tkworld Chapter 16, Five Years of "Willow Heart"
Chapter 16, Five Years of "Willow Heart"
Chen Yuan naturally knew that the so-called spirits of plants were plants that had undergone metamorphosis and developed spirituality, possessing simple consciousness, and might even attack creatures that approached them.
"If it's a spirit of plants and trees, I've struck gold today..." Chen Yuan circled the large willow tree, observing it. "A spirit of plants and trees of the willow tree type, with a trunk diameter of about 80 centimeters and a height of no more than 25 meters, meets the criteria and should be a 'thousand-year-old willow heart'."
Each plant and tree is said to contain the essence of heaven and earth and has special effects. Among them, the heartwood of a thousand-year-old willow tree can increase cell activity and improve physical fitness.
Chen Yuan was deeply impressed by the thousand-year-old willow heart, the most important reason being that Luo Feng had consumed it, which was also one of Luo Feng's important resources in the early stages.
"I remember when Luo Feng took Willow Heart, his strength directly increased from a primary War God to a secondary War God, which caused the 'dark golden sphere' in his mind to be fully released, making him a peak War God-level mental master."
"If I could consume the heartwood of a thousand-year-old willow tree, my strength would definitely experience a tremendous leap!"
"Of course, that's assuming it really is a thousand-year-old willow heartwood." Chen Yuan lowered his head, connected to the internet via the communication watch on his wrist, and logged into the 'Extreme Home' forum.
Searching for "Millennial Willow Heartwood" immediately yielded numerous introductions on the forum.
Thanks to the rise of the Earth Trio, treasures like the Spirit of Plants and Trees are now being made public on the Extreme Martial Arts Academy's forum under the will of "Hong," with no longer any information being hidden.
"Willow heartwood, a kind of spirit among plants, a thousand-year-old willow heartwood tree has a trunk that is 1 meter thick and a height of over 30 meters. This kind of willow tree contains the essence, which is called 'thousand-year-old willow heartwood'..."
Chen Yuan carefully browsed the introduction about the Thousand-Year Willow Heart in the Extreme Home. It even thoughtfully included a picture, allowing him to see at a glance that it was basically the same as the willow tree he had encountered.
only……
"The size is wrong." Chen Yuan compared the data in the forum with the willow tree next to him and concluded: "Judging from the size of this willow tree, its quality is less than a thousand years old, and it should only be able to produce willow heartwood that is a hundred years old... no, maybe five hundred years old."
The forum did not provide detailed data on willow wood cores under a thousand years old, only briefly mentioning that willow wood cores under a thousand years old have limited effects on warriors above the God of War level and are more suitable for warriors at the General level.
Therefore, Chen Yuan's guess about the age of this willow heart was based entirely on his intuition. Whether it was five hundred or eight hundred years, there was no significant difference in the effects of willow heart less than a thousand years old.
"That's fine too." Chen Yuan stared at the willow tree, a slight smile playing on his lips. "The forum says that a willow tree that can nurture a thousand-year-old willow heart can have an attack power that reaches the level of a war god, but the willow tree in front of me is clearly not at that level. The attack power of each branch is at most at the level of a beginner war general."
Although it only has novice warriors, this willow tree has no less than a thousand branches. Once any creature gets close, it will be attacked by thousands of warriors, and even high-level warriors cannot withstand it.
"No wonder the Lion Mastiff leader chose such a remote place as its territory. It turns out it discovered an opportunity. It's just a pity that its strength is not enough to withstand the willow tree's attack. The meat is right in front of its mouth but it can't get its hands on it." Chen Yuan's eyes were bright. "In that case, I'll gladly accept this opportunity."
In Chen Yuan's view, although the willow tree in front of him was powerful, it had a fatal weakness, which was perhaps a common problem for all plant spirits—that is, the body could not move.
Indeed, its thousand willow branches are incredibly powerful, making it virtually invincible at the general level. However, since it cannot move, it means that it can be slowly worn down through a protracted war.
The reason why the lion mastiff leader couldn't beat the willow tree was because its body was too clumsy, making it easy for it to get surrounded by the willow branches.
However, Chen Yuan was different. With his speed and agility, these willow branches could not restrain him at all. He could stand at the edge of the willow tree's attack range and cut off all the willow branches little by little until they were all cut down!
Without hesitation, Chen Yuan moved lightly and flashed into the willow tree's attack range. Instantly, more than a dozen willow branches attacked from all directions, and subsequent branches quickly moved towards him.
