"Wait, fellow Daoist..." The Rootling cried out in panic. "I can't leave at all! If I could, I would've escaped long ago. My main body is gone. Until I can reform a body, I can't leave this place."
"Too bad I don't quite believe you. Only if I turn you to ash will I feel safe." The fireball in Joe Di's hand slowly descended.
The Rootling shouted anxiously, "No, please, big brother! I have a way—you can restrain me..."
In its desperation, the Rootling even called him 'big brother.'
"What way?" Joe Di paused, holding back the fireball. Even though he'd perfected Qi Level Six, he truly had no means to keep the Rootling immobilized.
"Big brother, I can teach you restriction techniques. You can use them to bind me. Restrictions are actually a branch of Arraycraft—sometimes they're even more useful than arrays. Many people set up formations by merging restrictions and arrays together..."
Joe Di had no patience for the Rootling's rambling. He strode over and slapped the Rootling's treetop. "Enough nonsense—get to the point."
"Yes, yes..." The Rootling replied quickly, then began to explain restriction techniques and the basics of Arraycraft in detail. The Rootling had inherited the memories of a genius in Arraycraft, so when it described arrays and restrictions to Joe Di, it started from the basics and built up gradually.
Joe Di had never encountered this field before, but he'd always been fascinated by Arraycraft. As the Rootling explained, he quickly became immersed in the boundless world of formations, even forgetting about searching for the storage ring.
For someone like Joe Di, whose thirst for knowledge was so intense, time always flew by when he was learning. The Rootling talked until its mouth was dry, but Joe Di still listened intently, showing no sign of wanting it to stop.
Joe Di didn't tell him to stop, and even if the Rootling had the guts, it wouldn't dare. The Rootling had already witnessed Joe Di's power—one wrong move and he'd burn it to ash.
Two days passed quickly. The one suffering the most wasn't actually the Rootling, but Jade Yu.
Jade Yu's legs could finally stand, but she was starving. After days without food, even walking made her feel faint.
She walked over to Joe Di and saw him still lost in the study of formations, even miming restriction techniques with his hands. Left with no choice, she glared at the Rootling and pointed at her own stomach.
Jade Yu saw clearly that the Rootling was getting a taste of its own medicine. Well... maybe Joe Di wasn't exactly a villain, but the Rootling had definitely been subdued by him. Seeing the Rootling now, acting like a dutiful grandson as it respectfully explained Arraycraft and restriction techniques to Joe Di, Jade Yu figured asking it for something to eat shouldn't be a problem.
Wearing a miserable expression, the Rootling continued to explain Arraycraft and restriction knowledge to Joe Di, its mouth dry, while also producing something for Jade Yu to eat.
The Rootling tossed Jade Yu a small, egg-sized green item. It felt soft in her hand, and she doubted whether it was edible. But hunger won out, and the green item gave off a faint plant fragrance.
Jade Yu figured the Rootling wouldn't dare offend Joe Di, so she closed her eyes and popped the green item into her mouth.
A gentle warmth spread through Jade Yu's body, and in the next moment, she felt an indescribable energy fill her. She quickly sat down to circulate her cultivation technique, and the bottleneck in her progress loosened.
In almost no time at all, Jade Yu was delighted to find herself advancing to late Earth Stage. And her cultivation was still rising. Even without knowing much, Jade Yu realized the green item from the Rootling was a rare treasure.
Not only did the green item rapidly boost her strength, but it also erased any trace of hunger.
Seeing Joe Di still absorbed in studying restrictions and formations, Jade Yu knew she had to seize the chance to cultivate.
...
Joe Di awoke from hunger. Without cultivating and circulating spiritual energy, he couldn't go ten days without food. After just five days, he opened his eyes.
By now, the Rootling had long since stopped explaining—it truly couldn't go on. Joe Di noticed that Jade Yu beside him had regained her healthy figure. More than that, the fluctuations of elemental energy around her signaled yet another breakthrough.
What was going on? Jade Yu had been as frail as a twig before, and now, just a few days later, she'd returned to her former self. Before, she was thin as a bamboo pole, but now her astonishing allure was unmistakable.
Her pale neck led down to loose clothing, and the glimpse of snowy skin at her chest, half-hidden beneath her shirt, evoked a sense of curiosity.
Due to her cultivation, a faint aura of elemental energy surrounded Jade Yu, adding even more to her charm.
