


  Zhu Yao guessed that this should be the owner of these ruins, and the “Wood Spirit” should be in his hands. However, he did not have a physical body, it seemed like he was just a strand of divine power left by the former owner.

  “Master?” What should she do now?

  “Wait and see.”


  Hearing this, Zhu Yao returned to lying on the ground, and continued to act dead.

  The white old man stroked his beard, and floated over. After looking on the ground, he was suddenly stunned. “Why are there three?”


  The old man frowned, and seemed to be in a difficult position. “Then let’s choose the one with the best Spirit Vein!” First, he looked at the most left, where Lu Cha was, and muttered to himself. “Fire and Earth Duo-Spirit Veins. Although she has qualifications of the upper tier, she’s not suitable for my Arts.”


  Hence, he shifted his gaze to Xiao Yi, and his eyes momentarily shone, revealing a hint of delight on his face. He then inspected his Spirit Vein, and the delight in his eyes grew even more. “Metal and Wood Duo-Spirit Veins! Good, good, good!” He said the word ‘good’ three times in a row, his eyes had already narrowed into a pair of lines, and then, finally, he looked towards Zhu Yao.

  Zhu Yao figured that this old man should be thinking of choosing the disciple with the best Spirit Vein, and he will then pass down his Arts and “Wood Spirit” to the selected individual. After all, this was how it always worked on TV.

  She was not the least bit worried of her own qualifications, after all, what she had best was her Lightning Spirit Vein.

  As expected, the old man reached out his hand to inspect her qualifications, and again, as expected, he revealed a shocked expression on his face, and seemed as though he was about to blurt out. “It’s Lightning……”


  The old man looked at her, and then, looked at Xiao Yi who was at the center. Then, he decisively turned and walked towards Xiao Yi. “Let’s still pick this child instead.”


  The hell!?

  Do you have to be that bias?

  Zhu Yao could not help but jump up. “What happened to the promise of picking the best Spirit Vein?”


  “You…… How are you awake?” The old man was stunned for a moment, and looked disbelievingly at Zhu Yao who suddenly rose. “Impossible. How could an Azoth-stage practitioner defend against my pressure?”


  “There’s no need for you to care about that!” Zhu Yao could not help but roll her eyes. She had a hot temper in the first place, and hated unfairness the most. Also, he was just a spectre, so he would not be able to do anything to her. “Didn’t you want to choose the one with the best qualifications? How can his qualifications compare to mine?”


  “Uh…… Kuh kuh!” The old man cough out a little awkwardly. “Little girly, don’t be agitated. Although your qualifications are good, I’m a little more destined with this boy, so I decided to pass down to him.”


  “You’re already dead, what do you need destiny for?” Zhu Yao did not believe him in the slightest. Earlier, when he inspecting their Spirit Veins, she had already felt it. Clearly, he very despised both her and Lu Cha, yet, he behaved solely different towards Xiao Yi. It was as though, the moment he saw him, an expression of delight appeared on his face. Unless……

  She looked at the spectre from head to toe. “You can’t be gay, right?”


  “Gay? What this ‘gay’ thing?” The old man was startled for a moment.

  The more she thought about it, the more Zhu Yao felt that it was a possibility. “In other words, you’re into men.”


  When those words fell, the old man was instantly flustered. “Y-Y-You…… You’re…… You’re wrong!”


  “Then why is your face red?” His face had reddened to the point where his white beard could not cover it, alright?

  “Th…… Th-The…… The weather’s hot!” The old man used his hand to fan himself in a panic, while he tried to defend himself. “How could this old man…… this old man…… be interested in this…… this little brat.”


  She did not say he was interested in Xiao Yi. Could this could be considered as a confession he made by himself?

  Zhu Yao was already hundred percent sure. So he was really gay, it’s no wonder he would not pick her nor Lu Cha.

