My Silly, Sweet Wife

"Master, look, look, isn’t that corpse the person who was whipped to death with the Soul Beating Whip earlier?"

It was at this moment that the voice of Zuo Qiuyun’s young apprentice sounded.

Ye Guichen followed the direction of the apprentice’s finger and indeed saw a corpse floating down from the upper reaches of the dark river.

The corpse was extremely emaciated, precisely the worker Shen Fang had beaten to death earlier.

Zuo Qiuyun sighed, took out a piece of talisman paper, and threw it toward the corpse.

The talisman paper, upon landing on the corpse, quickly ignited, incinerating the corpse entirely.

"Let’s go, and check below." Zuo Qiuyun had originally come to catch a monster, but seeing this tragic scene, a slight ripple stirred in his heart.

He sighed, leading his young apprentice along the riverbank in the direction the water was flowing.

Ye Guichen also remained silent.

Although Ye Guichen has become cold-hearted now, seeing so many people die tragically because of a Spirit Stone mine, his heart inevitably stirred with a trace of compassion.

Moreover, according to Yan Fang and Gui Tuo’s investigation, it seems Nolan Yu’s death is also related to the Spirit Stone mine.

Right, those two dark shadows earlier, they seemed to be Mu Yuli and Feng Shaoshan transformed from Xianhe Villa?

The situation was complex at the time, and Ye Guichen did not look closely, but recalling now, it seems it was those two.

And the one split into halves by Gui Yi’s sword appears to be Feng Shaoshan.

Recalling the corpse aura smelled in Xianhe Villa, Ye Guichen slapped his forehead, a realization glinting in his eyes.

"I’ve figured it out, everything is clear now. No wonder at the time there was a sense of corpse aura on Mu Yuliu, now it seems, she’s likely transformed from Corpse Spirit, but much more powerful. Perhaps another type of zombie exists."

Thinking this way, Ye Guichen quickly headed downstream along with Gui Yi.

Not long after, ghostly screams and wolf-like howls came from afar.

Zuo Qiuyun walking ahead also halted his steps, and his young apprentice following beside him hid behind Zuo Qiuyun, trembling.

Ye Guichen was puzzled, taking quick steps forward to Zuo Qiuyun’s side: "Taoist Zuo, what’s wrong?"

Zuo Qiuyun didn’t reply, instead looking ahead with a serious face.

Ye Guichen also looked up, only to see a hundred meters away, a withered big tree.

The tree had no leaves, seemingly a dead tree, but chillingly, countless hearts hung upon the branches.

Some hearts were still beating vigorously, while others had withered, seemingly drained of their blood and flesh by something.

At this moment, two figures, one lying and one standing, were under the tree.

The one lying down was precisely Feng Shaoshan, previously cut in half by Gui Yi.

However, at this moment, Feng Shaoshan’s two halves had been reconnected, and numerous withered tree vines wrapped around the broken parts.

It looked like these were repairing Feng Shaoshan’s body.

The one standing was Mu Yuli.

Mu Yuli was glaring at Ye Guichen and Zuo Qiuyun with blood-red eyes full of resentment.

"Infinite Heavenly Venerate!" Zuo Qiuyun walked straight towards Mu Yuli.

But before he got close, Mu Yuli suddenly lifted her head, shouting sharply, "Don’t come any closer! If you take one more step, I’ll kill you!"

Saying this, the tree branches behind Mu Yuli swayed with the wind, extending like tentacles, attacking Zuo Qiuyun.

Zuo Qiuyun’s expression sank: "Hmph, mere evil creature, dare to think of killing me? Fine, today I shall confront you, and see what you are capable of!"

Zuo Qiuyun grasped the horsetail whisk with his left hand, holding the wooden sword in his right, chanting under his breath.

"Slash!"

As Zuo Qiuyun’s wooden sword dropped, it exploded with a thunderous strike, directly towards the withered tree and Mu Yuli.

Mu Yuli opened her hand, and the branches gathered swiftly in front of her into a net of tree limbs.

The thunder from the wooden sword struck the tree net, only scratching it a bit without shattering it.

"Die!"

Mu Yuli was evidently enraged by Zuo Qiuyun.

She roared, and the withered tree tentacles extended again, attacking Zuo Qiuyun with alarming speed.

Zuo Qiuyun could only defend, ceaselessly driving them away with his horsetail whisk.

But suddenly, a tentacle of the withered tree drilled out from the ground behind Zuo Qiuyun.

Seeing the danger, the young apprentice cried out in shock, "Master, be careful behind you!"

Yet, everything was already too late.

The tree branch surged out, piercing directly through Zuo Qiuyun’s heart.

Zuo Qiuyun’s hand movements came to an abrupt halt.

The young apprentice’s eyes were red as he picked up the Qiankun Mirror to shine it.

However, the Qiankun Mirror’s effect was not significant at this moment.

The tree branches filled the sky and pounced towards Zuo Qiuyun, seemingly about to turn him into a sieve.

Ye Guichen initially wanted to watch and wait, but seeing Zuo Qiuyun on the brink of death, he signaled Gui Yi to act.

Upon receiving the command, Gui Yi moved swiftly to appear in front of Zuo Qiuyun.

He slashed with the Impermanence Sword, easily severing the dry tree branches surrounding Zuo Qiuyun.

