Path to Heaven
chapter-134

Chapter 134: Reaping Both Fish and the Bear’s Paw

No sentience?

Even if those Immortal Exterminating Vines had no sentience, Wei Suo was similarly frightened to death.

A defensive might akin to a level 6 mid-tier demonic beast. Even if Wei Suo employed both of his strongest spirit class offensive artifacts, he probably couldn’t even slice off one vine.

After a tough attempt at cautiously detouring around the area for a long while, Wei Suo finally edged towards a single Immortal Exterminating Vine at the corner. Moreover, this particular vine grew slighter shorter and lower than the rest. Even if the Cyan Emperor Gourd was ineffective, Wei Suo would still have some buffer to flee from the attacking range of this Immortal Exterminating Vine.

After retrieving his Cyan Emperor Gourd from his Treasure Receiving Pocket, and infusing true energy into it, a hazy pulse of spirit energy wrapped around Wei Suo entirely.

Wei Suo then carefully inched towards that Immortal Exterminating Vine.

A scene causing him delight played out; as he crept towards the front of that Immortal Exterminating Vine…..even after Wei Suo had circled around that vine twice, that Immortal Exterminating Vine made not a single reaction.

“Wahahaha! Great! Indeed, it is possible. Now, you can enter to harvest that Amethyst-Fox rose! There shouldn’t be any demonic beast inside; if one dared to enter, those Immortal Exterminating Vines would automatically ravage them.” The excited yelps of the green gowned Old Man resounded in Wei Suo’s ears.

Wei Suo then attempted to trudge forward by several steps, towards a vine that appeared like an ancient existence; it was as thick as a water pipe, and with the rounds it coiled around an erected stone, it was possibly over a dozen metres. Observing that such a menacing looking Immortal Exterminating Vine paying no attention, Wei Suo finally relaxed and headed into the valley.

This mountain valley was estimatedly half the size of that earthen pit from before. However, due to the presence of those erected stone pillars and the coiling mess of Immortal Exterminating Vines, the place resembled a maze.

As he headed further in, the growth of Immortal Exterminating Vines became denser and denser. According to Wei Suo’s current estimation, this place was at least host to over a thousand Immortal Exterminating Vines of varied sizes.

One single Immortal Exterminating Vine was akin to a level 6 mid-tier demonic beast. With a host of over a thousand such vines, it was essentially walking amidst over a thousand level 6 demonic beasts. Without the million wood spirit of his Cyan Emperor Gourd artifact, even for a sect like the Heaven’s First Sect, they probably wouldn’t dare to enter as well.

“Old head. Since these Immortal Exterminating Vines are so deadly, why are they only growing at this area, and not spreading towards the entire Sky Valley?” While he carefully searched around, Wei Suo couldn’t resist the urge to ask the Old Man.

“You saw those old Immortal Exterminating Vines on your left?” The Old Man’s voice immediately rang in Wei Suo’s ears. “The Immortal Exterminating Vines can only reproduce in two ways. First is after being severed and dropping to the soil, there would be a high probability of roots growing out and forming into a new shoot of Immortal Exterminating Vine. The other method would be a natural growth process where a side vine would naturally branch out and form into a new Immortal Exterminating Vine. However, such a method of natural growth and branching out requires 300 years. Which means, an old Immortal Exterminating Vine will only grow out a new Immortal Exterminating Vine after 300 years.”

Upon listening to the Old Man, Wei Suo glanced towards the left bunch of Immortal Exterminating vines. Indeed, over several side maroon vines, there were several maroon roots sprouting out. Moreover, that side vine already revealed cracks at the bottom, indicating that it would automatically detach and fall anytime.

After muttering to himself faintly, Wei Suo no longer inquired further and continued to probe around his surroundings.

As he neared the middle region of this mountain valley, massive stone pillars became more plentiful.

Amongst which, there were 4-5 stone pillars that congregated together, and seemingly formed into a shape of a stone room.

Beneath one of the stone pillars, grew 5 shoots of bowl-sized mysterious violet flowers.

Those 5 shoots of mysterious flowers were adorned with violet fluffy thin hair on their petals, and curled up slightly. On hindsight, it really appeared like a curled up purple fox, and its stems had a peculiar shade of darkish yellow. Within its hazy environment, it practically caused one’s gaze to shine; warming hearts and delighting the eyes.

Without the Old Man informing, one look by Wei Suo and he could tell those 5 shoots of mysterious flowers were definitely his greatest goal – the Amethyst-Fox rose.

What caused Wei Suo to brim with joy, was that the Amethyst-Fox rose here wasn’t just 2 stalks, but actually 5 stalks!!

An Amethyst-Fox rose’s greatest efficacy was to eliminate those detrimental impurities that were trapped within a cultivator’s body, and also to disperse a cultivator’s resistance to pellets. It was useful for all cultivation stages, and such a spirit medicine, could definitely be described as greatly advantageous for a cultivator.

“Ah! You struck it! Ah, there’re actually 5 stalks! Wei Suo, your luck really isn’t dog shit!” Upon sensing the 5 stalks, the Old Man instantly broke into a crazed delirium.

Mad with delight, Wei Suo hastily stepped towards the front of those 5 precious stalks of Amethyst-Fox rose, and inspected them.

He observed that 4 of the Amethyst-Fox roses were fully purple, and their shade were exceedingly pure. As for the tinier last Amethyst-Fox rose, its petal shade still exhibited a faint green.

“Those 4 Amethyst-Fox roses are at least over 5 centuries old, and can be considered as completely ripened. The smaller stalk is around a hundred plus years old, and would probably required several dozens of years to fully bloom.” The Old Man very quickly discerned Wei Suo’s current thoughts, as he continued speaking, “Anyway, if you harvest it at this time, that unripened Amethyst-Fox rose would still contain half the medicinal properties of a fully bloomed Amethyst-Fox rose. Whether you wish to extract it, is up to you.”

