CH 30

Giant Swamp Tree

After making sure that there was no one else around, Chu Qi walked towards the voice.

Just now, he was chased by poisonous insects here, so he didn’t have time to pay attention to his surroundings.

Now that there were no insects to distract him, the location of that person was easy to determine.

At the top of a tall tree, a cultivator in light golden robes was sitting on a branch, surrounded by the halo of a defensive spiritual tool.

This person was someone that Chu Qi had met a few times, Luo Xin.

Chu Qi was deeply impressed by him. Every time Luo Xin spoke, he would be able to shock everyone with his words.

“Fellow Cultivator, I’m here!”

Seeing Chu Qi come looking for him, Luo Xin stood at the top of the tree and waved happily to him.

“Fellow Cultivator, why are you so high up?” Chu Qi was puzzled.

When he heard the voice just now, Chu Qi felt it was a little strange. It stands to reason that most of the cultivators in the secret realm would meet on the ground.

Instead, Luo Xin didn’t take the expected path, and actually stood on top of a tree to greet Chu Qi.

“Ah, because there are too many reptiles and spiders on the ground. There’s nowhere for me to settle down.” Luo Xin said.

He had been trapped here for three consecutive days and nights. Now that he had finally met another cultivator, and one who was even an acquaintance, he couldn’t be more moved.

Thinking to this point, Luo Xin unleashed his potential as a chatterbox and began to complain to Chu Qi about his bitter experience.

“Fellow Cultivator, you don’t know how terrifying the poisonous insects in this swamp are. There are ants that are as big as my palm! My God! This is the first time that I’ve ever seen such big ants since I’ve become an adult! Ants can bite people, you know? If I hadn’t brought enough defensive spiritual tools, I would have been bitten to nothing long ago!”

Chu Qi: “…”

Although the appearance of the poisonous insects were indeed a bit frightening, they weren’t so bad as to make Luo Xin powerless to fight back.

After a moment of silence, Chu Qi asked, “You’re a Foundation Building cultivator and these poisonous insects are only Grade One at most. It stands to reason…”

The rest of his words trailed off, but the meaning was already clear.

“But I’m not a sword cultivator! I’m just an artistic cultivator!”

Luo Xin defended himself loudly at first, but his voice gradually became softer as he continued, “What’s more, I’m allergic to bugs… and… just a little bit… of them…”

In fact, Luo Xin could still handle them as an artistic cultivator, but he was especially afraid of little bugs. Even if he just saw the corpse of one, he would scream and leap five chi in the air.

Therefore, even if Luo Xin knew that he could fight off these poisonous insects, he didn’t dare to get close to them and stayed at the top of the tree while trembling for three days and three nights.

Chu Qi didn’t really understand it, but he could guess that Luo Xin was indeed “powerless” against these little bugs.

After figuring out the general situation, Chu Qi followed Luo Xin’s words and asked, “Alright, then what are your plans now?”

“En?” Luo Xin was a little surprised by this question. He was too happy to see Chu Qi just now and forgot to ask if he would go with him.

“I was waiting for Ling-shixiong and the others to come and find me, but after three days, they still haven’t shown up. This maze formation must be particularly difficult to break through. Now that I’ve found you, Fellow Cultivator, I was hoping I could follow you if you were willing…”

Luo Xin explained clearly.

Coincidentally, Chu Qi was also separated from Yan Jiuge, so he was also alone.

With another cultivator, wouldn’t it be safer?

Although this cultivator was useless when it came to dealing with poisonous insects.

Chu Qi sighed in his heart and decided to ignore that second part. He agreed, “Yes, I’m also looking for the exit.”

“Thank you, Fellow Sword Cultivator!” Luo Xin’s eyes lit up and he immediately jumped down from the tree. Being able to follow a powerful swordsman, Luo Xin was full of a sense of security.

Chu Qi: “…”

Although, he’s really not a sword cultivator.

Of course, Chu Qi didn’t go out of his way to correct Luo Xin’s thinking. With his status as a medical cultivator, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Cultivators in Yunhua Realm had heard some rumors that Tianxuan Sect’s medical cultivators practiced swordsmanship, but it had been many years since Bai Xuan went down the mountain. Time had passed and memories had faded. Everyone now tacitly accepted that Tianxuan Sect disciples were all sword cultivators.

