novelraw Chapter 104 : The Spirit Clan’s Jianmu
Chapter 104 : The Spirit Clan’s Jianmu
Chapter 104: The Spirit Clan’s Jianmu
When it grew a little later—as the setting sun was about to sink—from this distant point of view, one could see a colossal tree that obscured the heavens and the sun, soaring high enough to nearly pierce the sky itself.
To call it a “tree” was no longer accurate. Rather than a tree, it was more like an ancient, sprawling mountain range.
Its main trunk was so thick it defied measurement, and the countless crisscrossing branches spreading from it made one’s heart tremble at the sight.
Lu Changyuan frowned at the sight of the World Tree and thought of the Jianmu from legends.
The Spirit Clan in the cultivation world would sometimes boast when drunk, claiming their ancestors once lived upon a colossal tree of unimaginable size.
Everyone had always assumed the Spirits were simply spouting nonsense—if such a massive tree truly existed, how could the cultivation world not have seen it?
Let alone having not seen it—there wasn’t even a single rumor about it.
Yet now, seeing it with his own eyes, Lu Changyuan realized those Spirits hadn’t lied.
The Nether Lord also looked at the tree. “That is the World Tree, the dwelling place of the Spirit Clan.”
Lu Changyuan seemed to hear a trace of disdain in the Nether Lord’s tone.
“You don’t get along with your clan?”
A few days ago, the Nether Lord had said she was returning to her clan to kill someone.
In this ancient and primitive era, each race should have been extremely united—otherwise, survival itself would have been impossible.
But the Nether Lord seemed to have a particularly strained relationship with her clan.
“It can’t be called discord… merely a certain grudge of life and death.”
The Nether Lord’s ever-smiling face suddenly changed.
Her voice turned cold as frost. “Come out.”
These past days, she had always worn a faint smile beside Lu Changyuan, truly treating him as her most trusted guardian spirit.
But now, as if an outsider had appeared, she returned to her former aloofness.
Nether energy swept outward, utterly annihilating the forest ahead.
The great spirit they had been riding slowly dispersed, forcing the two of them to land upon the ground.
Lu Changyuan abruptly drew his sword, slashing apart a phantom spirit lunging toward him. He said lightly, “Seems the visitor comes with ill intent.”
A contemptuous voice sounded from the shadows. “Nether, you actually aren’t dead. Is that your guardian spirit?”
From the dense forest walked out a blue-haired, sharp-eared woman.
The Nether Lord said faintly, “Du? You intend to block me? Who gave you the order? The Red Sovereign, or the Blue Sovereign?”
“As expected, you have no talent. The guardian spirit you’ve summoned is such a feeble human. Were this in the clan, you’d be a laughingstock.”
The woman named Du sneered. “Look at you—human-like black hair? What now? Got taken away by the humans and even started resembling them?”
Lu Changyuan turned his head toward the Nether Lord, only to find her expressionless, but her killing intent immense.
Just like Qiu Yuehan.
The colder they were, the fiercer their sword strikes.
A sword shrouded in nether energy materialized in the Nether Lord’s hand.
Without another word, her attack descended in a surge of endless momentum.
Lu Changyuan was not having an easy time either; strange spirits appeared from nowhere, swarming toward him.
They were creatures he had never seen before—one was even a massive fish spirit, swimming through the air and spitting acidic bubbles at him.
What in the world is this?!
Lu Changyuan reversed Severed Thought and chopped off the fish’s head.
“Nether! You’ll never obtain a sovereign title!”
“No need for your concern.”
Scarlet flowers suddenly bloomed all around Lu Changyuan, and the spirits surrounding him instantly disintegrated.
A shrill scream echoed—the woman named Du fled into the distance.
The Nether Lord did not pursue her, merely floated to Lu Changyuan’s side. “Let’s continue.”
“What is a ‘sovereign title’?” Lu Changyuan asked curiously.
“In each race, the strongest individual earns a sovereign title.” The Nether Lord leaned close to his ear. “I want to use the sovereign title to achieve enlightenment with the Spirit Clan’s fate as my foundation.”
Achieve enlightenment?
Judging by the Nether Lord’s current aura, she intended to ignite her stars and ascend to Jade Radiance.
Thinking back on that Spirit Clan member named Du—she was only around the Fifth Realm. Judging from that, the combat power of those in this ancient era wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
After all, the Seventh Realm was merely a stage of comprehension toward the Dao, a boundary established by humans.
Whether other races had similar divisions, Lu Changyuan didn’t know.
But broadly speaking—
The Fifth Realm was hard to step into, the Sixth was ascension to the heavens, and Jade Radiance was the pinnacle.
Lu Changyuan felt a tickle near his ear, his face showing discomfort, but the Nether Lord seemed to particularly enjoy his awkward expressions.
The girl’s hair brushed against his cheek. “Once I achieve enlightenment, your status will rise as well. Then, when you go out and say your master is me, no one will dare capture you again.”
What a grand painter of empty promises.
Are you planning to drag me around the world in your wanderings?
Lu Changyuan suddenly realized something and asked, “Without a guardian spirit, you can’t obtain a sovereign title?”
The girl curved her lips, clearly pleased with his understanding.
