Flat Peach Mother Tree

Seeing the still-unripe peaches on the tree, Shi Mo wiped the peach in his hand, which already looked perfectly clean. After hesitating for a moment, he lowered his head and took a bite.

The peach was crisp, yet soft, juicy, and sweet once it entered his mouth. Shi Mo's eyes lit up. "Mm, it tastes much better than the Vermilion Fruit on my Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain."

"And the energy it contains is purer and richer, filled with vitality as well."

Pleasantly surprised, Shi Mo swept his gaze around and noticed different peaches that had fallen beneath some of the surrounding trees.

Aside from the largest kind, there were ones the size of a baby's head with purple markings, as well as a smaller variety only the size of apples.

"The peach trees look more or less the same, yet they bear three kinds of fruit. With so many trees bearing purple-marked peaches, could these be Peaches of Immortality trees?"

The realization came belatedly, and Shi Mo could not help feeling startled. Shouldn't Peaches of Immortality trees be planted in the Flat Peach Garden of the Heavenly Court?

Could it be that the Heavenly Court does not yet exist? Then where is this place?

As he pondered in secret, Shi Mo suddenly seemed to think of something. He turned sharply and saw a solitary peach tree unlike the others.

It was larger than all the other peach trees, its gnarled roots making it appear ancient. Though it contained very pure innate aura, that aura was somewhat weak.

The entire tree even seemed on the verge of withering. Its leaves were sparse, it bore no fruit, and no other peach trees grew in the area around it.

"This peach tree must be the innate spiritual root whose roots run deep into the main spiritual vein underground. And it seems that all the surrounding peach trees grew around it."

Looking at this unusual peach tree, Shi Mo's heart stirred. If this peach grove truly consists of Peaches of Immortality trees, then this peach tree...

Flashing over to the seemingly withered peach tree, Shi Mo's gaze flickered as he directly pressed a hand against its trunk. Then he closed his eyes and allowed his invisible perception to seep into the tree.

Not long afterward, Shi Mo opened his eyes, his face filled with astonishment and delight.

"Innate Ren-Water Flat Peach Mother Tree? I never expected that, aside from those three thousand Peaches of Immortality trees, there would also be a Flat Peach Mother Tree. And those three thousand Peaches of Immortality trees all grew from pits left behind after the peaches borne by this Flat Peach Mother Tree fell to the ground."

"But in order to nurture those three thousand Peaches of Immortality trees, this Flat Peach Mother Tree has nearly exhausted its origin power. Not only can it no longer bear peaches, it is even slowly dying," Shi Mo said, frowning at the thought.

This was a Flat Peach Mother Tree, far more valuable than those three thousand Peaches of Immortality trees. If it truly withered away, that would be an unbearable waste.

"Origin depleted... so-called origin power. The power of earth veins is the earth's source of energy, nurturing the vitality of all things. As long as enough earth vein power is accumulated to nourish it, it should be sufficient to make up for the Flat Peach Mother Tree's lost origin, right?" After pondering briefly, Shi Mo's eyes lit up.

"Since it is ownerless, taking this Flat Peach Mother Tree should not burden me with karma, should it?" The three thousand Peaches of Immortality trees were tied to immense karma, but Shi Mo was unwilling to let go of the rarer and more precious Flat Peach Mother Tree.

In any case, the Flat Peach Mother Tree would eventually die if left here. Thus, Shi Mo barely hesitated before directly manipulating the power of earth veins, first taking the Flat Peach Mother Tree underground, then swiftly returning to Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain through the earth vein network.

"This earth vein network... if I study it properly, perhaps I can turn it into something like a subway system, a special transportation passageway or the like."

With the Wind-Fixing Pearl clearing the way, Shi Mo was transporting something through the earth vein network for the first time, and he could not help thinking of its other possible uses.

Using his escape technique, Shi Mo soon returned to the cave on Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain.

Looking at the Flat Peach Mother Tree in the cave, its roots tangled around the jade platform and extending deep into the underground spiritual vein, Shi Mo could not help developing a headache.

"Where should I plant it? Directly in this cave? This cave is meant to serve as my dwelling, and it is not that spacious. One Flat Peach Mother Tree would nearly fill it up."

After thinking it over, Shi Mo looked up at the passage that ran through the mountain, connecting the summit to the cave, and his heart stirred.

"How about planting it on the mountaintop? Let its roots spread throughout the entire mountain. Then, as it absorbs the earth vein spiritual energy, the whole mountain will be tempered. And my cave dwelling will be enveloped in boundless, surging earth vein spiritual energy as the Flat Peach Mother Tree absorbs the power of earth veins."

The more Shi Mo considered it, the better the idea seemed. He quickly got to work, moving the Flat Peach Mother Tree to the mountaintop and planting it there.

As a top-grade innate spiritual root, the Flat Peach Mother Tree was highly spiritual. Once it had taken root, its roots swiftly began boring through the mountain, striving to absorb the earth vein spiritual energy from the main spiritual vein below.

"No. Although the main underground spiritual vein beneath my Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain has been sorted out through the earth vein network, the richness of its earth vein spiritual energy is not much greater than that of the main spiritual vein in the Kunlun Immortal Realm, where the Flat Peach Mother Tree once grew. It is clearly unrealistic to expect it to replenish the Flat Peach Mother Tree's depleted origin."

Having discovered this issue, Shi Mo quickly made a decision.

"Looks like I need to sort out and connect the earth vein network over an even wider area, allowing the earth vein spiritual energy in the main underground spiritual vein beneath Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain to reach a sufficiently rich level."

Thus, Shi Mo soon became busy again, beginning to clear the earth vein network across a broader area around Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain that could be quickly opened up.

"After transmigrating to the Primordial World, I'm practically becoming a guy who unclogs underground pipes. Sigh, what a hard life! But for the Flat Peach Mother Tree, and to turn Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain into one of the finest cave dwellings in the Primordial World, I'll just have to endure it. Bitter first, sweet later!"

After a round of hard work, Shi Mo grumbled inwardly even as he secretly encouraged himself.

In the end, after sorting out and connecting the earth veins across roughly two-thirds of the vast fan-shaped area surrounding Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain, Shi Mo discovered another problem.

The remaining third of the earth vein network had been severely damaged. The farther it was from Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain, the worse the destruction became.

"How could it be damaged so badly? Who did this? Could it have been caused by the Dao-Demon War between Hongjun and Luo Hou that erupted in the Western Continent? It seems the entire Western Continent's earth veins suffered devastating destruction."

At the outer edge of the earth vein network already connected around Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain, Shi Mo sensed the fragmented earth vein network farther away and could not help feeling a headache coming on.

"With damage this severe, repairing it will be far more troublesome and time-consuming!"

"Still, if I do not repair these earth vein networks, the vast earth vein network around Nine Tripod Iron Fork Mountain will be like a huge net with a massive patch of holes along its outer edge. Its efficiency in gathering earth vein spiritual energy will undoubtedly be greatly reduced."

Left with no choice, Shi Mo could only continue the difficult and troublesome repair work.

Fortunately, continuously exhausting and restoring his mana in the process was also a form of cultivation. Shi Mo simply treated it as secluded bitter cultivation, killing two birds with one stone.

Moreover, not long after he began connecting and repairing the earth vein network this time, Shi Mo discovered that a special kind of energy had quietly appeared within his body.