Only three seconds? He's already the Lord of All Realms, so it doesn't matter.

"It would be better to cultivate according to orthodox methods."

The biggest change in Yu Chenzi's revised version of "The Immortal Willow of Immortality" compared to the original is the method of cultivating immortal seeds.

The original immortal seed could devour everything at will, turning the life force of all living beings into its own nourishment. It could also be controlled autonomously, simply planted into the body of a living being as a seed, waiting to grow and then nourish itself.

Then, the domineering path of "Nine Departures from the Heavenly Sun" reduced these diverse methods to nothing more than devouring.

"Things will inevitably turn into their opposites when they reach their extremes; it's only natural that they'll suffer a backlash later..."

As for Yu Chenzi's statement that "there are no two paths to immortality," Ye Xuan is not currently concerned.

In his understanding, "absolutely no two paths" simply means that the same methods cannot be practiced together, which is why Yu Chenzi was willing to take the risk of seeking change.

But this is hardly a problem for me.

Ye Xuan looked at the Taoist robe he was wearing, "Superpowers have affected the Longevity Willow from the very beginning."

What will happen in the future? It's still unknown.

Moreover, I am currently only at the Golden Core stage, and I am still far from seeking immortality.

For now, it's best to just let things take their natural course.

Ye Xuan withdrew his spiritual power, carefully put the skeleton away, and instead of resting, he cultivated for the entire night.

As dawn broke outside the window, he got up, walked to the door, and looked towards the distant mountains behind the house.

At this moment, the morning mist has not yet dissipated in the dense forest behind the mountain.

Ye Xuan arrived at the outer logging area and saw that the ground was still covered with wooden stakes, but there were many more disciples with their names on plaques around.

Clearly, Tang Zhao did not release the "Thunder Sandalwood Heart" quest as agreed, which is why many people came to watch.

"Hehe, Junior Brother Zhao has indeed arrived."

Tang Zhao emerged from behind a sandalwood tree, his smile even brighter than yesterday.

"Didn't my senior brother say he was saving this task for me?"

"Oh dear, Junior Brother, why be so concerned? Most of these are just here to observe; who would dare to actually fight?"

Tang Zhao spoke in a loud voice, making sure everyone around could hear him, and his words sparked discussion among some of his disciples.

"I've never seen this person before. Are they very capable?"

"I don't know, but it seems like Senior Brother Tang has clashed with him."

"We probably can't even produce a single mid-Foundation Establishment disciple. Let's wait and see how this goes."

Ye Xuan ignored the surrounding discussions. He analyzed what Tang Zhao had just said and asked:

"So, obtaining the heartwood of the sandalwood is much more difficult than cutting down the tree?"

"nature!"

He walked slowly to a large sandalwood tree, about the thickness of two people's embrace, patted the charred bark, and explained in a knowing tone:

"The heartwood of the Thunder Sandalwood is hidden deep within the trunk. It is formed by the absorption of the earth's spiritual energy and the breath of thunder by trees that are over a hundred years old."

When extracting the heartwood, one must use spiritual power to precisely cut into the core where the spiritual veins converge; the slightest mistake...

He paused, then traced a line on the tree trunk with his fingertip. "The heartwood will shatter on the spot, and all its spiritual energy will dissipate."

"What's even more dangerous is that the heartwood is symbiotic with the tree, and forcibly picking it will trigger a backlash from the lightning energy accumulated inside the tree."

At best, it damages the meridians; at worst, it burns the person to a crisp with lightning.

The disciples around him, upon hearing his explanation, felt their hands tighten and instinctively took a few steps back.

Ye Xuan's gaze swept across the depths of the dense forest. Morning mist flowed through the trees, concealing centuries-old trees. The charred patterns on their trunks were deeper than those on the surrounding trees, and faint arcs of electricity could be seen running through their bark.

"Give me the token, I'll take it."

"Junior Brother Zhao is..."

Tang Zhao left his words unfinished and threw out the wooden token in his hand, which Ye Xuan caught steadily.

This caused the surrounding disciples to look at Ye Xuan with pity.

A newcomer to the sect at the fifth level of Foundation Establishment is careless to accept a task that even veterans find troublesome; it's tantamount to courting death!

