Chapter 140: The Secret of the Wood Spirit (5,000 words, seeking monthly tickets)

"Go, don't worry about him."

Watching everyone surround the thin Daoist, Cheng Xinzhan did not stop. Seeing Eleventh Lady still looking at the spirit beasts with powder on their foreheads with reluctance, he pulled her to leave quickly.

Eleventh Lady looked at Cheng Xinzhan grabbing her sleeve, her heart filled with joy, and then she didn't think about those prey anymore.

"Everyone, those who know the current affairs are heroes. Why not look at those two? Those are the smart people."

Seeing Cheng Xinzhan and Xiao Eleventh Lady just look at it and leave, the thin Daoist pointed in the direction where the two left and said with a smile.

Everyone naturally didn't listen. I don't know who took the lead, but dozens of people attacked the thin Daoist together.

Regardless of the movement behind him, after walking a little further, Cheng Xinzhan said,

"In that herd just now, I saw a wood spirit."

Xiao Eleventh Lady was surprised, "Really?!"

Cheng Xinzhan nodded. He operated his Nine Yang Returning Form Cinnabar Pupils just now, which was the best at showing the origin. After operating the spiritual pupils, he saw that among the many herds, there was a small plum deer with green brilliance inside, no blood Qi, only Wood Essence, which must be a wood spirit.

The two immediately caught up with the herd. The wood spirit was indeed still mixed in the herd.

"It's that plum deer."

Eleventh Lady looked in the direction of Cheng Xinzhan's finger. She couldn't see any difference between that small deer and the surrounding spirit beasts, just asked,

"Then how to catch the wood spirit? Generally speaking, all wood spirits have Wood Escape and Earth Escape. Although performing escape techniques will consume the wood spirit's essence, once they think they are going to be caught, they will immediately perform it, and if they are not careful, they will escape into the ground."

Cheng Xinzhan smiled, "With me here, it can't escape."

He found the right time, pinched the seal formula, pointed at the herd, and recited,

"Trap!"

Eleventh Lady saw a large pit suddenly appear in front of the wood spirit's feet, and the wood spirit couldn't dodge and fell in. After the wood spirit fell into the pit, the land closed again, and the spirit beasts behind stepped on it and continued to flee.

Eleventh Lady was anxious, grabbed Cheng Xinzhan's forearm with both hands, and said anxiously,

"The wood spirit has escaped!"

Cheng Xinzhan said, "Don't be anxious, let's see."

After the herd left, the two waited for a long time. Several waves of people passed by one after another. What made the two very surprised was that among the people who passed by, the thin Daoist was safe and sound, but the people who besieged him were all injured.

What is his background, and he is so powerful now?

Cheng Xinzhan thought, but it was not a good place to do it. After all, they were all guests invited by the Xiao family. If they could meet again next time, they must fight face to face and eradicate the demon.

After confirming that the crowd had basically gone to the front, the two appeared and landed.

Arriving at the place where the wood spirit was trapped, he waved his large sleeve, and the land separated again, revealing a large pit. In the pit, a small deer was struggling and pawing its hooves with green light on its body, but it was of no avail, not even a speck of soil fell, as if this was not soil, but fine iron.

Now that it was close, Cheng Xinzhan used his magic pupils to look again, and saw that there was clearly a small plum tree shaking in the hole, and it was using its roots to dig into the ground, but it couldn't get in no matter what.

"What's going on?"

Eleventh Lady looked at this scene and asked curiously.

Cheng Xinzhan smiled without saying a word. He practiced Wu Earth, and it was not difficult to turn earth into stone.

He lifted the plum deer out with magic power. The wood spirit still wanted to run, but he flicked a golden spark and stopped it in front of the wood spirit. Feeling the intensity of the Yang fire, the wood spirit immediately became honest.

"Don't eat me!"

The plum deer spoke human words, and it was the voice of a little girl.

Cheng Xinzhan was a little surprised. The spirituality of this wood spirit was so sufficient.

Eleventh Lady's eyes were even more colorful. She didn't expect the clan to be so generous this year. She gently touched the deer's forehead and said softly,

"Don't eat you, don't eat you. From now on, you will follow me, and all the spirit elixirs will be given to you first!"

Eleventh Lady's voice was gentle, but it also carried the majesty of a long-time superior, which sounded quite convincing.

The little deer could understand human words, but its intelligence was not high. Being touched and coaxed, it gradually relaxed.

"How do you put this thing away?"

Cheng Xinzhan asked. If it was led openly, I'm afraid the remaining one hundred and ninety-eight people would surround it.

Eleventh Lady smiled, pinched the seal on her hand, changed it repeatedly, drew a spirit talisman out of thin air, and hit it into the little deer's body.

