Chapter Ninety-One: The Wood Spirit Clan

After the two sides had each recognized one another, the maple grove fell quiet once more.

Seeing that many people were already seated on cushions in meditation, Gu Weiyu also took out two cushions of her own. “Fourth Sister, shall we sit down and rest for a while?”

Gu Weilan nodded and sat down beside her.

Xu Weizhou, who had been thoroughly ignored: “...”

In the end, he silently pulled out a cushion as well and went to sit cross-legged in a corner.

Dusk gathered, and the sky darkened little by little.

Even the ordinary-looking pagoda began to bloom with a light of its own.

The people who had been sitting in silence gradually opened their eyes and looked toward the towering structure before them.

Rainbow-hued radiance flickered restlessly, and that strange pulse grew ever more distinct.

Gu Weiyu recalled what her master had once said and knew that the Seven Treasures Trial Pagoda was probably about to open.

“Fourth Sister, will you come with me to the Ten Thousand Swords Sect?” Gu Weiyu asked softly as she leaned closer to Gu Weilan.

Gu Weilan lifted her eyes; their gazes met wordlessly. “Eleventh Sister, the Ten Thousand Swords Sect is one of the four great sects. I’m afraid I...”

“Fourth Sister, you have outstanding talent. You’ll surely be able to enter the Ten Thousand Swords Sect!” Gu Weiyu understood her concern well.

“I...” Gu Weilan was just about to say more when the Seven Treasures Trial Pagoda, which had shown no movement until now, suddenly unleashed a strange force of suction.

The cultivators within a hundred paces of the tower’s base were all involuntarily lifted into the air.

“Fourth Sister, let’s meet outside the secret realm!” Gu Weiyu only managed to say that one sentence before her entire body was drawn helplessly into the trial pagoda.

She felt a burst of dizziness. When her feet finally touched solid ground again, she found herself lying atop something soft.

“Ow, you’re hurting me!”

“And me!”

“Get up already!”

One childish voice after another came from beneath Gu Weiyu.

At the sound, she instinctively looked down, only to see that she had flattened a patch of flower buds beneath her.

Those voices just now had come from these flowers?

Gu Weiyu hurriedly stood up and moved a short distance away.

Then she saw the flowers she had been pressing down straighten their stems and begin swaying left and right with startling humanlike expression.

“It’s a human cultivator!”

As their stems rocked, the babyish voices spoke again.

Gu Weiyu looked at them with fascination. “You can talk?”

“Huh? This human cultivator doesn’t even know we can speak.” An astonished voice rang out.

“Yes, yes—” another flower chimed in sweetly. “This human is quite interesting!”

“Are you spirit beasts?” Gu Weiyu crouched down and leaned toward the blossoms. She had a strong feeling these flowers meant her no harm.

“We are not those vile spirit beasts. We are the Wood Spirit Clan.” A delicate red flower said with proud hauteur.

The Wood Spirit Clan?

Gu Weiyu had never heard of such a race. Just as she was about to ask more, faint footsteps sounded among the flowers.

“Friends from afar, welcome to the Wood Spirit Clan.”

A voice of exquisite and ethereal beauty came from not far away.

Gu Weiyu looked up at once and was stunned into silence:

So there really was a woman in this world more beautiful than her Ninth Sister?

Ever since she was little, Ninth Sister Gu Weihuan had been the most beautiful person in her heart, but the purple-robed woman standing before her now made her feel that this lady was perhaps even three parts more lovely than Ninth Sister.

“Hee hee—”

“Another human has been charmed by our Flower Lord!”

“...”

Listening to the voices drifting in and out around her ears, Gu Weiyu gradually recovered her senses. “Hello, I am from the Ten Thousand Swords Sect...”

“My friend, where you come from does not concern me.” The Peony Flower Lord interrupted her with a kindly expression.

Gu Weiyu wisely fell silent and said with a trace of apology, “I have accidentally intruded here in red clothing. I hope the Flower Lord will not take offense.”

The Peony Flower Lord looked at her with gentle eyes. “Since you were able to come here, it means you are fated with our Wood Spirit Clan.”

Only humans with more than ninety percent wood-spirit affinity, those naturally close to their Wood Spirit Clan, would have a chance to come here.

“Fated?” Gu Weiyu murmured under her breath.

“Friend, please come with me.” With that, the Peony Flower Lord turned and walked deeper into the flower grove.

At her words, Gu Weiyu looked up and followed close behind, parting blossoms and brushing aside leaves until they arrived at a dwelling woven from vines.

The moment she stepped inside, her gaze was irresistibly drawn to a transparent flower bud floating in midair. She asked curiously, “What is this?”

“This is the flower spirit of our Wood Spirit Clan. Back then...” The Peony Flower Lord’s gaze fell softly upon the transparent bud, her voice full of pity.

After hearing the Flower Lord’s story, Gu Weiyu finally understood: the flower spirit’s mother had been gravely injured while carrying it. After giving birth to it, she passed away.

Thus, this flower spirit had been born incomplete and could only be revived by pure wood-spirit power.

“Friend, as long as you can help our clan’s flower spirit sprout again, you will forever be the great benefactor of our Wood Spirit Clan!” the Peony Flower Lord said solemnly.

“Me?” Gu Weiyu was baffled. Even the Wood Spirit Clan could not accomplish such a thing—how could a human like her possibly do it?

“Yes, you.” The Peony Flower Lord nodded with certainty.

“But I don’t even know how to save her, or make her sprout...” Gu Weiyu looked utterly confused.

“As long as our flower spirit does not reject you, you will be able to form a Great Virtue Pact with her.

This pact is absolutely equal. Through it, you will receive the feedback of our clan’s flower spirit, and our flower spirit will also be able to awaken again through your wood-spirit power...”

The Peony Flower Lord’s ethereal voice echoed softly within the vine-woven room.

Gu Weiyu found this even more surprising. The Seven Treasures Trial Pagoda had existed for ages; she certainly could not be the first human ever to reach this place. Why, after so many years, had the flower spirit still not awakened?

“Since there are such great benefits, why has she still not awakened by now?”

The Peony Flower Lord also looked helpless. “Over all these years, more than a dozen humans have come to our Wood Spirit Clan, yet not one of them has been able to gain our flower spirit’s recognition.”

Hearing this, Gu Weiyu understood at once. She hadn’t expected this little thing to be so choosy!

“All right then, I’ll try?” Gu Weiyu agreed.

“Good. Next, please close your eyes and use your wood-spirit power...” the Peony Flower Lord said gently.

Following the Flower Lord’s instructions, Gu Weiyu slowly closed her eyes. Just as she was about to release her wood-spirit power, the little green book in her sea of consciousness suddenly said:

“Master, use thunder-spirit power to purify the wood-spirit power first!”

Gu Weiyu’s movements froze. She had actually heard excitement in the little green book’s voice just now.

Could it be that the Wood Spirit Clan’s flower spirit was really no ordinary being?

Thinking of this, she quietly used thunder-spirit power within her body to purify the wood-spirit power she was about to release, then carefully guided it to her palm and moved it toward the transparent flower bud hovering in midair.

Closer—

Even closer—

Gu Weiyu’s palm edged forward inch by inch.

The Peony Flower Lord standing nearby also could not help but hold her breath. The flower spirit had not rejected this human’s approach—could it really work this time?