Once bitten, twice shy.
Jade Shura had suffered a crushing loss, and after making such bold claims in front of Bao Gu, she truly learned from the pain. She realized that marching out with a fleet and an army was a completely different kind of warfare from assassination and taking heads in the dark. She carefully studied the formation diagrams Bao Gu had given her, reorganized her hundred-thousand-strong army and fleet, and only after a period of drilling and coordination, once she felt she could command them properly, did she set the army in motion toward the next faction.
As for her own main camp and personal safety, she guarded them with even greater caution, terrified of being abducted again. If she were captured a second time, she would be too ashamed to keep living even if someone came to rescue her.
Jade Shura’s debt-collecting speed slowed down, but she advanced steadily, step by step. Many factions that had intended to imitate the Flame Saint Sect and resist her in various ways could only retreat in bitter resentment.
Seeing that Jade Shura was gradually getting the hang of leading troops into battle, Bao Gu finally felt at ease enough to reorganize the internal affairs of the Hack Gang. After the great purge was complete, the vacant posts had to be filled, which meant another round of talent selection and reassignment. Bao Gu and Yu Mi were both so busy they barely had a moment to rest.
The Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree had originally planned to trick them out of some wood spirit stones, pull up its roots, and walk away. But the people of the Flame Saint Sect were far too enthusiastic. They looked at it with pleading eyes, desperately hoping it would stay, and dutifully offered it wood spirit stones every day. In the end, it felt too embarrassed to pull up its roots and leave.
There were only two things it found rather unpleasant.
First, too many people came to sit and cultivate beside it every day. That made it inconvenient for the tree to pull up a root and shift to another pit. If it was careless, it might step on someone. Back then, it had merely stepped on a little dragon grass, and Bao Gu had nearly chopped it alive. Now that it was on Flame Saint Sect territory, if it accidentally stomped a few people to death, would they throw it into the molten rock at the earth’s core and roast it?
Second, they were always staring at the leaves on its crown. Their gazes were even more frightening than Qingying’s gaze when she looked at the Revival Pill. It made the tree’s heart prickle with unease.
Also, this place was too hot. How could it compare to Bao Gu’s precious herb field? That place was so comfortable. Wood spiritual energy was abundant, the temperature and humidity were just right, and the climate was suitable for a tree. When it had nothing to do, it could secretly eat a few spiritual herbs that were several hundred or even a thousand years old, and Bao Gu would never notice.
Bao Gu kept count of eighth-tier, ninth-tier, and ten-thousand-year-old rare spiritual medicines. But as for those that were only a few hundred or a thousand years old, as long as they did not vanish in whole patches, she would not notice. Ever since that little monkey had come to the precious herb garden to pick herbs, even if the tea tree secretly ate a few ten-thousand-year-old treasures, Bao Gu would not discover it. She would simply assume the little monkey had taken them.
But this poor place was different.
It casually swallowed a thousand-year-old seventh-tier spiritual herb beside its foot, and these people searched back and forth for several days. They even came to ask whether it had seen who picked that thousand-year-old seventh-tier herb.
The Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree expressed deep contempt.
Because of that, whenever it wanted to take any rare spiritual treasure, it could only quietly stretch its roots into the neighboring courtyard to pick them. It was too embarrassed to touch anything nearby. Being treated like a thief was truly awkward.
Of course, as an incomparably intelligent and noble treasured tree, how could it possibly admit that it had swallowed that herb? It did not even glance at the spiritual treasures around it. When they came to ask, it threw them a disdainful look and asked in return,
“Do you think your Grandpa Tree would lower himself to care about these flowers and grasses of yours? Still, since you asked me, I’ll kindly tell you this. Last night, I saw that little monkey from Bao Gu’s side come here.”
The Duobao Spirit Monkey, who was currently curled up inside the hollow of the Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree counting last night’s spoils, rolled its eyes and raised a finger at the tea tree.
