Nonetheless, Ou Yangming’s biggest concern at the moment was not Ghost-clawed Venerable One, but the fearsome feeling inside his heart.
After pondering for a long time, he shook his head firmly and said, “No, I must go outside.”
He had a feeling that even if he stayed inside this secret realm, he would not be able to hide from the incoming frightening being.
Needless to say, while the being was terrifying, the fire inside him did not sense any evil intention. Instead, it was cheerful and looked forward to the being’s arrival. If not, the young fellow would have thought of escaping instead of simply leaving the secret realm.
Big Yellow and the others looked at each other. They were naturally unaware of Ou Yangming’s concern but since he made his decision, none of them could disobey him.
The Wutong Tree hesitated for a while, then a rattan appeared from afar out of the blue. It was seen coiling around a sprouting branch.
“Master, this is a Substitution Branch that I cultivated. Take it with you as it can shift your injuries. As long as this branch is alive, you won’t have to worry about your life.”
Ou Yangming was slightly stunned. He touched his waist sash and removed it.
There was also a Unique Attribute for substitution on the waist sash.
The Wutong Tree glanced at it and commented with a smile, “Master, your waist sash’s material’s too poor. You can make do with it if you’re not a Spiritualist but now…”
Ou Yangming nodded. The Wutong Tree had a brilliant eye. As he became more capable, the waist sash’s properties became less valuable to him. In particular, he dared not use the Substitution Power once he entered the Spiritual Realm.
This was because he knew there would only be one outcome if he used it, by which the gem would shatter but his injuries would remain.
Nevertheless, the situation was completely different now that the Wutong Tree gave him a Substitution Branch.
Ou Yangming pondered for a brief moment, then he shook his hand slightly. A powerful flame emerged from his hand at that instant, and it enveloped the Substitution Branch.
The face on the tree wall widened its eyes right away, and it stared at the flame with a yearning look. Having said that, it knew that the bit of fire was insignificant toward its enormous body.
If it wanted to receive a mighty fire from Ou Yangming, it would have to wait for him to grow slowly.
Other living beings might not be willing to wait, but the Wutong Tree had lived for countless years. It was a period that had “10,000” as its unit, thus the tree was not anxious at all.
After all, it had waited for such a long time, so it would not be a big deal for it to wait several 1,000 years more.
Ou Yangming’s fire grew larger, but his face changed.
Earlier when he meditated, he consumed plenty of mental power to explore his fire’s origin, so he almost could not hold out anymore. The young fellow retrieved a jade bottle from his interspatial bag without any hesitation and poured the immortal liquid inside into his mouth.
As several drops of the immortal liquid entered his stomach, they turned into a surging warm current that recovered his mental power a little.
It was actually extremely extravagant and wasteful to use an immortal liquid as a drug to compensate one’s mental power. Moreover, it would also not yield the best effect. Especially if this was compared to the Devouring attribute’s efficacy, it was much less effective.
Even so, Ou Yangming did not have other options at this time.
However, the face on the tree wall raised its eyebrow and extended one of its branches toward Ou Yangming.
The tip of the branch moved down slightly and went straight into the jade bottle. The immortal liquid inside the bottle had been finished by Ou Yangming in one mouth but next, a clear stream appeared on top of the branch, and it dripped into the bottle to make it just full.
There were tens of drips from the clear stream. Judging from the branch, it definitely could have provided more if the jade bottle was not so small.
Ou Yangming was dumbfounded. He glanced at the tree wall and wondered, ‘How could I forget about this old fella?’
The big lazy turtle accumulated the immortal liquid from spiritual flowers and herbs but in terms of the flowers and herbs, what could be mentioned on equal terms with the old fellow in front of him?
It probably had a good deal of such an immortal liquid. Even if the big lazy turtle squeezed the spiritual flowers and herbs dry, it would not be able to harvest one in ten-thousandth of what the Wutong Tree could.
When Ou Yangming sniffed the liquid, he was surprised to find that it was odorless.
