The Wind Wood Dragon's corpse was completely dismantled. Scales, bones, blood, dragon sinews, muscle—everything that could be taken was taken. Their storage rings were another third full. Qing Zhengyue put the last section of dragon bone into his ring, rose to his feet, and swept his gaze over the four of them.
"No soul bone." The old man's voice was calm, but Qing Mufeng caught a trace of regret in it.
Liu Yunlan dusted off her hands. Her face was still somewhat pale, but she had recovered most of her vigor. Having just absorbed a forty-thousand-year soul ring, she had leaped directly from level sixty to level sixty-four. Her aura was far stronger than before the battle. "Soul bones aren't so easy to get. Last time, our ancestors' graves were smoking." Her tone was indifferent, but the corner of her eye still twitched slightly.
Qing Hongyuan leaned against a tree trunk, his Azure Snake Dragon Wing fully retracted. He had expended a great deal of Soul Power, but Spring Returns to Earth had continuously restored him, and he was already much better. "Mother's right. Soul bones are things you can only come across by chance. We already got a thirty-thousand-year External Soul Bone. It's normal not to get one this time."
Shen Wanqing said nothing, merely nodding gently. Her support soul skill had lasted through the entire battle and consumed a tremendous amount of energy. At the moment, she had her eyes closed as she circulated the Azure Dragon Method to restore her Soul Power.
Qing Mufeng stood to one side, his gaze passing over his family's faces.
There was a little disappointment, but no one truly cared. Their goal had never been a soul bone—it had been Grandma's sixth soul ring and Grandpa's seventh soul ring. The former had already been achieved. 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 continued deeper into the Hurricane Wood Mountain Range for another two days. The Mystic Nether Eagle had not returned. That area might have been the edge of its territory, and it would not easily leave its core territory to pursue them this far.
"Keep moving." The old man's voice remained as steady as ever.
The four nodded. Liu Yunlan spread her Jade Dragon Wing, its emerald feathers gleaming like green jade in the dusk. Her way of flying differed from Qing Hongyuan's—his Azure Snake Dragon Wing had a bluish tint, fast but less stable; her Jade Dragon Wing was more emerald in color, slightly slower but much steadier, with almost no swaying while hovering. It was the old woman's first time using her flying ability in actual combat, and she was still unfamiliar with it. She wobbled through a circle in the air before landing. "I need more practice. I'm not flying steadily enough."
Qing Hongyuan laughed. "Mother, I was the same at first. Fly a few more times and you'll get the hang of it."
Liu Yunlan glared at her son, though the corners of her lips were raised.
Qing Zhengyue walked at the front, his long blade drawn three inches from its sheath as his eagle-sharp gaze scanned the forest ahead. The deeper they went, the denser the trees became and the dimmer the light grew. The wood-element energy in the air was so dense it nearly seemed tangible, and every breath carried the fragrance of grass and trees. Yet his brows knitted slightly—the wood-element energy was abundant, but it was not the kind he sought. What he wanted was purer, older wood-element energy, carrying the aura of years settled by time. Not the restless, youthful wood element left behind by the Wind Wood Dragon.
Qing Mufeng walked beside his grandmother, his Azure Dragon Pupil active the entire time. The golden glow in his eyes stood out sharply in the dim forest. His Wind Perception spread outward, catching every disturbance in the airflow while also tracking the movement of wood-element energy through the air. Wind Perception told him that the forest's wood-element energy was indeed dense, but mixed—there was energy from trees, flowers, grass, soul beasts, all sorts of auras tangled together.
He could not sense the pure wood element his grandfather wanted.
The five of them traveled through the forest for two days.
Qing Zhengyue's spiritual power had constantly spread into the surroundings, searching for the "ancient ruin" recorded in the old texts. The description in those texts was far too vague—"Deep within the Hurricane Wood Mountain Range lies a forgotten ruin. No one knows who built it, nor when it was built. Within the ruins grows an ancient vine, whose vitality is so abundant that it is rarely seen in this world." That was all there was. No exact location, no markers, not even the name of the ruins.
Five days. Ten days. Half a month.
The five of them wandered through the depths of the Hurricane Wood Mountain Range for a full half month. They encountered several more Wind Wood Dragons, but the oldest was only a little over ten thousand years old, unsuitable for both Liu Yunlan and Qing Zhengyue. What Qing Zhengyue wanted was not a Wind Wood Dragon, but the ancient vine recorded in the old texts.
On the fifteenth day.
Qing Mufeng's Wind Perception caught a trace of something unusual. That anomaly came from the southeast, far away and incredibly faint. If his Wind Perception had not improved somewhat over the past half month, he would never have detected it.
"Grandpa, there's something in the southeast." His voice was very low, but his speech was faster than usual.
Qing Zhengyue stopped and extended his spiritual power toward the southeast. After a moment, he shook his head. "I can't sense anything."
"It's far away. Wind Perception can barely reach it," Qing Mufeng said. "It isn't a soul beast's aura. It's... wood-element energy. Very pure—purer than any wood element I've ever sensed."
Qing Zhengyue looked at his grandson in silence for a moment, then nodded. "Lead the way."
Qing Mufeng rose into the air, Azure Dragon Wind Control fully unleashed as he flew toward the source of that anomaly. He was fast, but not so fast that his family below could not keep up. Qing Zhengyue raced across the ground, while Liu Yunlan and Qing Hongyuan followed through the air. Shen Wanqing was carried by Qing Hongyuan as he flew.
Five figures streaked across the skies above the Hurricane Wood Mountain Range.
After flying for a full hour, Qing Mufeng finally descended slowly. Below lay a valley covered in vines. At the end of the valley stood a steep rock wall, covered from top to bottom in dense green vines. It looked utterly ordinary—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 hollow.
"There's a space behind the rock wall." He pointed at the vine-covered cliff face.
Qing Zhengyue stepped forward and pushed aside the vines. Behind them was solid rock. He tapped it with the hilt of his blade—an empty echo came back from within. There was space behind it, and it was not small.
Qing Zhengyue took a deep breath and thrust his long blade into the rock wall. A black soul ring lit up. The blade cut through the stone as though slicing tofu. Chunks of rock were dug out and piled behind him.
Qing Hongyuan joined in, father and son taking turns. Liu Yunlan and Shen Wanqing carried the excavated stones away. The five of them worked for nearly an hour before they finally opened a hole in the rock wall just large enough for one person to squeeze through.
Qing Zhengyue was the first to crawl inside.
The cave was pitch-black, with no visibility even at arm's length. Liu Yunlan took a Moonlight Stone from her cloth bag. Soft white light bloomed in the darkness, illuminating the scene inside.
This was a naturally formed cave, not large, roughly three zhang across. Green vines covered the walls, thicker and denser than those outside. Countless vine tendrils hung from the ceiling like curtains of green, glowing faintly under the Moonlight Stone's light.
At the very center of the cave stood an especially massive vine.
It grew from the ground and extended all the way to the ceiling, piercing through the entire cave. The vine was more than a zhang thick, its surface covered in cracks carved by time, like an old man's skin. Its color was not a lively emerald green, but a deep ink green—the color that could only be formed by the accumulation of one hundred thousand years. No Soul Power fluctuations leaked from it, nor did any aura escape. If one did not see it with one's own eyes, no one would ever notice it.
The Life Ancient Vine.
One hundred thousand years.
Qing Zhengyue said nothing. He merely looked at the vine, his gaze deep and distant.
He had searched for half a month.
He had finally found it.
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