Deep into the Ruins

The corpse of the Wind Wood Dragon was completely dismantled. Scales, bones, blood, dragon tendons, and muscles—everything that could be taken was taken, filling their storage rings by another thirty percent. Qing Zhengyue stowed the final piece of dragon bone into his ring, stood up, and swept his gaze over the four of them.

"No soul bone." The old man's voice was calm, but Qing Mufeng detected a hint of regret.

Liu Yunlan brushed the dust from her hands. The old lady's face was still somewhat pale, but her spirit had largely recovered. Having just absorbed a forty-thousand-year soul ring, her level had surged directly from sixty to sixty-four, and her aura was now more than a notch stronger than before the battle. "Soul bones aren't that easy to come by; the last time was just our ancestors smiling upon us." Her tone was flat as she spoke, though the corner of her eye twitched slightly.

Qing Hongyuan leaned against a tree trunk, his Azure Snake Dragon Wings fully retracted. His soul power had been heavily taxed, but thanks to the continuous recovery from Spring Returns to Earth, he felt much better. "Mother is right; soul bones are things you encounter by chance, not by seeking. We already obtained a thirty-thousand-year external soul bone, so it's normal not to find one this time."

Shen Wanqing did not speak, merely nodding gently. Her support soul skills had been active throughout the entire battle, consuming a massive amount of energy, and she was currently closing her eyes to circulate the Azure Dragon Method to recover her soul power.

Qing Mufeng stood to the side, his gaze sweeping over the faces of his family.

There was a small disappointment, but no one truly cared. Their goal had never been a soul bone—it was his grandmother's sixth soul ring, and his grandfather's seventh. The former was already complete, and the latter still lay ahead.

Qing Zhengyue sheathed his long blade and looked toward the distant horizon. After hunting the forty-thousand-year Wind Wood Dragon, they had traveled for two more days deeper into the Hurricane Wood Mountain Range. The Mystic Nether Eagle had not appeared again; that area was likely the edge of its territory, and it would not easily leave its core zone to pursue them this far.

"Keep moving." The old man's voice was as steady as ever.

The four nodded. Liu Yunlan unfurled her Jade Dragon Wings, the emerald feathers shimmering with a jade-like luster in the twilight. Her method of flight differed from Qing Hongyuan's—his Azure Snake Dragon Wings were cyan-hued, fast but lacking stability; her Jade Dragon Wings were emerald, slightly slower but far more stable, hovering without the slightest tremor. It was the old lady's first time using her flight ability in actual combat, and she wobbled through a circle in the air before landing. "I need to practice; my flight isn't very steady."

Qing Hongyuan laughed, "Mother, I was the same way at first. You'll be fine after flying a few more times."

Liu Yunlan glared at her son, but the corners of her mouth were turned upward.

Qing Zhengyue took the lead, his long blade unsheathed by three inches, his eyes scanning the forest ahead like a hawk. The deeper they went, the denser the trees and the dimmer the light. The wood-attribute energy in the air was so rich it felt almost tangible, and every breath was filled with the fragrance of grass and trees. Yet, his brows furrowed slightly—the wood energy was dense, but it wasn't the kind he was looking for. He sought something purer, more ancient, carrying the scent of time's sedimentation. It was not the restless, youthful wood energy left behind by the Wind Wood Dragon.

Qing Mufeng walked beside his grandmother, his Azure Dragon Pupil active the entire time, the golden light in his pupils standing out sharply in the gloomy woods. His Wind Perception spread outward, capturing every slight disturbance in the airflow and the flow of wood-attribute energy in the air. His Wind Perception told him that the wood energy in this forest was indeed dense, but it was chaotic—a mix of trees, flowers, grasses, and soul beasts, all blended together.

The pure wood attribute his grandfather wanted was nowhere to be sensed.

The five of them trekked through the forest for two days.