An immortal liquid was incredibly precious, and it had a strong fragrance that would make one feel refreshed if one picked up its smell.
Why was the immortal liquid given by the Wutong Tree so different?
The young fellow hesitated for a while, but he finally tilted the jade bottle and poured a drop of it into his mouth.
As soon as the drop of immortal liquid entered his mouth, it spread and disappeared before he could even taste it.
Ou Yangming blinked as he was puzzled. ‘This thing… Doesn’t seem to be useful at all.’
That said, his face changed at the next instant. This was because he realized that his nearly-depleted mental power suddenly became as abundant as gushing spring.
1 drop.
Only 1 drop of the Wutong Tree’s immortal liquid was needed to let him fully recover his mental power. In fact, the power was recovered to its peak state.
As calm as Ou Yangming was, he was tremendously shocked.
The drop of immortal liquid was even more effective than the concentrated immortal liquid. Perhaps only the Devouring attributes could be on par with it.
Despite that, the Devouring attributes had a shortcoming, after all, so even Ou Yangming dared not use it without any restraint for a long time. On the other hand, there would be no problem for him to consume immortal liquids as they had no side effects on one’s body.
Ou Yangming looked deeply at the Wutong Tree. The old fellow had only shown another one of its abilities, but he already regarded it with special respect.
As Ou Yangming curbed his thought, the fire in his hand finally boiled. He began to use his mental power without holding back.
The branch slowly softened and flattened after a brief moment, and it finally became a waist sash. Nonetheless, waist sashes that were made using a Wutong Tree’s branch were exceptionally rare in the world.
Ou Yangming was not satisfied yet after he did a basic refinement of the waist sash. He pondered for a while then retrieved many Power Ores and Agility Ores.
These were considered ordinary ores in the Spiritual Realm. He added a bunch of them into his storage before he left the Beast King Sect, but he was going to use them at this moment.
With that, Power Ores and Agility Ores were tossed into the Military Fire one after another, causing the equipment’s luster to become brighter. At last, 2 White Silver Lights to be seen. Yes, those were 2 White Silver Lights, which represented that the waist sash had 2 different White Silver Attributes.
In actual fact, White Silver Attributes were notable, but a piece of equipment must also meet high requirements.
As remarkable as a magic tool was, one could normally be attached with 1 White Silver Attributes. If 2 of such attributes were to be bound to a piece of equipment, even if a blacksmith was capable of doing it, the equipment might not be able to withstand the process.
Nevertheless, when Ou Yangming took the Wutong Tree’s branch, he sensed a significant life force and unparalleled endurance.
He decided to make an attempt and sure enough, the 2 dissimilar White Silver Attributes would not burden the material at all. Furthermore, they were promising materials for the equipment.
Ou Yangming’s Military Fire continued to flicker, causing peculiar veined patterns to surface on the equipment.
The Wutong Tree’s branc
h was immensely tough, such that the Heavenly Phoenix Fire was probably the only thing that could change extrinsic and intrinsic properties.
Even if a blacksmith was 10 times more skillful than Ou Yangming, one would not be able to modify the material as one wished.
After a long time, Ou Yangming curbed his fire and completed the waist sash.
[Item: Substitution Waist Sash]
[Equivalent Rank: Magic Tool, High Grade, Rank One]
[Attributes: Toughness +31, Power +1 (White Silver), Agility +1 (White Silver), Durability 31]
[Skills, Substitution (Substitute injuries), Illusion Formation]
Chapter 670 - The Venerable One Appears
Magic Tool, High Grade, Rank One.
Ou Yangming was slightly shocked when he saw the equivalent rank. Although he had smithed plenty of magic tools before this, the best magic tools that he made were only at the peak of Good Grade.
A High Grade magic tool was another huge threshold. Before Ou Yangming obtained better secret smithing techniques, he could not have anyhow smithed one.
Nonetheless, he unexpectedly smithed such a piece of equipment at this moment.
