Chapter 280

Chapter 280: Wonderful Bodhi

"Such a big secret!" The old bird, usually high and mighty, was now quite excited. "Let me tell you, the secret here is something you can never reveal, even if it costs you your life! If the people from the Great Thunder Sound Temple find out, you can be sure they’ll come out in full force and battle the Mo Sect to the death just to grab it! It will definitely spark an unstoppable sect war!"

Hearing this, Fang Lie’s expression changed, and he quickly asked, "What on earth is it that can make those bald devils so crazy?"

"This tree is called the Wonderful Bodhi Tree!" the old bird said solemnly. "It’s a true spiritual root, and having grown this thick, it’s been alive for at least several hundred thousand years!"

"Is it that long-lived?" Fang Lie said, slightly astonished. "But what exactly is its use?"

"The Wonderful Bodhi Tree is one of the four great spiritual roots of the Buddhist sect. It naturally emits a Wonderful Bodhi fragrance, which invigorates the mind, clears the spirit, and increases the success rate of alchemy and treasure refining by more than thirty percent. It also helps practitioners grasp its essence more easily, thus elevating their cultivation."

"It sounds great, but with just that, it doesn’t seem enough to cause an unstoppable sect war, right?" Fang Lie asked curiously.

"That’s just one of its many marvelous uses!" the old bird replied. "Every part of it is a treasure. The aged branches and leaves can be used to refine magical items and spirit talismans, especially this old tree that has been around for several hundred thousand years. Just cutting a branch from it provides seventh or eighth-rank wood element materials, which can be used to refine seventh-rank or even eighth-rank treasures!"

"Wow!" Fang Lie exclaimed. "How many seventh or eighth-rank treasures can such a big tree provide?"

"Hmph, you only think about treasures! I’ll tell you its greatest value is not in its branches and leaves, but in its fruit, the Wonderful Bodhi Seed!" the old bird said. "This fruit only produces one seed a year, but it takes ten thousand years to mature. Each Wonderful Bodhi Seed can raise a sixth-rank top treasure to seventh-rank!"

"What?" Fang Lie gasped, immediately shouting, "That’s impossible! Seventh-rank treasures require spiritual essence! Normally, a sixth-rank treasure needs to be nurtured for a thousand years in the Purple Palace by a master before there’s a chance for it to gain spiritual essence and upgrade to seventh-rank! So it’s said, sixth-rank is for items and seventh-rank is for treasures because seventh-rank treasures can hardly be directly refined — they need to be nurtured slowly! Can such a small seed really skip a thousand years of nurturing?"

"You just mentioned that seventh-rank treasures are nearly impossible to refine directly. But the truth is, they can be directly refined, just that spiritual materials with essence must be added during the process," the old bird said seriously. "The Wonderful Bodhi Seed possesses its own spirit. Can’t you see? Each seed resembles a living firefly!"

Fang Lie was dumbfounded. According to the old bird, one Wonderful Bodhi Seed equaled one seventh-rank treasure. There were tens of thousands of them here! How many seventh-rank treasures could be refined?

Even the entire Mo Sect only had a little over a thousand seventh-rank treasures in its several thousand years of history, and here, there were tens of thousands of Wonderful Bodhi Seeds—couldn’t he arm his Dao soldiers with this? Wouldn’t they sweep across the world?

Even a Semi-Immortal like Master Tianlong couldn’t resist a bombardment of over ten thousand seventh-rank treasures. When the numbers reach a certain level, it can truly bring about a qualitative change!

At that moment, the old bird continued, "The Wonderful Bodhi Seed has another incredible feature: its spirit is extremely strong. As long as the foundation of the sixth-rank treasure isn’t too poor, it can usually succeed. Moreover, when there are enough seeds, it can even elevate a seventh-rank treasure to eighth-rank status!"

"Eighth-rank?" Fang Lie was shocked.

What does eighth-rank treasure mean? The Mo Sect has a history of over ten thousand years and is one of the eight great righteous sects of the world. The number of eighth-rank treasures in the sect is barely over a hundred, and that’s because the Mo Sect specializes in refining treasures.

Other major sects have only a few dozen eighth-rank treasures at most. Under normal circumstances, eighth-rank treasures need to be nurtured by several generations of Thunder Tribulation Immortals before they have a chance to upgrade, and the time consumed in that process easily exceeds ten thousand years. This shows how precious they are.

"How many seeds do you need to upgrade a seventh-rank treasure to eighth-rank?" Fang Lie quickly asked.

"If the seventh-rank treasure’s foundation is strong and is just one step away from eighth-rank, then about a thousand Wonderful Bodhi Seeds should be enough to make it gain the ability to transform!" the old bird said.

As the saying goes, "Seventh-rank is for spiritual essence, eighth-rank for transformation!"

Once a treasure reaches eighth-rank, its internal restrictions undergo a dramatic change, allowing it to transform into various Divine Beasts, increasing its combat strength dramatically, and even granting it a certain level of intelligence. The owner only needs minimal guidance to easily defeat powerful foes.

