Chapter 1703: Shade of the Giant Tree

At that moment, the Second Martial Uncle Shi Ligui, sitting at the head of the hall, smiled slightly at Li Yan.

“Li Yan, this is the rule among our five sects. Elders from the other four sects will give some things to disciples they haven’t met before. But there is one exception: each disciple can only receive one spatial magical treasure from their own sect or the other sects. That spatial treasure is the most important treasure for a disciple of the Five Immortals Sect, because Five Elements rules will be born within it. In the future, you can open a world of your own, one that can become a realm. The spatial treasures of each of the five sects are: Earthen Patch of the Ji Earth Immortal Sect, Kui Tide of the Kui Water Immortal Sect, Spring Wood of the Yi Wood Immortal Sect, Triumphant Fire of the Ding Fire Immortal Sect, and Crimson Snatch of the Xin Metal Immortal Sect. Generally speaking, these spatial treasures are gifted by your own master. However, you should already know the situation of the Five Immortals Sect—we are few in number! Therefore, in the process of seeking successors, various unpredictable situations can occur, including the death of the master. So, we all leave backups early. But to refine such a Five Elements spatial treasure, one must reach the Body Integration stage and go to the Pure Nirvana Domain in the extraterrestrial starry sky. After obtaining some Primordial Chaos Earth, one must refine it into an equivalent treasure and place it back in the sect. And Primordial Chaos Earth is not easy to obtain. Thus, it can happen that a master finds a disciple but doesn’t necessarily have Primordial Chaos Earth. However, it is best to start nurturing this spatial treasure when one first enters the immortal path. Otherwise, there will be flaws in the integration with your own Five Elements space. When such a situation occurs, the spatial treasures of the other four sects will be used as substitutes. Logically, using your own sect’s spatial treasure is better, but this isn’t absolute. For example, you obtained the Earthen Patch…”

Shi Ligui paused there. Regarding Li Yan, they had already learned the situation after True Lord Qianchong returned. Since it involved Dong Fuyi’s whereabouts, Li Yan’s situation was naturally mentioned.

“Junior Brother Dong Fu only found you with a wisp of Divine Sense and was unable to give you the Kui Tide. This was actually not very beneficial for your cultivation and growth. But for you to accidentally obtain the Earthen Patch is a true stroke of great fortune. Moreover, obtaining it early was timely. Although the Earthen Patch is known for its Earth Spiritual Energy, its defense is the strongest in the early stages. Unlike the other four spatial treasures, which must grow to a certain level before their defense equals that of the Earthen Patch. Take Kui Tide as an example—its early defense is based on using softness to deflect force. But in the early stages, this ‘softness overcoming hardness’ defense is not as good as the heavy, earth-like Ji Earth. In your early growth, when you lacked anyone’s care or guidance, the Earthen Patch must have saved you many times, hasn’t it?”

Shi Ligui looked at Li Yan.

“Yes, Martial Uncle!”

Li Yan immediately replied respectfully. Regarding the Five Immortals Sect’s spatial treasures, Li Yan had heard Ping Tu mention some of it before. However, Dong Fuyi probably felt it was better to explain this in detail at the sect and hadn’t gone into detail on the way.

“That’s it then. You must be accompanied by the Earthen Patch for the rest of your life; you need to continue nurturing it properly. Therefore, since you’ve come to the sect this time, you won’t be given another spatial treasure. And remember, once you reach the Body Integration stage, you must find a way to obtain Primordial Chaos Earth and refine at least one to put back in the sect. Well, since you’ve returned, of course we have things to give you, otherwise your master would suffer a great loss!”

Having said this, Shi Ligui looked Li Yan up and down a few times. When Shi Ligui just sat there, Li Yan felt the man was like an old farmer in a field. Even though he was so close, there wasn’t the slightest sense of pressure. However, once the man looked directly at him, Li Yan felt for an instant as if he was being seen through inside and out. It was as if all his secrets had no possibility of being hidden anymore. Fortunately, this feeling quickly vanished.

“Kid, were you jealous of the things in my hands just now? I’ve been in the lower realm for so many years; the things I have would only make Void Refining cultivators jealous. The reason I didn’t give you anything else is because I intended to find better things for you after returning to the Immortal Spirit Realm. Now, I didn’t expect your Second Martial Uncle to have returned. He is your direct Martial Uncle; perhaps I don’t even need to consider finding good things anymore, hehehe…”

Just then, Dong Fuyi’s voice rang in Li Yan’s mind, his voice carrying joy. Before Li Yan could react, his Second Martial Uncle nodded. A thin, nail-sized, almost transparent milky-white jade pendant appeared in his hand. He then pushed it through the void toward Li Yan.

