Chapter 039

Chapter 39: One Life or Ten Lives, It Still Knows How to Choose

Someone? No.

Ye Wan Wan’s eyes narrowed. It wasn’t a person. It was a spirit. The boy had no body. He existed by relying on the Pill Tree’s spiritual power. When he swung the lake’s waters to attack her, he was only borrowing the power of this Star Marsh.

“A Secret Realm Spirit?” she thought as she circled the trunk, dodging water arrows. Moving quickly, she climbed the spirit tree, cutting the distance between them in the shortest time.

The boy snapped, voice sharp with panic: “What are you doing!”

He vanished and reappeared five steps away. Ye Wan Wan was faster.

He sputtered, furious: “If you want Core Formation Fruit I can give it to you, but this golden one is mine! You can’t take it!” He could part with the Core Formation Fruit, but not the golden fruit that held the tree’s entire essence. That was his life.

Ye Wan Wan laughed softly: “Since I’m already here, why limit myself to a few fruits when I can take them all?”

The boy’s eyes went round. Feeling her gaze land on him, he stammered: “You even want to grab me?”

“How can you call it grabbing? I’m just taking you to live somewhere else,” Ye Wan Wan coaxed like a wolf in grandma’s clothes as she stepped closer: “Come here, little one, and sister will show you what freedom is.”

Lord Star Marsh fell silent: “…”

“You are insolent!” he cried.

She already had his wrist: “I can be even more insolent.”

The boy flipped backward, falling away to escape her grip, but a surge of spiritual power rose under him and shoved him forward. He glanced down and saw a Spirit Talisman under his feet.

The talisman ignited without fire.

Lines of power climbed out of the paper and expanded into a halo of light that wrapped the ground around the Pill Tree.

Crack.

Another spark popped. He looked around and saw flames flash on all four sides. Four Spirit Talismans were burning.

The four sets of lines tightened like a net, dragging him and the golden fruit into the center.

Raging, Lord Star Marsh whipped up winds over the lake. Knives of rain gathered and hacked at the glowing lines of the barrier. Clutching the golden fruit, he dove into the branches and vanished.

Ye Wan Wan’s face didn’t change. She reached through the glowing lines. They drew together into a golden ring that clasped her wrist. Pushing off a branch, she dropped to the roots.

She bent, then slammed her palm into the ground: “Five Elements Force, open!”

Gold, wood, water, fire, and earth surged from her palm into the lakebed. With the Pill Tree at the center, five Spirit Beads spread in a rush.

They surrounded the Pill Tree.

Lord Star Marsh stared, near collapse: “How can a cultivator’s Golden Core leave the body? What kind of monster are you!” He counted, stunned. One, two, three, four, five. Five Golden Cores.

“Why are there five! What kind of technique is that!”

Ye Wan Wan changed her palm to a fist, grabbed tight, and pulled. Bit by bit, the whole Pill Tree rose.

Feeling the pocket space he hid in start to quake, the spirit’s whole being screamed: “What are you doing!”

“Taking you out,” she answered mildly.

“You crazy woman!”

As the Pill Tree came free, the entire lake realm shook. He shouted in alarm: “The Pill Tree is the heart of the Star Marsh Secret Realm! If you pull it out, this place will collapse!”

“It doesn’t matter. It isn’t mine,” she said.

“…Where is your conscience?” he demanded.

“Don’t have one.”

She pushed harder. Even when the tree was dozens of meters up, the roots still had no end. The depth was unbelievable.

“This really is troublesome,” she sighed.

Lord Star Marsh thought she would give up, but the five Golden Cores whirling outside her body spun faster and rose higher. She even had attention to spare. With a thought, she opened the Violet Cloud Ring.

Now he truly panicked. If his lair was carried away, how could he sit still? He shouted: “Wait! The Pill Tree needs the Spirit Lake of Star Marsh. If you take only the tree, it won’t live long!”

Her tone softened, just a little: “Then…”

“You either move the whole Spirit Lake, or put it down and I’ll give you all the fruits,” he blurted, then added quickly: “The golden fruit too.”

He would not keep anything. He was a Parasitic Spirit tied to the secret realm. As long as the realm remained, his life would remain. If it collapsed, he was done. Between one life and ten lives, he knew how to choose. He could wait again… even if it made him grind his teeth.

Ye Wan Wan nodded after a moment’s thought: “No need to make it so complicated. If the Spirit Lake is a must, then I’ll take it along.”

“?” Lord Star Marsh was speechless. “Do you even know what you’re saying? This is the Star Marsh, a Spirit Lake formed by gathering heaven and earth’s essence for ten thousand years.”

“Just one drop adds a mortal a year of life. A whole bowl can pull someone back from the brink. For cultivators it’s a source of spiritual power they can only dream of. No matter how serious the injury, soak for a few days inside and you recover as good as new. And you say you’ll take it?”

“Thank you. No need to sell me on it,” Ye Wan Wan said, a little amused. “I’m already set on taking it.”

“That is not what I meant!” he screamed.

Ye Wan Wan pulled three Golden Talismans from her robe: “I only have three. Each can only be used once. I planned to save them for danger, but I’ll use one now.”

“What is that?” Lord Star Marsh asked, dazed.

She didn’t answer. Pouring spiritual power into the talisman, she lit it. Golden runes burst over the lake’s heart, swelling into a heavy pressure.

“What is that power…” Lord Star Marsh whispered, shocked. It felt like it could crush everything.

Ye Wan Wan frowned slightly. Her realm was too low, so she could only force herself up by one stage, but that was enough. The runes folded over her, then spread and sank into her meridians. From inside out, it felt like a suit of armor. It gave her an extra layer of defense and let her draw in the world’s energy at high speed. Her aura climbed and climbed.

In a blink, her aura neared Nascent Soul. Mid Nascent Soul Stage.

She clenched her fist: “That will do.”

The five Golden Cores outside her body swelled in power too. With a low shout, she sent them rushing to the edges of the Spirit Lake. Together they lifted the entire lake.

The boy was completely dumbfounded. [What kind of method is this? Is she treating the whole Star Marsh as her own dantian?]

Under her will, the whole Star Marsh Secret Realm moved toward the open Violet Cloud Ring.

That was when a problem appeared. The Violet Cloud Ring couldn’t hold a Spirit Lake this big.

Ye Wan Wan blinked. “I didn’t expect that.”

If she let go now, the Spirit Lake and Pill Tree would come apart. But there was no time to upgrade the ring’s space.

They were stuck. Feeling the grip of death and breaking apart, Lord Star Marsh wailed: “I knew it would be like this! You crazy woman!”

“I didn’t think in time,” Ye Wan Wan said. “But if I can’t take it all, taking half is fine.”

She decided on the spot and began to shrink the circle formed by the five Golden Cores.

“Stop!” Lord Star Marsh swore.

“If I stop, this realm really will collapse,” she said.

Teeth clenched, the spirit shouted: “Let me do it!”

“Let me handle it!”