Starting as a spiritual plant master, may I eventually become the master of all lands.

Chapter 127 Burying the Heart

Song Chuan followed Cui Wang and left the market town and mountains, arriving at a valley.

The valley was brimming with spiritual energy, with towering, enormous spiritual trees standing tall and straight. These spiritual trees were quite different from ordinary spiritual trees, giving off a strong sense of spirituality.

In front of each spirit tree stood a small stone tablet. From a distance, Song Chuan could only vaguely make out that the tablets were inscribed with names.

Cui Wang did not lead Song Chuan any further; instead, he stopped.

Song Chuan saw several woodcutters standing quietly in a circle ahead.

The most conspicuous one was Bai Sandong, because none of the other woodworkers had any cultivation. He also recognized another one, Bai Wunong.

Inside the circle, there were two woodcutters with no cultivation, who were digging in the ground with their bare hands without using any tools. It seemed they were digging a new grave, but they were digging extremely deep.

Among the standing wooden figures, one held a bright green wooden heart in his hands!

Song Chuan instantly understood what these woodcutters were doing. The spirit trees in the valley must have grown from the hearts of the dead woodcutters!

They were burying Mu Xin. Could it be the little woodcutter he bumped into on his first day here? His expression turned solemn.

Bai Sandong glanced at Cui Wang and Song Chuan, nodded, and then continued to watch the woodworker digging the soil, his expression solemn.

"Let's stay here and watch for a while," Cui Wang said calmly.

A moment later, the pit was dug, and the two wooden craftsmen stood in it. One of them said, "Give me the child."

Song Chuan then realized that they were a couple, their eyes filled with green tears, and it was the mother who spoke.

The wooden guest, holding the wooden heart, slowly handed it to her.

The mother took the wooden heart and gently stroked it. The father also reached out his large hand and covered the wooden heart with it.

This continued for half an incense stick's time, during which no woodcutter made a sound, but simply watched them.

The father said, "Alright, let him become a spirit tree, to forever protect us." His tone was deep, yet filled with reluctance.

The mother then carefully placed the wooden heart under her feet. The couple looked down at it for a while before climbing out of the pit.

They scooped up soil with their hands and filled the pit, then suddenly began to sing. The melody was ancient and melancholic, and Song Chuan struggled to decipher it before he could roughly make out its meaning:

In my youth, I encountered war and chaos, and spent my time logging in the deep mountains and wilderness.

The cries shook the heavens; upon waking, he merged with the tree.

Having lived in seclusion for five hundred years, the past is too painful to recount.

Tonight is not yesterday, and this country is not the same as before.

The other woodcutters joined in the chanting, including Bai Sandong, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator!

Song Chuan looked at them silently, thinking of his own parents, and a trace of sadness welled up in his heart.

He sighed, composed himself, and glanced at Cui Wang beside him, looking quite surprised.

The usually proud Cui Wang now had his chest heaving, tears welling in his eyes, his face slightly contorted, and he murmured in a very soft voice, "I can't help myself every time I see it—"

However, a few breaths later, he immediately swept his eyes, as if nothing had happened, and looked up at the sky with a calm expression.

Looking at Mu Ke again, Mu Xin had already been buried, and the couple had erected another stone tablet. This time, Song Chuan could see clearly that it read "Bai Liuhe".

"Alright, everyone disperse. Let the couple sit here for a while!" Bai Sandong said.

After saying that, he was about to walk towards Song Chuan and Cui Wang when a red talisman suddenly appeared in mid-air and shot towards Bai Sandong!

Song Chuan raised an eyebrow slightly as he spoke the advanced transmission talisman.

Just then, a deafening roar erupted from a distant mountain. Song Chuan and Cui Wang turned their heads in confusion. It seemed to be the heavily guarded back mountain area of ​​the Mu Ke territory!

