Chapter 596: Four Thousand Years of Questioning the Dao

"My nephew only suffered one attack, only bitten once." Old Ge himself was no saint and had many lives on his hands; he was also an expert in examining wounds, "Roughly judging, the murderer's mouth had dense teeth, not fangs like ours."

As soon as it opened its mouth, four large fangs were exposed.

"Could it be done by a prisoner?"

"Doesn't look like it. I remember my nephew once let something slip, saying he was handling business under Zhi Mi Shanfeng. That's one of the secondary peaks of Heavenly Pivot Shanfeng, very desolate, with no buildings at all. I was curious and asked one more question, and he stopped talking."

He Lingchuan pondered: "Since the work is so dangerous, have other people disappeared in the Tiangong over the years?"

Old Ge glared: "My friend told me not to ask anymore; I can't afford the secrets of the Tiangong."

He was a smart man and knew what should be asked and what shouldn't be asked too much.

He Lingchuan understood; this topic ended here.

"By the way, didn't you ask about the origin of Fang Canran, the General Manager of Dun Garden, last time?" Old Ge still handled things quickly, "I found someone to ask; his family has been rooted in Spirit Void City for seventy years, and I can't find anything further back; it's too long ago."

"What kind of business does his family do?"

"Oh, everything. When the Fang family first came to Spirit Void City, they had some money and opened two shops, a cloth shop and a clothing store. They operated for more than ten years, probably changed hands, couldn't manage it, so they had to sell the shops and change trades." Old Ge counted on his fingers like counting family treasures, "Later, his family worked as accountants, ran private schools, opened shops again, and failed again... It wasn't until Fang Canran's uncle started doing business again and saw improvement that he brought Fang Canran into the trade. As a result, Fang Canran was much more promising than his uncle, achieving such great results at a young age."

The Golden Horn family was a famous noble family on the floating island; Fang Canran managing their industries was equivalent to a gold-medal professional manager/agent, not only having face but also money.

He Lingchuan nodded: "Well, this can be considered the ancestors' graves emitting green smoke."

It's just that I don't know if Fang Canran's ancestors have any relationship with Shao Jian!

If the Fang family had the heart to hide their family history from outside the region seventy years ago, outsiders couldn't trace it at all.

It seems that the side-probing into Fang Canran's family history ends here.

He took out another ingot of silver: "Old Ge, I need you to handle something for me again."

The shining silver came, and Old Ge was full of righteousness: "Just speak!"

Once familiar, twice familiar, three times become friends.

Mainly because He Lingchuan was generous.

This wealthy guest whispered to him, and Old Ge laughed when he heard it: "Isn't it just running errands and delivering letters? I thought it was some difficult matter; leave this to me in the future."

"Many thanks."

Then, next he had to ask about the past of the Ke family and the divine object.

That was old history from nearly two hundred years ago; even in Spirit Void City, there probably weren't many who knew, and they certainly wouldn't tell him.

Fortunately, He Lingchuan had someone to ask.

Returning to Pan Shan Zhai and having eaten, He Lingchuan returned to his room, closed the doors and windows, and took something out of his storage ring.

The leaf obtained from the Questioning Tree on Ruin Mountain's Heavenly Pivot Shanfeng.

When the Questioning Tree divined good or bad luck for others, it gave green leaves or red leaves, and at most, it gave a leaf that was half red and half green.

When it came to him, it was golden-red.

Red, green, gold (yellow) red... Heh, I don't know what kind of crossroads he is walking on.

He Lingchuan held the leaf and studied it for a long time, finding no divine ability fluctuations. Except for being beautiful, it was just an ordinary leaf.

Old Ge said that many tourists who asked for divination took the leaves home as a travel souvenir, which meant that the thing itself shouldn't have any other use.

In terms of color mixing, red + green = yellow.

Could he understand it as his fate oscillating between good and bad, no longer simple to summarize, but the general trend was bad, so the Questioning Tree simply gave such a result.

In terms of symbolic meaning, yellow leaves also represent withering...

Damn it, he doesn't want to die.

It is said that what Hong Chenglue got was also a yellow leaf, a standard yellow leaf.

Although it was different from his, if there was a suitable opportunity, He Lingchuan also wanted to ask Hong Chenglue to see if the hint of the yellow leaf was accurate.

Several sages and mighty figures of the Great Return Sect, including True Lord Dongli's master, Venerable Wood Spirit, seemed to have sat in meditation under the Questioning Tree. Was their divination ability stronger than True Lord Dongli, who realized the "Collection of Passing Water"?

The greedy Divine Bone Necklace had been heating up, and He Lingchuan found nothing new after flipping through the leaves, so he simply fed it to it.

Watching the golden-red leaf disappear with a "whoosh," he complained to the Divine Bone Necklace: "You're like a Pixiu, only entering and not exiting, only knowing how to ask for things to eat, and I don't see you spitting out anything useful!" Except for that beggar-version Punishment Dragon Pillar.

He was in a subtle and dangerous situation right now and urgently needed help.

Yet this thing was of no use at all.

What could the Great Fang Hu, which made Spirit Void City crazy, actually do? Night wind and rain, he was too lazy to move, so he simply lay on the bed to sleep.

He hoped to enter Panlong City to inquire about the past of the Ke family and the divine object, and find a direction for future actions.

￥￥￥￥￥

It was pitch black all around.

Is this the Panlong Soul Township? He Lingchuan's feeling was very strange; it didn't feel like seeing with his eyes, but he was very clear about what was around him.

