Song Wanníng took out a pill and handed it to him.
"Thanks."
Wu Qingfeng's voice was weak, but his expression was strangely relaxed. From now on, he wouldn't be Wu Qingfeng of Medicine King Sect anymore, but a loose cultivator. Breaking free of Mu Zixu's control, he felt like he'd been given a second life. He swallowed the pill and finally started to recover bit by bit.
After thanking Liu Xingzhi and Luo Hantian, Song Wanníng brought Wu Qingfeng back to Guhan Sect. She didn't leave right away. Instead, she downed a few more pills just to make sure she didn't leave behind hidden injuries.
Liu Lanyi, who had settled down in Guhan Sect, heard she was back and came over with Leng Qingzhu to check on her. When they learned everything had gone smoothly, both of them couldn't help but sigh in relief.
"Wanníng, are you going back to the beast race?"
Liu Lanyi thought of the fact that Song Wanníng had left Mei Huan and She Yi behind, so she figured she'd definitely return.
"Not for now. I'm going to look for the Bodhi Tree first."
She shook her head. With her current strength, she couldn't kill Gong Ye. Going back now wouldn't mean much. It was better to raise her cultivation first.
"Alright. If you need help, don't forget to call us. Even though our cultivation isn't as strong, we won't drag you down."
Liu Lanyi teased with a smile, and everyone laughed together.
With Liu Lanyi around, Leng Qingzhu was a lot more cheerful, smiling much more often.
Seeing that warmed Song Wanníng's heart. She stayed with them for a few more days before finally leaving the sect with Wu Qingfeng. He was obedient, quietly following her without a shred of resistance.
Still, he couldn't shake his worries. What if, after finding the Bodhi Tree, she killed him? But… right now, he had no choice. So, all he could do was obediently lead her toward the Bodhi Tree's location.
Their journey went smoothly. A month and a half later, they arrived at a large lake. Wu Qingfeng had been here before, so he clearly remembered the route. But when he saw the lake, he froze. It had been a long time since he'd last come, but he never expected the place to change so much.
Back then, this had just been a small pond. Not far past it was the Bodhi Tree. But now, it looked like the Bodhi Tree might've been swallowed by the lake. Wu Qingfeng's face darkened. He'd sworn up and down that there was a Bodhi Tree here. Now, wasn't this pushing him straight to his death?
If Song Wanníng thought he was lying, how could he explain? "Senior Song, this used to be a pond. I don't know why it turned into a lake, but I swear I'm not lying. The Bodhi Tree was right here!!"
He rushed to explain, carefully watching her expression, ready to fight back at any moment. Even if it meant certain death, he couldn't just sit and wait to be killed.
She glanced at him calmly, easily guessing his thoughts. He didn't seem to be lying, so the sudden change in the environment must've meant something happened. Her brows furrowed, and she released all her companions to help investigate.
Wu Qingfeng followed suit, even extending his divine sense into the lake.
Song Wanníng focused her search on the spot he described, but all she found at the bottom were darting fish and shrimp, swaying weeds, and no trace of the Bodhi Tree.
They flew farther out and searched a wider area, but still nothing.
"That's impossible. It was definitely here before!"
Wu Qingfeng grew anxious. He'd checked everywhere, yet there wasn't a single sign of the Bodhi Tree. It was like it had vanished into thin air.
But he really wasn't lying.
"Could someone else have found it and taken it away?"
The thought made his heart sink, and he glanced nervously at Song Wanníng again. He never imagined he'd end up this pitiful one day, cringing and bowing like this.
Her face darkened again. The Bodhi Tree was an incredible treasure. Had someone really beaten her to it?
Her brows knit tighter, but she wasn't ready to give up. "Let's check again. Maybe we missed something!"
She spread her divine sense wide, wrapping around the entire lake.
Wu Qingfeng's nerves were on edge, and he searched even more carefully, not daring to overlook a single corner.
Hours later, just as Song Wanníng was starting to lose heart, her eyes suddenly lit up.
"No… something's wrong!!"
She snapped her head toward him.
"Did you notice the fish and shrimp in this lake are repeating themselves? Even the way the weeds sway carries some strange rhythm, like every motion was deliberately designed…"
"What?"
Wu Qingfeng froze, then hurriedly extended his divine sense again. Before long, he realized she was right. The scene before him looked almost identical to what he'd seen hours earlier. If she hadn't pointed it out, he'd never have noticed. Who would expect fish and shrimp to repeat their movements by the hour?
"You're right, Senior Song! These fish and shrimp, they're fake!! No, wait, the entire lake might be fake!!"
He was thrilled. If the Bodhi Tree was still here, then his life was safe!
"Yeah, I think so too," she nodded. She even suspected the pond he'd seen before might've been an illusion as well.
But who created this illusion?
Was it some cultivator deliberately hiding the Bodhi Tree?
Or… was it the Bodhi Tree itself?
In the golden dragon's inherited memories, a Bodhi Tree could develop intelligence. It could even transform and exist as a spirit being.
Like plants and trees that cultivated into beast form, except the Bodhi Tree's nature gave it far greater potential. If that was true, then this Bodhi Tree was extraordinary.
Song Wanníng's interest flared. Her eyes gleamed with excitement and challenge. Fine. She'd see for herself what had almost fooled her eyes.
Both she and Wu Qingfeng began testing ways to break the illusion. She even tried her restriction-breaking hairpin, but nothing changed. There was no restriction here.
So what was it?
Her brows furrowed tighter as she focused all her attention on the task. Her divine sense stayed locked on the fish, shrimp, and water plants, tracing their every movement and frequency. Not a single action escaped her notice. She engraved each one deep into her mind.