Chapter 543: Partnership (III)

“But the core nature of our martial dao is similar. We all reach the same goal by different means and all daos are one. It is all the same in the end... What do you think about the effects?”

“They’re very good!” Li Hao nodded. “If he’d had to cultivate by himself without the aid of external help, it would take him at least ten years to have a hope of becoming a Dominator.”

Ten years was the baseline. Yuan Shuo hadn’t taken that step for several decades. Of course, it also had something to do with the fact that he was merging five auras into one. This was one origin weapon for one comprehension opportunity that produced one Dominator. Li Hao felt that it was quite a worthy trade-off.

After some thought, the young man tossed out the remaining origin weapons without hesitation. “Can you absorb these two and emanate some core origin power for me to comprehend?”

“Yes... but you cannot spend too much time in my dao. It is my dao, not yours. You can sense some, but not follow it entirely. You will not walk far otherwise...”

Li Hao waited silently. Moments later, the two origin weapons disappeared as the little tree melded them into its body. A particular ripple slowly wafted out. Though Li Hao focused on it without hesitation, he didn’t lower the sword in his hand. He still didn’t trust the tree all that much.

The scene turned dark before his eyes and he quickly sank into darkness. Just like Li Heng had said, a road vaguely materialized in the gloom. He stood on the muddy path while figures appeared on it.

Being relatively clear-witted, Li Hao collected his domineering mind intent. This woke him up even more. Many things sharpened into focus when he took a closer look; he saw the gradual growth process of a towering tree. There weren’t too many grand surges or momentum, just an ordinary routine.

It was planted next to the palace. A wretched-looking old man came along one day and fished out a cat... a cat-shaped fruit to feed to the tree.

“You’re lucky to grow here, but I made this trip to announce that we are abandoning this palace. The war has entered a critical moment and His Imperial Majesty will probably not be visiting any longer. You would’ve had a great fortuitous opportunity growing here, what a pity...

“Here’s a Cat Fruit for you to try. I hope you find your own path. I’ll be off now. If anyone comes along to patrol and asks you anything, tell him that I fed you five... no, ten Cat Fruits!” The old man patted the tree. “It’s not easy being a martial senior. They try to get more out of me everyday and I’m almost running empty for it. I finally have an excuse to keep some for myself. Do you understand me?”

The big tree seemed to somewhat understand. It shook its body to indicate that it did.

The old man cackled, displaying yellow teeth, and patted the big tree again. “You’ve got strong potential. Then I’ll be off now. Oh, yes. Although this place has been discarded, don’t let anyone else inside. Keep an eye on it so it’s not disturbed...” With that, the old man vanished.

This was probably the tree’s deepest memory on its path of martial dao, the event that it was most proud of and the most auspicious.

An old man had given it a fruit; it grew furiously after that, becoming the only guard after the palace’s soldiers were withdrawn. It was the abandoned palace’s only protector because the old man had said that even though the structure was no longer in use, no one else could be allowed inside.

Li Hao seemed to transform into a tree at some point, keeping the tree company as it grew. Wind and rain beat down on it, the sun and rain bore down on the tree. So time passed day after day, year after year. As the young man immersed himself in the perceptions and comprehension, the scene changed again. Weakened even more so now, the little tree was suddenly in front of Li Hao and looking at the young man.

“Your eyes...”

“My eyes?” Li Hao asked blankly, countless scenes filling his mind. He cleared his thoughts with a shake of his head.

The little tree didn’t know how to describe it. Li Hao’s eyes weren’t that different from their regular state at the moment, but it felt that there was something different.

“You... must be careful of your eyes,” it finally said after a long while. “They might be the Eyes of Truth or the Sword Eyes. Your ancestor was incomparably mighty in the legends. His path was different from ours. He broke his own core origin dao, so strictly speaking, his descendants... might have been influenced by him. You might walk your own unique martial path instead of core origin.”

Li Hao cocked his ear to listen more closely.

“You should study your eyes more,” said the tree. “Additionally, the origin weapons you supplied are only sufficient for this amount of power. My core origin will be damaged if I continue!”

Li Hao nodded without a word and turned quiet. He was quietly perceiving everything he’d seen before. The images weren’t the key—the key was that he seemed to have become a tree himself and grown continuously. He waved Stellaris around and deployed the Weeping Willow Sword. Stroke after stroke, a new understanding teased at the edges of his consciousness, but it wasn’t that straightforward. He felt that certain things were still obscured in a haze that was difficult to clear up!