He seemed to be in a huge cave, surrounded by layers of chaotic rocks, and the exit was very far away, five zhang away.

This meant the light source was also very far away.

The cave was very damp, and occasionally water droplets dripped from the top of the cave, falling onto the stones with a "dong" sound and breaking into eight pieces.

Where exactly is this? He Lingchuan wanted to walk out and see, but his whole body couldn't move.

He didn't know how long it had been, when the light at the cave entrance dimmed, and someone actually walked in, looking down at him: "It's a tree with spirituality, tenacious like this, yet trapped here, what a pity."

He Lingchuan realized that he seemed to be a thin, weak little tree, with only two pitiful tree forks, and leaves growing and falling.

That person turned and walked out.

Just a few breaths later, a thunderbolt seemed to flash above, and the light was brilliant.

The mountaintop fell, and the cave roof was gone.

All were cut off by a sword.

For the first time in hundreds of thousands of years, sunlight shone into this dark cave.

The little tree bathed in the sunlight, also for the first time shaking lightly due to the breeze.

That person stood among the stones with a sword, smiling at it: "Grow up well, my sect has a connection with you."

Since then, the sun rose and the moon set, countless thunder and rain, countless changes of the four seasons.

He Lingchuan's vision was no longer limited to the tree body, but instead like a holographic view, taking the entire mountaintop into his eyes.

Although there were many differences, this mountaintop still looked familiar, especially that mountain peak whose top had been cut off—

Hiss, isn't this the Heavenly Pivot Shanfeng of later generations! Then what he had substituted for earlier should be the childhood period of the Questioning Tree. The person who opened a path of survival for it was probably... the Immortal of the First Shore? As this tree grew bigger and bigger, the spiritual sense spread out, and it was no longer limited to itself.

It grew faster than other trees and had already drilled out of the cave, stretching its branches and leaves to its heart's content.

At that time, this mountain peak was still called Questioning Shanfeng.

The disciples of the Great Return Sect chatted, played, practiced swords, and realized the Dao under the tree in groups of three or five; numerous immortals set up altars here to open businesses and teach classes.

The Questioning Tree listened silently.

Many of these people had the ability to go high and low, able to ride the wind with tools.

One day, dark clouds covered the mountain, not only shrouding First Shore Mountain but also covering the entire territory of the Great Return Sect.

There were things stirring in the clouds, occasionally revealing a bit of their heads and tails, which were ferocious demon gods.

The Great Return Sect ordered everyone to meet the attack, and for a time, countless rainbow lights rose from the ground, straight into the clouds.

That was a magnificence He Lingchuan had never seen before.

The first great battle lasted for half a month, and more than a hundred disciples of the Great Return Sect died or were injured.

But this was just the beginning of the bloody battle.

Not long after, several terrifying thunderbolts descended from the sky, striking the Questioning Tree.

The big tree was blown into scorched wood, and its spiritual sense was lost.

Therefore, He Lingchuan's eyes fell into darkness again.

When he recovered his vision, it seemed like a long time had passed, because the entire Questioning Shanfeng had changed its appearance.

It used to be lush and green, but now it was bare and desolate, the land was full of gullies and ravines, as if washed by lava. There were almost no plants on the huge mountain range, and the remaining few trees were also withered and yellow, drooping, as if on the verge of death.

The Immortal of the First Shore was gone, and several elders of the Great Return Sect stood under the Questioning Tree, arguing about whether to cut it down.

"It is contaminated with so much demon blood; I'm afraid it will turn into a fierce monster and eat people."

"Other spiritual woods that touch demon blood either wither or turn ferocious. If Uncle First Shore knew the Questioning Tree had become like that, he would definitely be sad."

"Isn't it still fine and hasn't changed? Everything has exceptions! Have you forgotten? Even during the period when the Questioning Tree was struck by thunder, we still kept its leaves with us, thereby blocking Mu Lian's divine ability 'Eye of Truth,' and only then did we successfully sneak up to Mu Lian and defeat it! The toughness and tenacity of the Questioning Tree far exceed us humans!" One elder insisted on his own opinion, "After the great catastrophe of the world, there are very few spiritual objects left in the world. If the Questioning Tree can withstand the erosion of demon blood and survive, it is also the blessing of our Great Return Sect."

Others asked him: "How so?"

"The spiritual energy of heaven and earth has dried up; who among us can live as long as it?" The elder laughed, "Thousands of years later, it can still shade our sect, much stronger than us."

The Questioning Tree was thus preserved.

Time passed, and another thousand years went by.

The traces of the Heavenly Demon's ravages had long since disappeared, and First Shore Mountain was still lush and green.

The elders who discussed cutting down the tree here back then had indeed passed away one after another; only the Questioning Tree's branches and leaves were evergreen, becoming more and more robust.

The aerial roots hanging from the tree grew thicker and thicker, already wrapping around the grotto where the Questioning Tree originated, forming a nested spectacle of a tree with a cave and a tree growing inside the cave.

Upholding the sect's legacy, the disciples of the Great Return Sect were very respectful to it, and many mighty figures of past generations sat in meditation here.

The master of Questioning Shanfeng at this time was Venerable Wood Spirit.

This person had a very sharp head, white spots on his face, and his eyes were usually narrowed into a slit, making it almost impossible for people to tell whether he was asleep or awake.

In terms of appearance, he was truly unremarkable, without the demeanor of a high person. But everyone in the Great Return Sect was very respectful to him.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 597 =====