“Good! Make sure his corpse is left in the Spiritual Bingqi Realm!”

“Leave it to me!”

****

When Long Di and the others entered the Spiritual Bingqi Realm, they were surprised by what they saw.

The only person who couldn’t care less was Mina. She was still peeved at Long Di’s treatment of her.

As expected, she flew up in a rage upon seeing how she was being boy-handled, which caused her to slip from Long Di’s, landing on her head.

The whole fiasco reached a head when she accused Long Di of possibly giving her brain damage. Only for him to counter by sincerely asking if someone with brain damage can still suffer brain damage?

Suffice it to say, this didn’t end well, and she had been giving the silent treatment ever since.

No one talked to her for fear of being the recipient of her rage. Sure, she was a small thing, but her anger made her like a firecracker.

However, even she had to admit, even if it was internal, that this place possessed a grand air.

Before them was a massive plain of yellow cracked earth. Giant craters and chasms littered the terrain as far as the eyes could see.

“The spiritual energy here is so dense,” Jia Yan commented after breathing in.

Long Di nodded, “It is.”

However, the minute they took a step forward, their expressions fell. There was a dense aura present that weighed on them. It was suffocating and made it hard to breathe.

A heavy trace of resentment hung in the air, a sort of air that influenced within them an unwillingness to die.

“A war…” Yaomu Shou subconsciously commented.

“Is it that grand war that everyone’s always commenting about?” asked Long Di.

Yaomu Shou shook her head, “I don’t know.”

“Too far back?” Long Di had a fair share of admiration for Yaomu Shou. Her intelligence about the history of this world was to be commended.

Yaomu Shou shook her head. “Nah… I slacked off.”

Aaand that admiration fell a few levels…

The only one in their group who wasn’t here was Lord Whiskers. However, that was due to there being no way for him to suppress his realm. Which went about as well as you could expect.

He threw a tantrum much like Mina when he learnt he couldn’t go. The only difference between the two was that one acted like a wild animal while the other acted like a cat.

Of course, forty-five ear rubs later, and he was placated. So that was the end of that… for now.

At that time, Long Di advised him to not cause any trouble and to stay in the nearby forests.

“Do you know where to go to find any weapons?” Long Di finally asked.

Yaomu Shou started walking, causing the others to follow behind her. “The legends say that there was a huge war that caused a huge number of experts to die. The resentment you feel in the air is probably because of that. However, because of the number of experts, their weapons and possibly their martial techniques were left behind.”

She went on, “This Unique realm was open many times before so the numbers aren’t as great now. Before, I heard that upon entering, you would see spiritual weapons strewn about.”

“Spiritual weapons?” someone asked

Yaomu Shou nodded. “Weapons that are far more powerful than the secular weapons you’ve been using,” she explained.

Jia Yan also grew interested in hearing about this and took out his battle-axe. “What’s the difference between them?”

“They’re able to handle a lot more power than secular weapons.” Yaomu Shou explained. “Think about Long Di’s bronze saber, which is a black rank weapon. It’s no longer usable because of his power. If he was using a spiritual weapon, he could still be using it even now.”

“My family owned a spiritual weapon once.” Zi Yu piped up. “It was lost long ago. But when I heard the elders talk of it, they said it could unleash a torrential storm of blades to rent their enemies asunder.” She spoke of it with an air of longing.

Long Di’s head swivelled as he looked at everyone and saw that no one else was saying anything, “So… So no one is gonna say anything about how she’s talking as if she remembered a long-lost lover when in reality she’s reminiscing about mass murder. I mean… I’m not judging but…”

A blush of shame darkened Zi Yu’s face when Long Di brought this up, “I’m not reminiscing about the mass murder! I’m reminiscing about the power of our spiritual weapons… before it was lost.”

“By the way, wasn’t there a sea of people outside? Where are they now?” Xiannu Liang asked. There was a cloak pulled over her head to hide her features from prying eyes.

Green hair wasn’t a rarity in the world. It was just that her hair had lengths of what appeared to be vines growing in some areas that were braided with the hair itself. It gave her a natural look that would ease the heart of any who happened upon her.