Joe Di wasn't a lecher. He quickly looked away and focused on the Rootling, who was watching him nervously. "Little Root, why did you stop explaining?"
The Rootling was nearly in tears. "Big brother, I've been explaining for days and nights—if I keep going, I'll lose my voice!"
Joe Di could hear the Rootling's voice was truly hoarse, so he nodded. "Alright, I'll let it go. But why did she recover so suddenly?"
The Rootling looked at Joe Di ingratiatingly and said, "I saw how much you cared about this sister, so I specially gave her a bit of Vitality Core."
Joe Di's mouth twitched. This great treasure wasn't given to him, but to Jade Yu, who had nothing to do with him. He immediately asked, "How much more Vitality Core do you have? Give it all to me."
"Yes, yes..." The Rootling didn't dare refuse Joe Di, and quickly produced a fist-sized mass of green Vitality Core. "That's all I have."
Joe Di's experience far surpassed Jade Yu's. The moment he grabbed the green mass, he could sense its vibrant life force—this was definitely a rare treasure.
(This chapter isn't over yet ^.^, please click next page to continue reading!)
"Not bad. You have some sense," Joe Di said, and began forming hand seals.
The Rootling's knowledge of restriction techniques far surpassed Joe Di's, so it knew right away that he was casting a restriction. Although it could have countered Joe Di's technique, it didn't dare move, letting Joe Di wrap it up with a binding restriction, leaving it completely immobilized.
The grievance in its heart was like a surging river. Its mouth was dry from teaching Joe Di restriction techniques, and now, the first thing Joe Di did after learning was to bind it. 'You say I have some sense, but this is the result? Might as well not have any sense at all.'
Jade Yu was lost in cultivation, unaware of anything else. After Joe Di restricted the Rootling, he finally walked toward the pit from before.
After several days, Joe Di had only just begun to grasp the basics of Arraycraft and restriction techniques. But even in this short time, he felt the boundless vastness of Arraycraft. As for the Rootling, it had only touched the edge of this immense field.
Once he had free time, he was determined to devote himself to studying Arraycraft. He also thought about the three jade slips that Eddie had taken. One of them was the Scarlet Ocean Array Sect's Banner Jade Slip, which he'd carelessly given away as trash. Now he realized its true value. When he returned, he must get it back from Eddie.
...
The pit was full of bones. Joe Di rolled up two backpacks and tossed them aside—one was likely Jade Yu's, the other probably belonged to the genius cultivator, Star.
Joe Di swept his spiritual sense repeatedly over the bones for over an hour, but found nothing of value.
It seemed the Rootling was selective when pulling people in—true experts could sleep on the roots above without triggering the trap array. Only those the Rootling deemed manageable were dragged down as food.
Another hour passed, and Joe Di still found nothing useful. He started to get annoyed. Was the Rootling lying to him? Logically, someone capable of snatching a withered tree spirit essence shouldn't be an ordinary person.
If they weren't ordinary, how could they not have a storage device? Even if they didn't have a Quantum Vault Ring, a storage pouch should be normal, right?
But there was nothing at all. Wasn't this just a scam?
Just as Joe Di was about to go back and confront the Rootling, his spiritual sense spotted a slightly thicker ring around a finger bone.
With a sweep of his spiritual sense, the finger bone fell at his feet.
Joe Di bent down and finally saw it clearly. There was a tiny ring on the finger bone, its color matching the bone's gray-white hue, which was why he hadn't noticed it at first.
Could this be a Quantum Vault Ring? Joe Di picked up the bone-like ring and examined it for a long time, puzzled. If it was a Quantum Vault Ring, it was so small it wouldn't even fit on a pinky.
Did the person killed by the Rootling really wear their Quantum Vault Ring inside the bone of their finger?
Joe Di sent his spiritual sense into the Bonekeeper Ring and immediately touched the first layer of restriction.
Feeling that layer of restriction, Joe Di was delighted. Not only had he encountered restriction techniques when refining his kitchen knife before, but now he could easily set up basic restrictions—he'd truly begun to learn Arraycraft. With a restriction present, the Bonekeeper Ring was a magical artifact, and one he could refine.
He put away the ring, grabbed the two backpacks, and headed back, determined to refine the Bonekeeper Ring as soon as he got out of here.