Chapter 68: Spring Departs and Autumn Comes

Over the next two days, they challenged it several more times, all ending in failure. This Foundation Establishment wooden man was very fond of kicking butts, kicking them into the lake many times!

After several times, Lin Jing felt that his butt had turned into a lotus flower; perhaps he wouldn't even need to sit on a lotus when he transformed into a Buddha in the future.

Besides that, the wooden man’s combat experience was also exceptionally rich. When they flew into the sky using leaves, the wooden man would throw stones from the ground, fast and accurate.

Lin Jing raised the Long Li, using the Fire Control Art to manipulate flames, wanting to rely on attribute restraint, but the wooden man would shake out lake water to block it.

The wooden man was also vegetation. The Pine Needle Mouse wanted to use the Azure Emperor Longevity Art to check and balance it, but the opponent only stiffened for a moment before breaking free immediately.

As for ghost fire and illusion, that was even more nonsense. The wooden man had no soul to burn and would not be affected by illusion.

Fortunately, the wooden man was not a real enemy; otherwise, Lin Jing and his companions would have died a dozen times already.

However, although they had failed many times, Lin Jing could still see hope for victory.

According to the combat process, the wooden man should be afraid of fire; otherwise, it could have completely resisted the attacks like it did with the Flying Leaf Art and Water Arrow Art, instead of dodging or shaking out water to block.

"Increase the Long Li’s cultivation."

"Increase my own cultivation and the proficiency of the Fire Control Art."

"On the Pine Needle Mouse’s side, continue to cultivate the Azure Emperor Longevity Art. The Azure Emperor Longevity Art does have a restraining effect on vegetation, but because the Pine Needle Mouse’s magic power is currently insufficient, it can only control it for less than a second in battle. But if it reaches Minor Success, it might be able to hold it for longer."

Lin Jing analyzed and found that to defeat the wooden man, they needed a significant increase in their existing magic power and skills.

"Cultivate."

Food could be self-sufficient, and spirit stones were exceptionally abundant. It was just cultivation. Lin Jing and his companions immediately began to cultivate bitterly, testing the results of their practice with the wooden man every day, unaware of the passage of time. The only thing that made Lin Jing regret was that the Blood-Sucking Vine was of a somewhat high grade, and he could not synthesize it with his current Glazed Immortal Pupils for the time being; otherwise, he would really like to see the effect of the mutated Blood-Sucking Vine.

Spring departed and autumn came. In the blink of an eye, three months passed.

The battle between Lin Jing and his companions and the wooden man had escalated to a fairly intense level, but after so long, they still could not defeat the wooden man.

By the lakeside, the wooden man was fixed in place, unable to move. In three months, the Pine Needle Mouse had long reached the ninth level of Qi Refining, and the magic art had already reached Minor Success.

After the Azure Emperor Longevity Art reached Minor Success, the effect of devouring the Blood-Sucking Vine was much worse, approaching invalidity.

At this very moment, the Pine Needle Mouse no longer liked to use the mechanical bamboo gun as a weapon, but had changed to an ordinary tree branch!

Its Daoist robe fluttered. After fixing the wooden man for a moment through the Minor Success magic art, at the same time, under the urging of its Azure Emperor true qi, the branch in its hand grew and mutated frantically, soon turning into a thick tree trunk moving forward, binding the wooden man!

Vegetation control!

When the wooden man struggled, Lin Jing, holding the "Long Li Zen Staff," had already formed a seal with one hand, manipulating the flames spat out by the Long Li to attack!

In three months, the Long Li’s cultivation had reached the eighth level of Qi Refining, and Lin Jing’s cultivation had also reached the seventh level of Qi Refining. The breakthrough in cultivation made the Long Li’s flame temperature higher. The powerful flames, supplemented by Lin Jing’s more precise control, were compressed into fire bombs the size of pills shortly after being spat out of the Long Li’s mouth, flying toward the wooden man!

Under the cooperation of Lin Jing and the Pine Needle Mouse, the fire bombs followed the gaps in the tree binding and all smashed onto the wooden man. With a few rumbles, they could already cause a certain amount of damage to the wooden man.

But what made Lin Jing and his companions feel the most frustrated was that after enduring a round of bombing, the wooden man could still move with its whole body charred black, and with the help of the aftermath, break free from the tree entanglement and rise up to counterattack.

Such an opponent that did not know pain or fatigue was really difficult to deal with.

