Chapter 40 - Eternal Aucuba Tree
Chapter 40: Eternal Aucuba Tree
The sky abruptly darkened.
However, in just a fraction of a second, amid the darkness, blue light started to circulate around the branches of the lush Sacred Divine Wood, making the tiny treehouse that was covering both Ye Xuan and Lin Shiru seem exceptionally mystical.
At the same time, this treehouse was shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In the blink of an eye, its branches clung tightly to Ye Xuan and Lin Shiru.
This made the two’s bodies come closer together in spite of themselves.
Because they were so close to each other, Ye Xuan caught a glimpse of Lin Shiru’s alluring body beneath her white blouse and her black skirt, and he felt his breath hitch.
“Don’t be nervous.” Lin Shiru’s gentle voice sounded in Ye Xuan’s ear. “The Sacred Divine Wood has the ability of fixed-point teleportation. But during teleportation, the larger its size, the more energy it will consume, so it has to reduce in size.”
“Okay.” Ye Xuan nodded, looking forward without squinting his eyes.
Trying his best to control himself and not glance towards Lin Shiru.
He assumed that it was because he was too full of vitality in this life. So much so that whenever he was in the presence of a beautiful woman, his heart would begin to race, and he’d start entertaining fantasies about them.
Especially if they were a mature lady like Lin Shiru.
However, filial piety is the most important of all virtues, and lewdness is the worst of all sins. One will be judged by their innermost thoughts and feelings, not their actions.
Ye Xuan tried his best to keep his composure, refraining himself from doing anything lewd so as not to disgust Lin Shiru.
Bzzz!
At this time, as the magical treehouse shrank to a certain extent, Ye Xuan suddenly saw that the space they were inside was flashing.
At the same time, there was a surge of intense discomfort in his body.
Whoosh!
The next instant, the branches of the Sacred Divine Wood, which were covering Ye Xuan and Lin Shiru, suddenly trembled, and a large patch of darkness that could vaguely be made out was seemingly eroding the branches.
However, the darkness was warded off by the pulsating blue light surrounding the Sacred Divine Wood.
“This is the power of space.” Lin Shiru explained beside Ye Xuan, “The Sacred Divine Wood is only at the Platinum Level, after all. Although it can perform long-distance teleportation, it still has to expend a massive amount of energy to ward off the erosion of the power of space.”
When Ye Xuan saw this scene and heard Lin Shiru’s explanation, all the strange emotions in his heart immediately dissipated, leaving behind only the feeling of astonishment for the mighty power being revealed before his eyes.
And burning enthusiasm towards the Sacred Divine Tree.
As far as he knew, there were very few space element beasts.
Especially one like the Sacred Divine Tree, which could already perform extra-long-distance teleportation at the Platinum Level.
Although he had the Beast Editor to edit his beasts…
A beast’s default attributes would generally determine its future achievements.
If a beast’s initial attributes were too poor, even if he upgraded it through editing, and it became a Mythic-Level beast, its would still be much weaker than other Mythic-Level beasts in terms of power.
Bzzz!
At that time, as space flickered again, everything became quiet.
Ye Xuan turned to look at Lin Shiru and said, “Have we arrived?”
Because the branches of the Sacred Divine Wood were all around him, blocking his view, he didn’t know where he was or whether he had already arrived at Jiangzhou University.
“Nope. There’s still a long journey ahead.” Lin Shiru shook her head and said, “Yunhai City and Jiangzhou City are almost a thousand miles apart. Even the Sacred Divine Wood has to perform multiple instances of teleportation to get us there.”
When Lin Shiru’s voice fell, Ye Xuan suddenly felt the space around him vibrating once again.
…
Dozens of miles away from Jiangzhou City.
There were majestic mountains, turbulent rivers, towering ancient trees, and a combination of modern and classical buildings. It was a magnificent sight to behold.
This was Jiangzhou University, which was famous throughout the whole country.
The entire university spanned across an area of tens of miles.
It was said that the university had been built with an ancient relic that had appeared at this place after The Great Shift.
This university alone was much larger than the downtown area of Yunhai City, where Ye Xuan lived.
Present time. Jiangzhou University’s Eastern Campus.
Dozens of students excitedly walked into a training garden built around a towering ancient tree several hundred meters in height, their respective wood element beasts following beside them.
The students’ eyes were full of respect as they looked at this tall, stalwart, legendary sacred tree at Jiangzhou University.