If he could, perhaps he might grasp the wood aura.

“Don’t be in a rush, this is a very normal process,” the little tree pointed out when Li Hao returned to his senses. “You’ve sensed a lot of paths and might fully comprehend it after a few more tries with me.”

Li Hao smiled ruefully. This was an incredible rate of consumption—three origin weapons in one go! Not even royal princes spent as heavily as he did! How many origin weapons had he gone through over the course of his cultivation? The little sword had eaten quite a few origin weapons as well.

Li Hao took a deep breath and tamped down his emotions. “Can you depart from here, senior?”

“No, I need to protect this place.”

Li Hao didn’t deny the need. All he did was think of the scene he’d seen earlier—a casual word from a wretched old man that inspired the tree’s father to stand guard for thirty thousand years!

The little tree still carried out the mission of its father’s time. One had to say, these monster spirits were to be admired when they doggedly stuck to one ideal.

“Then I can only come here if I want to seek out the senior?”

“That’s right. I can also close the passageway if you give me sufficient energy. Father’s corpse sealed off the premises. If I close the tunnel, no one will be able to enter. You can send people to cultivate here and you yourself can come at any time, so long as you supply me sufficient energy.”

This meant to say that if Li Hao was willing, he’d be able to turn this place into his personal sanctuary. The only drawback was that this place was slightly far from White Moon City—approximately three hundred kilometers. If one was strong enough, the distance was easily passable.

“Senior, this place has been abandoned.” Li Hao flicked a glance at the castle. “I... also saw some things. When the old man visited, he seemed to retrieve something before leaving. This place is likely empty. So why...”

“I don’t know, but father said I can’t go, so I cannot go.”

Li Hao sighed! He wanted to bring the tree with him as the tree spirit didn’t feel too weak. It was very weak before, but that was due to a lack of energy. Even so, Golden Spear was unable to fully match it. Li Hao wouldn’t have dared set himself against the spirit if he hadn’t peered through the falsehood either.

The tree was really something!

In Li Hao’s eyes, he was just too poor. Otherwise, he would collect Water of Life and endlessly try the scenes that he’d just seen. If he grew with the little sword, he might comprehend the wood aura.

There were some more origin weapons in his storage rings, but Li Hao was yet to fully digest what he’d just gained. He would waste whatever he supplied now.

“Ah, then the cat-shaped fruit...”

“That’s an ultimate treasure that’s possibly been lost by now. It was the senior’s companion fruit—he was also a plant spirit...”

Li Hao blinked. A plant spirit? The old man?

“Do you mean, senior, that monster spirits can also take human form?”

“Yes. It’s easier for monster spirits, harder for plant spirits. but all have hope.”

Li Hao’s thoughts turned to the dog waiting outside. Could Panth become a human? That was a frightening prospect, for a dog to be a human!

“Senior, I have a few more mysterious power stones on me for you to use. Can I send my subordinates in to train?”

“Of course!!” the little tree didn’t decline. Absorbing energy and supplying it to Li Hao’s people meant that the tree could also siphon some for itself. That was the true exchange known to both sides. Otherwise, the little tree would have to be an idiot to work with Li Hao. Plainly, Li Hao understood this theory too.

He wanted to see the effects of his cultivation as well. The little tree seemed to supply energy similar to that of what the sword energy neutralized. That meant that there was one less step for Li Hao to concern himself with.

He had to stand in and be that conversion factor every time the Demon Hunters cultivated. That was not necessarily a good thing. After a while, he called everyone down to meditate. The young man fished out large sums of mysterious power stones at the same time.

The little tree was indifferent to the rest of the team, but it was wary when Panther entered the area. Even though it was a tree, Li Hao could tell that it was nervous. It seemed to be afraid that the dog would slip into the palace in a momentary lapse of attention.

Truth be told, Panther did want to sneak inside. The little tree kept it out multiple times. There was nothing else for it to do but crouch on the ground and stared silently at the palace. There seemed to be something in its memories about the structure, or another palace that was similar about this palace shaped like a cat.

My forebears seemed to have been able to come and go at will from these places...

The dog looked at the palace, then at the tree. More memories were awakening from the depths of its bloodline. One of its forebears seemed to like pawing at a tree. Was that the case or not? Regardless, the brand within its bloodline reminded it of many things.