Chapter 179: The Bodhi Ancient Tree Comes Knocking of Its Own Accord!
"Jiang Yun, what should I do?"
Inside the mountain cave, Xiao Yi Xian looked at the flame burning within the cave—brimming with life force—and couldn't help but turn toward Jiang Yun beside her.
The Living Creature Flame, ranked fifth on the Heavenly Flame List—even though it was not adept in battle and was instead saturated with life force—was still not something that a cultivator below Dou Sheng could refine.
Let alone a mere Dou Zong like Xiao Yi Xian. Even though there was an inexplicable affinity between the two of them, it was still harder than climbing to the heavens.
Jiang Yun did not immediately answer Xiao Yi Xian's question. Instead, he sank his mind inward and began communicating with Qing Ming.
"Senior Qing Ming, can it be done?"
Hearing Jiang Yun's question, Qing Ming's voice, tinged with amusement, rang out: "Had it been any other flame, Xiao Yi Xian's current strength might have caused her some harm. But this Living Creature Flame... it's rather simple."
After receiving Qing Ming's affirmative reply, Jiang Yun set his heart at ease. Looking at Xiao Yi Xian, who was quietly waiting beside him, he said gently, "Go ahead and communicate with it, refine it. Leave everything else to me."
"Mm!" Noticing the certainty in Jiang Yun's eyes, Xiao Yi Xian relaxed. She nodded, resolute determination flashing through her gaze, and walked toward the Living Creature Flame.
"Wait!"
Just then, Jiang Yun suddenly called out to Xiao Yi Xian. She turned back, her face full of confusion.
Seeing this, Jiang Yun chuckled lightly: "After all, this is your first time refining a heavenly flame. Let me set up a spiritual array for you—to lend you a hand!"
Hearing Jiang Yun's words, Xiao Yi Xian paused, then smiled softly and nodded.
Jiang Yun did not waste a moment. Raising his hand, hundreds of spirit seals flew out and swiftly condensed into a grand array in midair.
The grand array was interconnected by faint lines of flame. Yet, faintly, a light chill seeped out from within it.
"This is the Blazing Cold Grand Array, obtained from the Purifying Demonic Lotus Saint. This cold qi is no ordinary chilling mist—rather, it's something derived when temperature is elevated to a certain extreme. One could say it's a rather peculiar kind of scorching chill, possessing a certain suppressive effect on heavenly flames."
Jiang Yun pointed at the grand array overhead and explained to Xiao Yi Xian, whose beautiful eyes held a trace of bewilderment.
Hearing this, Xiao Yi Xian nodded with dawning understanding.
After everything was ready, Xiao Yi Xian walked toward the Living Creature Flame. Instantly, the sky-filling green flames began to gently dance and flicker with her approach.
Xiao Yi Xian could sense a joyful emotion from within them, which eased her heart. But she clearly knew what she wanted. Very decisively, she passed through the outer flames and arrived beside the origin flame of the Living Creature Flame.
The origin flame of the Living Creature Flame continuously shifted through all manner of forms. Sensing Xiao Yi Xian's arrival, it merrily swam and circled around her.
Xiao Yi Xian, however, remained unmoved. Gently extending both hands, she cupped it and brought it toward her mouth.
Sensing Xiao Yi Xian's intent, the Living Creature Flame immediately grew restless. The temperature within it instantly began to soar.
Although I really like you and feel comfortable around you—that doesn't mean I'm willing to be refined by you! Those are two entirely separate matters!
Thus, upon detecting Xiao Yi Xian's action, the Living Creature Flame instantly erupted in violent rebellion.
At the same time, Jiang Yun naturally reacted with lightning speed. With a shift of his hand seals, the grand array in the sky began rotating rapidly. Then, an exceptionally dense cold qi surged down violently from within the grand array.
Under Jiang Yun's control, it precisely descended toward the center where Xiao Yi Xian stood. Under the influence of that cold qi, cracking and snapping sounds immediately rang out within the cave. A thick layer of frost began to solidify.
At this moment, even the surface of the Living Creature Flame was covered in a thin sheet of frost.
Outside, the frost within the cave spread rapidly toward even greater distances at a furious pace.
Seeing Jiang Yun make his move, Xiao Yi Xian—also a decisive person—swiftly cupped the origin flame of the Living Creature Flame with both hands and brought it into her mouth.
"Boom—"
Sensing danger descended, the Living Creature Flame completely erupted. In an instant, it expanded violently, directly transforming into a roaring, raging inferno that wrapped around Xiao Yi Xian's entire body. The terrifying temperature—enough to discolor the very sky—erupted abruptly.
"Ah—"
Intense, searing pain struck. Xiao Yi Xian's pristine white clothes were instantly reduced to ash by the terrifying high temperature. A body as fair and pure as white jade appeared within the cave.
Yet Jiang Yun, at this moment, had no mind to admire the beautiful sight. The instant the Living Creature Flame erupted, he passed through the green flame barrier and arrived before Xiao Yi Xian.
