Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Lord! Thank you for saving us!”
“These are some pills refined by our family. We hope that it will help resist the evil beings.”
The situation temporarily stabilized. At this moment, the cultivation family clan that they had protected sent cultivators up to thank them.
The surname of this family was An. They were neither big nor small and could barely stand on their own in the cultivation world. With their strength, it was already extraordinary that they could last until the reinforcements from the Scripture Storage Valley arrived.
If Elder He and the others had arrived half an hour later, this family would have probably ceased to exist.
Leading them was an old man with white hair and a white beard. He had not even reached the Core Formation realm and was only a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. This was actually the norm for small forces in the cultivation world.
As soon as the other party came up, he kowtowed and thanked the many cultivators on the flying ship. He could not help but cry.
After thanking them for a long time, he carried a tray with a cloth bottom and handed them a pile of things.
There were many medicinal pills, porcelain bottles, and an old ginseng that had become a spirit.
In addition, behind the old man were fifteen young female cultivators who had just entered the Qi Refinement realm and were lightly dressed.
Clearly, they were also part of the thank-you gift.
To the female cultivators of these small family clans, if they had the chance to cling to a disciple of the Scripture Storage Valley, their lives might change.
However, the people from the Great Mountain Alliance and Scripture Storage Valley were not interested in them.
They were even more disdainful towards their medicinal pills.
On the market, the price difference between a large sect’s medicinal pill and this kind of small family’s self-made medicinal pill was also worlds apart.
Some small families even dared to sell the pills before removing the pill poison. Therefore, unless they had no choice, they were not interested in eating this kind of medicinal pill.
However, the old man clearly knew their thoughts and took the initiative to open the stoves of a few porcelain bottles.
As soon as this pill bottle was opened, to everyone’s surprise, an alluring sweet fragrance spread out and entered their noses.
Even on this flying ship, the turbulent airflow and violent wind could not blow away the smell.
It was really just tempting.
The smell of this medicinal pill made people instinctively feel that the bottle contained something good.
A group of Foundation Establishment cultivators could not help but be attracted closer. Even the Golden Core cultivators present subconsciously swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva.
They all wanted to try one.
They did not even know the name of this pill, and this thought popped up in their minds.
Only top-notch cultivators at or above the Nascent Soul realm, who had the Nascent Soul or Essence Soul respectively, would not be affected by such bodily instincts.
Only then did they sense that something was amiss. They looked at the pills in front of them in puzzlement. They did not know why a mere remote small family clan could produce these good pills.
“Envoys, please give it a try. This is a medicinal pill refined by our family’s Mountain Ginseng King. It has the effect of recovering spiritual qi and strengthening the soul!”
“Thank you for saving the An family, envoys. Please don’t stand on ceremony.”
The old man spoke again, trying his best to promote the medicinal pill in his hand, his words extremely sincere.
Many Foundation Establishment cultivators smelled the pill and almost drooled. Their rationality was already suppressed by their instinctive desires.
When they heard him say this, how could they endure it? They all grabbed the medicinal pills and wanted to send them into their mouths.
However, just as they were about to eat the pill, dozens of vines that grew out of nowhere tied their hands tightly, preventing them from moving.
“Who is it!”
The thing they wanted was right in front of them, but it could not be delivered to their mouths. This feeling of not being able to obtain it made them almost go crazy.
These disciples of the Scripture Storage Valley who had obtained the pills seemed to have become different people. They were all furious and looked at the person who stopped them.
However, they discovered that those vines grew out from under Jiang Li’s feet.
Jiang Li’s aura released and retracted, causing these fellow disciples to suddenly tremble. They woke up from their irrational states. What was wrong with them?
Realizing that something was wrong, they hurriedly threw away the pills in their hands and retreated in fear.
As a thank-you gift to the savior, it was natural to give them some good things. However, it could increase their cultivation level, strengthen their soul, and the smell was so sweet and tempting. How could a small An family resist not eating everything?
Moreover, the sweet smell was different for Jiang Li.
It was an unusual smell. As someone who cultivated the Nine Nether Dao Scripture, he could distinguish an extremely strong pheromone from it.
This smell meant that it was a spiritual root seed of the same kind!
Jiang Li raised his hand and took a medicinal pill. He squeezed it lightly, and after the outer shell was rubbed off, a round seed was indeed revealed.
There was indeed a problem with the An family. In fact, their base was so close to the Mother River, so it was very normal for there to be a problem.
