"This little one will fully cooperate..."
The rogue cultivator quickly nodded in agreement. Then they watched as Xu Pingyang formed a series of hand seals and finally released a beam of white spiritual light that landed on the man.
Yao Hong immediately stepped forward and asked,
"You claim to have seen the Luo Clan's joint patrol team kill our mountain's disciple, Xu Cheng. Is this true?"
"It... it's true!"
The rogue cultivator answered hurriedly, his expression slightly pained. He then described everything he had witnessed that day in detail.
From beginning to end, the white light only flickered faintly, its color unwavering.
That meant he hadn't uttered a single lie.
But while the light remained unchanged, the expressions of several people in the hall certainly did not.
The Luo family and its allied clans all turned as pale as death.
They knew now that Xu Pingyang had personally intervened, there was no hope of downplaying or brushing the matter aside.
All their prior preparations and schemes were completely useless in the face of his authority.
Even if the one who had died was merely a worthless fourth-level Qi Refining disciple, it was now enough to force them to pay a bitter price!
"This man speaks the truth..."
Yao Hong's face flushed red. He dropped to his knees and kowtowed to Xu Pingyang.
"I beg the Alliance Leader to bring justice for Xu Cheng!"
Xu Pingyang withdrew his secret art and turned his sharp gaze to the Luo family patriarch.
"The testimony has been given. Do you have anything to say?"
The Luo family head stepped forward and bowed deeply.
"This was the result of those patrol members acting on their own. It does not reflect the stance of our family. We are willing to expel all involved from the clan and beg the Alliance Leader for leniency."
But Xu Pingyang only let out a cold snort. The pressure of his Foundation Establishment aura made the Luo patriarch nearly suffocate.
"Hmph! Our alliance rules clearly state that no one may strike down fellow members. You've broken that rule. Even if you expel the culprits now, it reeks of shirking responsibility."
"Everything will be handled according to the rules we agreed upon back then no exceptions. If any of you dare resist in the slightest, I will personally come to your mountain and see the execution through!"
With that, he stood up and swept out of the hall without another word.
What remained were the various mountain lords, their expressions mixed, still feeling the lingering pressure of that Foundation Establishment aura.
Li Ye glanced around.
Well… looks like there's no need for him to lend support after all.
…
"Tsk… I guess this little trip wasn't a waste after all."
Leaning against the Voidrealm Tree, Li Ye gazed off at the sky in the distance, lost in thought.
He had originally assumed that the Luo family patriarch came so openly because he had something up his sleeve.
What he hadn't expected was for Xu Pingyang who hadn't made a public appearance in ages to suddenly step in and personally handle the alliance's internal matter.
On the surface, it looked like he was standing up for Yao Hong. But in truth, it was a clear warning to the Luo family and their allies: stay in line.
Honestly, even if those clans had a Foundation Establishment expert of their own which they didn't they still would've had no choice but to bow their heads.
Afterward, as a newly joined junior cultivator of the alliance, Li Ye had also been summoned by Xu Pingyang along with a few others.
He'd used every method he could to conceal and suppress his body-refining cultivation level, though he couldn't be sure whether Xu Pingyang saw through it.
In the end, Xu Pingyang showed little interest in him merely confirming his skill in formation arts before dismissing him. No special attention, no rewards.
Plain and simple and that saved Li Ye a lot of trouble.
With that thought, a satisfied look appeared on his face.
"From now on, as long as none of these clans suddenly produce a Foundation Establishment cultivator, they'll be forced to behave for at least a few years. And that patrol team's disbandment is already a done deal..."
"As for that Blackwood Daoist business, the Luo clan likely won't have the energy to pursue it further..."
"Who would've thought it would end this way? In the face of inner conflict within the Mountain Alliance, the Blackwood Daoist and Luo Chai's grudge became irrelevant..."
"Yet again, a classic case of a Foundation Establishment cultivator merely showing up and making everyone fall in line."
"Of course, suppressing conflict like this will eventually lead to an explosion but until that time comes, this is still the most effective method."
"An environment like this… is just perfect for me to quietly continue my cultivation!"
.......
Time flows unnoticed in the mountains.
After the incident with the Luo Clan, the Chidi Mountains once again settled into a period of peace, and nothing further came to disturb Li Ye's cultivation.
The seasons came and went, and before long, a full year had quietly passed.
As usual, Li Ye made his way to the mountaintop, approaching the Voidrealm Tree.
But this time, there was a subtle change in his gaze.
Before he could even reach out to touch the tree, he suddenly felt his connection with it intensify significantly.
In a moment of dazed clarity, his consciousness seemed to rise and merge with the tree itself.
He witnessed how it had absorbed his blood essence and mysterious energies within his arm, breaking free from spatial suppression and regaining vitality.
He saw how it had been planted at the mountaintop, drawing power from the land and ambient spiritual energy, gradually merging with the domain and its formations.
He watched it grow, slowly but steadily, day by day becoming stronger.
As all this unfolded, lines of information began to flash rapidly across the interface in Li Ye's mind:
[You have nurtured the Tier-4 spiritual plant Jianmu Subspecies - Voidrealm Tree Sapling with blood-refining techniques, allowing it to complete two growth rings. EXP +500...] […] [Tier-4 spiritual plant Jianmu Subspecies - Voidrealm Tree Sapling has completed two growth cycles. You have obtained Void Realm Essence x1...] […] [Your bonded Tier-4 spiritual plant Jianmu Subspecies - Voidrealm Tree Sapling has grown further. Your understanding deepens, solidifying Spirit Essence +0.2%...] [Void Realm Essence solidified to 100%, transforming into the corresponding tag...] [Your skill Planting has received a Tier 1 Enhancement: [Tongtian]!]
[Tongtian]: One who connects with the heavens. Your resonance with the world deepens, and your spiritual root aptitude increases by one grade. Spiritual plants personally planted by you now have an extremely low chance of ascending to a higher tier in essence. […] Huh?!
Snapping back from the surreal, tree-merged insight, Li Ye could distinctly feel the heightened sensitivity between himself and the surrounding spiritual energy.
And when he read through the information again, his heart shook violently before being overtaken by a wave of joy.
So the vague sense he'd had ever since obtaining the Spirit Essence notification... was real!
The tag granted by the Voidrealm Tree had indeed deepened his connection with the world, enhancing his spiritual root aptitude!
The issue that had troubled him the most all this time his spiritual root quality had just been solved, just like that?!
Li Ye took a long, deep breath as his excitement slowly gave way to calm clarity.
He gently placed his hand on the Voidrealm Tree, feeling the bond between them, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
"Who would've thought... I was simply being cautious, fleeing to another land, and somehow stumbled upon a chance like this..."
"If it weren't for you, I never would've known that spiritual plants could grant tags that directly benefit me. As expected of a divine tree subspecies its mysteries truly defy imagination."
According to the system panel, the Voidrealm Tree was a subspecies of the Jianmu.
The greatest divine trait of the Jianmu itself was the ability to connect mortals to the heavens, paving a path to the Immortal Realm.
So, as a tree species that inherited some of Jianmu's divine traits, it wasn't too surprising that the Voidrealm Tree could grant such a tag.
Being able to elevate the essence tier of spiritual plants out of nowhere... was an almost unfathomable power.
Even if the probability was extremely low, and only applied to plants personally planted not just nurtured it was still an incomparably rare and wondrous ability!
As thoughts swirled in his mind, Li Ye took a deep breath and opened his system panel.
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