Chương 130: Innate Verdant Wood Physique

Ch130 Innate Verdant Wood Physique Only two mid-stage foundation establishment cultivators have strong enough perception to see what has just happened on the back side of the Wang Clan's mountain. They both stand atop the back of a giant white moose, on the very ledge overlooking the cliff behind the stage. Meng Ruo stands nearby, watching as these two Patriarchs she has not had many interactions with both cough out blood and sit down to focus on their stabilizing cultivation methods.

Both of them have rampant blood qi coursing through their meridians. Even with the mid-stage foundational spirit beast aiding them in battle, they were nearing total defeat against Jiang Duo. The late-stage demon did not even use any of his advanced artifacts or unleash the full potential of his physiques in battle against them. With just another minute or so of battling, Lingshi City would be ruled by the Jiang family without a doubt.

Ripples of extreme fear still echo in these two old patriarchs' hearts, as they recall this old demon's head turn as he sensed his sons and nephews dying one by one, and shockwaves of Lan Xin's fiery aura hitting them from far away. Without this distraction, Jiang Duo would have never left their exchange so fast. Just as they were left at a crossroads whether to follow or escape, Meng Ruo's appearance on a flying vessel and her urgent words for them to leave the area at once confused them even further.

The Meng Clan has been their loyal ally for over a century. She has very little reason to deceive them, and both Patriarchs desperately wish to protect the rest of their clans back on the peak. After making the decision to flee, all three of them watch in awe as the 15 dazzling golden swords dissipate back into the atmosphere. A single gust of this pure waste qi flooding out is denser than standing directly on top of the tier 2 veins within their peaks.

An unfathomable crater scars the back mountain of the Wang Clan, with only a single figure remaining in its center. At the same time, the earth rumbles with subtle vibrations behind them. The entire green apple orchard has been destroyed. Most of the pristine marble white stage has cracked to pieces, and all of the elegantly placed tables of spirit fruits and wines have broken and splintered into fragments.

Craters and cracks cover the ground, the pathways are unrecognizable, and almost every apple tree has fallen or been burned down. The Mu family's young and elders are the closest, all huddled together and still in a defensive formation, but there are only blood demons and enemies of their family scattered around, dead in pools of their own blood.

The Wang family is in a similar position, one young boy, Wang Tengru, in the center of their defensive formation looking up at the sky where bright manifestations of golden light once flashed. He whispers to his father, "That was him… Li Hao, wasn't it?" his eyes wide, replaying this young friend of his older cousin activating a shield artifact that saved his life, powerful enough to kill a foundation establishment cultivator before his eyes, then run off toward more danger without thinking twice.

Wang Ruze turns around with a nod, but places a finger to his lips and continues staying on guard, spectating the danger as the leader, as he is the strongest present member of the Wang Family. At least, on this side of the orchard. Wang Ming's fists are tightly squeezed, covered in layers of blood. Mantou's mouth and teeth are stained crimson as well. They both stand radiating invisible vibrations on either side of a green eagle, a young woman, and an old man bleeding from all orifices.

Mu Zhiheng has collapsed out of pure exhaustion. He defended them from three 2nd level foundation establishment cultivators alone. His only advantage was that his main acquired physique is the Verdant Wood body at the initial stage of the spirit grade, and has been consolidated at this rank for decades. Even so, his attackers had two perfected mortal-grade physiques, certainly overpowering him when working all together.

The only reason he's still breathing is because they left to follow Jiang Yu's orders for revenge. The strongest elder below the Patraich of the Mu family now lays on the ground with a cracked physique, damaged meridians now coursing with blood qi, and even fractures in his dantian from blocking direct hits from these demons. In just the half minute since the chaos has calmed, he's already lost a full level of cultivation, falling down to the 1st level of foundation establishment.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Wang Ming protected him from being ambushed and killed off sooner, but a fractured dantian is possibly an even worse fate than a damaged soul. To heal such a wound fast enough, a perfect-grade tier 2 elixir, or even a low-grade tier 3 elixir would be necessary. Dense streams of bright green condensed qi infused with the wood element flow out in an irreversible river.

Soon, he will fall back into the qi refining realm, and such a drop in his current state would make the foundation establishment-level injuries marring his body impossible to withstand. It appears the initial-stage foundation establishment cultivator of the Mu family will die today.

"Mu Shulan… I'm glad you're safe." He murmurs through a cough, staring up at the young woman crying in a blood-stained white and green robe, holding onto him while her eagle's wings shield them from the aura Wang Ming gives off to the best of its ability. She shakes her head, "Not you too… I lost my mother, and my father-" Mu Zhiheng coughs and cuts her off, "He is not gone… My brother is stronger than I'll ever be, he is not gone."