Qing Zhengyue's spiritual power constantly expanded outward, searching for the "ancient ruins" recorded in the old texts. The description in the books was too vague—"Deep in the Hurricane Wood Mountain Range, there lies a forgotten ruin, built by unknown hands, at an unknown time. Within the ruins grows a type of ancient vine, possessing a vitality so vigorous it is rare in this world." Just those few sentences, with no specific location, no markings, and not even a name for the ruins.

Five days. Ten days. Half a month.

The five of them wandered the depths of the Hurricane Wood Mountain Range for a full half-month. They encountered a few more Wind Wood Dragons, but the strongest were only just over ten thousand years old, unsuitable for either Liu Yunlan or Qing Zhengyue. Qing Zhengyue did not want a Wind Wood Dragon; he wanted the ancient vine recorded in the texts.

On the fifteenth day.

Qing Mufeng's Wind Perception caught a trace of an anomaly. The anomaly came from the southeast, very far and very faint; if his Wind Perception hadn't improved slightly over the past half-month, he would never have caught it.

"Grandfather, to the southeast, there is something." His voice was low, but his speech was faster than usual.

Qing Zhengyue stopped, expanded his spiritual power to probe the southeast, and shook his head a moment later. "I don't sense anything."

"It's very far, my Wind Perception is barely reaching it," Qing Mufeng said. "It's not the aura of a soul beast, it is... wood attribute. Very pure, purer than any wood attribute I have ever sensed."

Qing Zhengyue looked at his grandson in silence for a moment, then nodded. "Lead the way."

Qing Mufeng ascended into the high air, fully deploying his Azure Dragon Wind Control, and flew toward the direction of the anomaly. His speed was fast, but not so fast that his family on the ground couldn't keep up. Qing Zhengyue sprinted on the ground, Liu Yunlan and Qing Hongyuan followed in the air, and Shen Wanqing was carried by Qing Hongyuan.

Five figures streaked across the sky above the Hurricane Wood Mountain Range.

After flying for a full hour, Qing Mufeng slowly descended. Below them was a valley covered in vines, and at the end of the valley stood a steep rock wall, completely blanketed in dense, cyan vines. It looked entirely unremarkable—such vines could be seen everywhere in the mountain range.

But Qing Mufeng's Wind Perception told him that the space behind that rock wall was empty.

"Behind the rock wall, there is a space." He pointed to the vine-covered cliff.

Qing Zhengyue stepped forward and reached out to push aside the vines. Behind them was solid rock; he tapped it with the hilt of his blade—a hollow echo returned from within. There was a space behind it, and it was not small.

Qing Zhengyue took a deep breath, thrust his long blade into the rock wall, and his black soul ring lit up. The blade sliced through the rock as if it were tofu. Piece by piece, the rock was excavated and piled behind them.

Qing Hongyuan joined in, and the father and son took turns. Liu Yunlan and Shen Wanqing moved the excavated rock aside to clear the path. The five of them worked for nearly an hour before they chiseled an opening in the rock wall just large enough for one person to pass through.

Qing Zhengyue was the first to crawl inside.

The cave was pitch black, unable to see one's own fingers. Liu Yunlan took a Moonlight Stone from her pouch, and a soft white light ignited in the darkness, illuminating the scene within.

It was a naturally formed cave, not large, roughly three zhang square. The cave walls were covered in cyan vines, thicker and denser than those outside. Countless vine tendrils hung from the ceiling like cyan curtains, glowing with a faint green light under the illumination of the Moonlight Stone.

In the very center of the cave stood a particularly thick vine.

It grew from the ground and extended all the way to the ceiling, piercing through the entire cave. The vine was over a zhang in diameter, its surface covered in the cracks of time, like the skin of an old man. Its color was not a vibrant emerald, but a deep, ink-like green—the color that only comes after accumulating one hundred thousand years of time. There was no leakage of soul power, no leakage of aura; if one hadn't seen it with their own eyes, no one would have ever noticed it.

Life Ancient Vine.

One hundred thousand years.

Qing Zhengyue did not speak, merely looking at the vine, his gaze deep and distant.

He had searched for half a month.

Finally, he had found it.