When the old man saw that the situation was bad, he turned around and wanted to escape. However, he was only at the Foundation Establishment realm, so he was easily swept back by a root from Jiang Li. He was firmly wrapped around and thrown to the side, unable to move anymore.
“Lock him up. We can’t let go of all the cultivators of the family below. Seal everything first and interrogate him later.”
Under Jiang Li’s command, a Golden Core cultivator and 30 Foundation Establishment cultivators flew down. Such strength was already enough to crush them.
“Oh no, there’s probably something wrong with the other distress points! Elders, quickly inform them!”
After putting all the “medicinal pills” into his bag, Jiang Li suddenly recalled this and hurriedly got the other elders to personally remind them.
Elder He also hung up his communication spirit stone and told his fellow disciples to be careful.
The vicinity of the Mother River was really a place of wolves and tigers. When cultivators came here, they were very easily parasitized by the spiritual root.
Back then, Elder Duan Shuang, Yu Banxia, and the two Golden Core sword cultivators were not spared. The other nearby cultivation forces clearly did not have the ability to resist.
The cultivators among them might not be completely parasitized, but there were definitely many enemies hidden inside.
Jiang Li felt very comfortable using this kind of spiritual root seed technique, but when other Nine Nether Wood used this method to deal with him, it felt impossible to guard against.
From the performance of many cultivators just now, it was very difficult for cultivators before the Nascent Soul realm to discover any clues about the spiritual root seed.
Indeed, it was a species that had survived from ancient times. This kind of method was really rulebreakingly powerful.
Soon, the few elders sent out found the other teams in the Scripture Storage Valley.
“Alliance Leader, 13 people have already taken the medicinal pills. There are no abnormalities currently. The local sects are already under our control.”
“Alliance Leader Jiang, 11 people have already consumed it. The situation has already been explained to them and all suspicious items have been sealed.”
“Alliance Leader, I saw the Shu Mountain sword cultivators! They’re heading towards the Mother River!”
The first two messages reflected that although some people had already been hit, the situation was still fine.
The third elder bypassed the center of the incident. When he ran to the other side to remind them to be careful, he discovered the sword cultivator team from Shu Mountain.
They flew over from another direction.
“Stop them quickly.” Jiang Li hurriedly replied, but it was already too late.
Before the elders of the Great Mountain Alliance could stop them, a golden Shu Mountain flying sword suddenly appeared in the Mother River.
After lighting up in front of them, they immediately turned around and dived into the water.
It was the flying sword of Elder Zuo Luo, a Shu Mountain Golden Core cultivator.
The people of the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak should have met up with the Great Mountain Alliance out of courtesy.
However, when they saw the sword light, they were extremely excited. They did not have the time to care about anything else as they rode their flying swords towards the Mother River.
Many Shu Mountain sword cultivators chased after it and saw the metal flying sword sink into the water.
They hesitated for a moment before jumping into the smelly water.
Jiang Li and the others had just arrived when they saw twelve sword lights plunge into the water. There was not a single person left from Shu Mountain. They had all gone down.
This group of sword cultivators was really brave. He was not as reckless as them.
At that moment, they could only float in midair and observe the changes below.
One breath, two breaths, three breaths. The river water churned from time to time. He did not know what was happening below.
The people on the shore waited anxiously. Could such a group of top-notch sword cultivators be eaten by this river?
Fifteen minutes later, an extremely sharp sword light tore the river water from the bottom and slashed into the sky.
The separated river could not heal for a long time. Twelve sword lights appeared below and quickly flew up, escaping from the water surface.
However, behind them were hundreds of shockingly huge tree roots!
It was clearly a plant, but the tree root was extremely fast. The two Nascent Souls flying at the back were actually a step late. Their ankles and flying swords were wrapped by the tree root, and the upward momentum stopped abruptly.
The other tree roots did not care about the others. They swarmed forward and were about to devour them.
“Help them!”
Jiang Li and the others did not retreat but advanced instead, launching a fierce attack from the side. Spiritual qi surged like a tide, and wood shavings flew everywhere.
Their fierce attacks only slowed the tree root down. The actual damage was very limited.
Jiang Li’s Immortal Slaying Flying Sword instantly shot out and cut off one of the roots that wrapped around an ankle.
Another Dharma Protector also intercepted the other one, allowing the two Nascent Souls to escape.
