Chapter 4075 This is your only chance

Regardless of how this prince treats others, he's really good to me and the slovenly Taoist priest.

Such precious leaves of the 'Zhaoyao' tree were given to me and the slovenly Taoist priest, one leaf each.

This situation surprised both me and the slovenly Taoist priest; we never expected the prince to be so generous.

"Your Highness, isn't it said that the leaves of this 'Swish Tree' cannot be given to commoners? Why are you doing this..." I asked, somewhat puzzled.

The prince sneered, "These rules were all set by our family, so naturally what we say goes. Who dares to object? The person who sets the rules can change them. Only those who abide by the rules are bound by them. You can take these two leaves. I have plenty more; I haven't even used up last year's."

After hearing what the prince said, the slovenly Taoist priest and I seemed to understand a lot in an instant. The prince and the king of Guanxiong Kingdom were the center of this power. They were the ones who made the rules and were not bound by them at all.

For ordinary people in Guanxiong Kingdom, a single leaf of the 'Zhaoyao Tree' is incredibly precious; they might never even know what it looks like, let alone own one. But for royalty and nobility, they have more than they can use.

The proverb "Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste, while on the road, frozen corpses lie" still applies in this fiery place.

We naturally didn't refuse the leaves the prince gave us and quickly put them away.

At this moment, the disheveled Taoist priest's eyes darted around, and he asked with a smile, "Your Highness, we've only heard that the leaves of this 'Swish Tree' are very precious, but we don't know how to use them or what their effects are. Even if you give them to us, we won't know how to use them..."

It has to be said that the slovenly Taoist priest was shrewd; he was trying to get information out of the prince.

The prince smiled and said, "This Zhaoyao wood has been in Zhaoyao Mountain for thousands of years and is a treasure of the five kingdoms of the Fire Domain. The leaves of the Zhaoyao wood have many benefits. The most important one is that it can heal wounds. Even if an arm or leg is broken, it can grow back. Not only that, it can also prolong life and increase cultivation. You should keep these two leaves safe. You might need them in the future."

The disheveled Taoist priest looked extremely surprised, and then asked again, "My goodness, so the leaves of the 'Swish Tree' are so magical. If it were the 'Swish Tree' itself, wouldn't it be even more wonderfully useful?"

The prince said smugly, "Of course. This 'Swish Wood' can help people rebuild their Dharma body. If a very powerful cultivator's Dharma body is destroyed but their soul is extremely strong, they can use this 'Swish Wood' to rebuild their Dharma body and be reborn as a human. However, not just any piece of 'Swish Wood' will have this effect. It must be a piece of the heartwood from the very top center branch of the 'Swish Wood.' The branches of the 'Swish Wood' are white, but only that piece of the branch is red. Back then, our Guanxiong Kingdom had a national teacher whose Dharma body was destroyed, and he used this 'Swish Wood' to rebuild his Dharma body. I saw that piece of heartwood with my own eyes."

After the prince said that, the slovenly Taoist priest and I understood what was going on.

So the goal is to take a piece of the heartwood from the very top center branch of the Zhaoyao tree, and specifically, a red branch.

So, if a branch is cut off, a new branch can grow back.

Now that we have a clear goal, it's easier for us to get started.

Thank goodness the prince told us this, otherwise we wouldn't know where to begin.

Then the prince said he was a little tired and needed to rest, so the slovenly Taoist priest and I left his room and returned to the small house we lived in.

It was already late at night, and the slovenly Taoist priest and I were in our room.

I set up an isolation array in the room and began discussing the next steps with the slovenly Taoist priest.

"Luo Laoliu, we've already found out about this from the Prince. What are your plans for the next step?" I asked the disheveled Taoist priest.

"What else can we do? Of course, we'll go straight to the Swaying Tree and take the red heartwood from the very top. Once we have it, we'll use a wind escape talisman to leave without giving them any time to react," the slovenly Taoist priest said without hesitation.

"You make it sound so easy. There must be some experts lurking on that 'Swaying Wood.' Only the two of us can handle this. Brother Gu and the others can't get in at all. And the experts on the 'Swaying Wood' are definitely no match for us. Going up there would just be suicide missions." I sighed.

"Old Wu, we haven't even started yet, don't get discouraged. We've come this far, we have to do it even if we can't. Don't you have the Black Demon God's demonic energy on you? Use it when it matters. I don't think the expert guarding the Swaying Tree is a top expert, maybe a bit higher than the Earth Immortal Realm, but we can handle him. As long as we get the heartwood of the Swaying Tree, we can leave this hellish place, the Fire Domain." The slovenly Taoist was always bold and rarely considered the consequences of his actions, always just doing it first and thinking later.

But I have to think more carefully and leave myself a way out.

I pondered for a moment, and soon came up with an idea. I said to the slovenly Taoist priest, "How about this, after a while, when it gets late at night, we'll use invisibility talismans to sneak up on the 'Swaying Tree.' I'll set up a sturdy magic array, and then we'll climb up the tree directly. Even if we're discovered, once I activate the array, the reinforcements who want to come to help won't be able to get in for a while. Before they break through the array, we'll get the heartwood of the 'Swaying Tree,' and then use a wind escape talisman to escape from here."

“It’s feasible! But we don’t know how many experts are on that Zhaoyao Mountain. Also, when we went up the mountain before, we found that there were several magic arrays on Zhaoyao Mountain. Once the magic arrays are activated, we don’t know if they can restrict the Wind Escape Talisman. Once the magic arrays are activated, we may be trapped on Zhaoyao Mountain. So we must be fast!” The slovenly Taoist priest’s expression became solemn.

So, the slovenly Taoist priest and I went over our plan several times, and after making sure there was nothing missing, we decided to set off anyway.

This is too dangerous. It can only be me and the slovenly Taoist priest on this mission. Even Kassan isn't around.

So even if we encounter danger, it's just me and the slovenly Taoist priest who will have to bear it. But this is our only chance. We'll be going down the mountain tomorrow, and it will be impossible for us to come back up then.

We have no choice but to take a gamble; we've both always been lucky.

After waiting a while, the slovenly Taoist priest and I each activated our invisibility talismans, and we also put several talismans on our bodies to conceal our presence, just so that no one would notice us.

After leaving the small courtyard where the prince lived, the two of us cautiously began to sneak towards the direction where the swaying tree was. Along the way, we naturally encountered many soldiers in armor.