Chapter 150: Smash

"May I ask which senior you are? I am a junior cultivator from the Tianyuan Continent, had no intention of intruding here; please forgive me for disturbing your cultivation," Jiang Yu replied with unflinching composure.

The soft voice said again, "You're not being honest; you clearly came here on purpose."

Jiang Yu's mind raced, "Senior, please forgive me; I was only trying to find a way out."

"But I didn't realize I had touched something and awakened you; I will depart immediately."

She brushed and leapt back to the ground; the anticipated attack never materialized, yet the door would not open.

"I do not know what instructions you have, senior; if I can fulfill them…"

"Bring the Dragon Tears; you have disturbed the Dragon Tomb on the mountain?"

"I can't open the storage bag right now." Jiang Yu felt a sudden thump in her heart; she had just taken something from the bag, grabbed a handful of high‑quality spirit stones, and also brought the Dragon Tears into her hand.

Even though she put them back into the storage bag, a white glow was revealed.

"Go and insert the high‑quality spirit stones into the Undying Tree; its spiritual power will recover," the soft voice said without any extra words.

Jiang Yu said nothing more, simply pulled the door with force, and it opened.

She swiftly affixed the Namu Ring to her forehead; as the high‑quality spirit stones fell into her hands, she immediately placed them at the roots of the nine trees at breakneck speed.

The spirit stones, upon merely touching the tree roots, instantly lost all spiritual energy, turning into a speck of powder.

"Too stingy; add more, it's to your advantage."

"Don't think about escaping; this is my territory," the soft voice said again.

Jiang Yu, though her thoughts were seen through, remained undeterred; she once again took out the remaining high‑quality spirit stones, turned around, and delivered them to the tree roots.

In just a moment, she felt her entire body's spiritual power unsealed, and her spiritual consciousness could also be released.

"Jiang Yu, hurry into the Dragon Pearl," Jiang Tu, who had been watching for a long time, still could not locate where the soft voice was coming from.

Though it originally had seven tiers, here it was suppressed to five tiers; leaping out of the Dragon Pearl might hinder Jiang Yu.

But Jiang Yu shook her head in refusal, did not obediently hand over the Dragon Tears, and instead removed two boxes of Heavenly Thunder Seeds from the storage bag.

Honestly, weapons of this sort, which require gathering heaven‑and‑earth thunder and lightning to forge, are quite expensive.

"Senior, please let me go; I will naturally surrender the Dragon Tears."

"Bold, aren't you," the soft voice said before it finished, and countless vines from all directions coiled around Jiang Yu.

The Undying Tree had been growing here for countless millennia, so dense that it nearly covered the entire Heaven King Temple.

However, Jiang Yu now possessed spiritual power and would not simply await death; who knows if the one who obtains the Dragon Tears might kill to silence others.

So she immediately unleashed several fire talismans that exploded; amid the booming sounds, the vine branches turned to charcoals.

"Stop!" the soft voice suddenly became harsh and frantic.

Yet Jiang Yu not only remained unyielding but intensified the fire talisman attack; for a moment, as daylight illuminated the Heaven King Temple, additional flames lit up the scene.

Meanwhile, by the river, Xia Bing and the others who had just finished delivering people and gathering, heard the sound and saw the fire when the first fire talisman exploded.

She shouted, "Damn, it's Jiang Yu; Guo Jue is staying behind."

Then she sped away without looking back, with Cheng Zigu following behind her.

But Min Chi Yuan stayed by the river, having no intention of helping.

"Benefactor Min is staying behind; I'll go help," Guo Jue said, also urging Senior Brother to follow.

But when he tried to leave, Deng Yuanwu objected, and even Ma Daoyou of the Ten Thousand Swords Sect and Qin Zhuo of the Profound Heaven Sect all opposed his departure.

It wasn't for any other reason; these people's bodies were immobilized, yet their minds were on guard against Eastern Continent cultivators, especially Min Chi Yuan.

If a villager arrived later, it's uncertain whether Min would shield the Tianyuan cultivator, but there's a fifty‑percent chance he'd kill everyone and leave with the storage bag.

