The Chaotic Immortal Wood Sect: Immortal Cultivation War - Chapter 30

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

30. Overcoming the Crisis

“If that is your choice, it will be difficult to reach a good ending for both of us.”

“It will not be easy for you.”

“Yes, but I cannot leave future troubles behind, so I must do my best.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to conserve your strength and use it to escape instead?”

“I don’t like leaving sources of trouble behind.”

“I understand. Defense!!”

Even while conversing with Bi Woo Heon, Kang Hyeon continued strengthening his consciousness link with the vines he had summoned.

And the moment it broke through a certain level, he immediately deployed spell arts using the vines.

“Laughable!”

When Kang Hyeon activated his spell arts, Bi Woo Heon scoffed at it and shot arrows at Kang Hyeon all at once.

Dozens of arrows flew toward Kang Hyeon like falling rain, but their speed was not very fast.

‘The slow speed makes it even more suspicious.’

Kang Hyeon watched the approaching arrows with anxious eyes while observing the movement of the vines.

At that moment, as Bi Woo Heon’s arrows approached, the vines surrounding Kang Hyeon and In Deok gathered in groups of several strands, twisted together, and stretched out like spears.

And those vine spears grew to match the same number as Bi Woo Heon’s arrows, rapidly lengthening as they went forth to meet the arrows.

“Hmph! How dare you!”

At this sight, Bi Woo Heon snorted.

Not only was there a large difference in their cultivation levels, but to directly confront his arrows imbued with secret techniques.

Bi Woo Heon’s laughter came from thinking this revealed such a lack of experience.

Thud thud thud thud thunk! Thud thud thud thunk!

“Hahahaha.”

And just as Bi Woo Heon expected, his arrows pierced through the vine spears they encountered without resistance, pushing toward Kang Hyeon.

The arrows charged forward without obstruction, like cutting through tofu.

Bi Woo Heon laughed at Kang Hyeon while watching this.

“Hmm? What?”

But that laughter didn’t last very long.

He noticed that his arrows were slowing down bit by bit.

“Ugh!”

And in one moment, the resistance his arrows faced increased dramatically.

It felt like the magical power consumed to advance one inch had doubled.

And eventually, Bi Woo Heon’s arrows failed to reach Kang Hyeon, ending up caught by the vines just a couple steps away, trembling helplessly.

“They were blocked?”

Bi Woo Heon muttered with a bewildered expression as if he couldn’t understand.

“Take this!”

Right then, In Deok, who was beside Kang Hyeon, thrust his fist toward Bi Woo Heon.

The bright yellow lightning wrapped around In Deok’s fist exploded outward and shot toward Bi Woo Heon.

“How dare you!”

At this, Bi Woo Heon also quickly came to his senses and waved his sleeve to summon sixteen arrows again, spreading them like an umbrella to block In Deok’s lightning attack.

Rumble! Crackle crackle crackle!

“Ugh, lightning energy!”

In Deok’s Lightning Explosive Crush was blocked by Bi Woo Heon’s Arrow Umbrella, but the lightning energy didn’t simply disappear and remained on the arrows for a while, affecting them.

Bi Woo Heon groaned as he felt his arrows being greatly damaged by In Deok’s lightning energy.

“Hyah!”

But right then, Kang Hyeon let out a battle cry and pulled the vine spears that were wrapping around Bi Woo Heon’s arrows along with the arrows themselves.

“How dare you target my arrows?!”

At this, Bi Woo Heon strengthened his consciousness connection with the arrows and tried to pull the arrows back.

This was an action based on his confidence that he had refined the arrows with his consciousness.

Since refined magical instruments naturally repel other cultivators’ energy, he was confident that adding his own energy would allow him to easily reclaim the arrows without difficulty.

Moreover, against a mere Early Qi Accumulation opponent, their consciousness power would be weak, so how could he possibly lose his magical instruments?

“Huh! Wh-why? How is this…?”

But things in the world don’t always go as expected.

Bi Woo Heon couldn’t hide his confusion as he felt his spiritual energy and refined power disappearing from the arrows all at once.

“I’ll put these to good use.”

In the end, Kang Hyeon pulled away dozens of Bi Woo Heon’s arrows and put them into his storage pouch.

With this, unless Kang Hyeon took the arrows out of his storage pouch, the possibility of Bi Woo Heon doing anything with those arrows again was completely gone.

Even though Bi Woo Heon was a Late Qi Accumulation cultivator, it was impossible to push his consciousness into someone else’s storage pouch to interfere.

It might be possible if he spent a really long time working on it from close range, but how could it be possible in a situation where they were confronting each other like now?

“How on earth did you do it! How?!”

Bi Woo Heon opened his eyes wide and shouted at Kang Hyeon.

Then, when Kang Hyeon’s gaze turned toward the umbrella he had spread out, he was startled and scattered the Arrow Umbrella, pulling it into his sleeve.

His appearance of worrying that even those might be stolen by Kang Hyeon was evident.

“Hyaaah!”

