Five thousand kilometers from the Blackwood Field lay a vast, flat, empty stretch of terrain.
In the wilderness, a small city was built from huge stones. It had a watchtower, martial arts arena, and a mansion.
The patrolling army which was sent by the Ministry of War to the Primitive World of the Wood Spirit was stationed in this city. Although their numbers were few, the army was entirely made up of elite sergeants.
A sergeant who was standing on the watchtower saw a blood pillar at the horizon. The blood pillar shot up, straight into the sky, piercing through the clouds.
The entire Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi of the Primitive World of the Wood Spirit began trembling.
The sergeant then rushed to the city and reported the incident to the patrolling army's Commander in Chief.
"Blackwood Field is a heavily guarded, restricted area as ordered by the Ministry of War. Since a blood pillar has suddenly surged from the altar deep in Blackwood Field, something extraordinary must be happening."
The Commander ordered the first and second patrol teams to rush into Blackwood Field and investigate the sudden event.
Each little team had only ten people.
However, the first and second patrol teams were made up of masters. Even the weakest sergeant had achieved the Completion of Heaven Realm.
Not to mention the captains of the patrol teams, who were superiors of the Fourth Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm. The Holy Meridians in their bodies had already activated, which allowed them to convert their Genuine Qi into a small amount of Spiritual Qi.
With their strength, nobody could stand against them, even the treeman tribe.
"Blackwood Field was the most restricted place. If something happened here, it might even reach the Heavens and alert Her Majesty. We must be careful and not act recklessly."
The captain of the first patrol team looked serious. He was the first to ride on the Puple Tiger-Like Dragon Beast, and he flew with haste.
The other sergeants then followed. They, too, flew savage beasts towards Blackwood Field.
Inside the stone gate, an uncommon chill cooled the surroundings. Icicle debris littered the ground, giving off a squeaking sound when stepped on.
Zhang Ruochen exuded both Space Domain and Spiritual Power. He climbed carefully down the underground stone ladder.
In the midst of his Qi Pool, the Yin Yang Wooden Map became active.
The scroll emitted a dim light.
Obviously, it had sensed the Qi of Origin in the Primitive World of the Wood Spirit. As Zhang Ruochen descended, the light emitted by the Yin Yang Wooden Map became brighter and brighter.
After a while, Zhang Ruochen arrived at the bottom of the altar.
The space of the altar was quite vast, about the size of four football fields put together. It was dark. However, a red light glowed in the center of the space.
Zhang Ruochen walked towards the light. He discovered that the red light was actually a gargantuan blood pool.
The pool was full of blood. It had treeman's blood, as well as the blood of savage beasts and humans. The mixed blood coagulated with a pungent stench.
A few lines were engraved at the edge of the blood pool.
The lines were connected to the blood pool at one end and to the ground at the other. From far away, the lines looked like blood vessels. The effect was quite eerie.
"Why is there so much savage beast and human blood here?"
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen realized an extreme energy was approaching swiftly from the rear.
Daunted by fear, he quickly turned around.
"Shuah!"
A shadow flashed by his sight.
Before he could even see what the person looked like, a strong power hit him in the chest, throwing him backwards.
"Bang!"
Zhang Ruochen crashed against the stone wall and fell to the ground. With one hand on the floor, he let out a cry. Blood trickled from his mouth.
He raised his head and looked over at the blood pool. By the pool stood a small old man in a gray robe. He was only about 1.6 meters tall.
It appeared to be a human figure, but in fact, it was a treeman.
His body was made up of tree roots as thick as a finger. Even his hair and beards were wooden strands. His body was entirely wooden.
"Are you the Treeman Ancestor of the treeman tribe?"
Zhang Ruochen held on to his injury and slowly stood up. He stared at the elder who was standing opposite.
Zhang Ruochen had heard the name of "Tree Progenitor" from the treemen.
Among the treeman tribe, only one treeman had such powerful cultivation, the one and only Tree Progenitor.
The Tree Progenitor spoke with a gruff voice, "Extraterritorial Death, how dare you trespass in this place! What do you want?"
A strong power exuded subtly from the body of Tree Progenitor. It sought to obliterate Zhang Ruochen's will.
Zhang Ruochen remained untouched. He smiled and said, "I would like to ask you, why is there so much savage beast and human blood below the altar? Where did the blood come from?"
The Tree Progenitor's strike seemed to seriously wound Zhang Ruochen.
However, in reality, he was protected by the Dragon Pearl. So, he had not suffered any serious blow. Nonetheless, he looked like he was seriously injured after he spit out blood.
In this way, he could lower the Tree Progenitor's guard. When a timely opportunity arose, he could launch a thunderous strike and reverse the situation.
The Tree Progenitor answered, "Since you will be a dead man soon, I'll just tell you. The blood in the pool was transported by a sergeant of your human tribe."
Zhang Ruochen was astonished and asked, "The people from Ministry of War transported the blood here?"
