Chapter 335: The Urge to Chop Strikes, Wanting to Cut Bamboo

How could this be possible?

According to Song Tianquan and the others, Han Li only thought of running because he saw their numbers; in such a short time, he shouldn't have been able to get very far.

Unless he flew directly, but they would have seen that; they weren't blind.

Given their foundations, whether it was agility or escape techniques, it was impossible for them to be weaker than that lowly Langya Cultivator.

How could they find not a single trace?

There was only one answer.

That was, he had run long ago, having completely left before they even arrived.

At this thought,

Song Tianquan and the others' faces turned pale and unsightly.

Yu Chen stared at him coldly: "You lot, you couldn't have actually defected to Langya Academy, could you? Intentionally helping him stall for time here?"

Song Tianquan: "!!!"

The other lackeys: "!!!"

…"Fools, absolute fools!"

"They were toyed with and don't even know it? He entered the core area long ago!"

"…"

Outside, Qiu He and the other Holy Land experts were fuming; they almost wanted to charge into the Secret Realm and slap each of them.

They were watching from a god's-eye view.

They had watched with their own eyes as Han Li left early, carrying a massive amount of loot toward the core area.

While Yu Chen and the others were still foolishly searching the original spot.

Infuriating!

Simply too infuriating!

How could their Holy Lands cultivate such stupid Disciples?

Meanwhile,

In the sky, the images continued to switch.

A short-haired youth appeared.

He wore the attire of Langya Academy, with a wood-cutting cleaver tied to his waist, walking through a bamboo forest in the core area.

The bamboo around him was very special.

On the green bamboo stalks were faint golden spots; none were particularly thick, mostly only three fingers wide, yet they grew straight toward the heavens.

*Thump, thump…*

The youth sized up a stalk of bamboo before him, surprise surfacing in his eyes: "This bamboo is a great Material for firewood; I should chop some more to take back!"

Having said that,

He pulled the wood-cutting cleaver from his waist.

He began to chop the bamboo.

Seeing this, the corners of many Cultivators' mouths outside couldn't help but twitch.

"Are you kidding me? Chopping bamboo in a Grotto-Heaven?"

"If this old man isn't mistaken, that should be Vajra Bamboo, right?"

"This kind of bamboo has extremely high hardness and toughness, but it happens to be quite useless; besides being good-looking, it can only be used to make some low-level Magical Artifacts, and even then, not much is needed.

Chopping this thing is a thankless task!"

"But then again, looking at the state of this Vajra Bamboo forest, perhaps one could find Heaven-Qi Shoots beneath; that would be a true Great Opportunity!"

Heaven-Qi Shoots were extremely rare spiritual treasures of heaven and earth.

They were treasures that countless Artifact Refiners dreamed of.

As long as a tiny bit was added during Artifact Refining, the power could be greatly enhanced.

And if the Heaven-Qi Jade Dew nurtured within the heart of the Heaven-Qi Shoot was added, it would be even more extraordinary; the hardness, toughness, and defensive power of a Magic Treasure would undergo a complete transformation.

Even an ordinary Low Grade Spiritual Artifact could reach the level of a High Grade Spiritual Artifact in terms of toughness and hardness, making it very difficult to destroy.

But the probability of this item appearing was too low.

It was only known that it often appeared alongside large patches of Vajra Bamboo.

Vajra Bamboo was common, but Heaven-Qi Shoots were almost extinct on the market; even if they appeared, they would be secretly bought at high prices and wouldn't be circulated.

"Unfortunately, this Langya student clearly lacks experience, only knowing how to stare at this useless Vajra Bamboo!"

Someone shook their head and sighed.

Information was also a type of foundation.

An ignorant person wouldn't recognize a treasure even if it were right before their eyes, and might even cast it aside like worn-out shoes while pursuing flashy, worthless things.

This was also a major reason why it was difficult for those from humble backgrounds to produce noble sons.

*Crack—*

A crisp sound rang out.

The wood-cutting cleaver embedded itself halfway into the Vajra Bamboo.

A hint of surprise appeared in Xiao Dao's eyes: "So hard!"

Normally at the academy,

He could chop through an old locust tree as thick as a man's embrace with a single strike; yet this seemingly slender, pale-golden bamboo actually had such startling hardness?

Good!

The harder, the better!

Hard enough to be worth chopping!

A smile spread across his face as he swung the cleaver again, landing precisely in the notch.

Two consecutive strikes.

*Creak—*

As the cleaver sliced through, the Vajra Bamboo snapped completely and fell with a thud.

"Hiss… he actually cut it down so easily?"

"Something's wrong! With the hardness of Vajra Bamboo, an ordinary Qi Refining Cultivator would only be able to damage the surface even with full strength!"

"This kid has a problem!"

"…"

Outside, many people began to lose their composure.

With just three strikes, Xiao Dao had cut down a stalk of Vajra Bamboo; this defied common sense.

Importantly,

The wood-cutting cleaver in Xiao Dao's hand was dim and didn't look like some divine Sharp Weapon at all; at most, it was in the category of a Low Grade Magical Artifact.

Using this kind of thing to chop Vajra Bamboo?

The edge didn't even chip or break?

However, this was only the beginning; what surprised them even more was yet to come… Xiao Dao came from an ordinary woodcutter's family.

He had followed his father up the mountains to chop wood since childhood.

He had already started holding a wood-cutting cleaver before he was even as tall as the firewood.

Everyone thought that chopping wood was a dead-end job that one couldn't do for a lifetime.

But Xiao Dao loved this one thing.

He loved the sound of the cleaver slicing into the tree trunk in an instant.

He loved the pleasure of each precise strike into the notch of the trunk.

He loved the grand scene of hard, tall trees crashing down before him.

That gave him a great sense of accomplishment.

Even if it brought him no praise or applause.

When he bid farewell to his parents and set out for Langya Academy to seek the Dao, he actually felt a sense of loss in his heart.

Immortal Master?

What kind of high and mighty existence was that?

Something like chopping wood probably wouldn't be allowed, right?

On the way to Langya Academy, his naive self had asked many people this question; the responses he got were naturally mocking laughter and affirmative answers.

But after arriving at the academy,

He was pleasantly surprised to find that everything was different from what he had imagined.

The academy not only didn't oppose him cutting trees and chopping wood,

But was actually quite supportive.

Even the textbooks that taught how to cultivate contained sentences about chopping wood.

So he continued to do what he loved to do.

His wood-chopping speed became faster and faster.

He became more and more proficient.

No matter what kind of tree it was, he could find the easiest place to strike at a glance.

Later on, ordinary trees could no longer satisfy him.

An instructor from the academy then led him to a remote forest.

There were towering trees everywhere that had existed for unknown years, and a faint shimmering light emanated from between the branches and leaves, especially noticeable at night.

He was very happy because the trees there were far harder than ordinary wood, and some even possessed recovery abilities.

He only later learned

That those were all Spiritual Wood.

But before long,

The entire forest of Spiritual Wood could no longer withstand his blade.

Before that instructor could find him a new target, the Jade Pool Grotto-Heaven began.

After entering the Grotto-Heaven, he couldn't resist the itch in his hands and found a few trees to try out.

Regrettably,

While those Spiritual Woods were indeed harder than the common ones outside, it was limited; they couldn't withstand a single strike from him.

Until now.

These bamboo stalks with obviously extraordinary texture

Made Xiao Dao's wood-chopping urge flare up.