Chapter 176: The Initial Spirit Tree

First of all, the reason the Ionia region can give birth to a spirit flower like the Blooming Spirit Flower that can communicate with the Spirit World is due to the unique nature of the Ionia region.

Just as mentioned before, the place called Ionia can be said to be the intersection of the Spirit World and the real world, and thus a special world appeared—the Spirit Realm; the Spirit Realm and the real world often intersect almost indistinguishably, so it is very easy for them to influence each other.

And the Blooming Spirit Flower is the spirit-communicating flower born in this special world.

According to modern biology, the emergence of a species is because a certain ability of this species at the beginning could adapt well to the environment to survive and continue.

If the Spirit Realm is filled with "spirits" drifting from the Spirit World as well as spiritual power, then assuming the spiritual power of the Douluo Continent and the spiritual power of the Rune Continent have the same structure.

Then, from the viewpoints summarized from experiments on those spirit-type Soul Beasts, it can be known that spiritual power is a complex energy body mixed with biological consciousness soul power and biological electricity that can be projected externally.

Therefore, in the case that spiritual power is also a special energy, it can also absorb the spiritual power drifting in the environment as energy for biological growth.

The Blooming Spirit Flower might have been an ordinary flower at the beginning, but one day, one of the Blooming Spirit Flowers in the Spirit Realm accidentally developed the ability to absorb spiritual power... or to put it the other way around, the initial plant of the Blooming Spirit Flower that could absorb spiritual power was born by chance.

Eventually, it survived, then bloomed and sowed seeds, and in the process of environmental selection generation after generation, it screened out individual plants that could better absorb the spiritual power drifting in the Spirit Realm.

At the same time, the ability to absorb drifting spiritual power also gave it the "side effect" of being able to communicate with the Spirit World.

And then it became the Blooming Spirit Flower that could communicate with spirits later on.

And this process, of course, would take an unknown amount of time; Ning Feiliu could not cultivate the Blooming Spirit Flower according to this primitive, natural method.

However, the mission reward gave the cultivation method for the Blooming Spirit Flower!

"Make a century-old tree that is about to wither regain its vitality, then inject a large amount of spiritual power, and you can obtain the initial Spirit Blossom Tree." Ning Feiliu said softly, "An old tree meeting spring, crossing the boundary of life and death, and then injecting spiritual power to recast the tree spirit—this is truly a bit of a challenge."

However...

With Dugu Bo's Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well here, making the old tree meet spring should not be difficult.

But the most critical thing is where to find a century-old tree...

Suddenly, Ning Feiliu remembered the old tree in his courtyard, "Right, that old tree... I remember it is already a century old, right?"

"Then let's use this old tree to cultivate it into a Spirit Blossom Tree, but first I have to find a way to move it to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Should I dig it out roots and all and move it over? That would be too conspicuous." He had a bit of a headache.

The key is that in the process of moving it, if the old tree withers directly, then it really cannot be saved.

Cultivating a Spirit Blossom Tree requires a century-old tree that is about to wither, not a century-old tree that has already withered.

From the medical hall to Dugu Bo's Sunset Forest is such a long distance; I am afraid this decrepit old tree will wither directly.

And the key is that Ning Feiliu's Ruyi Hundred Treasure Pouch can hold living things, but the storage space of the Ruyi Hundred Treasure Pouch itself is not very large.

It is only about one cubic meter, and to fit the old tree in the courtyard would require at least ten cubic meters of storage space.

"But it's not impossible; I'll find a way to 'expand' the Ruyi Hundred Treasure Pouch." Ning Feiliu immediately thought and said.

Then a line of small text appeared before his eyes again...

Two days later.

Inside the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

"Kid, why did you transplant this tree here?" Dugu Bo looked at the sickly tree in front of him with some helplessness and said.

The key is that no matter how he looked at it, this tree brought over by Ning Feiliu was a tree as ordinary as could be, and not some Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure.

And it looked like it was about to die.

During this time, Dugu Yan was basically at the Heaven Dou Imperial Academy because she had to train and coordinate with the members of this year's Heaven Dou Imperial Academy Team, though she also occasionally appeared before Dugu Bo and Ning Feiliu.

