Chapter 68

Not far from the West Gate of Original Sin City, there stands a massive tree spirit, towering hundreds of feet high; standing under it, one feels as if half the sky is blocked out.

"Long heard that there's a towering tree outside the West Gate, but never had the chance to see it. Today, I finally get to see it!" Li Hao said. Li Hao had been in the Ghost Realm for ten years. Although he was at the bottom of the hierarchy, he had heard many strange and dangerous tales; this towering tree was one of them.

"This tree, if it ever gets angry, must be incredibly powerful!" Jiang Wei sighed.

Tree spirits generally prefer silence and usually stand there without a sound. This towering tree hadn't moved for who knows how many years. Human ghosts and other spirits also habitually don't consider tree spirits as "ghosts," but rather treat them as mere plants.

But never assume that a silent tree spirit is harmless. If this towering tree were to really get angry, it's uncertain whether any ghost in Original Sin City could subdue it!

"Let's go, follow me into the Dao-Seeking Mountain!" After a moment of reflection under the massive tree spirit, Jiang Wei waved his hand.

After robbing the betrothal gift from Fang Siqi, Jiang Wei didn't stay in Original Sin City for long but immediately took Li Hao and the other ghosts to the Dao-Seeking Mountain.

To be honest, with Jiang Wei's current strength, he was indeed not yet capable of facing Master Brother Fang Siqi head-on. Although Elder Bai was there, Fang Siqi wouldn't dare to touch Jiang Wei, but Jiang Wei couldn't hide behind Elder Bai forever. So, after hurriedly putting the betrothal gift away, Jiang Wei led the ghosts out of the city.

Li Hao, Er Dan, Rabbit Knife, the little girl Jiang Qing, and Zhou Xue were all taken by Jiang Wei. In Jiang Wei's view, leaving them in the city was too dangerous; taking them to the Dao-Seeking Mountain, with his current strength, would make protecting them a piece of cake! Of course, the main reason was that the little girl Jiang Qing had mentioned a great secret in the Dao-Seeking Mountain that could rapidly enhance one's strength. Since that was the case, Jiang Wei naturally wanted to take his brothers along to share in this great secret!

"That Fang Siqi is too stingy!" On the way, the ghosts chatted; Er Dan was particularly indignant, "Such a large box for the betrothal gift, and inside there are only 30,000 ghost coins—how can he even have the nerve to present such a meager gift? It's like he's giving alms to beggars!"

Jiang Wei and the other ghosts had initially thought that such a large box would contain at least several hundred thousand ghost coins, if not a few million. But when they opened the box, they were speechless—only 30,000?

For ordinary ghosts, 30,000 ghost coins is undoubtedly a large sum. But for someone of Master Brother Fang Siqi's status, sending only 30,000 ghost coins as a betrothal gift was indeed too stingy! Even Zhou Lei wouldn't consider 30,000 ghost coins a significant amount.

"Alright, 30,000 it is. Anyway, the next time I return, I'll definitely rob Fang Siqi thoroughly—then I'll make up for it!" Jiang Wei was very clear that with his current strength, he was no match for Fang Siqi. But Jiang Wei was very confident that once his soul concentration reached 100 times, bullying Fang Siqi would be like playing a game—after all, if his soul concentration reached 100 times, his soul strength would be at least 300 times. At that point, even a soul condensation period ghost would be no match for him!

"True!" Er Dan nodded, "Just leave it with him for now; it'll be ours eventually!"

After a while, Jiang Wei turned his gaze to the little girl Jiang Qing: "Xiao Qing, is the secret you mentioned real?" Jiang Wei still had some doubts—how could such a weak ghost like the little girl know any secrets? Even if there were secrets, they should have been discovered by other ghosts long ago!

"Of course! What benefit would I have in lying to you, and do you think I dare to lie to you?" The little girl Jiang Qing rolled her eyes at Jiang Wei.

"I was just a bit curious, asking out of curiosity!" Jiang Wei said.

"Just follow me! It's too dangerous for me to enter the Dao-Seeking Mountain alone, otherwise I wouldn't bother telling you this secret!" Jiang Qing said.

"Alright..." Jiang Wei didn't want to ask more; he would soon find out what the secret was. As for whether there would be any danger... with his current strength, there weren't many things in the Dao-Seeking Mountain that could threaten him!

After several hours of travel, the six ghosts, led by the little girl, finally arrived at the so-called "secret place."

"Is this it?" Jiang Wei was puzzled. Apart from a few sparse plant spirits, there was nothing else around, just a desolate wilderness.

Even though the little girl had clearly told him that this was the location of the secret, Jiang Wei couldn't see anything unusual.

"Exactly, this is it!" The little girl affirmed.

"I don't see anything strange!" Not just Jiang Wei, but Er Dan, Rabbit Knife, and the others also couldn't see anything unusual.

"Of course you can't see it. If it were easy to spot, it wouldn't be a secret!" The little girl said smugly, "I can give you a hint: the secret is... on those vines!"

"On the vines?" The ghosts looked at them in confusion.

Not far from where the ghosts stood, there were dense vines, intertwined on the trees. No matter how Jiang Wei looked, he couldn't see anything special: "They're just ordinary plant spirits!"

"Just looking won't do; but..." The little girl walked forward and pulled off a piece of vine. It seemed that vine spirits didn't feel pain, as the vine showed no reaction to being pulled, "If you eat it, you'll know immediately!"

Saying this, the little girl, without regard for the surprised looks of the other ghosts, put the vine in her mouth and started eating, saying, "Chicken flavor, crispy!"

"Um..." Jiang Wei finally understood, "This vine can be eaten!?"

"Exactly!" The little girl confirmed, "Eating it can enhance your strength, the only downside is that it takes a bit longer to digest!"

Seeing the little girl crunching away, Jiang Wei couldn't resist breaking off a piece and chewing it, "Yeah, it's indeed chicken flavor, crispy!"

Immediately, Jiang Wei discovered that the vines could indeed be digested. Although the digestion speed was much slower than eating animal spirits, it was digestible nonetheless!

"Really can be digested!"

Jiang Wei stared at the vast expanse of vines: "So many vines, how many experts at the peak of the spirit realm could they create!"

Those ghosts who struggle to the death in the Dao-Seeking Mountain, if they knew that right next to them was a large mass of vines that could enhance their strength, untouched by any ghost, would be speechless!

"Don't just stand there, eat quickly!" Jiang Wei called out to Li Hao, Er Dan, and the others, "Stay here and eat until you reach the peak of the spirit realm!"

PS: I've been very busy these past few days, and I'm really tired. I'll only write one chapter today... I owe five chapters now, but I'll definitely catch up this weekend!