Chapter 415: Long Sheng Wood

"Take as much as you can?" the senior brother said. "This Husheng Zhenjun Husheng Zhenjun Baosheng does have a touch of a general's bearing."

"Bullshit general's bearing! The main trunks and the most precious heartwood are surely inside! And isn't he sure we can't take much?" the third brother spoke bluntly, though softly. "Most generals talk like this—just to pretend they're generous and bold, saving face."

"Enough is enough. We're bean soldiers—even if we're Long Bo bean soldiers—how much could we possibly use? Even if we bring it back to the mountain and hoard it, if stored improperly, the spiritual aura will fade." The senior brother was honest by nature, and at such moments, he was remarkably at peace. "Contentment brings joy."

"Then just store it properly!" the third brother disagreed. "Back when we were on the mountain, how hard was it to find spiritual wood to practice the Bean Soldier carving art? Now you're being so generous!"

"Let everyone use their own methods and show their own skills," the second brother interjected. "Since Husheng Zhenjun Husheng Zhenjun Baosheng said it this way, let's not be polite—show all your abilities, take as much as you can."

"Second brother's right!" the third brother said. "Don't hold back, brothers. When we get back, I won't shortchange you. Even though it'll be split between me, Lin Lingqing Zhenren, and the abbot who knows contentment, you won't have come for nothing—you've at least put in effort."

The senior brothers exchanged glances.

Lin Jue merely smiled in silence.

With his brothers present, he didn't need to speak—this was a rare moment of ease.

Even the fox crouched beside him, attentively licking its paws and washing its face.

As they spoke, Lin Jue sensed the shift in the wind and aura of this land—only the fox and the fourth brother noticed it too.

Turning to look, he saw the desert winds suddenly quieting, the heavens and earth growing clearer, revealing what lay ahead—far off, in the uneven black stone mountains, there yawned a colossal pit, far wider than the entire city of Zi Yun, hundreds of zhang deep, its shape irregular, as if some immense being had been ripped clean from the earth.

Over the pit hovered a golden barrier crackling with thunder and swirling mist, obscuring its inner form.

Desert winds, golden lightning—ancient mythic awe surged upon them.

Simultaneously, they saw that scattered across the ground outside the golden barrier lay numerous massive branches and tree trunks.

Without hesitation, the group moved toward it.

Soon, all of them stopped.

Before them, a single "branch" dwarfed many great trees; a "fragment" dozens of zhang away was large enough to build a warship; another "side branch" in a different direction easily surpassed every towering tree Lin Jue had ever seen—and far exceeded them.

"How many years must it have grown to reach this size?" the seventh brother asked.

"If chopped into firewood, how many years would it burn?" the youngest sister said.

"They say the growth and longevity of the Long Sheng Wood comes at the cost of withering nearby life. For ten thousand years, this thing has absorbed countless spiritual energies and vital forces," the third brother surveyed the ink-black Mo Du Mountain. "Perhaps ten thousand years ago, this place was once a grassland of green hills, just like outside Zi Yun County."

"The branches carry more spiritual aura than the twigs," the senior brother was already studying.

"The main trunk's spiritual aura is similar to the branches, but the trunk seems harder," Lin Jue stabbed a "fragment" with his long-refined flying sword, then retrieved it—only a faint white mark remained. "It's even harder than my ten-thousand-year Floating Iron Wood."

"Only the youngest sister could possibly move it."

"Then let's take only the main trunks. We can't carry anything else," the senior brother said.

"Why can't we carry more?" the third brother waved his hand. "Twigs we can leave, but branches and trunks must all be taken."

"Agreed!"

The youngest sister rubbed her hands like a fly, then walked toward a massive "fragment"—it had fallen from the main trunk of the Eastern Wang Mu, still bearing lightning scars, likely knocked off by Husheng Zhenjun Husheng and Husheng Zhenjun Husheng Zhenjun Baosheng before Master Fuchi Lord Yi Li Shenjun arrived.

"Hssss… huuuu…"

She inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly.

She slapped her palm against the wood.

"Crack!"

A sharp sound rang out.

The hard wood immediately cracked.

The third brother was truly unceremonious—

He pulled out a jade horse, tossed it forward, and it instantly grew, landing on the ground as a smooth, luminous green jade steed, strong and majestic.

Then he reached into his robes, pulled out several beans, and flung them—over a hundred bean soldiers descended from the sky, kicking up dust so thick it blinded the eyes.

Without hesitation, he bowed deeply to the warriors, his sincerity profound:

"Gentlemen, I beg your pardon! In the past, when I summoned you, it was always to subdue demons, eradicate evil, uphold justice—never for mundane tasks. Today's situation is special. I ask you to help me carry these woods—the fragments of the main trunk of Qinzhou's greatest demon king, the Eastern Wang Mu—out of this Mo Du Mountain. The immortals forbade us from seeking others, and allowed only one such transport."

This stunned the celestial officials above.

