Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy

  After the surprise attack from Shengjing Sect's people, at the suggestion of her follower, Sacred Leaf Shaman returned to her residence in Eternal Tree.

  Being seriously injured, she needed a lot of wood element spiritual energy to restore herself. At the same time, since the attack had taken place in the capital city of Harmony River, people had no confidence in the defense of Harmony River. The capital city of Harmony River was indeed lively, but the open structure of the three cities, as well as A Ye's completely lacking in kingly's awareness, caused his capital, in this time of war, appear riddled with holes and easily infiltrated by the enemies.

  Perhaps Shaman herself didn't have opinion on this, but Zhan Ziye, after a careful analysis, even more thought that the place had no security at all.

  Wang Lu's original idea of going alone to intercept in the upstream of Harmony River was correct. However, unfortunately, the Wangyue twins used the treasure chest to isolate him, and thus he failed to stop Shengjing Sect's team. However, the key issue was, while walking along the riverbank, Wang Lu was trying to observe the offensive and defensive position of Harmony River. A Ye had been the king for many years, why couldn't he think of setting up checkpoints in the key places? Allying with such a person really made people a bit more careful.

  Therefore, under the strong request from her follower, Zhan Ziye, Shaman had to leave Harmony River to return to her hometown.

  The Eternal Tree was a towering tree. Before actually visiting it, it was difficult to imagine that it would be so huge. This tree was located at the downstream end of Harmony River. Its tree trunks spanned across both sides of the river, its height taller than any towering mountain, and its top completely hidden above the cloud, blotting out the sun. It was said that half of the light of this world came from the fluorescent insects perched in the canopy. When the time came, insects would fly out of their habitat and it was daylight under the Eternal Tree. When the fluorescent insects rested back at their habitat, it was night. In legends, the Eternal Tree supported the heaven and earth of this world. If the Eternal Tree collapsed, the whole world would be destroyed. Thus, even the mightiest creature would not destroy the Eternal Tree, hence the name Eternal Tree.

  In this sacred and eternal tree, there were hundreds of millions of living beings who built their own cities. At its most central place was the residence of Sacred Leaf. It was the place where she calmed her mind and cultivated, as well as the place where she handled various affairs.

  However, when Sacred Leaf married the king of Harmony River A Ye, she spent most of her time in Harmony River and rarely lived in the Eternal Tree.

  When Shaman returned to Eternal Tree under Zhan Ziye's protection, her initially irritable mood suddenly calmed down. Shaman thought she had been accustomed to the dense water vapor of Harmony River, but in the end, she was more suitable where the green leaves surrounded her.

  For the next few days, while A Ye repeatedly infiltrated Golden City's territory, Shaman fully concentrated on recuperating herself.

  In that Shengjing Sect's surprise attack, the pressure on Shaman and her follower was actually the largest. Because not only Shaman needed to take care of herself, she also needed to take into account A Ye and her two children without any fighting capability. Since her focus was divided into four, she had no defense when Shengjing Sect suddenly focused their attack on her. Were it not for Zhan Ziye's timely effort, she would've died on the spot.

  "Speaking of which, it's all thanks to you."

  Lying on her bed, Shaman's face was already tinted with a shade of red. However, compared to her initial dignified and elegant posture, she still looked unbearably gaunt. The woman quietly breathed the calm air of Eternal Tree and adjusted her body a little.

  By her bedside, Zhan Ziye quietly accompanied her. His hand was holding an ancient book woven from leaves, reading it with great interest. Upon listening to Shaman mentioning him, without lifting his head, Zhan Ziye said, "You lose, both of us lose. You die, I will immediately be expelled. But on the contrary, even if I were to be expelled, if you can stick to the last five spirits power struggle and get it, I can still get a share of the benefit. So, based on this simple logic, it is natural for me to help you."

  Shaman partially turned her head and swept Zhan Ziye with her water-like eyes.

  "You are a strange man."

  "Given your average IQ and level of learning, I can understand why you think of me like that," Zhan Ziye casually answered and continued to flip the pages. It was just that, while reading, he couldn't restrain his mouth from sneering.

  Shaman curiously asked, "What's the problem?"

  "It's better to ask where it doesn't have a problem?" Zhan Ziye said, closed the book, and then asked, "Do you usually cultivate these spells?"

  Shaman said, "This is the inheritance of Eternal Tree…"

  "Enough, no wonder even though the Eternal Tree sits in such a favorable position, it doesn't rank in the top three forces in this world." Zhan Ziye unceremoniously evaluated, "A mess of a spell system is indeed a waste of inheritance if it's not improved. I saw that since your spell attainment is good, you should have good inheritance and growth. But to see you like this, it's completely a joke if you want to obtain the five blood spirits crown!"

  Shaman was stunned for a moment, but then magnanimously smiled. "In the first place, I am not…"

  Zhan Ziye said, "In the first place, you don't expect to get the crown? Wake up, I don't know how much optimistic you are towards the king of Harmony River, but it's impossible for him to stick to the end."

  Shaman said, "You don't know him…"

  Zhan Ziye coldly said, "You also don't know Wang Lu. You have no idea who we would eventually face with."