“Exactly. Only by possessing a guardian spirit can I prove I truly belong to the royal bloodline.”
The Nether Lord said she hadn’t originally planned to summon a guardian spirit, but right before returning to her clan, she happened to summon Lu Changyuan.
From her goal, her action became clear—
Lu Changyuan’s summoning must have been entirely for the Nether Lord’s return to the clan.
“So you’re very important to me—you’re practically my other half.”
A mutual half between the Spirit Clan and their spirits?
Lu Changyuan frowned, sensing that this conversation could go on endlessly, so he changed the topic. “Why did you let Du go just now?”
For a Fifth Realm to leave safely before a Sixth Realm—especially before the Nether Lord, who cultivated the Dao of Death—was nearly impossible.
The Nether Lord crossed her arms, her lovely lips glistening faintly.
She said,
“I let her go to deliver a message—so the clan will know I’ve returned.”
Injure, but not kill.
Returned openly and with dignity to the clan, proclaiming the arrival of the Nether Lord.
The black-haired girl wore a mocking smile upon her face—yet she was breathtakingly beautiful, like a sovereign who looked down upon all creation. “You ought to return what’s mine, don’t you think?”
The Nether Lord did not explain to Lu Changyuan what it was that had been taken from her, nor what she intended to reclaim. She merely leaned her body lightly against his chest and said softly, “Let me be your pillow for a while.”
The girl’s weight rested upon Lu Changyuan, light as a feather.
The immense spirit reappeared.
The two continued toward that colossal tree.
It felt like walking through a dream.
The Nether Lord spoke.
“I like humans. Though frail, they are full of vitality, and they’re so warm toward their families. Perhaps because I like humankind, my guardian spirit takes the form of one as well.”
“A child?”
Qiu Yuehan stared blankly at herself.
The lake reflected her face—it was that of a little girl, identical to how she had looked in her youth.
“Am I dreaming?”
After her junior sister left, she had begun meditating on her bed. Yet perhaps because she had spent too much time with her junior sister—and her junior sister had in turn spent too much time with that old monster—her meditation became distracted. The Moon Fairy did not know when her head tilted and she fell asleep.
Humans are sometimes like that—lucid enough in their dreams to know that they are dreaming.
Qiu Yuehan was in that very state now.
“No, this isn’t me?”
Before her stretched a vast lake. As she gazed upon her reflection, her appearance was no different from her own, yet she did not recall her ears ever being pointed.
Nor did she remember standing before such an immense lake in her childhood.
Judging from her reflection, she seemed to be only six or seven years old. At that age, she should have been at the Jade Palace, seeking the Dao—just beginning to study the introductory heart method of the sect. How could she possibly be wearing a rough black dress, standing dazed before a lake deep within a dense forest?
“This isn’t me!”
Qiu Yuehan murmured to herself.
She lifted her gaze toward the moon. It was bright and vivid, yet for some reason, it felt strangely unfamiliar to her.
An unfamiliar moon.
An unfamiliar forest. An unfamiliar self.
Without reason, a faint fear stirred within her heart.
“Have you found her?”
“No.”
Suddenly, voices came from afar, and a flicker of light flared in the distance.
Qiu Yuehan somehow knew that these people were searching for her—and their purpose was simple.
They had come to kill her.
She had to escape, or she would die.
That thought rapidly filled her mind, and she stumbled to her feet, running frantically into the distance.
By instinct, she waved her hand, and a small spirit in the form of a leopard appeared before her.
The leopard crouched down, allowing Qiu Yuehan to climb onto its back, then dashed swiftly through the forest.
“There’s movement… over there!”
Amid the rustling of leaves, pursuers came slithering after her like venomous snakes.
Qiu Yuehan trembled in fear, her small frame curling up. Even though this was only a dream, the terror of death felt painfully real.
Gripped by that thought, she urged the leopard to move faster.
Bang!
Her petite body crashed into the ground, her delicate little face colliding with the dirt—mud staining her cheeks in a pitiful mess.
Qiu Yuehan stared blankly at her small hands.
Her spiritual power was exhausted.
By measure of cultivation, this body was only at the First Realm—pitifully weak. Most likely, she had already depleted her strength, which was why she had stopped by the lake to drink and rest—never expecting the pursuers to catch up.
She was going to die.
Never before had Qiu Yuehan felt this truth so clearly.
Not even the day she was gravely injured and hunted by two cultivators of the Blood Demon Palace had she felt such dread.
The premonition of death flooded her mind, suffocating her.
“She’s around here—the aura of her spirit. She must be out of strength.”
“Hurry and find her, then kill her!”
No—I don’t want to die!
Suddenly, a hand smelling of earth covered her mouth. Qiu Yuehan’s eyes widened in panic, her pupils shrinking as her body thrashed wildly in terror.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m here to help you.”
It was a woman’s voice—old and weary.
Qiu Yuehan turned her head fearfully and saw an elderly woman.
The old woman looked almost identical to her, except her ears were not pointed.
A human.
Why would a human be here?
“Don’t move. I’ll conceal your aura.”
The old woman took out a jar of gray mud and smeared it across Qiu Yuehan’s face.
“We humans are the weakest of all races, so we’ve mastered the finest ways to hide. Since your own people are hunting you, why not come with me—to the human clan?”
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