Wu Long looked at the old man, and as his eyes flashed with profound patterns he saw a giant tree, its crown covering the sky.
Wu Long turned to the side and looked at Fan Shuei and the two, who nodded, understanding and went off to the area where the Three-Eyed Gray Crow landed, their final hope of learning what Wu Long wanted to talk about extinguished.
As he made sure that they went off, the surroundings became strangely quiet, as if all of the sounds became cut off. He looked with a look of gratitude at the old man who noticed that he did not want anyone to listen in.
"My greetings to the Daoist of the noble Spirit Race"
Wu Long cupped his fists.
The old man's emotionless face revealed a slight change, though still not something that could be called an expression of emotion.
"This humble one greets the Daoist of the honorable Human Race.
This one was wondering what a human cultivator of this small world wanted with the humble self, yet the Heavenly Punishment piqued this one's interest. It was indeed a good decision. It is rather rare for someone to know of this one's identity. And even rarer for them to observe the old customs. A pleasure indeed"
Despite the words of surprise and then pleasantries there were no fluctuations in the voice, and the pace of speaking was a little bit off, as if talking in a bubble of slowed time.
"The pleasure is mine, since there was no Daoist of your race that did not make this world a better place"
Wu Long spoke sincerely, as the Spirit Race was one of his soft spots.
They were naturally born spirits of nature. Stones, trees, medicinal plants, lumps of earth, lakes, everything could spontaneously give birth to its own spirit as long as Spiritual Qi was saturated enough for a birth of one.
When a spirit was born it still had no conscience, no ego of its own, and they themselves did not consider that state being alive or even close to that. After a long period of time of the spirit absorbing the Spiritual Qi in the surroundings, it spontaneously awakened a consciousness. At that point, its true form became its astral form, and they chose a physical form of a living being. In the ancient times it was often an animal, but as human cultivators explored the world and expanded their territories many new members of the Spirit Race began to take the form of humans.
The giant tree Wu Long saw when he looked at him with Chaos Origin Eyes was the origin of this spirit, and its astral form.
"This humble one thinks fellow Daoist is too generous with the praise, however expresses gratitude for the kind words. How may this humble one help fellow Daoist?"
"There are two reasons I have come here for, one of which is to learn a little about the way this world became fractured, and the other is to ask for the Dew of Life"
Wu Long spoke calmly, and the old man's eyes slightly widened. His expression subtly, almost imperceptibly changed but Wu Long discerned a regretful sadness as the old man shook his head.
"It is regretful but this humble one can fulfill neither of those"
"May I ask why reject the first one?"
Wu Long slightly raised his eyebrow. He could understand rejecting the Dew of Life since that was something quite precious that only Tree Spirits like this old man could make using part of their own cultivation, but the fact that the Spirit Race member refused both was slightly puzzling. "This one cannot answer"
The old man shook his head as it seemed that there was more to it that Wu Long previously thought.
He was first certain that the Great Calamity referred to a battle between Bahshi Assassins and Azure Eagle Race. But once he saw the complete map of the three continents and realized the extent of the damage he started to doubt his theory, since that level of decimation would require experts of higher Great Realms or a destruction of an incredibly powerful artifact.
The refusal of this old man to disclose the events that led to this world being a fractured one reassured Wu Long that he was wrong before.
"Hmm, then let us negotiate for the second one, I did not arrive here on a whim so I prepared something to exchange for the Dew of Life"
He then smiled since he was at least prepared to be initially rejected regarding the second purpose of his visit. However, the old man shook his head again.
"This humble one indeed has produced a drop of the Dew of Life not long ago, but it is not something that could be exchanged since it has already been promised"
Wu Long widened his eyes.
"Already promised? I did not think that there was anyone who could exchange anything for the Dew of Life with you. I can guarantee, that the what I have to offer will allow you to not only make up for the lost cultivation but even profit from it. And the best part is that it would be a permanent boost since it is not consumable, but a Scripture"
He then tried to still negotiate but the old man still shook his head.
"This humble one is truly sorry, but it is indeed impossible even if this one wanted to. The one who it was promised to is not someone this humble one can oppose"
Wu Long's eyebrows went up.
"Hmm, I did not want to use this method, since it is cheating..."
He then slightly hesitated, since he truly wanted to use a fair trade because he was always fond of the Spirit Race members. However, he truly needed that drop, so he sighed.
His Soul Sea that was tranquil and serene, the surface unblemished like a mirror began to see ripples, and then something shone deep below with a gentle white light. It gradually shown brighter and brighter until a white glowing pattern appeared from beneath the Soul Sea.
The old man's eyes became visibly wider this time and he went onto one knee.
"Apologies, this humble one did not recognize the bearer of the Mark. This one greets the Spirit Lord, emissary of the Spirit God Sovereign"
"Haa~ please stand up, that title is something I did not agree to"
Wu Long sighed as he truly did not like using this mark...
---
"And then?"
Hua Ziyan asked, sitting on the edge of her seat, and the other beauties nodded as they sat around Wu Long.
"And then? And then... he gave me the Dew of Life while I insisted he learn the Spirit God Emperor Manuscript even though he did not want to accept anything from me"
Wu Long lightly smiled as he took out a transparent glass bottle, suspended in the center of which was a drop of liquid, resembling water but with a greenish hue and glowing with a vibrant green.