When Ou Yangming scanned the waist sash, he knew very well that this was not because his smithing art had improved. Instead, it was because the material used was too fine, hence the equipment’s equivalent rank was forced to a higher level—High Grade.
It made sense because after all, how many people in this world could obtain a Wutong Tree’s branch and successfully smith a piece of equipment with it?
Perhaps a High Grade magic tool was even the material’s lower limit.
Ou Yangming’s eyes flickered. He wanted to find out very badly what exactly the equipment’s upper limit was.
As he took a deep breath, his Military Fire burned in his hand again. This time, he enveloped 2 different waist sashes with it.
[Drawable composition found, draw?]
‘Draw.’
[Upgradable composition found, upgrade?]
‘Upgrade.’
Following those 2 orders, Ou Yangming’s Military Fire became unusually fiery. It released a scorching and dazzling light as though a comburant was added to it.
Ou Yangmings stared at the flame with bright eyes. He could see every change in the blazing fire.
After comprehending his Military Fire’s origin, the normally-muddled changes appeared to be different to him. His smithing art had slowly approached the origin’s application, where he no longer used it knowing the hows but not the whys.
Needless to say, he had only scratched the surface of his fire’s origin, so he would still need to study it for a long time to achieve mastery.
Nevertheless, he had advanced significantly as compared to the start. At the very least, he had opened the main door and taken a brief look at the view behind it instead of not knowing where the door was.
Ou Yangming’s Military Fire slowly distinguished after half an hour, but the 2 waist sashes changed drastically.
The old waist sash had nearly become a piece of White Slate Equipment. It was still somewhat tough but in terms of functionality… Perhaps it could only be used as an ordinary belt after this.
As for the waist sash refined from the Wutong Tree’s branch, there was a new change to it. It released a peculiar cold light, which would make one shudder with fear upon looking at it.
Before the Military Fire disappeared, its properties were displayed in Ou Yangming’s sea of consciousness.
[Item: Substitution Waist Sash]
[Equivalent Rank: Magic Tool, High Grade, Rank One]
[Attributes: Toughness +31, Power +1 (White Silver), Agility +1 (White Silver), Durability 31]
[Skills: Substitution (Substitute injuries), Illusion Formation, Blood Flight (Activation Condition: Abundant Qi and blood), Mental power’s upper limit increased by 6%]
Ou Yangming’s unique Military Fire drew the special abilities from the previous waist sash and transferred them to the new waist sash. The even more exaggerating effect of the transfer was the breakthrough of his mental power’s upper limit, which increased from 5% to 6%.
Without needing to ask, it was obviously due to the change in the material. The Wutong Tree itself was extremely helpful in improving one’s mental power, and it was reflected on the equipment, causing it to be mightier than before.
Ou Yangming nodded satisfyingly. He could not be more pleased with the waist sash.
Fortunately, it was made of a special material, or Ou Yangming could not have gathered so many Unique Attributes on an ordinary material even if he was incredibly skillful.
After putting on the waist sash, Ou Yangming felt more at ease. With this treasure as an ultimate trump card, he might have a certain life-saving ability.
All of a sudden, Ou Yangming’s heart skipped a beat, and the bad feeling that he had became stronger as if the formidable being, which gave him a sense of intimacy and fear at the same time, was nearer to him.
Ou Yangming had a grave look on his face, and he shouted without any hesitation, “Big Yellow, let’s go!”
Big Yellow and the others were startled. ‘What on earth is he up to? Why is he so eager to leave right after he smithed a piece of equipment?’
Fat Antelope opened its mouth. It initially wanted to persuade Ou Yangming but upon seeing his gloomy look and how urgent he was acting, it could not help but feel a chill and dared not say a word.
It had not followed Ou Yangming for a long time, but it knew from their association with each other before this what kind of person he was.
Given that the calm and steady young man panicked, something serious must be happening, and it was not something that Fat Antelope could meddle in. Therefore, it turned its neck and shut its mouth.
