Chapter 2: Devouring the Spiritual Root

  "Little one, you don't agree in your heart?"

  The sound that suddenly appeared made Wang Fei feel a chill, and he quickly retreated several steps, looking around in horror. Seeing no one, he nervously said: "Who is it? Who's speaking? Come out quickly!"

  Because of the other's excessive mysteriousness, Wang Fei's voice actually had some trembling in it.

  After all, he is a normal person, facing such a situation, being able to remain calm and unmoving like a mountain, is simply inhuman.

  "Heh heh, I'm right in front of you, in the crack of the stone seam." The teasing voice sounded again.??????Wu Dao Xian Gang 2

  "What?" Wang Fei was startled again, his eyes fixed on the stone seam. Under a sliver of moonlight, a faint, soft blue glow emanated from this thin seam. Inside was actually a piece of blue jade.

  "Jade stone?" Wang Fei took a step back, his eyes fixed on the green glow, and asked in a tone that was not very friendly: "Who are you, why are you inside the jade stone, and what do you want to do?"

  "Hey, kid. Let's talk about the first two questions later. Tell me, aren't you quite dissatisfied with Lin? You think he has great potential but can't make good use of it, which is a pity?"

  The other party chuckled twice as he spoke.

  The dark night, the whistling cool wind, plus this eerie sound, makes this mountain cave look so terrifying and frightening.

  "What's wrong?" Wang Fei hesitated for a moment, although his heart was panicked, he still pretended to be calm.

  "If so, I can help you achieve your wish."

  "Can you help me?"

  His words were really beyond Wang Fei's expectations, and Wang Fei looked at him incredulously, his eyes full of disbelief. After all, the spiritual root was something that was destined from birth and couldn't be changed casually.

  "I can't help you, but this jade stone can!" This time, the mocking voice changed its tone and said seriously, "This jade stone contains a sealed spiritual root! Called Devouring Spiritual Root. A devouring spiritual root that specializes in devouring cultivators' spiritual roots."

  "Swallow the Spiritual Root!"

  Wang Fei's expression changed upon hearing this, and he retreated several steps with a thud, crashing into the wall.

  Stillness, stillness!

  The entire cave was quiet, with no sound visible, except for Wang Fei's urgent breathing.

  After an unknown period of time, Wang Fei finally came out of his shock and slowly walked forward, saying: "Devouring Spiritual Roots? Being able to devour other cultivators' Spiritual Roots? Then, can't we devour the enemy's Spiritual Roots and merge them one by one to make ourselves stronger?"

  "Hey, clever, magnificent, and extraordinary, from 9th rank to 8th rank, 7th rank, and finally, 1st rank, even transcendent, sacred, royal, immortal... how's that, moved?"

  The other party interrupted Wang Fei's words and continued.

  Wang Fei's expression changed unpredictably, if devouring spiritual roots really had that kind of ability, wouldn't it be defying the heavens?

  Cultivation is a path, Linggen represents innate talent. Having superior Linggen not only speeds up the cultivation process but also surpasses those with inferior Linggen in terms of strength at the same realm. My Daoist Canon 2

  It's just too sinister to swallow up other people's spiritual roots.

  After a moment of contemplation, Wang Fei's emotions calmed down somewhat, and he said in a flat tone: "If you only tell me these things, it's useless. This Devouring Spiritual Root, how am I supposed to get it? Moreover, you must have a reason for helping me, so explain everything clearly."

  "Haha, young people are quick-witted and straightforward, I like it. You have guts and courage, not bad." The other party smiled slightly and continued, "I do need your help, but these are things for the future, of course, I won't make things difficult for you."

  Upon hearing the other party's words, Wang Fei let out a slight sigh of relief. If he were to do something that would completely lose his conscience, it would indeed be quite troublesome. Thus, Wang Fei continued: "Alright, then tell me now how to obtain the Devouring Spirit Root."

  "This...," the mysterious person paused for a moment and said, "You take out the jade stone from the gap in the rock, then infuse it with a thread of spiritual energy."

  Wang Fei gazed at the crack in the stone that was emitting a faint blue glow, hesitated for a moment, and then took out the jade.

