novelraw Chapter 7: The Old Peach Tree's Deep Foundation
Chapter 7: The Old Peach Tree's Deep Foundation
"There wasn't only the Li family in the village originally. Look at these, they're all cultivation methods from various families."
Li Qiuchen pointed at the books on the bookshelf and said to Hong Yang, "There must be one from your family too, but I don't know which one it is."
"This many?"
Hong Yang looked at the bookshelf in surprise. Shouldn't cultivation methods be very rare? Many people in the village were cultivating, but he couldn't clearly explain what he himself was cultivating.
Don't ask. If you ask, it's the Medicine Master's blessing.
Yet Grand Uncle's house had actually accumulated so many cultivation method secret books? Hidden away without sharing with everyone?
Wait!
He suddenly reacted. It wasn't that they weren't shared with the villagers. These should have been treasures of the various families in the village, but Grand Uncle had collected them one by one.
As for how he collected them... recalling the suspicious cause of his parents' deaths, Hong Yang's heart filled with towering rage.
The hatred of killing one's father, the hatred of stealing one's wife, if I don't kill this old scoundrel I swear I'm not human!"Even with these cultivation methods, do you think Grand Uncle made anything of himself practicing them?"
Li Qiuchen asked calmly.
"He's already like that..."
"Isn't cultivating immortality for longevity? If he really succeeded in cultivation, why would he still scheme against us three? Why would he still devour Yingcao's spiritual root? If you had money, wouldn't you drink and eat meat instead of still wanting to dig wild vegetables and gnaw tree bark?"
"Ah, well..."
Hong Yang actually didn't know how to answer this question.
"Either these cultivation methods have problems, or Grand Uncle himself has problems."
I think both have problems, but saying so doesn't sound good. It makes me seem like a pessimist.
Li Qiuchen looked at Hong Yang seriously, "I think if Grand Uncle himself is also a puppet, and he doesn't know it himself, then everything can be explained."
"Songlin Village is like a pig pen. You, me, everyone is a pig raised in captivity. As long as you start fattening up, you'll be targeted. Grand Uncle thinks he's the pig farmer, but he holds all the village families' cultivation methods, controls all the village's cultivation resources, lived to one hundred and eighty years old and still hasn't cultivated to immortality, still has to worship the Medicine Master to extend his lifespan for himself."
Hong Yang asked in a trembling voice, "Then who... exactly is the pig farmer?"
This question, Bai Yuhang also very much wanted to know.
Something's wrong, very wrong.
His flying sword had already killed Grand Uncle three times. Arms and heads had been cut off who knows how many times, but borrowing the enhancement of the village formation, that old thing could always be resurrected and appear before him in perfect condition.
Grand Uncle's cultivation level... to be honest it might hurt people's feelings, but Bai Yuhang really couldn't see what cultivation this old thing had.
Purely a scattered cultivator, scattered cultivation level, not even reaching the Qi Refining realm but under the enhancement of the formation, when his and the other seventeen elders' power gathered together, his strength suddenly leaped to the peak level of the Qi Refining realm.
This still wasn't enough. Bai Yuhang could kill him instantly with a casual sword strike but when he was resurrected and returned the second time, his body underwent bizarre changes. Countless eyes grew from his body surface. Each eye could release a curse at the Qi Refining realm level. Gathered together, they reached the Foundation Establishment realm, catching Bai Yuhang off guard and making him suffer a loss.
And after returning from the third resurrection, Grand Uncle's form swelled again, reaching about two zhang tall. Twisted and ferocious human faces emerged from his body. Countless tortured souls were forcibly combined together, raising his strength to the Golden Core realm where he could fight Bai Yuhang head-on without falling behind.
This definitely has problems.
Realizing there were problems, Bai Yuhang immediately changed his thinking and uprooted the thirty-six ancient trees in the village that formed the formation. But even so, the monster before him still showed no reduction in momentum, completely showing no signs of power weakening. It looked like it wanted to rely on the Medicine Master remnants' immortal and indestructible advantage to wear him to death here.
"Actually, there's another truly ancient tree outside the village."
It was a peach tree.
Each time the village held a great sacrifice, it was a standard procedure. Grand Uncle would lead all the villagers to that old peach tree, build an altar, burn sacrificial texts, offer three sacrificial animals, praise the Medicine Master, break off peach branches, and pray for blessings and disaster relief for the villagers.
But what if the object of their worship had been that peach tree from beginning to end?
After listening to Li Qiuchen's explanation, Hong Yang only felt his hair stand on end.
"This kind of secret that even Grand Uncle doesn't know, how did you guess it?"
"I didn't know at first either."
Li Qiuchen told the story while looting the secret chamber.
The spirit pills baking over a small fire in the pill furnace were naturally good things. Gold, silver, and jewels went without saying. It was just that taking too much would inevitably affect mobility and wasn't safe.
Rolling them into a bundle and carrying it on his back, Li Qiuchen glanced at the crayfish spirit beside him, "But at that time, another matter aroused my curiosity."
"I went to the back mountain, gathered medicine by the spirit spring, met the Crayfish General. After chatting with it, I realized there were problems with your parents' deaths."
There was no seal at all on the spirit spring at the back mountain.
The crayfish spirit hadn't lost its freedom either.
