One Hundred and Six: A Celestial Phenomenon Descends

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Chapter Ten: A Celestial Omen

The battle between the three demon beasts unfolded in the blink of an eye. Each fought the others with savage, merciless ferocity. Though demon beasts possessed little intelligence, their instinct for survival was far stronger than that of human beings. Thus, whenever they fought to preserve their living territory, they became especially fearsome.

Qi Fei noticed the hidden tension before him, and the corner of his mouth curved into a faint smile. It seemed that although the three demon beasts were all cowed by the imposing might of the Eight-Winged Earthworm, they were clearly not as respectful and obedient in their hearts as they appeared on the surface.

For the moment, however, they could remain motionless only while that strange flower was on the verge of blooming. Once the flower reached the instant before its petals opened, Qi Fei felt that the situation might change considerably. How, then, was he to obtain that wondrous plant? In truth, his chief purpose was to find the Iron Poplar Needles. As for the subtle relationship among the four beasts and what might happen between them, he was merely observing it along the way.

After watching for a while and understanding the situation, Qi Fei shifted most of his attention toward the sky. He hoped that, once the white clouds gathered and the violet lightning converged, several bolts would crash down and split one or more Iron Poplar trees.

After waiting for roughly two minutes, while the four beasts maintained their various postures, the loose white clouds and scattered violet lightning finally began to draw together.

To Qi Fei’s delight, the white clouds rolled forward amid the rumble of thunder and soon drifted directly above the valley. Streaks of violet electricity crackled ominously within them, hesitating as though gathering strength for a devastating strike.

Seeing the many Iron Poplar trees beneath the clouds—each certainly more than three thousand years old—Qi Fei began to look forward to the Iron Poplar Needles Tong He had spoken of appearing afterward. Even if the Iron Poplar trees died, the needles would still require a full century to grow. Yet with the aid of the Spirit Communicating Jade, Qi Fei could hasten their growth and bring them to maturity within several years. Though that was still a long time, if he could not rescue Tong He from his predicament, it seemed to be the only method available.

Thus, all Qi Fei could do was watch as the clouds gathered above the vast grove of Iron Poplars. Naturally, his heart was filled with delight.

Just as he waited for the violet lightning to descend, a delicate floral fragrance suddenly burst forth. Though faint and elegant, it completely dispersed the surrounding stench of blood and musk.

Puzzled, Qi Fei glanced toward the valley. At once, he saw that the strange flower, which had previously remained tightly closed, was slowly spreading its petals at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It truly was a celestial omen.

The instant Qi Fei witnessed the flower bloom, the Eight-Winged Earthworm suddenly reared upright and released a joyous, shrill cry.

No one knew what this white, strange flower was, but it seemed to possess an overwhelming attraction for high-level beasts. The Golden-Silver Wolf King, the Saint-level Dragonfish, the White Giant Eagle, and the Eight-Winged Earthworm were all beings that surpassed ordinary ninth-rank creatures. They were likely among the most powerful demon beasts in this entire stretch of forest.

Yet all of them had been drawn here by that single peculiar white flower. Even a fool could tell that it was a heavenly treasure.

Of course, Qi Fei had already transplanted twenty of the flowers into the Spirit Communicating Jade. No matter how precious this one was, he would no longer be tempted by it. Only beasts like these four, who came to fight over it every time it matured, would struggle for it with their very lives.

As the Eight-Winged Earthworm gave its delighted cry, the other three demon beasts, which had remained motionless until then, suddenly transformed into streaks of light and shot toward the strange flower that was about to bloom.

As the saying went, men would die for wealth and birds for food. For the sake of this heavenly treasure, the three demon beasts seemed to have completely disregarded the Eight-Winged Earthworm’s pressure.

Moreover, they appeared to have abandoned their mutual hatred as natural enemies. The three streaks of light formed a triangular arrangement, faintly suggesting that they intended to join forces, drive away the strongest Eight-Winged Earthworm first, and settle their own disputes afterward.

One had to admit that demon beasts of this level possessed intelligence no inferior to that of humans. Their judgment and grasp of circumstances displayed many traits ordinarily associated with mankind. Yet these creatures were not merely joining forces. They were now fighting with all they had.

The Golden-Silver Wolf King slashed its claws through the air, leaving behind several illusory shadows. When it came within roughly twenty yards of the Eight-Winged Earthworm, it suddenly opened its small mouth and spat out a round, lustrous green object. Moving with astonishing speed, the object shot toward the earthworm.

The White Giant Eagle and the Dragonfish seemed to have noticed the wolf king’s action. They, too, opened their mouths and spat out a dazzling green bead and a dim gray bead respectively, sending both toward the Eight-Winged Earthworm.

Qi Fei widened his eyes.

Those were their life-bonded inner cores!

He could not understand why the three demon beasts had spat out such things to attack their enemy. The inner core was the source of most of a high-level beast’s offensive power. If it were destroyed, the beast would suffer devastating harm; even a minor injury to it would immediately inflict serious damage.

Judging from the Eight-Winged Earthworm’s imposing strength, it surely possessed the ability to injure all three inner cores. Yet the scene before Qi Fei exceeded his expectations. The instant the three inner cores appeared, the Eight-Winged Earthworm became visibly tense.

Not only did its upright body stiffen completely, but the hundreds of clawed limbs along its sides spread to their fullest extent, assuming a stance prepared to meet the attack with all its strength.

Most striking of all were its venomous fangs. The violet currents between them suddenly intensified and thickened, forming a terrifying electric arc as thick as a man’s thigh.

The three demon beasts, however, seemed to know exactly what techniques it possessed. At the sight of this, they merely exchanged a glance before shooting toward it at even greater speed.

