Story 3 - Spiritual Vines and a Smokey Pill Cauldron (3)

Story 3 - Spiritual Vines and a Smokey Pill Cauldron (3)

I switched to standing on my sword and turned to Little Spring. “Hop on!”

He jumped behind me and I flew us above the forest then towards the vines.

I zoomed over bamboo and a few rare spiritual trees. Small green bird-type spirit beasts appeared to race us but we quickly passed them. Which was good because those things could be annoying little shits.

Soon, I stopped the sword's momentum and hovered near a clearing. It had a rocky cliff on one side where a small waterfall flowed into a clear pond. On the side of this cliff, a mass of vines had wormed their way up, clinging to blueish-grey stone.

From this distance, even in the daylight, the thick vines resembled a glittering field of stars against a dark night sky. If I were closer, I’d be able to see small shining flowers, slowly open and close, giving off an illusion of heavenly bodies dying then being reborn. These were the vines we were looking for, and it was easy to see how they received the name Vines of Stellar Rebirth.

A roar rocked the surrounding area. If it had just been a loud sound then, we would have been fine, but unfortunately, this rage-filled yell contained the vicious bloodlust of a spiritual beast.

The massive pressure from it hit my weak body like a hammer and a sour feeling bubbled at the back of my throat. I coughed up a half-mouthful of blood.

I checked on Little Spring since he had a lower level. His skin had turned pale. The poor kid must have also coughed up blood.

After taking out a handkerchief and wiping my mouth, I quickly handed him a clean towel and one of the few crappy healing pills we had left. He tried to give the pill back but I moved us farther away from the impending fight and stared him down until he ate it.

The male Gold Core left the Foundation Establishment folks to their fight and swiftly tore out the vines with his bare hands. He likely threw them into a rare storage ring that had a stop-time property.

Fuck. I needed those.

She smiled down at us. “Now that these vines are in my possession, I don’t mind selling you a few of their flowers. How about it?”

I closed my eyes and sucked in a breath. Do not fall for it. You know her. You know what she’s like.

“We need ten flowers,” Little Spring said before I could stop him. I shot him a warning look.

Her smile widened. “I’m currently selling each flower for a mere thousand spirit stones.”

I actually did cough up another mouthful of blood.

“Elder sister!” He wrapped his arm around me and helped me stay standing.

Fuck! How can she be worse now than in the future? A thousand spirit stones a flower? Was she shitting me? Usually, even during this time period, they’d only go for one flower for one. Maybe three if it’s a scarce year.New novel chapters are published on