Jieyin: “Instant kill as soon as we show our heads?”
Zhunti: “Fellow Daoist, don't mess around!”
Surrounded by the four Ancestral Witches—Tianwu, Shebishi, Rushou, and Qiangliang—Zhunti and Jieyin panicked. Forcing awkward smiles, they hurriedly said, “Fellow Daoists, we were merely passing by. We mean no harm whatsoever!”
“Hehe.” Qiangliang gave a sinister grin, rubbing his fists together as rules of the Great Dao of Thunder swirled around his body. Pure, unyielding lightning flowed around him like a galaxy. “Guess if we believe you.”
Seeing the ferocious, demonic postures of the four Ancestral Witches, Zhunti and Jieyin knew things had taken a turn for the worse.
Zhunti and Jieyin: “Can you at least not hit us in the face?”
The four Ancestral Witches: “No!”
“Run!”
Without a second thought, the two directly altered their personal timelines to flee. In an instant, Zhunti and Jieyin vanished into thin air, leaving behind the lingering aura of time and space that gradually dissipated.
“What a pain.”
Qiangliang stomped his foot in frustration. “These Essence Soul cultivators aren't much in terms of strength, but their ability to run away is top-notch.”
Daluo Golden Immortals possessed numerous methods; commanding time and space, being unique across all realities, and immortality were merely the basics.
Although Ancestral Witches possessed Daluo-level combat strength, their techniques were somewhat lacking. For example, regarding speed, a Daluo Golden Immortal could adjust their own timeline and jump directly to a moment in the future without affecting the flow of time in the present world. On this point alone, aside from Dijiang and Zhujiuyin, few Ancestral Witches could catch them.
“Don't be impatient.”
Rushou patted Qiangliang and laughed loudly. “Before long, whatever they can do, we'll be able to do too. When that time comes... hehe.”
Ancestral Witches who cultivated only their physical bodies were already terrifying. If they also cultivated Essence Souls... just imagining that picture was terrifying.
When Ancestral Witches had no Essence Souls, Essence Soul cultivators could still bully them for having simple methods, being ignorant of heavenly destiny, and lacking the ability to deduce divine secrets. But once Ancestral Witches possessed Essence Souls, it would become a truly terrifying affair.
Meanwhile...
The restriction surrounding the Innate Four Elements Plantain Tree was quite similar to that of the Innate Gourd Vine.
Within the innate restriction housing the Innate Four Elements Plantain Tree, there were no other Innate Spiritual Treasures.
Innate Spiritual Roots were also pitifully scarce.
Only at the center of the innate restriction grew an Innate Spiritual Root with vibrant, flourishing life force, possessing a mere four massive plantain leaves.
The tree was huge, its trunk like glass and emerald, crystal-clear and translucent with shifting treasure light.
The tree had no complex branches; only four large leaves grew at its top, colored yellow, blue, cyan, and crimson, corresponding to the four elemental origins of earth, water, wind, and fire. The yellow leaf was heavy as earth, the blue leaf deep and water-laden, the cyan leaf light as wind, and the crimson leaf scorching as fire. Each leaf was inscribed with profound Dao rhyming, enveloped in four-colored spiritual qi, where life force resonated with rules.
The Innate Four Elements Plantain Tree!
It belonged to the tier of Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Roots!
Including its stump, all of it consisted of Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure embryos!
Xuanjian recalled that in Honghuang's original trajectory, the Innate Four Elements Plantain Tree was obtained by five individuals.
The four leaves were: the Solar Essence Leaf, Lunar Essence Leaf, Cold Water Essence Leaf, and Thick Earth Essence Leaf.
Taiqing Laozi obtained the Solar Essence Leaf and refined it into a Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure—the Fire Plantain Fan. It could fan forth Samadhi True Fire, Liuding Divine Fire, and other powerful spiritual fires of heaven and earth, capable of burning the sky, boiling the seas, and refining all things with immense power.
Ancestor Minghe obtained the Lunar Essence Leaf and refined it into a Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure—the Wind Plantain Fan. It could extinguish ninety percent of heaven and earth's spiritual fires, and the Lunar Divine Wind it fanned was piercingly cold, capable of damaging Essence Souls, with effects such as gusting wind, imprisonment, and dispel magic.
Tongtian obtained the Cold Water Essence Leaf and refined it into a Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure—the Water Plantain Fan. It could fan forth One-Element True Water, overturn heavenly rivers, churn rivers and seas, condense water into soldiers, and drown Essence Souls, among other formidable abilities.
