Leaving the fruit house where the priestess lived, the three parties parted ways beneath that Divine Dragon Tree.
In Jiang Chen's view, this was most likely to keep them isolated from one another, so they could not conspire together.
What the people of the "Holy Clan" did not know, however, was that although the three of them technically came from the same place, they were in fact rivals.
The places where the Seven Stars Tower secret realm descended were rarely the same, but judging from the lessons compiled in its records, to leave the land of one's descent one had to find or resolve the cause of that "descent."
That cause, of course, did not refer to the guiding starlight of the Seven Stars Tower, but to the reason they had appeared in the Senhai Source Realm.
The guiding starlight of the Seven Stars Tower was not distributed at random; it followed certain rules, for certain reasons.
From the information known so far, the reason they had descended here was most likely connected to the crisis facing the God-Shaded Land—the priestess had spoken of salvation again and again, which showed that the prospects of the so-called "Holy Clan" of the Senhai Source Realm were far from bright.
Past experience with the Seven Stars Tower was not without its own history of "salvation."
Jiang Chen had to consider one point: of the three people who had appeared in the God-Shaded Land so far, Wu Quji and Su Qi had already joined forces against a common enemy before they met Qing Bazhi. Whether they had known each other before entering the Seven Stars Tower secret realm, or had been forced to team up under pressure in the Senhai Source Realm, the fact remained that the two of them were capable of cooperating.
In a contest among three people, this was unquestionably bad for Jiang Chen.
When all one hundred and eight star positions were filled, a Seven Stars world would hold about fifteen people.
And in the Senhai Source Realm, those who had appeared in the God-Shaded Land at this point should be the ones closest to the core of the descent—at least until he learned more about the realm, it was reasonable to assume so.
After all, there was a Dragon God worshipped by the Holy Clan here, and its history genuinely held precedents of summoning envoys.
So faced with Wu Quji and Su Qi, his two nearest competitors, no matter how wretchedly they had made their entrance, vigilance was necessary.
In the Senhai Source Realm, what were his own advantages?
Jiang Chen had thought it over carefully. His relationship with the Holy Clan was still fairly amicable, without any bristling hostility—he had been invited into the God-Shaded Land, while those two had been trussed up and dragged over. That was one advantage.
Just now, Wu Quji and Su Qi had still taken Qing Bazhi and the others for savages, terrified that they were about to be eaten.
Jiang Chen, meanwhile, had already communicated quite well with the Holy Clan.
The advantage had to be maintained!
He recalled the conversational arts of the smooth operators he had known over the years.
Mulling it over, Jiang Chen glanced at Qing Qishu beside him and struck up a conversation: "You don't seem to be in a very good mood?"
Qing Qishu grunted through his nose.
"Ah, it's about the hunt, isn't it." Jiang Chen sighed in sympathy.
Qing Qishu said nothing, clearly having had his inner thoughts spoken aloud.
Jiang Chen, while unobtrusively surveying his surroundings, asked: "When you and Bazhi faced off in the hunt, who was the one to depart in the end? You all seem to have known one another well."
"Departed? You mean died." Qing Qishu made no effort whatsoever to dodge the subject.
"Mm. Were you two close?" Jiang Chen felt a little awkward, yet he also felt that their attitude toward death in the hunt was simply too matter-of-fact.
"Bazhi's best friend." Qing Qishu paused. "Mine too."
"What was his name?"
"He had no name." Qing Qishu looked down at the road. "A Holy Clan warrior who dies, beyond being allowed to let his soul depart, must also leave his name behind. Leave it for a new warrior."
"Which means, if today you... then the name Qing Qishu would also..."
"Yes. A new Holy Clan warrior will grow up and inherit the name Qishu."
"If someone else carries it, then even though the name remains, it will no longer be you at all. Thinking about it is rather a pity... you're quite one of a kind." Jiang Chen said with feeling.
Qing Qishu turned his head and gave him a sideways look: "Are you trying to get on my good side or something?"
Jiang Chen laughed the moment off awkwardly. He had discovered that he truly was no good at this sort of thing, so he steeled himself and changed tack: "You said before that you owed Bazhi an accounting. May I ask what that accounting is to be?"
"What else could it be? Soul Nurturing, of course." Qing Qishu said casually.
The lodging the Holy Clan had arranged for Jiang Chen seemed quite far away; at the very least, Qing Qishu showed no sign of stopping.