There was an underground river beneath the spirit spring. It could come and go as it pleased and the reason it stayed here was...
"Of course it's because the peach tree roots taste exceptionally delicious."
Seeing Hong Yang look over, the Crayfish General chuckled, "What spiritual roots? That old peach is the real spiritual root! At least three thousand years of cultivation. The peaches it bears are all immortal fruits that grant longevity when eaten."
"Huh? Peach trees grow peaches?"
Hong Yang was deeply shocked.
The northern frontier had cold weather. Peach trees didn't bear much fruit to begin with. Even if they produced fruit, it couldn't grow large. At most it could grow to the size of an egg, so they were also called hairy peaches.
In Hong Yang's memory, the old peach tree at the village entrance had never borne fruit. Many children in the village, including him, didn't know what peaches were.
"How could it bear fruit? It stored all the nutrition in its own body. It eats but doesn't excrete, doesn't share a single benefit with you."
The crayfish spirit laughed strangely, "It covets my body, and I covet its body. If it didn't always use tree roots to tempt me, why would I, a grand aquatic general, nest in that water puddle behind your village?"
Hong Yang asked, confused, "Then why didn't you say so before?"
"Before? Who knew if you, this little bastard, could keep your mouth shut? If you went back to the village and talked nonsense, and that old peach heard about it and raised its guard, how could we scheme against it?"
"You still want to scheme against it?"
Hong Yang looked at Li Qiuchen.
That sword immortal is already trapped in bitter battle outside. What can you two do?
Li Qiuchen listened to the sounds outside and said to the crayfish spirit, "I think it's about time. Let's go over now."
The entire Songlin Village was a pig pen.
All the people, all the trees, were puppets.
The old peach tree's eyes and ears were spread throughout the village. Everyone's every move was under its surveillance but now, its eyes and ears weren't working.
The continuous battles between Bai Yuhang and Grand Uncle had already turned the village into ruins.
The appearance of this cultivator wasn't within Li Qiuchen's plan.
Even now that he'd already beaten Grand Uncle's brains out, Li Qiuchen still didn't include his combat power in his calculations.
Because the fundamental problem of Songlin Village wasn't with Grand Uncle at all and he still hadn't discovered where the real problem lay even now.
This must be some second-generation young master from some cultivation family out gaining experience, right?
If Bai Yuhang heard these words, he would definitely cry injustice.
What second-generation young master goes out without being surrounded by followers? At the very least they'd have protective treasures on them. Look at what I have!
The Bai family had specialized in the sword cultivation path for generations, not relying on external objects, using their own wings to refine flying swords that could be commanded like limbs with tremendous power.
In sword cultivators' eyes, there was nothing in the world that couldn't be cut. If you couldn't beat someone, don't look for reasons or excuses. The only problem was that your sword wasn't sharp enough.
Of course Bai Yuhang could also see that this old thing before him wasn't any cultivator at all. At most he was something like a tomb guardian beast or protective spirit. The real Medicine Master remnant was still hiding behind the scenes, not yet revealing itself.
But where exactly was this fellow? I've turned over the entire village!
People's thoughts sometimes fall into misunderstandings.
His attention was all on those thirty-six ancient trees in the village. He completely hadn't noticed outside the village, that unremarkable old peach tree.
At this moment, an altar had already been set up under the old peach tree.
Because sacrifices were held every year, the altar's foundation had never been dismantled. It was nothing more than stacking a few stones, laying a few wooden planks, and placing an incense table, and it was done.
Guan Damu knelt before the altar. Like he'd been scared witless, he trembled and muttered the Medicine Master's divine name.
"Great compassionate and merciful Medicine Master who relieves suffering and difficulty, great compassionate and merciful Medicine Master who relieves suffering and difficulty..."
Suddenly, he heard someone whisper softly in his ear.
"Thus have I heard."
That voice, neither male nor female, made Guan Damu shiver all over. He couldn't help but raise his head to look, and froze on the spot.
He saw tender flower buds blooming on the old peach tree before him. Peach blossoms grew and bloomed at a visible speed. Petals danced gracefully. In midair, one could vaguely hear Sanskrit chanting. There were barefoot celestial maidens holding lutes, sitting upright in the clouds.
It finally couldn't hold back anymore.
Bai Yuhang had just forced back the monster that Grand Uncle had transformed into when suddenly countless illusions appeared before his eyes. Countless scantily clad, bewitchingly beautiful immortal maidens descended from the sky, surrounding him completely. The air was filled with an alluring exotic fragrance.
"Evil creature! How dare you disturb my sword heart!"
Bai Yuhang could step into the Golden Core realm through the sword Dao. Having experienced hundreds of battles large and small, his sword heart had long been tempered to incomparable firmness. Even facing such illusions, he completely wasn't...
Why is there even a blonde demon woman?
How can a person's figure grow like this?
Could this demon have stuffed two watermelons into her clothes?
In the instant those turbulent waves came surging forward, Bai Yuhang, who had been single since birth, had some slight hesitation and confusion appear in his mind.
Although he reacted in time, between masters, it was often just in that instant. A hair's breadth of difference led to a thousand li of error.
Countless tree roots formed into large hands burst from the ground, grabbed his body, and forcibly dragged him underground.