A Century of Merit, Investing the Locust Elder by Edict

The Dao Academy's ancient texts contained detailed accounts of Nature Spirits "seeking investiture."

When these uncanny beings, born of plants or beasts, reached a crucial point in their cultivation, they often sought recognition from someone they met on the road.

Humans were the spirits of all living things, bearing a nation's fortune and a spirit of their own. Their spoken words carried cause and effect.

If Chu Bai answered that it resembled a human, the Locust Tree Spirit might instantly take human form and wander the mortal world. But most of the cultivation it had accumulated over centuries would be destroyed, and resentment would haunt it for the rest of its life, turning it into a monster half human and half ghost.

If Chu Bai answered that it resembled an immortal, the Locust Tree Spirit could indeed ascend to heaven in a single step and attain immortality. But Chu Bai, as the one who spoke those words, would have to bear the price of defying heaven.

Most of his fortune might be lost in an instant, and his future Dao Path could suffer as well.

It was a trap with no good answer.

Chu Bai used Golden Eye Illusion-Breaker, and his pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.

In his sharpened vision, the spiritual power surging around the old locust tree resembled boiling ocean waves, layer upon layer, bearing down on him with tremendous pressure.

"Qi Refining Late-Stage... at least Qi Refining Seventh Layer, perhaps even Eighth Layer."

Chu Bai rapidly assessed the balance of power.

With his Qi Refining Fifth Layer cultivation and his many perfected Spell Arts, victory would be difficult if they fought. But given his Foundation Depth, escaping unharmed would not be hard. He only needed to hold out until Hu Hao and Feng Qin led their forces in