Ye Xuan put the wooden plaque into his storage bag and turned to walk into the depths of the dense forest.

Seeing Tang Zhaoyu and several curious disciples following behind, he was actually quite pleased.

As the surrounding fog thickened and the light was cut into fragmented spots by the dense canopy, the deeper one went, the thicker the trunks of the rosewood trees became.

He stopped in front of a huge tree that required three people to encircle. The lightning patterns on the trunk had merged into a continuous strip, and it was clear that electric light was flowing through the veins.

As his perception penetrated the tree bark, its internal structure instantly appeared before Ye Xuan's eyes—

Unlike the annual rings of ordinary trees, at the center of this sandalwood trunk, there is a fist-sized ball of light, interwoven with blue and purple hues, that is constantly pulsating.

Dozens of fine spiritual veins extended from around the ball of light, penetrating the entire tree like roots, and each spiritual vein was filled with violent lightning spiritual energy.

The slightest carelessness could result in death if you touch it!

"It's really difficult. I can't figure out the trick at all. No wonder the Star-Picking Hall offers such a high reward."

"Yes, there aren't any guide lines marked by the senior student yet, so figuring out how to cut is a problem..."

Ye Xuan withdrew his senses and took out the wooden saw from his storage bag.

The moment the saw blade touched the bark, the crackling patterns on the tree surface suddenly lit up, and a tiny arc of electricity shot from the saw blade toward the palm.

Immediately, two streams of blue and white energy emanated from his palm, silently engulfing the electric arc.

However, the saw blade was already humming under the strain, indicating that ordinary magical artifacts simply could not withstand the backlash from the Thunder Sandalwood.

Ye Xuan put away the wood saw and instead placed his hands lightly on the tree trunk.

A pale blue-white wisp of energy slowly seeped from the palm, seeping into the interior through the cracks in the tree bark. The wisp of energy, like whiskers, avoided the violent spiritual veins and silently approached the central ball of light.

However, those who couldn't see through the trick thought he was crazy. "What kind of joke is this?"

"You can do it with your hands? I feel like I could do it too, haha..."

Ignoring the external noises, Ye Xuan focused on controlling his senses and spiritual power, continuing to delve deeper.

The moment the wisp of air touched the ball of light, the entire tree began to tremble violently. The lightning patterns on the surface of the trunk burst out with dazzling light, and dozens of arcs of electricity shot out like live snakes, rushing out in all directions!

"Damn, I knew he couldn't do it! Run!"

Faced with the out-of-control scene before him, Ye Xuan suddenly unleashed a surge of azure and white energy, which condensed into a wall of energy in front of him.

The electric arc struck the air wall, producing a crackling sound, but it couldn't penetrate even a fraction of the barrier.

At the same time, the wisps of air seeping into the tree trunk had already enveloped the ball of bluish-purple light like a spider web...

"receive."

The energy suddenly tightened, completely separating the wood core from the spiritual vein network. Ye Xuan raised his hand and grabbed, and a fist-sized crystal with flowing blue-purple light flew out from the crack in the tree trunk and landed in his palm.

Its body feels warm to the touch, and it seems to have thunderclouds surging inside, radiating pure spiritual energy.

"The first one."

He continued toward the next old tree, repeating the previous steps. Before anyone could react, Ye Xuan had already obtained another wooden core.

"The second one."

He nodded slightly to the crowd behind him, made the number "eight" with his palms in the air, and said:

"I'm sorry everyone, you can't accept this 'B' quest."

He spoke calmly, then floated away and disappeared into the deeper dense forest, leaving a group of disciples bewildered in the wind.

When Ye Xuan reappeared in front of everyone, nine crystals were floating in the air above his right palm.

"That's the ninth one."

He put away the wooden heart, and facing the stunned crowd, he said generously:

"Aren't you leaving yet? Since you fellow disciples are all looking to snag a bargain, why not try your luck with the last one?"

If he could obtain one, Zhao would give all nine away.

Finally, Ye Xuan looked at Tang Zhao and asked, "Senior Brother Tang, as a formal disciple, you wouldn't like to give it a try too, would you?"