Big Data Cultivation-Chapter 1281 Cypress Slope

Although Master Yuan was quite happy and reluctant, he had to admit that Feng Jun was right.

"Yes, yes, moderation is key. Thirty years ago, a demon beast rampaged through here for revenge. You can’t take things too far. At that time, only the Wen Family barely held on, and over ten thousand miles were swept, with nine Outdust Masters lost."

Nine Outdust Masters are really a lot. This is the edge of the Bewildering Soul Forest, where the density of Outdust Masters is higher because everyone relies on their skills to survive; if their abilities are slightly lacking, they will be devoured, leaving no bones behind.

Nine Outdust Masters... what does that mean? At Qiuchen Market where Feng Jun is, there are only more than twenty Outdust Masters, and the Taiqing Sect that Kong Ziyi hails from does not exceed four hundred.

It’s equivalent to directly destroying half of Qiuchen Market. Golden Core Demon Beasts are indeed extraordinary.

Then he looked at Kong Ziyi and smilingly asked, "So where are we going next? You just need to tell me the location."

Why emphasize location? Because Kong Ziyi was unwilling to traverse the Bewildering Soul Forest.

Although recent battle results were good, she vividly remembered the scene with hunting bees, strongly rejecting the idea of traversing the forest. The recent so-called travels were all conducted flying above the treetops.

Because they were flying on the treetops, they were spotted by many, with some tails sneaking behind them, wanting to see what these reckless masters intended to do.

Many knew that the head of this group was an Intermediate Level Outdust from Taiqing, but people thought like this—as mighty as Taiqing’s Intermediate Level Outdust is, you can’t eat meat without letting us sip some soup.

Even Kong Ziyi had no way to deal with these people—since people were just following harmlessly, could she kill them all?

So she could only look at Feng Jun, "Where to go next?"

Feng Jun thought for a moment before speaking, "Is there a forest where cypress and locust trees intertwine on the edge of Songhai Forest?"

This is where the Yin Spirits treasure is hidden. Previously, it was inappropriate to mention it, but now it can finally be discussed.

"There is indeed such a forest," Master Yuan nodded, but his expression was a bit odd, "However... that place is claimed. I wonder what Mountain Master Feng intends to do there?"

"Claimed?" Feng Jun was suddenly surprised, "There is actually a claimed place in the Bewildering Soul Forest?"

"That land was conquered by the Wen Family," Master Yuan spoke solemnly, "It’s a long story..."

Originally, the place called Cypress Slope housed some scattered spirit beasts, but eighty years ago, a cypress tree turned into a spirit and began wildly enlightening its kin, turning the place into a forbidden area for spirit beasts and humans.

Soon after, a locust tree also transformed, and the two different species of trees started to battle.

Back then, someone suggested that something seemed off. Later, Wen Family took it seriously and secretly sent cultivators there, astonished to find that the place started condensing the Energy of Wooden Fiends.

As luck would have it, the Wen Family’s main cultivation technique was the wood element, so they invited people from all directions to support them. After a brutal battle, they eliminated the cypress and locust spirits.

Then the Wen Family naturally took over the area, nobly stating "We cannot let the tree demons develop."

Many cultivators envied this arrangement, but the Wen Family boldly declared that they not only conquered the area but also planned to station there. Anyone dissatisfied could buy ownership of the land with Spirit Stones, and the Wen Family promised to withdraw.

No matter if they intended to withdraw sincerely, if the Wen Family abandoned the site, no one dared to station there—the Energy of Wooden Fiends was indeed good, but few cultivators could utilize it, while it strongly attracted trees.

This meant that if the Wen Family did not occupy the place, eventually, the tree spirits would reappear.

Under such circumstances, naturally no one opposed it, and the Wen Family agreed to open the Land of the Wood Fiend for cultivation by other cultivators in need—of course, they charged fees, but the access was already something.

Both spirit beasts and wild beasts were unwilling to let humans devour such a large area, but the tree spirits posed a significant threat to the spirit beasts, so after several sieges, they gave up reclaiming the land.

The Wen Family went all out, spending blood money to commission a formation capable of defending against Golden Core Masters to protect this area.

Since then, the Wen Family’s Outdust Masters continuously emerged in succession; at its peak, there were thirteen Outdust Masters. This gamble paid off well.

Thirty years ago, demon beasts rampaged, intending to destroy the Wen Family’s stronghold, but the Wen Family relied on the defensive formation to fight to the death without retreating. Additionally, there were external cultivators trapped inside, who joined forces, ultimately succeeding in repelling the demon beasts.

However, in this battle, the Wen Family also suffered heavy casualties, and even the Land of the Wood Fiend was almost destroyed by the demon beasts.

After the war, the Land of the Wood Fiend began to slowly recover, but to this day, it hasn’t restored to even half of its original state.