At that moment, In Deok tried to swing his fist wrapped in lightning toward Bi Woo Heon again.

At this, Kang Hyeon raised his arm to stop In Deok and spoke toward Bi Woo Heon.

“You have already suffered many losses. You lost time, lost magical instruments, and injured your body by using spiritual energy intensely right after awakening from Dream Mist. With circumstances being what they are, do you still intend to continue fighting us?”

Kang Hyeon asked this, hoping Bi Woo Heon would retreat.

Then Bi Woo Heon stepped back and let out a long sigh.

“To deal with you two would require greater resolve than I thought. If I were to do so, it would likely make it even more difficult for me to leave the Muyeon Mountain Range and hide myself afterward.”

“There’s no need to take such risks, is there? Even if you tried to kill us to silence us, it wouldn’t be an easy task.”

“If I asked you to keep quiet about Seom Geom and my affairs, you wouldn’t listen now, would you?”

“With things having come this far, is there any reason we should look out for your situation, senior?”

“Right. That would be the case.”

“However, we have business finding Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Mushrooms here in Chaotic Dark Valley, so until we finish that task and return to Cheong Myeong Bang Si, we won’t go out of our way to tattle about your affairs anywhere.”

“Huh, really?”

“Exposing your misdeeds can wait until after we return to Cheong Myeong Bang Si. Once you leave this Chaotic Dark Valley anyway, how could my friend and I possibly track your whereabouts after that? From then on, others will have to step forward.”

“Good. Since you put it that way, I won’t try to harm you two anymore either.”

“Whew, I’m relieved you’ve made that decision.”

“Yes. But in exchange, you’ll have to return the arrows you took.”

“The arrows… I’d like to accommodate your request, senior, but I must refuse.”

“What?!”

“I obtained with difficulty what was aimed at me—how could I return it to you? Who knows if it might come flying at me again.”

“That won’t happen… but even if I said so, it would be hard to believe. Hahaha. This Bi Woo Heon has truly become pathetic. To have my Life Essence Seasonal Energy magical instrument stolen by a junior—how can I even speak of this matter? I’m too ashamed to lift my head.”

Swish swish swish swish swish!

“Huh?! Kang Hyeon!”

“Calm down. It seems senior no longer wishes to remain here.”

As Bi Woo Heon, who had been calling himself ashamed, began to disappear as if seeping into the mist of Chaotic Dark Valley, In Deok called out to Kang Hyeon in surprise, but Kang Hyeon remained composed.

He knew that Bi Woo Heon’s figure, now faintly disappearing, was already an illusion.

While conversing with Kang Hyeon, Bi Woo Heon had placed his thoughts into an illusion to continue the conversation and disappeared.

Kang Hyeon had sensed through his spiritual consciousness that Bi Woo Heon was moving away, but pretended not to know and continued conversing with the illusion imbued with thoughts.

‘To leave without even a farewell the moment he realized he couldn’t get his arrows back—truly a person of poor character, unsuitable for mutual exchange and friendship.’

Kang Hyeon muttered this inwardly while watching Bi Woo Heon’s illusion scatter into the mist.

And once Bi Woo Heon’s illusion had completely disappeared, he turned his head toward In Deok and said.

“Don’t let your guard down. He might be hiding nearby, waiting to target us.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not that thoughtless either.”

At Kang Hyeon’s words, In Deok replied thus, then threw his meditation cushion into the air, climbed onto it, and sat in lotus position.

Afterward, a more intense golden radiance than before rose from In Deok’s body, and that golden light seeped into the vines Kang Hyeon had summoned, turning all the vines into golden vines.

“You’re infusing the energy of the Diamond Body Protection Technique into my vines? When did you learn such a method?”

“I didn’t learn it separately. It’s just that knowing these vines are part of your Strange Tree made this possible.”

“You said you were making my Strange Tree branch into a Life-Bound Treasure—seems you’re making quite some progress?”

“I can’t even dream of a Life-Bound Treasure yet, but I have become quite close to your Strange Tree.”

In Deok said this while drawing out the energy of the Diamond Body Protection Technique even more strongly and pouring it into the vines.

Kang Hyeon smiled pleasantly at In Deok’s appearance and likewise threw his meditation cushion next to In Deok and sat on it.

Having settled into the safe zone they created, Kang Hyeon and In Deok remained motionless in that spot for three whole days.

***

“Did he really leave?”

“What do you think you would have done?”

“Me? Hmm, I think I would have waited and cleanly dealt with future troubles?”

“Do you have the confidence for that?”

“Ah, I’d want to, but since it wouldn’t be easy, it would be troubling. So what do you think, Kang Hyeon?”

“I think he’s probably gone far away, but I can’t be certain…”

“Gone far away? Why?”

“Dream Mist.”

“Because of Dream Mist?”

“Right. Since he already had the experience of being poisoned by Dream Mist and walking the wrong path, he’d be afraid of ending up the same way again. That would be the biggest factor.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s something we haven’t experienced, but that senior called Bi Woo Heon was poisoned by Dream Mist for quite a long time. Yet during all that time, he had no idea he was poisoned. And that wasn’t even alone—he had another senior traveling with him.”

