Next, Renxiao Divine Venerable rose to his feet and solemnly took out an ancient palm-sized box covered in natural wood grain.
When the box opened, seven or eight tree seeds, each about the size of a fingernail, lay quietly within. The seeds were a deep emerald green, yet their surfaces were covered in tiny grayish-white spots. They looked utterly dull and even somewhat shriveled. If not for the faintest trace of life aura, they would have been almost indistinguishable from dead objects.
"Fellow Daoists," Renxiao Divine Venerable said, his voice carrying both reminiscence and gravity, "taking this opportunity of our Dao discussion, there is another old matter that has weighed on my heart for countless years and become an obsession. I would like to ask for your help once more."
"This is not some earth-shattering magical treasure or divine material, but several... life-bound tree seeds of the Hollow Valley Clear-Song Bamboo clan."
"Hollow Valley Clear-Song Bamboo?" A well-informed Divine Venerable murmured, "I seem to have heard of them. They are a spirit-plant race born with natural intelligence and close to the Dao of nature. Both their bamboo bodies and bamboo music can cleanse the soul, aid enlightenment, and calm the mind. They are quite rare even among the many great worlds."
"Correct." Renxiao Divine Venerable nodded, and the melancholy in his eyes deepened. "One of my closest friends was the last accomplished clan chief of the Hollow Valley Clear-Song Bamboo clan. Countless ages ago, before heading to the Annihilation Lotus Pool, he used a secret art to condense these final Dao Seeds, which contain the clan's life imprints and origin essence, and entrusted them to me."
"He begged me that if he never returned, I should help continue his clan's bloodline. He asked me to find a way to plant