However, this was only the beginning.
The Shu Mountain sword cultivator did not have time to thank Jiang Li and the others before the attacks of the tree roots arrived.
“Retreat!” Jiang Li shouted and quickly retreated with the higher-ups…
Alright, in fact, he was the slowest among them.
Even with the enhancement of the Armored Horse Divine Travel, his running speed in the air was barely equivalent to a Golden Core cultivator. There was still a huge gap between him and the surrounding cultivators who were at least at the Nascent Soul realm.
It was only by controlling the Immortal Slaying Flying Sword that he did not fall last.
As soon as they left, waves dozens of meters high suddenly rose in the Mother River.
Below, a thick layer of warmth was torn apart. The underwater graveyard that had been maintained since ancient times was completely torn apart at this moment.
After losing the suppression of the Ghost Lantern Fish, the Nine Nether Wood could finally free itself.
The river water of the Mother River surged out like a tsunami, drowning a large area.
A huge tree body squeezed out from a space under the riverbed. Roots twisted in the air, casting a large shadow that almost covered the sky.
Half of the huge tree trunk was submerged under the water. Its size was already shocking.
Jiang Li and this thing had been ‘friends’ for a long time, but this was the first time they met like this.
In the continent of the Nine Provinces, these Nine Nether Branches all grew for the same goal. That was, one day, when they were powerful enough, they would return to the Nine Nether Underworld and replace the mother tree.
Therefore, since its birth, the Nine Nether Branch had an irreconcilable rivalry.
The Nine Nether Wood was irreconcilable with the other Nine Nether Wood.
Therefore, both sides locked onto each other at the first moment as the first target.
In the next moment, a terrifying wind pressure pressed down from above, and the trees beneath Jiang Li were instantly crushed by the wind pressure.
A huge tree root fell towards him like a toppled mountain pillar.
With this pull, the ground cracked open. A long and narrow crack spread into the distance. Dirty river water poured in and quickly formed a new river.
The destructive power of this monster was no less than a natural disaster.
Jiang Li stepped on the Immortal Slaying Flying Sword and dodged with all his might. Only then did he barely dodge this strike.
However, the sweeping airflow still blew him until his center of gravity was unstable. He flew far away before barely stopping.
What did this Nine Nether Wood eat? How many years did it take to grow so big?
Why was the one in his coffin so disappointing?
The huge Nine Nether Branch continuously chased after Jiang Li.
Jiang Li relied on the mobility of the Immortal Slaying Flying Sword to dodge with all his might.
The Immortal Slaying Flying Sword was very fast, but in front of such a monster, it was still not enough.
There were several times when he could not dodge and almost could not hold back his trump card.
Fortunately, a Dharma Protector helped him in time and barely dodged it.
Tree roots struck the ground again and again. The terrain in this area had completely collapsed.
The shattered earth layer mixed with a huge amount of river water, turning this area into a swamp country.
The cultivators of the Scripture Storage Valley in the distance were shocked speechless when they saw this scene.
However, they were much more relaxed now. This was because the attack of the huge Nine Nether Wood had not only destroyed the terrain, but also destroyed a large number of Yin Corpses.
The spirit cannons of the warship started to fire at the Nine Nether Wood, but when the spiritual qi light pillars struck that huge guy, the effect was still minimal. They could only watch from afar and did not even have the ability to interfere with the enemy.
At this moment, several streaks of light streaked across the sky.
The top cultivators of the three sects finally arrived. They rode their artifacts, cast spell techniques, and rushed into the battlefield to fight the Nine Nether Wood together.
The lineup that was almost not inferior to the Hundred Tempering Mountain battle collided with this ancient Spiritual Root Branch.
Most of the roots were stopped by them, finally allowing Jiang Li to catch his breath.
At this moment, Jiang Li, whose combat strength was obviously insufficient, should immediately retreat far from the range of the huge Nine Nether Wood’s roots.
However, Jiang Li did not do so.
He waved his hand and summoned a forest. After blocking his vision, a crack appeared on his chest, and his main body crawled out of the Nine Nether clone.
The Nine Nether Tree Realm, which had yet to spread, was shattered by the attacking tree roots. Two figures flew out from the dust and smoke on both sides and quickly left.
Sure enough, the attention of the enormous Nine Nether Wood was completely attracted by the clone, whereas Jiang Li’s main body acted in the opposite direction and charged towards the main trunk of the other party..