Peach Spirit

The north side of the stone tablet was carved with the famous Peach Blossom Poem by the Tang Family Scholar.

Maybe they were too embarrassed to carve it on the front—anyway, as long as it had a famous name, it could draw tourists.

At this time, the mountain was ablaze with peach blossoms stretching for hundreds of miles. As far as the eye could see, it was a sea of crimson. In terms of scenery alone, it was no worse than the famous mountains and great rivers.

After Peach Blossom Mountain became an internet-famous spot, Qi County's economy took off. It wasn't for nothing that the local officials had swallowed their pride and personally hyped it up.

Zhou Yi's father, Zhou Dayou, wasn't a salaried civil servant, but he made a decent chunk of change on the side as a tour guide.

His mother, Yi Wan, sold tickets at the entrance. When she saw Zhou Yi, she asked a couple of questions about his job and then just waved him in.

Zhou Yi felt like he hadn't seen his mother in over three years, but to her, it seemed like he'd just come back last weekend. Why was he back again? If he didn't work hard, how was he going to find a wife, support a family, raise kids...

A barrage of soul-searching questions sent the Guo Bei Sword Saint, the Great Immortal Zhou, slinking away in embarrassment, covering his face.

His father, Zhou Dayou, was leading a group of young men and women, introducing the Peach Blossom Fan scenery. When he saw Zhou Yi, he shot him a look—don't come over here and mess with my money-making.

To be honest, Peach Blossom Mountain was only six or seven hundred meters above sea level. On the plains, that counted as a modest peak, but in the mountains of the southwest, it'd be nothing but a hill. The cultural significance tacked onto it was a forced stretch at best.

Still, since that famous Tang Dynasty painter and poet had traveled far and wide, no one could say for sure he'd never set foot on Peach Blossom Mountain.

Zhou Dayou was spinning the Tang Family Secret History, and the tourists were eating it up. With the mountain full of peach blossoms, they all declared it well worth the trip and promised to bring their friends back.

Zhou Yi listened for a while, easing his homesickness, then turned and headed up to the summit of Peach Blossom Mountain.

Ever since entering Peach Blossom Mountain, Zhou Yi had clearly sensed that the spiritual energy distribution was extremely uneven—over fifty percent of it was emerald-green wood-type spiritual energy.

His True Self, Zhou Yi, was born without spiritual roots, which only slowed his cultivation speed but didn't stop him from sensing spiritual energy.

In theory, forests have lots of trees, so wood-type spiritual energy is active; rocky mountains have lots of earth and stone, so metal- and earth-type spiritual energy is active; great rivers and oceans have surging water vapor, so water-type spiritual energy is active. This was all normal.

However, the five elements generate and overcome each other. None can be missing. Purely single-element spiritual energy theoretically shouldn't exist.

On Black Mountain, the Tree Demon Granny had cultivated for a thousand years, and her wood-type spiritual energy was dense, but it only made up thirty percent.

Thirty percent was already considered a rich concentration—let alone fifty percent.

"In the world of A Chinese Ghost Story, according to my senior brother Yan Chixia, there were countless immortals in ancient times. After that, the path of immortality gradually declined, and martial arts focused on body refinement became popular. By that logic, the spiritual energy in that world was slowly fading."

Zhou Yi climbed the mountain, deep in thought.

"Blue Star is the exact opposite. Three years ago, there was no spiritual energy at all. Then the Spiritual Energy Revival happened, and the concentration of spiritual energy in heaven and earth has been on the rise..."

"Maybe... there's some rare treasure on Peach Blossom Mountain!"

The ten-thousand-acre peach forest on Peach Blossom Mountain had not a single other type of tree. Along the way, Zhou Yi saw all kinds of tourists taking photos.

Most were young people. Older tourists preferred famous mountains and great rivers—it was almost an obsession.

Zhou Yi walked lightly, seemingly wandering without purpose. Sometimes he stopped, closed his eyes in thought, then changed direction. Sometimes he picked up dead branches and fallen leaves from the ground, examined them closely, then turned another way.

Peach Blossom Mountain wasn't tall, but it stretched across a series of peaks, covering a considerable area.

After searching for three or four hours, as evening approached, he finally clearly sensed faint, intermittent strands of pure wood-type spiritual energy gradually dispersing.

