Chapter 1224

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Protagonist:

Xu Changqing

After the two reached a consensus, they spoke not another word.

Luo Qinghan maintained the Vacuum Law Realm at a balance point that could cover both of them without excessive consumption.

Xu Changqing, for his part, split the Blue Yuan Light into several strands fine as hair, spreading them in all directions to capture any anomalies in the surroundings.

In the underground space, both of their Divine Senses were compressed to a range of less than a hundred zhang.

Fortunately, as an extension of the Yuan Dao, the Blue Yuan Light suffered far less suppression than Divine Sense; the effective perception distance of the strands could reach more than three times that of Divine Sense.

Although it fell far short of the thousands or tens of thousands of li one could probe when outside, in the current environment it was already the only reliable method.

And the process of searching for the exit was much slower than Xu Changqing had imagined.

There were two reasons.

The first reason: the area of the underground space was far larger than the estimate derived from the dome's height and field of view; the ground woven from root systems was not a flat expanse, but undulated with many natural gullies and rises.

In every gully flowed a dark green liquid seeping from the root systems on both sides.

The liquid converged into streams that appeared only several zhang wide, yet were actually bottomless.

A thin layer of fluorescence floated on the stream surfaces, and under the reflection of the dome's red light, it refracted a strange color between green and red.

The second reason: there were simply too many exotic flowers and grasses growing in the underground space, and every single one was enough to make any Wood Spirit Root cultivator unable to move their feet.

After bypassing the third root-system gully, Xu Changqing's probing strands swept over a half-mu depression; there were no root systems or streams there, replaced instead by a layer of dark green moss several zhang thick.

On the moss's surface, countless tiny silver veins were densely arranged.

On the veins, at regular intervals, grew a transparent needle-like plant, each needle wrapping a drop of green liquid inside.

Xu Changqing recognized it at a glance — this was Wood Marrow Crystal Dew!

A top-grade spirit liquid that only naturally condenses in an environment where the Wood Dao Law concentration is high enough to transform spiritual energy from a gaseous state into a liquid state.

Elsewhere, even in the Northern Dipper Xianfu, one would need a grand array to repeatedly compress Wood Spirit Qi for a hundred years just to obtain a small bottle.

Yet here inside the Living Star, it simply condensed on the moss by the roadside.

One could even reach out and harvest it directly.

"What a pity."

Xu Changqing gritted his teeth, dragged his gaze away from that patch of moss, and continued controlling the Blue Yuan Light to probe forward.

After exploring for about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, a wall appeared before the two.

Yes, a wall.

On the wall body, a parasitic vine seen only in ancient book illustrations grew densely; the vine's main stem was as thick as an adult's arm, its bark charcoal-black, with a ring of golden annual-ring-like patterns every chi.

On the vines, every three chi hung an extremely fine rootlet.

The rootlet tips swelled like silkworm cocoons, each cocoon wrapping a slowly pulsing green light core.

Xu Changqing raised an eyebrow — this thing's name in the ancient texts is Thousand-Year Fate-Binding Vine, a rare spirit plant deemed extinct since the Ancient Period.

Inside its cocoon-like fruits lies life origin essence so pure it can be used directly to extend lifespan without refining.

In the Spirit Plant Bureau, it is marked as "Peerless Grade".

The entire Northern Dipper Xianfu's spirit plant repository records only three Thousand-Year Fate-Binding Vine cocoon fruits.

Not to mention they are all old stock, and a certain senior had already used up two of them long ago.

As for the last one, it is sealed in the Spirit Plant Bureau's Ten Thousand Spirit Ice Vault; unless one is a Spirit Farmer of Void Refining stage or above, one doesn't even have the qualification to apply for a viewing.

Yet on the wall before Xu Changqing, there hung several dozen vines, each vine bearing over a dozen cocoon fruits.

A glance revealed at least several hundred.

Several hundred life origin fruits from peerless-grade spirit plants, hanging right within reach of the two — yet neither Xu Changqing nor Luo Qinghan touched a single one.

Both knew clearly in their hearts.

Once picked, what would be attracted would be either the Master or something else.

This place is not the very safe Floating World Four Domains.

The person or power capable of cultivating a Living Star is certainly no simple matter.

Following the safe route probed by the Blue Yuan Light, the two continued deeper into the underground space for about half a double-hour.

Along the way, the density of exotic flowers and grasses not only did not decrease, but grew ever higher.

When passing through a flower sea that emitted a soft fluorescence, Xu Changqing halted his steps.

In the center of the flower sea, on a six-chi-tall sapling, hung three fruits the size of an infant's fist.

The fruit skins were semi-transparent; one could clearly see that what flowed inside the flesh was not juice, but strands of Law Rivers self-deriving.

Each Law River corresponded to a derivative variation of a Wood Dao Law.

In the three fruits, the complete processes of three life stages — sprouting branches, blooming, and bearing fruit — were respectively evolving.

"Hiss!"

"Could it be... this is the legendary Wood Dao Three-Life Fruit?"

"Junior Brother, you recognize it?"

Xu Changqing nodded lightly: "After consuming the fruit, a cultivator's Wood Dao Law affinity will obtain a qualitative leap."

Luo Qinghan thought for a moment, then asked: "Then... do you have any thoughts?"

Hearing this, Xu Changqing stood before the Wood Dao Three-Life Fruit and paused for a full three breaths.

After three breaths, he helplessly turned and left.

Though he especially wanted it, he did not dare act recklessly.

If he were alone, he could leave at any time using the teleportation array in Shen Guo.

However, this time Second Senior Sister was beside him, and she had taken care of him quite a lot along the way.

Therefore, no matter how much he wanted it, he could not implicate her.

In short, let's get out first.

Anyway, the Living Star is right here; it shouldn't run off in a short time.

After participating in the Eternal Night Ruins, he could just make another trip.

Therefore, Xu Zhangqing took a deep breath, then changed the subject: "Elder Sister, I feel we are not far from the exit."

The spirit plants along the way were becoming higher rank and denser, showing that the cultivation path upgraded step by step from the Outer Perimeter toward the center.

In other words, all the good things were inside.

Of course, this also meant that if Master was here, he would definitely be in the deepest part.

Luo Qinghan nodded slightly upon hearing this: "Not bad, I thought the same."

Immediately, the two bypassed the Flower Sea.

After passing through a low hill full of purple vines, Xu Zhangqing's Blue Yuan Light suddenly captured a ripple.

That ripple was extremely weak, so weak that if he did not deliberately distinguish it, he would mix it into the Wood Dao Law everywhere around him.

But its frequency was very stable, appearing repeatedly at a fixed rhythm.

And every time it appeared, it would cause a tiny ripple on the Fa Ze Ceng Mian.

The ripple spread outward from the source of the fluctuation, sorting out part of the disorderly Wood Dao Law around it along the way.

This "sorting" characteristic made Xu Zhangqing think of the strange fluctuation on the surface of the Living Star that extended from South to North at intervals!