This Divine Tree was named The Eternal Aucuba Tree.
It was one of the beasts of a former dean of Jiangzhou University.
After the former dean’s death, which had taken place beyond the boundaries of the school, this tree had survived somehow.
And was willing to stay at Jiangzhou University.
It now existed as a patron saint of Jiangzhou University.
Arriving before the Eternal Aucuba Tree, a female teacher who was leading the group of students questioned the other male teacher, “Mr. Yu, when will we begin?”
A lecturer at Jiangzhou University with the surname Yu said, “We need to wait a little longer. Deputy Dean Miss Lin will be bringing another person over. When she arrives, the Eternal Aucuba Tree will radiate its Aura of Eternity to assist the students’ wood element beasts in their cultivation.”
The female teacher showed a hint of surprise when she heard this. “Miss Lin is bringing someone else here?”
She wasn’t a lecturer at Jiangzhou University.
She was a lecturer at Jumu University.
Jumu University was ranked ninth among the top ten universities in Jiangzhou.
However, Jumu University had a very good relationship with Jiangzhou University.
This time, in the name of resource interchange, Jumu University had sent a group of talented Beast Tamer students who possessed wood element beasts to Jiangzhou University.
They wanted to level up their students’ beasts with the assistance of Jiangzhou University’s Eternal Aucuba Tree.
At that moment, while waiting, the students started talking to each other, and one student asked, “Ye Han, you said that your cousin became Jiangzhou University’s specially enrolled student. Are you for real?”
The one being questioned was a young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes.
This young man was Ye Xuan’s cousin, Ye Han.
Ye Han grinned at the other student’s question and said, “I just came out of a secret realm last night, so I’ve only just heard about it. I even called my cousin just now to ask him about the specifics. Too bad I don’t know where he’s gone to. I got a busy signal.”
But as Ye Han chatted with the students from his school, a voice suddenly came from behind, interrupting their conversation. “Our school’s specially enrolled student? Tsk tsk. In that case, when your cousin arrives, I’ll have to take good care of him for your sake.”
Ye Han turned his head to look at who had butted into their conversation.
It was a scrawny young man, and around the young man’s arm was a tiny, withered grey snake.
The tiny snake was flicking out its forked tongue. No matter who it looked at, its eyes were extremely cold.
“Liu Hongtong?”
Ye Han frowned when he saw who the person was. “I earned this Wild Gold Treant just and honorably in the secret realm yesterday. Are you still upset that you didn’t get him?”
“Why would I be?” Liu Hongtong smirked. Then, he glanced at the Wild Gold Treant, which was five to six meters tall. It was gold in color, and intertwined withered branches and leaves made up its peerless body. The young man’s face twitched slightly as he stared at it.
This Wild Gold Treant was the four-star Bronze-Level beast that Ye Han had newly contracted.
At the same time, previously, it had also been the young man’s goal to contract this beast.
Unfortunately, when he’d gone into the secret realm with Ye Han, Ye Han was the one who’d gotten it in the end.
He, on the other hand, had contracted a three-star Bronze-Level Deadwood Withered Snake.
Thinking of all this, he suddenly laughed and said, “However, at Jiangzhou University, according to our tradition, every time new students arrive, some students in Year 2 will be responsible for giving our juniors a little ‘motivation.’
“Coincidentally, I’m one of those people.
“Of course, you can rest assured. I have a sense of propriety.”
“You better remember what you said!” Ye Han looked upset.
Liu Hongtong had been smiling all the while he was talking, giving everyone the impression that he was joking.
Whenever people saw this smile of his, they thought it was genuine.
But Ye Han knew that this guy was a vicious character. He was the kind of person who hid a knife underneath his smile.
“Of course I’ll remember!”
Liu Hongtong reached out and touched the forked tongue of the Deadwood Withered Snake on his arm, the smile remaining on his face.
All in an instant, Ye Han’s frown intensified.
He didn’t expect that Liu Hongtong would cause such trouble for Ye Xuan before he’d even enrolled.
But at this moment, he had absolutely no idea what to do about it.
The only thing he could think of was that he must call Ye Xuan afterward and ask him to be more vigilant at school.
Bzzz!
However, as Ye Han thought about all this, there was a spatial fluctuation about ten meters in front of him and the other students.
In the center of this spatial fluctuation, a verdant tree faintly emerged.
It seemed as if it was connected to something far, far away.