Treasurer Jin wore a trace of shock on his face as he took out a Purple-Gold Abacus. His hands twitched as though seized by convulsions, leaving behind a blur of afterimages. A rapid clatter rang out in an unbroken stream. Before long, Treasurer Jin's face had turned somewhat pale...
"This is going to be serious. The mausoleum lies deeply hidden, and this place embraces yin and bears yang; you contain me, and I contain you. It had long shown signs of evolving into infinity. Now that the balance has been broken, it will immediately become a surge from the Yellow Springs and a reversal of heaven and earth. There must be great danger hidden within. I fear we may be powerless to deal with it..."
As soon as those words were spoken, the Great Elder stared downward with his lamp-like eyes, his expression growing uglier and uglier. The doors of the Seven Fragrance Carriage swung open, and a woman flew out. She wore a feathered robe and a luan-and-phoenix hairpin, with a silver-thread veil over her face. Her figure was graceful and alluring, yet beneath that enchanting charm was an air of icy purity and holiness.
Her features could not be seen, but her eyes shifted faintly beneath the veil. Her brown pupils were lively yet cool, their rippling gleam like waves on water. With every flicker of her gaze, the spiritual light and spiritual energy around her danced along.
By now, the Spirit Platform Saintess could no longer remain seated. Once she stepped out of the Seven Fragrance Carriage, it meant she was going all out.
The illusory image of the secret realm suspended in midair grew increasingly covered in cracks, and the cracks spread faster and faster. The more fractures there were between the secret realm and the world, the faster its collapse would be.
At this rate, it would completely shatter in at most one incense stick's time.
Inside the secret realm, Qin Yang looked up at the sky. Cracks continuously emerged, rapidly stretching from the heavens toward the ground. Looking ahead, he saw a gigantic tree several dozen zhang tall on a mountain peak instantly cleaved in two by a crack that had opened from nowhere. The severed upper half fell into the crack and vanished.
Before long, more and more cracks appeared near the ground. By the time they reached the Banyan Forest, numerous cracks had appeared within it as well. The large ones were four or five zhang long, while the smaller ones measured over a zhang. Looking through those cracks, he could actually see the scene outside...
Though he did not understand what this was, he vaguely had a guess. This was probably not a good thing...
"Senior! Senior, are you ready? Something's happened!"
The moment his words fell, a tree root burst from the ground in the Banyan Forest, wrapping around Qin Yang's waist and dragging him flying deeper inside.
His vision blurred. Qin Yang could only see the scenery on both sides rushing backward. Even with his eyesight, he could not make it out clearly, seeing only indistinct shadows. The blood throughout his body seemed to be violently dragged toward his back...
A moment later, the pulling force loosened. Qin Yang landed on the ground, dizzy and disoriented, and only regained his senses after quite a while.
When he opened his eyes, he saw an enormous tree before him, its trunk over a li in diameter, yet no more than a hundred zhang tall...
The surging vitality radiating from the giant tree was almost suffocating. The air was filled with green qi. With a single breath, his cultivation had visibly improved by a trace, as though he had swallowed an immensely nourishing Spirit Herb.
As his True Essence circulated, he found it somewhat difficult to refine. Yet within only a few breaths, he had inhaled more and more of the green qi. Qin Yang's expression changed as the surface of both his hands began to turn woody...
Frightened, Qin Yang hurriedly held his breath and sealed every pore of his body.
"Yi Wood Essence!" Qin Yang's expression shifted as he suddenly remembered what it was. It was the exceptionally precious Yi Wood Essence, something only special ten-thousand-year-old giant trees could nurture. It was the most natural sacred medicine for healing injuries, capable of reviving the dead and restoring flesh to bare bones, with terrifyingly potent vitality.
Looking at the Yi Wood Essence here, so dense it could not be dissolved, Qin Yang's liver trembled...
It was far too concentrated. He had merely taken two breaths, yet his body could barely digest it, and he had nearly been turned to wood...
Just how many years had this Banyan Tree Demon accumulated it for? "This world is about to collapse. There is not much time. The Yi Wood Essence here is difficult to digest. If you want some, take it." An aged, dry, woody voice sounded in Qin Yang's mind.
The next moment, Yi Wood Essence surged together throughout the Banyan Forest. The banyan trees at its edges withered in an instant, turning into Yi Wood Essence and gathering here.
In this place, One Wood Becomes a Forest. Every single banyan tree was an avatar of the Banyan Tree Demon. Now that this place was about to be destroyed, even if they remained, they would not survive. It was better to refine them all into Yi Wood Essence and reclaim them.
In barely a dozen breaths, a trace of woody texture appeared on Qin Yang's skin, and his entire body showed signs of being turned to wood.
Qin Yang shook his head with a bitter smile, turned, and ran, keeping far away from the Banyan Tree Demon's true body.
"Damn it, I nearly drowned in Yi Wood Essence. Who would believe that if I told them..."
The massive amount of Yi Wood Essence gathered, and the Banyan Tree Demon could no longer contain it. Once the Yi Wood Essence, dense beyond dissolution, had gathered to a certain degree, it began to condense. Before long, emerald crystals formed in midair one after another, falling like rain with a clattering rush...
As the emerald crystals condensed, the Yi Wood Essence that had been too dense to dissolve rapidly diminished. Once it had completely dispersed, the Banyan Forest vanished entirely, leaving only the Banyan Tree Demon's true body, which continued to shrink.
"My body can no longer contain it. If you need these, take them. Leaving this place is also a great opportunity. Consider it payment."
"Senior, you're too courteous..." Qin Yang beamed with delight. Before this, the tree demon had not even bothered speaking to him. Now it had been forced into a corner and had no choice but to leave. These Yi Wood Essence crystals might be manageable for others, but if the tree demon took them into its body, they would immediately merge into it on their own. If it said it could not contain them, then it truly could not contain them...
With time so pressing, there was no need for empty courtesies. If he did not take them, they would all be destroyed here anyway.
What a waste...
"I prepared so many Storage Bags, and they've finally come in handy!" He flipped open his robe, revealing a dense mass of Storage Bags within. Then he dashed over, transforming into a diligent little squirrel as he continuously gathered up all the Yi Wood Essence crystals carpeting the ground.
As the saying went, opportunities always favored those who came prepared. Storage Bags had too little space, so he had always kept extra ones on hand, fearing they might prove useful someday.
Once he had collected the Yi Wood Essence crystals, he could not even calculate how many there were...
"There are also some tree barks I shed in past years. Do you want them?"
With a rustling crash, a pile of tree bark heaped into a small mountain.
"Yes!" Qin Yang's breathing became heavy, his eyes turning green as he pounced forward and collected all the tree bark.
Though much of that bark could not be used directly, it was still excellent material for making talisman paper...
By the time Qin Yang finished packing everything up, the Banyan Tree Demon's true body had shrunk to only four or five zhang tall, and its roots had pulled themselves free from the earth.
"When my true body is moved, I will naturally fall into slumber. Everything depends on you."
"Rest assured, Senior. I have no other merits, but I absolutely keep my word."
The tree demon fell into slumber. Qin Yang muttered an apology, then placed the seemingly lifeless banyan tree into a Storage Bag.
By this point, the earth had begun to tremble. The great momentum of heaven collapsing and earth splitting had finally unfolded completely.
Qin Yang took out the Shape-Shifting Ink Talismans. As the scroll unfurled, a noble purple immortal crane flew out, carrying Qin Yang into the sky as it flew toward one of the thick cracks...
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