Chapter 37: Green Bamboo Warriors

Qu Yi was the first to teleport here, arriving at the Fourth Wasteland of the Eight Wastelands Palace—the Southwest Wasteland. As soon as he landed, he found himself in an endless plain, covered entirely with equally tall green bamboos. These bamboos radiated a strong energy of the Wood element, swaying gently in the wind, creating a very pleasant atmosphere.

Just as Qu Yi wanted to take off, the Voice of the Artifact God called out, “Qu Yi, wait! Don’t rush.” The true energy within him immediately calmed down. Confused, Qu Yi asked, “Artifact God, is it even impossible to fly here?”

A gentle breeze blew, soothing and harmless, with no trace of danger. It was hard for Qu Yi to understand, so he asked in doubt.

The Artifact God replied with a smile, “Though the atmosphere seems peaceful, danger lurks everywhere. You’d better walk on the ground for a while and wait for the experts from the Nine Sects to arrive. Let them cause some trouble first, and then you’ll understand.”

Unhappy that the Artifact God was being evasive, Qu Yi still ran quickly through the bamboo forest as instructed. Feeling frustrated, he ran even faster, covering tens of thousands of miles in one go.

By then, the experts from the Nine Sects had gradually teleported in and landed in the bamboo forest Qu Yi had just left.

“Wow, there are so many bamboos here! The energy of the Wood element is truly strong.”
“The entire area is just a plain—Hao Di’s power is truly immense.”
“It’s too quiet… too quiet. It makes me feel uneasy.”
“Where is Qu Yi? He was the first to arrive, but now he’s gone. Did he really get some hint from Hao Di and go to some strange place?”
“Oh, isn’t Qu Yi running wildly tens of thousands of miles away right now?”

Soon, the experts from the Nine Sects located Qu Yi, sensing his strange behavior through their spiritual awareness. Why was a cultivator at the Tribulation stage running on the ground instead of flying? After observing his behavior for a while and finding nothing else unusual, they stopped paying attention to him. They scanned the entire bamboo forest, but despite not knowing its exact size, they detected no unusual energy fluctuations within it.

The Qingyun Sect and Bai Shou Peak, which specialized in Wood-element cultivation techniques, sensed the strong energy of the Wood element in the bamboo forest. Their faces showed delight. These cultivators stepped aside and sat cross-legged on the ground, seemingly determined to comprehend the primal energy of the Wood element and break through to the Mahayana stage.

The other seven sects’ strong warriors didn’t have such thoughts. They kept using their spiritual senses to scan the surroundings, searching for anything unusual in this bamboo forest in order to locate the spatial transmission array in this Southwest Wasteland.
“I’ll go up in the air to observe this bamboo forest!” Suddenly, Shun Wen from the Ying Tian Sect shouted.
None of the strong warriors from the Ying Tian Sect stopped Shun Wen.
Immediately afterward, Shun Wen flew into the air, overlooking the entire bamboo forest.
The strong warriors from the nine sects also focused their gazes on Shun Wen in the air, observing his expressions before deciding whether to fly up as well.
Just as Shun Wen was in the air, a fierce wind suddenly surged from the surrounding bamboo forest. The entire forest seemed to sway on its own, forming a tornado that rushed straight toward Shun Wen.
This tornado contained extremely powerful primordial Wood energy, on par with the strength of a Great Perfection-stage being. As it emerged, it drove the Wood energy throughout the space, seemingly intent on trapping Shun Wen within this flow of Wood energy.
“Damn it!”
Shun Wen cursed angrily and immediately took out a top-grade spiritual artifact, the Earth-Stabilizing Pearl. By channeling his vital energy, the pearl automatically transformed the Earth energy of the Tribulation stage into primordial Earth energy, forming an earth ball to protect his body.
Faced with that powerful Wood tornado, Shun Wen knew he couldn’t resist. Ignoring the rules set by Emperor Hao, he immediately used the Earth-Stabilizing Pearl to protect himself.
The bamboo forest sensed the presence of primordial Earth energy, and suddenly two green great swords formed from primordial Wood energy slashed at Shun Wen. At the same time, a large amount of primordial Wood energy emerged in the air, as if to show that if those two slashes didn’t kill Shun Wen, more would follow.
The earth ball created by Shun Wen, though weaker due to its lower primordial Earth energy, was directly pierced by the two great swords made entirely of primordial Wood energy. This also shattered Shun Wen into a pool of blood mist, causing him to vanish instantly.
“Shun Wen!” Ying Hua, Ying Hou, and Ying Shi from the Ying Tian Sect cried out in pain.
Unfortunately, Shun Wen was already completely dead.
The strong warriors from the other eight sects might not have smiled, but they were secretly pleased—at least the Ying Tian Sect had lost another powerful fighter.
With Shun Wen’s death, the bamboo forest returned to its quiet state, as if nothing had happened.
At the same time, all the strong warriors from the nine sects learned that flying in the air was prohibited in this Southwest Wasteland.
Just as the warriors from the nine sects planned to scatter and search various parts of the bamboo forest for the spatial transmission array, Emperor Hao’s voice appeared again.