Just hearing a thin sound of a broken lock, the little deer immediately showed a relaxed and happy expression, calling out.

"These wood spirits were all caught from outside by the elders of our Xiao family. A secret spell of our Xiao family was cast on them. If the secret spell is not unlocked, the wood spirit can only walk as a spirit body. Otherwise, if the wood spirit turns into its original body, we can't find it no matter what."

Xinzhan nodded, so that's it.

"Little deer, you can return to your original body now!"

The little deer nodded, green light flashed on its body, and it turned into a small plum tree.

Xiao Eleventh Lady opened the sachet at her waist, performed magic power to pick up the plum tree, and put it into the sachet.

This sachet could actually store spirit objects, which was also an extremely extraordinary treasure.

After collecting the wood spirit, Eleventh Lady bowed to Cheng Xinzhan,

"Really thank you, Xinzhan. With this wood spirit, my future cultivation will be much easier. For me, this is the biggest gain of the Autumn Hunt. I don't care how many prey others get."

Cheng Xinzhan waved his hand,

"Why do you and I need to be so polite? Let's go, let's see, what if we can find another one?"

Eleventh Lady smiled and said okay.

However, the two were not so lucky next. Because they were afraid of being discovered, they waited for others to go north before catching the wood spirit. Now the two were behind the herd and the crowd. Let alone the wood spirit, even the spirit beasts with powder were caught or driven away. They didn't see any of them.

Eleventh Lady didn't care, walking happily all the way, constantly saying that this was already very good, this was already very good.

So the two simply walked slowly, not thinking about the spirit beasts with powder. These were definitely watched by people, but focused on finding wood spirits, especially looking at small things like rats, sparrows, snakes, and rabbits that were not easily discovered.

Entering the island early in the morning, until dusk, the two still had no gain.

"Jiu!"

When the two were about three hundred miles away from the north corner, they suddenly heard a sharp whistle.

"This is the signal sent by the Elder. Either all the spirit beasts with powder have been caught, or the spirit beasts that have not been caught have entered the pine forest. There is still half an hour, and the Autumn Hunt will end."

Eleventh Lady explained.

The two no longer had any hope.

"Wang! Wang!"

A quarter of an hour after the arrow sounded, Dengge suddenly started barking. The dog lowered its head, its nose tightly stuck to the ground sniffing.

There was something in the ground.

However, the thing in the ground seemed to have sensed it, and immediately began to escape in the ground. But Dengge was also a dog demon close to the Earth element, and the smell in the ground could not escape its nose at all. Wherever the thing in the ground ran, Dengge ran on top.

Cheng Xinzhan saw this and snorted coldly in his nose.

"Boom!"

A clap of thunder in the clear sky, a sudden thunder sound on the dry land. Cheng Xinzhan even added Dragon Might to this sudden thunder sound.

Dengge immediately stopped. It should be that the thing in the ground was captured by the Dragon Thunder.

At this time, Cheng Xinzhan operated magic power again, the land surged like waves, and a long-bearded white rat was lifted to the ground.

Dengge leaned over and sniffed.

Dengge's movement woke up the white rat. Seeing a huge dog head, the white rat was startled and shouted, so scared that its beard stood up.

The white rat immediately wanted to escape, white light flashed on its body, and a jump was about to return to the ground. However, at this time, the ground had already been cast by Xinzhan, and the white rat drilled its head into the ground, but it seemed to hit fine iron.

"Ouch!"

The rat spoke human words, but it was an old man's voice.

Another one that could speak.

Is it a demon or a spirit?

Xinzhan bent down, grabbed the white rat's tail and lifted it up, mentioning it in front of his eyes.

He operated the Cinnabar Pupil magic eye and saw that the inside of the white rat was also bloodless, only green light flashing. Looking carefully, in the green light, it was a ginseng with extremely long roots shaking.

He nodded to Eleventh Lady, "Not a rat demon, it's a wood spirit."

Eleventh Lady was overjoyed when she heard this, but looking at the white rat carefully, she was slightly disgusted,

"What's wrong with transforming into anything, why is it a rat, and an old rat that has lived for years."

This white rat was showing its old age, with long beard and long eyebrows, and wrinkles on its face. The appearance was indeed far from the small plum deer just now.

Eleventh Lady cast a spirit talisman into the white rat's body again,

"Let's see what your original form is."

However, after Eleventh Lady finished speaking, the white rat still maintained the white rat form and refused to transform into its original form.

Seeing this, Eleventh Lady's face showed joy instead. This wood spirit was caught and still refused to show its original form, which must be that the original form was precious, making the white rat dare not show its form.

"Xinzhan, can you see what this white rat's original form is?"

