Chapter 48: A Little Panicked

Chapter 48: Chapter 48: A Little Panicked

Outside the same familiar city gate, in the same familiar grove of trees.

’Guo Jing’ slowly descended to the ground. Following behind him, Zhao Yang also controlled his Flying Sword to a stop at the edge of the grove.

"Senior..."

Standing respectfully behind him, Zhao Yang watched as ’Guo Jing’ stood silently at the edge of the grove. After a moment’s hesitation, he couldn’t help but voice his confusion.

’Guo Jing’ didn’t respond to his question. Instead, he pointed to the thickest and tallest tree in the grove.

"Go cultivate under that tree. Don’t think about anything. Just focus wholeheartedly on circulating your Cultivation Method."

Zhao Yang nodded in acknowledgement, but he couldn’t help the thrill rising in his heart.

’He’s telling me to cultivate. He must be preparing to find the flaws in my cultivation and offer me guidance.’

’To be personally guided by an ancestor-level expert, someone above the Celestial Human Realm... even if it’s just once, it’s enough for my understanding of cultivation to advance by leaps and bounds. I might even make it into the top ten at next year’s Inner Sect competition.’

He forcefully suppressed his excitement, trying not to let his joy show on his face.

He walked steadily to the tree the senior had indicated, sat down cross-legged, and cleared his mind of all stray thoughts. He then began to circulate his Cultivation Method with his entire being.

Although he didn’t know why the senior had to specify which tree he should cultivate under, the actions of a Celestial Human Realm expert were inscrutable. How could he possibly understand?

’All I need to do is obediently follow the senior’s instructions and wait for his guidance.’

Seeing Zhao Yang enter a state of cultivation, Su Han breathed a small sigh of relief and dropped the "lofty senior" persona he had been maintaining as ’Guo Jing’.

With a light leap, he landed on the branch of a large tree. Su Han narrowed his eyes, observing Zhao Yang’s cultivation.

Under the gaze of the Eye of Truth, the circulation path of Zhao Yang’s Cultivation Technique appeared before Su Han’s eyes like a three-dimensional model.

What surprised Su Han even more was that, in addition to seeing the circulation path of the Cultivation Technique, he also saw faint, ethereal wisps of an invisible aura seeping from Zhao Yang’s body as he cultivated.

This aura was ethereal and formless, barely there. If not for his Eye of Truth’s ability to see through illusions, an ability gained through Skillification, he feared that not even the legendary Celestial Beings, or even more powerful entities, could perceive these faint, invisible wisps.

Most of this dissipating, formless aura scattered into the world, while a tiny fraction was absorbed by the grass, trees, bamboo, and stones around Zhao Yang.

However, while all the nearby plants and materials absorbed some of this ethereal, formless aura, a few trees near Zhao Yang seemed to be under the influence of some unknown power. This power prevented the aura from dispersing, allowing it to gather in increasing amounts.

As Zhao Yang continued his cultivation, the barely-perceptible aura accumulated more and more on these few trees, with the thickest and tallest one—the one Su Han had pointed out—gathering it the fastest.

’So... is this the principle behind how a Skill Tree is formed?’

Guessing at the possible connection between this ethereal, formless aura and the Skill Tree, Su Han had a sudden thought.

’Since I can see this ethereal aura that others can’t, can I control it?’

’If I can manipulate it, I could intentionally intervene and drastically increase the efficiency of creating a Skill Tree.’

He immediately put his thought into action. Su Han extended his Divine Thought, attempting to make contact with the ethereal aura seeping from Zhao Yang.

At first, the moment his Divine Thought drew near, the wisps of aura scattered like a startled flock of birds.

After many attempts, Su Han had a sudden realization. His Divine Thought was a product of fusing with Dao Rhyme. ’Could I try to use my Divine Thought to mimic the fluctuations of this ethereal aura, thereby allowing me to approach and control it?’

With this idea in mind, Su Han tried hundreds of times. Finally... after several hundred failures, his Divine Thought successfully mimicked a fluctuation similar to that of the ethereal aura.

He once again tried to approach the ethereal aura emanating from Zhao Yang’s cultivation, this time with his "disguised" Divine Thought.

This time, the aura didn’t scatter the instant his Divine Thought tried to make contact. Instead, after being touched by his Divine Thought, it could be intentionally guided.

He felt a surge of joy, which caused a slight fluctuation in his Divine Thought, and the ethereal aura he had just managed to guide scattered once more.

However, Su Han wasn’t discouraged. On the contrary, he couldn’t help but break into a smile.

Once again, he altered the fluctuation of his Divine Thought and tried to guide the ethereal essence. This time, without a hitch, Su Han successfully guided the faint ethereal wisps from Zhao Yang’s cultivation into the thickest, tallest tree.

"Success!"

The smile on his face grew wider. Su Han continuously used his Divine Thought to guide the ethereal essence into the large tree. An unknown amount of time passed.

Under the Eye of Truth, the ethereal essence on the great tree seemed to undergo a qualitative change from its quantitative accumulation.

The accumulated aura, having reached a certain mass, trembled slightly. Then, the ethereal aura that had gathered on the other nearby trees was uncontrollably plundered, devoured, and absorbed by this largest tree.

And then...

A golden light flashed, and in Su Han’s eyes, the great tree... transformed into a Skill Tree.

"It’s done!"

Retracting his Divine Thought and checking the time, Su Han discovered that with his guidance, the Skill Tree had formed dozens of times faster than he had predicted.

"Alright!"

He stood up, jumped down from the tree, and his entire demeanor shifted in an instant. Once again the otherworldly expert ’Guo Jing’, Su Han spoke to Zhao Yang.

Zhao Yang, who had been cultivating with his full concentration, was startled by Su Han’s voice. He quickly stabilized himself, completed the final Circulation of his Cultivation Technique, performed Qi Absorption and Returning to the Origin, then opened his eyes. He stood up and looked at Su Han with anticipation.

"Senior..."

"Mm."

Su Han nodded, his expert demeanor on full display. "I have a basic grasp of the problems in your cultivation. Now, I will point out your mistakes and modify your Cultivation Technique according to your specific situation."

A look of delighted surprise flashed in Zhao Yang’s eyes. He had thought it would be a great fortune just to receive a few pointers from the senior; he never expected the man would also be willing to modify his Cultivation Technique for him.

’Modifying a Cultivation Method slightly based on a disciple’s specific situation to make it more suitable for them and increase their cultivation efficiency... ’

’That’s a privilege reserved only for the Direct Disciples of a Celestial Being ancestor!’

Ignoring the delight in Zhao Yang’s eyes, Su Han waved, motioning for him to stand behind him. Under Zhao Yang’s expectant gaze...

With a wave of his hand, a rain of fire descended, completely engulfing the large tree that Zhao Yang had just been leaning against while he cultivated.

Zhao Yang: "..."

’Burn... Burning the tree?’

’What happened to the guidance you promised?’

’What happened to the tailor-made modification for my Cultivation Technique?’

’Why did you suddenly burn the tree without a word...? What on earth is going on?’

’This completely unpredictable way of doing things...’

’This strong feeling that you’re destroying evidence... it’s making me feel inexplicably nervous.’