61: Top grade wood root

Lin Yan walked to the edge of the field and sat cross-legged under the Azure Blade Willow.

He vaguely felt that the Azure Blade Fairy's Dao field had an inexplicable connection with the Azure Blade Willow he had cultivated.

Spiritual power flowed at his fingertips, and Lin Yan took the ten thousand year willow heartwood from his Storage Pouch.

In an instant, an extremely dense, emerald-green light burst forth.

Like a spring stream breaking through ice, or an ancient tree sprouting new buds, thousands of tiny willow leaf patterns could be faintly seen flowing within the emerald light, each one seemingly containing the wood essence from when the world first opened.

The light was not dazzling, but carried a gentle warmth that calmed the mind, as if it could seep directly into the depths of his Soul.

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately activated the Azure Wood Technique, his pores suddenly opening, hungrily absorbing the surrounding wood essence.

At the same time, he carefully held the ten thousand year willow heartwood in his palm.

The dense wood essence was slowly drawn out from the Willow Heartwood, like liquid jade, flowing from his palm into his Meridians.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…"

Every strand of wood essence transformed into a warm, emerald torrent, surging into every part of his body.

Lin Yan felt a surge deep within his body; his originally dormant Wood Spiritual Root trembled violently, as if awakened by an invisible force, and began to crazily devour the pure wood essence!

Both in quantity and quality, this wood essence far exceeded the Millennial Ginseng.

The two were fundamentally different.

In his Meridians, the emerald light flowed ceaselessly. Wherever it passed, his originally slightly dim Wood Spiritual Root became condensed and vibrant at a visible speed, like a withered branch watered by spring rain.

It could be clearly seen that the Wood Spiritual Root started from the Dantian and extended to every inch of flesh, blood, and bone in his body, intertwined like roots and hair.

At this moment, every root was stretching and expanding, and the original Medium Grade Aptitude boundary began to loosen, as if an invisible shackle was being pushed open bit by bit by this majestic wood essence.

"Now is the time!"

Lin Yan gritted his teeth and suddenly accelerated the speed of his Cultivation Technique, guiding all the wood essence from the Willow Heartwood to gather towards the Wood Spiritual Root within his body.

Fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead, and the clothes on his back were soaked with sweat, but his eyes grew increasingly determined.

"Boom!"

At one moment, a muffled sound came from his Dantian, as if something had been completely broken open.

Lin Yan clearly felt his internal Wood Spiritual Root tremble suddenly.

A green light started from the Dantian like lightning, spreading throughout his body along the Wood Spiritual Root.

The intertwined Wood Spiritual Root fibers became more condensed and thick.

The original Medium Grade Aptitude barrier shattered, replaced by a more pure spiritual power fluctuation!

High Grade Wood Spiritual Root!

He opened his eyes abruptly, a flash of emerald light passing through his pupils.

The Azure Blade Willow beside him also seemed to be nourished; the edges of every leaf shimmered with light, and the willow branches grew by several inches, visible to the naked eye!

"Success…" Lin Yan slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, the corners of his mouth lifting involuntarily.

He could clearly feel that not only had the quality of his Wood Spiritual Root improved.

The total amount of spiritual power had also nearly doubled, and when operating his Cultivation Technique, it was smoother and more natural, as if there was an extra rushing river of spiritual power in his body.

This was the most intuitive benefit of improving one's Spiritual Root.

Cultivation speed was faster, and at the same Realm, spiritual power was more abundant and more condensed.

When fighting in the same Realm, those with higher quality Spiritual Roots had a much higher win rate.

Besides that, the improvement of the Spiritual Root would increase affinity with the corresponding attribute.

Cultivating related Cultivation Techniques and secret arts, and even comprehending the Dao in the future, would also be easier.

He looked down at his palm.

The wood essence of the ten thousand year willow heartwood had been completely absorbed by him, and it had lost its original green luster, resembling a piece of transparent green glazed glass.