Thus, eighth-rank treasures are the ultimate pursuit for all cultivators. Even Thunder Tribulation Immortals might never obtain one. As for ninth-rank treasures, they typically require tens of thousands of years to upgrade, each possessing tremendous power—something even Semi-Immortals can hardly match. Very few prodigies among cultivators dare to claim they can acquire a ninth-rank treasure.

After hearing the old bird’s words, Fang Lie was overjoyed. He currently had tens of thousands of Wonderful Bodhi Seeds, all for upgrading eighth-rank treasures. He could create dozens of them—almost equivalent to half the resources of a large sect!

Moreover, every year, Fang Lie could obtain one new Wonderful Bodhi Seed, accumulating over time to an astonishing amount.

With such wealth, who wouldn’t be tempted? No wonder the old bird dared say the Great Thunder Sound Temple would risk everything for this!

Fang Lie was now incredibly excited. He scratched his head and asked again, "Bird Bro, how many seeds do you need to upgrade to a ninth-rank treasure?"

"Stop dreaming!" the old bird replied angrily. "Do you think ninth-rank treasures are easy to make? Even if you threw all the Wonderful Bodhi Seeds here into an eighth-rank peak treasure, the chance of it upgrading to ninth-rank wouldn’t exceed one percent!"

"Is it that low?" Fang Lie gasped. "How can it be like this?"

"Ninth-rank treasures are already extraordinary treasured items; they cannot be obtained through ordinary means. However, if you were willing to part with this Wonderful Bodhi Tree, there’s a chance you could refine one ninth-rank treasure, with more than fifty percent probability!" the old bird said with a smile.

"Only fifty percent? Forget it!" Fang Lie hastily said. "I don’t want to waste it. This is a golden egg-laying hen; who would be willing to kill it?"

"I’m glad you understand!" the old bird said. "Now hurry up and put away those Wonderful Bodhi Seeds!"

"Okay!" Fang Lie quickly agreed, taking out a top-grade Sumeru Bag. With a wave of his hand, he used some magic to lift all the seeds from the ground and gently placed them into the Sumeru Bag.

After collecting them, Fang Lie looked up at the tree and suddenly noticed a unique golden light flickering at the very tip of the main trunk.

Fang Lie immediately froze, quickly focusing his vision to observe closely. He could see that it was a palm-sized, golden leaf entirely different from the leaves of the Wonderful Bodhi Tree.

He quickly asked, "Bird Bro, what’s that golden leaf on the tree?"

"Hmm?" The old bird began to investigate. Soon, he exclaimed with delight, "Haha, kid, you’ve struck it rich! Quickly take it down—that’s a piece of the Banana Leaf Golden Scripture!"

The Banana Leaf Golden Scripture? Fang Lie’s head felt like it was struck by a hammer, instantly filled with immense happiness.

The Banana Leaf Golden Scripture is incredibly famous in the world, said to be from the divine tree of the Buddhist realm—Banana Leaf Bodhi.

Legend has it that the Banana Leaf Bodhi is the unique divine tree in the world that points directly to the Dao. Each of its leaves contains divine patterns of Buddhism.

Any Buddhist disciple can comprehend a secret method or supreme skill from it. Regardless of what the secret method is, it is undoubtedly one of the top existences in the world.

Currently, the four great Buddhist sects have their main techniques gleaned from the Banana Leaf Golden Scripture. As far as Fang Lie knows, there have only been eight pieces of the Banana Leaf Golden Scripture found in the world; each of the four great Buddhist sects has just one, and the others remain lost.

Fang Lie never expected he would find one today.

The value of the Banana Leaf Golden Scripture may not mean much to the Tao Sect, but for the Buddhist sect, it is incredibly important!

Even if Fang Lie himself couldn’t utilize it, he could exchange it for tremendous benefits. While he might not be able to obtain a ninth-rank treasure, trading it for dozens of eighth-rank treasures would be no problem!

Thinking of this, Fang Lie controlled his excitement and quickly rose into the air, gently plucking the shimmering golden leaf.

Holding it in his palm for a closer look, he discovered it was indeed extraordinary. It emitted a metallic shine, yet felt like soft leather—smooth and warm. A sensation of warmth spread through his entire body, making him feel completely comfortable.

The Banana Leaf Golden Scripture bore no writings, just profoundly mysterious divine scripts. Looking at it, Fang Lie felt he grasped some of its meaning while also feeling none at all. It seemed like the supreme Dao was hidden within it; although it was right in front of him, it felt like looking at flowers in the fog—he couldn’t see it clearly.

Frustrated, Fang Lie said, "Can this really help me comprehend a technique? Why can’t I understand anything?"

"Because you’re not a Buddhist disciple, and your cultivation is too weak," the old bird chuckled. "You’re really lucky; what you’ve obtained is actually a technique of karmic retribution—the signature divine skill of the King of the Past: Past King Fist!"

"Past King Fist?" Fang Lie immediately inquired, curious. "That sounds great, but how does it work? Is it powerful?"