Bai Sandong reached out and took the communication talisman, listened for a moment, and his expression changed drastically. He shouted at the surrounding wooden guests, "Go back immediately! No delays!"

"Grandpa Bai, what's wrong?" Mu Ke asked.

"Shut up! Go back right now!" Bai Sandong glared with his green eyes and shouted angrily.

He then glanced at Cui Wang and Song Chuan, and said rapidly, "Something has happened in the clan that has nothing to do with you. Go back to the treehouse in the market immediately and don't wander around!"

After finishing speaking, he leaped onto the nearest spirit tree and merged into it. Waves of spiritual energy rippled between the spirit trees, and sometimes these waves also emanated from the stones on the ground. In the blink of an eye, his presence was no longer felt.

Song Chuan's pupils contracted, revealing a dual nature: wood and stone concealing their presence.

When Bai Sandong reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment, he used his Wood and Stone Stealth technique to its fullest extent, and his speed was even faster than that of a top-tier flying magic weapon!

"Let's go." Cui Wang frowned deeply, summoned his magical artifact, and soared into the sky.

Song Chuan followed closely behind. It seemed that something serious had happened to Mu Ke. That loud noise was not something an ordinary cultivator could make.

Back in the treehouse, Song Chuan sat there deep in thought for half an hour before receiving a message from Cui Wang.

Cui Wang told Song Chuan to immediately gather at a treehouse. Although it was still in the same treehouse area, it was not Cui Wang's residence.

After a moment's thought, he immediately slipped away.

Outside, there were scattered cultivators flying towards the treehouse that Cui Wang had mentioned, riding their magical artifacts. They were all human beings who had come to participate in the opening of the market in Shandu in the past few days, and these cultivators had also received communication talismans.

A moment later, they arrived at the treehouse. The door was wide open, and Song Chuan went inside. There were already dozens of cultivators sitting cross-legged in twos and threes.

Cui Wang and Zhuo Juntao were also sitting together. Song Chuan came to their side, his eyes filled with a question.

"Have a seat first, the Core Formation Wood Guest will be here soon," Cui Wang transmitted to him telepathically.

Song Chuan nodded and asked, "Senior Sister Dai didn't come?"

"I've already sent a voice transmission talisman. Come if you want, don't come if you don't!" Cui Wang said irritably.

"Does Senior Brother Cui know what happened?" Song Chuan asked as he sat down.

"I suspect that the mandrills may have invaded the Wood Clan's territory, but we'll have to wait for the Wood Clan to arrive to find out the specifics," Cui Wang said.

Another mandrill! Song Chuan pondered, could it be that a high-ranking mandrill wearing an invisibility cloak had entered the heavily guarded area behind the Wood Guest Mountain?

As I was pondering this, I suddenly felt a gaze fall upon me.

He followed the gaze and saw an old acquaintance, Feng Yu! This guy was here too, and like him, he had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

"Fellow Daoist Song, how have you been? I didn't expect you to have reached the Foundation Establishment stage as well," Feng Yu transmitted to him, a hint of surprise in his expression.

"Hehe, I didn't expect to meet Fellow Daoist Feng here."

Feng Yu glanced at Cui Wang and Zhuo Juntao beside Song Chuan, and then asked, "Does your sect know why the Wood Guest has summoned us here?"

"I don't know for sure. We'll find out when Mu Ke arrives."

"Fellow Daoist Song is about ten years younger than me, right? Now that you've reached the Foundation Establishment stage, why don't you come to Caozhou City to catch up with me?" Feng Yu said, his eyes darting around.

"Speaking of which, I once passed through Caozhou City and wanted to ask you to teach me puppetry, but I was in too much of a hurry to get here, so I had to give up," Song Chuan said tentatively.

He had heard Tian Shanyi mention that Feng Yu was a member of the Puppet Sect. He only learned about the Puppet Sect after he reached the Foundation Establishment stage. It turned out to be a very mysterious sect, where anyone who knew puppetry could apply to join.