Chapter 146 - 141: Inheritor

Chapter 146: Chapter 141: Inheritor

It would be a waste not to use such dense Spiritual Qi.

Jiang Zuo immediately tried to open the connection to his Pet Beast Spirit Garden and was delighted.

It worked!

A massive amount of dense Spiritual Qi immediately flooded into the Pet Beast Spirit Garden like a bursting dam.

WHOOSH!

However, at almost the same moment, Jiang Zuo sensed a Demon Beast attacking him.

Jiang Zuo’s figure flashed as he dodged a silhouette pouncing at him from a nearby tree.

Missing its target, the figure instantly returned to the tree, staring down at Jiang Zuo like a tiger watching its prey.

Jiang Zuo focused his gaze and saw it was a black Spiritual Monkey, a little over half a meter tall.

Jiang Zuo hadn’t encountered many Demon Beasts, but he could tell with a single glance that this Spiritual Monkey was extremely aggressive.

"CHEE CHEE!"

After its attack failed, the Spiritual Monkey immediately started screeching.

Instantly, three or four similar Spiritual Monkeys gathered around.

Led by the first one, they all pounced on Jiang Zuo in unison, looking as if they wanted to tear him to shreds.

’Damn it! Weren’t they saying this Cyan Wood Secret Realm wasn’t very dangerous?’

Jiang Zuo immediately felt that something was wrong.

These Spiritual Monkeys were all close to the second tier in strength. If Jiang Zuo had been any weaker, he would have died on the spot.

Jiang Zuo stopped holding back. He attacked with his full strength, obliterating each of the monkeys with a single punch.

Before the stench of blood could spread, Jiang Zuo tossed the monkeys’ corpses into his Spirit Garden as a treat for Great Black and the others.

’Something must be wrong with this Cyan Wood Secret Realm,’ Jiang Zuo mused.

It wouldn’t be easy for an ordinary Dao Foundation cultivator to survive an attack from these monkeys.

Before his dual cultivation, he probably would have had to summon Xiaoqing to ensure his safety.

Jiang Zuo refused to believe he had been thrown into the most dangerous part of the realm right after entering.

And judging by these Spiritual Monkeys, they didn’t seem like the most powerful Demon Beasts in the Secret Realm either.

BANG! BANG!

Just as Jiang Zuo was thinking he should stay alert and not let his guard down, he looked up and saw two streaks of green light flare in the not-too-distant sky, followed by two loud bangs.

’Are those signal flares? People from the Divine Wood Sect?’

After a moment of thought, Jiang Zuo condensed a Blood Qi Avatar.

He headed in the direction of one signal flare, while the Blood Qi Avatar ran toward the other.

After entering the Cyan Wood Secret Realm, Jiang Zuo had no idea what he was supposed to do.

He tried to circulate his Life Essence Returning Skill but couldn’t sense anything.

However, the people from the Divine Wood Sect would surely know where to go. All he had to do was follow them.

It seemed there was no shortage of Demon Beasts in the Cyan Wood Secret Realm. As Jiang Zuo advanced, many of them tried to attack him.

But Jiang Zuo ignored them all, simply shaking them off and continuing to approach stealthily.

Soon, Jiang Zuo could see from a distance several Cultivators in similar attire, fighting Demon Beasts together.

’One Martial Artist at Grandmaster Great Perfection, and the rest are Cultivators.’

’The Martial Artist is the key to the Secret Realm’s inheritance. The Cultivators are protecting him from harm. It seems a Martial Artist who has practiced the Life Essence Returning Skill is required to obtain the greatest benefits here.’

After a few glances, Jiang Zuo came to a preliminary conclusion.

Meanwhile, his Blood Qi Avatar had found another team.

That team’s situation was similar to the one Jiang Zuo was observing.

After killing the Demon Beasts they had encountered, both teams headed in the same direction.

Along the way, other disciples occasionally joined their ranks.

’Following them is too slow. They’re all heading toward the same place. Although I don’t know the exact location, the intersection point of their paths should be the destination.’

Jiang Zuo decided to stop following the Divine Wood Sect disciples.

The Cyan Wood Secret Realm was not small. He had already encountered two teams, which meant a considerable number of Divine Wood Sect disciples had entered.

