Chapter 36
Snatching treasures by cutting off their source. It was a downright disgraceful move in the cultivation world. Even the most powerful cultivators wouldn’t resort to such myopic selfishness. ure, you could claim a treasure, harvest it, or even devour it on the spot, but outright destroying it? No way. Cultivators always left a little leeway, because you never knew when you might need it down the line.
But this junior student from Nimbus Bastion, hell–bent on grabbing those Sovereign Pips, wasn’t thinking straight anymore.
His sword pulsed with energy as he unleashed a slash stretching hundred yards, blocking the tree’s path and threatening to obliterate it completely. The Sovereign Pips might not even survive, let alone the tree itself. But the thing was sly as anything, swerving hard and diving right into the earth. Vanished.
The three students from Nimbus Bastion just stood there, jaws dropped. “What the hell kind of tree is that?”
Linda averted her gaze, a sly smile curling at the corner of her mouth. “Such a fascinating little spirit.”
Feral beasts fell into two categories: the brute types, all brawn and no brains, and the enlightened ones, spirits or spiritual beasts with real intelligence, even if they lacked raw power.
The one dragging that Alchemical Arbor around? Clearly the smart variety.
But those Sovereign Pips swinging from its branches? Real Sovereign Pips? Highly unlikely.
Linda pegged them as fakes, nine times out of ten. She thought, Let’s see!
She watched the trio dash off in pursuit, then quietly headed the other way without drawing attention. The valley was dense with foliage, Mystic Silver–Leaves popping up all over the place.
On her trek, she’d already clocked a ton of first- and second–grade Mystic Silver–Leaves.
She thought, ‘Why let them go to waste? I am already here, after all. Might as well scoop them up.’
That whole taboo about uprooting treasures? Didn’t apply to her. She wasn’t trying to play the hero.
Besides, she wasn’t wrecking anything; just giving them a change of scenery.
Ruining good treasures? Not her vibe. Far better to pocket them and put them to use later. Before setting off, Mack had gifted her a purple Void Ring, leagues ahead of those puny three or four–cubic–meter Infinite–Expansion Satchels, and it could store living things to boot.
A ring like that would go for a king’s ransom at auction. Yet Mack had offered her three options to pick from.
All fifth–grade rings, each with its own twist.
One boasted nearly ten thousand cubic meters of space but couldn’t hold live creatures or top–tier herbs, great for everyday junk and anything fourth–grade or lower.
The second was smaller but handled living stuff, including low–level feral beasts, though its capacity was only half the first
one’s.
The third was a growth model. It scaled up with its owner’s divine sense, but until Linda’s Astral Incarnation got a boost, it’d max out at about the size of a modest room.
After mulling it over, she went with the third. Then “borrowed” the other two for good measure.
Mack was speechless.
1/4
Chapasy 46
cout, the bodd be tall depres, better to be prepat hand them back when i resurs. Mak
Hark then bed ten formed in a dog, Herwets had paid off the fie
At the pressed on the herded wythng tot raught her werd Seed–ge Genesis took, essential for Brewing Vitality Lovengri the usted dare tundred
yake
Second grade swift Fern, pot–on for buy refining and aperte for for Laura? Vive hundred in the brag
And tand grade Raven stor for deadying the end? there fin ps
Only one was fruiting though twitwe traded with over thirri mes
Picking them off one by one wnd take ages Linda sized up the spritet tree, x spark of inspiration hitting her. “What if I just uproot the whole damn thing
Thought turned to action, no time to second–guess. She snapped cat free talismans, linking them into an Enchantment jowered by the Quintessential Viexve
She wore hand seals right in front of the tree. “Earth spirit, relocate, Store?