  “Little…… Little girly.” This old man faked out a few coughs. His face was filled with embarrassment from being seen through. “This old man sees that you possess pretty good comprehension ability. To be able to meet you here, we can be considered as fated as well. Although I’m unable to pass down my Arts to you, I have a few treasures here, why don’t I gift you one?”


  “Was this a bribe? Incidentally, she did not have an excuse to obtain the “Wood Spirit”.

  “Is that true?”


  “Of course it’s true!”


  “Then I want the ‘Wood Spirit’.”


  “.……” The old man was instantly at a loss, and looked even more shocked as he stared at her. “How did you know I have that!?”


  “You don’t have to know how I know about it. Just give me an answer. Are you giving it to me or not?”


  “This……” The old man looked even more hard-pressed, and turned to look at Xiao Yi who was on the ground. “It’s not that I’m unwilling to give it to you, it’s just that this spirit of the wood element, does not easily admits someone as its master. Furthermore, this ‘Wood Spirit’ can assist my disciple in his cultivation.”


  “If you don’t give it to me, I will tell everyone in the cultivation world, that you’re gay.”


  The old man instantly softened. “.…… We can always talk things out.” Gritting his teeth, he then turned and waved his sleeves. The surrounding fog scattered by a bit, and in front of him, six wooden chests appeared. “Little girly, this ‘Wood Spirit’ has followed me for many years, yet, I’m still unable to make it submit. It could be seen that only someone who is fated can wield such a spiritual item. Over here, there’s six chests. Pick one. If you’re…… Ehhhhhh!!”


  Before waiting for him to finish, Zhu Yao had already walked over, and picked up the one on the furthest right.

  The old man was filled with unretractable shock, as he looked at Zhu Yao was calmly holding onto the chest. “Y-Y-You…… How did you know that the Wood Spirit was in that box?”


  Zhu Yao’s face darkened as well. It was hard for her to not recognize it, alright? Because the two words “Wood Spirit” were floating above that chest. And, they were in the same font and same boldness as the word “BUG” on Xiao Yi’s face. Even if she did not want to recognize it, it was difficult for her not to, alright?

  “Could it be that, in this world, there’s really such a person of great luck!?” The old man mumbled to himself, and the eyes he was looking at her with began to be filled with envy and hate.

  Zhu Yao, however, did not bother to care about him, and opened the chest.

  What’s hilarious was, the chest only had a small tree sapling inside, and it was even bud with only two leaves. It was currently twisting its white and tender branches, twisting it to the left, and then, twisting it to the right, as though it was dancing.

  Probably because it was suddenly interrupted, that small sapling paused for a moment. It slightly raised its head, and then, let out a gentle……

  “Chick?” (With changing tones!)

  “.……”


  Are you a chicken?

  Zhu Yao was speechless. Yet, that little sapling covered itself with its two leaves out of extreme embarrassment, giving a shy look as though it’s dark secret had been exposed.

  “Are you the Wood Spirit?” Zhu Yao asked.

  Only then did that small sapling slowly unfolded its leaves. Tilting its body, as though it’s to answer her, it let out another sound. “Chick……”


  A little sapling with such good spirituality. Zhu Yao could not help but poke its leaves, and gave it a praise. “You’re pretty cute!”


  When those words fell, with a ‘pupu’ sound, between the leaves, a small red flower instantly bloomed.

  “.……” Zhu Yao had a subtle feeling.

  Yet, that little sapling held onto that small red flower in the center with its two leaves, and with a strong pull, it picked the flower out of its body, and then, passed it over to her.

  “.…… Thank…… Thank you!”


  “Chick~”


  Why did she feel that this “Wood Spirit” was a little weird. Was it this friendly to every person it meets for the first time?

  Zhu Yao had an inexplicable expression as it turned around the little red flower she was gifted with, yet, the old man suddenly moved in, and said with a stern expression. “Little girly, you have to be careful. This ‘Wood Spirit’ isn’t as simple as it looks on its surface……”


  Before he could even finish, the little sapling suddenly grew out the leaf on its left, instantly turning it into a size of a palm, and strongly slapped towards the old man’s face.