Jiang Zuo now had two options.

One was to arrive before all the Divine Wood Sect disciples, obtain the follow-up Cultivation Technique and any potential treasures, and then be the first to leave.

The other was to wait until most of the Divine Wood Sect disciples had left before heading there himself.

Although he was no longer afraid of ordinary Dao Foundation Cultivators, these were disciples of the Divine Wood Sect. Jiang Zuo wasn’t arrogant enough to make an enemy of dozens or even hundreds of disciples from a single sect head-on.

As for which option to choose, arriving first was the obvious choice.

The Divine Wood Sect disciples had to escort a Martial Artist, so they couldn’t move quickly.

With this in mind, Jiang Zuo’s figure flickered. He bypassed the group of Divine Wood Sect disciples and sped forward.

On his way, Jiang Zuo saw two more teams of Divine Wood Sect disciples, their compositions similar to the ones he’d seen before.

With his skills and speed, he had no desire to fight. The first and second-tier Demon Beasts in the Secret Realm couldn’t do anything to him. They could only give a brief chase before roaring in frustration at his retreating back.

After more than an hour, Jiang Zuo suddenly noticed that there were no more Demon Beasts around.

A little while later, Jiang Zuo arrived before a faint green membrane of light.

Through the membrane, Jiang Zuo could see a massive, ancient, and weathered gray stone stele in the distance.

Jiang Zuo tried to poke a tree branch through, but the green membrane of light blocked it.

It was an Array that separated the inside from the outside.

After a moment of thought, Jiang Zuo circulated his Life Essence Returning Skill and stepped forward.

And just like that, his entire body passed through the green membrane of light.

Jiang Zuo quickly arrived in front of the massive stele.

It was an ancient stele over ten meters tall, covered in densely packed characters that Jiang Zuo didn’t recognize.

But when Jiang Zuo focused his mind on the characters, streams of information appeared in his mind.

It was the method to Promote to Innate for the Life Essence Returning Skill!

"Inheritor’s basic aptitude assessment complete!"

"Age: Significantly over the limit!"

"Overall evaluation... Supreme-grade aptitude!"

"Eligible to receive top-tier awakening Spiritual Object: ’Cyan Wood Spirit Fruit’!"

"Break through to the Innate realm within the Secret Realm and awaken a Spirit Root. Depending on the quality of the awakened Spirit Root, you may receive a Cyan Wood Spiritual Qi Infusion!"

"Seven days from now, all Inheritors will compete with their chosen Wood Spirits for the appearing Cultivation Techniques, Wood Element Spiritual Soil, and Wood Element Spirit Seeds!"

Several streams of information flooded into Jiang Zuo’s mind all at once.

’Rated as supreme-grade aptitude despite being significantly over the age limit... If I’d known beforehand, I could have reduced my apparent age and come back. Wouldn’t I have gotten something like transcendent-grade then?’

’Oh well, supreme-grade is good enough.’

As Jiang Zuo thought this, a fruit tree suddenly burst forth from the black, previously empty soil at his feet.

Under his watchful gaze, the tree grew to over a meter tall, then blossomed and bore fruit.

In just a few moments, an egg-sized, vibrantly green fruit that seemed to drip with color appeared before him.

’What kind of technique is this?’

Jiang Zuo was dumbfounded.

This Cyan Wood Spirit Fruit was the item needed to awaken a Spirit Root for the Life Essence Returning Skill. Jiang Zuo didn’t hesitate and reached out to pluck it.

As soon as Jiang Zuo plucked the Cyan Wood Spirit Fruit, the small tree instantly withered and died, as if it had never existed.

The moment Jiang Zuo plucked the Cyan Wood Spirit Fruit, the massive stele erupted with a dazzling green light that shot into the sky above the Secret Realm.

Everyone who had entered the Secret Realm could see this pillar of green light from afar.

"Someone’s already reached the Inheritance Stele and started the inheritance competition?"

"Who is it? Didn’t we agree to wait for everyone to arrive before approaching the Inheritance Stele?"

This time, aside from Jiang Zuo, everyone inside the Cyan Wood Secret Realm was a disciple of the Divine Wood Sect.

