The bigger the God-swallowing Bug was, the stronger its cultivation and more terrifying its combat abilities.
Earlier, the ones that Zhang Ruochen and Martial Saint Canglan had encountered were the size of fingernails. Even then, Thousand-pattern Saint Weapons couldn't penetrate them.
Now, there were many more insects on the trunk. Some were even the size of basins.
Zhang Ruochen and Martial Saint Canglan quickly collected their auras and held their breath. They stood in place without moving, afraid that the insects would wake up.
An hour later, the blue firelight on the trunk finally dimmed. All the God-swallowing Bugs fell into a slumber.
Both of them sighed in relief and retreated cautiously. They didn't stop until they reached a relatively safe area.
"So scary. If we woke them up, even a Saint King would've died, let alone us." Martial Saint Canglan's pretty eyes looked toward Zhang Ruochen. She smiled brightly. "Thank you for that!"
"I only stopped you because I was worried that you'd kill me too." Zhang Ruochen's attention was on the Divine Sky-connecting Tree in the distance. His eyes were ponderous.
"What, you're unwilling to give up and still want to get the trunk?" Martial Saint Canglan understood his thoughts. "Just those God-swallowing Bugs could kill us a hundred times over. I suspect there are even more powerful things deep within the tree trunk. After all, it's been there for 100,000 years. It wouldn't be strange, no matter how many terrifying things it could produce."
Zhang Ruochen was silent for a bit. Then he sat down cross-legged. The 144 apertures on his body shone brightly. He absorbed the divine Qi coming from the tree.
"You really are dense. You won't even look or react to me."
Martial Saint Canglan had never met a man like Zhang Ruochen. He acted like she didn't exist. Did her beauty, figure, status, and cultivation not interest him at all?
Seeing that Zhang Ruochen was cultivating seriously, Martial Saint Canglan also calmed down.
This is indeed a great place for cultivation. If I can absorb enough divine Qi from the tree, adding to the Chaotic Qi from Zhang Ruochen, I can have a breakthrough.
After all the battles in recent times, Martial Saint Canglan had new understandings of the Martial Way. After these two special encounters, she was confident in entering the Heaven Pass Realm.
Thinking of this, she no longer waited. She went to another spot and started absorbing the divine Qi.
She didn't know that huge changes were occurring within Zhang Ruochen.
The Universe Spiritual Map sped up its absorption of the divine tree's Qi. More and more cracks appeared on the surface of the scroll. In addition to the Chaotic Qi, another powerful type of Qi flooded out, quickly melding into Zhang Ruochen's flesh.
After absorbing that Qi, Zhang Ruochen's vitality improved vastly. Even if he maintained his current cultivation, he could easily live to be 1,000 years old. Other than him, no other human Saint could have such a long life.
Zhang Ruochen was clear that it was getting closer and closer to the birth of the Universe World. Thus, he worked harder on absorbing the divine Qi.
Boom!
After who knew how long, there was a giant explosion in his Sea of Qi.
The Universe Spiritual Qi exploded, turning into dust. The powerful Chaotic Qi flooded out, filling Zhang Ruochen's Sea of Qi.
In addition, Zhang Ruochen felt his body turn heavy. He stooped, unable to keep his back straight anymore. His body felt like it weighed as much as a world. It was even hard to breathe.
It wasn't that his body had really become heavy but that an invisible pressure gave him this feeling.
Of course, it wasn't just a feeling. He indeed had a new world born within him. It was hovering in his Sea of Qi.
"Is this the Universe World?"
The Universe World didn't seem very big. It was like a small continent, covered in five-colored Chaotic Qi. It looked quite mysterious.
Zhang Ruochen formed a saint soul clone and entered the atmosphere of the Universe World.
It was like he'd instantly stepped into a different space. The ground under him expanded infinitely, becoming extremely vast. He couldn't see the end at all. He couldn't figure out this miraculous feeling.
The Universe World is clearly in my Sea of Qi and existing in the same space. How come it looks so small on the outside but becomes so large inside?
Zhang Ruochen thought carefully. A moment later, he smiled.
I almost entered a mental blind spot. I can't believe it's this easy. The Universe World is actually a huge spatial ring.
The spatial ring's medium was a ring. The medium that the Universe World used was Zhang Ruochen's body. He could be called "Heir of the Universe World" or directly called the "Universe World."
He and the Universe World had become one. This was why his body felt so heavy.
"Master, what is this place?" the Holy Carnivorous Flower's voice sounded within him.
Earlier, when the Universe World's Qi of Life had entered Zhang Ruochen's body, it also healed the Holy Carnivorous Flower, waking it up.
"The Universe World," Zhang Ruochen said.
Boom.