  Before the old man could even cry out, he had already been thrown dozens of meters to the back by its slap.

  “.……”


  The little sapling returned to its original size. Twisting its white and tender branches, it acted cutesy towards her. “Chick~”


  As though the one who sent him flying was not it.

  Zhu Yao: “.……”


  Seeing that she was not responding to it, the little sapling became agitated. It instantly leapt out of the chest, jumped onto the lid of the chest, and even used its two leaves to hug onto one of her fingers, and rubbed her finger with its body.

  “Chick~”


  So cute. Alright. She gave in.

  “Do you want to leave with me?”


  The little sapling tilted its body. “Chick!”


  In that instant, Zhu Yao was a little hard-pressed. She had obtained the Wood Spirit, but now the big problem was, where was she going to put it? After all, it was not good to put a spiritual item in her storage bracelet, and the most important was to prevent Xiao Yi from discovering it.

  “Little girly, you can’t bring this ‘Wood Spirit’ out.” As she was hesitating, the old man suddenly floated over. The affectionate expression on his face had disappeared without a trace, rather, it was now dyed with a bit of haziness.

  What did the Wood Spirit signify? The control rights to all of the wood spiritual energy and spiritual plants in the world. No one would easily hand such a treasure to someone else, moreover someone who had cultivated for ten thousands of years like him. Although he had already fallen long ago, he was still unwilling.

  With a wave of his hand, the chest in Zhu Yao’s hands instantly closed, and flew into his hands.

  She knew it would not be this simple. Zhu Yao could not bother to speak to him either, and summoned her flying sword.

  “I can’t even bother to argue with someone like you who doesn’t keep to his words. Show your hand!”


  When he was alive, this old man might be a famous individual, at the very least, he was a practitioner at the Nascent Soul stage, and he might even be a practitioner of the Ancient Era. However, no matter how powerful he was, currently, he was just a spectre. She just could not believe that she would not be able to beat him.

  “Hoho, you’re extremely arrogant for someone of such a young age.” The old man looked at her with belittling eyes. His entire face began to distort, and even his voice began to turn ghastly. “You don’t know how big the world is.”


  He suddenly did a hand-seal with a single hand, summoning a fire dragon. Zhu Yao was just about to block it head-on, but the old man actually turned, and attacked towards the strange door in the sky above where they came from.

  Zhu Yao was stunned. Why the hell did he not think it through and decide to smash his own door?

  Very quickly, Zhu Yao realized what he was trying to do. Under his attack, the door still looked completely unscathed. However, it was not as quiet as before. The mystic beast on that door, began to struggle out from inside the door.

  He was trying to release that mystic beast!

  Zhu Yao was extremely shocked. First, a head popped out of the door, immediately after, a large half of its body got out of the door. As it struggled, it roared out with extremely huge force, and with every inch of its body escaping, its figure grew twice as big.

  Zhu Yao’s heart trembled. Even from such a far distance, she was still able to feel the bloody smell coming from that mystic beast body. It’s ferocity could be clearly seen.

  Finally, that mystic beast broke out of the formation. Facing towards the sky, it emitted out a long roar, and was even more ear-piercing that the previous one it made. Even though she had tried to defend against it will all her might, her blood flow was still scrambled by it.

  Zhu Yao spat out a mouthful of blood, and was no longer even able to stand steadily. Once again, she fell onto the ground, and pain filled her entire body. She could feel that even her breathing had gotten difficult. This pressure was the same as when she first entered this place. She had thought that this was released by the old man, but it had always been this mystic beast who did it.

  The mystic beast seemed to have discovered her. With a leap of its four legs, it came running towards her.

  The hell, why the hell did animals like to chase after her to play? She hated little animals!