Seeing this, their eyes all widened in disbelief.

Once the inheritance competition began, there were only seven days until the real contest.

Those who arrived late would be at a great disadvantage.

"Who in the world would dare to act on their own!"

Lin Huayang stared at the pillar of green light shooting into the sky, absolutely furious.

Before they entered, Elder Ge had repeated the instructions countless times, yet someone still disobeyed the order.

"That green light means supreme-grade aptitude, right? But even so, it’s just the basic aptitude. If the awakened Spirit Root isn’t outstanding enough, they won’t be able to get anything good from the inheritance competition. It’ll be hard to answer for that when they get back."

In another location, Fang Changtao squinted, gazing at the green light.

"Supreme-grade aptitude... Who is it?"

"We’ll know once we get there!"

After their initial shock, the Divine Wood Sect disciples turned their attention to the green light.

Since they were allowed to enter the Secret Realm, they naturally knew a great deal about it.

When these inheritors of the technique arrived before the Cyan Wood Longevity Stele, their aptitude would be assessed based on their progress with the Life Essence Returning Skill.

The better the aptitude, the better the awakening Spiritual Object they would receive.

After using the awakening Spiritual Object to Promote to Innate and awaken a Spirit Root, they would receive a massive Cyan Wood Spiritual Qi Infusion.

It was said that someone with good aptitude could reach the peak of Qi Cultivation in a very short time.

By then participating in the inheritance competition alongside the appearing Wood Spirits, it was highly likely they could obtain unimaginably great benefits.

The Cyan Wood Secret Realm produced rare Wood Element Spiritual Soil and Wood Element Spirit Seeds that couldn’t be found in the outside world.

However, the most important prize of all was the Cultivation Technique, the Cyan Wood Longevity Technique.

The Divine Wood Sect had occupied the Cyan Wood Secret Realm for many years, and they had already obtained most of the Cultivation Techniques available within it.

But they had never been able to obtain the most powerful one, the Cyan Wood Longevity Technique.

The Divine Wood Sect had always placed great importance on the Cyan Wood Secret Realm. Besides being able to cultivate a batch of disciples with excellent aptitude, the most crucial reason was their desire to obtain this most profound Wood Element technique.

They had made many attempts to do so, but none had succeeded.

In the past, they had even given some entry spots to disciples from other sects, hoping for a lucky breakthrough or some new discovery.

But it had all been for naught.

Now, a rare Inheritor with supreme-grade aptitude had appeared, but not many people had high hopes for them.

In the past, Inheritors with supreme-grade aptitude had appeared before. Though not many, there had been over a dozen in total.

But this so-called supreme-grade aptitude was only the basic aptitude.

When promoting to the Innate realm, the awakened Spirit Root was what truly mattered.

However, awakening a supreme-grade Spirit Root through the promotion to the Innate realm was considered basically impossible.

And a merely excellent Spirit Root was nowhere near enough to obtain the Cyan Wood Longevity Technique from the Secret Realm.

Within one of the teams, Wen Yusheng gazed at the green light, a faint sense of unease creeping over him.

This person had reached the Cyan Wood Longevity Stele far too quickly, and they had ignored the arrangements, unilaterally starting the inheritance competition.

’Could it be the person the Third Elder mentioned?’

Regardless, Wen Yusheng decided it was best to be cautious.

Before the Cyan Wood Longevity Stele.

Jiang Zuo looked at the green light soaring into the sky, completely unfazed.

The area was isolated by an Array. The Divine Wood Sect’s Dao Foundation disciples couldn’t get in, and the Martial Artists were no threat at all.

Jiang Zuo didn’t even plan to Promote to Innate here. He would compete for the inheritance just as he was.

And if by some chance the Divine Wood Sect disciples did manage to get in, the worst-case scenario was that he would just leave.

He had already obtained the promotion technique, achieving his main goal. As for other benefits, he would fight for them if he could and give them up if he couldn’t. There was nothing to regret.

"The person inside isn’t one of our Divine Wood Sect disciples!"

Jiang Zuo waited in front of the stele for a few hours before the first Divine Wood Sect disciples finally arrived.

When they saw Jiang Zuo’s figure, their expressions changed instantly.ℯℯ𝑙.