“Lulu.”

At this moment, the Gold-Swallowing Beast trotted up from behind and skillfully climbed into Chu Qi’s arms.

Chu Qi lowered his head and saw that it had a strange, emerald green stone wrapped in its tail, and suddenly had a bad premonition.

Chu Qi stroked the head of the Gold-Swallowing Beast, looked into its eyes that were waiting to be praised, and said quietly, “Xiao-Jin, if Yan Jiuge isn’t around, you should bring less of these things back.”

Afterwards, Chu Qi turned his head to say to Luo Xin, “Fellow Cultivator Luo, let’s leave here first.”

“Ah, okay.” Although he didn’t quite understand, Luo Xin had no objection to Chu Qi’s decision.

He took out a flying spiritual tool from his qiankun bag and with a flash of golden light, it transformed into a flying boat that could carry more than a dozen cultivators.

The flying boat looked elegant and luxurious, and the defensive barriers around it seemed to be very strong.”

“Fellow Cultivator, can you control this flying spiritual tool? I’m only at the Foundation Building stage, so I can control it for an hour at most.”

Luo Xin looked at Chu Qi expectantly.

Since witnessing Chu Qi and Yan Jiuge practicing their swordsmanship at Menghua Inn, Luo Xin had held a lot of enthusiasm towards sword cultivators. After he entered the Yunxi Secret Realm, he also learned some of the unspoken rules that sword cultivators had from his shixiong, Ling Wu.

For example, a sword cultivator’s natal spiritual sword can’t be touched casually. It was even more impossible to ask them to take you flying with them.

Putting it another way, if you wanted to travel with a sword cultivator, you must ride in a flying spiritual tool together.

Luo Xin thought that he was being very thoughtful.

Chu Qi originally planned on traveling by foot since he couldn’t control a sword, so he didn’t consider taking out a flying spiritual tool.

But now, there was one that was ready and waiting.

Qingling Sect disciples were really rich.

As he was sighing to himself, Chu Qi heard a familiar rustling sound and he quickly agreed, “Alright.”

Luo Xin jumped in the flying boat and consciously turned around to wait for Chu Qi to climb up. As he did so, he just so happened to catch a glimpse of Chu Qi drawing the spiritual sword from his waist and slash behind him with a burst of sword energy. In the blink of an eye, a mark was left on the tree trunk nearby.

Before Luo Xin could get a better look, Chu Qi sheathed his sword and flipped into the flying boat neatly.

Fellow Cultivator Chu’s swordsmanship was very smooth. It was bold and beautiful.

Immediately, Luo Xin’s desire to switch to sword cultivation became even stronger— when he returned from the Yunxi Secret Realm, he would apply to switch from artistic cultivation to sword cultivation!

Chu Qi didn’t know what sort of thoughts were going through Luo Xin’s head. After he stepped onto the flying boat, he wrapped it in his divine sense and quickly controlled it to leave this place.

The quality of this flying boat was quite good. Although it wasn’t as fast as flying on a sword, it was already much faster than a leaf boat.

—

On the other side of the swamp…

Yan Jiuge chopped off the head of a Grade Three poisonous scorpion with his sword. The huge body collapsed beside him, causing the other Grade Three scorpions to retreat.

The deeper into the swamp you went, the greater the strength of the spiritual beasts you encountered.

Since he was following the direction the blood contract pointed him in, Yan Jiuge grew more uneasy as he went. The strength of the spiritual beasts he found were getting stronger and stronger. If Chu Qi ran into them, he would be in a lot of trouble.

The only thing that reassured Yan Jiuge, or rather puzzled him, was that he didn’t see any marks left by Chu Qi along the way.

This meant that he still hadn’t come near Chu Qi yet.

The layout of this maze formation was very complicated, and even with the guidance of the blood contract, he still came upon some dead ends.

While he was thinking, he felt a wave of spiritual power from up ahead.

Yan Jiuge raised his eyes.

