Chapter 156: Wood Demon Awakening
“Miss, are you all right?”
Jiang Li threw away the residue of the astringent fruit in his hand without a trace and went up to help the other party with concern.
This beautiful sword cultivator had just woken up from her coma and did not understand the situation. She was like a frightened deer and instinctively wanted to push Jiang Li away.
However, with her little strength, she could not resist at all.
As Jiang Li helped her up, a stream of pure wood attribute spiritual qi flowed over.
After this stream of spiritual qi passed, the other party’s expression instantly became much better.
They were both cultivators so the condition of the spiritual qi in their bodies was most important. After receiving the nourishment of pure wood attribute spiritual qi, the injuries and pain on their bodies were quickly suppressed.
Only then did she finally have the strength to survey her surroundings.
After she raised her head and saw the word ‘Storage’ on Jiang Li’s shirt, she finally relaxed greatly.
In the past few decades, the relationship between the four major sects of the Great Mountain Region had been getting closer and closer. From time to time, they would work together to facilitate communication.
At the very least, without enough conflicts of interest, they were still rather friendly with each other. Most of the time, the disciples were more willing to be friends and help each other.
For example, the disciples of the Benevolent Travel Temple that Jiang Li had seen before were like Yin Qiu of the Fire Element Peak.
Although they met by accident, they got along quite well. After all, Jiang Li had obtained a little something from him in the end.
“Thank you, Senior Brother… thank you for your help. I am Shenshan[1] Qiuhua of Shu Mountain. Thank you, Senior Brother. May I know your name?”
Shenshan Qiuhua stood up with difficulty. She took out a bottle of pills from her bosom and poured a few into her mouth. Only then did her chaotic aura gradually calm down.
After a slight recovery, she could barely stand on her own.
Jiang Li had never suffered such an injury before and felt a little uncomfortable. In his opinion, no matter how serious a cultivator’s injuries were, they could still slap a mortal to death. How could they really not be able to stand steadily?
However, a starving camel was still bigger than a horse. Of course, the camel would still die from starvation. Therefore, Jiang Li just stood there and watched. Even if he was seriously injured, he would recover in a few minutes.
The sword cultivator girl wiped the sour juice from the corner of her mouth with her sleeve, somewhat puzzled as to where this strange liquid came from.
However, she did not think too much about it. Under the current circumstances, she utterly did not have the time to pay attention to these minor details. After she slightly gathered a mouthful of spiritual qi to recover some strength, she cupped her hands and thanked Jiang Li.
“Junior Sister, there’s no need to stand on ceremony. We’re fellow disciples of the same faction, so how could I just watch you die? I’m Jiang Li from the Scripture Storage Valley. How did Junior Sister Qiuhua suffer such an injury?”
Junior Sister Qiuhua’s surname was ‘Shenshan’. It was a famous clan even in the Great Mountain Region.
How many demonic sects had been destroyed by the sword cultivators carrying this surname? How many demonic cultivators gritted their teeth in hatred towards this surname while tossing and turning in bed every night?
Up until now, it was said that there were still a few valleys that were created by the flying swords of the other party’s grandfather. There were also many people who built temples there and erected monoliths to worship him.
However, Jiang Li looked at the other party’s face and was thinking about the possibility of dual cultivating with her.
Water nourished wood while wood fueled fire. Their spiritual roots seemed to be quite compatible.
However, right at this moment, the plants swayed, and a series of footsteps sounded from all directions. There should be quite a few people currently surrounding this place.
“Oh no! Senior Brother, leave quickly. They’re here for me!”
After discovering the abnormality in the outside world, Shenshan Qiuhua immediately became a little anxious.
She made a hand seal, and two flying swords, one blue and one red, that had fallen with her earlier, immediately flew towards her. One landed in her hand, and the other circled around her.
As an elite disciple of the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak, the staff of the competition authority naturally gave her the lightning cracker to ask for help.
But perhaps it was due to some sense of pride. Even if she did not deliberately expose others for cheating, the pride of her surname would not allow her to do it herself.
Therefore, after entering the mountain, she directly threw away the map and lightning cracker.
Regarding this, it could only be said that her family education was too good, or perhaps it was too much.
At her age, she still could not understand many things. In this world, those who could stand at the top were all cheaters in some way. This small matter of cheating was actually nothing.
Without the lightning cracker and being unable to call for help, there was actually no problem. With her strength, it would not be difficult for her to reach the end.