“Can it be transplanted?” Wei Suo hesitated for a moment before asking.

“Of course it can be transplanted, it just requires one to have a method.” The green gowned Old Man answered bluntly and to the point. “I have no knowledge on nurturing an Amethyst-Fox rose, and I’m guessing the Heavenly Profound Continent wouldn’t have someone that knows this method. If not, an Amethyst-Fox rose wouldn’t be treated as such an otherworldly treasure by various major sects.”

Wei Suo nodded before suddenly asking, “How about the Immortal Exterminating Vines, do you know a method of transplanting them?”

“That isn’t difficult. Such a ghastly Immortal Exterminating Vine only requires an ordinary ground, fertilized by ordinary spirit pellets to grow. In the past, the Heavenly Mother sect had utilized these ghastly plants as guardians of their mountain entrance; that itself, isn’t a secret.” The Old Man paused and snorted. “The crux of the matter is that when these vines is detached from the earth’s energy, its spirit powers dissipate after a duration of time. If you do not consecutively extract it and plant it back, then it would instantly wither and fracture like twigs. Therefore, although many sects knew incisive threat of those Immortal Exterminating Vines at the Heavenly Mother Sect, not a single sect was able steal this idea for themselves. That is because firstly, the Heavenly Mother Sect imparted a certain skill technique to mobilize the Immortal Exterminating Vines to their mountain disciples. Secondly, and also the most crucial reason, is that even if one were to slice off a vine, the vine would immediately propagate itself on the ground. Therefore, wouldn’t that simply be aiding the Immortal Exterminating Vine’s reproduction?”

Wei Suo nodded, and retrieved an ordinarily looking pure-silver knife from his Treasure Receiving Pocket. He then squatted as he carefully and utterly carved up the roots of those fully bloomed Amethyst-Fox roses and stored them.

Without acting on that final unripened Amethyst-Fox rose, he stood back up.

Then, he prudently shifted a long and narrow mountain stone, and rested it above the stone pillar of that Amethyst-Fox rose; utterly concealing up that Amethyst-Fox rose. It was equivalent to constructing a hidden stone chamber for that rose.

Besides, the Sky Valley was ultimately enshrouded with the five-coloured venom miasma, seeing zero daylight. The Amethyst-Fox rose would be analogous to most of the vegetation in Sky Valley, undoubtedly not requiring sunlight, and probably loathed the sun rays. Furthermore, in this manner, even if someone stepped into this mountain valley, or soared past through the sky, they would find it relatively hard to realize there was a hidden Amethyst-fox rose.

“Well done. I still thought you’d be a miser that would ruin that sapling.” Wei Suo’s actions earned the praise of the green gowned Old Man. “Leaving it here is a good move. After several dozens of years, when your cultivation is higher, you can return to a fully bloomed Amethyst-Fox rose to cleanse your body. It would definitely be much more beneficial than a half-bloomed Amethyst-Fox rose.”

“What the hell are you doing?!” However, before the Old Man could finish, he couldn’t help exclaiming.

That was because Wei Suo had just strolled towards a thin wrist-sized, fresh looking Immortal Exterminating Vine. Then, he used his pure-silver knife and started digging at the ground.

“I’m extracting it back, what else would I be doing. Who knows when my level is higher in the future, becoming a loose cultivator with powers that can establish my own abode; I would be able to grow this there. How incisively lethal is this. Besides, didn’t you say that you knew how to nurture it. I’m guessing it’ll be something similar to the Heaven Mending pellet, it’ll just require wanton burning of spiritual stones.” Wei Suo continued his act while he replied.

The Old Man cried out. “You pig. Didn’t I just say it would wither and die once you extract it, how would you bring it back?”

“Don’t I have a Treasure Elemental Jade case?” Wei Suo answered without lifting his head.

“Wakao!” This time, the green gowned Old Man finally came to an enlightenment and called out. “How did I not think of that?!”

“Because I’m smart and witty.” Wei Suo very haughtily retrieved a white Treasure Elemental Jade case, as he carefully scooped the Immortal Exterminating Vine that he had just harvested, and placed it inside the case.

The whole Treasure Elemental Jade case was barely adequate to stuff a stalk of Immortal Exterminating Vine. Moreover, after placing it inside the case, the Immortal Exterminating Vine continued thriving as usual, without a trace of withering.

“Haha!” The old man didn’t try and dispute Wei Suo claiming his intelligence, and couldn’t help but chuckle heartily. “ Wei Suo, this time, we’ve really done it. 4 stalks of Amethyst-Fox rose, and even an Immortal Exterminating Vine. The more your Immortal Exterminating Vine propagates, it is akin to a mountain protection formation of a large sect!”

“Let’s go!”

After Wei Suo stored his Treasure Elemental Jade case, he immediately headed out of the valley.

His current reapings had already vastly exceeded his goals. To Wei Suo, he had no desire to continue residing inside this supremely treacherous Sky Valley.

As long as he could smoothly return to Spirit Peak City, Wei Suo’s future cultivation progress would definitely exceed most elite disciples greatly; perhaps even more shocking than several elite disciples with innate spirit roots.

……

A regiment of hazy fumes gradually drifted away from the maze of the Immortal Exterminating Vines.

Until moving into the forest near the valley, Wei Suo heaved a sigh of relief and stored his Cyan Emperor Gourd.

“Hehe.” Just when Wei Suo was about to drape on his Concealment robe, a deep sinister laugh floated clearly into Wei Suo’s ears.