Her eyes, in particular, were a striking emerald.

Combined with her porcelain skin that was absent of any blemish, it truly painted her as a picturesque beauty. There was also a faint smell of herbs that she gave off naturally.

All these things would give away her identity as a Nymph to those who were in the know.

“Probably transported to other locations within the Spiritual Bingqi Realm,” said Long Di.

Yaomu Shou glanced in his direction, “You’re pretty knowledgeable, aren’t you?”

Long Di simply shrugged in response, “It’s the only thing that makes sense when you think about it.”

“I guess…” Yaomu Shou didn’t overly dwell on this.

They simply walked along in silence.

As they were walking aimlessly for a while, they eventually came upon a chasm that formed something similar to a sloped valley.

Long Di looked up in confusion before shaking his head and continuing on.

“Something’s not right…” Yaomu Shou said after a while.

Long Di paused, “There’s something wrong with the valley?”

“No, not that,” Yaomu Shou realised that there was something weird this time regarding the Spiritual Bingqi Realm.

“It’s just that… we’ve been walking for a while now and we haven’t seen anyone.”

“Well, I’m assuming these realms are huge, right? So isn’t it possible that we just haven’t happened upon somebody else?” Long Di asked.

“Maybe…” Yaomu Shou still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

As they descended into the valley, its sides narrowed until they only travel in a single file line.

Even Long Di, who was the smallest of the group, had his shoulder rubbing against the sides. Everyone else had trouble squeezing through.

While he was going through here, he found his attention pointing to the sky again.

‘No way…’

After forcing their way through, they finally came into what appeared to be a clearing.

“Oh… wow,” Xiannu Liang was the first to comment when she saw what they found.

It was a towering tree, and its bark was dark brown, nearly black. However, its most striking feature was its leaves.

Its leaves were a transparent green, almost like crystal. There was also dew on each leaf that granted them a greater gleam.

It easily stood at over 500 ft and gave off a gentle energy that caused everyone’s pores to open up. As their bodies instinctively absorbed the energy, they felt incomparably relaxed.

“What powerful life energy!” Yaomu Shou was shocked. Just standing near this tree was able to revitalise her!

“What is it?” Jia Yan asked. Even though he wasn’t knowledgeable about herbs or plants, he knew this tree was a treasure.

Xiannu Liang clapped her hands in glee, “It’s an Emerald Ever Dew Engendering Elk tree.”

Long Di’s brow rose at the name, “Say that five times fast.”

“Look there,” Shen Ling pointed to a particular section of the tree where there were a little over a dozen round fruits that shone with a gentle lustre.

Upon seeing this, Xiannu Liang’s eyes widened in shock, “E-Ever Dew fruits! Long Di, we need to get those!”

“What are those?” Long Di never saw the little Nymph this excited before… except when she argued with him.

“They’re able to completely revitalise the body. The juice inside can expel impurities within the body and also raise the quality of either somatic essence or spiritual qi. Not only that, it can raise the level of either of them. With so much of them, we can raise our cultivation with virtually no trouble!”

Long Di didn’t think these fruits had such powerfully potent effects. He had to get them.

As soon as he took a step forward to climb the tree, Xiannu Liang commented. “We’re lucky to find it like this.”

Long Di’s steps paused as a bad feeling welled within him. He turned around to face her. “Why?”

Xiannu Liang was caught off guard by the sudden change in Long Di’s demeanour. “Well, spiritual herbs and treasures are normally protected by magical beasts. This one, in particular, is normally protected by the Monarch Gale Crow, but there’s none arou-”

Shu!

Before she could finish talking, Long Di made a beeline straight for the tree.

He didn’t waste any time. He quickly jumped for the nearest branch and started picking the Ever Dew Fruits like a madman.

Seeing Long Di’s frantic actions, Yaomu Shou realised something was wrong and cultivated her somatic essence, readying herself for battle.

Long Di was only halfway through picking the fruits when a piercing cry echoed from above.

“Krraaaaaaa!!!!”

He sighed in defeat, “I just can’t catch a break.”