"Jiang Yun..." At this moment, Xiao Yi Xian—her consciousness somewhat blanked by the sudden, intense pain—murmured subconsciously.
"It will be over very soon!" Seeing this, Jiang Yun's heart ached. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered softly into her ear.
At the same time, a terrifying sealing, suppressing force erupted from the back of his hand. In that very instant, the Living Creature Flame—so ferocious and unruly just moments before—was, like an infant before an adult, effortlessly tossed into Xiao Yi Xian's dantian.
A faint, illusionary tower shadow flickered in and out of existence within Xiao Yi Xian's dantian.
At the base of the tower, the Living Creature Flame swam about 'obediently.' Tiny wisps of flame, brimming with life force, slowly flowed along the fine cracks in the tower's base, traveling through Xiao Yi Xian's meridians in all directions.
As time passed, Xiao Yi Xian would be able to effortlessly complete the refinement of the Living Creature Flame.
With the Living Creature Flame suppressed, Xiao Yi Xian collapsed limply into Jiang Yun's arms like a deflated ball. That pain, which had seared to the very depths of her soul, had drained every last ounce of her strength.
"I-it's... it's resolved?" Drenched in fragrant sweat and panting heavily, Xiao Yi Xian panted in Jiang Yun's arms.
"Heh heh... It's already done. From now on, you can safely absorb and refine the Living Creature Flame!" Jiang Yun raised his sleeve and helped wipe the fragrant sweat from Xiao Yi Xian's brow, speaking gently.
"Mm..." A murmur—like that of a kitten—escaped Xiao Yi Xian's lips.
As the crisis passed, it was only then that Xiao Yi Xian belatedly realized she was at this moment completely and utterly bare, collapsed and limp in Jiang Yun's arms. Instantly, her beautiful eyes, as if about to brim over with water, gazed at Jiang Yun with a glistening, watery sheen.
That single look made Jiang Yun's heart pound wildly. He instantly felt his body grow somewhat hot.
At this moment, Jiang Yun's palm still rested on Xiao Yi Xian's skin—smooth as the finest jade. The sensation of that skin made Jiang Yun's breathing involuntarily deepen, just slightly.
Though Xiao Yi Xian's figure was not as full of temptation and allure as Zi Yan and Medusa's, her figure could still be called utterly flawless.
And that waist—the number one willow waist of the Dou Po world. All of it, at this moment, exuded a fatal, irresistible allure.
Xiao Yi Xian, her entire body flushed red from being burned just moments ago, now possessed an extra three parts of alluring seduction on top of her usual pure, celestial-fairy-like innocence.
"Jiang Yun..."
Her body growing hotter and hotter, Xiao Yi Xian opened her glistening, watery eyes and gazed at Jiang Yun, murmuring.
"Mmph—"
Before she could even finish, Jiang Yun had already lowered his head and captured that soft, tender place.
For a time, the cave was filled with an atmosphere of intimate, ambiguous warmth.
"Com... com... comfortable aura... here..."
Deep within the earth, an unknown soul fluctuation rippled outward. Unseen by any, an enormous silhouette was moving at an astonishing speed.
"Rumble—"
An immense fissure rapidly took form upon the earth at a shocking pace. In that instant, the ground shook and the mountains quaked.
"What is going on?!"
Shen Nong was the first to rush to the scene. Gazing at the earth below, a shocked expression appeared on his face.
"Senior Shen Nong!" Just then, the figures of Jiang Yun and Xiao Yi Xian arrived together. At this moment, there was nothing visibly unusual about the two of them. Only, if one looked closely, one would notice that Xiao Yi Xian was leaning against Jiang Yun even more closely than before. At the same time, a faint, gloomy shadow flickered between Jiang Yun's brows.
"You two are here too. Do you know what has happened?" Shen Nong started slightly upon seeing Jiang Yun and Xiao Yi Xian. He hadn't expected that after obtaining the Living Creature Flame, the two hadn't immediately returned home to refine it. Instead, they were wandering around here?
What Shen Nong didn't know was that Xiao Yi Xian had already suppressed the Living Creature Flame within her dantian and was slowly refining it.
"We only just rushed over after hearing the commotion as well." The two shook their heads. Jiang Yun spoke.
Nodding, the three said nothing more. They simply stared together at the changes unfolding below.
Just then, Xiao Yi Xian pointed at the ground and asked in astonishment, "Jiang Yun, Senior Shen Nong—look! What is that?"
They didn't need Xiao Yi Xian to point it out. Jiang Yun and Shen Nong had already seen that thing. A stream of exceptionally dense, light and pure qi rapidly emerged from the ground and spread across the field. Just breathing it in made one feel instantly invigorated, spirit soaring.
"This is..." Grabbing a handful of the light, nimble qi in the air, Shen Nong hesitated, a look of utter disbelief flashing through his eyes.
"This is pure qi. Could what lies below be..." Jiang Yun revealed an equally astonished expression. He had never imagined that the very thing they'd been chasing for so long would actually deliver itself right to their doorstep.