After a battle, the Long Li, Lin Jing, and the Pine Needle Mouse were all short of true qi and were defeated. The wooden man, although burned over a large area and having endured multiple rounds of attacks, with half its head blown away, could still fight.

"No more fighting!" The months of fighting also changed Lin Jing and his companions’ mindset. They no longer thought about winning by relying on hoarded resources, but wanted to see if they could defeat the enemy with their own magic power.

Of course... the real reason was because the Pine Needle Mouse didn't want to waste its hoarded goods in daily training.

"Senior Magic Pine, how come I feel that the wooden man’s strength has become stronger again? You didn't secretly adjust the data, did you?"

"Didn't you say it would maintain the combat power of the early Foundation Establishment stage? I feel... its defense has definitely improved."

Lin Jing lay on the ground, panting heavily. The Pine Needle Mouse and the Long Li were each leaning to one side, also having this feeling.

"Have you noticed? It is reasonable for your opponent to become stronger over time, just like you. It has already grown very slowly."

"In the path of magic cultivation, you must not only be stronger than your opponent for a moment, but your growth speed must also always be faster than your opponent’s. Only in this way will you not be beaten to death by the righteous path." Senior Magic Pine did not deny it.

Lin Jing rolled his eyes, knowing there was something wrong.

"Let me teach you another lesson. As a magic cultivator, never believe other people’s words; otherwise, you won't have enough lives. You believed me when I said it—too young."

"Understood." Lin Jing no longer wanted to refute that he was not a magic cultivator.

"Give us a few more days, and we should be able to defeat it."

"The tree entanglement spawned by the Pine Needle Mouse alone cannot bind the wooden man for long before it breaks free! Divine Wood Seal. If I and the Pine Needle Mouse can also use the Divine Wood Seal taught by Senior in actual combat, we can better lock its actions and then inflict heavy damage on it!"

The Divine Pine said: "The Divine Wood Seal is cumbersome to prepare, and you need to work together to perform it. If you want to use it in battle, it won't give you time to prepare."

The Divine Wood Seal, the sealing magic art that seals the Ice Soul Gu, is essentially the application of spiritual power. It requires imprinting divine patterns like bloodlines on wood-attribute creations with spiritual power, making the wood-attribute creations contain divinity, just like one’s own will attached to the divine wood, suppressing everything.

Lin Jing could not control vegetation, but having lived two lives, his spiritual power was strong, and his control over power was more precise. As for the Pine Needle Mouse, while controlling vegetation, its energy could not be distracted to imprint spiritual divine patterns, so currently, both sides could only work together to perform it.

However, as the Divine Wood said, even so, it was very difficult, because Lin Jing alone needed an extremely quiet environment to meditate, mobilize, and release spiritual power, and the imprinting process was extremely difficult. When practicing before, it took several minutes to do it. This was still the time after his mind had been strengthened by Buddha light. It can be seen that the Divine Wood Seal is not something that Qi Refining cultivators can play with.

In a few minutes of battle, the Long Li would have already cooled down.

"Senior Magic Pine, since there is no time to prepare in battle, just prepare dozens or hundreds of divine woods imprinted with divine patterns before the battle, and then let the Pine Needle Mouse take them out to control them." Lin Jing said.

The Magic Pine asked: "Didn't you say not to use hoarded resources to fight the enemy in battle?"

"Senior, as a magic cultivator, never believe other people’s words. I went back on my word." Lin Jing applied what he learned.

"Then I also went back on my word. I won't give you the chance to defeat the wooden man. Now I want to change the assessment content and teach you another lesson. As a magic cultivator, don't reason with the person who makes the rules. Fists are the hard truth."

Lin Jing: ???

Good, good, good. Ginger is still old and spicy.

After the Magic Pine finished speaking, the Pine Needle Mouse and the Long Li also felt like they had been struck by lightning. Beaten for three months and not given a chance to take revenge? What a wicked magic tree!

"I sense that a spiritual plant containing space attributes is about to be born in the Great Wilderness. It should be good for that squirrel. Go and snatch it."

"Squeak?" The Pine Needle Mouse, which originally felt that life was loveless, suddenly had true qi gushing out like a spring in its body. It quickly climbed up, its eyes shining.

"Spatial spiritual plant???" Lin Jing was startled.

"Yes, there should be a few Demon Core stage great demons and Golden Core cultivators who have also set their sights on that spiritual plant. I will not make a move. You think of a way yourselves. After finishing this job, go to the academy."

"Senior, why don't we just fight the wooden man instead."