"Teacher, this is a Spirit Blossom Tree I found in an ancient book." Ning Feiliu smiled and brought out the ancient book as an excuse again, saying, "The flowers of this Spirit Blossom Tree—the Blooming Spirit Flower—are said in ancient legends to have the ability to communicate with the spirits of deceased relatives... I want to... help Sister Yan and Teacher see... Uncle and Aunt again."

He felt it was a bit strange to call Dugu Yan's parents "Uncle and Aunt" at this moment, because as Dugu Yan's student and disciple, it stood to reason that he was of the same generation as Dugu Yan's parents.

But for some time now, he, Dugu Bo, and Dugu Yan had tacitly assumed he and Dugu Yan were of the same generation.

So the generational address was a bit strange.

But Dugu Bo did not care about this, instead, he widened his eyes, his eyes turning red as he looked at Ning Feiliu and said, "Feiliu... what are you saying?! Is what you said true? Can you let me... let me see Xin'er and Zilin again?!"

Losing his wife in his youth and his son in middle age had dealt him a heavy blow, especially after his wife passed away; the death of his son Dugu Xin and daughter-in-law Duan Zilin from poison had become a thorn in his heart that was difficult to remove, causing excruciating pain at the slightest touch.

Now that Ning Feiliu said there was a way to let him see his deceased son and daughter-in-law, how could he not be excited!

"This is just what the ancient book says; I dare not guarantee it will definitely work." Ning Feiliu immediately said with a bitter smile.

To be honest, this time he really had no certainty.

After all, the situation in the Douluo Continent and the Valoran Continent, and even Ionia, were completely different.

The Valoran Continent has a place for harboring souls and "spirits"—the Spirit World, and Ionia has even given birth to the one and only Spirit Realm on the Valoran Continent.

Only then could the Blooming Spirit Flower be used to let people see the souls of their relatives.

But what about the Douluo Continent?

There is not even a clear place for the souls of the dead to go; it is really hard to say whether the Blooming Spirit Flower can be effective.

But if the souls of the dead on the Douluo Continent would, as Ning Feiliu previously guessed, remain in place accompanied by their obsession.

For example, if Dugu Xin and Duan Zilin's souls had not dissipated because their own cultivation was very powerful during their lifetime, and they also remained by Dugu Yan's side because they were concerned about her, then the Blooming Spirit Flower... might also allow Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan to see Dugu Xin and Duan Zilin.

After all, in a face-to-face situation, the Blooming Spirit Flower could directly allow Dugu Bo and Dugu Yan to see Dugu Xin and Duan Zilin.

The most feared thing is that the souls of Dugu Xin and Duan Zilin have already completely dissipated, or have wandered off to an Extreme Yin Land in the netherworld.

In that case, the Blooming Spirit Flower would not be able to function.

"Cannot guarantee it..." Dugu Bo was a bit disappointed.

He could see that Ning Feiliu seemed to really have no certainty this time.

But... he said, "No matter what... I want to see Xin'er, I want to see Zilin... So, Feiliu, feel free to make any request, and I will definitely protect this Spirit Blossom Tree!"

"Actually, what I need now is to let this Spirit Blossom Tree regain its vitality..."

Stimulated by the possibility of seeing his deceased son and daughter-in-law, Dugu Bo immediately tried every possible way to cooperate with Ning Feiliu as if his life depended on it, to make the "Spirit Blossom Tree" before him regain its vitality from a withered state.

However, Ning Feiliu and Dugu Bo's medical skills were peerless, and coupled with the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, this century-old tree that was about to wither really did regain its vitality.

Next, Ning Feiliu poured in a large amount of his own spiritual power, only he did not expect this large amount of spiritual power... to be truly a very large amount.

He poured in spiritual power continuously for three days, and his face had turned somewhat pale.

However, looking at the old tree before him emitting a strange glow, its trunk even becoming somewhat crystalline and translucent, all of this was worth it!

He also had a feeling that his spirit seemed to have formed a very close connection with this first Spirit Blossom Tree of the Douluo Continent.

(End of this chapter)