Chapter Ninety-Six: Ancient Battlefield

“An Earth-Spirit Treasure Tree! Good stuff!”

A smile curved at the corner of Zong Changshou’s mouth. He casually drew the war sword from behind Li Chengfu and began hacking at the withered tree.

“The Earth-Spirit Treasure Tree is good, yes, but this one is already dead,” Li Chengfu said unhappily, watching Zong Changshou chop away with his own sword.

“At a glance, I can tell you never paid attention in your clan’s treasure-appraisal lessons.”

“When an Earth-Spirit Treasure Tree can no longer draw in nourishment, it begins to wither and compress its own energy.”

“Gradually, that energy gathers at the heart of the tree.”

“If it can condense into an Earth-Spirit Tree Heart, its value is comparable to a top-tier spiritual artifact.”

After hearing Zong Changshou’s explanation, Xu Chen drew the Mo Shadow Blade from his back.

“Let me do it. You two are burning too much vital blood energy; you won’t be able to withstand the astral wind.”

The moment he finished speaking, the astral wind sweeping across heaven and earth suddenly intensified.

The two of them shivered at once.

Bang!

For the Earth-Spirit Treasure Tree, thick enough for three men to encircle with outstretched arms, even Zong Changshou’s full-force sword strike could only cut in an inch.

But when Xu Chen swung his blade, ten slashes were all it took to sever the entire tree cleanly at the waist.

Then, under Zong Changshou’s guidance, they found the emerald tree heart, clear and lustrous like crystal.

“Let’s go. We need to find a cave quickly and take shelter from the astral wind.”

Xu Chen handed the Earth-Spirit Tree Heart to Zong Changshou and headed toward the cave.

But after only a few li, the astral wind vanished, and the world turned cold once more.

The extreme chill left Li Chengfu and Zong Changshou stiff all over, their pace growing slower and slower.

Seeing the two nearly frozen solid, Xu Chen grabbed one under each arm, circulated his vital blood energy to shield them, and ran toward the cave.

He led them inside, settled them there, then went back out to gather some dry branches and deadwood for a fire.

Only after sitting before the flames for half an hour did Zong Changshou and Li Chengfu finally recover.

“This is a bit troublesome,” Zong Changshou said, shivering.

“Not too bad. If you keep circulating your vital blood energy, you can push through it,” Li Chengfu said, peering through the cave entrance at the weather outside.

At that moment, the already frigid weather began to warm little by little.

But not long after, the temperature across the entire area started rising.

Soon the cave where the three of them were staying felt like an oven.

“Damn it, what kind of cursed weather is this?”

As they left the cave, Zong Changshou could not help cursing.

“No wonder the Ancient Battlefield of All Saints requires at least three dragons’ worth of vital blood energy to enter.”

As the temperature climbed, Li Chengfu and Zong Changshou looked like eggplants left to dry in the sun, limp and wilted.

“Can you still move?” Xu Chen asked. He remained as steady as ever; neither the astral wind nor the low or high temperatures could break through the protective force around him.

“Yes, we can walk.”

The two of them circulated their vital blood energy, and a peculiar force formed over their bodies.

“If you had this, why didn’t you use it just now?” Xu Chen felt that this force was even more exquisite than the Vajra Nine-Transformation Force he himself circulated.

“We thought our physical strength would be enough to endure it. Looking back, we froze for nothing.”

“So we can’t be too sparing with vital blood energy.”

Once they began circulating that force, both men slowly returned to normal.

The three of them then began exploring the ancient battlefield in earnest.

Li Chengfu carried a large bundle on his back, and inside it was the Earth-Spirit Tree Heart.

“If only we had a storage pouch. That would save a lot of trouble.”

“Yes,” Xu Chen said, keeping watch over their surroundings as he spoke.

Before long, a figure in the distance came running toward them.

“Junior Brother, Xiao Fuzi, over there’s something good!”

“There’s a broken immortal artifact over there. Around it is a ring of incomplete Saint Sun Fire, and it won’t be easy to take,” Zong Changshou said.