The free stuttered mid–shift, as if pushing back against some invisible resistance, refusing to be claimed
But Linda damped her lips shut, her concentration razor–sharp
Whoosh
In the blink of an eye, the tree disappeared before her, stashed away in the Amethyst Band, the third one, the growth–type built for living cargo
Linda exhaled slowly, her eyes settling on the two unfruited Dusk Tart Orchards. “If I’m grabbing one, might as well grab two, why not make it all threer
With a quick mental nudge, she dispatched Vellum Sigils fluttering toward the other pair of Dusk–Tart Orchards.
A few moments later, the three squat, branchy Dusk Tart Orchards had rooted themselves in her spatial ring, standing proudly and injecting a spark of vitality into the barren void.
Linda took in the whole valley. “I’m already here…
A grin tugged at her lips as she advanced. Her five Vellum Sigils fanned out rapidly, blanketing half the valley while her Astral Incarnation’s energy quivered faintly.
“Her Astral Incarnation’s that feeble, and she’s gunning to harvest every Arcane Flora in the valley? Kid’s courting death.” Hidden in the void elsewhere, a young man snorted and shook his head.
Still, he didn’t interrupt her actions. And Linda pressed on undeterred.
The Vellum Sigils‘ power rippled outward, but the instant the Enchantment snapped into place, she hit resistance. “Not enough juice”
Her gaze sharpened as the Vellum Sigils whirled back, shrinking to a safer boundary. “This is it.”
Blazing fast, Linda popped open her second Void King.
She uprooted and transplanted every Arcane Flora inside the Vellum Sigils‘ zone right into it.
After nailing it once or twice, she got bolder, evolving from awkward fumbles to slick efficiency.
2/4
18:54 Tue, Jan 200
Chapter 36
Wherever Linda tread, she basically vacinimed it all up.
25%
Marietta’s luck had tanked this round. She’d been dumped into the ram’s body zone upon entering the Dream–Weaver Fens As any cultivator knew, the prime loot was stashed in Ram–Head Valley.
That meant the head area, so after locking in her position, she’d booked it over in a mad dash.
Spotting the valley mouth up ahead at last, she let out a relieved breath.
Toney was stoked for her, though his words stayed breezy and of hand. “Marietta, told you, not many folks have stumbled on this yet. Even if someone beat us here, you think they’d wipe out the entire valley’s treasures in this little time?
“As if.”
Toney lounged casually, brushing it off.
Marietta’s eyes glinted, burying her real motives as she adopted a soft, dainty tone. “Toney, I’m just fretting that someone might’ve swiped the Raven Sloe senior asked for. I couldn’t bear to disappoint him.”
“One Dusk–Tart Orchard pumps out fifty to eighty fruits. Even on a bad day with just twenty or thirty, a handful of people nabbing half would still leave us plenty. He didn’t say how many. Just a few should check the box. The big score here’s the Sovereign Pips anyway.”
Toney’s expression turned somber.
Yeah, Sovereign Pips didn’t pack the same punch for Condensation of the Primal Core cultivators, but the High Sanctum of Archmagi was crawling with Foundation Phase types who could use them. A sect always had takers.
This northern mountain jaunt, scoring three slots from the Abyssal Coven. Their top priority was hauling back those Sovereign Pips.
Matthew was on the same page.
Neither voiced it, but they shared the thought. ‘What if… what if she hasn’t actually died? A scooped–out Gilded Core, with a Sovereign Pip, can’t we just fix it?‘
Whatever she’d lost, they could make it right. No point in pitching a fit and offing herself over it.
Toney couldn’t read Matthew’s mind, but when the Sovereign Pips came up, both had jumped to volunteer for their teacher. Marietta? She was just tagging along for the spectacle.
Toney said, “Marietta, let’s move.”
Marietta said, “Right.”
The pair zipped into the valley at breakneck speed, hitting the heart of it in seconds. Up ahead, mist still swirled thick, obscuring the inner view.
Their spirits lifted further, but as their Ethereal Blades dropped lower and the valley sharpened into view, the grins vanished.
The place was still verdant and lush, buzzing with life, but the telltale signs of Mystic Silver–Leaves and exotic plants? Erased completely. Not a damn thing remained.
3/4