Wu Long looked at the old man, and as his eyes flashed with profound patterns he saw a giant tree, its crown covering the sky.
Wu Long turned to the side and looked at Fan Shuei and the two, who nodded, understanding and went off to the area where the Three-Eyed Gray Crow landed, their final hope of learning what Wu Long wanted to talk about extinguished.
As he made sure that they went off, the surroundings became strangely quiet, as if all of the sounds became cut off. He looked with a look of gratitude at the old man who noticed that he did not want anyone to listen in.
"My greetings to the Daoist of the noble Spirit Race"
Wu Long cupped his fists.
The old man's emotionless face revealed a slight change, though still not something that could be called an expression of emotion.
"This humble one greets the Daoist of the honorable Human Race.
This one was wondering what a human cultivator of this small world wanted with the humble self, yet the Heavenly Punishment piqued this one's interest. It was indeed a good decision. It is rather rare for someone to know of this one's identity. And even rarer for them to observe the old customs. A pleasure indeed"
Despite the words of surprise and then pleasantries there were no fluctuations in the voice, and the pace of speaking was a little bit off, as if talking in a bubble of slowed time.
"The pleasure is mine, since there was no Daoist of your race that did not make this world a better place"
Wu Long spoke sincerely, as the Spirit Race was one of his soft spots.
They were naturally born spirits of nature. Stones, trees, medicinal plants, lumps of earth, lakes, everything could spontaneously give birth to its own spirit as long as Spiritual Qi was saturated enough for a birth of one.
When a spirit was born it still had no conscience, no ego of its own, and they themselves did not consider that state being alive or even close to that. After a long period of time of the spirit absorbing the Spiritual Qi in the surroundings, it spontaneously awakened a consciousness. At that point, its true form became its astral form, and they chose a physical form of a living being. In the ancient times it was often an animal, but as human cultivators explored the world and expanded their territories many new members of the Spirit Race began to take the form of humans.
The giant tree Wu Long saw when he looked at him with Chaos Origin Eyes was the origin of this spirit, and its astral form.
"This humble one thinks fellow Daoist is too generous with the praise, however expresses gratitude for the kind words. How may this humble one help fellow Daoist?"
"There are two reasons I have come here for, one of which is to learn a little about the way this world became fractured, and the other is to ask for the Dew of Life"
Wu Long spoke calmly, and the old man's eyes slightly widened. His expression subtly, almost imperceptibly changed but Wu Long discerned a regretful sadness as the old man shook his head.
"It is regretful but this humble one can fulfill neither of those"
"May I ask why reject the first one?"
Wu Long slightly raised his eyebrow. He could understand rejecting the Dew of Life since that was something quite precious that only Tree Spirits like this old man could make using part of their own cultivation, but the fact that the Spirit Race member refused both was slightly puzzling. "This one cannot answer"
The old man shook his head as it seemed that there was more to it that Wu Long previously thought.
He was first certain that the Great Calamity referred to a battle between Bahshi Assassins and Azure Eagle Race. But once he saw the complete map of the three continents and realized the extent of the damage he started to doubt his theory, since that level of decimation would require experts of higher Great Realms or a destruction of an incredibly powerful artifact.
The refusal of this old man to disclose the events that led to this world being a fractured one reassured Wu Long that he was wrong before.
"Hmm, then let us negotiate for the second one, I did not arrive here on a whim so I prepared something to exchange for the Dew of Life"
He then smiled since he was at least prepared to be initially rejected regarding the second purpose of his visit. However, the old man shook his head again.
"This humble one indeed has produced a drop of the Dew of Life not long ago, but it is not something that could be exchanged since it has already been promised"
Wu Long widened his eyes.
"Already promised? I did not think that there was anyone who could exchange anything for the Dew of Life with you. I can guarantee, that the what I have to offer will allow you to not only make up for the lost cultivation but even profit from it. And the best part is that it would be a permanent boost since it is not consumable, but a Scripture"
He then tried to still negotiate but the old man still shook his head.
"This humble one is truly sorry, but it is indeed impossible even if this one wanted to. The one who it was promised to is not someone this humble one can oppose"
Wu Long's eyebrows went up.
"Hmm, I did not want to use this method, since it is cheating..."
He then slightly hesitated, since he truly wanted to use a fair trade because he was always fond of the Spirit Race members. However, he truly needed that drop, so he sighed.
His Soul Sea that was tranquil and serene, the surface unblemished like a mirror began to see ripples, and then something shone deep below with a gentle white light. It gradually shown brighter and brighter until a white glowing pattern appeared from beneath the Soul Sea.
The old man's eyes became visibly wider this time and he went onto one knee.
"Apologies, this humble one did not recognize the bearer of the Mark. This one greets the Spirit Lord, emissary of the Spirit God Sovereign"
"Haa~ please stand up, that title is something I did not agree to"
Wu Long sighed as he truly did not like using this mark...
---
"And then?"
Hua Ziyan asked, sitting on the edge of her seat, and the other beauties nodded as they sat around Wu Long.
"And then? And then... he gave me the Dew of Life while I insisted he learn the Spirit God Emperor Manuscript even though he did not want to accept anything from me"
Wu Long lightly smiled as he took out a transparent glass bottle, suspended in the center of which was a drop of liquid, resembling water but with a greenish hue and glowing with a vibrant green.
