Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine

Feng Zhuo sat cross-legged, two cultivation methods circulating through his body at once, his Divine Sense always on guard.

Yanba had fully absorbed the spiritual power and advanced to the sixth tier. He now stood loyally at his master's side.

Although the Yi Wood Qi felt familiar to him, the blood Sha Qi permeating the air made him restless.

How did Master end up in a godforsaken place like this...

Yanba muttered to himself.

Then he thought with soaring courage, But since I've acknowledged him as my master, I'll follow him through mountains of blades and seas of fire!

...Of course, it would be even better if he could eat a beggar's chicken before he died.

Feng Zhuo couldn't bear to look. "Your drool."

He turned toward the divine tree. "Senior, do you know how to leave this place?"

"No."

By now, Yi Wood had shed its sacred guise entirely.

Not a trace remained of the holiness it had put on at first. It sounded just like an old man on the street.

This must be what returning to one's original simplicity was like.

It had told the young man in red before it a great deal.

It had told him about the Everlasting Spring Scripture cultivation method and described the Yi Wood Sacred Physique and certain special physiques from High Antiquity.

It had also spoken frankly: this was an ancient battlefield, and the plant coiled around it was a vicious plant from High Antiquity, a highly ominous thing that grew by absorbing blood resentment Qi.

It stood guard here solely to keep the vicious plant from going out and wreaking havoc on the world.

Yet the young man before it remained doubtful.

Though Yi Wood was anxious, there was nothing it could do.

In truth, after ten thousand years of confrontation, the roots of the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine had long since become entangled with Yi Wood, the two growing together.

Although it had suppressed the Soul-Devouring Vine here for so long that its tier had fallen again and again,

Yi Wood's vitality had also been worn away alongside it in the process.

When the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine died, that would also be the day this Yi Wood, whose lifespan was equal to heaven and earth, withered away.

More troublesome still, the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine, one of the ten great vicious plants of High Antiquity, possessed a trait called "rebirth."

When Yi Wood perished, it would be true extinction.

The Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine, however, would be reborn in this blighted land as a young shoot.

Though the reborn Soul-Devouring Vine would have none of its predecessor's memories, slaughter would remain in its nature.

If the young Soul-Devouring Vine were left here after Yi Wood's death, it would absorb the endless blood resentment Qi in this place and, one day, rise again.

When that time came, without Yi Wood to suppress it, it was all but certain to break out of this secret realm and wreak havoc on the Profound Firmament Continent.

Naturally, Yi Wood chose to keep these secrets to itself.

It knew full well how greedy human nature was. If the young man learned of the vicious plant's young shoot, there was no guarantee he would not covet it.

That would be the real disaster.

Feng Zhuo's tone was even. "You're about to die."

"I know."

Feng Zhuo's expression barely changed. He simply stood and walked toward Yi Wood. "When the secret realm closes, I'll leave this space."

He paused, then added, "Or perhaps the day you die will also be when this space shatters."

Feng Zhuo had guessed correctly.

Yi Wood did not deny it. "Aren't you afraid of being buried here with me?"

"When this space shatters, with your mere Qi Refining Stage cultivation, escaping the spatial rifts will be as hard as ascending to heaven."

"Then I'll die."

Ever since his epiphany that day, Feng Zhuo had been prepared to die.

If he truly could not prevail against Su Ruanruan or the Heavenly Dao, then his skills were simply inferior, and all that remained was to die.

For now, though, Feng Zhuo had abandoned the idea of obtaining Wood Qi from the divine tree before him to repair his physique.

"It's only death. With Yi Wood for company, though I'll still die in obscurity, it'll be... far better."

Yi Wood could not make out what Feng Zhuo said afterward.

On the ancient battlefield, it had seen far too many cultivators go to their deaths with noble resolve, yet it persisted in asking, "Then you'll die?"

"Then I'll die."

Feng Zhuo had now walked beneath Yi Wood's canopy. After regulating his breathing, his Divine Sense had fully recovered.

Yet even at the furthest reach of his Early Golden Core Stage Divine Sense, he still could not discern the full extent of this Yi Wood.

He supposed that in its prime, it would have been no lesser than the Wutong-Roosting Divine Tree.

"You believe me?"

"There's nothing more to it than believing or not believing."