"Found it!"

A sharp glint flashed in Zhou Yi's eyes. He'd seemed to be wandering aimlessly, but in truth, he'd been carefully sensing and tracing the source of the wood-type spiritual energy, gradually moving closer to the most concentrated spot.

Blue Star seemed to be undergoing a Spiritual Energy Revival, but in reality, the spiritual energy was still extremely thin—even weaker than the world of A Chinese Ghost Story, which had been in decline for a thousand years.

If Zhou Yi hadn't had a keen Divine Sense and an extraordinary sensitivity to spiritual energy, he would never have found the source of the wood-type spiritual energy.

Faint, elusive strands of wood-type spiritual energy—their purity was more than ten times that of the spiritual energy in the air.

As this spiritual energy dispersed into the atmosphere, it raised the proportion of wood-type spiritual energy across the entire Peach Blossom Mountain.

Following the faint, pure wood-type spiritual energy, Zhou Yi kept adjusting his direction until he finally reached the summit.

A half-dead old peach tree. Its trunk was so thick it took both arms to encircle—at least thirty or forty years old.

Before Peach Blossom Mountain was called Peach Blossom Mountain, generations of farmers had grown peach trees here for a living. This one was probably from that time.

Compared to the lush, branchy peach trees around it, this old tree looked terrible.

The upper half of its trunk was charred black, the lower half withered and dry, with only a few sparse new shoots struggling to grow.

Zhou Yi stood quietly, staring at this peach tree that was ninety-nine percent dead. His expression was strange—sometimes he let out a soft exclamation, sometimes a hint of doubt.

"The spiritual energy has only just revived, and already a Spirit Monster has appeared in the world!"

Zhou Yi couldn't be wrong about what he sensed. This seemingly half-dead peach tree had more vitality than any other peach tree on Peach Blossom Mountain.

The spiritual energy around this half-withered, half-thriving tree was the densest on the entire mountain.

This peach tree should have been dried up and dying, but it had suddenly sprouted new life.

Right now, it looked half-dead, but it might not be long before it recovered into a thriving peach tree.

Most importantly, this old peach tree already had a hazy consciousness. When Zhou Yi approached, he sensed a faint ripple of mental energy.

Zhou Yi's Divine Sense was sharp, but he was still a mortal. He hadn't yet stepped onto the immortal path and condensed his Divine Sense, so he couldn't communicate with it.

The Tree Spirit's hazy consciousness was extremely simple. As Zhou Yi drew near, it kept emitting mental waves of repulsion—don't come closer.

"No wonder no one comes within a few dozen zhang of this place. Mental suggestion is way more effective than psychological suggestion."

From where Zhou Yi stood, he could see the entire Peach Blossom Mountain. It was arguably the most beautiful spot, yet not a single tourist had come near.

The Peach Spirit had only recently gained consciousness and didn't know any wood-type spells. It relied solely on the constant emission of repelling intent, making passersby instinctively avoid the place.

"With the Spiritual Energy Revival, the world is full of naturally gifted prodigies of cultivation. The moment they come into contact with spiritual energy, they automatically absorb it to strengthen themselves. The Wolf Demon I saw before, and this Peach Spirit now—both are like that!"

"Blue Star has billions of humans, hundreds of times more than Great Jing. The geniuses born here are by no means few..."

"Three years, and not a single leak of information. Either the circles I move in are too low-level and cut off from news, or the upper echelons are strong and already have measures in place."

Zhou Yi suppressed his wandering thoughts and looked back at the Peach Spirit before him.

Purely in terms of cultivation speed, with equal talent, humans are the fastest, the Demon Race second, and plant Spirit Monsters the slowest.

But that's only in theory. In reality, other factors influence cultivation speed even more than talent.

The Great Way is impartial—judging solely by talent is too shallow.

For example, the Demon Race has various innate bloodline boosts, while plant Spirit Monsters are naturally attuned to all types of spiritual energy. Who's faster and who's slower is anyone's guess.

Moreover, in terms of lifespan, plant Spirit Monsters live the longest, the Demon Race second, and human cultivators the shortest.

Tree Demon Granny lived for a thousand years, outlasting countless human prodigies.