After Wang Zhengbiao and the others drank from the Spring of Life and received treatment from Mu Jinyu,
they felt completely relieved, without a hint of pain.
Mu Jinyu breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that they were all essentially fine, and he let go of his worries.
Although the Spring of Life was extremely precious, and its quantity had become even scarcer due to the great python's death throes,
to let Mu Jinyu ignore these people's life and death over just a bit of the Spring of Life was ultimately something he found difficult to do.
Anyway, the remaining Spring of Life, which was intended for the Old Dragon King, was already enough, so it wasn't really a waste.
Otherwise, Mu Jinyu wouldn't have been sure if he would have shared the Spring of Life originally intended for the Old Dragon King with them.
Seeing that they were unharmed, Mu Jinyu advised them to sit and rest for a while, and he also gave himself a few acupuncture needles to stabilize his injuries, then walked towards the location of the original pond.
That original clearing was now distorted with a fifty-meter-long great python lying there, and the previously smooth ground was cratered and uneven due to the python's desperate struggles, making it difficult to traverse.
It looked as if it was the epicenter of an earthquake or a field battered by a meteor shower.
After walking for a few minutes, Mu Jinyu finally reached the pond's edge, navigating through the pitted and cracked ground.
This original pond had clear water, but not clear enough to see to the bottom. Its depth of over twenty meters and width of over fifty meters meant that the great python could coil up its body and hide beneath, making it difficult to notice such a demon that had become a spirit!
Now, the pond was shattered by the great python's thrashing, with the Spring of Life either spilling into the air, turning into mist, or flowing along the channels.
And the little Spring of Life that was left, collected in over ten bottles by Wang Zhengbiao and the others, left only muddy sand at the bottom of the pond.
Mu Jinyu stood at the edge, looking down and pondering why the Spring of Life was here. Was it because of the spiritual demon beast or was there heavenly materials and earthly treasures internally?
Did these cause the water to mutate and allow the great python to cultivate in it, gradually becoming spirit?
Mu Jinyu looked carefully for a while and didn't see anything, but unconvinced, he furrowed his brow and jumped directly into the mud pond.
Since Wang Zhengbiao and the others needed to rest and eat, and couldn't move anyway, he could endure the pain and search thoroughly under the mud pond.
Jumping into the mud pond, Mu Jinyu steadied himself on the silt and circulated his Inner Strength, preventing himself from sinking into the mud.
Then, he bent down like a farmer harvesting lotus roots, beginning to search through the mud.
"What are you looking for? Let me help you,"
At this time, Qingxue, having seen that Uncle Li and the others were all safe and secretly astounded by Mu Jinyu's abilities, increasingly believed he was the noble person the Feng Shui Master spoke of, ran over and shouted to Mu Jinyu from the edge of the mud pond.
After shouting, she was about to roll up her trouser legs and follow Mu Jinyu into the mud to help him search.
Mu Jinyu, without looking up, said, "Don't come in and make trouble."
"Oh," Qingxue, upon hearing this, replied with a hint of disappointment, paused her hand rolling up the trouser legs, and no longer thought to jump in.
Mu Jinyu naturally wouldn't let her jump in to help. The mud in the pond was deep, and Wang Zhengbiao and the others had already struggled enough just to collect water. Her, a young girl with no martial arts skills, jumping in would only cause trouble, and he would have to save her.
Qingxue watching Mu Jinyu dig in the mud for a while asked again, "Is there anything I can help with?"
"Hmm," Mu Jinyu, shifting his steps, casually replied, "You could actually be of a little help to me."
Upon hearing this, Qingxue suddenly became excited and eagerly asked, "What help?"
"Quiet," Mu Jinyu said indifferently.
"Oh," Lin Qingxue reacted to his words, her excited expression momentarily stilled, and then she obediently sat by the mud pool, hugging her legs and watching Mu Jinyu's movements, no longer speaking.
Seeing that Lin Qingxue was no longer noisy, Mu Jinyu felt much better and continued to search for things in the mud on his own.
"Young Master Mu, lunch is almost ready, you see..."
At this point, Wang Zhengbiao and others, who were idle, had already started a fire nearby and were cooking. Seeing that the meat was almost roasted, they called out to Mu Jinyu.
Since they had eaten breakfast in the morning, they had been making their way here, and by a little past noon, they had not stopped for lunch. After the fierce battle with the great python and barely escaping with their lives, everyone was exhausted and unable to travel any further. So, seeing their condition, Mu Jinyu asked them to cook first, while he went to the mud pool to look for things.
"Hmm, just call me when the food is ready," replied Mu Jinyu.
Mu Jinyu called out and then said to Lin Qingxue, "You go and cook as well, don't just stare at me."
"Oh."
Lin Qingxue could only respond with 'oh' now, not daring to say much else for fear of annoying Mu Jinyu, as her grandfather's illness might then remain completely hopeless.
As soon as Lin Qingxue left, Mu Jinyu dug into the mud a few more times.
"Hm?!"
Mu Jinyu raised his eyebrows, then withdrew his hand from the mud, flicked it a few times to shake off the mud, and then spread his hand to take a look.
It was a piece of green amber-like material—not exactly jade, not wood, and not fat.
Initially, Mu Jinyu thought it was just a rock and had planned to throw it away after grabbing it in the mud, but feeling a faint Spiritual Energy, he took it out and found it to be such an unusual thing.
"This is...?"
Mu Jinyu frowned and looked at it several times, his mind searching through the information about Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that his master had once taught him, and his eyes began to brighten more and more.
"Could this be, the Ten Thousand Year Wood Core?!"
The so-called Ten Thousand Year Wood Core, as the name implies, naturally refers to the core of a tree with ten thousand years of age that also absorbed a sufficient amount of Spiritual Energy to come into existence.
A tree that lives for ten thousand years and absorbs nature's spiritual energy, regardless of its species, is considered an essence-evolved entity.
This wood core, like the inner core of a demon beast that has turned into a demon, is extremely precious.
The Ten Thousand Year Wood Core contains a massive amount of Wood Spirit Qi and the Origin of Life. If an ordinary person were to obtain it and keep it close to their body, they could live for several hundred more years.
For Martial Artists and Cultivators, it could make their cultivation twice as effective with half the effort, and with good Aptitude, reaching Grandmaster of Pill Cultivation or Master of Techniques by the age of thirty is not an issue!
"No wonder this pond turned into the Spring of Life, no wonder there was this spirit-possessed great python, it turns out it was all because of this Ten Thousand Year Wood Core!"
Mu Jinyu looked at the Ten Thousand Year Wood Core in his palm, his eyes filled with both shock and joy, not expecting such a significant gain from this trip to Miao Zombie.
If he had just run away out of fear of that great python, he would have truly come here for nothing.
And with this Ten Thousand Year Wood Core, if given to the Old Dragon King, it could not only extend his life for several decades, but considering the Old Dragon King's strong aptitude, with the assistance of the Wood Core, he might even break through his current limitations and live a second life!
It's truly like the revival of dead wood in spring!