Yuantian Pidao

Chapter 317 Statue of the God of Spring
On Thousand Vine Mountain, the giant bowed his head, as if worshipping a deity, and a silent solemnity filled the air.

"Is this a win?"

Seeing that Qingmu Lei had completely lost the ability to resist and was oblivious to his own death, Qinghua Niangniang was at a loss for words.

She had prepared for a fierce battle, even ready to burn her bloodline to forcibly restore her strength and buy time for Jiang Chen to seize the treasure of the Qingmu family. However, she did not expect that Jiang Chen would suppress Qingmu Lei, whose strength had obviously increased, so easily.

With a single claw and a finger, the seemingly invincible Aoki Lei was completely rendered powerless to resist in her eyes.

"Guard the surrounding area and don't let anyone get close."

Leaving behind a message, Jiang Chen, his dragon form moving freely, directly entered the Thousand Vine Mountain.

With Aoki Lei completely suppressed, the vines that had once covered Thousand Vine Mountain and were now baring their fangs and claws all lost their reaction, as if they had lost their supernatural powers and returned to normal.

Hearing this, and watching Jiang Chen land, Qinghua Niangniang took a deep breath and said nothing. She silently surveyed the surroundings to protect Jiang Chen and prevent anyone from intruding and interfering with his looting.

As she spent more and more time with Jiang Chen, Lady Qinghua felt that he was unfathomable, which unconsciously changed her attitude towards him.

At the same time, the dragon's body shrank and transformed into human form, and Jiang Chen came to stand in front of Qing Mulei.

"His consciousness has collapsed, his soul has shattered, yet he remains immortal. Aoki Lei's current state is truly bizarre."

Using his divine sense to carefully examine Qingmu Lei, Jiang Chen's eyes flashed with an unusual light.

By absorbing the life force and cultivation of fellow cultivators through the Green Wood Life-Stealing Technique, Green Wood Lei was able to heal his injuries and even increase his strength. However, his soul became chaotic and impure as a result, and instead of becoming stronger, it became more fragile.

It was precisely because of this that he was utterly vulnerable when facing Jiang Chen's golden soul body, his consciousness dissipating and his soul shattering.

The only strange thing is that even though he was seriously injured, he did not actually die. Such injuries would have been fatal to a normal person, and there is no reason why he could escape unscathed.

"Neither alive nor dead, we don't know what secrets Aoki Lei holds."

With his hand outstretched, Jiang Chen activated his Soul Illumination Technique to directly search Qing Mu Lei's soul.

With a hum, the mystery of the soul began to unfold, and Jiang Chen continued to explore Qing Mu Lei's secrets.

After a moment, Jiang Chen let out a long breath and slowly opened his eyes. At this moment, a rare look of fatigue appeared between his brows and eyes, something he hadn't shown when he suppressed Qing Mu Lei.

“Searching the soul of a Foundation Establishment cultivator is not so easy, especially since this Foundation Establishment cultivator is a madman.”

“Using forbidden techniques and sacrificing the lives of his entire clan to aid his own cultivation, Qingmu Lei has gone mad. Fortunately, he arrived not too late, and he has not completely fallen into demonic possession; there is still some clarity deep within his soul.”

Shaking his head, Jiang Chen finally gained some understanding of Qing Mu Lei's current changes through soul searching. The root cause was three-tenths of the Qing Mu family's cultivation technique, the Thousand Vine Binding Spirit Scripture, three-tenths of the companion spirit plant, the Jade Bone Vine, cultivated by Qing Mu Lei, and four-tenths of a fortuitous encounter.

"Although Qingmu Lei is still alive, it is almost impossible for him to recover in his condition. It would be an exaggeration to say that he is dead. He is now a true vegetable, without thoughts or movement, and can only take root on Thousand Vine Mountain like a spiritual plant."

With these thoughts in mind, Jiang Chen gained a clearer understanding of Qingmu Lei's condition.

"Life and death coexist, which is an extremely rare change. The most precious thing about Aoki Lei's current situation is that fortuitous chance. It would be a real pity to erase it."

After a moment's thought, Jiang Chen ultimately decided not to completely extinguish Qing Mu Lei's life force. Rooted in Thousand Vine Mountain, Qing Mu Lei's vitality was extremely tenacious, but in his current state, killing him wouldn't be difficult for Jiang Chen; he could simply uproot him. However, his transformation was truly rare, and Jiang Chen considered keeping him alive for the time being.

With this thought in mind, Jiang Chen didn't linger and entered the core area of ​​the Qingmu family.

At this moment, only half of the Aoki family members remained alive, so naturally no one could stop Jiang Chen. As Jiang Chen walked along, he took all of the Aoki family's treasures into his possession.

"found it."

After breaking through numerous restrictions and spending some time, Jiang Chen opened the treasure vault of the Qingmu family.

"The Aoki family truly lives up to its reputation as a long-standing power; in terms of foundation, it is far stronger than Crocodile Abyss and Aoki."

A gleam of inspiration shone through him as he gazed at the dazzling array of treasures before him, and Jiang Chen's face was filled with smiles.

With a long-standing tradition and expertise in the art of cultivating spiritual plants, the Qingmu family has accumulated a considerable number of treasures. Not to mention anything else, they possess six kinds of second-tier spiritual herbs alone, which is truly rare.

“They are all good things.”

With a wave of his sleeve, Jiang Chen took away all the treasures in the vault.

After doing all this, Jiang Chen did not leave, but instead turned his gaze to a blank stone wall.

This stone wall was ordinary, and even when his divine sense swept over it, there was nothing unusual about it. However, after searching Qingmu Lei's soul, Jiang Chen knew that the true secret of the Qingmu family was behind this stone wall, and the treasures outside were, to some extent, just a cover.

"open!"

With his hands forming a hand seal, Jiang Chen walked towards the stone wall.

The next instant, the stone wall rippled like water, allowing Jiang Chen to pass through easily.

It was at this moment that a new stone cave appeared in front of Jiang Chen. Compared to the previous treasure vault, this stone cave was not luxurious at all, and there were no treasures to adorn it. There was only an ancient altar.

On the altar was an ancient wooden sculpture, human-shaped with four arms, hands clasped together and hands outstretched, face blurred, and exuding a mysterious aura.

"Is this the Spring God from Aoki Lei's memories? Its aura is very strange, somewhat similar to the Golden and Silver Qi-Inducing Technique, and there is a good chance that it is the so-called incense smoke. Could it be that the Aoki family or the Yue people once really worshipped a deity?"

As his gaze fell upon the wooden sculpture, various thoughts flashed through Jiang Chen's mind.

In Aoki Lei's memory, he learned of the existence of the Spring God. According to the records passed down in the Aoki family, in the past, the Shanyue people once worshipped a deity called the Spring God. It was with the protection of this deity that the Shanyue people were able to take root and grow strong in the mountains.

However, one day later, this Spring God suddenly lost contact, and the once powerful Yue people split and declined.

"First the Golden Toad, then the God of Spring. It seems that there are indeed gods in this world, but they have all disappeared now. There may be some kind of secret behind this."

As the thought crossed his mind, Jiang Chen's gaze fell on the two outstretched palms of the Spring God Wood Carving, each palm holding a Daoist book.

(End of this chapter)