“If he awakened from Dream Mist and realized that, even I think it would take great courage to continue staying in Chaotic Dark Valley.”

“Right? But don’t completely let your guard down.”

“Of course. But the Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Mushrooms…”

“Seeing how evil energy flows thickly in this direction, going this way seems to have high probability.”

“Mm, you’re right. There’s definitely a difference.”

“You can tell this much quickly too. Try figuring it out yourself.”

“When you’re not around, I figure things out myself. But when you’re here, there’s no reason to. You’re better at it.”

“You call that an excuse!”

“Hahahaha.”

“You find this funny?”

“We did go through some hardship, but thanks to that, I made great progress in refining the Strange Tree branch. Isn’t that better than encountering a fortuitous opportunity?”

“Not quite that much, but still, if it shows the possibility of making a Life-Bound Treasure from Trent’s branch, that’s definitely something to celebrate.”

Saying this, Kang Hyeon took the lead and began advancing through the Dream Mist of Chaotic Dark Valley.

In Deok immediately followed behind Kang Hyeon, who was leading with his Air Walking flight technique.

And after some time, they discovered a place where particularly gloomy energy was thickly accumulated even within Chaotic Dark Valley, and there they were also able to find Spirit Herbs.

However.

“This is only about 600 years old?”

“That’s right. None of the ones around here are older than that either.”

Though they found a colony of Spirit Herbs, the oldest Spirit Herb was only about 600 years old at most.

“Though they’re powerful because they’re natural, they’re still insufficient for making Mystic Spirit Pills of Qi Accumulation grade or higher.”

Kang Hyeon shook his head with a disappointed expression.

Then In Deok sighed and asked Kang Hyeon.

“So what should we do? Are we just going to leave these behind?”

“For whose benefit?”

“Huh?”

“Even if they haven’t reached a thousand years, Spirit Herbs are precious mushrooms. Besides, we have the Fertile Soil Secret Method. And I have the True Fertile Earth Secret Method.”

“You’re going to take the Spirit Herbs here and raise them at the estate?”

“There are some I planted before coming here, but for those to replace Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Mushrooms would require considerable time. It would take at least 5 years.”

“Then if you take the ones here and plant them, how long do you think it would take?”

“One year? Or maybe shorter than that?”

“Wow, then what are we waiting for? Let’s hurry up and harvest them!”

At Kang Hyeon’s words that it would take about a year, In Deok made a fuss and began harvesting the spirit herbs.

Kang Hyeon immediately joined in harvesting the spirit herbs as well.

Thus, the natural habitat of spirit herbs they had discovered in Chaotic Dark Valley quickly transformed into barren land.

***

“The Liaison Trading Hall’s Thousand-Year Mystic Spirit Mushroom commission failed again?”

A tone as if he had known this would naturally happen.

This came from the mouth of the family head of the Guimun Myeong Family, one of the capital families of Cheongmyeongbangsi.

“That is correct.”

“As expected? Then Yeon Un’s death was also not a coincidence, was it?”

“That is…”

“What is it? Do you have something to say?”

“The thing is, this commission’s failure is somewhat different in nature from before.”

“Different in nature?”

“Two children who had reached Qi Accumulation took the commission, and those two returned safely. It’s just that the spirit herbs they brought back were only about 600 years old, so the commission failed.”

“Then the suspicions about Yeon Un’s death?”

“We’re now in a situation where we cannot clearly determine anything definitive.”

“Hmm.”

At the Chief Administrator’s answer, Myeong Cheon Hong, the head of the Guimun Myeong Family, let out a low groan.

About 15 years ago, the family head’s second son had departed for Chaotic Dark Valley and never returned.

The second son had stopped growing after early Qi Accumulation and didn’t have much lifespan left, so the family head inevitably had to worry about this painful thorn in his side.

But after that child entered Chaotic Dark Valley, the light on the Lifespan Tablet hanging in the ancestral shrine went out, and thus he learned of his second son’s death.

Myeong Cheon Hong tried to use all the family’s power to uncover his son’s death, but the Muyeon Mountain Range was a place that even the Guimun Myeong Family could not dare to act recklessly in.

Moreover, since his son was old for his cultivation level and close to death anyway, it was difficult to dig into the truth of his son’s death.

In fact, moving the family’s cultivators for just one household member who was merely at early Qi Accumulation was considered an abuse of the family head’s power.

For that reason, Myeong Cheon Hong had no choice but to personally investigate the situation in Chaotic Dark Valley.

At least the Chief Administrator understood a father’s heart who had lost his son and helped him, so he was expecting to be able to publicly mention the affairs of Chaotic Dark Valley soon.

This was because unusual disappearances and deaths were occurring quite frequently in Chaotic Dark Valley.

But this time, the results were different from what he had expected, so Myeong Cheon Hong could only let out a groan of considerable disappointment.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————