Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 1097 Yu Qingyi's Tree Man
Lin Qihe nodded slightly, then pointed to a row of corpses on the deck and said, "Alright, these are the corpses of those people. Would you like to take a look?"

"Where is the soul?" Yang Zhengshan didn't care about the corpses, but was concerned about the souls that were separated from them.

"Here it is!" Lin Qihe took out a soul stone. "All the divine souls are inside."

After receiving the Soul Stone, Yang Zhengshan examined it with his spiritual sense and discovered that it contained thirteen divine souls.

"Let's go!"

The Vermilion Bird Cloud Boat started its journey, gliding through the clouds and continuing its westward advance.

Just as they were returning, on the Jade Pavilion, the Venerable Master Tianji sent out a message talisman with a solemn expression.

A moment later, True Lord Huagai arrived at the Jade Pavilion, "Greetings, Master!"

"Yes! Yuan Chen is dead!" Master Tianji said in a deep voice.

"What?" Huagai Zhenjun looked astonished.

“Yuan Chen has been killed!” Master Tianji said coldly.

Hua Gai frowned, his expression extremely solemn. "Who is it?"

Although the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion has many Golden Core cultivators, each one is the most important force in the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion.

Losing any one of them would be a huge loss for the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion.

In recent years, the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion has lost two Golden Core cultivators.

First, the Longevity True Lord suddenly disappeared, vanishing without a trace, neither alive nor dead.

Now, Yuan Chen Zhenjun has been killed. In less than a hundred years, Tianji Pavilion has lost two Golden Core cultivators.

“There are two murderers, one a swordsman, and the other who can control the True Fire of the Sun and the Divine Lightning of the Wood!” said Master Tianji.

When he projected his starry gaze, Yuan Chen Zhenjun was already dead, and Yang Zhengshan had also withdrawn his withering and flourishing divine power.

When defending against his star-eye attacks, Yang Zhengshan mainly used the Thunderfire Spear, which consists of the true fire of the sun and the divine thunder of the Yi wood.

Just as Yang Zhengshan thought, Tianji Shangren could not see through their aura or their appearance; he could only see the supernatural powers and techniques they used.

"True Fire of the Sun and Divine Thunder of the Wood?" Hua Gai frowned.

True fire from the sun is rare, as is divine thunder from the wood element.

Both of these are rare treasures of heaven and earth. Golden Core cultivators can use them as a reference to the real-life True Fire of the Sun and the Divine Thunder of Yi Wood to comprehend their own supernatural abilities.

However, there are three thousand Great Daos, and the divine abilities and intentions contained within them are countless. Therefore, it is very rare to find someone cultivating the same divine abilities and intentions.

Even among those from the same school, the divine powers and insights they comprehend are not entirely the same.

Therefore, the power of supernatural abilities is actually a mark of a Golden Core cultivator.

Examples include Yang Zhengshan's withering and flourishing supernatural powers, Lin Qihe's void-traveling ability, Jian Changhe's swordsmanship, and Yunxiao's swordsmanship.

Although both are swordsmen, Jian Changhe and Yunxiao's swordsmanship has obvious differences. Anyone who has seen the two of them use their swordsmanship can clearly see the difference between them.

Therefore, once one understands the divine will, it is easy to determine the identity and origin of a Golden Core cultivator.

However, at this moment, Huagai Zhenjun was unable to determine Yang Zhengshan's identity.

Because what he was thinking of were Golden Core cultivators who practiced the two magical abilities of Solar True Fire and Yi Wood Divine Thunder.

Clearly, in his mind, no one could match these two magical abilities.

"We can't use the Heavenly Evolution Technique?"

"No, the other party has the ability to conceal the secrets of heaven!" Master Tianji said.

Hua Gai Zhenjun's expression changed drastically. "Then the other party is no ordinary Golden Core cultivator!"

The Art of Heavenly Evolution is the most important divination technique of the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion. It contains the methods of calculation of celestial phenomena, destiny, and heavenly secrets, and can be used to glimpse heavenly secrets, deduce cause and effect, and follow the natural order.

While it would be difficult for ordinary Golden Core cultivators to deduce, Master Tianji was still able to deduce some information.

The fact that Master Tianji said the other party had the ability to conceal heavenly secrets indicates that the other party's cultivation and strength are likely no weaker than Master Tianji's.

This is another misunderstanding.

Yang Zhengshan's cultivation and strength are naturally inferior to those of Tianji Shangren, but Yang Zhengshan's soul is the spirit of the Shengjing Immortal Palace.

The Immortal Palace of the Living Realm is a spiritual treasure, and its level is even higher than that of a Golden Core cultivator.

No matter how strong Master Tianji is, he is still only a Golden Core cultivator.

Back then, Master Zangji forcibly deduced Yang Zhengshan's identity and origins, ultimately resulting in a backlash and his death.

After realizing that he could no longer deduce the truth, Master Tianji gave up on his own initiative.

