Chapter 835: Harvest, Ranking (II)

Li Hao nodded and looked at the colossal golden tree. So everyone’s body would be strengthened if they devoured the indestructible matter! Although there were many resources at present that could enhance the body, such as sword energy or Water of Life, or even additional possibilities from Li Hao’s own inspiration, anything that could swiftly fortify the body in the here and now was a good development for everyone.

“How do we absorb this matter?”

“You have not cultivated the golden body, so you will find it difficult to. Let Deputy Zhou do so. You can cultivate with what he exudes after devouring the matter!”

“I can indeed do that.” Deputy Zhou nodded. This truly was out of reach for most people.

“Thank goodness for the deputy.” Li Hao grinned. “Those two hundred drops of Water of Life weren’t a waste!”

“......” Deputy Zhou didn’t dignify that comment with a response.

“Stop lying down, everyone. It’s time for a feast!” Li Hao laughed loudly.

The group promptly surged in their direction; Chen Zhongtian churned with panic when he heard the announcement. He was still coalescing his supernatural characters and was so strong that he needed to do multiple characters at once. Hence, he needed time. But wouldn’t he be missing out on the indestructible matter if everyone went to absorb it right now?

Therefore, he forcefully broke off the process of tracing characters and permitted rampaging energy to explode in his body. He dragged his tattered body in the group’s direction and nearly crawled to cover the distance! He wanted a share of the bounty no matter how painful it was!

The rest of the group ignored him. It was a testament to his own ability if he could drag his battered body to them. Li Hao was in no hurry to take in the energy. He looked at the partially shriveled coconuts at the top of the tree and asked curiously, “What are those coconuts used for?”

“Those aren’t coconuts,” the little tree responded after some thought. “This plant spirit is known as the Golden Palm among monster spirit pedigree...”

“So... coconuts then.”

“......” The little tree didn’t want to argue. “These coconuts have the effect of strengthening one’s core essence. I’m not certain what their actual function is either. They might not be ripe yet as they look like they’re still growing to me. Regardless, they’ll have some effect. Strengthening the body is a given and they might be able to fortify mental strength...”

Li Hao glanced at the fruit—there were forty-two coconuts total. He reached out for one, but found that he couldn’t pluck a fruit off the tree. He summoned Stellaris to cut them off and slice into one.

The same power that could be found in Water of Life surged out amid a milky-white liquid. Li Hao dipped his finger into it and licked it for a taste. A faint sense of life energy surged into his body. The young man raised the coconut for a drink; energy burgeoned within his body as his depleted mind intent began revitalizing.

“This is great stuff!” Li Hao raised an eyebrow. It was much more useful than Water of Life as it could both strengthen mind intent and the physical body.

Since it wasn’t fully ripened, the taste was a bit bitter and dry. That was no problem as the fruit likely wouldn’t have gone to Li Hao if it’d ripened. Perhaps the coconut tree itself would’ve eaten it. It wasn’t impossible for a plant spirit to consume its own fruit.

Li Hao looked at the big tree again—there were naturally more benefits to be had after killing the coconut tree. There was also its main body to consider. Since its defensive capabilities were so strong, perhaps its body could be compressed into a shield or a club. That would make for a very powerful weapon.

Or perhaps he could let the little tree devour it?

On second thought, the little tree was limited in its capabilities. It should also be much stronger after everything it’d absorbed on the battlefield.

“Senior Tree... Have you mostly... recovered to peak strength by now?”

“I should be there after I finish absorbing the core origin,” the little tree answered after some silence.

“True peak Apex?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Do you stand a chance of entering the Immortal level?” Li Hao nodded.

“That... would be hard!” sighed the little tree. “With a lack of core origin dao, it would take a large infusion of core origin energy for an advancement to be possible. This is why the plant spirits at Tranquil Star want to invade Silver Moon—there’s a lot of powerful plant spirits asleep in the province.”

“Then... can General Pagoda awaken if I feed the coconut tree’s body to the general?”

The little tree regarded the question with resignation. It wanted to devour the coconut tree, but knew there wasn’t much hope of that after Li Hao’s question. It wouldn’t make it to the Immortal level even after eating the tree, but if that one devoured the tree... It could probably awaken.

“Ah... pretty much!”

“Don’t rush, Senior Tree, this was just the first occasion,” Li Hao laughed. “There might be a second, and a third to come. Senior Tree can just store enough core origin power for now, you won’t lack this resource when you have a hope of rising to Immortal!”

That made sense to the little tree upon further thought, so it didn’t say anything else. Li Hao, on the other hand, thought rapidly. If this tree could revitalize General Pagoda... that would be quite the unexpected surprise. Director General Wang had mentioned that they would need at least one hundred million mysterious power stones to help the general recover. Li Hao had collected a great deal lately, but also expended a lot of their gains. He only had roughly forty million stones left.