Houtu obtained the Thick Earth Essence Leaf and had someone refine it into a Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure—the Earth Plantain Fan. It could fan forth Nine Nether Fiend Earth Qi and Thick Earth Astral Qi for defense, move mountains and overturn peaks, collapse earth veins, and lay down earth cages and river-mountain trapping formations to lock space and trap Essence Souls.
The remaining tree trunk was apparently obtained by Yuanshi Tianzun, who refined it into a Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasure—the Dragon-Tying Post—which he later bestowed upon his disciple, Wenshu Guangfa Tianzun.
The Innate Four Elements Plantain Tree had sprung from the same root. Though the parts appeared to possess different attributes, they shared the same origin and complemented one another. If refined into a single spiritual treasure, even if it couldn't reach the rank of an Innate Treasure, it could at least reach the level of a Pseudo-Innate Treasure.
Yet it was forcefully split into five Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Treasures.
Just thinking about it felt like a waste.
But now, that didn't matter.
The Innate Four Elements Plantain Tree!
It now belonged to him, Xuanjian!
No one could ever split them apart again.
“With the current origin foundation of the Innate Four Elements Plantain Tree, even if refined into a single piece, it could only reach a Pseudo-Innate Treasure at best. But if I cultivate it with Chaos Primeval Soil for a period to enhance its origin power before refining it into a treasure, it might actually become a true Innate Treasure!”
This clearly showed that despite both being Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Roots, the Innate Gourd Vine ranked among the Ten Great Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Roots, having reached the pinnacle of Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Roots—where one step further would make it a Chaos Spiritual Root.
Whereas the Innate Four Elements Plantain Tree could only be considered an ordinary Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Root.
“Brother Xuanjian, this must be the Four Elements Plantain Tree you were looking for,” Houtu said, looking first at the Innate Four Elements Plantain Tree and then turning to Xuanjian with a radiant smile.
Xuanjian nodded. “Indeed, it is this exact Innate Spiritual Root.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Dijiang urged. “Hurry and take it. Jumang, Houtu, you two help Brother Xuanjian dig out this spiritual root. Be careful not to damage its spiritual nature.”
“Understood!”
“Alright, Brother.”
The Ancestral Witch of Wood—Jumang.
The Ancestral Witch of Earth—Houtu.
Very quickly, the two dug it out along with a small patch of Five-Colored Profound Soil beneath the plantain tree.
Five-Colored Profound Soil was a soil-type innate treasure slightly inferior to Nine Heavens Soil.
Both were good materials for cultivating spiritual roots. But compared to Chaos Primeval Soil, it still had a long way to go.
Before long, the Innate Four Elements Plantain Tree along with the Five-Colored Profound Soil was stored by Xuanjian into his inner-basin world.
Counting the Innate Four Elements Plantain Tree, Xuanjian's inner-basin world already possessed three Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Roots.
They were: the Innate Gourd Vine, the Money-Shaking Gold Tree, and the Innate Four Elements Plantain Tree.
The current Xuanjian was extraordinarily wealthy!
“Keeping them planted in the inner-basin world continuously isn't a long-term solution either.”
“At the end of the day, the inner-basin world is merely a spiritual treasure Grotto-Heaven. Whether in terms of environment or rule Dao-marks, it lags far behind true Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands, which isn't conducive to the growth of spiritual roots.”
In truth, Xuanjian already had a target in mind.
Mount Wuyi, a High-Grade Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land, was qualified enough to plant Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Roots, but... Xuanjian had a better choice.
Xuanjian opened his system and checked the location of Fangzhang Immortal Island.
“Still in the Chaos?”
“Though compared to last time, it's gotten significantly closer to Honghuang.”
“Once you wander into Honghuang, you wanderer, I'm going to take you for myself!”
Yes, in Xuanjian's heart, the Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land even more suitable than his birthplace—Mount Wuyi—was none other than the top-tier Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land: Fangzhang Immortal Island!
Xuanjian planned to transplant these three Top-Grade Innate Spiritual Roots over after taking control of Fangzhang Immortal Island.
And then cultivate them.
The purple-black gourd + the Innate Four Elements Plantain Tree meant that in the future, Xuanjian was guaranteed at least two Innate Treasures!
Just thinking about it felt wonderful.
Not only that, using a top-tier Grotto-Heaven Blessed Land as the headquarters for his merchant association would certainly give him immense prestige.
“Alright then.”
Rate on N.U.