As for why he didn't deduce Yunxiao's identity and origin, the reason is simple: the causal relationship between Yunxiao and Yuanchen's death is not clear enough.

The diviner Tianji was deducing the identity and origin of the murderer who killed Yuan Chen, not targeting Yang Zhengshan and Yunxiao.

"Could it be some newly emerged cultivator in seclusion?" Hua Gai Zhenjun pondered.

Master Tianji shook his head. "You'll need to investigate that yourself!"

The so-called secluded cultivators are actually cultivators who use certain methods to put themselves into a state of deep sleep in order to prolong their lifespan.

This kind of slumber is not true sleep, but rather a self-sealing, a self-hiding.

Even someone like Heavenly Sword True Monarch could be considered a cultivator in seclusion, except that his seclusion period was relatively short, only a few hundred years.

In addition, he sealed his own soul and then used possession to gain a new life.

Other ascetics would rarely use such crude methods to prolong their lifespan.

Yes, it's rough.

The crudest method of possession not only harms the true spirit but also causes one to lose all cultivation and start cultivating anew.

In contrast, some sealing methods are much more sophisticated, not only ensuring that one can survive for tens of thousands of years, but also without any side effects. When awakened, one's cultivation and strength can remain at their peak.

In comparison, the Heavenly Sword True Monarch's soul possession technique appears far less sophisticated.

"Disciple obey!"

Hua Gai Zhenjun accepted the task of tracking down the murderer, but he was not very confident in completing the task, because every cultivator in seclusion was an extremely difficult opponent.

……

Yang Zhengshan was unaware that Huagai Zhenjun was investigating the murderer, and even if he had known, he wouldn't have cared, because when they safely returned to Yang Family Blessed Land, he knew that the other party couldn't ascertain his identity and origin.

If the other party knew his identity and background, they would definitely chase after him. Since the other party did not chase after him, it means that the other party is not sure at the moment.

Therefore, when Yang Zhengshan returned to the Land of Spiritual Origin, he was quite relaxed. However, just in case, he still took many precautions.

He brought all the people and items from this trip back to the Land of Spiritual Origin and instructed them not to leave the Land of Spiritual Origin again, including the Vermilion Bird Cloud Boat and everything on it.

After all, Zhuque Yunzhou and Yuan Chen had been in contact before, and there was some connection between them.

He wasn't entirely clear about the methods of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion, but he could guess some of them.

To deduce something, you need to rely on things that are related; you can't just deduce everything by counting on your fingers.

Therefore, if we go to Hengshan Sect again in the future, we cannot use this group of people, and we will also need to change to a new flying boat.

In addition, Yunxiao can no longer go; Lin Qihe and Xuanzhen will take turns going from now on.

After arranging everything, Yang Zhengshan once again entered the meditation room to cultivate.

In the blink of an eye, another year has passed.

Since the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion hadn't come knocking, Yang Zhengshan could finally relax completely.

On this day, Yu Qingyi brought Yang Zhengshan to the woods east of Yujing City.

This forest is the largest, tallest, and oldest forest in the Spirit Source Land, because the trees here are all ancient trees that were transplanted from the ancient ruins.

"What are you going to show me?" Yang Zhengshan asked, somewhat puzzled.

He had just come out of seclusion today, and Yu Qingyi insisted on bringing him here. When asked what she was doing here, she was being mysterious, which piqued Yang Zhengshan's curiosity.

Yu Qingyi smiled radiantly, "You'll find out soon enough."

As they spoke, the two arrived at a large tree, a hundred meters tall, with a straight trunk and leaves larger than a washbasin. This was the Green-leaved Wutong, a first-order spiritual tree, whose leaves were best suited for making talismans.

Yu Qingyi stood under the tree, reached out and placed her hand on the thick sycamore tree. Then, strands of spiritual light emanated from her body, and her not-so-strong magical power flowed into the sycamore tree.

Yang Zhengshan was somewhat bewildered by what he saw.

What is this for?
However, he soon understood what Yu Qingyi was doing.

Just as he was wondering, the sycamore tree in front of him began to shake violently.

The overflowing spiritual light grew increasingly intense, and the surrounding spiritual energy began to converge. In a short while, the originally towering sycamore tree actually shrank.

The sycamore tree, which was over thirty feet tall, grew to twenty feet, then ten feet, eight feet, three feet, and finally shrank to a little over one foot.

The trunk became much thinner, but the canopy became incredibly dense.

Then a human face appeared on the tree trunk, with two eyes and a nose, and its skin was bluish-green, looking rather strange.

But Yang Zhengshan already knew what Yu Qingyi was doing.

This is the art of imbuing spirits!

Yu Qingyi transformed the sycamore tree into a tree person with a soul!
The roots were pulled from the earth and transformed into two long legs. The crown split apart, and two not-so-thick branches became two arms. However, compared to its size, these two arms appeared short and small.

