Chapter 152: Another Main Path

“What a pity! All the spiritual fruits on the spirit tree have already absorbed sunlight. I don’t know how many more years it will take before they mature.”
Looking at the dense green leaves, Xiao Tianchi felt emotional. A fifth-tier spirit tree usually takes about ten years to mature. If this one had matured recently, it would still need another decade or so to be ready.
Lin Dong smiled calmly, “I reckon it will mature within a year.”
“Within a year?” Xiao Tianchi was surprised. “Didn’t the Yang family say the spiritual fruits would wither within half a month after being picked? Even if hanging on the tree prolongs their lifespan, it shouldn’t take nine years.”
“By then, Master Xiao will know whether it can stay there for nine years,” Lin Dong said with a smile without further explanation. He carefully inspected the cave walls but found nothing. Then he asked, “Master Xiao, do you think there might be hidden passages in this cave?”
Xiao Tianchi frowned slightly. “Does Manager Lin think there are more than one spirit tree?”
Lin Dong didn’t explain and just nodded.
Xiao Tianchi remained silent and went to examine the cave walls closely. He circled around them several times, taking much longer than Lin Dong, but the result was the same.
“There probably are no hidden passages.”
Lin Dong firmly believed Old Ding’s words and wasn’t disappointed. He asked, “Master Xiao, are there any spirit trees whose roots, if slightly damaged, could cause the entire tree to wither?”
Xiao Tianchi didn’t understand his meaning. After pondering for a while, he shook his head. “Although spirit trees are ten to a hundred times more delicate than ordinary trees, they’re not that fragile.”
Lin Dong nodded, took out a black iron kitchen knife from the mobile counter, and went to the cyan-blue tree, crouching down to scrape the ground.
“Manager Lin, what are you doing?” Xiao Tianchi was puzzled by Lin Dong’s actions.
“Checking the root hairs!” Lin Dong smiled slightly.
Xiao Tianchi was completely confused but didn’t dare stop him and could only watch. Beneath and around the cyan-blue tree was the same dark brown soil. This soil was as hard as steel, and even with the sharpness of the black iron knife, scraping was extremely slow. After a long time, thanks to Lin Dong’s persistent efforts, a layer at the base of the trunk was gradually scraped off.
When Lin Dong stood up, his eyes sparkled with joy. Xiao Tianchi took a look and saw that the root hairs of this spirit tree were different from those of other spirit trees—they extended in only one direction. Aside from the side on the left of the passage, not a single root hair could be found in the soil on the other three sides.
Seeing Lin Dong go to the left cave wall and start scraping again, Xiao Tianchi was slightly stunned before exclaiming in astonishment, “Manager Lin, do you know the characteristics of this spirit tree?”

