Stranger Danger-Chapter 1782: Five Phases Celestial Vine

“The master of the Hundred Grass Shennong Heaven is Dao Lord Shennong. It is a Heaven that focuses on growing spirit herbs, spirit flowers, and spirit plants in general. There were 3.6 million spirit grass, 1.08 million spirit flowers, 720 thousand spirit herbs, and 360 thousand spirit plants of other types. Finally, there are 12 divine herbs in total.”

That was what Elder Furnace said, but in his memories,the Hundred Grass Shennong Heaven used to be filled with refined spiritual qi and vigorous vitality. The spirit fields and blessed lands were neatly separated and well organized, spirit herbs and spirit plants were grown in separate places and regions depending on their types, and specific spirit beasts, celestials and gods kept watch over the plants and sorted out the ambient energies from time to time. It was never so chaotic and unkept that useless plants were growing everywhere. He could also tell that the ambient energies, while vigorous, were an utter mess.

This was why he sounded unsure when he said that they were at the Hundred Grass Shennong Heaven.

But of course, a lot of time had passed since the last time he checked out the Hundred Grass Shennong Heaven. The ancient Divine Court had perished, and even the Profound Furnace Spirit Weapons Heaven had passed away. How could another Heaven possibly avoid the same fate?

After observing their surroundings closely for a while longer, the remnant spirit finally saw a shadow of the former Hundred Grass Shennong Heaven.

“You were talking about twelve divine herbs, Elder Furnace? Can you locate it?” Ye Qing asked with glinting eyes. Most of the plants the remnant spirit mentioned were numbered by thousands or even millions, but there were only twelve divine herbs in total. It was obvious that the divine herbs were extraordinary!

“Oh yeah, now that you mentioned it, there is a Five Phases Celestial Vine among the twelve divine herbs. The Five Phases Celestial Vine is a natural spirit root that bears fruit once every one thousand years, and only five fruits at a time. Each fruit corresponds to each element of the Five Phases.”

Elder Furnace suddenly recalled something and said excitedly, “The fruits are named the Five Phases Celestial Fruits. Born with the natural power of the Five Phases, each fruit is extraordinary in their own way. They also make excellent spirit materials when forging a divine weapon or treasure of the Five Phases. I’m sure they will be great nourishment for the Earthly Sovereign Bell.”

Elder Furnace flew into the sky and observed his surroundings for a moment. Then, he dropped back down to the ground and pointed at a certain direction, declaring, “There! The Five Phases Celestial Vine is down that direction! Follow me!”

Elder Furnace took off toward the distance before Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou could say anything. The duo exchanged wordless glances with each other before chasing after the remnant spirit.

It wasn’t like there was anything else they could do.

As they followed the remnant spirit, they did not forget to search for traces of White Robe Demon Master.

Although the Hundred Grass Shennong Heaven was overflowing with life, its energies were extremely chaotic and filthy. The plants might look fantastically beautiful, but they were also exceedingly dangerous.

Man-eating flowers, poisonous mushrooms, and bloodthirsty vines were just the beginning.

But of course, the worst these plants could do to Ye Qing and Feng Qingyou was to scratch an itch. Not a single one could hurt them in any way.

About a teatime later, a gigantic vine entered their view.

The vine was so big it looked like a mountain range. It spanned hundreds, maybe even thousands of kilometers across the ground and looked mighty impressive.

“There’s no mistake. This is the Five Phases Celestial Vine!” Elder Furnace declared excitedly while staring at the gigantic vine.

“Where are the Five Phases Celestial Fruits though?” Ye Qing asked.

Neither he nor Feng Qingyou saw anything that resembled a fruit. However, they saw five extraordinary objects.

To the east, a massive, lively tree sporting emerald green leaves and rich cyan light was standing tall on the vine. One could vaguely see a cyan dragon flying between the branches and sprinkling cyan sparks that caused flowers to bloom, and plants to become even more vibrant than before.