Kaboom.
…
The ground shook violently. On the horizon, a black cloud of demonic Qi flooded over. Lightning and thunder flashed inside the cloud. Shocking roars traveled out.
A 1,300-foot-tall Demon Ape charged out of the cloud. It radiated with ancient and savage Qi. When it faced mountains thousands of feet tall, it just slammed through. When it met ravines, it crossed over with one step.
Soon, the Demon Ape was before Zhang Ruochen. It lowered itself onto one knee. Forming a fist, it punched the ground with a resounding boom.
"Greetings, Master." The Demon Ape's voice was very rich and echoed like thunder.
Zhang Ruochen was slightly shocked. Studying the Demon Ape, he said. "One thousand and three hundred feet… You've already completed the seventh cultivation of the Ten Days of Demons, becoming a giant demonic ape?"
Blackie had taught the Ten Days of Demons to the Demon Ape, boasting that it was a secret scroll from the Taigu Giant Apes. Once it completed the seventh level, it could transform into the body of a giant demonic ape. It could topple rivers and mountains and be able to go everywhere in the world.
Back then, Zhang Ruochen hadn't believed Blackie. He thought that it was lying just to get followers. After seeing the Demon Ape's shocking changes, Zhang Ruochen finally believed it.
Another demonic cloud rushed over from the horizon. One could vaguely see a huge dragon inside.
A familiar voice sounded from within the demonic cloud. "It has indeed completed the seventh level of the Ten Days of Demons. But it's still no match for me."
A 20-mile-long dragon was curled up in the sky. It radiated with tremendous dragon might and Demonic Qi. The entire world was shaking.
The huge dragon rushed down. When it landed, it actually turned into a fat rabbit with a stick of golden ginseng in its hands. It chomped down with a loud crack.
Zhang Ruochen could obviously see that the ginseng was very valuable. It wasn't regular spiritual medicine. It was saintly medicine.
The rabbit was eating saintly medicine like it was ginseng.
Zhang Ruochen didn't splurge this much. Seeing this scene, his heart clenched painfully. It wasn't that he was stingy. After all, even a Supreme Saint would shake in anger to see a rabbit waste saintly medicine like this.
"Who said I can't beat you? I can squash you with a fist."
The Demon Ape's eyes turned red. It stood up and roared into the sky. The sky instantly changed and the ground shook. Then it punched at Guoguo.
Guoguo didn't step back either. It transformed back into a huge demonic dragon and started fighting with the Demon Ape.
The two savage beasts both had incredible changes compared to before. They weren't much different from two Taigu beasts.
This rabbit can actually evolve into a dragon. It seems that the Sky-swallowing Skill that Blackie taught it isn't fake either.
The Sky-swallowing Skill was a top skill of the Sky-swallowing Demonic Dragon tribe. Other creatures could also transform into a dragon after cultivating it to a certain level.
He wondered if Guoguo after the baptism was stronger than the Sky-swallowing Demonic Dragon or not.
"You think it's incredible that it can become a Sky-swallowing Demonic Dragon? If you go look at the remaining saintly medicines in your garden, you won't think it's shocking anymore."
A lovely feminine voice sounded in Zhang Ruochen's ears.
He smelled a light fragrance. Turning around, he saw Princess White Li standing in the near distance. She wore a white robe and her long black hair fluttered in the wind. Specks of light radiated from her snowy-white skin. She practically had the body of a beautiful fairy.
"It destroyed most of the saintly medicine in the garden?" Zhang Ruochen asked.
"That's not all." Princess White Li smiled. Her mesmerizing eyes fluttered at Zhang Ruochen.
Seeing her eyes, Zhang Ruochen's heart sank. "It ate the divine medicine too?"
He had planted the Seven Star Sacred Tuber in the Universe World. That was true divine medicine and countless times more precious than the Thousand-leaf Saint Heart Grass. Zhang Ruochen placed heavy importance on it too.
The plant had seven leaves in total. One of them was shaped like a phoenix. After he'd fed it to Sword Saint Xuanji, he came back to life.
One could imagine that divine medicine could definitely change one's fate.
Zhang Ruochen flashed and disappeared from the spot. A while later, he appeared in the divine medicine garden.
Before, the divine medicine garden had many saintly medicines. After the baptism, more saintly medicines should have started growing. However, it was filled with low-level spiritual medicines now. There were only a few saintly medicines scattered about.
What hurt Zhang Ruochen even more was that the Seven Star Sacred Tuber only had two leaves left.
He'd given the phoenix leaf to Sword Saint Xuanji and kirin leaf to Han Xue. There should have been five leaves left. The blue dragon, white tiger, and Xuanwu leaves had all been eaten.