I teleported to my dungeon to temporarily set aside the Ghost Pumpkins and Pumpkin Wraiths from the Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants. Normally, I would leave it to Long Wang, but he was following me in the forest for now, so I had one Guardian Golem, Da Hai and Xiao Ke act as mediators for now. The goal was to get them to get along with each other and cooperate to grow a ghost forest within the Deep Sea Palace.
Actually, why was the name Deep Sea Palace when I had so many different element types in my dungeon? I should have chosen another name. Too late, and honestly, I didn't care. Deep Sea Palace sounded cool, and that's all that matters.
"Now, you guys have to learn to get along," I told them sternly. My Phantom Stumps and Tree Revenants nodded, having been used to my rule for so long. Fortunately, it appeared that most of the Ghost Pumpkins were fine with it too, given that the system chose the most compliant ones out of the bunch. However, since there were only three Pumpkin Wraiths to begin with, I didn't have much of a choice regarding them.
To my relief, they submitted for now. Either they instinctively realized that I was now their master, or they were intimidated by the Guardian Golem behind me. Also, despite being rivals, the ghost tree spirit beasts and pumpkin spirit beasts didn't hate each other. It was more of a friendly (?) rivalry to establish dominance and rule over their respective territories.
As it turned out, the reason why they attacked us was because we intruded into their territory. Well, now that they had to eke out a new territory in my dungeon, they were no longer as aggressive. And they seemed to like their new home, setting out to sow seeds into burgeoning pumpkin patches. At this rate, my dungeon would be able to produce surplus of pumpkins for sale. I could theoretically provide agricultural products in exchange for cash.
Interesting. It wouldn't make as much as spirit stones, but I wasn't in it for the riches. Too many people were obsessed with becoming super rich. There was no shame in not wanting to be rich. I could hear the existences from beyond the fourth dimension deriding me for my lack of ambition, but my dreams lay elsewhere. They were more immaterial and had more to do with being happy than being rich. Quite frankly, you could be happy without being rich. Money was just so…hollow. So what if you had a lot of it? Sure, you could buy whatever you want, but…why did you need to many material possessions? I was happy living with my family. Emotional warmth and companionship were more important to me than wealth.
Besides, no matter what business I delved into, Myria would always be richer than me anyway. So it wasn't as if I needed money. No, what I needed was the strength to keep my family, my loved ones and my home safe from spirit beasts.
With that in mind, I didn't mind the pumpkin produce. It would be fun, and I believed I could fulfil a niche in the vegetable market.
"All right, everybody. Behave yourselves, okay?"
Now that everything was fine, I returned to Spectral Forest, where Long Wang, Xiao Huo, Xiao Huo Long and Myria were waiting for me. Long Wang bowed.
"My lord. I apologize for the trouble. Normally, that should be my duty, but because of my impulsive decision to summon myself here to assist you, you ended up taking on the chore."
"That's fine. You have a reason for being here, right?"
"Yes. You will see why later."
"All right," Myria cut in, placing a hand on my shoulder. She seemed worried that I might blame Long Wang and berate him, and tried to play peacemaker. "For now, let's focus on the mission. We're here to look for the seed of the World Tree, right? How much deeper into the forest should we go into?"
"Past the pumpkin patch." I took a step forward, though I wasn't very confident. Looking around, I pushed aside a couple of flexible branches and stepped through the gap. My comrades followed me, but Myria appeared unconvinced.
"You know, instead of exploring the forest blindly, shouldn't you make temporary contracts with birds or other animals and send them ahead to scout for us?"
"Temporary contracts?" I repeated incredulously. Myria nodded.
"Yeah. Can't you make temporary contracts?"
"No. There's no such thing."
"There are only spirit contracts," Long Wang confirmed. "And they are permanent."
"Huh? But aren't you supposed to be a beast tamer? I'm pretty sure it's the role of the beast tamer to provide support, using beasts to scout ahead or carry baggage and other items…"
"…are you mixing up reality with beast tamers from a light novel series?"
Myria sighed and shrugged. "Okay then…so what should we do? Should you summon your Phantom Stumps to scout ahead like earlier?"
"They are exhausted after the battle, so they'll need a while to rest. But I suppose I can…"
"If I may." Myria and I turned to stare at Long Wang when he held up a hand and spoke up. He smiled and lowered his head politely. "I think I can help you navigate, my lord and lady. I have detected a spirit formation nearby, and I believe it has been set up to keep trespassers away."
"Really? That's a great start." I swiped the screen of my smartphone to put it to sleep. "Otherwise we'll be wandering around aimlessly, and…to be honest, I'm not good at map reading. Please lead us to it."
"Fear not." Long Wang smiled before stomping on the ground. A magic circle suddenly appeared around us before the runes shattered. A black flame ran from Long Wang's foot to deeper into the forest, a blazing trail of dark fire. My butler proceeded forward, taking the lead as he followed the trail. Myria and I exchanged a glance before we followed, accompanied by wary Xiao Huo and Xiao Huo Long.
It didn't take us long to reach the end of the trail of black fire, which had extended all the way to an enormous willow tree in the center of the forest. The shadowy flames terminated at its base, dissipated by a protective enchantment. With a snap of his fingers, Long Wang extinguished the flames and turned to me with a bow.
"My lord, this is the source of the spirit array. It created a barrier around the heart of the Spectral Forest. Though its illusions had no effect on us because of our high cultivation realm, we would never have found it if we didn't see through the array because it's the type that confounds our senses while concealing an entire settlement within. It's almost like an interdimensional portal that also serves as a formidable gate."
"Okay?" Myria frowned. "I'm assuming the seed of the World Tree is located inside there?"