After all, if even these geniuses felt that it was difficult, wouldn’t the others be dead?
However, the combined attack of dozens of rogue cultivators and even sect disciples caught her unprepared.
Relying on the fire and water swords to attack and defend, she forcefully endured for a period of time. However, in the end, she was unable to withstand the opponent’s numbers and suffered considerable injuries.
She could only control the flying swords to escape through the clouds. When she rose into the sky, she was already quite injured. As expected, she lost her direction in the fog illusion array. After flying for a period of time, she fainted and fell near Jiang Li.
She thought that she had flown far away, but she did not expect to be caught up so quickly. She did not think that the other party would have a way to track her.
“It’s too late!”
Jiang Li stood on the spot indifferently, but they did not have much time to escape. Soon, a large net artifact enveloped over and completely covered the top of their heads.
After more than a day of hunting in groups, many sect cultivators had already replaced the members of that group of rogue cultivators.
Their strength and artifacts had also greatly improved, and their overall strength had advanced by leaps and bounds.
Just this huge net, which was made with interlaced threads flowing with spiritual light, was definitely of high quality.
Even though it seemed to be filled with holes, in reality, not even a mosquito could fly through it. Now, even if Jiang Li struck out his lightning cracker, it would probably be useless.
“Senior Brother Jiang Li, I’ve implicated you. I’ll hold them back and create an opportunity for you to escape as quickly as possible.”
Jiang Li looked at the domineering declaration of the young lady beside him and was momentarily touched. This was the feeling of being protected by someone.
Shenshan Qiuhua also had her own thoughts. Firstly, this matter had nothing to do with Jiang Li. He had even saved her, so implicating him was not in line with her principles.
On the other hand, since the group of people on the other side was able to catch up to her so quickly, it was obvious that they had not taken a detour and had directly ran here. If she fled with Jiang Li, there might not be a chance at all.
As for why she did not choose to cooperate and dealt with these guys instead, even she did not think about it.
After saying that, Shenshan Qiuhua also let out a muffled groan. She forcefully mobilized her spiritual qi, causing her injuries that were not light to worsen.
However, that was all. The pain from her injuries did not interrupt her sword technique. The two flying swords moved up and down, and the two different types of spiritual qi interweaved together.
The way the water and fire spiritual qi intertwined was simply like creating a bomb on the spot.
However, her Dao technique was truly exquisite. The two types of spiritual qi did not explode. Instead, very quickly, a thin layer of water membrane formed in her hand, perfectly enveloping the fire flying sword and a large amount of fire-attribute spiritual qi.
Floating Water Fire Sword!
It clearly contained a large amount of fire-attribute spiritual qi, so this flying sword was as striking as the sun at this moment.
However, at this moment, the spiritual qi fluctuation of this flying sword was not obvious at all. It could even be said to be quite obscure.
If he did not see it with his own eyes, even Jiang Li would have thought that the two flying swords had vanished.
The flying swords took the initiative to fly through the air. A moment later, they exploded in the jungle dozens of meters away.
Accompanied by three short screams, the breathing and heartbeat of the three cultivators in Jiang Li’s ears stopped abruptly.
This sword technique was quite innovative. It used the gentle and stable water attribute spiritual qi to isolate the explosive and scorching fire attribute spiritual qi fluctuations.
By the time they arrived, it was already too late for the enemy to react.
This was originally a sword technique that was jointly executed by both fire and water sword cultivators. The sword cultivator clone and his junior sister had practiced it before, so Jiang Li roughly knew about it.
Shenshan Qiuhua could unleash a combined attack sword technique alone. It could be seen how outstanding her combat strength was.
“There are many of them! Run! Run in that direction!”
Shenshan Qiuhua had used this sword technique in order to break through the encirclement.
After she asked Jiang Li to quickly run, her legs went soft and she was about to collapse again.
If Jiang Li really ran off by himself at this moment, then she would probably die here.
He did not know if the elders of the Shenshan Clan would regret establishing this lady’s righteous values.
In the next second, Shenshan Qiuhua, who had forcefully unleashed her sword technique, fell into a weakened state again. She felt a sense of weightlessness that caught her off guard.
With a gasp, she was actually carried by Jiang Li.
Before she could react, a strong wind blew at her face. Her white clothes, which were stained with blood, fluttered in the wind. The huge wind pressure made it difficult for her to breathe, and she could not even open her eyes.
