Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Eight: The Spirit Tree of the Purple Capital

"Master, what is happening? Why are we packing our bags?"
The young disciple, Tao'er, asked with a perplexed expression.
"A catastrophic disaster!" Elder Tianci, who was hurrying over, looked utterly panicked. "I kept hearing strange, continuous noises coming from the Sea-Swallowing Hall, and feeling uneasy, I went to check. To my horror, all the grandmaster elders were lying dead there, and the Sect Master was nowhere to be seen. It seems Jiang An has gone on a bloody rampage! Ah, the Divine Medicine Mountain is finished now. If we don't leave immediately, we'll just end up as two more corpses!"
"Ah?!"
Young Tao'er turned as pale as snow with fright. His legs went weak, and he slumped directly to the ground, on the verge of tears from panic. "Master, let's hurry and leave then! This disciple doesn't want to die yet! Disciple—disciple's body is so stiff right now, what should I do? Master, please don't abandon me!"
"Silly child, how could Master abandon you? You're just too frightened. Come here."
Suspecting nothing, Tianci reached out his hand as he spoke to pull the boy up. The boy went along with the motion, shrinking into Tianci's embrace. Just as Tianci was about to offer a few more words of comfort, a sudden, sharp pain pierced his abdomen.
It was Tao'er who had drawn a concealed dagger, striking with premeditated malice right into Tianci's belly, puncturing his internal organs. Immediately after the strike, the boy rolled rapidly backward, refusing to linger in battle, fearing that Tianci might unleash a final, fatal palm strike before dying.
"You! You..."
Tianci looked down at the dagger and blood in his abdomen, then up at the boy's cold, indifferent gaze. His eyes were filled with sheer disbelief. The beloved disciple who had followed him for so many years, his sole successor, actually wanted to kill him?!
He sank to his knees. A grandmaster's formidable vitality kept him from dying instantly. His bloodshot eyes stared intently at the youth before him, demanding only an answer: Why? Why?!
Seeing this, the youth cautiously retreated a few steps, hiding behind the trunk of a large tree, and sneered, "Don't blame me. Since I have seized this physical vessel, I no longer wish to be controlled by others. Go to your rest in peace. After all, you could be considered a descendant of this True Monarch, so I'll leave your corpse intact."
"You are not Tao'er! Who are you?!"
Hearing the youth's words, Tianci clutched his wound and roared. A sliver of relief mixed with an even deeper sorrow washed over him—relief that it wasn't truly his disciple who killed him, but sorrow that his disciple's body had been possessed.
The youth sneered without a word, turned sharply, and rapidly departed, leaving Tianci to fend for himself.
Thud!
Tianci fell backward onto the ground, gazing quietly at the sky as his blood flowed freely. With his internal organs ruptured, he could hardly survive. If he tended to his wounds immediately, he might have bought himself some more time, but he had no will to move. Grief reaches its peak when the heart dies; the Divine Medicine Mountain was falling, and his beloved disciple was gone. What hope could his withered, aged body possibly have even if he managed to live?
So be it. Let him die right here...
He felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier. Scenes from his entire life flashed across his mind like a revolving lantern, and faintly, he heard someone calling out to him.
At the very moment he was about to close his eyes, a streak of azure light flew from afar and injected itself into his body.
He instantly snapped awake, watching as a young man walked right up to him.
"Tao—Tao'er!!"
Having recognized the newcomer, Tianci let out a heaven-shaking roar of fury before finally drawing his last breath.

The newcomer was none other than Jiang An.
Having pieced together fragments of memories, he had tracked the trail all the way here. Seeing someone lying on the ground at death's door, he had infused a strand of dharmic power to sustain the man's life, intending to ask some questions. To his surprise, he discovered it was Elder Tianci, who, after shouting a single name at him, had harbored a death wish and passed on into reincarnation.
"Tao'er? I recall Tianci's disciple was named Tao'er, a young boy. Judging by the position of Tianci's wound and the bizarre phenomenon right before his death, could it be..."
With his nimble mind, Jiang An deduced the answer from various clues, and then flashed away to continue his pursuit.

Meanwhile.
The youth arrived beside a small pool of water, calculated the coordinates from years past, and quickly reached the base of an inconspicuous little tree. He dug furiously at the soil with both hands, soon uncovering a stone slab buried beneath. With all his might, he hoisted the slab away, triggering a series of mechanical clicks and a backflow of water. Looking back at the pool, a pitch-black tunnel had abruptly opened right in its center.
A flash of joy crossed the youth's face. He accelerated and plunged straight into the water, reaching the mouth of the tunnel. Just as he was about to enter, he jerkily whipped his head back to see a human figure speeding toward him from the horizon, having spotted him from afar!
His heart pounding wildly, the youth vaulted into the tunnel, which automatically sealed shut behind him.
This underground tunnel had been plunged in pitch darkness for hundreds of years, yet it wasn't the least bit damp. With extreme familiarity, the youth tapped rhythmically against the wall, instantly flooding the passageway with bright light. He ran frantically inward, though his running posture was rather bizarre—mostly hopping and skipping, three steps left, four steps right, with no discernible pattern, clearly evading hidden mechanisms.
When the youth reached a stone door, a loud crash echoed from behind as someone forcefully smashed their way in. But the youth no longer panicked; he quickly threw open the stone door and slipped inside. The items within were identical to how they had looked years ago—unchanged and quite crude. In the center sat a single stone table bearing a square little box sealed with a silver talismanic paper. In the corner of the room lay an abstruse runic formation.
The youth snatched up the small box, hurried to the center of the runic formation, chanted incantations under his breath, and continuously shifted his hand seals. The formation beneath his feet activated in response, erupting with a dazzling white light. The youth's figure vanished amidst the radiance.
This turned out to be a teleporation array!
When Jiang An burst through the door and saw the fading white light, he rushed inside only to find the room completely empty. Approaching the teleportation array, he held a glimmer of hope and fed it an activation incantation. Instead of lighting up, the array gave a few cracking sounds and instantly covered itself in fissures before shattering completely—it was a single-use, short-range teleportation array.
What a cunning old fox, truly covering all his bases!
Jiang An shook his head slightly, scanned the surroundings to ensure nothing had been missed, and departed.

