Chapter 102 Red Maple

Two years later, a hundred miles northwest of Wuliang Mountain, there was a first-grade high-quality spiritual vein belonging to the Xu family, and maple trees were planted all over the vein.

It was autumn, and the red maple leaves covering the mountains and fields made the whole world look like it was on fire.

"Third Brother, that Phoenix Squirrel is here again. Its goal is probably still the maple syrup from that century-old maple tree on our spiritual vein."

Xu Yuanzhen was directing his clansmen to harvest maple syrup from the red maples on the spiritual vein when he heard the voice of his tenth brother, Xu Yuanhua, from afar. Without thinking of anything else, he hurriedly lifted his clothes and grabbed Xu Yuanhua.

"Yuanhua, you haven't succeeded in getting that phoenix squirrel yet, have you?"

There is a formation around the century-old maple tree, and the squirrel cannot break through the formation in a short time.

only……"

Finally, Xu Yuanhua pursed his lips and hesitated for a moment.

"What's wrong?"

"Third Brother, the Phoenix Squirrel is at the late stage of the first rank. The clansmen stationed by the century-old maple tree are no match for it and dare not go out to drive it away at will."

The problem is that it's extremely good at digging, and its two incisors are incredibly sharp, easily cutting through steel and chewing iron. If it destroys the array flags underground, it will be disastrous.

Xu Yuanzhen nodded silently. The most precious thing on the entire spiritual vein was that first-grade, top-quality, hundred-year-old red maple tree, and it couldn't be allowed to be damaged in any way.

"Alright, I'll find a way to deal with this Phoenix Squirrel. Yuan Hua, you help me control the Spirit Vein Array. Remember, no matter what happens, don't leave the array."

Xu Yuanhua nodded, took the array plate, and channeled his spiritual power into it, temporarily taking control of the array.

Xu Yuanzhen then left the spirit vein array with peace of mind and headed towards the location of the century-old red maple.

The entire first-grade high-quality spiritual vein is several miles long and runs north-south, but at the end of the vein it branches into three branches.

Although these branches all originate from first-grade high-quality spiritual veins, their spiritual energy concentration is not high, and they are not worth the protection of the great formation in terms of value.

Therefore, the Spirit Vein Array does not encompass all three branches, but there is an anomaly among them: a century-old red maple tree grows on the western branch.

Xu Yuanzhen jumped off the cliff and saw a vigorous ancient tree appear in his sight from afar.

That was a century-old red maple, a huge tree that three people could hardly encircle. Its grayish-brown bark was wrinkled and its leaves were like palms, making a crackling sound in the breeze.

The tree is twenty zhang tall, and according to the Xu family's investigation, it is over a hundred years old and is a genuine first-grade superior tree.

Strangely enough, this red maple tree did not grow in an area rich in spiritual energy, but instead grew on the edge of a spiritual vein where spiritual energy was scarce. Moreover, the scarcity of spiritual energy did not affect the growth of the red maple tree.

With this in mind, the Xu family did not move the red maple tree's location arbitrarily, but instead used the century-old red maple tree as the core of the formation and set up a simple array.

Anyway, it's very close to the spiritual vein array, so if any unstoppable demonic beasts attack, we can come to their aid at any time.

Xu Yuanzhen steadied himself and landed in the red maple forest, immediately smelling the sweet fragrance of orchids and musk in the air.

If the weather is fine, sunlight shines through the red leaves, and you will see white lines like spider webs emerging from the branches of the red maple.

A gentle breeze blows, and the white threads sway in the wind, intertwining with each other, sometimes even forming a large white ball like a cotton candy. The sweet aroma comes from these white threads.

This is maple syrup, produced by red maple trees. It is collected every year from late autumn to early spring. Generally speaking, each ten-foot-tall red maple tree will produce a barrel of maple syrup.

These maple syrups have many uses: they can be used to make spiritual food, refine spiritual pills, feed spiritual beasts, and some can even be used to make magical artifacts.

Despite the fact that the Xu family controls several first-grade high-quality spiritual veins and a few mines, there are very few families that can surpass these red maple trees in terms of making money.

Among them, the first-grade superior red maple tree is of utmost importance. The maple syrup it produces is of the highest quality, and most of the maple syrup is bought by the Cao family every year for alchemy.

When he came to oversee the spiritual vein, the clan leader had given him a serious warning: the century-old red maple tree must not be allowed to suffer any mishaps.

"The Phoenix Squirrel has a sweet tooth and has always coveted maple syrup. Unlike other monsters, its size does not increase with its cultivation level."

Therefore, it is similar in size to a common squirrel, but extremely fast and has excellent survival skills. It comes to steal maple syrup every year, and its family has chased it ten times, but it has always managed to escape.

Xu Yuanzhen silently recalled the information about the Phoenix Squirrel.

Every autumn, some of the maple syrup accumulated in the red maple leaves leaks out, attracting greedy monsters. This is also the busiest time for the cultivators stationed here.

Soon, he heard the sound of gongs and drums coming from ahead. He immediately became anxious, which meant that the formation had failed. The clansmen who had been guarding the Hundred-Year Red Maple had no choice but to use this method to drive away the Phoenix Squirrel in order to avoid angering it.

"I'll do it!"

He shouted from afar, and then the magic sword in his hand flew out instantly. He poured spiritual power into his legs again, and the next moment he exerted force, like a gust of wind.

"Bang!"

He stomped his feet hard to stop, leaving a large crater in his feet.

"Yuan Zhen, you've finally arrived!"

"Third Brother, hurry and make a move!"

The two people standing under the tree saw him as if they had seen a savior, and hurriedly dropped their gongs and drums to come to his side.

Without the two of them saying anything, Xu Yuanzhen also saw it. On the lowest part of the trunk of the century-old red maple, there were some fresh wood chips piled up. When he saw this, his eyelids twitched violently. You should know that the branches of the century-old red maple are as hard as iron, and ordinary magic weapons are difficult to damage them. And the culprit is now stuffing his head into the trunk.

This is the Phoenix Squirrel. Xu Yuanzhen glanced at it and saw that the squirrel was only the size of a palm. Its originally fluffy and smooth fur was now curled up in a ball, some of which was stuck together with maple syrup.

The two red bird-shaped patterns that should have been on its back were no longer visible. It paid no attention to Xu Yuanzhen's arrival and continued to gulp down maple syrup, with occasional golden, viscous liquid dripping down its fur.

"That's incredibly arrogant."

After confirming that the Phoenix Squirrel had no spirit patterns and was a genuine demon beast, Xu Yuanzhen was both amused and annoyed. He was, after all, a cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Refining, yet he was being so disregarded by the squirrel.

"go!"

He immediately flicked his finger, and the magic sword flew out, heading straight for the greedy phoenix squirrel's back. He was quite confident in the speed of his magic sword and felt that he would definitely succeed.

The next moment, a scene that shocked him appeared: the squirrel vanished instantly, and the magic sword swept across the branch, scattering a few sparks.