To the west, a sword was hovering above the vine. When the wind blew, the sword shook a little before suddenly unleashing a rainbow of sword qi. A white tiger’s roar deafened the ears as it severed the wind, divided the rain, shook the stars, and fell the sun.

To the south, a live volcano was spewing fire and lava and dyeing the sky red. A vermillion bird was dancing and screeching amidst the flames and generating heat waves that blotted out the sun and the moon.

To the north, a dark river flowed ceaselessly from one end to another. It was ice cold and humid. A black tortoise could be vaguely seen swimming in the river and stirring up waves from time to time.

At the center, a mountain range several kilometers tall and dozens of kilometers wide sat. It looked vast, thick, and heavy, and it was covered in layers upon layers of dark yellow light. A qilin could be seen trekking across the mountain range and filling the sky with profound and mysterious light.

“They’re right there. Can’t you see them?” asked Elder Furnace while pointing at the tree, sword, volcano, river and mountain range.

“You call those fruits?” Ye Qing rubbed his nose. It was true that he sensed rich, pure energies and air of Dao of the Five Phases from the five objects, but what part of them was related to a fruit in any way?

Elder Furnace said disapprovingly, “You don’t understand. The Great Ways are innumerable, and the energies are endless. In a world where anything is possible, why would you let your so-called common sense to lead you by the nose?”

“Sure, the five Five Phases Celestial Fruits looked just like ordinary fruits when they first appeared, but after thousands of years of growth and refinement, they have shedded their original shells and grown much closer to their roots. That is why they had all transformed into a corresponding object of the Five Phases.”

“To give an example, a Five Phases Celestial Fruit of Metal would generally transform into a saber, spear, sword or halberd; a Five Phases Celestial Fruit of Wood would transform into a flower, grass, or tree, a Five Phases Celestial Fruit of Water would transform into a river, lake or sea, so on and so forth.”

There was a noticeable increase in Elder Furnace’s excitement as he continued, “These five Five Phases Celestial Fruits are even more extraordinary than expected though.”

“Usually, a Five Phases Celestial Fruit that has matured for over a thousand years would transform into a generic object of the Five Phases at most. However, these five fruits have manifested the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermillion Bird, Black Tortoise, and Qilin. It takes at least ten thousand years and an endless supply of Five Phases’ energies and spirit to create such a miracle!”

“Also, did you see how natural and spiritual the five spirits act? Such level of completion is rare even during the golden age of the Divine Court.”

“Anyway, there’s no sense in waiting any longer. Let us harvest them for the Earthly Sovereign Bell right away!”

“Wait!” It was at this moment Feng Qingyou stopped Elder Furnace.

“What is it?” Elder Furnace asked with clear impatience.

Feng Qingyou pointed at the soil underneath the Five Phases Celestial Vine. “Look over there.”

Ye Qing and Elder Furnace looked. They immediately noticed massive piles of bones underneath the soil. There were even several intact corpses in other places.

The corpses looked nothing like your ordinary human being. After all, an ordinary human being could not be tens of meters tall. This was the unique characteristic of an ancient celestial citizen. All ancient celestial citizens possessed the bloodline of a god, demon, or Stranger. That was why they were all tall, massive, and muscular.

These corpses looked shriveled and withered though. It as clear that their flesh, blood, and spirit had been completely devoured. Only an empty husk remained behind.

Even so, Ye Qing could sense tremendous pressure from the empty husks.

“There are more corpses over there.”

The group spotted more corpses when they moved a little closer to the Five Phases Celestial Vine.

“They... they’re the Priests of Herb!”

Elder Furnace exclaimed in astonishment when he recognized the corpses. “The Priests of Herb are responsible for managing the spirit herbs and spirit plants of the Hundred Grass Shennong Heaven. Why are they dead?”

Feng Qingyou said indifferently, “Isn’t it obvious? Because the Five Phases Celestial Vine killed them.”

Elder Furnace looked stunned. “The Five Phases Celestial Vine is a natural spirit root who feeds on energies of the Five Phases. Why would it take another life?”