Chapter 675: What a Vicious Scheme!

An ancient, gentle thought sounded in Su Ming’s mind. “This Jianmu Divine Leaf has been nourished by divine liquid for a thousand years. It can help you heal the injuries caused by formation backlash. But do not be greedy and force a breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage with its aid, or your foundation will be destroyed.”

Su Ming’s expression remained calm, without the slightest trace of arrogance. He clasped his hands and bowed deeply. “This junior thanks Senior Woodheart for bestowing the leaf. I will not let you down.”

He carefully placed the divine leaf inside the sealing spirit jade box in his storage pouch.

In the Consciousness Sea, Lin Yu gazed at the divine leaf, his Soul Body so excited that he turned two somersaults in midair.

Lin Yu lowered his voice to a whisper, afraid that a mighty being like Elder Woodheart might detect him. “This thing is far more valuable than those few handfuls of Void Condensation Sand you have!”

As he put away the divine leaf, Su Ming seized the opportunity to make his request.

“Elder Genxu.” Su Ming turned around, his gaze frank. “To set up such a precise buffer formation a hundred zhang underground, I must use Void Condensation Sand to calibrate the spatial nodes and prevent the earth veins from shifting. In addition, I need the most complete map of the earth veins near the main roots. Not a single blind spot can be left.”

At this, Elder Genxu’s grizzled brows furrowed slightly. Although Void Condensation Sand was considered waste material in Greenwood Court, it was still a rare treasure with spatial attributes. And the earth-vein map near the main roots was one of Greenwood Court’s core secrets.

“Give it to him!”

Elder Panshi did not hesitate for a moment. With a sweep of his hand, he took a heavy black stone box from his storage space and slammed it onto the Greenstone table with a bang.

“This is the finest Void Condensation Sand. As for the map’s restrictions...” Elder Panshi bit his fingertip, and a drop of ocher blood fell onto the rubbing. The layer of hidden mist around its edges vanished at once, revealing a far more extensive underground network.

Su Ming took the black stone box and opened it for a glance, silently counting to himself.

Su Ming’s gaze returned to the rubbing.

Without changing expression, Su Ming used the pretense of examining the earth-vein layout to cast an apparently casual glance at its northwestern corner.

There, an area marked “Withered Wood Cliff” could be seen.

Su Ming drew a circle around Withered Wood Cliff with his fingertip. His brows knit slightly as he asked in a contemplative tone, “Elders, the earth veins in this area seem to have some hidden connection to the flow of life-force from the three main roots. If I’m not mistaken, this is where the life-force from the three roots converges. Why haven’t any defensive formation lines been set up here?”

At those words, Elder Genxu’s expression changed abruptly. Even Elder Panshi’s gaze flickered evasively.

Elder Genxu let out a long sigh and gave a bitter smile. “Guest Official Su truly has a discerning eye. To tell you the truth, Elder Woodheart personally designated Withered Wood Cliff a forbidden zone a thousand years ago. The life-force there is extremely chaotic. Not only is it impossible to set up formations, but even approaching it will drain one’s lifespan. So we had no choice but to abandon it.”

Su Ming nodded and asked no more. But in his heart, he had marked Withered Wood Cliff with a huge crimson symbol.

The meeting in the Grand Hall finally came to an end.

The elders dispersed, each going to gather the elite forces of the spirit races.

Su Ming used the excuse that he “needed a little more time to work things out” to remain alone in the Grand Hall.

Once he had confirmed that no one was around, Su Ming pressed two fingers together, and a glimmer of dim light appeared at his fingertips. He drove Observation of the Minute to its limit, turning his divine sense into countless fine tendrils that plunged into the rubbing.

Deep in the shadows around the rubbing’s three main roots,

three marks like hair-thin nails were concealed, radiating the dense laws of deathly stillness. The three marks were tightly linked to one another by threads of death energy too fine for the naked eye to detect.

Su Ming slipped the formation plate out of his sleeve and quickly recorded the fluctuations of the marks. Then he tucked the plate close to his body, his gaze darkening.

He turned, swept the hem of his blue-gray robe aside, and strode out of the Elder Hall. Together with Elder Panshi, who had been waiting outside, he headed toward the unfathomably deep root veins underground.

A hundred zhang below ground.

The air here was not at all stifling. Instead, it was filled with a dense herbal fragrance, so rich it seemed almost liquefied.

Hundreds upon thousands of thick root veins, each as mighty as a blue dragon, coiled and intertwined across the surrounding rock walls and through the empty space. Pale golden Life Essence flowed along the surface of every root vein, like glowing rivers breathing as they streamed by.

Su Ming followed Elders Panshi and Qingluo, having just entered the core region known as the “Abyss of Roots.”

Before he could even approach the first main root, Su Ming keenly sensed the Ruo Shui spiritual energy flowing freely within him begin to falter ever so slightly. It was as if a clear stream had suddenly flowed into an invisible swamp.

“Stop.” Elder Qingluo spoke abruptly. In the pale golden glow of the Life Essence, her face looked somewhat pallid.

She raised her slender wrist. A dark green vine as thick as her wrist emerged from her sleeve and stretched toward the root wall of the first main root like a spirit snake.

“Hiss...”

The instant the vine’s tip touched the pale golden root wall, a faint but piercing sound of corrosion rang out.

The vigorous tip of the vine blackened and withered by half an inch in the blink of an eye. The blackened portion quickly turned into lifeless ash and sifted down.

Elder Qingluo abruptly withdrew the vine. Her expression grew utterly grave, with even a trace of barely perceptible trembling.

“The death energy has penetrated deep into the root marrow.” Elder Qingluo’s voice was hoarse. “The mess that traitor Dry Leaf left behind runs deeper than we imagined. You repaired the defenses on the outskirts, but he had already planted the trigger in the main roots.”

Elder Panshi snorted angrily and clenched his half-petrified fist, but he did not dare release any earth-attributed life-force to touch the roots, for fear of triggering a backlash.

Su Ming stepped forward. A flash of deep blue gleamed in his eyes as Observation of the Minute silently spread out.

His gaze pierced layer after layer of pale golden Life Essence and reached the root veins themselves.

A stick of incense’s time passed, and Su Ming’s brows lifted slightly.

He discovered that the three dark purple nail marks he had seen on the rubbing had not actually pierced the roots’ indestructible wooden core.

Instead, they had cunningly lodged themselves at the brief, vulnerable nodes formed when the tide of life-force in the root veins receded.

“What a vicious scheme,” Su Ming said coldly in the Consciousness Sea.