Hearing Chai Wenji’s words, Zhang Gaoqiu could only let out a helpless sigh. "Who could have imagined Yellow Heaven Dao would make a move so quickly? Things have come to this—what else can we do?"
"Since this is a mess you stirred up yourself, you’ll have to find a way to clean it up yourself. Otherwise, don’t blame me for showing no mercy." Chai Wenji’s voice was icy.
"Since I can’t stain myself with the bad reputation of being ungrateful and disloyal, I can only make her bring it up of her own accord." Zhang Gaoqiu said.
"That girl’s been bewitched by you until she’s all dazed and muddle‑headed. You really think she’ll take the initiative to bring up breaking off the engagement?" Chai Wenji glared at Zhang Gaoqiu with wide eyes. Zhang Gaoqiu gave a bitter smile. "As long as we set our minds to it, we’ll always find a way."
As for Zhang Chen, after hearing the two of them talk, he couldn’t help but feel a trace of sorrow for Shen Ling in his heart. A woman’s greatest mistake in this life is having blind eyes and choosing the wrong man.
Zhang Chen couldn’t be bothered to listen to this dog man and woman scheming. He walked out of the Exquisite Tower, his figure flickered, and he had already arrived in a desolate grove within Chongzheng Academy, where he began sorting out his gains from this trip.
The greatest gain from this trip was discovering that he could seize the lifespan of grass and trees.
Zhang Chen turned his head to look at a large tree beside him, as thick as an adult’s waist. He slowly pressed his palm onto the tree bark, the Authority of Wood Element of his own bloodline flashing through his mind. In the next moment, a green airflow invisible to the naked eye drifted out from the tree, surging mightily into Zhang Chen’s body.
In just ten breaths, that tree had already turned into a dead, withered trunk, while Zhang Chen stood there with a look of intoxication on his face, slowly withdrawing his palm.
"Comfortable." Zhang Chen muttered.
Then he sensed the additional lifespan he had gained, and after quite a while he said, "It only increased by one day. That’s a bit too little."
"Maybe the tree’s age wasn’t high enough, so the Vitality it contained was relatively small." Zhang Chen looked at another big tree beside him. The next moment, he lightly tapped with his finger, and the Law of Time flowed, blessing that tree. He watched as a jiazi of time—sixty years—rushed by in a blink, seas turning into mulberry fields. That tree grew from the thickness of an adult’s waist to the size of three men encircling it with arms outstretched.
Growing this thick in sixty years, with no disasters or harm, just peacefully and steadily, was in line with common sense.
"I wonder if a tree forcefully matured by my Law of Time will have its effectiveness discounted." Zhang Chen felt a bit uneasy, but still reached out and pressed his hand on the tree. Then he activated the Authority of Wood Element and saw green Qi Mechanism flowing from the tree to irrigate him, continuously pouring into his body, nourishing his flesh and soul. As the green airflow infused into him, Zhang Chen felt his whole being become lighter by who knew how much.
"Ten days of lifespan! That’s really not bad!" Zhang Chen was overjoyed. A single tree had actually increased his life by ten days. With these countless trees all over the mountains, even if he couldn’t attain Immortality, living a few thousand years would not be difficult.
"My greatest crisis for now is finally resolved." A trace of excitement flashed in Zhang Chen’s eyes.
His own Law of Time and Authority of Wood Element, used together, were simply a perfect match.
Zhang Chen casually plucked a branch from the big tree. With the Decree of the Authority of Wood Element, that branch actually sprouted roots and buds out of thin air, growing root tendrils. Then Zhang Chen glanced at the dead tree, flicked a spark of fire, and the tree was directly turned into ashes by the Sun Charcoal Fire. Zhang Chen dug a pit, planted the branch in it, then cast another Decree. The branch took root and sprouted, coming back to life.
Zhang Chen cast another of his Time Divine Techniques down. The branch rapidly grew, and after sixty jiazi, it had already become a large tree. However, this tree was more than half smaller than the previous one.
"How strange. With the same blessing of one jiazi of time, why was that previous tree thick enough for three men to encircle, while this one can only be encircled by two?" Looking at the tree that had shrunk by a whole circle, Zhang Chen’s eyes held a trace of puzzlement. He activated the Authority of Wood Element to sense the tree before him, and clearly felt that after sixty years of growth and development, this tree was far inferior to the previous one.
"Why? Is it because the foundations are different? One tree was a proper tree from the start, while this one is just a branch that evolved into a tree?" Zhang Chen voiced a hypothesis in his heart, but immediately rejected it. He commanded the Authority of Wood Element; after thinking for a moment, he knew the reason wasn’t there.
"Could it be because of the soil?" Zhang Chen looked at the ashes on the ground and raised another hypothesis in his mind.
The previous tree had grown here for a jiazi, and that jiazi had been rapidly forced by his cultivation. The earth and soil hadn’t had time to recover, so the second sapling didn’t get enough nutrients?
"It should be like this. Seems my Authority of Wood Element and Power of Time still have limits. But the limits aren’t that big. After all, the world is vast. If I can’t plant trees here, I can just change places. As long as a few decades pass, the soil here will once again become fertile." All sorts of thoughts flickered through Zhang Chen’s mind.
