Chapter 532 - 529: Leaving the Netherworld with Abyss Evil Water
At that moment, the Soul Devouring Vine Demon was gradually undergoing a transformation. Not only had its roots become thicker and sturdier, but its main trunk also started to grow horizontally, becoming more upright and robust, and even the originally delicate and flexible vines were evolving towards branching like that of a World Tree, seemingly taking on the form of a fledgling World Tree.
It seemed that compared to divine trees like the World Tree, the Soul Devouring Vine Demon was far too inferior, which was why it was so profoundly affected.
Just like the Spring and Autumn Cicada, which had initially only sipped the sap of the Spring and Autumn Ancient Tree and ended up being influenced by the power of the ancient tree. It suppressed its own bloodline and transformed into a strange insect governed by the Time Law.
If the Soul Devouring Vine Demon could be likened to an ordinary Spiritual Beast in the Cultivation World, then the World Tree could almost be considered a top-level Divine Beast or Demon King that had achieved Creation. The disparity between the two was truly too vast to measure with ordinary metrics, so Qin Feng could understand the Vine Demon’s transformation after the integration.
However, as for what it would ultimately become, that would take some time to determine.
Originally, with the Soul Devouring Vine Demon’s powerful Regeneration Divine Power, even if it fell into a deep slumber, it could still grow its vines rapidly and restore itself as long as there was enough power to support it.
But now, because of the fusion with the World Tree Root, its body had undergone earth-shattering changes, and the growth rate before firmly stabilizing its form became very slow.
Qin Feng was in no rush, instead, he felt joyful.
Now that the Soul Devouring Vine Demon had successfully merged, it was akin to leaping from an ordinary Spirit Plant to one of the most top-level Divine Plants in the Ten Thousand Worlds.
Although it had only merged with a small section of the tree root, not the entire World Tree, it was still enough to benefit it indefinitely.
Moreover, the Soul Devouring Vine Demon had an advantage over the World Tree; it had already awakened its Spiritual Intelligence and even undergone Transformation.
The World Tree was undoubtedly powerful, but because of its overwhelming strength, it was innately subject to significant limitations.
Not to mention Transformation, even its Spiritual Intelligence was somewhat vague and not fully born. It mainly acted on instinct, which is why it allowed the Poison Dragon to damage its root system without retaliating in the Unending Spring.
But with its Spiritual Intelligence, the Soul Devouring Vine Demon could not only practice autonomously but could also cultivate in any direction according to Qin Feng’s demands.
There were many Wood Element Techniques in the Cultivation World. Apart from the fundamental Life Principle, it could also practice other Wood Element Techniques.
More importantly, this successful fusion also showed Qin Feng other possibilities; since the Soul Devouring Vine Demon was showing signs of transforming into a Tree Demon, that meant he could fuse it with other special Spirit Plants and Tree Demons in the future.
For instance, the War Ancient Trees he had once seen in another world.
He had long coveted the formidable combat power of the War Ancient Trees. If he allowed the Soul Devouring Vine Demon to merge with a War Ancient Tree, coupled with the colossal body of the World Tree and its own Regeneration Divine Power, it would be an unparalleled existence among its Plant Clan peers. Which Tree Demon could claim to possess greater war power than it?
Of course, these plans would have to wait until he returned to his Sect. He would check on Elder Luo Zhancheng’s progress in that world, and if things were going well, they might have already conquered the Elf Forest. Then, he could simply exchange his achievements with the Sect for a War Ancient Tree.
If that didn’t work, he could make the trip himself. With his current war power, as long as he didn’t alarm the Demigod Realm elves, he would be capable of seizing a War Ancient Tree from the Elf Forest.
Soon, Qin Feng put his thoughts aside and prepared to leave this place.
However, before departing, he glanced at the Spring of Death. In the end, he decided to relocate the Divine Spring, brimming with the breath of death, into the Demon Refining Pot to keep the Netherworld Water company.
Perhaps, merging with the Netherworld Water would also be a good approach.
Qin Feng pondered in his heart.
The Netherworld Water inside the Netherworld Treasure Pearl was only so plentiful. Below the Primordial Spirit Realm, it could still be quite imposing, but to confront Immortals and Divine beings, it seemed somewhat inadequate.
It wasn’t that the Netherworld posed no threat to those who had achieved Immortality; rather, the quantity was simply too small. For Immortals, it was nothing more than a minor splash—letting even this small amount of Netherworld Water crash against them wouldn’t be likely to break through their defenses.
Although not copious, the water gushing from the Spring of Death, like the Life Spring, possessed growth potential. If Qin Feng had the ability to gather sufficient Creation Energy, even turning the Spring of Death into an existence comparable to the Netherworld wasn’t impossible.
Of course, such a possibility was practically nonexistent, given that the Netherworld was a majestic river evolved from the combined forces of an entire realm within the Netherworld. Even if Qin Feng were to reach the top level of the Creation Realm, he definitely wouldn’t have the capability to elevate the Spring of Death to the level of the Netherworld.
However, Qin Feng discovered an odd phenomenon—Netherworld by name was also denoted as a spring.