She barely opened her eyes a crack, but the scene in front of her was pulled into strips of light and shadow, making it impossible to see anything clearly.
The little princess of the Shenshan Clan was also pressed firmly against Jiang Li under the exaggerated acceleration.
This… this speed! How was this possible!
She had only experienced this kind of speed when her parents were flying with her. Moreover, in the boundless sky and forest with trees everywhere, the sense of speed was completely different.
Under this state of speeding, the young lady’s heart could not help but beat faster and she was extremely nervous.
Jiang Li carried Shenshan Qiuhua who was less than 50 kilograms in weight with the flying sword, so his speed was not affected much. He transformed into an afterimage and instantly flashed out of the so-called encirclement.
Before he left, he even kicked an enemy to death.
“They ran away. Someone’s helping her.”
At the place where Jiang Li and the girl had stopped, a group of cultivators gathered.
The few people in the lead went forward to observe the traces and quickly came to this conclusion.
One of them raised his hand, and the large net that covered the top of this area quickly began to shrink before transforming into a ball of light that landed in his hand.
However, looking at this person’s clothes, there was a red volcano pattern on his chest. He was actually an elite disciple of the Hundred Tempering Mountain, one of the four major sects.
It was not only him. Many people beside him were disciples of various sects. One of them had a bald head with a scar and wore monk robes. Even the disciples of Benevolent Travel Temple were not spared.
If they were to capture Jiang Li and Shenshan Qiuhua, the four major sects would be completely infiltrated.
One had to know that the cultivators who came to participate in the competition here were all genius disciples of various large sects and were the future successors of the sect.
If they could control this group of people, it would be equivalent to controlling the future of the Great Mountain Region. In a few hundred years, the upper echelons would undergo a change in structure. At that time, the entire Great Mountain Region might become a breeding ground for certain spiritual roots.
A cultivator took out a bamboo tube and poured a strange-looking worm into his palm.
The insect had only one tentacle in the middle of its head. It could only dangle in the air.
Soon, the insect seemed to sense something in the air. One of its tentacles pointed in a direction.
“That woman is injured. They can’t run far. In that direction, give chase!”
The others silently stood up and intended to pursue Jiang Li and the girl.
However, how could Jiang Li really choose to flee in front of such a group of people?
Before he left, these people had already lost.
“There’s no need to chase after them. I think you should all just die here obediently. You’ll be happier that way.”
This voice suddenly sounded.
The group of parasitic cultivators was instantly shocked. They immediately took up a defensive stance and formed a circle, looking for enemies that existed somewhere.
However, the voice seemed to be everywhere. It echoed in all directions and they did not discover anything.
“Who is it! Still acting mysterious? Come out!”
A cultivator shouted. As soon as he finished speaking, his wish was fulfilled.
A large tree beside him instantly revived, as if it had become a huge centipede. The trunk was a body, and the branches were a hundred feet. It crawled quickly and instantly pounced on him to strangle him.
The other cultivators were shocked and used their methods to rescue their companions.
This was originally an ordinary tree. However, at this moment, the wood became as tough as metal.
Several spell techniques struck down, causing wood chips to fly everywhere. However, they still did not rescue the cultivator who was tied up.
They wanted to continue, but suddenly realized that the atmosphere was not right. They looked around and realized that they no longer had a chance.
The hundred trees around them pulled out their roots from the ground and transformed into beast or human forms, pouncing at them.
The huge body and strange movements caught them unprepared!
This was the latest Dao Technique that Jiang Li had obtained from Scripture Storage Valley’s Scripture Imparting Hall.
It was called the Demon Awakening Technique. Or rather, the Wood Demon Awakening Technique.
In ancient times, some great demons who ruled over the mountains loved to use this ‘awakening technique’.
It could very quickly create a large number of little demons to control. These demon soldiers were summoned in groups of tens of thousands but could not withstand a single attack.
The Demon Awakening Technique that Jiang Li had obtained was specifically targeted at plants, flowers and fruits. It was useless against animals and other things.
Originally, it was impossible for Jiang Li to learn this spell technique in such a short time.
However, after receiving the memories of his second clone, his understanding of the Yin-Wood attribute had improved greatly.
It just so happened that he had finished imparting the cultivation method. At that time, he naturally learned how to use it.
Over a hundred trees and lesser demons surrounded and attacked more than 30 cultivators at once. For a time, vines danced around and artifacts flew everywhere.