"They have been in the Black Marsh Hidden Realm for over a decade… they are gone uncle!" The man's face starts to rapidly age as he loses more of his cultivation, he closes his eyes and smiles, "The fact that the fighting has stopped, and the Jiang family has not returned means our Patriarch has achieved victory. You still hold a string of fate tied to this Prefecture that is far too strong to be severed by a mere late-stage blood demon."

A horrible sounding crack ripples through the air, as his foundation starts to break, forcibly lowering him back to the 10th level of qi refining. His physique no longer has a strong enough base to be maintained and tries to degrade too, making all of the crimson wounds on his body grow as they greedily absorb the excess energy. The old man's face becomes old with wrinkles, and tears continue to drop from Mu Shulan's face. She lets out a loud cry, refusing to believe the sight before her eyes.

A subtle wave of vibrations pulses out of her body, and her mutated wood spirit root attracts all of the roots, broken chairs, tables, and downed trees in the area. They tingle and turn toward the woman losing control of her sanity. Her emotions overwhelm her, making her sea of consciousness blind her view of the outside world. Mu Shulan's eyes glow with a bright green light, and she acts on complete instinct, unable to accept Mu Zhiheng's imminent death.

All of the roots and plant life within the area resonating with her begin pulsating, and waves of their lifeforce travel through the ground toward her. It looks like an enormous green circular array is forming, with Mu Shulan at its center. Her feet glow green, and she presses her palms against her dying uncle's chest. Pulsing waves of energy flow from the surrounding orchard into this dying old man's body. The cracks in his dantian stop leaking energy.

His meridians flare up like they're living roots attached to this array. The fractured layers of his Verdant Wood Physique resonate perfectly with Mu Shulan's vibrations like they're one and the same. These fractured pieces meld with the added energy that Mu Shulan radiates, and a physical wooden orb of green energy forms to seal Mu Zhiheng's dantian, soul, and now perfected mortal-grade physique together as one.

At the same time, the young woman's complexion starts to become pale, her meridians vibrate and strain as though they're about to tear apart. Above her in the sky, a flickering image of a green budding sapling manifestation tries to form. It is a sign that this cultivation realm is attempting to congratulate her for awakening a physique, but it requires far more energy to fully trigger. To continue this reaction, she would certainly have to sacrifice her own life.

The momentum is pushing her to fall deeper and deeper into her instincts, very similar to the loss of control in a complete soul fracture. She is not strong enough yet to awaken the true physique locked away in her bloodline. Wang Ming runs forward, very aware of this phenomenon, as he experienced a version of it himself not long ago. He pulls the soul metal pendant off his neck and ties it around hers, tearing her away from certain death.

Deep within her mental sea, the faces of her mother and father leaving still ache and remain, but a familiar aura now touching her makes her remember Wang Ming's parents both left him to go on that same mission. He was the only one that understood her pain and kept her happy and distracted when they were young. She does not want to lose her uncle too, but if it means she loses herself, she would be selfishly adding even more loss to the one person that understands her.

Loud yells finally slip through her mental block, "Please! Listen, Lan'er! Stop using this technique, stabilize your soul before it's too late!" She stops resisting and accepts she's done all she can. The flickering shadow of a small tree in the sky fades before it can show its true form, and the green array on the ground disappears. A strange phenomenon is left behind.

All of the plant life and roots that were once left burned and destroyed on the battlefield now somehow appear vibrant and healthier than they were before. Despite being used as an energy source to save the life of this man, they were all momentarily connected to the budding half-awakening of an Innate Verdant Wood Physique, infusing them with far more life force in return than they sacrificed. Mu Shulan falls into deep concentration, while the elderly-looking man beside them slowly opens his eyes in confusion.

– There are two initial-stage foundation establishment cultivators left in the orchard. They did not reveal themselves in the chaos, but this strange green array connected to all plant life in the area has piqued their interest. The Patriarch's of the branch families of the Lingshi City Lin and Wei clans did not care to step in and stop the battles, but now, they do not seem entirely indifferent to the strange events that are happening.

Both family heads turn away from the failed awakening of Mu Shulan and turn their attention to the massive white moose that walks back toward the orchard carrying the horribly injured Wang Yang and Mu Shouxin. The Wang Family Patriarch is still too concentrated on keeping his soul intact to speak. Mu Shouxin calls out with a booming tone to all that will listen, "The Jiang family has attempted to eliminate our Mu and Wang Clans on this day, but we have prevailed as victors.

All five of their foundation establishment elders have been vanquished, and as the only two remaining Azure Cloud Sect-mandated leaders of Lingshi City, Wang Yang and I proclaim the Jiang family and all their allies as our enemies. We shall retaliate and reclaim their peak, slaughtering all of their bloodline as they tried to do to us! Those of the Tang and Fu Clan, as well as various qi refining families who attempted to profit off our downfall will not be spared either.

All who are injured, stay with the Wang Patriarch here to recover; those allies remaining that can still fight, come with me to finish this once and for all! You will be rewarded!"