  Looking at the worn jade, Wang Fei felt a bit worried. What if what the other person said was not true? Wouldn't he be in trouble then? But thinking of his precarious situation, he could only take a deep breath and start stirring up the little spiritual energy inside him, pouring it into the jade.

  "Hiss!"

  Just as Wang Fei infused the spiritual energy into the jade stone, a dark light flashed by, and immediately a black shadow quickly darted out and rushed directly into Wang Fei's body.

  At the moment when the dark shadow entered his body, a piercing pain began to spread throughout his body.

  "Ah!"

  Wang Fei was terrified, retreating several steps back. But before he could take a few more steps, the dark shadow that had entered his body began to swell up like a worm, crawling inside him and slowly expanding. A numb, stinging pain spread throughout his entire body as the shadow moved.

  "Ah——" Suddenly, Wang Fei let out a low growl, covered his head and rolled on the ground, continuously rolling over, with beads of sweat the size of soybeans appearing on his forehead.

  The stinging pain in his body gave him the urge to hit the wall, if it wasn't for Wang Fei's life under Danfeng Sect's patronage being looked down upon by others all these years, which made his heart exceptionally tough, he probably wouldn't have been able to hold on.

  In the cave, Wang Fei groggily rolled over, unaware of how much time had passed. The pain in his body finally gradually subsided, and Wang Fei came to from his daze, only to find himself soaked through with sweat, the dust on the ground sticking to his wet clothes, making him look disheveled and dirty.

  "Hmmph..." Wang Fei panted heavily, clutching the jade stone in his hand, recalling the previous scene and feeling extremely displeased. He glared at the person inside the jade stone with a bad tone and said, "Hey, why didn't you tell me that merging with this Devouring Spirit Root would be so painful? Do you know I almost died from the pain?"

  Wang Fei was cursing angrily, but he didn't forget to look inward at his own body. He saw a black shadowy substance inside him, like a big tree, rooted in his body.

  As for Wang Fei's blame, the mysterious person just smiled and said: "Little guy don't be angry, you must not forget that this is in fusion with the spiritual root, to transform your body, if it doesn't hurt a bit how can it be possible? I found you because over the past decade I've seen you cultivate with no spiritual root physique, resolutely and steadfastly, with a strong heart and unyielding will. That's why on the night of the full moon, I stole an opportunity to communicate with you."

  "Of course, there's another important reason, which is that you don't have a spiritual root. Otherwise, your fate would likely be to be devoured by the Spiritual Root Devourer. To be honest, I've been trapped in this jade stone for a long time and seen many people with good opportunities obtain it, but they couldn't withstand the suffering and ended up taking their own lives. Some did manage to pass the first trial, but ultimately, they still couldn't escape being devoured by the Spiritual Root Devourer."

  "Swallowed by the Ling Root?" Wang Fei shuddered again.

  But just then, a voice suddenly sounded outside the secret stone cave.

  "Wang Fei, you rascal! I finally found you hiding in the mountain cave. Hmph, now that your time is up, don't you dare resist arrest!"

  The owner of this voice was Lin Shixiong himself.

  He heard Wang Fei's loud shout from a distance, and although he didn't know what had happened, he was secretly delighted and hurriedly followed the sound, shouting coldly towards the cave.

  "Bad, I've been discovered." Wang Fei's heart tightened, blaming himself for not being able to hold back earlier. Just as he was getting anxious, the mysterious person said: "What are you afraid of? You just obtained the Devouring Spirit Root, it's a good opportunity to try it out. Go out, get close to him, and if possible, make contact with his body. Then, use your spiritual power to activate the Devouring Spirit Root. Eat away his spirit root!"

  "Is this okay too?"

  "What's wrong with it? Hurry up and go, don't worry, if it wasn't for this reason, I would have helped you deal with him."

  Upon hearing this, Wang Fei rolled his eyes, it turned out that he also didn't know how to use the Devouring Spirit Root...

  Then, under the supervision of the mysterious person, Wang Fei reluctantly walked out of the cave.

  As soon as he came out of the cave, Wang Fei saw Lin Shixiong gradually approaching this way.