Lin Dong nodded and casually said, “I happened to flip through an ancient book and found a spirit tree that was similar to the spirit fruit given by the Yang family, so I learned about it.”
Xiao Tianchi’s lips twitched slightly. He would never believe such a thing. Seeing that Lin Dong didn’t even mention the name of the spirit tree, he didn’t press further. With the Spirit Speed Array that accelerated cultivation or the over twenty advanced spiritual techniques, Manager Lin was already mysterious enough—adding one or two more things didn’t matter. As long as the Ancient Huan Sect could continue to benefit, that was enough.
“Done!” Lin Dong suddenly stood up, revealing a root as thin as a hairpin beneath his feet.
He tapped the cave wall indicated by the root and looked at Xiao Tianchi helplessly, “Master Xiao, the soil here is too hard. I’m afraid I’ll have to trouble you.”
Xiao Tianchi raised his right hand, and a long sword as dark as iron instantly appeared in his palm.
Lin Dong was astonished. This sword must be the sixth-tier spiritual weapon, the Cloud-Piercing Sword.
Xiao Tianchi stepped forward and asked, “Should I cut in the direction indicated by the root?”
Lin Dong nodded and gestured, “The width and height don’t matter as long as it doesn’t interfere with your use of spiritual techniques.”
Xiao Tianchi nodded, swung his right arm suddenly, and a deep black light surged from the Cloud-Piercing Sword. With a series of rapid whooshing sounds, it slashed toward the cave wall.
The sword plunged deep into the wall and then continued downward. Though much slower than when swung, its speed was still fast, reaching the bottom in the blink of an eye.
Pulling the sword back, Xiao Tianchi changed its motion from slashing to sweeping. When it re-entered the upper part of the wall, it met the cut made by the previous strike. After another sweeping strike, a long opening about four meters wide and three meters high appeared in the wall.
The sword was inserted into the gap, and a trace of spiritual energy was released. After shaking it a few times to widen the gap slightly, the sword was pulled back up. After repeating this process several times, Xiao Tianchi retrieved the sword and returned to the center.
He pierced a hole in the center with his sword, inserted one hand into the gap and the other into the hole. With a glint in his eyes, he shook it violently from side to side. The opening trembled, and cracks could be heard inside, sounding like wood breaking.
After a while, Xiao Tianchi stopped shaking and applied force outward, slowly pulling out a soil block over a meter thick.
Lin Dong was overjoyed. He quickly entered the opening and used an iron knife to scrape the ground. After confirming the direction of the roots, he switched to using Xiao Tianchi’s method.
They continued advancing together. As they went deeper, more and more thick soil blocks appeared in the cave.
After about a hundred meters, Xiao Tianchi swung his sword downward, his expression suddenly changing.
“It’s empty!”
“Empty?”

Lin Dong’s body stiffened before he was overjoyed. This undoubtedly meant that the method of searching for another main trunk was correct, and moreover, that other main trunk was not far away.
Xiao Tianchi swung his sword twice in quick succession, then pushed out with a firm palm strike. With a loud crash, rocks collapsed, revealing a cave with a diameter of over ten meters in their line of sight. At the center of the cave stood a short tree about two meters tall, with dense blue leaves.
On the tree, two blue fruits protruded from the leaves, drawing immediate attention.
“I never expected there to really be another hidden world!”
Xiao Tianchi took a deep breath, his body trembling slightly. This Blue-Leaf Spirit Tree was clearly related to the Green-Leaf Spirit Tree outside—it meant the fruits on it were at least of the fifth rank. He believed that consuming both types of fruits together might even have special effects. Otherwise, the spirit tree couldn’t be so extraordinary.
A seed couldn’t grow to a hundred meters long. The fact that this spirit tree could split into two was undoubtedly because one of its main trunks would move along the ground and penetrate even the hardest cave walls. Over thousands of years, the cave walls gradually closed back together, creating this remarkable sight.
With such peculiar traits, this spirit tree must also have unique effects.
It was a pity that the other two green spirit fruits had already been eaten by Tianhao; otherwise, they could have been tested.
As they were lost in thought, a piercing screeching sound quietly arose.
“Bad news—spirit trees are usually guarded by spirit beasts.”
Xiao Tianchi was shocked and tightened his grip on his Cloud-Piercing Sword, shielding Lin Dong behind him.
The screeching grew louder. Soon, the ground a few meters away from the blue-green tree began to rise slowly, and an animal the size of a rabbit, with brown fur and a rat-like appearance, emerged from the ground.
“A fifth-rank Earth-Eating Rat!” Xiao Tianchi felt slightly relieved and said solemnly, “Shopkeeper Lin, this Earth-Eating Rat has fur as hard as iron, and its paws are comparable to high-grade spirit weapons. My strength is roughly equal to its, so neither of us can defeat the other. Let’s retreat first and come back tomorrow.”
“Master Xiao, you hold off the Earth-Eating Rat while I go pick the spirit fruits.”
Lin Dong shook his head. When entering a treasure trove, there’s no such thing as leaving empty-handed.