But they overestimated the villagers; upon hearing the commotion from the Heaven King Temple, most would just climb onto the roof to check, then every household would shut their doors tightly, with no one venturing out.

Some youngsters who tried to run out were beaten and scolded by their parents and locked inside, fearing their children might encounter the legendary immortal and be killed.

Indeed, the villagers here have no intention of following an immortal to cultivate; they only believe the legends passed down through generations: an immortal descends, mortals die.

On this side, Jiang Yu also knows that successive fire talisman explosions will alarm many, but she has no choice but to act this way.

That soft voice, through several changes, kept demanding Jiang Yu to cease, yet it had no further means to deal with her.

Apart from constantly commanding the vines to bind her, it merely cursed her in frustration.

Jiang Yu, needing to counterattack, did not search for its location, but the idle Jiang Tu, inside the Dragon Pearl, could view the entire small temple.

Moreover, he quickly discovered that the owner of this voice was hidden inside a large umbrella held by a Heaven King statue.

With the spiritual‑power Dragon Pearl activated, its transmission reached Jiang Yu's ears swiftly.

Jiang Yu retreated while smashing talismans, and the pursuing vines clung to her, saying, "I cannot go in any longer; a single slip and I'll be captured."

At this moment, the soft voice, exasperated, shouted, "Stop smashing, stop smashing! Take the Dragon Tears."

Jiang Yu, hearing that, indeed ceased her attack—not because she trusted the opponent, but because she felt her physical strength and spiritual power hovering again at the brink of sealing.

It was simply indescribable.

"Senior, I can stop smashing, but please tell me how to leave the village area."

"You have also seen that I possess my own consciousness…" Jiang Yu heard Xia Shijie's increasingly close shouts; she deliberately paused, "Not just me; all of our party of over ten people have not lost our minds."

"I don't believe you for a ghost!" the soft voice exclaimed, only to discover the temple doors had been smashed open from outside.

As Xia Bing burst in, her entire spiritual power suddenly returned, and without a second thought she rushed to Jiang Yu's side.

With a swift motion, she drew the Ice Basilisk Sword she had selected from the sword pool and forcefully slashed at the half‑charred Undying Tree's vines.

A few "crack" sounds later, the vines were entirely encased in a thin layer of ice.

Just as she was about to swing another sword to shatter the icy tree, the soft voice, enraged, shouted, "You've gone too far; all of you, get out!"

With that cry, it hurled Jiang Yu, Xia Bing, and the pursuing Cheng Zigu out of the Heaven King Temple.

The three flew out of the temple doors like sandbags, and in an instant each used their own body techniques to land steadily.

At that moment, Cheng Zigu exclaimed with surprise, "Spiritual power, the spiritual power has returned!"

But before he could enjoy it for two seconds, the three's spiritual power was locked again.

Jiang Yu stepped forward and pushed the temple door, but it still wouldn't budge. "Senior Sister Xia, the way out might be inside the temple."

"It's not here, go look elsewhere." An angry voice came from inside the temple.

Jiang Yu hesitated slightly, in her senior sister's doubtful gaze, she cupped her fists toward the inside of the door: "Please, senior, point out a clear path; after we leave, besides dragon tears, I will offer double the spirit stones."

"Hmph, you go back on your word."

"If I don't show some strength, will you let me go after you get the item?"

The other party remained silent for a long time before speaking again: "Two dragon tears, two hundred high-grade spirit stones, and I'll let you go."

But whether they can actually leave with their lives is beyond its control.

"Alright, it's a deal. Please, senior, prescribe an effective remedy to awaken the consciousness of some of my teammates."

"I'll go look for the other dragon tear." Jiang Yu pushed her luck.

A soft voice gave a cold snort, and several astringent fruits the size of jujube pits were thrown, thudding repeatedly against Jiang Yu's chest.

She didn't mind at all, she and her senior sister quickly picked them up, hurried to the riverside to feed them to the teammates, and the effect was immediately effective.