"It must be! We Blackwood treeman tribe made a secret agreement with the human tribe. We will guard the altar, if they leave us alive and let us continue to breed in Blackwood Field," The Tree Progenitor said.
Zhang Ruochen followed up with another question. "What's the use of the blood that is stored in the altar?"
"I don't know." The Tree Progenitor shook its head.
Suddenly, the Tree Progenitor looked merciless. He said, "You have asked too much. I'll send you to hell now."
"Swoosh!"
The Tree Progenitor stuck out a palm. It was full of seven wooden rods.
The seven rods were sharp, as if seven long spears protruded. Their power was chilling. 49 wooden rod shadows appeared and sealed all of Zhang Ruochen's escape routes.
Although the palm seemed to be struck out casually, the power exuded was fearsome enough to eviscerate even a monk of the Third Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm.
However, Zhang Ruochen was waiting just such an opportunity. Just as the Tree Progenitor attacked with his palm, Zhang Ruochen used Space Moving to teleport behind him.
"Not good."
The Tree Progenitor was caught off guard. He felt a space fluctuation behind him, and he knew that Zhang Ruochen was already there.
He had no time to even turn around. The Tree Progenitor condensed his power immediately and struck out behind him.
"Space Vortex."
Zhang Ruochen swung his arm and chopped towards the Tree Progenitor's back.
As his palm struck out, space tore open into a two-meter-long crack.
The space underground was too small. Zhang Ruochen did not dare use Space Collapse rashly, because he feared that he, too, would be sucked into chaos. After all, he had not yet fully mastered space control.
"Chh!"
The Tree Progenitor's arm was amputated by the Space Crack. It turned into sawdust.
However, with his profound cultivation, his reactions were still fast, and he was still alive.
The Tree Progenitor leaped forward and retreated to a corner. He turned around and looked at Zhang Ruochen nervously. "You're not injured?"
"Of course I'm injured, but not as bad as you think."
Zhang Ruochen added, "That's why you're the Tree Progenitor, with such speed. That strike did not even kill you."
"Since you could not kill me, then the next person who should be dead is you."
The broken arm of Tree Progenitor rapidly grew a few green buds. After a while, a wooden arm grew again.
"Of course I'm no match for you, but killing me won't be easy."
Having said this, Zhang Ruochen jumped into the blood pool without any hesitation.
After that, his body completely sank into it.
"This Extraterritorial Death is too dumb to know that this is not a normal blood pool. This blood pool contains a wicked Sacrifice Power, which is enough to refine his body into blood. He will become part of the blood pool."
The Tree Progenitor kept watching the blood pool.
After an hour, there was no sign of Zhang Ruochen in the blood pool.
He was relieved. His stiff face cracked a smile. He stroked his beard and said, "How unexpected. The Extraterritorial Death jumped into the blood pool and died. Good! I do not need to waste any energy."
Once Zhang Ruochen jumped into the blood pool, he immediately opened Space Domain, which turned into a three meter radius Qi Shield. He dove to the bottom of the blood pool.
According to the Yin Yang Wooden Map, the Qi of Origin of the Primitive World of the Wood Spirit was at the bottom.
"I've already dived for fifty meters, yet I haven't reached the bottom of the blood pool. How much savage beast and human blood is in this pool? Why did the people from the Ministry of War send the blood to this place? Perhaps they also built the altar."
Zhang Ruochen was completely puzzled.
"Swoosh!"
Suddenly, the Yin Yang Wooden Map trembled greatly. It turned into a light spot, which came out from Zhang Ruochen's head and flew towards the bottom of the blood pool.
A mini altar stood at the bottom of the blood pool. It was only nine meters tall. It was also cylindrical and filled with line carvings.
The Qi of Origin of the Primitive World of the Wood Spirit was suppressed below the altar.
"Swoosh..."
The Yin Yang Wooden Map flew towards the altar. It opened and let out some rays of light. The rays converged and formed a space door, which put the Qi of Origin directly into it.
The Yin Yang Wooden Map then rolled up and floated in the blood.
Zhang Ruochen rushed forward and grabbed it. He was intrigued. He said, "Finally, I succeeded! "Since the Yin Yang Wooden Map has absorbed the Qi of Origin of the Primitive World of the Wood Spirit, then I should be able to achieve the condition of profound practice. I must seize the opportunity and improve my Spiritual Power by a level to the 42nd level."
The Yin Yang Wooden Map absorbed the Qi of Origin of the Five Elements Primitive World, which allowed Zhang Ruochen to enter a state of profound practice. His Spiritual Power had directly improved to the 41st level.
The Qi of Origin of the Primitive World of the Wood Spirit was ten times stronger than the Qi of Origin of the Five Elements Primitive World. It was sufficient enough to improve Zhang Ruochen's Spiritual Power to the 42nd level.
Once Zhang Ruochen's Spiritual Power had reached the 42nd level, even if Zhang Ruochen only used his Spiritual Power, he could exert the power of a monk of the Fourth Change in the Fish-Dragon Realm. His strength had greatly increased.