Chapter 265: Chapter 24: A Powerhouse’s Composure and the Prelude to a Turbulent Age
"To be honest, I can sense it."
After bidding farewell to Bai Canglang, Su Zhou stood by the Ganjiang River at night for his post-dinner walk. A slight frown formed on his face as he mused aloud, "Someone is definitely instigating things from the shadows, trying to provoke a conflict between me and Bai Canglang—or even the entire Mimic Dao System. It seems someone is afraid. Afraid that I, a Dragon Blood Transcendent, will side with them."
"But the Artifice Sage didn’t fan the flames. He didn’t say anything, which actually makes explaining things easier."
’This must be one of the minor drawbacks of having a powerful backer,’ he thought. ’As a member of a large organization, I’m bound to get dragged into all sorts of messes.’
But the good thing was, Su Zhou had already reached the Extraordinary Tier. He possessed the power to look down on these conflicts from a position of superiority.
Take Bai Canglang, for example. After experiencing Su Zhou’s absurdly powerful Suppression, he had immediately understood that a being like Su Zhou had no need to play petty tricks or lie to secure his own interests. If Su Zhou had wished, he didn’t need to be friendly at all. He could have berated and insulted Bai Canglang for his initial probing, and Bai Canglang would have had no choice but to bow his head and take it.
And on that foundation, Su Zhou’s goodwill would no longer be seen as weakness to be exploited. Instead, it would be met with reverence and seen as the magnanimity of the strong.
Soon, Su Zhou stopped thinking about such trivial matters. Although he was only eighteen, the past year of battles and experiences had matured him rapidly.
’Instead of dwelling on these miscellaneous things, I should think about what goodies might be in the Kunlun Ruins.’
As he thought about it, the answer surprised him. "There’s actually quite a lot!"
He didn’t need any inheritances or the like, but setting that aside, the Yaochi Peach Tree alone—the very existence of this Divine Wood—was a prize well worth fighting for.
According to myth and legend, the Jade Pool was likely a collective name for the West Mother Great Venerable’s various Traveling Palaces. The Yaochi Peach Tree was supposed to be in the Southern Sea Jade Pool, not the Kunlun Mountains. But when the Immortal Gods of old left Earth, they wouldn’t have just carelessly scattered about the legacies and treasures they couldn’t take with them.
It was highly likely that the West Mother Great Venerable had transplanted the divine Peach Tree from the southern Jade Pool to the Kunlun Mountains!
"The Peach Tree is also a derivative of the Tree of the Great Dao. And what’s more, Jianmu might be there as well."
Yara judged the same. It reminded Su Zhou, "Although you were just spouting nonsense back in the Divine Wood World and fabricated your identity as a successor of Kunlun, your line of thinking wasn’t actually wrong. There really is a Divine Wood in the Kunlun Mountains; the Peach Tree and Jianmu are both possibilities. It was Jianmu in the Divine Wood World, and it might be the same here on your Earth."
"After all, the Divine Wood World corresponds to and mirrors your own, with information flowing between them. News from that world is a source of intelligence that should be taken seriously."
"I get it." Su Zhou wasn’t going to argue about that; he wasn’t the type to be contrary just for the sake of it, though he did enjoy a bit of trash talk. But after a moment’s thought, he frowned again. "Wait a minute. If the Divine Wood World and our world really are connected in some way... then the Kunlun Mountains over there were used to seal Demons and Evils!"
All the Grandmasters in the Divine Wood World had confirmed this. A thousand years ago, a Celestial Spirit Martial God, whose power was equivalent to the Commander Realm, had led a host of Innate Martial Saints to suppress unknown Demons and Evils within the Kunlun Divine Mountain.
It was just content from a DLC for the Dark Wolf game series, but if that game world was actually real, could that mean the reverse was also true? Could the Kunlun Mountains on Earth also be sealing away some kind of Demons and Evils?
’That’s a strong possibility. I’ll bring it up when I go to the Kunlun Mountains for that meeting.’
Su Zhou considered it and realized he had no evidence to prove his theory. If he brought it up now, the Artifice Sage would probably pass the warning along out of caution, but it wouldn’t carry nearly as much weight as if he presented it in person.
’If all else fails, I’ll just say the information came from my bloodline inheritance... That excuse is actually pretty handy.’
"Speaking of which, if you actually manage to get something good out of this, you really could call yourself a successor of Kunlun."
Yara, clinging to Su Zhou’s temple and enjoying the river breeze with him, giggled. Su Zhou laughed in spite of himself. "You know, you’re right. If I really manage to learn some Secret Technique from there, I’ll have a lot more conviction the next time I talk about the ’Kunlun Secret Technique.’"
「One month later.」
「August 26, 2015.」
Being too strong, having too much of a deterrent presence, might actually be a bad thing.
Over the past month, Su Zhou felt that everything had been completely peaceful. Aside from occasionally helping the Zhengguo Government suppress a few Awakening Tier Demon Beasts in the remote mountains, he spent all his time in Cultivation.
During this period, all the Mysterious Organizations went into hiding, and the international situation was as placid as could be. The only thing worth mentioning was that the Zhengguo Government had launched a Spiritual Food cooking documentary on Central Channel 1 called *A Myth on the Tip of the Tongue*. Its purpose was to popularize various common cooking methods for Spiritual Food, seemingly paving the way for its widespread distribution in the near future.
It seemed Wood Centipedes were now being farmed. On the show, Su Zhou even saw familiar-looking Wood Centipede Eggs. The cooking method was even being passed off as a traditional delicacy from the Jiangnan Region... ’Traditional my ass,’ he scoffed internally. ’Those things only just showed up a year ago!’
Meanwhile, Qinxing Academy, the A Class Cultivation Academy established in the Western Capital, had opened its campus and dormitories for students to move in.