Not just the officials—even Lin Jue and the others were taken aback.

One man turning into over a hundred, standing there in a dark mass—anyone would be startled.

The third brother seemed to read their expressions and shouted upward: "I didn't summon anyone else! Only me! This is magic!"

The celestial official turned to look at his heavenly soldiers.

The heavenly soldiers looked back at him.

Neither side knew what to do.

After a long stare, the official shook his head.

He thought: First, these men are righteous sages who helped the locals and the Zhenjuns greatly; second, the Husheng Zhenjun himself promised this; third, they defeated the Eastern Wang Mu's avatar—something no mere celestial official could handle.

"These are mortal sages…"

These Daoists possess cultivation, virtue, and skill—they deserve respect. In these chaotic times, who knows what heights they'll reach?

This set a good precedent—

"Then I won't be polite either."

Lin Jue had originally pulled out his paper donkey to carry the wood, but now he imitated the third brother: summoned fifty-three bean soldiers and one Long Bo giant, then, with equal sincerity, asked them to break their usual duty and help with this non-demon task.

The celestial official's expression hardened again.

Especially when he saw the twelve-zhang-tall armored giant, nearly level with the clouds beneath his feet—he feared the giant might strike him or snatch him down, so he hurriedly raised his cloud, then looked down again.

"These are mortal sages…"

"Besides, the Eastern Wang Mu's body is so vast—how much of this spiritual wood can they possibly carry?"

The official comforted himself with these thoughts.

"Paper donkey, manifest!"

The youngest sister summoned her paper donkey, glanced at her two senior brothers, copied them without hesitation, and began chanting.

"Boom… boom… boom…"

Four three-zhang-tall stone giants appeared.

The fox shifted form, growing with the wind—larger than an ordinary water buffalo.

"These are mortal sages…"

"Chaos is coming, demons run rampant—if mortal sages exist, they benefit the common people…"

The official murmured to himself, persuading himself again and again.

The fourth brother was first startled, then quickly reached into his robe, pulled out a hundred-spirit bird, whispered to it, and asked it to fly out and summon his friends.

Then he pulled out a bamboo flute and began to play.

The flute's melody was light and ethereal, drifting far.

Birds that normally avoided this place now flew in, drawn by the sound.

Don't underestimate these birds—

Standard bean soldier statues are small; even a small bird carrying a toothpick-sized twig can make an arrow or spear; larger raptors carrying thicker branches can carve one or even several bean soldier bodies.

"These are mortal sages…"

"Even if they take it all, what does it matter?"

The celestial official's expression darkened as he thought.

The seventh brother opened Lin Jue's sack, took out two puppets, chanted a spell, and they stirred to life.

He then specifically asked the fourth brother to send word, urging his friends to bring the puppets he'd left in the city.

"These are mortal sages…"

"The Husheng Zhenjun shouldn't blame us…"

The official's face grew stiffer as he thought.

The second brother had no other talent, so he pulled out several potent pills, gave one each to the fifth and sixth brothers, and used his own body as labor.

The senior brother thought for a moment, then summoned over twenty bean soldiers, requesting their aid in the same manner.

As for the ancestral bean soldiers and Long Bo giants left by the temple's forebears—bound by oaths and karmic ties made long ago—he dared not ask, and didn't need so many anyway, so he left them.

Lin Jue didn't summon his two stone horses either.

Even so, the original nine below had now swelled into a large group.

Among them: the towering Long Bo giant, massive stone giants, the five-tailed white fox, donkeys and horses.

"These are mortal sages…"

"No! I must ask the Husheng Zhenjun again!"

The official could no longer hold back—he rode his cloud away.

"Xiao Shimei, hurry!"

"Yes!"

The youngest sister swung her arms fiercely, her hands already red.

The senior brother shattered wood with his Jishi method, but his skill was inferior to the youngest sister's—he was much slower.

Fortunately, this labor didn't require precision.

Soon—

The largest piece had been carried off by Lin Jue's Long Bo bean soldier; six stone giants marched away, bearing massive main trunks.

The third brother's armored night demons followed, dragging several branches.

The fox dragged a Long Sheng Wood branch across the stony ground, leaving a clear trail.

The jade steed and paper donkey carried split pieces of trunk and branch, walking behind; behind them came the bean soldiers, cloud leopards, giant wolves, and puppets, each carrying, lifting, or dragging wood.

The senior brothers carried large chunks too—even the colorful fox's back was tied with a small bundle of wood, and they marched away in line.

Behind them, many flocks of birds flew in, carrying off the broken wood and debris.

The golden light barrier remained intact as wind and sand swept toward it.

By the time the divine official returned from reporting to the True Lord, within a radius of several li, only the golden light barrier and the outermost branches remained—all trunks and main limbs had been removed.

The two heavenly soldiers stood frozen, dumbfounded.

It was said that before leaving, the Daoists of Yishan had still been peering into the golden light barrier, as if reluctant to part from it.