That wasn’t enough for General Pagoda. But if the big tree’s body could be used in place of one hundred million stones, that would be an ideal recycling of useless material. At least, the body was useless to Li Hao’s group because they lacked the means to forge it into a weapon. There was no craftsman skilled enough or powerhouse strong enough to utilize an Immortal’s body.

Li Hao said nothing further and refrained from further observation. He sat down cross-legged and operated the Five Styles Breathing Method. Large quantities of indestructible matter entered his body to nourish his organs and physical body.

He quickly switched to the secret art of wind and thunder as he most ardently wished to grasp their auras. He had some thoughts in mind when it came to the aura of thunder, thanks to Panther’s usage of the Monster Spirit Envoy projection. The young man had truly sensed a wisp of the power behind a heavenly tribulation when the golden horns erupted with lightning—it was the strength of utter destruction, like it would annihilate the world!

What a pity that it’d lasted for only a split second before vanishing. Otherwise, the coconut tree might’ve been struck down on the spot.

All sorts of thoughts floated into his mind and Li Hao thought of the cosmos he’d seen before. He abruptly summoned a vast quantity of energy, concentrating it on a blank spot in his body instead of the usual areas. Gradually, a tiny supernatural lock floated into view.

A strange look entered Li Hao’s eyes when he opened them. The dark and light supernatural locks manifested in his body—stronger than before. He casually tossed Stellaris into the pool of Water of Life. The little sword furiously absorbed the resource and sent a peculiar wave of sword energy into the young man’s body.

Li Hao directed the sword energy to certain areas according to his memories. Large sums of sword energy wafted out of his body; the powerhouses around him absorbed the leaking sword energy in return. The young man didn’t mind and continued his motions.

He slowly shifted more supernatural locks into visibility. They were very small and very weak. Despite the large quantity of energy he’d expended on them, they weren’t of any help to him. They were so weak that there would be no effect whatsoever if he snapped them. This was just a process of laying foundations to the young man.

He lit up with joy. As he thought, there were more than fourteen supernatural locks in the human body. He couldn’t discern what attribute these new locks were or what their purpose was, but they were the basis of his future strength.

Even the little tree winced at how much Water of Life Li Hao was consuming. The rest of the group looked at the young man with confusion.

Can you digest so much? This is a bit of a waste, isn’t it?

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

But no one voiced their concerns. Their bountiful harvest today was already a rare occasion in their lives. Not to mention, Li Hao, the little tree, and Panther were the main reasons for their success.

Everyone furiously drank in energy—sword energy, Water of Life, indestructible material... Any one of these types of strength was a highly sophisticated force that they’d never encountered before.

.......

As Li Hao’s group cultivated.

An endless expanse of darkness separated the end of this set of ruins. At its other end was a city. A plant spirit that looked like a rose swayed in the middle of a great palace hall. It transformed into a feminine humanoid shape and looked toward the end of the darkness!

There was a peculiar relationship between the nine ministries and royal family. Or rather, the ruins that they occupied had a special relationship with each other. Just as General Pagoda and its subordinates protected Battle Heaven, there was often more than one plant spirit protecting one city.

Thirty-six plant spirits safeguarded Battle Heaven—General Pagoda was just their core. The same went for Tranquil Star. The nine ministries occupied the nine most critical spots, but the royal family controlled the central area. The rose’s status was similar to General Pagoda’s.

An old man sitting in the middle of the palace opened his eyes with confusion. One of the chains on his body had suddenly snapped. It was for that reason that he’d shaken off some of his constraints. “Honored One,” he looked at the rose. “Have there been more disturbances outside? Has someone killed the old thing?”

Chen Zhongtian seemed to be dead!

The nine ministers once placed nine seals on him, but now three were broken. The other two were negligible, but the destruction of Chen Zhongtian’s seal represented an enormous opportunity for the old king!

He could sense that the nine ministries could barely keep him under control! The woman that the rose had transformed into stared intently into the distance. She asked with bafflement after a while, “Perhaps! Chen Zhongtian... the old minister of the Inspectorate you speak of? If he’s dead...

“Maybe he died over at Security,” it concluded after some musing.

“Security?” A thought occurred to the old king. “The ruins that the Hus occupied?”

“Yes.”

“What would he go there for?” The Old Skystar King was surprised.

Who am I supposed to ask?

The baffled rose didn’t answer. Although they were separated by some barriers and were separated by darkness, there had indeed come the ripples of one's great dao being snapped just now. Of course, identification was difficult these days due to the lack of core origin dao. If this was back in the day, the snapping of someone’s dao would arouse natural phenomena.