“Surviving in the lower realm was even harder for you than for Pei Buchong. He at least had the cultivation secret realm refined by your Martial Uncle Qianchong. So, I’ll give you something. This item is called the Guardian Wing. It is a concealment treasure I refined. You only need to drip essence blood to refine it, and it will integrate into your skin like the Earthen Patch, undetectable by others. When you want to use it, just activate it with your Divine Sense. You should be able to use this treasure until you reach the Tribulation Transcendence stage, at which point you won’t need it anyway. This treasure is for concealing your cultivation and has no effect on hiding your form. However, once activated, only a Grand Ascension cultivator might be able to see through it. We disciples of the Five Immortals Sect don’t generally like to reveal our true strength when walking outside. Although our techniques have the effect of concealing cultivation, they can usually only hide one great realm. You’ve cultivated alone all these years—to be honest, being able to reach this level and survive really isn’t easy. Actually, giving this treasure to you is already a bit heavy. But, Martial Uncle welcomes your true return!”

When Li Yan heard his Second Martial Uncle explain the function of the white jade pendant, his eyes instantly brightened. His Martial Uncle was right; for this treasure to even be effective against Body Integration cultivators was truly precious. He now understood that this Second Martial Uncle appeared honest and slow but was actually exceptionally meticulous and shrewd. Since becoming familiar with Dong Fuyi, Li Yan had habitually suppressed his cultivation during their journey. Of course, this wasn’t just the suppression from the Kui Water technique. Although these had no effect in Dong Fuyi’s eyes, Li Yan did it to make himself feel safer. Therefore, even though he had returned here, he still hadn’t lost the habit of not fully revealing his cultivation. His Second Martial Uncle, after just a few scans, must have guessed some of his habitual behaviors and had actually produced such a good treasure.

‘A treasure that only a Grand Ascension cultivator… might be able to see through. This…’

For a moment, Li Yan felt as if he were dreaming. He truly realized just how powerful the “powerful Five Immortals Sect” Dong Fuyi spoke of really was. This was a massive, sky-reaching tree! Besides their top-tier techniques, the treasures they gave were also so heaven-defying. This way, he would be even more like a tiger with wings in the future. He also thought of Dong Fuyi’s words about “master suffering a great loss”… It turned out he meant that both he and Li Yan had benefited from other elders when they were disciples, and now that Dong Fuyi was an elder, he had to produce good things for the juniors according to the rules. It was just that giving away so many good things at once, when he hadn’t given any to his own disciple, made him a bit heartbroken. This Second Martial Uncle had considered more situations, and the treasure he produced was far more mysterious than Dong Fuyi’s, but then again, his cultivation level was right there.

“Thank you, Martial Uncle, for your generous gift!”

Li Yan hurriedly stood up. Not bothering to take the jade pendant from the void first, he performed a grand bow of thanks. Shi Ligui did not stand on ceremony and allowed Li Yan to bow. Seeing this, the others all had smiles on their faces. Even the young man and Ling Yao were smiling as they watched Li Yan. They didn’t feel any jealousy; the things Dong Fuyi gave were also quite precious. Moreover, Ling Yao also had something similar in her hand—after all, Shi Ligui was her master—and the young man also had a rare treasure gifted by Fairy Ning Ke. The Five Immortals Sect had few members. Even if they were sent away, they would know that Li Yan would surely get good things afterward. If this were a sect with many people, they wouldn’t need to know what kind of gift you got; as long as they wanted to kill and rob, they would always be thinking about it. But Dong Fuyi and the others didn’t care about these things. If you could even be jealous of this and secretly want to strike, then they would instead know the disciple’s nature in advance. Such people had to be removed early. This was a major difference between sects with few people and those with many. Dong Fuyi and the others could treat each disciple carefully without being overwhelmed. This was also why the Five Immortals Sect could survive despite being coveted by so many enemies. Otherwise, Dong Fuyi would not have gone to the Northern Ice Continent at all costs to rescue True Lord Qianchong, knowing full well it was a trap. The bond between them had been cultivated like this since the day they entered the sect, just like Li Yan and Ling Yao now. At the same time, this was also related to the situation of every disciple of the Five Immortals Sect. Everyone knew how garbage their Spiritual Roots were; in other sects, they wouldn’t even be wanted. To have such a sect allow them to become strong, they had to defend it to the death. If the other four sects were gone, did they really think they could stay out of it? Their strong cohesion was only on the inside; toward the outside, they were absolutely ruthless.

After standing up, Li Yan quickly put away the jade pendant. He wasn’t in a hurry to check it here.

