“Do you believe that trees with enough age will gain sentience?”
He Xiuyuan looked at Tiewa when he heard this, and asked him.
Tiewa scratched his head, “It should be sentient, right? Otherwise, that person in the village earlier wouldn’t have been crushed to death by that tree so coincidentally.”
He didn’t know much, but since everyone in the village said so, he believed it too.
He Xiuyuan nodded upon hearing this, then waved to him, signaling him to continue leading the way.
Seeing this, Tiewa dared not delay and walked ahead, continuing to lead He Xiuyuan deeper into the mountains.
Soon, Tiewa stopped in a patch of woods, then pointed forward, “Sir, we were cutting trees in that area before. I was here, and Brother Liu was over there.”
There were still some tree trunks here, and the fresh marks of recent felling could be clearly seen.
He Xiuyuan looked ahead for a few moments, and his gaze quickly fixed on one of the large trees.
The trunk of that large tree was still somewhat scorched, and there were some axe marks on it.
He Xiuyuan looked closely and saw the same black Qi on this tree, identical to the one on the big man’s body.
“It truly is… a tree demon with some Dao cultivation.”
He Xiuyuan suddenly realized this, and upon sensing the faint Qi on this tree, it seemed to have been struck by a heavenly lightning bolt not long ago.
“Was this the tree that Brother Liu cut?”
He Xiuyuan looked carefully for a few moments, then asked Tiewa.
Tiewa looked closely and nodded with certainty, saying, “It was this tree. When we came, there were still scorch marks on it. Brother Liu said this tree must have been struck dead by lightning, so he wanted to cut it down and sell it.”
“It’s just that, for some reason, after chopping for a long time, only half a branch came down.”
“This tree was too difficult to cut, so Brother Liu switched to another tree and didn’t continue chopping this one.”
He Xiuyuan nodded upon hearing this. If that was the case, then it was correct.
“You stand here and don’t move. No matter what you see later, don’t be afraid.”
He Xiuyuan instructed Tiewa, then stepped forward and walked towards the tree.
“Mortals of the Mortal Realm do not understand Cultivation and have inadvertently harmed Your Excellency’s Cultivation. I am a wandering Cultivator and wish to act as a mediator. What is Your Excellency’s opinion?”
He Xiuyuan stood before the old tree and spoke softly.
After he spoke, the old tree in front of him remained unresponsive.
He Xiuyuan frowned at this, then with a shake of his hand, transformed his brush into a whisk, which then shimmered with Spiritual Qi.
Upon sensing this, the entire tree’s branches began to sway.
It seemed it understood a bit of human speech.
He Xiuyuan, seeing this, flicked the whisk in his hand, letting it rest on his arm.
“Mortals are ignorant and have harmed your Cultivation. I will have them come and apologize to you. Then, you can decide how to compensate for the loss of your Dao cultivation. What do you think?”
He Xiuyuan, seeing this, continued to speak.
The tree in front of him swayed again at this moment, but without any sound, He Xiuyuan did not know what it was saying.
This tree had some Dao cultivation, but it had not yet Cultivated to the Realm where it could speak human language.
Seeing this, He Xiuyuan could only reach out and calculate with his fingers what the old tree meant at this moment.
“You want me to help you Cultivate?”
After He Xiuyuan finished calculating with his fingers, his brows instantly furrowed. “This condition is not acceptable. Propose another.”
Rustle…
The tree swayed its branches, expressing its meaning again.
However, after He Xiuyuan finished calculating, he shook his head repeatedly, “This method is also not acceptable.”
“No, no, you must propose another one!”
He Xiuyuan held the whisk, listening to the various demands the other party made, feeling a great headache.
This fellow’s demands were one more outrageous than the last, making He Xiuyuan’s brows furrow tightly.
And the tree in front of him kept trying, as if it had many demands, constantly putting them forward.
Tiewa, standing by, watched in a daze.
He had initially thought He Xiuyuan was talking to himself, but what he hadn’t expected was that when He Xiuyuan spoke, the tree was clearly responding.
There was clearly no wind around, but the tree’s branches moved on their own.
Every time He Xiuyuan finished speaking, the other party would sway its branches…
What the old people in the village said was indeed true; these old trees had all become spirits.
This Fortune Teller is also amazing. Such methods are almost on par with an Immortal, aren’t they?
“None of your conditions are acceptable. If you don’t propose a proper condition, I think we have nothing more to discuss.”
He Xiuyuan looked at the old tree, frowning as he spoke.
Talking with this fellow for so long, the sky in the distance was already growing dim. If he continued to talk with him, it was likely that there would be no result even after dark.
Seeing this, He Xiuyuan could only resort to tough talk.
“That Mortal harmed your Dao cultivation, and you also took half of his life. With that half-life given to you, I will find some Spirit Medicine to extend his life. In this way, you and he will be even. How does that sound?”
This fellow had been proposing for a long time, and all his demands were extremely outrageous, so how could He Xiuyuan agree?
And seeing the other party’s appearance, it seemed he was not ready to give up.
He Xiuyuan, after speaking, turned and made to leave.
The old tree immediately became anxious upon hearing He Xiuyuan’s words. It had indeed suffered some damage to its Dao cultivation from the other party, but it wasn't very severe.
However, its Cultivation was inexplicably harmed by someone, so the old tree naturally harbored resentment and thus acted against that Mortal, and quite heavily at that.
Now that He Xiuyuan had appeared, it recognized He Xiuyuan’s extraordinary nature and naturally wanted to climb the ladder.
However, He Xiuyuan did not agree to any of the conditions it proposed.
Thinking of this, the tree quickly shook its canopy, wanting to keep He Xiuyuan.
He Xiuyuan stopped and turned to look at the old tree.
Seeing this, the old tree quickly shook its canopy again, and this time, the demand it proposed was much simpler.
“You still have some heavenly lightning within your body, and you want me to help remove it?”
He Xiuyuan calculated with his fingers and understood the old tree’s meaning.
The old tree quickly shook its canopy upon hearing this.
Since it couldn’t ask He Xiuyuan to do other things, it could only ask He Xiuyuan for help in removing the heavenly lightning from its body.
He Xiuyuan did not refuse this time, “After removing the heavenly lightning from your body, your grievances with him will be completely settled.”
He Xiuyuan spoke these words with a serious expression.
The old tree swayed its branches in agreement.
He Xiuyuan nodded at this, reached out, and pressed his hand on the old tree’s trunk, feeling the residual heavenly lightning still wreaking havoc within the old tree’s body.
Seeing this, He Xiuyuan used the Commanding Law to extract this trace of heavenly lightning.
The next moment, a burst of lightning erupted from He Xiuyuan’s hand, its purplish-blue light casting his face in flickering shadows.
The crackling sound of thunder made one’s hair stand on end.