The people who came were a few Qingling Sect disciples. With them was Ling Wu, with whom Yan Jiuge was familiar.

“Fellow Cultivator Yan, I didn’t expect to find you here.” Ling Wu was also surprised when he saw Yan Jiuge and took the initiative to say hello.

“Have you seen my shidi?”

“Have you seen my shidi?”

“…”

The two voices fell at almost the same time, and afterwards, there was a brief moment of silence.

They didn’t need to ask any more. Both of their purposes were the same.

Ling Wu sighed and answered first, “Except for three of my fellow disciples, I haven’t seen any Tianxuan Sect disciples along the way.”

“The only other cultivators I’ve met so far are you.” Likewise, Yan Jiuge hadn’t seen any other Qingling Sect disciples.

“Which direction did Fellow Cultivator Yan come from?” Ling Wu asked.

“The east.”

“I’ve just come from the west. This road leads to the south, and the north is a dead end.” Ling Wu explained.

In this way, they would all be traveling along the same road.

Yan Jiuge checked the direction of the blood contract again and found that the position had changed a little. He picked up his identity token to call Chu Qi.

Nearby, Ling Wu was also trying to contact his xiao-shidi.

“Ah-Yan?” Chu Qi’s voice sounded.

Before Yan Jiuge could ask anything, a loud voice suddenly came out of the communication pendant in Ling Wu’s hand, “Ling-shixiong! You don’t have to worry about me. I’m very safe now. I met up with a sword cultivator from Tianxuan Sect and I’m looking for the exit with him now.”

The anxious look on Ling Wu’s face faded a bit, “That’s good.” Finally his shidi encountered a bit of luck.

Yan Jiuge: “…”

If he remembered correctly, Qingling Sect’s xiao-shidi was only in the middle of the Foundation Building stage. If he ran into a Grade Three spiritual beast, he wouldn’t be able to take two hits, let alone protect Chu Qi.

“Ah-Qi, can you tell where you are now? Are there any high-level spiritual beasts around?” Yan Jiuge asked.

“I’m not sure of the direction, but I’ve been carving the sect emblem along the way. I haven’t met any high-level spiritual beasts, just some small poisonous insects that are below Grade One, so it hasn’t been any trouble.”

Chu Qi answered him.

After the two parties finished communicating, Yan Jiuge decided to stay with the Qingling Sect disciples for the time being. Both of them were looking for the same thing, so it wasn’t too much trouble to cooperate for a little while.

—

After Chu Qi finished talking with Yan Jiuge, he came to a fork in the road ahead.

“Fellow Cultivator Chu, which way should we go?” Luo Xin asked him.

After thinking about it, Chu Qi replied, “I don’t sense anything bad within a hundred chi of either direction. Whichever way we go, it’ll be about the same. Just pick one.”

“Just pick one randomly?” Luo Xin looked surprised.

“En, or does Fellow Cultivator Luo have any other suggestions?” Chu Qi asked him back.

“If we’re gonna choose randomly, let’s toss a coin to decide.” Luo Xin looked serious as he took one out from his qiankun bag. He continued to explain, “In our Luo family, if there is any major decision that we are struggling to make, we use this method to solve it. With this, our business is booming.”

“Fellow Cultivator, please.” It was the first time that Chu Qi had ever heard of such a method, so he couldn’t help but shift to the side to give Luo Xin some room to show off the Luo family’s special technique.

!!!

A small copper coin was blown on thrice by Luo Xin before being tossed into the sky. The coin flipped a few times in the air as it reached its peak and began to fall back down.

“Lulu!”

The Gold-Swallowing Beast had climbed down from Chu Qi’s shoulder at some point and squatted firmly on the ground. It opened its mouth and caught the falling coin.

Clear chewing noises sounded in the otherwise silent air, and the two cultivators who witnessed this scene were dumbfounded.

Chu Qi inexplicably felt a little embarrassed. When he came back to his senses, he apologized to Luo Xin on behalf of his pet, “Cultivator Luo, I’m so sorry. I didn’t watch my spiritual pet just now and let it swallow your coin.”

