Chapter 15: Enneawyrm Provenance Formation (1/2)

”I'm rich! I'm rich! A hundred fifty thousand premium spirit stones for two pieces of eye candy! Who would’ve thought that I would be a rich man myself one day… this way, even if I lose the province stewardship, I’m set for the rest of my life!” Grand Steward Xue gleefully muttered to himself and rubbed his hands together.

“Eh? What’re you standing around for, my dear Excellency? You should step aside as quick as you can. As your servant, I can’t put my hands on you. Oh no, no, no, that would be horribly rude. I was born into a scholarly family with many cultivators, so I most certainly can’t commit such an act of impropriety.”

The smug steward couldn’t refrain from exulting in self-satisfaction. “But that doesn’t mean no one else can. Your Excellency, do you know who this is? This is Old Willow from the Skandha Range! It wouldn’t be good if he hurts you.” [1]

“Weren’t you supposed to be out buying foundation stones?” Lu Yun asked frostily.

“Heh heh heh, I’m out of here in another six months. What would I be buying those for?” chuckled the steward. “Priority focus goes to earning spirit stones for the future, of course! Naturally, this is all my private property. With all due respect, my dear Excellency, it has nothing to do with you.”

The ‘Old Willow’ in question paid no mind to the conversation between Lu Yun and his steward. His eyes were fixed upon Yuying.

“That Wanfeng has a heavenly spirit root, but this other girl has an immortal one! An immortal spirit root will guarantee the golden immortal realm, at a minimum. If I use her as a cultivation vessel and take that root for my own, won’t I become one too?” The old man drooled at the tantalizing possibility.

Grand Steward Xue instantly colored when he heard this. “That’s not how business is done, Old Willow! If it’s like that, you can’t have her without at least two hundred thousand premium stones!” he added hurriedly. “With Wanfeng, that’s three hundred thousand in total!”

“That’s a tidy sum, but well within the range of affordability. Sure, three hundred thousand it is.” Old Willow smacked himself on the head for his mistake.

“Enough!” Lu Yun growled in a low voice. “Who gave you the authority to sell my people, Xue Lang?”

“The late governor, of course,” chuckled the steward. “Right before he underwent his tribulation, he instructed that I would have the final say in this household before you turn sixteen. Wanfeng and that woman by your side are part of this house, are they not? Since they are, I have the right to sell them.”

Wanfeng was dreadfully pale, her heart running amok with fear. The usually kindly grand steward was a monster in this moment!

“I’m not sixteen yet, eh?” Lu Yun furrowed his brow. It seemed his dead father had chosen the wrong person to entrust his son to. “Now you know not to judge a book by its cover, Wanfeng.”

“Yes.” Wanfeng bit her lip and nodded emphatically.

“Hehehe, I could say the same for your father. He took Wanfeng in precisely so that she could be a cultivation vessel for you! Her heavenly spirit root was meant to counteract your dormant bloodline. Too bad you can’t get your little buddy up, eh? That will never work for you.” Xue Lang dispensed with all pretenses in this retort, retaliating with a supercilious smile.

Wanfeng lowered her head. She was even whiter now, if such a thing were possible. A larger hand clasped itself over her own. Its warmth caused her body to tremble, then relax slightly.

“Alright, enough chatter. It looks like you can’t speak on this young governor’s behalf. Well, that doesn’t matter. I’ll take these two with me now. My servants will be over with the rest of the stones later.” Old Willow was growing impatient. A number of vines suddenly extended from his body and roiled toward Wanfeng and Yuying.

“An old tree spirit from the Skandha Range is making trouble in Dusk Province’s capital? How very brave of you!” A chillingly dangerous expression flickered across Yuying’s face.

She ascended into the air, white robes drifting in the wind. Seven swords fanned out from her and instantly slashed the vines to pieces. In the next moment, they followed the guidance of her fingers and shot toward Old Willow in seven streaks of emerald light.

“An origin core cultivator!” It was Old Willow’s turn to pale, but his expression turned satisfied in the next moment. “Is that so! That’s lovely. If I take your virginity, I’ll immediately become a spirit realm cultivator!”

The old man was no man at all, but a late-stage core realm tree spirit who’d lived for more than a thousand years.

Snap, snap!

Old Willow’s body began transforming. His dry, lanky figure expanded in mere seconds, shriveled skin turning to thickened bark. In no time at all, he became a treant more than thirty meters tall. And he was still growing and looking more like a tree!

Crack, crack, crack!

Yuying’s swords cut away a few of the treant’s branches, but he wasn’t seriously hurt otherwise.

“Hahaha! You might as well surrender, girl! No one at the same level can possibly penetrate a tree spirit’s defenses.” Old Willow’s voice had become as grainy as his bark, and he no longer sounded remotely human.

Still, he was an origin core realm cultivator.

His feet were piercing roots that shattered the stone tiles of the manor courtyard to plant themselves into solid earth. By now, the treant resembled a giant willow more than anything. His crown was large enough to cover the sky over half the residence, and there was a human face upon the tree’s bark.

“So it’s you, you old monster! I couldn’t do anything when you fled into the Skandha Range twelve hundred years ago, but here you come knocking today!”

On the way back to the city, Yuying had roughly estimated that it’d been twelve hundred years since she was ambushed during her heavenly tribulation. Two baleful green flames flared in her eyes.

Boom! She slammed her body into the monstrous willow, trading a vicious blow with her enemy.

“Who are you!” Old Willow colored again, this time in shock.

This rotten luck! I didn’t expect that brat to bring back an origin core woman. Thank goodness I invited Old Willow here today, or I’d be dead otherwise! Cold sweat dripped down Xue Lang’s face. I’m only late-stage golden core myself. I can’t possibly intervene in a battle between two origin cores! I’ll hide for now and get payment after Old Willow takes that woman down.