When the people of the Flame Saint Sect heard this, they acted as though they were facing a mortal enemy. Who had time to flatter the Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree for sacred tea anymore? Void Tearing stage and Tribulation stage cultivators all mobilized together, searching everywhere for the Duobao Spirit Monkey. They turned the Flame Saint Sect inside out, even activating grand formations to comb through the place like a fine-toothed comb, yet they still could not dig it out.
Except for the place guarded by the Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree, rare spiritual treasures and precious medicines were going missing everywhere. Even assigning people to watch over them did not work. Entire stalks and patches of spiritual herbs and spiritual trees vanished right under their noses. They watched helplessly as they disappeared.
The Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree and the Duobao Spirit Monkey had both come from Bao Gu’s side. The Flame Saint Sect Master had suspected that this tree and monkey were colluding. Every time they searched, he swept his divine sense around the old tea tree again and again. He even used a holy artifact to investigate, but he did not find so much as a single monkey hair, let alone any trace that the Duobao Spirit Monkey had ever been there.
As for the old tea tree, they watched it extremely closely. Ever since it took root in this herb garden, it had not moved at all. Every day, it merely stared at its ration of ten wood spirit stones.
Saying that a tea tree still needed to eat rare spiritual medicines or steal things was obviously a joke. Even if the Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree possessed intelligence and could steal precious medicines and treasures, could it silently stretch its roots into a distant herb garden to steal? It was only a tree a few yards tall. How far could its roots grow? No matter how long the roots were, they could not possibly reach several dozen miles away.
Unless this old tea tree had become an immortal and could silently tear open the void, creating a passage between two herb gardens like a domain gate.
But would an immortal tree stare so eagerly at a few middle-grade spirit stones?
Please. Stop joking.
No matter how deep the Flame Saint Sect’s foundations were, it could not withstand losing hundreds or thousands of spiritual herbs and spiritual trees every day. From time to time, even a ten-thousand-year-old precious medicine would vanish. They were so furious they wanted to go to Green Province and argue with Bao Gu, demanding that she discipline that damned monkey of hers.
But without even thinking, they knew why that damned monkey had come here. Either Bao Gu or Yu Mi was behind it. After all, Bao Gu’s Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree had taken root in the Flame Saint Sect’s herb garden. If they asked Bao Gu and the others to call back that damned monkey, would that not be the same as admitting that a grand sect like the Flame Saint Sect could do nothing to a thieving monkey at Bao Gu’s side, one with the least combat strength and only Soul Formation stage cultivation?
That would be far too humiliating.
The Flame Saint Sect could not afford to lose that much face.
As long as the Flame Saint Sect failed to catch the Duobao Spirit Monkey, they would be robbed for another day. Every day, they lost hundreds or thousands of spiritual herbs and spiritual trees. Sometimes, if they let their guard down for even a moment, an entire herb garden would be gone. The losses were so severe that people stamped their feet and cursed in rage.
This thieving monkey came and went like a ghost, and its mastery of formations was extremely high. They could not even find its tracks. At most, they would discover one or two monkey hairs afterward. Those monkey hairs stood there blatantly, as though saying, “Come on, come find your Grandpa Monkey!”
It was outright provocation.
They were so furious they nearly spat blood. They wished they could dig out that thieving monkey, pull out its tendons, skin it, and stew it alive.
The Flame Saint Sect faced massive losses every day. At first, only the inner city suffered thefts. Then the outer city and the various estates within the city were also robbed. At the beginning, they only occasionally lost one or two precious medicines several thousand or ten thousand years old, along with some eighth- and ninth-tier rare spiritual treasures. Later, losses occurred every single day.
Aside from the herb garden where the Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree had taken root, which was likely spared because that damned monkey was too familiar with the “tree” to make a move there, almost every herb garden was looted daily.
At first, they lost individual plants and patches. Then, entire herb gardens began vanishing one after another. Ambushes and traps in the herb gardens were useless.