“Let’s go take a look first,” Xu Chen said, instantly roused.

The three of them sprinted for more than ten li and arrived at the place Zong Changshou had mentioned. Before them burned a sea of Saint Sun Fire covering several mu.

At the center of that sea of flames lay a damaged immortal mirror.

“I already checked. When the astral wind blows and the cold turns extreme, the flames weaken a bit,” Zong Changshou said.

As they were talking, icy rain suddenly began to fall from the sky.

Together with the astral wind, it became piercingly cold.

At that very moment, a fierce gale swept in.

The sea of fire instantly died out.

In that split second, Xu Chen shot straight toward the immortal mirror at the center of the flames as fast as he could.

Before he even arrived, he saw a figure faster than he was slip past the mirror and snatch it away.

Just as Xu Chen was startled by this, the astral wind passed and the Saint Sun Fire blazed up once more.

Xu Chen withdrew from the fire sea at top speed, then immediately took out the Azure Sky Bow from his back and drew a Windbreaking Arrow.

He nocked the arrow, drew the bow, and locked onto the distant figure.

That figure seemed to sense it had been targeted. Its speed suddenly increased, so fast it left behind layer after layer of afterimages.

“Damn it, stealing prey right out of my hands.” Xu Chen’s deep eyes turned icy.

“You won’t get away!”

Xu Chen circulated his vital blood energy, and behind him appeared the phantom of a fish leaping over the dragon gate.

His vital blood energy instantly surged to the level of four dragons and one tiger.

Then he drew the bow to a full moon and released the Windbreaking Arrow.

The arrow crossed several li and pursued the black shadow.

The distant figure felt the threat of the arrow and drew a war sword, slashing at it.

Xu Chen, seeing this from afar, let the corner of his mouth lift slightly.

“My arrow isn’t so easy to catch.”

Just as it had already become incredibly fast, the Windbreaking Arrow erupted with three layers of force after closing to within a hundred zhang of the black shadow, its speed suddenly multiplying several times.

A streak of arrow-light flashed by, and the Windbreaking Arrow instantly pierced through the shadow’s head.

The black shadow, still clutching its war sword, fell to the ground with utter disbelief in its eyes.

The two behind Xu Chen were stunned by what they saw.

“One strike, one kill, from five li away. Junior Brother, your archery is truly divine!” Zong Changshou exclaimed in shock.

“Barely passable,” Xu Chen said with a smile as he put the Azure Sky Bow back onto his back.

“Barely passable? That was incredible. That arrow contained at least three layers of force; it changed in countless ways, impossible to block,” Li Chengfu said, still replaying Xu Chen’s shot in his mind.

“Let’s go see which disciple of the five great sects this was.”

The three of them came to the corpse of the black shadow.

The figure was slender and graceful, with a black cloth covering her face.

Xu Chen used the Mo Shadow Blade to lift away the veil, revealing a delicate face before them.

“It looks like Liu Yaner from the Earth Profound Palace, with four dragons’ worth of vital blood energy. She likes to act alone,” Zong Changshou said after glancing at her and thinking for a moment.

“This Liu Yaner had decent strength. It’s a pity she ran into Junior Brother Xu.”

As the two were speaking, Liu Yaner’s body turned into spiritual light and vanished. The immortal mirror she had stolen earlier lay quietly on the ground.

“Not a bad harvest. The Earth-Spirit Tree Heart, plus this broken immortal artifact, should be worth quite a few points.”

Xu Chen picked up the mirror from the ground.

“These two treasures have to be turned in at the treasure collection platform to count.”

“But around every treasure collection platform, there may be layers upon layers of ambushes,” Li Chengfu said worriedly.

“Where is the treasure collection platform?” Xu Chen asked with curiosity. After following the two of them in, he had not yet properly asked about the rules of the ancient battlefield.

“The treasure collection platform appears for only one hour each day, and its location is completely random.”

“If we’re fast enough, we can get there and turn in the treasures before they finish setting their ambushes, then redeem points.”