Could it be that the source of the Netherworld was also a spring eye, only countless times larger than both the Spring of Death and the Life Spring, and even Hevalmir, known for its unfailing supply, was far inferior?
He shook his head and quickly cast this thought aside.
Regardless of how the Netherworld came into being, it didn’t have much to do with him, as even Ghost Ancestor Cang Yang could only take advantage of the Netherworld’s top-tier powerhouses’ unguarded moments to steal a small section of it. Qin Feng was still far from reaching the realm of the Ghost Ancestor.
Once again, he slipped underground and transported the Spring of Death into the Demon Refining Pot.
Because the Netherworld Treasure Pearl was essentially a spatial Immortal Artifact, Qin Feng didn’t need to refine a space treasure and set up the Sumeru Prohibition like he had with the previously contained Life Spring.
He hesitated for a moment but ultimately decided to place the Spring of Death into the Netherworld Water.
Accompanied by a gurgling sound, a burst of spray suddenly arose within the eye of the Spring of Death, making the Netherworld Water seem as if it was boiling. Clearly, there was some adverse reaction when these two types of spring water merged.
The Spring of Death contained Death Qi that was pure to the extreme, with not a single Undead soul within.
In fact, throughout the long years, other Undead had discovered this place and attempted to cultivate with the aid of the Spring of Death, hoping to attain the role of a Death God, or even higher realms.
But without exception, all the Undead that entered were turned into the purest Death Qi and assimilated into the spring water.
Even the few who did not enter were overcome by greed and drank too much of the Death Spring Water; they ultimately failed to digest it completely and met the fate of soul dissolution.
The reason for this phenomenon was because the Law within the Spring of Death was too domineering.
The Life Spring simply drew in Spiritual Energy from the Underground Spiritual Veins and transformed it into life force. However, the Spring of Death could absorb and refine any kind of energy to sustain itself. These waters also possessed the characteristics of the Spring of Death, with exceedingly strong corrosive properties that ordinary Undead simply could not withstand.
The Netherworld, however, was different from the Spring of Death—it was a domain where souls sank into oblivion.
As two types of Yin Spring Dead Water born from the Netherworld, they wouldn’t dissolve the power of souls but instead could accommodate the existence of millions of aggrieved souls. Yet, at the same time, they left the souls trapped in the Netherworld without the possibility of reincarnation.
The moment these two springs with similar yet starkly different properties made contact, signs of direct opposition and mutual devouring appeared.
The force within the Spring of Death that dissolved souls and converted them into Death Qi surged continuously, relentlessly corroding the aggrieved souls within the Netherworld Water. A multitude of pitiful howls of aggrieved souls and Fierce Ghosts turned into Death Qi, becoming a nourishing power for the Spring of Death.
If this continued, the vengeful spirits in the Netherworld Water would surely not escape death.
However, the influence was mutual, and after all, the Netherworld, even when set against the Cosmic Great Thousand Void Ten Thousand Realms, was the top-level Divine Spring, the most powerful Evil Water, a tier stronger than the Spring of Death.
Although this Netherworld Water had turned into sourceless water after being refined into the Netherworld Treasure Pearl, lacking in follow-up power, its quantity still far exceeded the Death Spring, which only spanned about a zhang in diameter, by hundreds of thousands of times.
Thus, when the Death Spring Water mixed with the Netherworld Water, while refining the vengeful spirits and Fierce Ghosts within, it was likewise influenced by the Netherworld Water. Ultimately, after nearly half of the vengeful spirits were refined by the Spring of Death, the Death Spring Water also gradually changed some of its properties under the influence of the Netherworld Water, turning into Evil Water that could accommodate the retention of souls!
However, such a change would require a long time of subtle influence to become completely stable. Currently, those Evil Ghosts that survived in the water were mainly due to their soul bodies being relatively strong.
Qin Feng estimated that even if the Spring of Death could allow undead to survive in its waters in the future, there would probably be considerable restrictions—at the very least, soul bodies without sufficient soul power would still be unable to escape being refined into Death Qi.
One good thing was that although the vengeful spirits in the water still couldn’t completely free themselves from the springs, their lot had improved somewhat compared to the past.
Previously, vengeful spirits in the Netherworld Water could only show their faces under the water, but now the strongest few could condense the Evil Water to form spectral bodies on the surface of the water and even use spells to drag the souls of other living beings into it, which represented a greater change from before.
However, once these two types of spring water merged into one, possessing both characteristics, they should also be given a new name; otherwise, it wouldn’t be quite fitting to still call them by their original names.
Perhaps they should be named Abyss Evil Water?!
Qin Feng stroked his chin, pondering for a long while.
Then, not waiting for the two types of Evil Water to completely settle down, he left the underground space. It would take time for the Netherworld Water to fully merge into the Spring of Death; there was no need to keep waiting here. It was fine to let them slowly integrate on their own.
Exiting the underground passage, even though he had moved the two great Divine Springs from below, he still waved his sleeve and shifted a massive rock over to block the entrance.
Deep within the underground space existed a massive node of the earth’s spiritual veins. If powerful undead entered, they might suddenly increase in strength and advance to become Death Gods. Biluo was certainly going to embark on an expedition to this world in the future, so there was no need to gratuitously create a few powerful competitors.