The pressure on the Flame Saint Sect Master grew heavier by the day. Unable to catch the Duobao Spirit Monkey or stop the thefts, he had no choice but to seek out the Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree.
After a round of bargaining with the Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree, the Flame Saint Sect Master hired the old tea tree to help guard some of their more valuable spiritual treasures and precious medicines at the price of one hundred middle-grade wood spirit stones per day.
When the Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree heard “one hundred middle-grade spirit stones,” its eyes lit up. It agreed in a hurry and even generously plucked a leaf to give the Flame Saint Sect Master, comforting him and telling him not to be too sad. Sooner or later, they would catch that thieving monkey running all over the place.
Lying inside the belly of the Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree, the Duobao Spirit Monkey rolled its eyes again.
Ever since it arrived here, this old tea tree had stuffed it inside its belly. Every day or two, the tree would pluck one of its monkey hairs and stick it outside as a “Monkey was here” marker, making it take the blame.
Forget it.
Since it was getting a share of the loot, this great monkey would not hold a little tree’s faults against it. It was too lazy to argue with the old tea tree.
With nothing else to do, the Duobao Spirit Monkey took out the Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea leaves the old tea tree had used to buy it off and counted them again and again. Twenty leaves. No matter how many times it counted them, it never got tired of it.
When it went back, it would invite Aunt Qing to drink tea.
Tea brewed from the leaves of the Immortal World’s Supreme Void Divine Tree was not a treatment just anyone could enjoy.
The Duobao Spirit Monkey was counting its sacred tea leaves over and over when it suddenly smelled the fragrance of precious medicine. It sniffed hard, and its eyes lit up.
It did not even need to look. With one sniff, it could pinpoint the location. Someone was moving over more than forty ten-thousand-year-old precious medicines. There were also many eighth- and ninth-tier rare spiritual treasures.
However, the auras of three Tribulation stage cultivators outside intimidated it enough that it did not dare act recklessly. It obediently put away the Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea and completely restrained its aura.
The Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree quietly opened its eyes a crack and swept its gaze over the rare spiritual treasures and precious medicines that had been transplanted beside it. Then it glanced at the three Tribulation stage cultivators sitting cross-legged beneath its roots. It badly wanted to lift its roots, kick them away, roll up all those rare spiritual treasures and precious medicines, and run.
Then it thought again. For less than two hundred rare spiritual treasures and precious medicines in total, would it not be terribly improper to shoulder the title of “thieving tree”?
Since it had already paid the great price of twenty leaves to make the “thieving monkey” take the blame, it had to make the “thieving monkey” carry that blame to the end.
The Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree muttered inwardly,
“Wait a little longer. Just a little longer. There will be a chance.”
With its eyes closed, it quietly stretched its roots into the void again and continued its great plundering enterprise. While the Duobao Spirit Monkey was not paying attention, it deftly plucked another monkey hair and tossed it out to take the blame.
Caught off guard, the Duobao Spirit Monkey had another monkey hair plucked. It bared its teeth in fury.
Keep plucking! Keep plucking, and I’ll become a bald monkey!
Suddenly, a leaf of Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea drifted slowly down from above.
The Duobao Spirit Monkey raised a paw and caught it. It stopped being angry at once and even sent a voice transmission.
“Brother Tree, why not pluck a few more monkey hairs?”
The Coiling Dragon Enlightenment Sacred Tea Tree rolled its eyes and thought, If I plucked your monkey hairs without giving you leaves, let’s see if you’d still be so happy.
If it did not give its leaves to the monkey, Bao Gu would eventually pluck them all anyway. Either way, it did not lose anything.
It very much wanted to run away from “home,” but this world was too small. It could not stretch its legs here. For all it knew, the moment it stepped out, it would be caught and dragged back.
Forget it.
It would nourish itself a little longer and wait until it was stronger before making plans.
Besides, that precious herb field really was very suitable for a tree…
