Shocking the Nine Heavens With My Sword
Chapter 328 - 316: Mother Tree (2/3)

Chapter 328: Chapter 316: Mother Tree (2/3)

This lake was truly small, merely forty to fifty feet in circumference, with pink-hued water covered in petals, yet one could still make out a spinning Gate of Light at the bottom of the lake.

"This is probably the exit for leaving, right?" Zhou Heng stopped at the lake’s edge.

Black Donkey sniffed a few times and said, "It must be that old ghost’s doing!"

"What old ghost? Three Yang Heavenly Venerate?" Zhou Heng asked. He suddenly remembered that this wretched donkey had lived through the era of the Great Eternal Emperor and surely knew many secrets of those days—he actually had a living history book at his side and hadn’t thought to ask!

"Of course, it’s that old reprobate!" Black Donkey curled its lips in disdain, "That old ghost has no respect for his age, always wearing a peach blossom dress and acting like a sissy — a complete freak!"

Zhou Heng was dumbfounded. Could a mighty Divinity Transformation expert really be so disgraceful? He looked at Black Donkey skeptically and said, "Donkey, were you abused by Three Yang Heavenly Venerate or something? Don’t slander someone who has been dead for many years!"

"Pah, that old reprobate is a freak by nature. Instead of acting like a proper man, he chose to powder his face and wear skirts. If that’s not freakish, what is?" Black Donkey spat disdainfully.

Zhou Heng, seeing it speak so firmly, couldn’t help but start to doubt—was Three Yang Heavenly Venerate really like that?

"That old reprobate was originally a burly man, at least he was normal up to the Divine Infant Realm, but he might have become deranged from trying to break through to the Divinity Transformation Realm. He claimed he had seen a Peerless Heavenly Maiden who he thought was his past life, so he decided to abandon his male form and be reborn as a woman!" Black Donkey shrugged helplessly.

"What!" exclaimed Zhou Heng. Peerless Heavenly Maiden?

He had thought that Ma Buqian was merely fantasizing, but even Three Yang Heavenly Venerate claimed to have seen the Peerless Heavenly Maiden—this was different!

Could there really be a so-called Peerless Heavenly Maiden here?

No, that can’t be right. Three Yang Heavenly Venerate was from tens of thousands of years ago, and Ma Buqian wasn’t nearly as ancient! How could the two of them have seen the same Peerless Heavenly Maiden? Unless... she was immortal!

In an instant, Zhou Heng also became somewhat curious to see just how beautiful this Peerless Heavenly Maiden was, to make a Spirit Sea expert so enchanted that even the deities couldn’t take shape, causing a Divinity Transformation expert to doubt their own gender and give up their male form!

Such charm was unimaginable!

Could the world really harbor such stunning beauty?

"Let’s go. Since there’s an exit, we can leave, and we can safely search for that mother tree!" Zhou Heng quickly snapped out of his reverie.

Man and donkey continued onward.

In a few days’ time, the fog within the peach forest grew thicker until it completely obscured the sun; one couldn’t even see one’s own hand when held up in front of the face!

Moreover, not only was the visibility poor, but even Divine Sense couldn’t penetrate this heavy mist. It was like a normal person in a moonless, starless night, unable to see their own fingers.

Zhou Heng had to grab Black Donkey and hurry along, otherwise, the donkey couldn’t possibly keep up with him.

Fortunately, this mist had no effect on Black Sword—it was still reacting intensely within his Dantian Space, guiding the way.

For others, this mist was a huge obstacle, making them afraid to move rashly, completely like blind people. The most sensible approach was to quietly wait for the fog to disperse.

Yet for Zhou Heng, this was good news because the direction pointed by Black Sword ceased to change!

Apparently, once the fog reached its peak, the Crystal Peach Mother Tree simply stopped and "rested."

"Zhou, how can you still be walking on two legs?" Black Donkey started teasing from the side. "As a mount, shouldn’t you be sprawled out instead?"

"Impudent donkey, believe it or not, I’ll throw you out right now?"

"Haha, just kidding, Zhou, you really have no sense of humor!"

"Beat a certain impudent donkey senseless, and my sense of humor will naturally appear. I would even laugh at a pig-headed sight!"

"Hehe, that joke isn’t funny at all! Zhou, you really don’t have a sense of humor!"

"Hmm!"

Zhou Heng suddenly stopped as he saw the fog in the sky shifting, unexpectedly beginning to coalesce into a human form.

"Eh?" Black Donkey also noticed and uttered a low cry.

The fog continued to transform, and the human figure became increasingly distinct, quickly revealing that it was a woman, elegantly shaped with each part of her body proportioned stunningly—her mere silhouette sparked endless daydreams.

Her facial features also slowly became clearer, finally forming a perfectly flawless and beautiful face!

Peerless Heavenly Maiden!

These four words instantly surfaced in Zhou Heng’s mind!

Even though it was only formed of pink mist, barely able to truly outline the woman’s looks, such simplistic hues were already breathtakingly beautiful, nearly soul-stealing!

Zhou Heng finally understood why Ma Buqian willingly considered this woman as a celestial, unable to form his own deity throughout his life, and why a Divinity Transformation Heavenly Venerate even doubted his own gender, thinking she was his past life!

No language could adequately describe her dazzling beauty; one had to see with their own eyes to become deeply mesmerized!

Zhou Heng had thought Ying Mengfan was the apex of beauty, a fantastically rare beauty that could appear once every dozens of years or even centuries, and no other woman on earth could match her!