After sealing the entrance, Qin Feng lifted his gaze and noticed several undead figures unexpectedly appearing in the valley.
These ordinary undead lacked intelligence. After several months had passed, they had forgotten the shock that the Netherworld Water had brought them in the previous battle, which is why these creatures dared to intrude into the valley.
The Hellhound had been with Qin Feng in the underground space and hadn’t gone out; without the lingering scent of strong beings in the valley, these creatures naturally had no fear.
However, as soon as Qin Feng’s figure along with the Hellhound appeared, the undead that were previously wandering aimlessly immediately felt panic deep within their souls and quickly turned to flee.
In reality, it was mainly the Hellhound’s powerful ferocious aura that scared off these ordinary undead. As for Qin Feng, his aura wasn’t obvious, in the eyes of the undead not only was there no threat, but they might even see through his flesh and blood body, thereby drawing their covetous gaze.
Qin Feng took steps that spanned dozens of zhang, gliding effortlessly out of the valley. After scanning left and right, he found no formidable beings nearby apart from those wandering undead.
It seemed that the battle last time really did intimidate those undead with spiritual intelligence. Therefore, no undead powerhouses had come to cause trouble during this time.
“Let’s go!”
His form lightly soared up, landing on the back of the Hellhound, “We’re headed to the Rainbow Bridge!”
“As you command, Master!”
The Hellhound was thrilled to become its master’s mount. In its excitement, it didn’t even ask why its master wanted to go to the Rainbow Bridge before it started striding forward with its long limbs, rushing towards the direction of the Rainbow Bridge as swiftly as lightning.
Its speed was extremely fast, bulldozing straight through everything along the way, not knowing how many bones it crushed or how many wandering, unconscious Undead it sent flying. Even when passing through territories of powerful Undead, it didn’t dodge or hesitate but leapt over their slumbering graveyards in a few bounds, heading straight into the distance.
Some of the mighty Undead were discontent with this sudden intrusion, but when they realized it was a ferocious Hellhound, they withdrew their heads one after another, showing no intention of picking a fight with it.
Clearly, in the Realm of the Undead, the Hellhound was known as a notoriously vile creature, for these fierce monsters naturally fed on the souls and spirits of the Undead, which was even more detestable than the Evil Dragons and snakes of the Mist Country.
Moreover, the Hellhound possessed many methods specifically designed to deal with the Undead, so once they recognized it, not one of them wanted to step forward.
Initially, Qin Feng was worried that the bold creature might recklessly provoke trouble, potentially attracting the attention of a Demigod Realm or higher realm Undead powerhouse, which would certainly lead to problems.
However, when he opened his Yin Yang Ghost Eye, he noticed some areas had an excessively strong aura. But before he could warn it, the Hellhound had already instinctively avoided those spots.
Qin Feng then realized that the Hellhound had grown up in the Realm of the Undead, its eyes naturally capable of seeing through Yin and Yang, discerning life and death. Unlike him, who needed to activate powers like the Spiritual Eye, this creature innately had the ability to see such sights.
With this understanding, Qin Feng immediately eased his worries and left the task of travelling entirely to the Hellhound. He then sat cross-legged on the back of the Hellhound, pondering his next course of action.
Through this trip across the three great domains of the Lower World, he had reaped a bounty of rewards. Not only had he gathered intelligence on the World Tree and the Evil Dragon within the Mist Country, but he had also traversed a great expanse across the Realm of the Undead and the Fire Country, gaining countless benefits.
He felt it was almost time to return to the Cultivation World.
Although this trial had only lasted two or three years, the secrets he had acquired in the Lower World were enough to ensure a share of Qi Fortune, not to mention the intelligence about the twilight of all gods and the impending Great Calamity.
Moreover, there were certainly disciples with good luck, like Li Miao Zhen, who under various serendipitous circumstances had obtained different identities or learned some secret news.
If someone else had also learned about the impending doom of all gods and returned to report in Biluo before him, his contribution would be diminished by half, so it was better for him to return as soon as possible.
However, before returning, he needed to communicate with Senior Sister Li Miao Zhen to see how things were progressing on her end. If she had nearly finished probing the inner strength of Asgard Divine Country, he could invite her to return to Biluo with him.
Compared to the apocalyptic calamity of the twilight of all gods, the strength of the Divine Country was indeed more accessible to investigate. Li Miao Zhen absolutely should not delay her return to Biluo until the last minute, otherwise, disciples from other sects were likely to get the upper hand.
Sitting on the back of the Hellhound, Qin Feng could feel the fierce wind against his face as he thought about Li Miao Zhen’s affairs.
Having not seen her for so long, he wondered whether Senior Sister Li would be annoyed that he hadn’t shown up all this time?
After all, he had previously promised to visit the Rainbow Bridge every few months, yet ever since his arrival in the Lower World, he had been preoccupied with traveling between the three great domains, completely forgetting to return to Midgard.
But thinking of Li Miao Zhen’s temperament, knowing the nature of his senior sister, at most she would give him a few knocks before letting the matter slide.
With this thought, Qin Feng felt relieved at last!