  "Wang Lu? That earth spirit? He is indeed formidable, but…"

  "You have no idea how formidable he is." Zhan Ziye said, "Our biggest enemy is Golden City, but our last enemy will certainly be Wang Lu. In the five spirits power struggle, only one would end up as the winner, so sooner or later, we have to face him. If we want to win, we must not relax our vigilance, and A Ye… would never be wary of him."

  Thinking about A Ye's temper, Shaman could only smile wryly.

  "A Ye could not be counted on, and similarly, we can't expect anything from Zhou Mumu either. Thus, in the final analysis, dealing with Wang Lu is your mission. Unfortunately, now it seems like you might as well just directly surrender," Zhan Ziye indignantly said, but then he corrected himself, "No, you can't just give up… how about this, while you're recuperating, I'll comb the spell system for you, then you recreate the spell system according to my method. Maybe we still have a chance. Yes, it's settled then."

  Upon hearing this, Shaman only felt dumbfounded. This wood element spirit had been summoned by her for quite some time, but until now, she had no idea that he was actually so arrogant and even a lawless person.

  However, thinking that during the past few days when she was seriously injured, he was very meticulous in guarding and taking care of her, especially when he disregarded his own safety in desperately rescuing her after she suffered a blow from Shengjing Sect's surprise attack that day, Shaman knew that she could not get angry at him. Therefore, she had to tactfully say, "I respect your strength and insight as a blood spirit. It's just that, these tens of thousands of years of inheritance of Eternal Tree has its profound mystery, you…"

  Zhan Ziye coldly sneered. "Ha, you want to say, my strength is not necessarily better than you so what qualifications do I have to underestimate your inheritance? Initially, I also thought so. However, in these last few days, when I perused your ancient books inheritance, I finally confirmed one thing: your inheritance is basically an incomprehensible nonsense. For you to be able to have your current cultivation base, I believe a large part of it comes from pure luck. Of course, empty words mean nothing, so I will demonstrate it for you, and you will sincerely believe me."

  With that, he stood up and a little green point of light bloomed out on his right palm. Then, a single crystal seed condensed out from the void. A moment later, the shell opened, and a young sapling drilled out and quickly grew into one person tall. Zhan Ziye bent his waist and tossed the small tree down. The roots and branches of this small tree contracted and twisted, actually forming human limbs. Several roots intertwined together and became legs that were powerful enough to support it.

  "T-This is…"

  With eyes wide opened, Shaman subconsciously wanted to stand up from the bed. It was just that, she was stopped by the injury in her body, which forced her to loudly humph in pain loudly and lie back once again.

  Zhan Ziye lightly said, "Isn't this your Eternal Tree Inheritance, the Guardian Tree Essence? According to the records in the ancient books, since I can freely call the essence of Eternal Tree to shape life, then I am already at Golden Leaf level, one step away from Sacred Leaf. Tell me, Madame Sacred Leaf, if you are in your perfect condition, can you do the same thing that I just did?"

  Shaman looked really serious and had nothing to say in reply. The Guardian Tree Essence was not an abstruse spell, but even if she was the Sacred Leaf, she couldn't be as what-the-heart-wishes-the-hand-accomplishes as Zhan Ziye. Moreover, the real issue here was that…


  Zhan Ziye had not obtained the inheritance of the Eternal Tree. Although he was the wood element spirit, a whole complex system of method was not in the slightest bit related to the Eternal Tree. How could he call the essence of the Eternal Tree to shape life? This completely deviated from the basic principles of the Eternal Tree!

  "I have Ten Thousand Methods Comprehension. Unless the qualification requirements are very strict, no spells in this world that I can't use. Ironically, this magical power can never be effective towards the methods that I truly care about. For example, Wang Lu's Non-Phase Method, Zhu Shiyao's Stellar Sword… But, your tens of thousands of years of Eternal Tree inheritance seems to be just so."

  Shaman was still stunned. Deep inside, she was shocked to the extreme, and she actually didn't know what to say.

  Zhan Ziye smiled a bit. "But, compared to you, I just have a better Master, so there's nothing to be proud of. And from another perspective, for you to be able to reach the point where you are right now under such a coarse inheritance, your talent is worthy of praise." With that, Zhan Ziye's complexion turned serious. "Therefore, I hope you can earnestly follow my footsteps. We don't have much time. If we can improve a bit, then we'll improve our chances."

  Shaman was silent for a long time. Finally, she tightly bit her lips and then nodded.

  —


  Inside the residence of Shaman in Eternal Tree, a cheerful voice abruptly broke the silence of the place.

  "Hahaha, Senior Brother Ziye, I come here to play with you."

  "Wait a minute…"

  Unfortunately, before the voice from inside the room could tell that person to stop, a foot has already kicked the door open. Then, this uninvited guest dumbfoundedly stood in the doorway.

  Inside the room, Madame Sacred Leaf and her follower were sitting on the bed. Both of them were holding each other's hands as beads of sweat covered their whole flushed skin… and both of them were naked.

  Seeing this spectacle, Wang Lu was stunned for a moment at the doorway, and then, under the incomparably shocked eyes of the two Master and follower, quietly closed the door, turned around and left.

  "Wait a minute, don't go!" From behind him came Shaman's dismayed voice.

  "Don't go? You want me to stay and enjoy the pleasure?" Wang Lu sneered. "I'm not going to disturb you!"