"Hoho~~"

Its large mouth opened, revealing a pair of green teeth, and it emitted a roar similar to that of a wild beast.

Yang Zhengshan's expression turned serious, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he stared intently at the tree-man in front of him.

"How about it?" Yu Qingyi looked at Yang Zhengshan with a smug expression, as if to say, "I'm amazing, aren't I? Hurry up and praise me."

"Is this the art of imbuing spirits?" Yang Zhengshan asked.

Seeing his serious expression, Yu Qingyi dropped her haughty demeanor and asked, "That's right, is there a problem?"

Yang Zhengshan frowned in thought. "Of course there's a problem. Haven't you heard of the treant army of the Wanhua Demon Court?"

"The army of tree people!" Yu Qingyi was taken aback, then looked at the phoenix tree people behind her, who gave her a simple, honest smile.

"The Wanhua Demon Court previously repelled the Yin army of the Wuchang Ghost Sect by relying on its tens of thousands of tree-man army!" Yang Zhengshan explained.

Yu Qingyi rarely went out and didn't pay much attention to outside affairs, so she really didn't know that the Wanhua Demon Court had a large army of tree people.

"You mean the treants of the Wanhua Demon Court were also cultivated using the Spirit Imbuing Technique?" Yu Qingyi quickly understood Yang Zhengshan's meaning.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly. "What about that jade slip?"

“In my quiet room!” Yu Qingyi said.

With a thought, Yang Zhengshan reached out and took the jade slip from the quiet room out of thin air.

After carefully examining the contents of the jade slip, he shook his head slightly, "There shouldn't be any problem with this cultivation technique."

The art of spirit empowerment spread suddenly; there was no such cultivation method in the immortal cultivation world before. Yang Zhengshan suspected that this was a conspiracy by the Wanhua Demon Court, but he did not find any loopholes in the technique.

This is a very complete cultivation method, with detailed records and annotations for everything from the most basic cultivation techniques to the insights into supernatural powers and intentions.

If there is nothing wrong with the technique, then why does the Wanhua Demon Court want to spread it?
Yang Zhengshan was unaware that spreading the Dao throughout the world was also a way of vying for power, so he naturally could not have imagined the Wanhua Demon Emperor's purpose.

"Tell me about this tree-man in detail!" Yang Zhengshan said to Yu Qingyi, still not entirely at ease.

Yu Qingyi nodded. "The art of imbuing with spirit can give all things a spiritual quality, such as mountains, rocks, grass, trees, wind, rain, thunder, lightning, clouds, mist, and so on. Everything in the world can be imbued with a spiritual quality and given a soul."

"However, the art of imbuing with spirit has many limitations. The longer an item exists, the higher its intelligence will be after it is imbued with spirit. The more spiritual energy an item contains, the stronger it will be after it is imbued with spirit."

As she spoke, Yu Qingyi demonstrated for Yang Zhengshan.

She used her spirit-enhancing technique on a rock, and after a moment the rock turned into a stone figure. However, this rock was just an ordinary rock, so it had almost no power and could probably only bully ordinary people.

However, it can be seen that this stone man is quite intelligent, as he even showed a flattering smile to Yu Qingyi. It's just that he might be a bit slow, as it took him a full quarter of an hour to give that smile.

Then Yu Qingyi took a ball of water and turned it into a water person. Water is unpredictable, so the water person's form is not fixed. Moreover, it has a pair of innocent and ignorant eyes, looking blank and silly.

"Water is unpredictable, wind is formless, and clouds and mist are both unpredictable and formless; therefore, none of them are suitable for imbuing with spirits!"

"Thunder, fire, rosy clouds, shadows, and the like cannot last forever, therefore they are not suitable for imbuing with spirits!"

"In comparison, the most suitable items for imbuing with spirits in this world are mountains, rocks, plants, and trees. Mountains are too tall and difficult to imbue with spirits, and flowers and plants are too delicate and useless even if imbued with spirits!"

"Only stones and trees, after being imbued with spirit, are truly useful!"

"Although stones have existed for a long time, they are inanimate objects and do not possess any spirituality. After being imbued with spirit, they will appear to move somewhat slowly!"

"Trees are living beings, but their spirituality is weak and they lack wisdom. However, after being imbued with spirit, tree people possess great wisdom. Look at it!"

Yu Qingyi pointed to the tree-man behind her, and Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly. He had already observed the tree-man. Although the tree-man could not speak, its intelligence was not low, probably about the same as that of a seven or eight-year-old child.

"Its strength is related to the spiritual energy it contains; that is, the higher its grade, the stronger it will be! It is only a first-grade spiritual wood, so its strength is roughly equivalent to the ninth level of Qi Refining!"

Yu Qingyi looked at Yang Zhengshan and said with bright eyes, "If the Wanhua Demon Court has tens of thousands of tree people and can repel the Yin army, then it means they have tens of thousands of spirit trees of the second rank or above!"

(End of this chapter)