  Wang Fei dryly smiled and pretended to be stupid, saying: "Lin Shixiong, do you have something to ask me?"

  "Hmph, you despicable disciple, death is near and yet you still have the nerve to put on a smug face!" Lin Shixiong saw Wang Fei's attitude and felt annoyed, his expression turned unpleasant as he said this, and a cold light flashed in his hand, revealing a flying sword.

  Seeing the other party wanting to take action, Wang Fei hastily pushed out his palm and changed to a terrified expression: "Lin Shixiong, we have something good to say, you see this, I use Lingzhu and Dan medicine as compensation, how is it?"

  As he spoke, Wang Fei hastily took out the two pieces of Ling Crystal and a Dan medicine he had just obtained.

  Looking at the thing in Wang Fei's hand, Lin Shixiong's gloomy face slightly relaxed, his eyes shining brightly, but the next moment, he regained his fierce expression and coldly said to Wang Fei, "Letting you off is impossible, however, considering the Lingjing Dan medicine, I can spare your life!"

  What!

  Hearing Lin's ruthless words, Wang Fei's face sank. He had not wanted to use the Devouring Spirit Root, after all it was against the laws of heaven, but now he had no choice. Others had malicious intentions towards him, and he had to steel himself for a fierce battle.

  However, before that, Wang Fei had another verbal sparring match with Lin Shixiong, but the other party still didn't intend to let him off, so in the end, Wang Fei could only spread his hands and prepare to hand over the Ling Jing Dan medicine.

  At the moment he handed over the Ling Jing Dan medicine, he secretly manipulated his internal spiritual power according to the mysterious person's method and injected it into the black Devouring Spiritual Root.

  Lin Shixiong naturally didn't know about Wang Fei's actions and thought that he had given up resisting because of his obedient appearance.

  He sneered coldly and reached out to take the thing, just as their hands touched for a moment. The Devouring Spirit Root in Wang Fei's body began to vibrate with a humming noise under the stimulation of spiritual energy, slowly moving and expanding, eventually filling his entire body. A black light actually emanated from the surface of his body.

  "Ah, you......you...you..."

  Lin Shixiong saw Wang Fei's abnormality and his heart skipped a beat, feeling a chill run down his spine. He looked at him with terrified eyes and immediately wanted to withdraw his hand.

  But it's too late.

  Wang Fei's left palm suddenly revealed a black mark.

  "Whoosh!"

  A sound rang out, a strand of black fibrous substance emerged from Wang Fei's palm, stretched out and directly pierced into Lin Shixiong's wrist.

  At this sight, Lin Shixiong was terrified and wanted to cast a spell to break free, but a strange power surged into his body, binding his movements. He could only see the black thread-like object completely penetrate his body, and immediately, his whole body felt an unbearable pain, as if someone was pulling out his tendons and bones.

  "Ah——"

  Lin Shixiong's face turned red with rage, his eyes bulging out of their sockets as he let out a deafening roar, his hands clutching at his chest in agony.

  Looking at Wang Fei, he felt the black spiritual root stirring, and the crimson-colored meridian substance continuously merged into his body, fusing with the black spiritual root. In the instant when the crimson substance and the black spiritual root merged, Wang Fei only felt that the spiritual energy around him was surging, and his whole body was extremely comfortable.

  "Is this the Seven Grades of Fire Spirit Root within Lin Shixiong's body?"

  Wang Fei gazed at those crimson-colored veins and muttered to himself.

  The process of extracting the spiritual root only took a few breaths, and with a blink of an eye, the Fire Spiritual Root followed the Devouring Spiritual Root, thoroughly merging into Wang Fei's body. The Devouring Spiritual Root also jumped in numbers again, and returned to his body once more.

  The Lin brother opposite, his pupils dilated, dared not believe everything in front of him, his lips slightly trembling, half a sound couldn't speak, finally, his legs kicked out, and he fell straight down.

  Wang Fei stared blankly ahead, his eyes wide with fear, and muttered: "He was actually scared to death, he's really a useless person!"

  "He's indeed a waste. The spiritual root was wasted on him." The mysterious person also shook his head repeatedly, and suddenly, he changed the subject and asked with a smile, "How does it taste?"