Since he had figured out the key to it, Zhang Chen was no longer worried. He used the Authority of Earth Element to bury the ashes in the ground, then walked to a big tree to the side, bestowed another full sixty years of time on it, and saw the great tree twist and contort, once again turning into a withered trunk. Then he set the dead tree on fire, dug a pit to plant a sapling, added another sixty years of Divine Techniques onto it, and then used the passage of time to cover up all traces.
Zhang Chen spent a full ten years’ worth of lifespan absorbing in the mountains; who knew how many big trees suffered for it, becoming Zhang Chen’s nourishment.
After sensing that his lifespan had been replenished, Zhang Chen slapped his own forehead: "I really was stupid. Why do I have to suck a tree completely dry? I can just draw a portion of Vitality from each big tree. After some time, when its Vitality recovers, I can come back and harvest it again. That’s the long-term plan."
Zhang Chen felt he had been a bit foolish before, but knowing it now was not too late.
"I just need to pay attention in the future, achieve true recycling, only then can I keep others from noticing." Zhang Chen glanced at the sky. After a night of planting and replanting trees, the sun was already setting in the west. He used his Escape Technique to return to the courtyard, and saw Mrs. Zhang and Madam Zhou chatting.
At this time maids and servants had finished preparing dinner. After the family finished eating, Zhang Chen went back to his room, pondering the matter of lifespan.
"Can I transfer this Life Force to someone else? That way, not only can I achieve Immortality, but my younger brothers and sisters can also be immortal." Zhang Chen’s heart was full of speculation.
"Even if I can’t do it now, when my Cultivation rises another level in the future, I might be able to develop such a method." Zhang Chen muttered inwardly, gathered up his stray thoughts, glanced at Zhang Fei who was reading with complete focus, then lay on the bed and entered a Visualization state.
The next morning
After breakfast, Zhou Zhen called Zhang Chen to head toward the Exquisite Tower. From afar, Zhang Chen saw the spiritless Shen Qiu sitting on a boulder, like a wooden puppet, staring blankly. A crowd of young lords had gathered around him, and were constantly mocking him.
"Young Master Shen, weren’t you very arrogant before? You boasted of being from the Shen Family, ordering us around like oxen and horses. Why aren’t you arrogant now?" Someone kicked Shen Qiu in the back, making him stagger.
Shen Qiu turned his head with a face full of anger toward the one who kicked him: "Cao Dou, you ungrateful rat, I treated you well back then. When did I ever not pay when we went to the brothels to drink and whore? Over the years, if I didn’t spend one hundred thousand taels on you, it was at least seventy or eighty thousand, and you actually dare to humiliate me like this? If I hadn’t taken that Eight-Treasure Heart-lock Pill from my clan back then, your mother would have been dead long ago. Yet you’re this heartless and black-livered?"
"Pah! It’s true I spent your money, but you made me grovel in front of you, be your ox and horse, play the grandson all day, let you order me around and forced me to lick your boots to please you. I may have received your favor, but all of it was bought with my dignity. What favor do I owe you?" At his words, Cao Dou lashed out with another furious kick, knocking Shen Qiu head over heels.
"You think I covet your money? If it weren’t for the Shen Family behind you, you wouldn’t even be worthy to carry my shoes!" As Cao Dou spoke, he spat viciously, the glob landing on Shen Qiu’s face. "Truly, Feng Shui turns in cycles. Now that the Shen Family has fallen on hard times, it’s our turn to rise."
As Cao Dou’s words fell, that group of scholars swarmed forward again with a flurry of punches and kicks, pinning Shen Qiu to the ground and beating him ruthlessly. Vitality of his Bloodline Power circulated through Shen Qiu’s body, and water surged up, forming a waterspout that swept toward the crowd. But this group was no common rabble; anyone who could attend Chongzheng Academy was a Noble Family scion, who among them didn’t have Bloodline?
The group refused to show weakness. They all cast their Divine Techniques together, driving their Bloodline Power to suppress Shen Qiu. In moments they shattered his bloodline Divine Techniques, then held him down and laid into him with their feet.
"A dragon stranded in the shallows is toyed with by shrimps; a tiger fallen to the flatlands is bullied by dogs." Watching this scene, Zhang Chen couldn’t help but sigh, his words full of rue.
"The Shen Family was too overbearing back then, who knows how many they offended in the shadows. Now that the Shen Family has suddenly collapsed, their bloodline descendants are bound to suffer backlash." Zhou Zhen gave a light sigh, then strode forward and shouted from a distance, "All of you, stop! Fighting is forbidden in the academy. Do you lot want to be expelled?"
Hearing Zhou Zhen, the crowd glanced at him, not daring to talk back, and hastily dispersed and took their leave.
Once they had gone some distance, Zhang Chen looked at Shen Qiu, whose nose was bruised and face swollen, hair disheveled, clothes tattered, sitting on the ground. A trace of emotion flashed in his eyes, but he said nothing more.
"Fighting is prohibited in the academy. If they dare act recklessly again, just come tell me, and I’ll see justice done for you!" Zhou Zhen said to Shen Qiu.
Hearing Zhou Zhen, Zhang Chen felt his words rang somewhat hollow. If he truly meant to stand up for Shen Qiu, he should have punished those Noble Family brats right now, not talked about ’next time.’
"Looks like Zhou Zhen doesn’t want to champion the Shen Family either. Understandable—when a man leaves, the tea grows cold. Though the Shen Family and Zhou Family were close, the Shen Family has no value now." A faint sigh rose in Zhang Chen’s heart. In this life, one must never let oneself become worthless.