“Everyone, it seems one of you heroes has flown into the air. I’m truly sorry for the late notice. This Southwest Wasteland is just a bamboo forest—you can rest here if you want or fight if you wish. Just a reminder: you can only get the hint once you’ve collected ten thousand Jade Tears.”

Hao Di’s voice disappeared quickly, indicating that in this bamboo forest world, one had to die before receiving Hao Di’s hint.

The powerful warriors from the Nine Sects were confused after hearing Hao Di’s message. Resting was easy—just sit still in the bamboo forest—but fighting? Who should they fight? Should they fly into the air and be killed by those Wood Element energy sources?

At that moment, Qu Yi, who was far away, also stopped moving in the bamboo forest.

“Instrument God, what does Hao Di mean?” Qu Yi was also puzzled.

After a while, the Instrument God smiled and said, “Qu Yi, inside some of these green bamboos in this forest, there’s a Jade Tear. You need to kill those bamboos to obtain the Jade Tears inside. Once you’ve collected ten thousand of them, you can fuse them together to create a shield and fly into the air. In the air, an arrow will point the way to the space transmission array.”

Upon hearing this, Qu Yi finally understood—fighting meant fighting these green bamboos.

But how could one fight green bamboos?

It seemed the Instrument God knew what Qu Yi was thinking and immediately said, “Qu Yi, when you cut down bamboo that doesn’t contain Jade Tears, the surrounding bamboos will transform into Green Bamboo Warriors.”

Qu Yi was shocked and marveled at Hao Di’s ability to transform Wood Element energy to such an incredible extent.

“Instrument God, how strong are these Green Bamboo Warriors?” Qu Yi asked anxiously.

Thinking about the impending battles, especially with an endless stream of Green Bamboo Warriors, Qu Yi felt overwhelmed.

However, the Instrument God replied with a smile, “Don’t worry. I know clearly which bamboos contain Jade Tears, so you don’t have to fear fighting them. Just enjoy watching the powerful warriors from the Nine Sects clash with the Green Bamboo Warriors.”

Hearing this, Qu Yi laughed heartily.

Soon, under the Instrument God’s hidden guidance, Qu Yi swung his Six Directions Blade at a nearby green bamboo. A thumb-sized, tear-shaped green pearl fell out of the bamboo.

That was a Jade Tear—vibrantly green with abundant Wood Element energy.

Qu Yi’s action was immediately sensed by the powerful warriors from the Nine Sects, who instantly understood what Emperor Hao meant by his hint.
“So that’s how it is—the Jade Pearls are inside these green bamboos,” the warriors from the Nine Sects exclaimed in realization.
Had everyone truly understood Emperor Hao’s hint?
The warriors from the Nine Sects took out their magical weapons and slashed at the green bamboos around them, eagerly watching as the bamboos broke apart in hopes that the Jade Pearls would fall out.
Yet, everyone was disappointed.
After the bamboos broke, not only did the stems, leaves, and roots disappear, but they turned into Wood Element energy. Moreover, right after the nearby bamboos were cut down, the surrounding bamboos transformed into Green Bamboo Warriors, each possessing the strength of those in the later stages of the Tribulation.
These Green Bamboo Warriors were essentially large bamboo poles about five meters long and one meter wide. At the bottom were two thick branches serving as legs, while five rows of branches above formed human hands.
These Green Bamboo Warriors couldn’t fly; they could only sprint across the ground at lightning speed, incredibly fierce.
As the warriors from the Nine Sects looked around, suddenly ten or twenty Green Bamboo Warriors appeared nearby. Their palms, carrying gusts of wind, struck fiercely. Frightened, they immediately started running away.
Of course, some warriors couldn’t dodge in time and were hit, but thanks to their own protective energy shields, they managed to survive.
In an instant, the entire world of green bamboos seemed to be filled with a storm-like wind as more and more bamboos turned into Green Bamboo Warriors. Wherever the warriors from the Nine Sects went, waves of these warriors struck them with their hands, scaring them to the core.