Cultivation: I Can Steal Lifespan from Spirit Beasts

Chapter 147: That Grove of Thousand Spirit Trees

Beside the newly built wooden hut outside the chicken farm.

Wang Ba stood with his hands behind his back, silently observing the middle-aged Laborer Disciple at work.

Li Qi was meticulously sanding down the rough edges of the wooden planks, completely absorbed in his task. To his eyes, he was utterly alone.

And it is only in solitude that a person’s true nature and genuine thoughts are revealed.

Wang Ba watched for a long time. From dawn to dusk, and from dusk to dawn again.

He observed the man’s initial surprise and trepidation, followed by the restless anxiety of being ignored, and finally the crushing despair of receiving no summons.

Emotions shifted with thoughts, and thoughts shifted with the environment.

From the surface to the core, and from the inside out.

Through this observation, Wang Ba began to understand. He saw how an external thought could be introduced without violating the subject’s original will, merging seamlessly with their psyche. He learned how to silently implant sounds and images into another’s consciousness, gentle as spring rain.

Then, he began his experiments.

One month later.

Looking at the haggard Li Qi standing before the hut, Wang Ba finally withdrew his Yin Spirit power. He dissolved the various thoughts and illusions he had woven into the man’s mind.

In that instant, Li Qi seemed to shed an infinite weight. Though nothing had physically changed, a genuine smile blossomed from the depths of his heart.

He paused, confused by his own sudden happiness.

Wang Ba shook his head slightly.

He gave his instructions to the human puppet and turned back toward the chicken farm.

Moments later, the puppet appeared before Li Qi.

“The Master has spoken. You have three choices. First, you may stay here and work for the Master. In return, he guarantees you will live out your natural lifespan free of illness.”

“Second, we can send you back to your hometown with a sum of silver sufficient for a peaceful retirement.”

“Third, you may return to the Spirit Valley Residence and continue your work as a Laborer Disciple.”

Li Qi didn’t understand why the Immortal had brought him here only to reject him, but right now, his heart held no desire for cultivation. The offer suited him perfectly.

He hesitated only a moment.

“Great Immortal, this humble one wishes to return to his hometown.”

“Are you sure? The Path of Incense is rampant outside. Your hometown has likely not been spared. Are you certain? Staying here cannot grant you immortality, but the Master can ensure you live to be a centenarian,” the puppet asked expressionlessly.

At the mention of a long, healthy life, a flicker of temptation crossed Li Qi’s face. But in the end, he shook his head firmly.

“Great Immortal, I choose to return. Even if it means death, I must die in my homeland!”

“Very well. Where is your home?”

As the puppet spoke, it summoned a flying artifact.

A trace of nostalgia softened Li Qi’s eyes.

“Meng Xing Village. Heh, it’s a good place. If you ever visit, Great Immortal, you should stay a few days. Our Gou’er wine and donkey meat burgers are unmatched…”

The puppet paused, then nodded. “Indeed. It is a good place.”

Activating the artifact, it carried Li Qi into the sky and flew away from the outpost.

Watching their figures disappear over the horizon, a faint melancholy touched Wang Ba’s eyes.

“This world…”

…

The human puppet returned three days later.

Wang Ba retrieved the bone chip recording its journey from the top of its skull.

As expected, the outside world was chaos.

Along the route, many villages and towns were teeming with followers of the Path of Incense. The puppet had even spotted several cultivators from the sect.

However, likely recognizing the puppet’s nature, the Incense Path cultivators hadn’t interfered. Of course, the puppet had also deliberately avoided areas prone to conflict.

“Wait… this place is…”

Wang Ba froze as a fleeting image flashed past.

With the eyesight of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, even a split-second glimpse was enough. To be sure, he replayed the recording.

There it was.

A grove of low, peculiar trees.

Each stood only about ten feet tall. Their trunks were perfectly straight, devoid of vines or lower branches, exploding into a cluster of limbs only at the very top. Each branch bore sparse leaves.

But what caught Wang Ba’s eye were the colorless, spherical water droplets resting on those leaves.

There were hundreds of droplets on every tree.

And there were twenty to thirty trees in the grove!

“Divine Essence Dew!!”

“Those must be ‘Thousand Spirit Trees’!”

Wang Ba recognized them instantly. His heart raced.

Thousand Spirit Trees were Top Grade Second-Order spirit plants—extremely rare. They were almost unheard of in the State of Chen, and scarce even in the State of Sen.

He never expected a routine trip would uncover such a treasure trove!

However, his excitement cooled quickly.

Around the grove, he spotted the faint traces of a Formation.

Someone had already claimed this place. In fact, they might have planted the trees themselves.

“Could it be the Path of Incense?”

It was highly likely. He had obtained Divine Essence Dew from their cultivators before. If they were the owners, Wang Ba’s hopes were slim.

Even the Heavenly Gate Sect struggled against the Path of Incense. He was a newly minted Foundation Establishment cultivator with negligible combat power; he wouldn’t stand a chance.

Still, he couldn’t resist locating the spot on his map.

“South of the area between Water Controlling City and Meng Xing Village… Yu Tang Mountain.”

It wasn’t far. At his current speed, he could be there in just over an hour.

After a moment of hesitation, he abandoned the temptation. The risk was too great.

Aside from the discovery of the Thousand Spirit Trees, the journey had been uneventful. The puppet hadn’t recorded Li Qi’s final fate.

In the following days, Wang Ba stopped going to the Winter Section Residence.

Bu Chan had reached a critical juncture in her cultivation and was preparing to assault the bottleneck of the seventh layer of Qi Refining. Wang Ba gave her the cultivation room to ensure her success.

Once she crossed this hurdle, she would advance to the eighth layer, inching closer to Foundation Establishment.

Realistically, however, Wang Ba estimated it would take her another decade to reach the tenth layer and prepare for the breakthrough.

Still, without resorting to demonic techniques, her speed was impressive. The continuous supply of Spirit Poultry essence was slowly improving her average aptitude, accelerating her progress. Coupled with the aid of the Spirit Gourd Vine, her growth rivaled that of the late Zhao Feng.

Speaking of the Spirit Gourd Vine, Wang Ba felt a phantom toothache.

No wonder Zhang Qingniu had sold it. The plant’s growth cycle was excruciatingly slow. In seven years, it had grown less than ten feet and produced only a handful of leaves. Buds, let alone gourds, were nowhere to be seen.

If it weren’t genuinely beneficial to Bu Chan, Wang Ba would have demanded a refund.

With Bu Chan in seclusion, the farm work fell to Wang Ba. Weeding, catching spirit insects—simple tasks became tedious when dealing with spirit plants.

He also used the time to research Bloodline Breakthroughs for his Second-Order beasts: the Mountain Moving Ape and the Phantom Chickens, Alpha-Fifteen and Alpha-Sixteen.

He was swamped.

He attempted breakthroughs for the chickens a few times, but lack of experience led to failure. Reluctant to waste more resources, he decided to pause until he had a concrete plan.

One day, while pulling weeds at the edge of the field, his Divine Sense stirred.

A look of surprise crossed Wang Ba’s face.

“This guy… I just drove him away. Why is he back again?”