"Most likely." Long Wang shrugged. "I am not familiar with matters of the surface world, but I suppose there will be entire communities raised around a material as spiritually potent as a World Tree seed. My lord, you can think of it as a counterpart to your dungeon core."
"Right." I recalled how the Ancient Aquatic Artifact was used as my Deep Sea Palace's dungeon core. If an entire community had been built around the World Tree Seed, then they would benefit off the nourishing spiritual qi that it emanated, turning into a formidable place. "How are we going to obtain the World Tree seed from such a place?"
"By force, of course." Long Wang smirked and beckoned. "My lord, I recall your glasses have the ability to detect and see through spirit formations. Just strike the eye of the spirit formation and shatter it, and we can enter the village raised around it…and then raid it and take whatever we need by force."
"Dude…no. We are not here to start a war, and we are not bandits. We are better than that." I groaned and buried my face in my palm. However, I raised my head and studied the spirit array that the tree served as a source for. Tapping my glasses, I saw the otherwise invisible runes clearly spread across my lenses. "Don't worry, we don't need to destroy the spirit array here. I can just locate a weak point, and we'll enter through there. No fighting, no violence please. Allow me to negotiate with them. Perhaps we can offer a trade. See if there's anything they're willing to trade the World Tree seed with."
"If they're using it as the core for their community, I don't think they will trade it for anything," Myria pointed out. I scratched my head and sighed.
"Good point."
"You don't have to worry about that if you choose the peaceful route, my lord." Long Wang seemed a little disappointed that I didn't choose to be a ruthless, robbing bastard like most cultivation protagonists, though in almost all those stories, the victims would conveniently happen to be the worst kind of greedy, murderous villains so that it would justify the protagonists annihilating them and then plundering whatever treasures they had hoarded in their sect. Obviously, reality wasn't so black and white or so simple. Not everything you wanted just happened to be in the hands of an evil villain who deserved to be attacked and slaughtered. Even so, Long Wang had an alternative. "If I'm not mistaken, they might have several World Tree seeds. By their very nature, such seeds will propagate and replicate eventually, unlike the ancient artifact you have. The community bearing the seeds would be more than willing to trade one away for something equally valuable."
"That's good to hear." I exhaled in relief and approached the tree. "Well, let's say hello."
Before I could touch the runes that made up a small section of the spirit array and adjust them to create an entrance, an enchanted voice echoed throughout the surroundings.
"Stay away."
"Who?" I narrowed my eyes and looked around, on alert. My summoned spirit beasts and Myria were on their guard too. We didn't have to wait long for the speaker to emerge, though.
A young girl exited from a shimmering portal that appeared on the thick trunk of the giant willow tree, arcane qi shrouding her delicate form. She was beautiful, though her physical appearance indicated that she was on the young side. Clad in a simple but elegant white dress and matching white shoes, with a golden seam on the dress that covered her modest chest, her long blond hair had been tied to a loose ponytail and adorned with blue rose on the right side of her head.
What struck me, however, were the pair of almost transparent wings that extended from her back. they glowed as they flapped gently, gleaming with unbridled power. Despite her fragile physique, I could detect an incredible amount of qi radiating from her small form.
"The fairy race," Long Wang said grimly. I glanced at him, and he nodded. "One of the ultimate species, just like me. If the dragon race is second in terms of magic power, then the fairy race is first."
"…dude, just stop the ultimate species already. I swear to the heavens, if you continue using that term, we'll get into trouble."
"I told you I'm here to play the role of Tania."
"Dude, stop. Just stop."
The fairy in front of us ignored our exchange and glared at me. "Stay away."
"I'm afraid I can't do that." I sighed. "I'm here to ask for a favor."
"Stay away."
"Could you please listen…?"
"If you refuse to leave, then I will destroy you." The blond fairy raised her hand, the qi coalescing forcefully around her fingers. I snorted and drew my bow.
"Sorry, but if there's one thing that I hate…it's being threatened by people. I understand that I'm the one trespassing into your territory here, but nonetheless, I can't just leave emptyhanded. And if you attack us, we will defend ourselves."
"Oh?" Long Wang grinned. "So we are going to break in by force?"
"No," I cautioned sternly. "Only defend ourselves. No one is to rush inside the fairy's home by force. No killing either. If she attacks, we incapacitate her, but do your best not to hurt her. It'll be more difficult to ask her for a favor if something happens."
"Aw…" Long Wang looked disappointed, but Xiao Huo and Xiao Huo Long were quick to obey. However, I shook my head.
"This is a little…dishonorable. All of you retreat. I will deal with her on my own."
"Huh?" Myria was outraged. "Why?"
"I mean…doesn't this look pretty bad? Why are all of us ganging up on a little girl?"
"Did you call me a little girl?" The fairy glared at me. She raised her hand and her qi turned into a rain of glittering arrows. "Illusive Arrows!"
"Oh? That's a coincidence." I conjured my own azure arrows and shot all of them down. Small, muffled explosions blossomed across the clearing, peppering the tree in multiple clouds of smoke. The fairy coughed, shielding her face in astonishment.
"What? How can a human cultivator fight on par with a fairy's magic?"
"You're also Mystic ranked, but you focus more on esoteric cultivation…and completely neglect body cultivation." I was already behind her, my sword out and pressed against her throat. The fairy froze, realizing that one wrong move and I would cut her head off. "To be honest, you're superior to me in terms of spells and esoteric techniques. But up close…let's just say, you can't win in physical combat."
The fairy tried to glare at me, but she couldn't move her head. Instead, she snapped defiantly. "What do you want?"
To her shock, I withdrew my sword and sheathed it. Placing it back into my storage device, I then retreated to a distance and bowed my head politely.
"Can we have a proper conversation now?"