"It's an old ginseng."

Eleventh Lady was even more overjoyed when she heard this, "Ginseng transforming into a spirit is extremely difficult. This ginseng must be five hundred years old. Xinzhan, you take it, it can greatly increase magic power, maybe you can open the Wood Mansion in one fell swoop!"

Having been together day and night for these few days, Eleventh Lady already knew Cheng Xinzhan's realm.

"Don't eat me!"

The white rat spoke human words, it was an extremely old voice, saying the same thing as the little deer in horror. Eleventh Lady didn't agree this time. Ignoring the white rat's request, she looked at Cheng Xinzhan,

"Xinzhan, this old ginseng is of great age, and its transformation has shown an old phase. It is extremely difficult to go further, and its lifespan should not be long. It is not suitable for my cultivation either. You should take it, just to help you enter the Second Realm."

Eleventh Lady said earnestly.

"Two immortals! This old man's cultivation is not easy. Since I gained intelligence, I have been hiding. Seeing that my lifespan is about to end and I am about to reincarnate, this life has gained intelligence. If I die of old age, I should be able to reincarnate as a human in the next life. If I can't escape the disaster of being eaten by humans, I will still be an ignorant plant in the next life! Please raise your hands!"

The old white rat shed tears.

Cheng Xinzhan softened his heart. He looked at Eleventh Lady.

Eleventh Lady rolled her eyes and said fiercely to the white rat: "The so-called Dao of man is to damage the insufficient to serve the surplus. You were caught by the elders of my Xiao family and were captured by us again. How can you be released for nothing!"

The white rat understood Eleventh Lady's words, its pitch-black eyes rolling around. Soon, the white rat said,

"This old man has a secret that can be exchanged for this old man's life."

"What secret?"

Eleventh Lady asked immediately.

However, the white rat said, "I want you to take this old man away from this island, and swear to release this old man after hearing the secret, and not to block or hunt, and also not to allow this Xiao family member to hunt."

"You!"

Eleventh Lady didn't expect that the reputation of her Xiao family was so unbearable in the heart of this old white rat.

Seeing Xinzhan about to agree, she said again,

"No, if this secret is useless to us, for example, some family secrets, or if this secret is something we can't get, for example, some secret realm, what's the use of us knowing? Furthermore, what if you are lying to us?"

Eleventh Lady's words also made sense. Cheng Xinzhan nodded.

The Xiao family's heart was really many.

The white rat looked at Eleventh Lady, shook its head and sighed,

"Why would I lie to you? I'm not a merchant."

Eleventh Lady was laughed at, and she refused to let go, "Anyway, you have to tell us what kind of secret this is before we can judge whether it is useful to us and whether it is worth exchanging for this ginseng you transformed into."

The white rat nodded, "This must be a secret that interests you. This old man thinks that there should be no one in the world who is not interested in this secret, and this secret is also thousands of times more valuable than this old man."

"Two, have you ever heard of the Ginseng Fruit Tree?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 141 =====

The two arrived before the pine forest, where everyone was already waiting, the bald Elder included.

"Good, everyone has arrived. Now, let us begin counting the prey."

The bald Elder said.

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

Suddenly, a series of sounds of heavy objects hitting the ground rang out.

Everyone's gaze turned to the thin Daoist; he had dropped the corpses of sixteen Powder-Dot Beasts.

The most anyone else had was five.

Eleven-Niang dropped a purple sable.

Most others were empty-handed.

Cheng Xinzhan glanced over; there were forty-eight beast corpses on the ground here. It seemed only two had hidden in the pine forest.

"Did anyone catch a Wood Essence during this Autumn Hunt?"

The Elder asked.

"I did."

Eleven-Niang replied crisply.

Everyone's gaze turned toward her.

Eleven-Niang walked before the Elder, unhooked her sachet, opened it, and handed it to him.

The bald Elder glanced inside and looked at Eleven-Niang with great surprise.

The crowd had been staring at Eleven-Niang and the bald Elder; seeing the Elder's expression, they knew she had truly caught a Wood Essence and immediately began to discuss it in hushed tones.

Eleven-Niang had hunted one Powder-Dot Beast and caught one Wood Essence, which was equivalent to eleven beasts. Combined with her sixth-place ranking in the performance review, this would surely place her in the top three of the overall assessment.

Several of those ranked high in the performance review thought to themselves: fortunately, Xiao Yuan's guest advisor was skilled and hunted fifteen Powder-Dot Beasts, but his performance review was just mediocre. With this gap, they still had a chance to compete for the top spot.

The bald Elder cleared his throat and began to announce the results of the Autumn Hunt.

"The top spot for this Autumn Hunt goes to Xiao Hou, who caught two Wood Essences and one Powder-Dot Beast."

