Chapter 168: The Wonderful Use of the Tree Heart
Seasons cycled. A full year had passed since Chen Ping returned from the Qingyun Secret Realm.
Deep in the hinterlands of Green Mountain, far from the bustle of the main cave dwellings, Chen Ping stood in a clearing, his focus absolute.
He moved with fluid precision, his hands weaving complex Hand Seals in a blur of motion.
Whoosh.
A cluster of crimson flame erupted from his palm. It expanded instantly, stretching and twisting until it took the form of a roaring Fire Dragon. It was over ten meters long, its scales and claws rendered in terrifying detail by the scorching Qi.
The dragon surged forward, crashing into a massive, iron-hard boulder with the force of a falling meteor.
BOOM!
The explosion was deafening. Flames washed over the rock, sending sparks scattering like rain.
But in the split second before the shockwave dispersed, a cold, silver gleam shot out from the dragon’s maw.
A three-foot flying sword.
Timing the strike to perfection, Chen Ping had hidden the blade within the fiery chaos. Like a silver lightning bolt, it pierced the center of the boulder without resistance.
A smooth, circular hole appeared in the rock’s core.
A heartbeat later, the structural integrity failed. The massive boulder groaned under the strain and collapsed into a pile of rubble and dust.
Chen Ping’s expression remained calm. He hooked a finger, and the sword spiraled back to him, hovering obediently at his side.
He wasn’t done.
With a thought, the ancient sword case on his back hummed.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
Seven main swords and forty-two subsidiary swords shot out, arranging themselves in a precise geometric grid before him.
The Five Elements Child-Mother Swords.
The set radiated the aura of all five elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. The seven “Mother Swords” were High-grade Rank 2 artifacts, while the forty-two “Child Swords” were Middle-grade.
Total cost: 36,000 Spirit Stones.
It was an astronomical sum that had completely liquidated his savings, but looking at the formation now, it was worth every stone.
Chen Ping’s Divine Sense spread out like a spiderweb, connecting to all forty-nine blades.
“Form.”
The swords blurred. The air hissed as dozens of Qi blades sliced through the atmosphere.
With a shift in his will, one Mother Sword shot forward as the vanguard. The Child Swords spiraled around it, spinning at incredible RPM until they formed a silver drill of condensed sword Qi.
Screech!
The drill slammed into a nearby cliff face, boring a bottomless hole through the stone in the blink of an eye.
“Combine.”
The formation shifted again. The seven Mother Swords locked end-to-end to form a spine. The forty-two Child Swords clamped onto them like armor plating. In an instant, they assembled into a colossal, ten-foot-long radiant Great Sword.
Chen Ping slashed his hand down.
The Great Sword descended with the weight of a mountain.
BOOM!
The top of the cliff was sheared off cleanly, the cut surface smooth as a mirror.
Chen Ping didn’t recall the swords yet. Instead, he blurred.
He stepped onto empty air as if climbing an invisible staircase. One step, and he was 30 feet away. He wasn’t flying; he was “stepping” on the friction of the Qi in the atmosphere, moving with a ghostly, erratic rhythm that left no trace.
Every time his toe tapped the void, a faint ripple of Qi distorted the air.
This was the Low-grade Profound Art he had spent months mastering: the Spirit Controlling Art.
He landed softly. The Fire Dragon Art (Mid-grade Profound), the Child-Mother Sword Art (Mid-grade Profound), and the Spirit Controlling Art.
He exhaled a turbid breath and waved his hand. The forty-nine swords turned into streams of light, snapping back into his sword case with a satisfying click.
His True Essence was drained by nearly half, but he felt solid. Secure.
For a year, he had done nothing but perform alchemy and grind the proficiency of these three techniques. All of them had reached the “Minor Achievement” stage.
The Sect had held up their end of the bargain. Headmaster Li Lingfeng had given him unrestricted access to the Scripture Depository—free of charge. A privilege rarely seen in the Sect’s history.
Faced with that ocean of knowledge, Chen Ping hadn’t been greedy.
There were High-grade Profound Arts in there—spells with far more destructive power than the Fire Dragon Art. But Chen Ping had ignored them.
Why? Time management.
He only had three years.
His aptitude was good, but not god-tier. A High-grade Profound Art was notoriously difficult. In three years, he might barely grasp the basics. A Novice-level High-grade spell was useless in actual combat compared to a Mastered Mid-grade spell.
So, he optimized.
Fire Dragon Art: High single-target burst, moderate learning curve.
Child-Mother Sword Art: Versatile offense and defense, perfectly covers his melee weakness.
Spirit Controlling Art: High mobility, low cost, easy to grind.
He calculated that within three years, he could push one or two of these to “Major Achievement.”
This precise calculation was the true gift of the Tree Heart.
Before the Secret Realm, Chen Ping’s cultivation planning was based on gut feeling. He could only vaguely guess if he was improving.
Now? It was data-driven.
The Tree Heart of the Innate Spirit Root had upgraded his brain’s processing power. When he looked at a technique, he didn’t just read it; he simulated the learning process. He could mentally model the circulation routes, identify bottlenecks, and calculate the “Time-to-Mastery” with 80-90% accuracy.
He could see the optimal path. No more detours. No more wasted practice.
In the long run, this ability to simulate and optimize his growth was worth infinitely more than a simple level-up.
After a year of silent integration, the true utility of the Tree Heart had finally revealed itself.
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