But this mist-formed beauty, just a simple pink hue in a painting, was incomparably superior to Ying Mengfan!

In the brilliance of this Peerless Heavenly Maiden, any other beauty could only serve as a foil.

Zhou Heng was utterly fascinated, his mind in a haze, as if he could watch forever, until the end of time.

Suddenly, his heart shook—where was the heart of his Martial Path? How could he sink into the beauty of a woman and lose himself? What about his ambitions and pursuits?

In his eyes, two black sword shadows suddenly appeared, slashing through the fantasy, revealing a resolute expression.

"Donkey?" Zhou Heng called out.

"By the lords, this demon girl is quite formidable, even I almost couldn’t hold up, my little heart thumping wildly!" Black Donkey cried out in alarm, repeatedly patting his chest with a hoof.

After all, Black Donkey was not human, and aesthetic standards should not apply to him, so he wasn’t addicted.

"Is the legend of the Peerless Heavenly Maiden actually true?" Zhou Heng furrowed his brows, wondering if Three Yang Heavenly Venerate had created the Teleportation Array for this reason, and what exactly was the relation between this Peerless Heavenly Maiden and the Crystal Peach Mother Tree?

"Stop looking, let’s go! This demon girl is even prettier than the Saintess of the East Spirit Immortal Pond, I can hardly take it anymore!" Black Donkey shut his eyes and dramatically covered his face with two hooves.

Before long, the mist transformed again, maintaining its density without losing any, but the appearance of the Heavenly Girl quickly faded away.

Zhou Heng picked up Black Donkey and continued in the direction indicated by the Black Sword.

Hurry, hurry, hurry!

Two days later, the mist finally began to dissipate, but Zhou Heng sped up even more, as there was a great chance that the direction pointed out by the Black Sword was about to change.

He unfolded the Swift Cloud Radiant Step to its utmost, truly like a streak of light flashing over the top of the peach grove.

"Donkey, you need to lose some weight, how can you be so heavy!" Zhou Heng shook his hand vigorously, almost throwing the donkey out.

"Pah, my figure is very trim, the best among donkeys!"

"...aren’t you just a cheap donkey though?"

"Zhou, watch out, or I will turn on you!"

"Ha, huh?"

Zhou Heng suddenly stopped; amid the drifting pink mist, a gigantic tree loomed ahead vaguely.

A real sky-reaching giant tree!

The tree was so tall that Zhou Heng couldn’t possibly see its top, but its roots alone were comparable to a city, incredibly thick! And it was indeed a peach tree, with branches devoid of leaves but full of blooming peach blossoms.

The Black Sword pointed directly at this tree... angled upward, it must be aimed at the fruit borne at the very top of its crown.

"Crystal Peach Mother Tree!" Black Donkey’s eyes suddenly went straight, drooling profusely.

"Not good!" Zhou Heng exclaimed softly, and his figure swept forward again, as the huge peach tree also began moving with the dissipating mist!

"Chase!" Black Donkey broke free and sprinted forward on four legs.

Zhou Heng also swiftly chased after it, whoosh, whoosh, a man and a donkey each climbed up the trunk; at this point, the tree was speeding up more and more, ultimately reaching its maximum speed. Although it wasn’t as terrifying as Zhou Heng’s full display of Swift Cloud Radiant Step, it was still not something an ordinary Spirit Sea Realm Martial Artist could achieve.

"...Donkey, that pose of yours is really something!" Zhou Heng remarked as he watched Black Donkey sprawled on the trunk with its buttocks cocked up, which was quite comical.

"Woof, Zhou, are you itching for a bite?" Even though Black Donkey had become a Deity and could float slightly, when the peach tree moved rapidly, any step he took in the air would cause him to lag behind.

A man and a donkey climbed up, and after about a thousand feet, the main trunk finally sprouted branches, one after another, and Black Donkey no longer had to cling to the trunk, instead leaping continuously among the branches.

"Stop!" Zhou Heng suddenly put his hand up, saying, "Something’s moving!"

"Uh, are there other people here? Is it those three brats?" Black Donkey stood with hands behind its back; it had already played enough dumb, and now even if Sang Qingshan and the others appeared, it wouldn’t shut up.

Whoosh!

A gust of wind blew by, peach blossoms danced in the air, and a giant hornet suddenly appeared, its body as large as a water buffalo, with four thin, paper-like wings that created powerful gusts of wind.

A Spirit Sea Realm Demon Beast!

Whoosh! The hornet appeared and darted toward Zhou Heng, its sharp proboscis aiming straight for his chest.

Zhou Heng grunted, clenched his right fist, and swung it out, meeting the hornet’s proboscis head-on.

Bang!

With a punch, the hornet’s dark gray proboscis was instantly bent, and the pain caused the hornet to flap its wings frantically, its eyes revealing intense anger.

Zhou Heng also paused momentarily, because his punch hadn’t broken the hornet’s proboscis as he had expected, which was somewhat surprising to him.

A silver light flashed, and the hornet’s proboscis immediately straightened out like a sword, and it flapped its wings toward Zhou again, its proboscis cutting through space, making a sharp sound.

"Zhou, don’t hold back for my sake, fight! Fight!" Black Donkey watched excitedly from the side.

Zhou Heng grunted, his right hand shook, and he drew out the Black Sword, unleashing the Purple Flame Heavenly Dragon’s momentum. The hornet was instantly disheartened, and with a swish, a black light flashed and entered the hornet’s chest. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote and support. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)