Chapter 433: The Fusion of the Spirit Essence and the Golden Evolution

The spirit essence's emotions visibly calmed down, but it remained resolute.

"Fine, then let's make a contract."

Tang San smiled and nodded. Using his spiritual power, he quickly sketched a contract between them.

The spirit essence said,

"Your spiritual power is strong, but it's not on the same level as mine. Making a contract like this—" It had just started to speak when a blue light flashed on the spiritual power contract before it, making the entire contract seem alive, filled with a life aura.

"Divine consciousness?"

The spirit essence was shocked, and Tang San was scrutinized again. It hadn't sensed even a trace of divine consciousness from him before!

"If I wanted to devour you, I would have done it already,"

Tang San said, making a gesture of invitation.

The spirit essence hesitated no longer. A bit of golden light shot out from the center of the yellow light ball, imprinting on the contract. Instantly, the contract glowed with intertwined golden and blue light, then transformed into two streams of light, each entering the divine consciousness of Tang San and the Golden Tree spirit essence.

The contract was completed. This was a contract between peers, with no master-subordinate relationship.

Tang San's smile deepened as he looked at the Golden Tree behind the spirit essence.

"Need any help?"

"Of course not."

As a god-level Golden Tree spirit essence, merging with a young Golden Tree that hadn't developed any intelligence yet was humiliating but extremely easy.

With a flash of light, the spirit essence merged with the young tree. Immediately, the faint golden glow emitted by the Golden Tree intensified significantly. Even the Spirit Summoning Arrays beneath it lit up brightly. A large amount of elemental energy of heaven and earth rushed in.

A Golden Tree with wisdom and soul was vastly different from one that lacked them. This would accelerate its growth hundreds or even thousands of times, which was precisely what Tang San urgently needed.

After visiting the Ancestral Court, he understood even more clearly how rich the elemental energy of this plane was. With the previous state of the Golden Tree, this place could never compare to the Ancestral Court. That level of life aura was insufficient to support his companions in achieving god-level cultivation.

With that considered, it was no surprise he was so excited when he saw the Golden Tree spirit essence, and he bought it specifically in order to have it merge with the Golden Tree, giving it real life and making it an intelligent being. This way, the Golden Tree could grow rapidly and purify a massive amount of life energy, doing many beneficial things for this area and truly making it a treasure land.

In the Solstice Empire, they only exploited the Golden Trees, and those that developed intelligence were scarce, so they never truly tapped into their potential. But here, Tang San would not only

not

drain the pond to catch the fish[1] but actually dig up a larger pond and throw in more fodder so the fish could grow bigger.

As for the part of the contract about leaving after reaching the god level, Tang San wasn’t worried about it even for a split second. Once that happened, he just needed to tell the Golden Tree that he had a way to help it continue evolving, and it would probably never want to leave.

The Golden Tree emitted cracking sounds from all over. The spirit essence's fusion raised its life level, requiring it to absorb a large amount of elemental energy to replenish itself. While absorbing massively, it also released a massive amount of intense life energy.

Bathed in this life energy, Tang San's fatigue quickly dissipated, and even the life force lost due to extracting that drop of essence blood was replenished immediately.

A faint smile appeared on his face, and a mysterious glow shone in his eyes. One of the gains from this auction was already starting to show its effects.

At this moment, the Golden Tree was growing at a visibly rapid pace, and the golden light illuminated the entire Golden Valley brightly.

The patrolling Lion-Tiger Clan warriors immediately noticed the changes and felt Golden Valley's increasingly rich life aura. At the same time, they felt a sense of physical and mental comfort as if their bloodlines were being activated. Resisting the urge to roar, they silently watched from a distance as the rapidly growing tree reached closer and closer to heaven.

Tang San sat cross-legged under the tree and began to meditate and rest.

After a day and night of full-speed travel and the blood oath he had made to ease Mei Gongzi's suspicion, Tang San had been significantly drained. Now that he had recovered and relaxed, he quickly entered a state of deep meditation.

The life energy emitted by the Golden Tree bathed him, creating a layer of golden radiance on his skin, making him look dazzlingly brilliant.

In the morning, as sunlight pierced through the valley clouds and shined upon the Golden Tree, its warmth also awakened Tang San.

He opened his eyes and immediately felt an indescribable sense of comfort washing over him.

Then, he saw that the Golden Tree beside him had undergone a tremendous transformation.

The trunk was more than twice as thick as before, and it now stood over thirty meters tall. The bark was covered in cracks like a shed snakeskin, and through the cracks, another layer of fresh and healthy bark could be seen.

And this was just because the spirit essence controlled its own power in order to prevent the Golden Tree from overgrowing and becoming hollow. Otherwise, its growth would have been even more terrifying.

Over the past night, the elemental energy in the vast area surrounding Golden Valley had been completely depleted. At the same time, the life energy within Golden Valley was so dense it was almost viscous. All living beings in the area had a faint layer of golden light radiating from their bodies, a change brought about by the rapid evolution of the Golden Tree.

"Benefactor, you're awake," a familiar voice sounded.

Tang San turned his head to see the elder of the Lion-Tiger clan, as well as the Lion-Tiger Sword Saint, Big Cat, and his wife, Little Cat, waiting there. The Crimson Fox girls were also waiting on the other side.

Tang San smiled slightly and stood up. "Greetings, Elder. Hello, brother Big Cat and sister-in-law."

The Lion-Tiger Sword Saint laughed heartily. "You brought us such a big surprise with your return. Last night, the life energy was so rich that I couldn't sleep. Without the bloodline evolution, I might have been forced to break through and I would’ve been struck down by the bloodline conflict."

His cultivation order decreased after his bloodline evolved to form the Lion-Tiger Golden Astral. This was due to the compression of his bloodline power, which actually allowed his body to withstand a greater amount of energy. Therefore, he was no longer at the peak of the ninth order.

Tang San smiled. "The overall life energy here shouldn't be much less than what is available at the Ancestral Court. Moreover, as the Golden Tree grows, the life energy will become even more abundant."

The elder sighed. "This truly is a paradise! We were already filled with surprise when we first arrived here, but this surprise kept getting bigger. Thank you, benefactor. Without you, our clan might have..."

Tang San waved his hand. "Elder, let's not talk about that. I have something else to discuss with you this time."

The elder's heart stirred, and he asked, "Should we talk here or over at our place?"

The Lion-Tiger clan had built wooden houses in a corner of the Golden Valley. Their numbers were small, and they chose a secluded corner that didn't affect the valley's scenery.

Tang San said, "Let's talk here." As he spoke, he waved his hand, creating a barrier of spiritual power that enveloped him and the three members of the Lion-Tiger Clan.

He wasn't worried about the Crimson Fox girls overhearing, but he preferred the other members of the Lion-Tiger clan nearby not to hear this yet. After all, this matter needed the elder's and the Lion-Tiger Sword Saint's approval before moving forward.

"Elder, do you know about the God-Slaying Sword?" Tang San asked directly.

The elder was startled. "Of course, how can I not know it? Isn't that the weapon of the Golden Lion Great Demon King? When the God-Slaying Sword rises, gods fall!"

1. 涸泽而渔—taking the easy way out in the short term but ruining things for later. It’s about making a quick gain without thinking about the future, leaving nothing behind in the long run. It’s a warning to avoid short-sighted decisions that might solve a problem today but create more significant issues down the road. ☜