Then he extended his other hand to stop Zuo Qiuyun, quickly pulling him back.

Strangely enough, once they retreated a hundred meters, the dry tree surprisingly ceased its pursuit, simply waving relentlessly as if in great anger.

Ye Guichen understood now.

These tree branches have limited attack range.

"He shouldn’t die, right?" Ye Guichen glanced at the rescued Zuo Qiuyun and asked blandly.

Zuo Qiuyun’s cultivation wasn’t weak, and he was skilled in Fu Family’s Secret Techniques, extremely proficient in Daoist arts. Although his heart was pierced, with his cultivation, he should not be in immediate danger of death.

Zuo Qiuyun’s old face was flushed, uncertain if it was due to shame or the surge of blood, and upon hearing Ye Guichen’s words, he could only shake his head: "Thank you for saving my life! Unexpectedly, that thing is so cunning."

"I wonder if Daoist Zuo has identified anything about it?" Ye Guichen wasn’t very familiar with such things, feeling Zuo Qiuyun might know what it was.

Zuo Qiuyun did not conceal anything: "That tree has become a spirit."

"A tree has become a spirit?" Ye Guichen had never heard of it.

Plants becoming spirits is as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Hundreds of times tougher than ordinary demonic beasts, let alone compared to humans.

Moreover, Ye Guichen hadn’t heard of plants becoming spirits before, it was merely akin to legendary existence.

But now, witnessing the branches flying everywhere, Ye Guichen had no choice but to believe.

Promptly, he felt extremely peculiar: "Could that woman named Mu Yuliu be the tree spirit?"

"No, that woman was merely controlled by the tree spirit." Zuo Qiuyun, using a talisman to seal his wound, struggled to sit up.

But since the heart was injured, recovery might take some time.

The young apprentice promptly stepped forward to support Zuo Qiuyun, silently.

Zuo Qiuyun smiled at the young apprentice, signaling he was fine.

Then he continued explaining to Ye Guichen: "Little brother, I was careless earlier, please forgive my previous arrogance."

"It’s in the past, no need to mention it again." Ye Guichen waved his hand: "Please, Daoist Zuo, speak about the matters concerning the tree spirit."

"Alright!" Seeing Ye Guichen hadn’t taken offense at his previous arrogance, Zuo Qiuyun felt appreciative of Ye Guichen’s magnanimity and felt somewhat ashamed inside.

Since beginning his cultivation, Zuo Qiuyun had been exceptionally gifted, arrogantly self-assured.

Invited by Song Botong this time, he was confident he could eradicate the entity under this Spirit Stone mine.

Yet unexpectedly, he almost met his end here.

If not for Ye Guichen’s appearance, he and his young apprentice would have likely lost their lives.

His feelings were beyond words.

"If I’m not mistaken, that tree spirit should have gathered Spiritual Energy and Corpse Qi, forming a Spiritual Sense. However, right now, the tree spirit’s cultivation is still shallow, it can’t move independently, only controlling others to do its bidding."

Subsequently, Zuo Qiuyun pointed under the tree.

"Look, the river flows through beneath the tree, but those corpses have become the tree spirit’s nourishment. If I’m correct, those hearts hanging on the tree are likely the key nutrients for the tree spirit. It absorbs Corpse Qi, using corpses for sustenance, gradually forming a Spiritual Sense. But these dead bodies and Corpse Qi have far from satisfied its cultivation needs, hence it collects living hearts for further sustenance. If we hadn’t discovered this tree spirit today, given another ten years, once it matures, everyone in Taihe Town might become its sacrifice!"

"So powerful?" Ye Guichen marveled at the information: "Would there be any benefit for me if the tree spirit is killed?"

"Kill it?" Upon hearing Ye Guichen’s words, Zuo Qiuyun seemed to hear a fantasy tale, shaking his head with a wry smile: "This tree spirit is more formidable than I imagined, moreover, it has already controlled two people, those two are likely unkillable now. Even if Brother Ye and your companion are very powerful, this tree spirit has probably reached the Nascent Soul Realm, with a Nascent Soul formed within. How could it be so easily killed? But luckily, it can’t seem to go far at the moment, or else we’d have no retreat at all."

Implicitly, Ye Guichen couldn’t kill it.

"Our immediate priority is to inflict damage to weaken its ability to continue cultivating. Only when the time is right, we can come and eradicate it." continued Zuo Qiuyun.

"Nascent Soul?" Ye Guichen knew there were super strong entities at the Nascent Soul level in this world.

However, he hadn’t seen one directly yet.

"Daoist Zuo, what exactly is this Nascent Soul?" Ye Guichen asked with child-like curiosity.

Anyway, Mu Yuliu feared Gui Yi, dared not approach rashly, and the tree spirit had range limitations, so it couldn’t hurt him.

Ye Guichen wasn’t in a hurry to act, preferring to clarify what he wanted to know first.

Zuo Qiuyun squeezed out a smile: "Nascent Soul, ah. It is something only those at the Nascent Soul Realm can possess. Cultivating a Nascent Soul is akin to having two lives. As long as the Nascent Soul isn’t destroyed, even if the physical body perishes, it can persist in the world. Given sufficient fortune, it might take less than a hundred years to reconstruct a physical body and achieve true rebirth."