“No! Fellow Cultivator! How are your spiritual pet’s teeth so good? It can even chew through copper coins?!” Luo Xin stared blankly. At first, he was worrying about what to do if it choked, but unexpectedly, the little spiritual beast directly chewed and ate the copper coin!

“En… it has a special diet, so its teeth are stronger than most.” Chu Qi explained for the Gold-Swallowing Beast.

“Wow!” Luo Xin exclaimed.

Clang—!

With the clattering sound of metal, Luo Xin took out three large strings of copper coins from his qiankun bag and looked at the Gold-Swallowing Beast eagerly, “Little buddy, do you want some more?”

Chu Qi: “…”

Chu Qi grabbed his Gold-Swallowing Beast up off the ground before it could open its mouth again and gently reminded Luo Xin, “Fellow Cultivator Luo, let’s choose a path first…. It’s already had enough spiritual food today.”

“Lulu.”

But it was still hungry…

The Gold-Swallowing Beast grumbled twice. Its bright eyes met Chu Qi’s quiet gaze and it obediently leaned back on his shoulder and stopped making trouble.

Can’t make Master angry. That kind of metal can be eaten anytime. Its Master’s healing technique was unique in the world.

The Gold-Swallowing Beast was honest.

“Okay, then you can have these. Just save them for later.” Luo Xin listened to Chu Qi and handed him the string of coins.

Chu Qi looked into Luo Xin’s expectant eyes and accepted the money, “Then I will thank Fellow Cultivator Luo for xiao-Jin. Is there anything that Fellow Cultivator Luo needs?”

There were a lot of useful things like spiritual medicines in Chu Qi’s qiankun bag, which he could exchange with Luo Xin.

“Fellow Cultivator, you’re welcome.” Luo Xin scratched his head, and his expression was a little embarrassed, but he still asked in a low voice, “If it’s convenient, Fellow Cultivator, can you teach me some sword moves?”

???

Chu Qi was confused.

“It’s like this. I think sword cultivators are very heroic and I want to switch from being an artistic cultivator to a sword cultivator in the future.”

Luo Xin spoke excitedly.

Chu Qi: “…”

But, shouldn’t he still learn swordsmanship from the Elders in his sect? He was only a medical cultivator, so his swordsmanship was superficial at best.

“This… this isn’t good. I only know a little bit.” Chu Qi told the truth.

“Fellow Cultivatior, you don’t need to be so modest! Your swordsmanship is very good!” It was beautiful, pleasing to the eye, and could fight back poisonous insects. It was simply Luo Xin’s ideal swordsmanship!

“…This matter, let’s wait until you’re sure you want to practice sword cultivation. Learning the sword involves enduring a lot of hardship.” Chu Qi persuaded gently.

“Ah? Hardship? I don’t want to suffer…” Luo Xin was a little discouraged, but he still felt a great yearning for sword cultivation in his heart. He said with some reservations, “I’ll see when the time comes. If I still want to learn the sword, I’ll send a message to this Fellow Cultivator.”

“That’s fine.” By that time, there would naturally be a sword cultivator Elder from the Qingling Sect to teach Luo Xin and Chu Qi wouldn’t have to take on a disciple.

After chatting, Luo Xin took out another copper coin and tossed it to let luck decide the way forward.

The Gold-Swallowing Beast obediently kept its mouth shut this time.

The copper coin landed smoothly.

“Heads to the right, tails to the left. Fellow Cultivatior, it’s heads, so let’s go to the right.” Luo Xin said.

“Okay.” Chu Qi nodded and controlled the flying boat to go down the right path.

As they traveled, Chu Qi noticed a problem.

The trees in the forest were getting thicker and thicker. Soon enough, there wasn’t any room for the flying boat to squeeze through.

“We’ll go down and walk. This flying spiritual tool is too big.” Chu Qi made the flying boat stop in front of a tree covered in vines and told Luo Xin the bad news.

“I have some other smaller flying artifacts.” Luo Xin really didn’t want to walk. There were too many bugs on the ground.

“Although I understand, the concentration of spiritual energy in the brush ahead is very high. There might be some treasures around, so it will be good for us to go down and check.”

Maybe luck was on their side.

