Chapter 216 — The Eternal Emerald Grove

My Dao to Eternity

Chapter 216 — The Eternal Emerald Grove

The ape spun with sudden force, one massive arm sweeping toward him. Li Fan angled his sword to redirect the strike rather than receive it directly, but the strength of a Mid-Stage Core Shattering beast overwhelmed the deflection and hurled him across the clearing. His boots tore furrows through the rich soil before he stopped. His Returning Marrow bones endured the impact, but the force still traveled through every joint in his arm.

Before he could reset his stance, the ground beneath him erupted with knotted roots that surged toward his body, while overhead a dense canopy of hardened branches closed off the open sky.

The ape moved more slowly than the direwolf and showed less calculation, but its control over the grove was absolute. Every movement altered the terrain around Li Fan. He leaped from root to root, keeping ahead of the advancing growth, and understood with each exchange that attrition would not win this battle. The ape's body was too dense and too structurally unified for repeated sword strikes to wear it down.

A body that could not redistribute force still possessed structural limits. Somewhere within the jade-hardened body, the density had to weaken at a joint or opening where the mineralized structure remained incomplete.

His divine sense narrowed, sweeping across the ape until it found the opening. A small, pulsing gap existed where the jaw joined the base of the skull. It was narrow, but sufficient for the beast to draw breath before releasing its roar.

The ape lunged forward, tearing a primordial tree from the earth and swinging it toward him with enough force to end the battle.

Li Fan stepped toward the attack. His footing blurred, and he vanished from the tree's path before reappearing inches from the ape's eyes.

Instinct opened the beast's jaws as it prepared another roar at close range. The opening appeared exactly where Li Fan needed it.

His qi, divine sense, and Sword Intent converged at the tip of his sword. He abandoned defense and concentrated everything into the strike. The sword became a single continuous line of force and drove through the opening beneath the jaw into the skull.

The entire grove fell silent for a breath. The tree remained suspended at the end of the ape's swing. The vines slackened.

Green cracks spread from the ape's jaw across its chest, arms, and legs. Its jade-hardened body separated along those fractures and collapsed into thousands of dull green fragments. Its life force vanished, and the wood-attribute qi accumulated within its body for centuries flowed back into the grove.

Li Fan landed on the disturbed soil and remained still for three breaths, confirming through his divine sense that the beast's spiritual fluctuation had disappeared. He cleared the jade dust from his sword with a flick of his wrist, sheathed it, and collected the larger fragments scattered across the clearing. The material was dense and rare, so he kept the pieces worth carrying and left the remainder upon the ground.

He turned toward the bamboo grove at the basin's center and began harvesting. Each culm was cut at its base with one clean sword stroke, preserving the dense joints and preventing unnecessary damage. He placed every stalk into a separate compartment of his storage ring so they would remain secure during transport. When he finished counting, there were exactly one hundred stalks.

He continued to the roots. Once every standing culm had been removed, he knelt and loosened the soil with his hands, following the root systems beneath the disturbed earth. The roots were thick and pale, still carrying the same vitality as the stalks above. He freed them carefully, preserving the finer roots that might retain the ability to grow under suitable conditions, then placed them in a separate compartment.

Whether the roots could survive after being replanted elsewhere remained uncertain. A resource capable of producing another generation was worth preserving despite that uncertainty, and the cost of attempting to cultivate it was small compared with abandoning it entirely.

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He rose after sealing the final roots, checked the weight of his storage ring against his hip, and directed his divine sense toward the formation current beneath the grove. It continued beyond the basin, deep and unbroken, maintaining the same steady course it had followed since he first discovered it beneath the slate ledge outside the Realm.

He adjusted his mask, looked once across the harvested grove, and followed the current onward.

Two weeks beyond the Eternal Emerald Grove, the formation current entered a low, humid basin. Standing water filled the spaces between jagged limestone ridges, while thick white fog reduced visibility to thirty paces. Li Fan moved through it carefully, his divine sense extending in controlled waves around his body while his cultivation remained steady.