The crowd was in an uproar!

Two!

She caught two Wood Essences?!

Xiao Hou was indeed Xiao Eleven-Niang's name.

This was also the first time Cheng Xinzhan learned Eleven-Niang's name.

"Xiao Yuan, second place, hunted fifteen Powder-Dot Beasts."

The Elder continued, but no one cared about second place anymore.

The thin Daoist looked at Cheng Xinzhan; someone who could catch two Wood Essences couldn't just be lucky. He had searched as well but found nothing. What was this person's background?

As for Eleven-Niang, the thin Daoist didn't even consider her; the Xiao family might be good at business, but they certainly didn't have such keen eyes and means.

The crowd whispered, and Xiao Yuan, who had thought victory was in his grasp, turned red with embarrassment. Amidst the chaos, the bald Elder finished announcing the rankings and finally said:

"As you guests have seen, this small island has nothing of great value, but it is the only ancestral property my Xiao family has left on the land. The island-protecting array was laid by a high Daoist from Mount Laoshan, so I ask that after this matter is concluded, you do not reveal this island to outsiders, to prevent harm to others and yourselves."

These words were spoken quite gravely, and everyone naturally agreed.

The Autumn Hunt ended just like that. Everyone left the island; some guest advisors left directly, while Cheng Xinzhan and Xiao Eleven-Niang returned to Jiang Nan City.

After returning to the city, a hundred Xiao family disciples followed the bald Elder to the City Lord's residence, while Cheng Xinzhan waited at the Douduo Pavilion to have tea.

Before long, Eleven-Niang returned, smiling.

Cheng Xinzhan saw her joyful expression and asked with a smile:

"How did it go?"

Eleven-Niang's face bloomed like a flower as she said:

"The performance review and the Autumn Hunt are tests of the Xiao family disciples' business, cultivation, and ability to befriend high-level people. I was sixth in the review and first in the Autumn Hunt, so I took the top spot in this year's overall assessment. For the next ten years, I will have more money at my disposal, and this is a case of 'leading by one step, leading by every step.' This is all thanks to Xinzhan!"

Cheng Xinzhan waved his hand and said with a smile, "That is all because Eleven-Niang is capable."

————

There was a small lake in the Douduo Pavilion courtyard with a small pavilion in the center. The two went to the pavilion, and Eleven-Niang sent the servants away.

The two sat down, and Eleven-Niang took the old ginseng from her sachet and placed it on the stone table.

A flash of spiritual light flickered over the old ginseng, and it transformed back into a white mouse.

The white mouse sniffed hard with its nose and asked, "Are we in the White Jade Capital?"

The two nodded.

"No, we must return to the land. Once I tell you the secret, let me go."

Eleven-Niang raised an eyebrow; did it not trust her?

Cheng Xinzhan, however, nodded.

"Then let's go down. It just so happens that I should return to my sect as well."

Hearing this, Eleven-Niang agreed, but she secretly glared fiercely at the white mouse.

Thus, the two descended back to the land, returning to Qilu, and landed randomly in the wilderness.

"Alright, you can say it now."

Eleven-Niang looked at the white mouse.

But the white mouse ignored Eleven-Niang and looked at Cheng Xinzhan instead:

"This Daoist, may I ask if you are a disciple of the Sanqing Sect?"

Cheng Xinzhan nodded.

"Then may I ask the Daoist to swear in the name of the Sanqing Sages that as long as this old one reveals the secret, you will set me free, not obstruct me, not hunt me down, and furthermore, you must not allow this Xiao family member to hunt me down either."

"You!"

Eleven-Niang hadn't expected that the reputation of her Xiao family was so wretched in the eyes of this old white mouse.

Seeing that Xinzhan was about to agree, she immediately added:

"Wait, what if this secret is useless to us? For example, some human favor or secret, or if it's a secret we can't obtain, like some mystical realm or death zone—what use is it to us if we know it? Furthermore, what if you are just lying to us?"

Eleven-Niang's words made sense, and Cheng Xinzhan nodded.

The Xiao family really had too many tricks.

The white mouse looked at Eleven-Niang, shook its head, and sighed:

"Why would I lie to you? I'm not a merchant."

Eleven-Niang was so angry she laughed, refusing to yield: "In any case, you must first tell us what kind of secret this is so we can judge whether it's useful to us and whether it's worth trading for this old ginseng of yours that has gained sentience."

The white mouse nodded: "This is definitely a secret that will interest you. This old one thinks there shouldn't be anyone in the world who wouldn't be interested in this secret, and this secret is also ten thousand times more valuable than this old one."

"You two, have you ever heard of the Ginseng Fruit Tree?"

(End of chapter)