In the Praying God Pavilion, a divine attendant tiptoed in from outside and carried out the incense burner from the corner of the main hall.
The Northern Divine Lord, catching sight of this, and wanting to curry favor with the Bright Divine Envoy, said, "What kind of incense is this? It's quite effective, not at all irritating to the nose."
In reality, he hadn't even smelled any fragrance.
The Southern Divine Lord, inwardly cursing the man's shrewdness, immediately followed, "This incense is indeed marvelous. I feel my spirit and energy have improved considerably. I wonder where the Bright Divine Envoy found it? If possible, I would like to procure some for the Southern Divine Temple as well."
A flicker of darkness crossed the Bright Divine Envoy's gaze. He looked up and smiled gently, "It's just ordinary incense, nothing special."
"Speaking of which, today is already the second day. They should have obtained the Wood God Stones by now, shouldn't they?" The Northern Divine Lord, being the most astute, noticed the Bright Divine Envoy wasn't keen on discussing incense and immediately changed the subject.
Indeed, the Bright Divine Envoy picked up his thread, "The winter solstice festivals haven't been peaceful for the past two years. The Wood God seems increasingly displeased with us. If this year any Divine Maiden or Holy Son can retrieve a large number of Wood God Stones, even if they aren't the victor, the Divine Temple will definitely focus on cultivating them."
This meant that as long as enough Wood God Stones were retrieved, the Divine Maiden could escape the fate of being a sacrificial offering.
"Why weren't we informed of this matter beforehand?" The Western Divine Lord, who had been lost in thought and hadn't participated in the hall's conversation, was now restless.
This news was of vital importance, almost life-or-death, for every Divine Maiden in every Divine Temple.
The Bright Divine Envoy cast a dark, displeased glance at him, "Does my work require me to inform you in advance?"
The Western Divine Lord's heart chilled. He wasn't concerned about not being informed beforehand; he was concerned about the Central Divine Temple treating the four great Divine Temples differently.
He didn't even need to look at the expressions of the others to guess that this news had definitely been conveyed to the Northern and Southern Divine Temples in advance, while the Eastern Divine Temple, like the Western Divine Temple, likely knew nothing of it.
As expected, compared to the somber expressions of Divine Envoy Cui and the Western Divine Lord, the Northern Divine Lord was beaming and immediately declared,
"Bright Divine Envoy, please rest assured, the Divine Maiden and Holy Son of my Northern Divine Temple will surely not disappoint your expectations."
The Northern Divine Lord couldn't help but feel smug. Fortunately, he had learned of this news early and informed Li Hongyuan and Qingqing.
He had full confidence in Li Hongyuan, especially after spending most of the life essence fruit bestowed by the Central Divine Temple the previous year to raise Li Hongyuan's cultivation to the Nascent Soul stage before they came to the Divine Temple.
...
In the Myriad Woods Forest, ever since Yue Jun had exposed the secrets of the Jade Year Incense, the group had been unusually silent.
After a long while, Wu Qun couldn't help but ask, "Why would the Bright Divine Envoy do this?"
If anyone could tamper with things in the Praying God Pavilion, it could only be the Bright Divine Envoy.
The afternoon sun filtered through the dense leaves. Bai Shengyi said lightly, "Perhaps because Yue Divine Maiden and I offended him?"
Yue Jun rolled his eyes but tacitly agreed with Bai Shengyi's statement.
Han Bei, after a moment of silence, said, "That can't be entirely true. When Divine Envoy Rong was still here, he was friendly with the Eastern Divine Temple, and during that time, the main sacrificial Divine Maidens for two consecutive years came from the Eastern Divine Temple."
"Yes, I remember. Those two years, the Divine Maidens were from that village called Anyang under your Eastern Divine Temple's jurisdiction, right?" Wu Qun reasoned, "That makes sense. The Bright Divine Envoy has always been at odds with Divine Envoy Rong, and now that Divine Envoy Rong has fallen..."
The unspoken words were clearly understood.
"Where is Donglin Huang?" Bai Shengyi suddenly realized someone was missing from the group.
Yue Jun said coldly, "She ran off. By the time you notice, she'll have probably found the location of the Wood God Stones. I've been saying for a long time that woman shouldn't be kept around."
