Reincarnated as a Ginkgo Tree: I Create an Eternal Divine Kingdom - Chapter 15

Amid the lingering mist, the spirit beasts that had fought were all severely injured. The cavalry team from Nanjing City was indeed formidable. However, thanks to the healing properties of the ginkgo fruits, their wounds were quickly restored.

In the days that followed, Su Mu focused on hunting, steadily increasing his lifespan during the process.

Ten days later:

[Species: Spirit Ginkgo]

[Height: 170 feet]

[Lifespan: 1050 years]
[Rank: Second-Tier, Upper Grade]
[Abilities: Complete Spirit Infusion, Congeal Spirit Ginkgo Fruit, Innate Talent Duplication, Second-Tier Phantom Snow Eyes, First-Tier Heart of Faith, Second-Tier Power of the Mist]

“Finally, I’ve accumulated enough lifespan,” Su Mu thought with delight.

Without hesitation, he channeled 1000 years of lifespan into enhancing his Second-Tier Power of the Mist.

Whoosh!

The 1000 years of lifespan disappeared in an instant, and the Power of the Mist was upgraded from the second to the third tier.

Previously, the Second-Tier Power of the Mist could cover a radius of ten miles. Now, the Third-Tier Power of the Mist expanded its reach to twenty miles.

Moreover, just as Su Mu had anticipated, upon reaching the third rank, he felt a sense of relief as if some invisible pressure had vanished.

“I used to always sense a faint pressure, making me desperate to increase my strength every day,” Su Mu mused. “Now that feeling is finally gone. It seems that pressure was caused by Nanjing City’s Heavenly Pivot Spiritual Array.”

The Third-Tier Power of the Mist had indeed proven useful.

Additionally, his cultivation level had broken through:

[Species: Spirit Ginkgo]
[Height: 200 feet]
[Lifespan: 50 years]
[Rank: Second-Tier, Supreme grade]
[Abilities: Complete Spirit Infusion, Congeal Spirit Ginkgo Fruit, Innate Talent Duplication, Second Tier Phantom Snow Eyes, First Tier Heart of Faith, Third Tier Power of the Mist]

At the same time, his roots had also strengthened. The main root extended to a length of 180 feet, with the finest root tips reaching depths of 320 feet.

His root system had penetrated an underground water cave. As he had initially predicted, beneath the water cave, there was indeed an underground river, located 300 feet deep.

This underground river was of great significance to him, as it provided him with much more room for growth. Not only that, but he could also use this underground river to transform the environment around him.

Three miles from him, there was a spring, the same one where Su Yao and her friends used to play.

“Spirit beasts can’t thrive without a water source,” Su Mu thought.

This spring was too small for the spirit beasts, so Su Mu decided to channel the underground river’s water to the surface.

After three days of effort, the spring had been transformed into a small lake, covering an area of two miles.

The sight delighted the spirit beasts, who flocked to the lake to frolic. The White Spirit Python even leaped into the water, playing joyfully.

While Su Mu was busy improving himself, Wen Yuchao had already returned to Nanjing City with his cavalry team.

“Deputy General Wen, your contributions this time have been noted, and I will commend you to the imperial court,” Li Qianjue said.

Wen Yuchao, sitting opposite him, still had bandages on several parts of his body.

“I’m not too concerned about recognition,” Wen Yuchao replied seriously. “What’s more pressing now is that the Ancient Wilderness Mountain Range has indeed become extremely dangerous.”

The thought of the White Spirit Python and the Ironback Ape still sent chills down his spine.

Li Qianjue’s expression grew solemn. “Give me a detailed report of everything that happened.”

“The Heavenly Pivot Spiritual Array’s monitoring was accurate…” Wen Yuchao proceeded to recount his experiences in the Ancient Wilderness Mountain Range, leaving nothing out.

After listening, Li Qianjue pondered, “Indeed, it’s dangerous, but not beyond our control.”

“Should we deploy more troops to exterminate those spirit beasts?” Wen Yuchao asked.

“There’s no need for that,” Li Qianjue shook his head. “While the spirit beasts in the Ancient Wilderness Mountain Range are strong, the ones in other areas aren’t much weaker. If we tried to exterminate every spirit beast, we’d deplete our forces and suffer unbearable losses. For now, let’s mark the fog-covered area as the ‘Mist Forbidden Zone’ within the Ancient Wilderness Mountain Range and categorize it as a calamity-level zone.”

“Understood,” Wen Yuchao nodded.

Humans had five levels of categorization for forbidden zones: Disaster, Calamity, Catastrophe, Doom, and Divine Wrath. The highest level currently was Catastrophe. For example, in the eastern sea of Longzhou, there was a forbidden sea area feared even by top Foundation Establishment experts. That was a catastrophe-level zone.

As for doom-level and divine wrath-level zones, none had appeared so far. Generally speaking, disaster corresponded to the Qi Refining stage, calamity to Foundation Establishment, catastrophe to Golden Core, doom to Nascent Soul, and divine wrath to Divine Transformation.

By classifying the Mist Forbidden Zone as calamity-level, Li Qianjue was already showing considerable caution.

“Let’s set this matter aside for now,” Li Qianjue’s tone softened. “I didn’t expect you to bring back a cultivation genius this time.”

“It was sheer luck,” Wen Yuchao smiled. “No one could have imagined that a small mountain village would produce a rough gem like Su Yao.”

“Focus on cultivating Su Yao,” Li Qianjue instructed. “In this era of spiritual revival, those with high spiritual roots are strategic resources.”

Back in the Ancient Wilderness Mountain Range, Su Mu was unaware of Nanjing City’s classification of forbidden zones. After some consideration, he chose not to completely conceal his presence, keeping it at the same level as before. If his spiritual energy signature suddenly disappeared, it might arouse human suspicion.

Three more days passed.

“According to the information from Su Yao, Nanjing City has no plans to send anyone to investigate further,” Su Mu relaxed. “It seems the threat from Nanjing City has temporarily subsided.”

However, even though he was no longer afraid of Nanjing City, Su Mu understood that where there was one human city, there were likely others.

No matter how powerful he became, he couldn’t withstand the relentless assaults of humans. Moreover, the mysterious object Wen Yuchao carried last time made him wary.

Su Yao had subtly probed about that mysterious object and discovered it was a legendary “Magic Sword.”

“Talismans, magical artifacts, and formations,” Su Mu mused. “Humans are known for their ingenuity in using tools. In this regard, beasts are at a disadvantage.”

Additionally, Su Mu decided to control his spiritual energy signature to remain at the level of a supreme grade Second Tier.

“Su Yao told me that Nanjing City sent people to investigate because they detected spiritual energy levels in my area reaching 9,000 units,” Su Mu reflected. “But in reality, considering my cultivation level and the presence of so many spirit beasts, the actual spiritual energy levels far exceed 9,000 units.”

This indicated that the Power of the Mist had indeed been effective, though it couldn’t completely hide his presence from the Third Tier Heavenly Pivot Spiritual Array.

Given this, Su Mu chose not to fully conceal his energy. Hiding too much might seem suspicious.

In his spare time, Su Mu turned his attention to the spirit beasts around him—Snow Spirit Mink, White Spirit Python, Ironback Ape, and the Spirit Crows. Among them, the Snow Spirit Mink and Ironback Ape were at the First-Tier Supreme-grade, while the White Spirit Python and Spirit Crows were at the First-Tier Upper-grade.