Feng Zhuo wasn't sure whether he could leave this space alive after Yi Wood died. "I just want to take a gamble."

For his parents, for his sect, and for himself, he would take this gamble.

"I often heard my senior brothers and sisters say how much fun the gambling dens down the mountain were. Trying it today, I find it rather nerve-racking."

"Haha-"

Yi Wood laughed heartily, for itself and for Feng Zhuo. "You really are a little madman."

"A little madman?"

Feng Zhuo shook his head, then nodded. "I suppose so."

"Then I'll take this gamble with you."

Yi Wood had originally wanted Feng Zhuo to become the next Yi Wood, one that would share a lifespan with heaven and earth and remain in this space forever to suppress the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine.

But now, "You knew from the start what was coiled around my trunk?"

Yi Wood asked, and Feng Zhuo answered, "I did."

That was also why he was acting as he was now.

The Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine was one of the vicious plants of High Antiquity. Once it emerged into the world, it would bring a sea of blood stretching to the heavens across the Profound Firmament Continent.

For his parents and his sect, he needed to risk himself today.

"It seems you come from an extraordinary background."

Yi Wood did not linger on the subject. "Your Fire and Wood Qi are strong. Have you contracted a Divergent Flame?"

A third-tier spirit flame flew out from between Feng Zhuo's brows. His gaze remained fixed on the patterns rich with Dao resonance in Yi Wood's leaf veins.

"Phoenix Fire?"

Yi Wood was a little surprised. "Are you a cultivator of the Phoenix Clan? Do you know that fellow Wutong-Roosting?"

Feng Zhuo nodded. "I don't know what Phoenix Clan you mean, Senior, but I am indeed a cultivator of the Feng Household."

"As for Wutong-Roosting, do you mean the Wutong-Roosting Divine Tree?"

It seemed the Heavenly Dao also took pity on its hardships...

Yi Wood thought that, since he was a member of the Phoenix Clan under Wutong-Roosting's protection, there should be no great problem...

It did not explain its relationship with the Wutong-Roosting Divine Tree, instead explaining the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine's "rebirth" to Feng Zhuo.

"You want me to contract the young Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine and use the Yi Wood Sacred Physique to restrain it, so it can no longer wreak havoc on the world?"

Feng Zhuo found it absurd.

Vicious plants did not develop spiritual intelligence; they knew only slaughter from birth. Even if he formed a Life-Bound Contract with the Soul-Devouring Vine, it would still regard him as a target to attack.

The final price the Divine Plant Yi Wood paid to suppress the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine was to die with it.

How could he possibly use the Yi Wood Sacred Physique to suppress the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine completely?

"Don't you also have Phoenix Fire?"

"The Nirvana Divine Fire is a flame of ultimate yang. Once your Phoenix Fire devours it, it too will gain the properties of a flame of ultimate yang. And apart from Yi Wood Qi, what the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine fears most is a flame of ultimate yang."

The Feng Household's collection of books recorded only the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine's name and contained no further information.

"Senior, do you know any other weaknesses of the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine?"

The divine fire was a sixth-tier spirit flame.

Although two wisps had appeared in the past thousand years, an unprecedented occurrence, Feng Zhuo still had his mother and uncle ahead of him. How could it possibly be his turn?

Unless Feng Qingge really did sneak into the ancestral grounds and steal the divine fire for her son.

But Feng Zhuo was ultimately bound to be disappointed.

"No. The Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine is something the Heavenly Dao will not tolerate, an existence that defies heaven itself. Having two things that can suppress it is already good."

"However..."

"However?"

Yi Wood continued, "The Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine feeds on blood resentment Qi and also uses it as a weapon."

"If you can find a Law Treasure or spiritual object that counters blood resentment Qi, you can also use it to restrain the Nine Nether Soul-Devouring Vine to some extent."

Feng Zhuo said nothing. Blood resentment Qi targeted cultivators' seas of consciousness, while Law Treasures and spiritual objects related to Divine Sense were the hardest to find.

Seeing Feng Zhuo's hesitation, Yi Wood asked, "Are you unwilling to risk your life again?"

"I am willing."

Feng Zhuo came back to himself, and a smile spread across his face. "It's something the Heavenly Dao won't tolerate, and I'm probably also despised by the Heavenly Dao. Aren't we a perfect match?"