Jiang Chen asked: "I've heard you mention the soul-nurturing punishment several times. This Soul Nurturing... what is it?"
"Soul Nurturing, hm." Qing Qishu said flatly. "A living member of the Holy Clan is buried in the earth with only the head left exposed. Then a hole is opened in the skull, and a seed of the Divine Dragon Tree is dropped inside. It must all be done before night falls."
He gestured with both hands: "Then, over the course of an entire night, the Divine Dragon Tree seed drains the power of the living soul to the very last drop, and with that nourishment it grows, maturing on the spot. For the one being punished, that night is very hard to endure..."
He finished in a light tone: "That is the soul-nurturing punishment."
Looking at the Divine Dragon Trees scattered all around, Jiang Chen abruptly felt a surge of unease.
These trees, these fruit houses—who would guess what lay buried beneath their roots?
"Am I to sleep in a fruit house later too?"
Even with his current strength, which did not fear ordinary ghosts and ghouls, the thought of living atop someone's flesh and blood was still hard to get used to.
Of course, he was no pampered darling either; in the kind of environment a battlefield was, sleeping soundly in a pile of corpses was nothing much.
"You may choose not to sleep in the fruit house. But while you sleep, you will be invaded by 'the Night.'" On the word "Night," he laid heavy stress.
"Invaded by the Night?"
Qing Qishu nodded, but by his look he had no intention of explaining.
"What danger is there in the night, exactly?" Jiang Chen asked out of curiosity, but also because he sensed this might be a clue to breaking the deadlock.
"I couldn't say. Perhaps Great-aunt knows, perhaps she doesn't know either." Qing Qishu pressed his lips together. "In any case, it is dangerous. Of those who fall asleep outside the fruit houses, no one has ever lived to see the next day."
If even Qing Qishu, with his tenacious vitality and terrifying powers of recovery, said so, then it truly was very dangerous.
No wonder the Divine Dragon Trees meant so much to the "Holy Clan" of the God-Shaded Land—they were, at the very least, far more than a dwelling, a shelter. And no wonder... there were things like "Soul Nurturing."
It was, of course, an agonizing torment. But when it was also an indispensable sanctuary, even a guarantee of survival, then in the history of the "Holy Clan" there must surely have been many who offered themselves willingly.
Any people who had endured to the present day must have had their moments of greatness.
Because the river of history is so vast, those who were never great were long since swept away and drowned.
And so, as Qing Qishu too looked at the Divine Dragon Trees around them, the emotion in his eyes was so very different: "Every one of us in the Holy Clan lives by the sustenance of our own kin."
"This is our home. Soul Nurturing can redeem all sins. Whatever a clan member who chooses Soul Nurturing has done, they will be forgiven."
Earlier, in the priestess's fruit house.
Qing Qishu had chosen to "redeem" himself through "Soul Nurturing," but Qing Bazhi had refused him.
A heavy topic was not one to dwell on. Jiang Chen asked something else: "May I ask why you call your priestess 'Great-aunt'? Is it because you fear her greatly? Or out of respect?"
Qing Qishu said: "Because the priestess really is my great-aunt. She is my grandfather's younger sister."
Jiang Chen: ...
And yet, kindly as the priestess appeared, her conduct was scrupulously fair. Though she was Qing Qishu's own great-aunt, she showed him not the slightest favoritism. The very moment she learned he had suspended the hunt, she had beaten him until he vomited blood and flew.
The two of them chatted more and more, and once the words began to flow, they gradually grew familiar with each other.
"Have you ever seen the Dragon God?" Jiang Chen asked.
"No."
"Then how do you believe such a deity exists?"
"Because of the God-Shaded Land." Qing Qishu said.
Past the colossal Divine Dragon Tree deep in the Senhai Source Realm, one arrived at the God-Shaded Land.
This place existed somewhere between dream and reality, indeed close to certain recorded lands of faith. Such as the Buddhist Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss.
Jiang Chen's experience was not yet enough to pierce its true nature.
But it could indeed prove the existence of a deity.
As they spoke, they had arrived at Jiang Chen's lodging for the night—
This was another Divine Dragon Tree, but it stood alone in a corner. The nearest Divine Dragon Tree was several li away.
And the fruit this Divine Dragon Tree bore was shaped in a half circle.
Different from every fruit house they had passed along the way.