According to his original plan, Donglin Huang should have been left behind amidst the spirit beast tide.
Since their meeting today, Yue Jun had been speaking with such a sarcastic tone, and Bai Shengyi wasn't about to indulge him. She replied indifferently, "Then why didn't you take action?"
Yue Jun immediately subsided.
Bai Shengyi didn't give him a chance to continue his sarcastic remarks. She said to them, "Let's go, I know where the Divine Maiden and Holy Son of the Northern Divine Temple are."
As she spoke, she formed a hand seal, and a wisp of green-blue ribbon-like spiritual light emerged, swiftly drifting forward.
Bai Shengyi led the others to follow.
They followed for three to four hours.
"Huh?"
"What is it?" Han Bei asked, and at the same time, he became wary of Wu Qun and Yue Jun.
The closer they got to the place where the Wood God Stones were to be retrieved, the more he worried about Wu Qun and Yue Jun betraying them.
Bai Shengyi: "Why haven't those two moved from their spot for so long?"
She found it hard to believe that, given the Northern Divine Temple's methods, they wouldn't have a way for their Divine Maiden and Holy Son to quickly retrieve the Wood God Stones.
Based on the time elapsed, those two should have already obtained the Wood God Stones and be on their way out. However, the reality was that they were still in the same place.
"Qingqing, I think this amount is enough. We should leave now." Li Hongyuan looked at the number of Wood God Stones he and Qingqing had retrieved and didn't want to waste any more time here.
In fact, Wood God Stones were everywhere in the Myriad Woods Forest, but the places with the most Wood God Stones were in the very center of the forest.
At this moment, Li Hongyuan and Qingqing were standing on a small hill.
This hill was unremarkable, except for the exceptionally tall and thick trees upon it. Li Hongyuan and Qingqing dug a hole into the ground using a spell and discovered a vast Wood Spirit mineral vein coiled there. The surrounding spiritual energy was sparse. The two, using the method taught by the Northern Divine Temple, had retrieved quite a few Wood God Stones. They were now standing at the cave entrance, recovering their spiritual energy.
"I want to retrieve some more."
The Divine Maiden was different from the Holy Son. Li Hongyuan had at least three more chances to retry, but she did not.
What she wanted was absolute certainty.
Retrieving Wood God Stones was not an easy task. One had to first infuse their spiritual power into the spirit mineral vein. Only after the vein's violent aura calmed down could a small Wood God Stone be extracted.
Qingqing's face was pale from exhaustion, but she dared not rest. After sitting for only a short while, she went to retrieve more Wood God Stones.
Li Hongyuan said unhappily, "It's almost dark. If we don't hurry to the entrance to wait, we'll have to wait until tomorrow to get out. What if someone else gets there first?"
Night in the Myriad Woods Forest was much more dangerous than day. Last night, he had almost been injured by two Nascent Soul stage spirit beasts. It was Qingqing who had reacted quickly and saved him. Therefore, he was absolutely unwilling to travel at night.
However, tomorrow was the third day. According to the rules, if people from other Divine Temples were lucky enough to find Wood God Stones in the outer areas and escape first, then he would lose.
To be safe, they had to go to the entrance to wait today.
Li Hongyuan urged Qingqing several times.
He only urged her but didn't help her. He sat by the cave entrance alone, resting as if it were his due.
Qingqing couldn't help but say, "Li Hongyuan, can you help me?"
Li Hongyuan spread his hands in helplessness, "Qingqing, I'd love to help you, but I'm so tired right now."
Qingqing's face seemed to grow even paler.
When they first arrived here, when digging the hole to find the spirit vein, Li Hongyuan had also claimed to be very tired. At night, when the spirit beasts attacked, he had claimed to have eaten something bad and hid behind her.
Since their arrival, she had felt they were a team, so she hadn't argued about these things. But now, Li Hongyuan, knowing full well that the Wood God Stones were related to her life, was utterly unwilling to offer any assistance.
Unknowingly, the sky grew dark.
Li Hongyuan's face was extremely unpleasant. He straightened his face and called out coldly, "Qingqing—"
"Crunch—"
A sound came from the dense forest, like footsteps on fallen leaves.
Li Hongyuan immediately raised his voice, "Who?"