Chapter 395: No Martial Virtue

At this moment, Wei Yuning and his companions were already riding the celestial shuttle toward the starry sky.

Even though they still had to navigate the lonely starry sky for more than three years, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

The celestial shuttles supplied by Wan Jun and Qin Wu were both top‑grade shuttles of the starry sky, and Wei Yuning never shuns having more of such fine things.

In the end, Qin Wu's shuttle was halved in price, and a thousand low‑grade celestial stones plus a small thick earth realm also became Wei Yuning's.

After the navigation was adjusted, the now‑familiar companions no longer needed to guard against each other and all began to sit in meditation for cultivation.

Cultivation knows no passage of time; aside from occasional awakenings to eat, Wei Yuning and the others spent everything in cultivation.

Their current destination is another starry‑sky route located in the Ancient God Star Domain, and this route passes through a massive starry‑sky teleportation array called "Edge Land."

"Edge Land," as the name suggests, sits at the edge of the material world of the Primordial Realm; beyond it lies the endless void. This star‑energy convergence zone is extremely vast, covering an area the size of a star system.

By passing through Edge Land, one can teleport directly near Wan Gu Xiancheng, and then use a few medium‑size teleporters to reach the destination, Green Forest Guard City.

Time flew swiftly; three years passed in the blink of an eye.

According to estimates, there are three days left before the celestial shuttle enters the starry‑sky route of the Ancient God Star Domain.

Wei Yuning recalled something, hurried into a private compartment of the celestial shuttle, entering the Life Space Ring. As the shuttle's owner, he naturally enjoyed extra privileges and deliberately built a private room for himself using supple bamboo.

After many days, Elder Xian Shu saw Wei Yuning again and couldn't help venting his grievances.

In fact, Sect Leader Xian Shu's sphere of activity has grown considerably compared to before.

The Abyssal vines continuously convert the dead‑silent aura on the evil infant into wood‑type essence, nourishing the side of the Life Realm where the withered tree stands; the Living Realm's extent keeps expanding and now approaches a quarter of the entire Life Space Ring.

Even so, his active range is only three hundred zhang, because most of the Life Realm is shielded by the Abyssal vines, whose source of protection is that withered tree.

The small pond in the Life Realm has now become a pond spanning over ten zhang in radius, and it is the only place Elder Xian Shu passes time. Near the pond, he has planted some bamboo and spirit herbs, the seeds of which, of course, all came from Wei Yuning.

The soil of this small Life Space is unusually fertile, allowing any plant to grow extremely fast. Relying solely on harvesting spirit fruits and roots, Xian Shu is more than satisfied.

The food is rich in spiritual energy and has a peculiar taste, unexpectedly loosening the cultivation realm he had been stuck in for a long time.

In a small bamboo house by the pond, Wei Yuning and Xian Shu sat opposite each other, with two steaming cups of spirit tea on the table before them.

In response to Sect Leader Xian Shu's complaints, Wei Yuning offered two solutions. First, after reaching the new route, join as a new passenger; second, have Lord Divine Turtle send him straight back to Bi Yi Island.

Seeing Wei Yuning's serious expression, Xian Shu quickly laughed and refused, preferring to stay here rather than return to Bi Yi Island. After entering the starry‑sky route, the journey to Green Forest Guard City would take only about a month, so there's no need to go out and trouble oneself.

He said those words were just idle complaints.

The spirit tea isn't old stock from Hong Le; it's made entirely from fresh spirit herbs grown inside the Life Space Ring. Though the preparation is ordinary, its freshness makes the taste quite good.

After finishing the tea, Wei Yuning chatted a bit longer, then contacted Divine Turtle, asking it to inform Snow Dada on Bi Yi Island to come out quickly; they are heading toward Wan Gu Xiancheng, while the path to the Celestial Realm lies in another direction.

This time Wei Yuning's party ran into so many events, all ultimately tied to Snow Dada. Had they gone straight to Green Forest Guard City, none of this would have happened.

Lord Divine Turtle responded very slowly; only after half a day did a spiritual message arrive.

"Notify immediately!"

Time was pressing, and Wei Yuning could not conveniently return to the celestial shuttle, so he stayed here to wait.

He left the small bamboo building where Sect Leader Xian Shu resided and went to the place of the withered tree.

Nourished by wood‑type essence, the withered tree grew even more luxuriant, its twelve fruits now fully hidden among the green leaves; only when approached closely can one glimpse faint rays of light through the gaps.

The Abyssal vines, upon seeing Wei Yuning, stuck out their heads and cuddlyly approached like a pet. Their appearance, however, was rather poor; they still resembled ordinary vines, but now sprouted tumor‑like growths, making them extremely ugly.

Wei Yuning's curiosity sparked; he leapt upward, wanting to see how those fruits had grown.

He arrived at a distance of one zhang from the fruits, slipped through a crack, and happened to see the earliest‑formed fruit.

The fruit had grown to the size of an adult's fist, its surface shimmering with colors, yellow‑orange tinged with a hint of green; by appearance it was almost ripe.

For some unknown reason, Wei Yuning felt a stream of saliva flowing down, filling his entire mouth and spilling toward the corners.

He gathered his body, approached again, parting the branches; he was only an arm's length from the fruit.

Suddenly, a semi‑transparent multicolored aura sprang up, forcefully flinging him away. When he hurriedly activated his body technique to stop, he was nearly falling to the ground.

Wei Yuning's expression turned grim.

"No way—after all that hard work, isn't this what I grew? This withered tree really lacks martial virtue!"

At that moment, the Abyssal vines shuffled over again, lingering.

Wei Yuning's mind stirred; he issued a control command to the Abyssal vines, ordering them to pluck that fruit.

Unexpectedly, the usually obedient Abyssal vines twisted continuously, sending him a series of bizarre, unintelligible messages; though Wei Yuning couldn't comprehend them, he guessed their meaning and refused to obey.

He had forcibly seized that Abyssal vine that day, so logically it should have obeyed his command unconditionally. Yet this vine differs from ordinary plants of the Living Realm; its life traits lie between plants and low‑level animals, and when faced with a powerful foe, animal instinct makes it timid—exactly the case now.

With no other choice, Wei Yuning had to go in again; he never imagined that plucking a fruit would be so arduous.

He flew back to the spot, slowed his movements, first bracing a hand on the trunk, then gradually moving his body toward the fruit.

When his hand touched the spot where the light shield had been, a strange energy invaded his spiritual consciousness, and instantly his body, inside and out, was seen through completely.

However, the energy was calm and balanced, leaving Wei Yuning with no desire to resist.