Boom! Boom! Boom!
The lasting sounds almost penetrated his eardrums. Before Fan Zisang had time to see what was going on, he was utterly drowned out by the shock waves. The boundary of the protective tactical matrix was covered with shattered wood shavings, which creaked under the influence of the violent aftershocks. The tactical matrix seemed to shatter in the next moment.
Wail —
The storm lasted for a while before it finally died down. The tactical matrix accomplished its final mission and shattered apart.
A strong scent of wood floated into the nose, and Fan Zisang stared at the giant tree that had been blasted to a small root. The dense forest had regained its quietness. And the ground around him, except where he was shrouded by the tactical matrix, was covered with a thick layer of wood shavings, broken branches, and unknown debris.
“Is the tree demon… dead?”
Fan Zisang’s heart was shaking, and he looked into the empty and quiet dense forest, shouting in a trembling voice, “Benefactor…”
The sound reverberated through the dense forest and was widely disseminated. However, there was no response after quite a while, as if he was the only one left in the dense forest.
Could it be that… the mysterious woman perished with the tree demon together?
Fan Zisang thought with disappointment and guilt. The shockwave released by the woman just now had far exceeded the power of a practitioner at the pinnacle of Zhuji Realm. He could not resist even the collateral shocking wave, let alone her, who was in the right-center of the impact.
“What are you waiting for? Get down here.”
At this moment, a familiar and indifferent voice suddenly sounded, and Fan Zisang was stunned, whirling with joy.
The benefactor didn’t die!
He followed the sound to the edge of the tree root and found a hole in the root that just fit one person to go through smoothly.
“The benefactor is under the tree, and her pneuma is covered. No wonder I can’t find her.”
Fan Zisang jumped down without hesitation, and after a moment of weightlessness, he regained his footing and adjusted to the darkness inside. He immediately saw Su Li, who had walked out a long distance in the tunnel, and he speeded up to follow her.
“Is this… the root system of the tree demon?”
Sizing up the passageways filled with wood lines, Fan Zisang couldn’t help but mutter to himself. Su Li was too indifferent, so he didn’t count on that she would answer the question for him.
But when he caught up with Su Li’s pace, Su Li suddenly said,
“This snake acacia was initially an ordinary acacia tree, so there must be something odd for the mutation from a three to a demon. If I am right, these hollow roots are used for transmission by the tree demon, and the deeper the root goes, the wider becomes the tunnel. There must be something down there.”
After saying this, Su Li quickened her steps, and Fan Zisang smiled with a dazed face and accelerated likewise.
Although her talks were harsh and unkind, the benefactor had saved his life twice. He seemed to understand his benefactor’s character somehow.
“She is just like my junior sister apprentice, cold hands, warm heart…”
Fan Zisang thought to himself but didn’t connect them together. The junior sister apprentice had just begun with practicing, while the mysterious female practitioner was as powerful as someone in Jindan Realm. They couldn’t be the same person by any means.
It didn’t take long before they came to the end of the tunnel. Without saying a word, Su Li punched open the hindrance in front of them to reveal a damp underground cavern. The combination of the violence and her skinny figure had a distinctive flavor.
As Fan Zisang was shocked by Su Li’s terrifying strength comparable to that of a demon beast, he suddenly smelled an extremely special pneuma. With a single inhalation, he realized that his cultivation stuck in the bottleneck moved a little bit in his body.
Fan Zisang was amazed, so was Su Li.
“How does it occur in this place…”
She hedgehopped, and a small lake shining with a dense and bright light appeared in front of her a few moments later.
“It really is the convergent place of nimbus!”
A rare look of surprise appeared on Su Li’s face. This convergent place of nimbus had obviously never been discovered before, so the pure nimbus must’ve been accumulated for an unknown period. Its pureness would bring great benefits to the practitioners who would absorb it for the first time. And they possibly even improved their spiritual roots.
The convergent place of nimbus she was initially looking for was about the size of a washbasin and controlled by a large sect. Who knew how many times it had been used? Maybe it had lost its spirituality.
She never thought she would have such an adventure after saving Fan Zisang’s life.
Would good people always be rewarded?
Su Li smiled nefariously, for she wasn’t a righteous person.
“Benefactor, what is this…”
Fan Zisang stared dumbly at the sizeable white lake in front of him. Coming from a small sect, he couldn’t recognize the origin of the lake at all, but the constant stirring vital energy in his body told him that there was definitely a great serendipity in front of him!
“It’s a convergent place of nimbus. No good for you to know more.”
Su Li restrained her thoughts and turned around, “You’ve been stuck at the peak of Zhuji Realm for many years. Enter the lake now, for it’ll be easy to break through to Jindan Realm, and you may even improve your spiritual root. Hurry up, I’ll guard for you aside.”
Fan Zisang was shocked to hear that and waved his hand repeatedly, “No, benefactor! This is your serendipity, and I can’t accept it. I’ve already owed you so much, and I can’t…”
“Hey…”
Su Li interrupted him with a sneer and said disdainfully, “Fan Zisang, are you thinking you are capable of absorbing up all this lake? With your talent, you should be grateful if you can absorb a little part of the lake, and I can afford to lose this part!”