"The Bodhi Ancient Tree!" Shen Nong spoke in a deep voice. His gaze, as he looked at Jiang Yun, was filled with complexity and sheer envy.
If one were to rank the heavenly treasures and earthly rarities of the Dou Qi Continent, the Bodhi Ancient Tree would inevitably be among the top three!
In certain ancient texts, the Bodhi Ancient Tree was also called the Wisdom Samsara Tree.
This tree grew one ring every thousand years. Only when it had gained a full hundred rings was it mature. Such an endless span of years was sufficient for time to erode and corrode anything. Yet the Bodhi Ancient Tree stood beyond time itself. It could practically be considered one of the most ancient species on the continent.
The Bodhi Ancient Tree might not appear even once in a thousand years. Although it possessed the ability to let one achieve Sainthood on the spot, the recorded cases of success throughout history were pitifully few—trending infinitely close to zero.
But this did not diminish the masses' fervent pursuit. Every single time it appeared, it would bring an incredibly colossal sensation and upheaval across the continent.
There was no shortage of Dou Sheng experts who had fallen because of fighting over the Bodhi Ancient Tree.
What made Shen Nong's gaze even more complicated was that he had lived here in seclusion for a thousand years—and had never discovered any opportunities at all.
Yet now, after Jiang Yun's arrival, they had discovered the Living Creature Flame right in this very valley. And now, even the Bodhi Ancient Tree had appeared.
Jiang Yun—and you still claim you're not the heavens' biological son?
"To think it's actually the Bodhi Ancient Tree!" Xiao Yi Xian covered her mouth in shock. At this moment, she also felt a strange sensation stir within her body, as if something deep underground was pulling at her.
"Rumble—"
Just then, another terrifying tremor came from underground, as if some massive, colossal entity was about to bore its way out.
"Not good—"
Jiang Yun and the other two inwardly cursed. In an instant, Jiang Yun, bringing Xiao Yi Xian with him, flashed to the distance together with Shen Nong.
The moment the three had vacated the area, a gargantuan entity suddenly burst forth from the earth, rising from the ground.
Moments later, an ancient tree—its canopy so enormously vast that it could blanket a small half of a city—stood towering upon this expansive plain. Wave after wave of exceptionally dense, pure qi rippled and spread high above the ancient tree, at times shifting into all manner of shapes—truly mystical and unfathomable.
"So this is the legendary Bodhi Ancient Tree..." Gazing from afar at that ancient tree, steeped in an aura of antiquity as if it had stood between heaven and earth since time immemorial—even Shen Nong, a six-star Dou Sheng, could not help but feel his heart pound fiercely, uncontrollably.
The Bodhi Tree had three great treasures. The Bodhi Heart and the Bodhi Seed were already of no use to him. But there was still that single moment of enlightenment beneath the Bodhi Tree.
This so-called 'one moment of enlightenment beneath the Bodhi Tree,' which was said to grant one the potential of a Dou Di, was still very, very tempting. Even if it didn't reach that level—if he could use it to break through to seven stars, that would still be an absolute, overwhelming win.
"What a massive tree..."
Xiao Yi Xian murmured. Even though she had long prepared herself mentally, when facing the Bodhi Ancient Tree directly, she could still feel its immensity. That canopy spread out overwhelmingly, covering the sky and blanketing the earth. It was like an ancient, sacred artifact standing between heaven and time, saturated with age and boundless vicissitude.
A trunk a full several thousand zhang wide—like a pillar connecting heaven and earth. Upon that trunk was densely engraved the aura of ancient antiquity.
The colossal Bodhi Ancient Tree involuntarily stirred a faint sense of awe and reverence within one's heart. Facing this kind of ancient divine thing, which had existed for who knew how many ages, no one could maintain a heart of unruffled calm before it.
The sunlight in the sky poured down at this moment, shining upon the ancient tree. Faintly, there was a sense of crystalline translucence. A powerful, vibrant life force—utterly, breathtakingly shocking—spread outward.
Roughly a hundred zhang up the trunk of the vast, emerald-green Bodhi Ancient Tree was a cluster of brilliant, shining light. This cluster of light was like an energy heart over a zhang wide, faintly pulsing with powerful, rhythmic beats.
"Is that the Bodhi Heart?"
The gazes of Jiang Yun and the other two were immediately drawn to that cluster of light, hidden within the enormous tree body.
Even Shen Nong, already a Dou Sheng, looked at the Bodhi Heart with keen interest. He was not only a Dou Sheng but also a Mystic Pill Grandmaster.
Yet even he had never had the chance to get his hands on a treasure as rare as the Bodhi Heart. The first time seeing it in person, of course he was thinking about how to get ahold of it and study it.
At the same time,
the instant the Bodhi Ancient Tree revealed itself to the outside world, message after message flew at breakneck speed toward all the various powers.
The mountain range where Shen Nong lived in seclusion might have been remote and rarely visited, but a commotion as massive as the Bodhi Ancient Tree's emergence was still enough to draw the attention of quite a number of people.
And so... the current Central Plains had already utterly exploded.