At the same time.
The youth emerged from a dark, weed-grown mountain cave, stumbling out with a horrifyingly pale complexion. Even a short-range teleportation had pushed his borrowed physical vessel to its absolute limit, nearly causing a mental collapse from the spatial forces generated. Had it not been for his formidable willpower, he likely would have passed out long ago.
Yet, he dared not faint. His formidable pursuer might not have given up the chase, and he himself was currently lingering right at the perimeter of the Divine Medicine Mountain's grand protective array. Caught in a dilemma between advancing and retreating, he was deep in worry when a crisp cry rang out.
Taking advantage of the moonlight, he looked closely, and a massive silhouette not far away filled him with ecstatic joy!
"Biyun, you are actually here! Heaven does not wish for my demise!"
...

Back within the Divine Medicine Mountain, Jiang An had returned to the spot where Elder Tianci had perished, accompanied by an elderly man.
"It really is Uncle-Master Tianci!"
Upon seeing Tianci lying in a pool of blood, the elderly man blurted out.
"Very well. Just as I instructed earlier, gather all the Zhuge family members within the Divine Medicine Mountain. First, stabilize the rest of the disciples; second, immediately contact the Zhuge main clan and have them come handle the aftermath. My condition is this: everything hidden within the treasury belongs to me, while everything else—including these large and small spirit medicine gardens—belongs entirely to the Zhuge family."
For Jiang An, only spirit herbs over a hundred years old were useful; the immature ones were mere tasteless chicken ribs. It was better to toss them to the local snake-like Zhuge family, who would undoubtedly be endlessly grateful.
Overjoyed, the old man cupped his fists and said, "Many thanks for the Senior's benevolence! This junior will go arrange it immediately!"
"Mhm, by the way, take Elder Tianci's corpse and bury it. After all, he was your uncle-master."
"This junior was just about to do so!"
Soon, the elderly man hauled Tianci's corpse away. Only then did Jiang An turn around, fixing a burning gaze upon the large tree before him.
Whoosh!
He flicked his finger, sending a surge of vital energy striking against the tree trunk. The force was violently deflected away.
Jiang An's eyes lit up. Gathering a third of his full dharmic power, he swept his hand to unleash an exceptionally sharp wind blade that instantly slashed across the trunk. Finally, it carved a shallow wound. The tree's canopy swayed slightly, emitting a hazy, ethereal cyan glow. Then, a faint trace of purple—almost invisible to the naked eye—flashed across the trunk, and the wound instantly vanished, restoring the tree to its pristine state.
"It truly is a Purple Capital Spirit Tree! And it's already in its first stage of maturity! The condensation of my Hatred Dharmic Body is finally within reach!"
Jiang An laughed heartily. Just securing this treasure alone made the entire trip worthwhile!
To prevent any mishaps from dragging on through the night, he unleashed his full dharmic power and all his techniques, chopping the Purple Capital Spirit Tree cleanly off at the roots. He hoisted it onto his shoulder and hurried toward the Divine Medicine Mountain's treasury.
Before long, he reached the treasury at the back mountain, only to find a crowd of people attacking the restrictions on the treasury doors. Some were using the chaos to murder and loot, settling old grudges—the scene was an absolute mess.
"Get lost! Those who block my path die!"
Annoyed, Jiang An swung the giant tree on his shoulder with a sweeping strike. A crescent-shaped wave of force exploded outward. At the very first encounter, everyone standing before the treasury was instantly killed, leaving only a few survivors at the very edge who dropped their weapons and fled for their lives, crying for their parents.
"Anyone who steps within three circles of the treasury will be executed without pardon!"
Jiang An opened his mouth, and rolling sonic waves erupted like a heavenly thunderclap, echoing across all directions. It caused the ears of anyone with malicious or idle intent to ring violently, while the physically frail bled from all seven orifices and died instantly. No one dared to linger; they scrambled away from the area in sheer terror.
Now, Jiang An was the sole master of this divine medicine!
Looking at the layers of restrictions guarding the treasury door, he lifted the entire massive tree like Pangu raising the heavens, leaped into the air, and hurled it down with all his might. Disregarding all obstacles, a thunderous crash later, everything was reduced to dust.
Only then did Jiang An slowly step into the interior of the treasury.