Chapter 221: Golden Wood

Half an hour later, Tang San reopened his eyes, having regained his spirits.

He stood up, approached the Crimson Fox girls, and asked, "Have you all learned meditation?"

Red One, evidently the eldest of the eighteen girls, nodded slightly and said, "Yes, we have. Our clan taught us, especially since we've all awakened our bloodlines. They told us that if we could rely on meditation to cultivate and break through, we might become vassals. But later, it turned out that our bloodlines were too diluted, and..." She couldn't help but tear up at this point.

Tang San nodded and said, "It's fine, it’s good enough that you've learned. From today onward, aside from eating and sleeping, try meditating within three meters of the circle I've drawn. This is the first task I am giving you. Remember one thing: you must not enter the circle or disturb anything inside it. Do you understand?"

The Crimson Fox girls nodded in understanding.

Zhang Haoxuan turned to Tang San, frowning slightly. "If you set up this array here, what will happen if a demonic beast comes? They can't stop a demonic beast if it wants to cause trouble."

Tang San smiled slightly. "Don’t worry, there will be no animals or demonic beasts. This array naturally repels them." Golden Wood was bits of the Golden Tree, a supreme lifeform of the plant attribute. It naturally repelled all beasts, and Tang San had amplified this effect through the array. Therefore, it would not attract demonic beasts.

"What is the purpose of this array? It doesn’t seem like it’s just meant for meditation."

Tang San said, "It isn’t. I want to grow a tree. I believe that in a month at most, it will take root and sprout."

Zhang Haoxuan was startled. "You want to grow this Golden Wood into a tree?"

Tang San nodded.

"What’s the use of it? I’ve never heard about it being anything special."

Tang San smiled and said, "That's because the demons do not understand its wonderful uses. Some nymphs probably know a bit about it, but only superficially. The most powerful aspect of the Golden Wood is its ability to gather life energy. As it grows, it will absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and convert it into life energy. These girls practicing around it will receive some life energy, which will benefit the awakening of their bloodlines."

Zhang Haoxuan's eyes lit up. "What about us? Can we benefit too?"

"Not for now, it’s barely even started to grow. But if it grows into a towering tree, the life force it contains will be enough to nourish stronger beings, so it’ll help us as well."

Zhang Haoxuan took a deep breath. "So... the main purpose of this array is to accelerate its growth?"

"Yes, the Spirit Summoning Array has the function of gathering spiritual energy. If I just planted these pieces of Golden Wood in the ground, they would grow, but it would take hundreds of years to reach a decent size. This Spirit Summoning Array is a kind of fertilizer for them, and the best part is that it uses the trees themselves as the core. The more they grow, the more energy they absorb, but the more they grow, the stronger the Spirit Summoning Array gets, which means it can absorb more spiritual energy and make them grow even faster."

Zhang Haoxuan asked, "So, theoretically, your array should work on all treasure plants?"

Tang San replied, "Yes, but most of them are way too conspicuous once they grow, so they’d be more trouble than help. Well, unless you can have some kind of mighty monster guard them."

Zhang Haoxuan nodded in understanding. "Can you sell this to the organization?"

"Sell?" Tang San was momentarily startled.

Zhang Haoxuan said, "Well, we can't just take it from you for nothing. You can make your demands. If anything, the organization will think it’s weird if they could get their hands on this kind of thing for free. No worries, I will cover for you."

He had never reported Tang San's actual situation, primarily to allow Tang San to grow better. But his disciple’s rate of growth had always exceeded his expectations.

Tang San nodded. "Okay, I'll make some adjustments, draw it for you, and then teach you how to set it up."

Seeing his ready agreement, Zhang Haoxuan's face immediately showed a smile. He patted his disciple’s shoulder. "I think I’m seeing the future more and more clearly."

"Well, I think it’s a future to look forward to," Tang San responded with a smile.

The Crimson Fox girls obediently followed Tang San's instructions, practicing around the perimeter of the Spirit Summoning Array. The Golden Wood had just begun to absorb spiritual energy, so there was no life energy yet, but the spiritual energy gathered by the array also passed through them. This energy would increase as the Golden Wood grew. Although the growth rate was slowest at the start, it was most suitable for these Crimson Fox girls, who had only first or second-order cultivations, to absorb and stabilize their bloodline power.

Tang San observed the girls meditating for a while. Their simple minds made it easy to enter a state of meditation. Zhang Haoxuan, however, decided to stay and guard for a while, wanting to observe the effects of the Spirit Summoning Array closely. He asked Tang San to go back first and draw a diagram of the array.

After bidding farewell to Zhang Haoxuan, Tang San returned to the Redemption Academy to draw the array diagram, which was a simple task for him. By evening, he had completed the diagram. However, he wouldn't go there today; Zhang Haoxuan had said it was fine if he returned within three days.

He planned to continue his cultivation at Kali Academy in the evening. His spiritual power was gradually approaching the peak of the ninth order. Since his bloodline power couldn't be enhanced immediately as he waited for his companions, he intended to continue refining his spiritual power and nurturing his divine consciousness.

Just as he stepped out, preparing to leave Redemption Academy, he ran into Wu Bingji.

Seeing Tang San, Wu Bingji was momentarily stunned, then moved in front of Tang San to stop him from leaving.

"Senior brother, how are you doing?" Tang San greeted him with a smile.

"Looking for you, little brother! The teachers are almost forgetting that you're a student here. Why aren't you attending classes now?" Wu Bingji asked in a somewhat annoyed tone.

Tang San scratched his head and explained, “The mayor has been giving me individual guidance lately, and I have to work at Kali Academy during the day, so I spend less time at our academy."

Wu Bingji said, "Thank you for the Purple Sun Fruits. The mayor has told us all about them. They’re amazing! My spiritual power has improved a lot, and it's actually beginning to liquefy."

Tang San smiled. "That’s the result of our efforts, not just mine. How has your cultivation been going recently, senior brother?"

Upon hearing the mention of cultivation, Wu Bingji's eyes lit up. "Heh, now that you ask, it's going pretty well. With my increased spiritual power, controlling the ice element is much easier. I can now almost instantly condense ice needles and I’ve nearly mastered the two-stage acceleration. Do you have any new techniques to teach me?"

Tang San chuckled inwardly. As expected, this was Wu Bingji's real reason for stopping him. After all, Zhang Haoxuan had already covered for him regarding the fact that he wasn’t attending classes.

Tang San replied, "Now that you've mastered the ice needles and two-stage acceleration, you can practice more complex techniques."

"Even more complex?" Wu Bingji's eyes shone brightly this time.

Ever since he learned to control ice elemental energy, he had felt his strength improve by leaps and bounds, both in terms of cultivation level and when it came to his comprehension and application of the ice element. He could even hold his own to some extent against Teacher Guan if he used the ice needles and the two-stage acceleration.

Tang San nodded and said, "I'll teach you a very complex technique based on the ice needles. That’s one part, and the other is the two-stage acceleration plus the ice explosion technique. If you master it, I don’t think anyone at your level will be able to beat you."

"The heck are you waiting for then?!" Wu Bingji blurted out, but he then felt slightly embarrassed.