The current Wen Family is more like a human settlement within the Bewildering Soul Forest. Besides the Wen family’s members and those cultivators who utilize the energy of wooden fiends for cultivation, there are also many adventurers resting and trading here.

Currently, the Wen Family has five Outland Masters. Although three of them are quite old, the Wen Family also has two patrons in the Outland phase, making the seven masters still a formidable force.

"The Land of the Wood Fiend," Kong Ziyi tilted her head and glanced at Feng Jun, feeling that he was probably targeting this place, so she asked, "Sounds somewhat interesting?"

Feng Jun blinked and hesitated for a moment before nodding, "This Land of the Wood Fiend... what does it have to do with the Earth Vein Technique?"

"It’s considered a minor branch of the Earth Vein Technique," Kong Ziyi glanced at Yuan Shangren, "This Land of the Wood Fiend... was this defensive formation built by the sages of Taiqing?"

Yuan Shangren shook his head and replied with a smile, "How could the Wen Family afford a master from Taiqing? If I remember correctly, it was someone invited from Guanquan Valley. However, Taiqing did send two masters to examine the Land of Wood Fiend, and there seemed to be some unpleasantness with the Wen Family."

Kong Ziyi raised her eyebrows and asked in surprise, "Unpleasantness? What happened then?"

"Nothing much, when they left, the Wen Family didn’t see them off," Yuan Shangren answered casually, "This is the Bewildering Soul Forest; if the Human Race were to publicly quarrel, wouldn’t the Spirit Beasts become a laughingstock?"

The Bewildering Soul Forest is quite chaotic, with incidents of murder and treasure seizing occurring frequently. But essentially, these are private individual actions. If the Wen Family and Taiqing were to clash openly, that would be a true scandal for the Human Race.

"This I know a bit about," said the old Qi Refining disciple, "It should be two uncles from Wuwei Peak. They claimed that the Land of the Wood Fiend didn’t seem naturally formed, and its recovery momentum would be rather slow, unable to return to its original state..."

He smiled at this point, "With such statements, the Wen Family was naturally displeased... Those uncles are too honest."

Upon hearing this, Kong Ziyi nodded, indicating that people highly value man-made things, and it’s indeed difficult to discuss further. But it’s not that Taiqing’s masters are honest; it’s just that they don’t consider others’ feelings when speaking, especially those disciples from Wuwei Peak.

However, she still raised an eyebrow, "A Land of the Wood Fiend that’s not naturally formed?"

Then she glanced at Feng Jun again, "This thing is quite interesting. Aren’t you studying the Earth Vein Technique? Want to take a look together?"

"Hmm," Feng Jun nodded, but he wasn’t too excited because he already knew the answer—the creation of the Land of the Wood Fiend was arranged by Yin Spirits.

The Big Boss was quite helpless about this; it expressed that back in the day, it lightly buried something here and, to prevent forgetting the location, specifically placed a piece of Millennium Wooden Marrow Amber, setting up a formation to let it slowly release.

Its intention was to slowly cultivate a tree demon, ensuring it doesn’t become too powerful but can easily drive away crowds, thus guarding the place.

However, it didn’t expect the first tree demon to develop affection and awaken its companions—actually, within the logic of plant growth, more resources are better; big trees just compete with small trees for sunlight, not sharing.

This led to an abundance of spirit trees, but without strong combat power, and the leakage of information, so its backup plan became a failure.

This left Yin Spirits a bit disappointed, and Feng Jun was also somewhat depressed—going into someone else’s domain to unlock your cache?

What’s more fatal is the opponent also has a formation capable of defending against Golden Core powers.

Yin Spirits began with a sense of depression, then could only express, "Let’s take a look first. At worst, just temporarily abandon this warehouse and go for another, but... such small caches aren’t common either."

Cypress Slope is roughly two thousand miles from here, so everyone decided to fly out of the Bewildering Soul Forest, travel a bit outside, then reenter the forest. After advancing less than twenty miles, a small village appeared ahead.

Despite being called a village, it somewhat resembles the earth realm’s Hakka tulou, with a large central building surrounded by six small ones, forming a standard equilateral hexagram.

Outside the tulou are some scattered houses, including taverns, tea shops, and inns, with people setting up stalls for trading.

Why did Feng Jun feel this didn’t resemble a village? Because there was no cultivated land here.

About three miles away from a small tulou, Feng Jun landed his flying boat and asked aloud, "Does the Wen Family rely solely on hunting for survival?"

But Yuan Shangren understood what he was asking and shook his head in response, "There used to be farms here, but the beast said when it was leaving, if anyone dared to continue farming in the Bewildering Soul Forest, it would return."

"However, the Wen Family has land outside the forest, mainly leased to vassal families. The Wen Family has close to twenty thousand direct members, with half the population living here."

"Really?" Feng Jun looked at the tulou before him, "Can such a small place accommodate so many people?" ƒreewebɳovel.com