“Today, the other Martial Uncles and Aunts are either in seclusion or out. For now, only I can give you some things. When they return, they will naturally make up for it one by one. I imagine they will all give you pleasant surprises!”

Just as Li Yan put away the pill bottle, that voice—dust-free and incredibly ethereal—rang out in the hall. it was Fairy Ning Ke. As she spoke, she seemed to have prepared long ago. She lightly raised her sleeve, revealing a small portion of her snow-white arm. A jade slip appeared in her hand. But she didn’t immediately give the item to Li Yan like Shi Ligui had. Instead, she continued.

“This is a technique I researched in my earlier years. It can also be said to be a technique of the Yi Wood Immortal Sect, mainly based on Wood Spiritual Energy! Li Yan, do you know what the Yi Wood Immortal Sect excels at?”

Fairy Ning Ke’s beautiful voice drifted through the hall like celestial music.

“The Law of Life!”

Li Yan replied without hesitation. The Yi Wood Immortal Sect was proficient in wood-attribute techniques. That Wood Spiritual Energy had an irreplaceable effect on longevity and healing that other techniques couldn’t match. Often, with just a wave of their hand, a dying person could be brought back to life! Dong Fuyi had also analyzed Bai Rou’s injury back then. But unfortunately, it wasn’t a problem with her life force but a strange power that had merged into her consciousness sea. Therefore, this wasn’t something the Yi Wood Immortal Sect could easily cure. However, Dong Fuyi had also told Li Yan that perhaps when the Yi Wood Immortal Sect’s cultivation reached the True Immortal level, it might be possible to completely reorganize a person’s consciousness sea without erasing their memory. Since Fairy Ning Ke had asked such a question, Li Yan’s heart stirred. He immediately thought of powerful healing techniques—those were the specialty of the Yi Wood Immortal Sect. If he could learn such a technique, it would definitely be of immense benefit. Just as Li Yan finished his answer, as if seeing through his thoughts, Fairy Ning Ke’s ethereal voice came again.

“Correct, it is the Law of Life. But what is recorded in this jade slip is not a technique that benefits life, but one that destroys it. Yet, this is not the Law of Destruction, but rather shortening and draining life in a short period. The result is actually similar to destruction!”

“Destroying life?”

This time, Li Yan truly hadn’t expected that. In his understanding, almost everyone who cultivated wood-attribute techniques had a very detached or relatively gentle personality. Even if they had offensive techniques, they generally weren’t overly sharp. They usually relied on spiritual power that was even more enduring than that of earth-attribute cultivators to wear the opponent down. And this way of dying was exactly the terrifying side of wood-attribute cultivators. They were not only good at healing people, but once they started killing, they could sometimes inflict endless, cruel torture on their enemies. The victim would only feel that death was better than life. No torture could compare to being killed outright or committing suicide. Only then could they truly be liberated! Li Yan had once heard of an incident involving an evil rogue who had killed the daughter of a certain cultivator. When the cultivator finally found him, a great battle erupted between the two. That cultivator was a wood-attribute practitioner. During the fight with the evil rogue, he was even at a disadvantage from the beginning. This led the evil rogue to not only hurl insults but even feel that the man was out of his mind to come for revenge. In his view, it wouldn’t be long before he could easily kill the man. But to his surprise, several times the rogue pushed the cultivator into a desperate situation, but there seemed to be a very resilient thread within the man’s body that just wouldn’t snap. He actually managed to endure it all. The two continued to fight. Instead of killing the man, the evil rogue’s spiritual power eventually failed to keep up. Afterward, he had to continuously consume pills to recover his depleted power. But no matter how he tried to kill the man, even beating him until his physical body was nearly collapsing, the man just wouldn’t retreat and his spiritual power remained as inexhaustible as the tide. Moreover, that cultivator had never taken any pills; he simply relied on Wood Spiritual Energy to heal himself while fighting desperately. This made the rogue think of escaping, but the cultivator clung to him like a shadow. He had to fight while fleeing. Later, his meridians could no longer withstand the pill poison. At this point, he was truly terrified! But the cultivator just kept wearing him down. The rogue was originally ruthless and naturally had a very tough mind, so he wouldn’t easily choose suicide. But in the end, when he wanted to commit suicide, he couldn’t even manage it. Finally, like a practice partner, amidst cries of agony, he was forced to continuously “clash” with the man. In the end, his spiritual power was completely exhausted, but the man still didn’t stop, continuing to “grind” him. The rogue’s blood reportedly all flowed out from his pores, including the last bit of moisture in his body, which was ground away. His tall frame shriveled until it was only the size of a five or six-year-old child. His death was truly miserable.