In comparison, the Silver Ridge Giant Leopard did not have a say at all. If it dared to offend Ou Yangming here, the Wutong Tree would not let it go at all.
As for Big Yellow, it found it weird, but it would not mind as long as it could stay by Ou Yangming’s side.
The Wutong Tree was the only one that seemed like it knew nothing but knew everything at the same time. No matter what, it did not disobey Ou Yangming at all.
Ou Yangming tidied things up a little. Even though the Wutong Tree offered him more treasures and more of the immortal liquid, he rejected everything.
In actuality, if it was not due to Ghost-clawed Venerable One’s pressure, Ou Yangming would not have wanted to wear the waist sash too. After weighing the pros and cons several times, he decided to wear the waist sash and covered it carefully. At the end of the day, the young fellow would somewhat have an extra life if he wore the waist sash. As for whether he would encounter Ghost-clawed Venerable One outside the secret realm, he could not be sure.
After bidding farewell to the Wutong Tree and the others, Ou Yangming left the secret realm without any hesitation.
The secret realm’s entrance did not change at all; it was still inside the dark cave. Once Ou Yangming left the realm, he first got rid of the lizards’ traces in the cave. As he cleaned the place on purpose, even a Venerable One would not be able to spot the high-rank lizards’ tracks here.
Following that, Ou Yangming left the cave and went in the opposite direction of the secret realm to remove the high-rank lizards’ traces bit by bit.
Moreover, each time he cleaned a certain area, he would make some distinctive setups nearby to create false appearances of high-rank lizards having passed by. His setups were simple but particularly effective, where nobody else could distinguish them.
After a few days when Ou Yangming was still setting up tirelessly on the other side, he suddenly had a feeling of immense danger.
Ou Yangming’s face changed. He immediately turned around and fled to tens of meters away. Subsequently, he retrieved 2 cloaks for himself and Big Yellow, thus their auras and odors disappeared in an instant.
The young fellow did not know where the sense of danger came from, but he trusted his hunch very m
uch.
Sure enough, an enormous shadow appeared in the sky after just a few breaths. The shadow appeared out of nowhere and covered the sky as it landed.
Ou Yangming squinted his eyes. He was well-hidden at the moment, but he dared not take deep breaths at all. Big Yellow could sense how nervous he was, so it quickly stopped breathing and dared not make a sound.
It was a humongous lizard that descended from the sky. The lizard was exceptionally sturdy. It was far from Multi-armed King Kong in the lower realm but in terms of momentum alone, it was easily superior to the king kong.
Ghost-clawed Venerable One!
Ou Yangming narrowed his eyes even more. He finally saw the real body of the supreme powerhouse.
Unfortunately, the powerhouse was his enemy. As long as he showed up, he would suffer a miserable end.
Ghost-clawed Venerable One’s eyes flickered. It scanned its surroundings as if it was deducing something.
Venerable Ones were beings that could oppress ordinary Spiritualists with their naturally-overflowing auras without intentionally releasing their pressures at all.
If one looked at their eyes, which looked like worlds full of stars, one would feel like one was being perceived and could not hide anything from them.
This was what Venerable Ones were—potent beings that were revered and feared by everything.
Ghost-clawed Venerable One was not an exception. Its body was similar to the size of a small hill, and its surging killing intent impacts everything around it. At this point, even the buzzes and chirps, which never stopped on normal days, disappeared.
The Venerable One carried an unusually violent aura as though it was a reflection of how terrible its mood was.
After looking around, Ghost-clawed Venerable One fixed its gaze on Ou Yangming’s set up earlier.
It was so sharp-eyed that it perceived the truth almost at once. It scoffed coldly, and its eyes were filled with strong killing intent.
Without needing to ask, it became aware of the 6 high-rank lizards’ deaths, and it also found a piece of evidence that wanted to lead it astray.
Immortal Path to Heaven c1-725 Page 395