Chen Yuan moved with graceful ease, weaving nimbly through the dense branches. His long sword gleamed coldly, and in the blink of an eye, he severed four or five branches.
When the remaining hundreds of willow branches came crashing down, Chen Yuan knew when to stop and calmly retreated, instantly escaping the willow's attack range.
The willow tree seemed to be enraged, frantically waving all its branches in place, but to no avail, unable to reach Chen Yuan who was standing in the distance. After a while, the branches gradually calmed down.
So Chen Yuan used the same trick again, entering the willow tree's attack range once more. Each time, he managed to cut off several branches. Although the willow tree was furious, it was helpless and could only watch as its branches dwindled.
Time passed quietly, and about an hour and a half later, Chen Yuan cut off the last branch of the willow tree. Looking at the bare trunk, he nodded in satisfaction.
Next, it was time to obtain the willow heartwood. Chen Yuan brandished his longsword and slashed fiercely at the trunk of the willow tree. Thump, thump, thump, the blade cleaved again and again, and wood fragments flew everywhere. Soon, a huge gap was cut into the trunk.
A hint of joy flashed in Chen Yuan's eyes. He pressed his advantage and swung his sword even harder, even using twice the force.
At the same time, he secretly rejoiced: "Luckily, I have this family heirloom A6-level battle sword, which can break through the defense of a high-level general. If it were a low-level battle sword, I don't know how long it would have taken to cut through him..."
With his strength comparable to that of a junior general, and equipped with six types of weapons, he still struggled so much to chop down trees. If he were to use three or four types of weapons, the difficulty would be unimaginable, and he might even have trouble breaking through their defenses.
Fortunately, Chen Yuan had met all the necessary conditions, and his hard work paid off. Two hours later, the willow tree finally collapsed with a crash, sending splinters of wood flying everywhere.
Chen Yuan, with his sharp eyes, immediately spotted a captivating green amidst the broken wood. He stepped forward, grabbed it, and wished he could refine it instantly.
It's a pity that it can't be refined yet.
He opened his palm, and before him appeared a bright green crystal, about the size of an egg, perfectly round, with liquid rippling inside—that was the essence of Willow Heart.
"Willow Heart..." Chen Yuan felt that just by holding the crystal shell of the willow heart, he could feel a cool sensation penetrating his skin, making him feel refreshed.
After sensing the scent of willow wood for a while, Chen Yuan put it away and turned to leave. He needed a quiet place to take it.
Ten minutes later, in the basement of an abandoned villa in the county town, Chen Yuan took out the willow heart again by the dim light of his communication watch.
"It's mentioned in the original work and on the forum that the way to consume Willow Heart is to break the outer shell and drink the liquid inside." Chen Yuan didn't use his battle sword, but instead took out a dagger from his backpack. He bought it specifically for cutting monster materials. It was also an A6 grade dagger and cost him a full 30.
Chen Yuan held the willow wood crystal in one hand and a dagger in the other, stabbing it fiercely at the willow wood crystal once, twice.
The outer shell of this willow heart was indeed hard. Chen Yuan stabbed it twice but it didn't break. With the third stab, a crisp sound rang out and the crystal finally shattered, and the green liquid inside flowed out.
Chen Yuan quickly put the crystal to his lips and drank it all in one gulp. Although the green crystal was quite large, it didn't contain much liquid, at most only twenty or thirty milliliters.
The liquid flowed down the esophagus into the body, and instantly, a cool and comfortable feeling spread throughout the body, even making the soul tremble slightly.
"So comfortable." Chen Yuan looked blissful, a cool sensation spreading throughout his body, as if countless gentle little hands were massaging him.
Within Chen Yuan's body, the essence contained in the willow wood heart, with its surging and boundless vitality, almost instantly merged into every part of his body. This vital energy caused astonishing changes in the cells of Chen Yuan's bones and muscles, as if a sapling had grown into a towering tree.
Metamorphosis!
No other adjective can describe this feeling. Chen Yuan felt as if his cells were leaping forward, his genes were being perfected, and even his muscles, bones, and flesh were being reorganized.
On the panel, the data in the 'Strength' column is climbing rapidly!
4712……5863……7545……9688……11370……12896……13980……
As time went on, the increase in strength gradually slowed down, eventually settling at 14728.63 kilograms before finally stopping.
In just two hours, Chen Yuan jumped from the level of a beginner advanced warrior to the peak of a junior general, only less than 1300 kilograms away from the 16000 kilograms required for a mid-level general!