Free Web NovelChapter 343: Chapter 52: Professional Unlocking and the Dragon King Ruins
"Indeed."
Shao Qiming nodded gravely, a perfectly straight face belying the transcendent, sage-like expression he’d worn just a moment before. He chimed in with his own review, "This is the authentic flavor of the Divine Fruit. Any more would be too rich, any less too bland. Everything is perfectly balanced. It’s as if... it reminds me of the gentle breezes of Eden in the Supreme Heaven..."
"That’s enough, you two," Yara cut in, unable to watch their mock food-critic routine any longer. "What are you even saying? Which of you has ever been to the Supreme Heaven? And ’gentle breezes’? It’s a pure ’Light World’—where would you even find wind?" She got to the point. "Alright, what are you going to do with the third fruit?"
"We’ll mix it with other Spirit Plants, turn it into juice, and share it with everyone else. We’ll have to be careful with the dosage, though. The Anomaly from a whole one is just too intense. I felt like my Soul was about to float out of the atmosphere. Who knows how my parents, Uncle Shao, and Aunt Wen would react, since they haven’t had their Awakening yet."
It wasn’t that Su Zhou was unwilling to share more with his friends and family. The main reason was that he and Shao Qiming were the ones constantly facing challenges, so they had a more urgent need for a power boost. Besides, there would be third and fourth generations of Wisdom Fruits, and the yield would certainly increase. By that time, his family and friends would be strong enough to properly handle the enhancement the fruit provided.
However, when the Wisdom Tree began to nurture its third generation of Wisdom Fruits, Yara gave Su Zhou a reminder. "The Tree of Discriminating Good and Evil bearing fruit is, by nature, an extremely long process. You’ve been watering it with the blood of Monsters and Spirit Beasts, along with various Spiritual Liquids, to accelerate its growth. But now, the Wisdom Tree itself also wants to grow, and that will consume nutrients as well."
"You now have two choices. You can be like the Immortal Gods of Zhengguo’s past and suppress the Wisdom Tree’s development, just as they did with the Divine Peach Wood, turning it into a machine purely for producing fruit. Or, you can let it grow freely and allow it to become a complete Divine Wood."
Yara was uncharacteristically serious as it spoke. Coiled around the branches of the Wisdom Tree, it awaited Su Zhou’s answer.
The Wisdom Tree Essence Soul couldn’t comprehend such a topic. It had only existed for a little over a year, an age where all it knew was how to eat. Shao Qiming turned his head as well, curious to see what his friend would choose.
But clearly, Su Zhou’s character hadn’t changed. He replied with the utmost seriousness, "The Wisdom Tree is a living being. It has the freedom to grow. As its protector, I won’t interfere with that freedom. By the same token, as someone who benefits from its Wisdom Fruits, I’ll naturally take care of any trouble it encounters while growing. That’s a true win-win situation."
"It might be more trouble, sure, but that’s my principle."
Clearly, Yara was very pleased with this answer, as it, too, was part of this win-win arrangement with Su Zhou.
Shao Qiming wasn’t surprised. Su Zhou might talk trash and have no qualms about lying, poisoning, sneak-attacking, or stalling for time against his enemies, but when it came to his allies, his stance was always unwavering and principled.
This was why Su Zhou was so reassuring, and why people were willing to place their trust in him.
"Since you’ve made your choice, it naturally comes with benefits and consequences. You already know the consequence—you’ll have to find land for the Divine Wood to grow on. As for the benefits... I’ll tell you about those later."
Despite being a Great Being, Yara’s words were always easy to understand. As it would say, ’You get stronger, but you can’t even communicate properly anymore? That’s not evolution, that’s just being a moron!’ And though its tone sounded self-righteous and had a certain approachable quality, Su Zhou could easily infer that Yara had once dealt with a being that was extremely difficult to communicate with—who was probably another Sealed Great Being.
As for the land for the Divine Tree to grow, both Zhengguo and the Immortal Gods actually had legacies from the Space-Time System. Yara could even teach him the technique for creating a Personal Space. But it was obvious that he currently lacked both the necessary materials and the required strength. Su Zhou suspected that even Zhengguo had few of the truly precious materials for the Space-Time System, making them incredibly difficult for even him to acquire.
Therefore, he planned to go to an Otherworld to try his luck and see if he could obtain the necessary materials there.
’I’ve been preparing for the Otherworld related to the Silent Lord for a very long time. I’m pretty much fully equipped and ready for anything now.’
As for what to watch out for in the Otherworld... just as the Divine Wood World revolved around its Divine Wood, the Silent Lord World would naturally revolve around things like the Netherworld, the Undead, and Reincarnation. It all boiled down to the same kind of logic, and Su Zhou already had a plan in mind.
During the preparations, Shao Qiming acted as the strategist. He reminded Su Zhou to look for games, movies, or novels with characters similar to a Dead Tutor. Sometimes, knowing a world’s setting and plot in advance could really save a lot of trouble.
It was a good suggestion. Based on the fact that the ’Dead Tutor’ legacy originated from the Shepherd of Spirits, Su Zhou figured the world would likely have a Western fantasy aesthetic. After all, the world coordinates for the Dead Tutor, which were obtained by the Celestial God’s Favored Clan, must have come from a world where Dead Tutors existed. The whole concept of a Dead Tutor felt far too much like Western fantasy; Su Zhou couldn’t imagine how it could possibly blend with a Zhengguo aesthetic.
However, Su Zhou hadn’t yet found any media with a similar aesthetic, but he wasn’t in a hurry.
Su Zhou figured that the best time to explore the Silent Lord World would be after the Spring Festival. By then, he would have converted all his major internal organs into Spiritual Power Organs and advanced to the Extraordinary High-tier. As it stood, the Spring Festival was still two months away.
’I’ve already converted my entire skeleton and my spleen into Spiritual Power Organs. With my bones serving as my body’s framework, my spleen now interacts with the Heart of the Thunder Marsh, creating a chain reaction that has boosted my total Spiritual Power to a full fifteen hundred Zhou Buyi!’
Such a reserve of Spiritual Power was already far greater than that of the Extraordinary High-tier Garuda in her human form; she would only reach this level after transforming into her True Body. And Su Zhou hadn’t even begun to learn the True Body Technique yet. Once he mastered it, he could probably start reciting lines like, ’Sweeping aside all eight hundred foes, I, Su Zhou, am unrivaled in my tier,’ and then sigh about how lonely it is to be invincible.
Time passed. Su Zhou’s days were spent on a mix of Cultivation, doing commentary, living with his family and friends, and training his squad. It was a hectic but heartwarming routine.
「Until December 22, 2015—the Winter Solstice.」
Su Zhou was in the middle of seriously educating Garuda on why tofu pudding should be sweet, not savory, when he received a long-awaited mission notification.
’The Dragon King Ruins at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean? I knew it. It’s time.’