Fan Zisang took a deep breath, and different expressions appeared on his face. He was shocked by the preciousness of the convergent place of nimbus in one hand, and was hurt deeply by Su Li’s merciless words on the other.
He finally figured out why his benefactor was always alone. No one could stand her tongue!
“After breaking through to Jindan Realm, you must crush the token and leave the Secret Realm immediately, because I don’t want to expose this place. As for the time you lost here, I’ll make it up to you when I’m out.”
Su Li pointed at the lake, and her voice was cold as ever, “Now, go and make the breakthrough!”
Fan Zisang smiled bitterly, walked into the lake, and sat down to start working on his breakthrough. Even if Su Li didn’t say anything, he wouldn’t stay here. He’d rather go out and consolidate his cultivation than explore in the Secret Realm.
As for the compensation Su Li mentioned, he would never take it. The opportunity to practice in the convergent place of nimbus was the greatest reward for him! And he was super satisfied.
Seeing Fan Zisang meditating, Su Li sat on the shore, practicing. Although she was not in the state of meditation, the practicing speed was many times faster than that in the outside world.
After a day and a night, Su Li’s pubic region of the eighth hurdle of Lianqi Realm had been filled up. So, she stopped practicing and looked at Fan Zisang, who was sitting quietly in the lake. His pneuma had taken on an entirely new look with a superb sense.
Finally came the breakthrough.
Su Li calculated with her eyes rolling. The lake water seemed not to be missing, and the spirituality remained 99%. Even if only a trace of the spirituality was absorbed by Fan Zisang, his spiritual root should also be improved.
Not long after, Fan Zisang retrieved his pneuma and opened his eyes. He could barely hide his excitement and clenched his fists.
It had been three hundred years being stuck in the bottleneck, and he finally broke through to Jindan Realm!
“The spiritual root seems to have changed a bit, too.”
He couldn’t wait to take out a small spiritual testing stone and put a drop of blood on it immediately.
The spiritual testing stones in Huajian Sect were extremely inferior, so they were useless to test if a practitioner reached Lianqi Realm. The testing stone on Fan Zisang’s hand was obviously a great auxiliary magic treasure, which he had obtained from his jade token.
“It is a spiritual testing stone of high quality. It seems that my senior fellow apprentice really has some adventures. Someone from Huajian Sect can’t possess such a magic treasure of this grade.”
Su Li recognized the origin of the testing stone, and she thought that she had never really tested her own spiritual root since her rebirth…
“Forget it! Your talent can’t be tested by such a testing stone like this. If you try with it, it will explode once you put your blood on it.”
Black Lotus said suddenly in a lazy tone, but Su Li’s gaze got severe, “You’re spying on my mind?”
“Impossible! Since I had recognized you as my master, it’s impossible to spy on your mind! Besides, there’s no need to spy when I saw that look on your face just now!”
Black Lotus replied in annoyance, and he seemed to get a little angry at Su Li’s suspicions.
Su Li was silent and transmitted the sound, “Sorry, I was too sensitive.”
“Um…”
Black Lotus was momentarily speechless and surprised for Su Li’s apology. He was even a little bit flustered and wondered if this was Su Li’s new trick. He already got used to Su Li’s unreasonable behavior, and the sudden change was a bit hard to accept for him!
As they transmitted the sounds with each other, Fan Zisang had already come out of the lake. He evaporated his clothes and bowed deeply to Su Li, “The gift you gave me is so precious that I can’t repay easily. However, if I can be useful to you in the future, please let me know. I am entirely at your disposal!”
In just a few days, his life changed dramatically with Su Li’s help. Not only did he break through to Jindan Realm, but his spiritual root was also improved from middle grade to top grade. He would never have dared to think of these serendipities before meeting this mysterious woman, but now the dreams all came true.
Hearing what Fan Zisang said, Su Li smiled evilly, and her voice suddenly became gentle, “If I tell you to kill innocent people and deviate from the norm, are you still willing to do it for me?”
Fan Zisang was stunned and couldn’t speak a word.
“You can go out now.”
Su Li turned around, and her voice returned to be cold as ever.
Fan Zisang smiled bitterly when he realized that his benefactor had just refused him in disguise. Since she told him to get out, he didn’t dare to ask for anything else. He deeply bowed again and crushed the token.
Whoosh!
A vortex appeared without warning and pulled him into it, and disappeared.
“Whew…”
Su Li exhaled a sigh of relief. The indifference disappeared on her face, and she was relaxed. Then she stepped into the lake and sat down. She closed her eyes with a hint of anticipation slowly.
“Let me find out how far I can reach in just over a month!”
…
At this moment, quite a lot of eliminated practitioners were sitting gloomily outside of the gate of the Secret Realm of Shattered Spirits. Either they unluckily encountered a strong enemy and they had to crush the jade token, or their jade tokens were accidentally smashed by their opponents and they were forcibly teleported out.
No one was so unlucky like the three from Huajian Sect, who died directly before they could crush the jade tokens.
At that moment, the gate of the Secret Realm suddenly fluctuated, and a small vortex appeared.
“Which poor devil got teleported out this time?”