A chaotic battle broke out. The violent spiritual qi fluctuation startled the nearby birds. One could hear the movements far away.
After a long time, the battle finally came to an end.
The results of this group of cultivators were indeed impressive. They had actually killed twice the number of tree demons that surrounded them.
Of course, this mainly relied on the explosion of the powerful artifacts of those sect disciples to produce such a large number of exchanges.
After the battle ended, other than a few unlucky fellows who were killed by their companions’ attacks, the remaining 31 cultivators were all captured alive.
Speaking of which, this Demon Awakening Technique was quite suitable for Jiang Li.
Using the endless and high-quality spiritual qi, Jiang Li could awaken a large number of small demons in an extremely short period of time. Moreover, he could strengthen their quality and guide their forms.
For example, the wooden dragon that Jiang Li struck out in the coffin space was the effect of this Dao Technique.
Although with his current Demon Awakening Technique, the success rate of permanently awakening a demon was still very low, this was already quite a practical spell technique.
After the battle was over, an ordinary coffin rose from the ground.
The coffin lid slid open automatically. A large number of tentacles suddenly stretched out from inside, pulling all the captives and corpses on the ground in.
Immediately, the coffin shrunk to the size of a stationary box and chased after Jiang Li.
What Jiang Li did not know was that such a casual action of his actually saved the cultivation world of the Great Mountain Region 200 years later.
Jiang Li, who had run far away, slowed down and stopped. Because of the exaggerated speed and unbearable bump, the sword cultivator Shenshan Qiuhua’s wound was affected, and she seemed to be in extreme pain.
“Junior Sister Qiuhua, the distance is far enough. I think we can stop and rest.”
In just a short while, they had already run to the border between the first and second mountains.
There was a stream flowing down here, which had quite a good view.
“No, there’s no need. Those people must have some sort of tracking method. If I stop, they’ll catch up to me sooner or later. I can still hold on.”
Shu Mountain’s education was good, but it seemed that they had made this young lady a little too mature and serious. From the moment they met, she had been keeping a straight face. Her serious and inflexible appearance made Jiang Li feel a little uncomfortable.
Although she felt that she was being pursued, there was no need to force herself like this.
However, what she said made sense. Shenshan Qiuhua had fallen from the fog earlier. According to the effect of the fog, even she could not control her flight path, much less others.
However, those people were able to track her so quickly. It was impossible for there to be no trick involved.
“Junior Sister Qiuhua, in my opinion, this can’t go on. The problem should still be with you. They must have planted some tracking method on you. According to my understanding of the Qi Refinement realm, there are the most tracking methods through smell.”
“There’s a stream here. Why don’t you wash yourself first? We’ll set off after removing the hidden danger.”
Jiang Li waved his hand and released his spiritual qi. The vines on the tree beside him started to grow crazily, creating a green barrier in front of Jiang Li.
“It’s best if you don’t wear this outfit anymore. After you change out of it, if you don’t mind, you can wear mine first.”
Jiang Li righteously undid the disciple’s uniform on his body, about to remove it and replace it for the other party. His expression was honest and indifferent, not having any improper thoughts.
In fact, he had long seen that this lady’s body was smooth and clean. Just now, there were a few mosquitoes that attempted to suck blood. She definitely did not apply any insect repellent powder. Under such circumstances, it would be easier to track her with smell if someone added some special powder.
The small face of Shenshan Qiuhua who had been maintaining a serious and calm expression suddenly turned red. She hurriedly stopped Jiang Li, and then she took out a set of clothes from a small pouch on her waist.
Alright, as expected of one of the top second-generation immortal cultivators in the cultivation world of the Great Mountain Region. She already had a spatial artifact at the age of 13 and was only at the Qi Refinement realm.
Shenshan Qiuhua thought for a moment and felt that Jiang Li’s words made sense. She took her clothes and walked to the back of the vine barrier.
Then, she blushed again.
Because through the gap between the vines, Jiang Li was staring at her.
“Senior Brother, can you make them grow more leaves?”
Cough cough. Jiang Li looked at the intertwined vine net in front of him. Was it not nice to cover only the majority of the view?
However, since the other party said so, Jiang Li could not pretend that his spiritual qi was exhausted. He could only follow her request and make the vines thicker.
[1] Shenshan is her surname but it can be read as Divine Mountain.