The fog thickened across a broad arc around him. A sharp vibration traveled through the earth-attribute qi beneath his boots, followed by the cold chime of a spiritual array closing somewhere beyond the mist.

Five Early-Stage Core Shattering auras appeared six miles away and formed a crescent that began advancing toward him. Behind them, two Mid-Stage Core Shattering auras approached with steady pressure. Li Fan's fingers settled against his sword hilt.

"The tracking thread terminates here," a voice called through the fog.

The mist parted. Seven figures wearing deep cerulean robes entered the clearing in coordinated formation. At their front stood a sharp-featured young man with a mid-grade water-attribute saber resting across one shoulder. Frost continuously formed along its blue-steel edge. Beside him stood a woman with cold eyes and a strand of luminous water pearls around her throat. Five younger disciples followed behind them, forming a loose arrangement while their hands assumed matching mudras.

"Masked dog," the leader said, staring at Li Fan's featureless mask. "You slaughtered six of our outer-court brothers in the Spiritual Herb cavern and thought you could escape. I am Jiang Chenyu. The Nine Rivers Sect does not leave such debts unpaid. Return their pouches and kneel, or we will strip the flesh from your bones."

Li Fan remained silent for a moment while his divine sense examined the seven cultivators and traced the circulation of qi through their bodies.

"The pouches are already empty," he said. "Your brothers died because their strength did not match their pride. If you want the same ending, come forward."

"Die!"

Jiang Chenyu swept his saber forward. Water qi surged through the surrounding air and entered the saber's trajectory. A defensive wall formed first, then collapsed into a liquid spear aimed at Li Fan's throat, while a binding current spread across the ground toward his ankles. Three transformations occurred within a single technique.

At the same moment, the woman flicked her fingers. A whip formed from compressed water shot from her palm and curved around the limestone pillars before striking toward Li Fan from the side.

"Form the array!" one of the five younger disciples shouted.

The five disciples activated their formation together. Pressurized water descended from above and formed a massive vortex around the clearing, compressing the surrounding air and restricting movement.

Li Fan shifted his footing and passed through the binding current and water whip. His body crossed the gap before he appeared ten feet from the weakest of the five disciples, his sword already leaving its sheath.

The draw and strike connected in one motion. Silver sword light cut through the water vortex. The disciple raised a shield, but the sword passed through it and continued through the spear behind it, striking the disciple before he could retreat. His body fell as blood entered the surrounding water.

"Mo Lin!" another disciple shouted as he moved forward to close the opening.

Li Fan advanced before the formation could recover. His sword shifted along the incoming spear and severed the attacker's fingers, then reversed into a low sweep that struck his legs. Two more disciples fell within two breaths. Their formation collapsed when too many positions lost their operators. The final two retreated, their expressions changing as they realized the formation could no longer protect them.

"Stay focused! Use the River Dragon!" Jiang Chenyu shouted.

He lunged forward and struck with his palm. A violent roar accompanied the attack as compressed water qi formed the head of a massive dragon. The pressure was sufficient to damage solid stone.

Li Fan raised his sword horizontally instead of retreating. His Returning Marrow bones locked his joints, and he received the attack against the flat of the sword.

The water force traveled along the sword and changed direction. It returned toward Jiang Chenyu at greater speed.

Jiang Chenyu's expression changed as the River Dragon struck back. A defensive talisman across his chest ignited with golden light and absorbed the reflected force before breaking apart. The remaining impact sent him sliding twenty feet across the damaged ground.

"Die, you demon!" the woman shouted.

Her water whip snapped around Li Fan's shoulder and tightened. Its compressed edge struck his skin beneath the robe and failed to penetrate his Returning Marrow body.

Li Fan turned toward her, seized the whip with his bare hand, and closed his fingers.

The compressed water burst into ordinary spray.