After Luo Xin tossed the coin and picked the path to the right, Chu Qi found that the concentration of spiritual energy was getting stronger and stronger, indicating that they were likely headed towards another treasure.”

Moreover, there was no spiritual energy belonging to high-level spiritual beasts nearby, so it would be fine for them to go look.

“Okay.” Luo Xin nodded. Only now did he remember that the reason why they came here in the first place was for the treasures. He was too busy escaping everywhere earlier to really look.

Opportunities and danger came hand in hand.

Luo Xin understood this truth.

This time, Chu Qi flipped over and jumped out of the flying boat first. Luo Xin made his way down carefully after him and put the flying boat back into his qiankun bag.

In front of them was a thick grove of trees. Vines grew wantonly, entangling the trunks of each tree to weave a natural green net.

Here, the moisture of the swamp wasn’t as bad. It was as if the roots from all the vegetation made the soil much more solid.

Chu Qi drew Gui Yin from its sheath, and following his divine sense, he walked towards the area with the strongest spiritual energy.

The Gold-Swallowing Beast lay on his shoulder and sniffed the air. It didn’t smell any ores, so it quickly gave up its plan to lead the way.

Holding a defensive spiritual tool in each hand, Luo Xin walked behind Chu Qi very carefully.

If there was any danger, he would be able to throw out his defensive spiritual tools to buy enough time for the sword cultivator to react.

The air was still. There was no breeze and only the sound of their own footsteps could be heard.

The road they followed was woven by vines, and as they walked forward, it angled upwards. Soon enough, they were suspended in mid-air by the vine path, getting further and further from the ground.

“Wa, the vines under our feet keep getting thinner and thinner. We won’t fall through… right?” Luo Xin asked worriedly as he walked.

“Probably not. We’ll be there in another hundred chi.” Chu Qi could already sense their destination.

When the dense fog faded , Chu Qi was able to clearly see the area where the spiritual energy was concentrated.

There was a massive tree surrounded by vines. Its dark green branches and leaves were dense and overlapping with thick twigs. Visible spiritual energy emanated from the overhanging branches, and it stood quietly in the center of this place.

“Is that… a tree?” Luo Xin also saw the same scene as Chu Qi.

“How long has it been alive? It’s too huge.”

Luo Xin sighed. By the time he came back to his senses, he saw that the sword cultivator that had been looking at the big tree by his side had jumped up and rushed toward it at some point.

“Hey! Fellow Cultivator Chu, wait for me!” Luo Xin hurriedly followed after him.

“…”

Chu Qi, who was walking in front, didn’t answer him.

If Luo Xin could see his face, he would find that his dark eyes had changed to a vibrant green.

Unintelligible voices came from the depths of Chu Qi’s sea of consciousness. The spiritual power in his body seemed to be out of his control, constantly flowing out from his spiritual root and circling through his meridians. He instinctively walked towards the huge tree as he was returning home after a long day.

“…”

Wrong!

His fingernails dug into the palm of his hand and the pain brought Chu Qi a brief moment of sobriety. Without the slightest hesitation, he slashed at the trunk of the giant tree in front of him with his sword.

!!!

In an instant, the strange attraction from the giant tree vanished.

Chu Qi’s consciousness settled. He adjusted the flow of spiritual power in his body and his eyes returned to their usual color. He stared coldly at the giant tree in front of him.

Gui Yin didn’t cut deep enough. It didn’t look like it even made it through its bark.

“Fellow Cultivator! Fellow Cultivator, wait for me!”

Luo Xin’s voice came from behind. He chased after Chu Qi until he was out of breath.

“You just left without saying a word, did you find something?”

“This tree is a bit weird.” Chu Qi asked Luo Xin hesitantly, “Were you attracted to it just now?”

Luo Xin shook his head, “No! I was just saying that this tree must have lived for a long time to get so big.”

Looking down, Chu Qi looked at the Gold-Swallowing Beast on his shoulder.

The Gold-Swallowing Beast also shook its head, indicating that it wasn’t attracted either.

So, the inexplicable attraction just now was only directed at himself?

Doubt appeared in Chu Qi’s eyes.