It could be clearly seen that in the center of the green glass, there was a small phantom of a willow leaf, emitting a faint aura of spiritual rhyme.

From the moment he obtained the Willow Heartwood, he felt that this Willow Heartwood still contained an aura of life.

"Perhaps the answer lies with this Azure Blade Willow."

With this thought, Lin Yan, as if driven by some supernatural force, placed the Willow Heartwood in his hand onto the main trunk of the Azure Blade Willow.

The moment the two touched, the ten thousand year willow heartwood turned into a ball of spiritual light and instantly merged into the trunk of the Azure Blade Willow!

"Crack…"

In an instant, the entire Azure Blade Willow shook violently!

It was as if an electric current was coursing through the veins under the bark.

The sharp leaves curled slightly, then quickly unfurled, the silver light on their edges becoming even more brilliant, like the cold gleam of a divine weapon or sharp blade.

The spiritual rhyme within the Willow Heartwood seeped into every inch of the trunk's wood like spring rain.

Wherever it passed, the originally ordinary wood grain rapidly transformed, revealing fine willow leaf patterns.

Every pattern seemed to contain the trajectory of a sword edge.

As the Willow Heartwood merged, a layer of hazy spiritual rhyme gradually appeared on the Azure Blade Willow's trunk!

That spiritual rhyme was elusive, like mist and gauze, yet it made the surrounding air become ethereal.

Lin Yan widened his eyes, seeing the branches of the Azure Blade Willow growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Each of its branches became longer and tougher, the leaves like carved green jade, and the sharpness of their edges becoming increasingly fierce.

As the branches and leaves swayed, they faintly emitted a "Zheng-Zheng" sound of sword chiming!

"This is… Sword Intent spiritual rhyme?!"

Lin Yan had just refined a Sword Grass.

The core of the Sword Grass was that very Sword Intent spiritual rhyme.

At this moment, Lin Yan sensed a similar fluctuation on the Azure Blade Willow, but it was somewhat different.

"No… this layer of spiritual rhyme on the Azure Blade Willow is fainter and not as solid as the spiritual rhyme of the Sword Grass."

"But this layer of spiritual rhyme on the Azure Blade Willow is more vast, as deep and unfathomable as mountains and seas!"

"This should be a higher-level Sword Dao spiritual rhyme!"

Lin Yan was no longer the novice who knew nothing about Sword Dao.

The essence of cultivating immortality was comprehending the Dao, and comprehending the Dao was divided into different Realms.

Sword Intent was merely the lowest Realm of Sword Dao.

Although this spiritual rhyme of the Azure Blade Willow was faint, its level was clearly higher than that of the Sword Grass!

As for how much higher, Lin Yan did not know.

He subconsciously activated the Azure Wood Technique, urging his spiritual power to wrap around the branches of the Azure Blade Willow.

The moment his spiritual power touched the willow tree, that layer of dao-rhyme lit up slightly.

Strands of green light points drifted down from the branches and leaves of the Azure Blade Willow.

The moment those light points touched Lin Yan, they transformed into strands of cool air, washing over his Sword Dao insights like a clear spring!

Lin Yan shuddered, and his mind suddenly cleared.

He seemed to see a female Sword Immortal standing with a sword.

With one strike from that female Sword Immortal, vegetation flourished, the sword edge cut through the air with a biting chill, and the two dao-rhymes of Wood and Sword intertwined and merged!

But she seemed to have encountered some terrifyingly powerful enemy; her long sword turned to dust in the fierce battle, and all dao-rhymes were annihilated.

In the end, she fell amidst a sea of blood.

The enemy was too terrifying, completely erasing the dao-rhymes she had cultivated from the world, as if wanting to cut weeds and eliminate roots, leaving no trace of life.

Death of the body and dissipation of the Dao!

This was the first time Lin Yan deeply understood the meaning of this phrase.

"Was that the Azure Blade Fairy? Who was her opponent? What exactly happened back then?" Lin Yan's mind was in turmoil.

The more information he gained, the more questions he had.