A brilliant green current of electricity suddenly sprayed from the Eight-Winged Earthworm’s mouth, flying straight toward the White Giant Eagle as it plunged from the sky.

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At the same time, facing the ground attacks of the Golden-Silver Wolf King and the Dragonfish, the Eight-Winged Earthworm twisted its body and swept toward the two beasts. Its body, more than twenty yards long, resembled a great bow drawn to its limit, radiating incomparable strength and explosive power.

With the battle of the four beasts beginning in earnest, the white clouds and violet lightning that had gathered overhead finally showed signs of pouring down.

When Qi Fei hurriedly tore his gaze away from the battlefield, he saw that the tiny, chaotic currents within the clouds had completely merged together. They had formed a violet lightning serpent several yards thick, its entire body blazing with blue light as electric arcs raged and leapt without end.

The lightning serpent seemed to have noticed the battle among the super-powerful demon beasts in the valley. Yet it appeared utterly disdainful of them. After merely casting a glance into the valley, it turned its attention elsewhere.

Following its gaze, Qi Fei was overjoyed to discover a tremendously dense grove of Iron Poplars. Each tree was extraordinarily thick, and he was certain that not one of them was less than three thousand years old.

If the violet lightning serpent truly intended to strike that grove, then the Iron Poplar Needles he needed would surely be born afterward.

So Tong He can be saved after all!

Qi Fei saw the lightning serpent roll once within the clouds. Then it suddenly twisted its head, eyes blazing with fury, and its body—dozens of yards long—shot out of the clouds. It slammed toward the grove of several dozen three-thousand-year-old Iron Poplars, directly beneath its gaze.

Its movement possessed tremendous force, yet unlike ordinary falling thunder, it made not the slightest sound as it crossed the sky.

The violet lightning descended without a sound. It was an exceedingly strange sight.

But since entering this forest region—and especially after descending into the pit—Qi Fei had encountered so many bizarre events that he had grown accustomed to them. Once one had seen enough strange things, even the most extraordinary became ordinary.

Thus, when he saw the violet lightning serpent twisting its head and tail as it crashed downward, he merely froze for an instant before hurrying toward the grove.

The crucial matter was to inspect the trees immediately after the violet lightning struck and determine whether Iron Poplar Needles had been formed.

Yet before Qi Fei reached the grove, another incomparably strange occurrence took place.

At the moment the violet lightning serpent descended, a brilliant green radiance suddenly erupted around the densely growing Iron Poplars. It formed a barrier of light that completely enveloped the entire grove.

No matter how formidable or eerie the lightning serpent appeared, the instant it touched the green barrier, it transformed into wisps of fine electric arcs. They scattered in every direction and vanished.

The violet lightning serpent formed by the power of heaven and earth had been erased from existence with astonishing ease.

Qi Fei had personally endured the might of violet lightning before, yet even he could hardly believe his eyes.

The violet lightning he had suffered previously seemed to have possessed no more power than the stray electric arcs released when this lightning serpent dispersed. In terms of strength, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it had been merely one hundredth—or even one thousandth—of the serpent’s power.

Even that lesser degree of violet lightning had left him weak in every limb and barely able to stand. Yet the lightning serpent, whose power was amplified a hundred or a thousand times over, had merely brushed against the green barrier before completely disintegrating.

The strangeness of this event far surpassed all the bizarre things Qi Fei had witnessed in recent days combined. These trees were lifeless objects. How could they possibly—

Could the master who built the stone chamber have placed some kind of restriction around these trees?

As his thoughts raced, Qi Fei recalled what had happened in the stone chamber when he had struck the oil lamp with Meteor Flash.

According to what Tong He had once told him, the master of the stone chamber was clearly an existence who had surpassed the limits of the Divine Martial Continent. Since he could place an indestructible defense upon a mere oil lamp, it was not entirely impossible that he had established a restriction here as well, strange though that might be.

When the violet lightning had fully dispersed and the green barrier had faded into nothingness, Qi Fei hurried over to investigate what kind of restriction could withstand such terrifying heavenly thunder.

Although the four beasts in the valley continued fighting fiercely, Qi Fei no longer had the attention to spare them.

He pushed his speed to the limit and reached the region where the Iron Poplars grew. There, he discovered yet another strange phenomenon.

The grove did not appear to consist of separate trees. Instead, many of the Iron Poplars were tightly connected, especially at their roots, which seemed to be shared among them.

After observing more carefully, Qi Fei could not help drawing in a sharp breath.

The mountaintop where he stood was not made of stone at all. It was clearly the enormous root stump of a gigantic Iron Poplar.

Every Iron Poplar growing here, regardless of age, thickness, or size, seemed to be a shoot that had sprouted anew from this massive stump. Looking more closely around him, Qi Fei discovered that the entire valley appeared to have been formed by the stump itself.

That was right. This ring of mountains was one enormous tree stump. The valley beneath the mountain foot was merely a hollow within it.

Qi Fei cried out:

Good heavens! How enormous must this tree have been when it was alive?

After discovering this, he could not help shouting aloud. The valley and surrounding mountaintop extended for no less than five miles in every direction.

A tree with a trunk more than ten miles around—how tall and vast must it have been when it was alive? Even the slightest attempt to imagine it left one’s soul trembling.

When it had lived, calling it the greatest tree on the Divine Martial Continent would surely have been no exaggeration.

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Qi Fei spoke in a daze:

Who knows how many years this tree lived? Even after its death, it left behind such a colossal stump.

After confirming his discovery, Qi Fei remained stunned for nearly half a quarter of an hour before finally managing to mutter to himself.

Then he suddenly froze again. A moment later, his eyes shone brightly.

Since this enormous Iron Poplar had died, could the several-thousand-year-old Iron Poplars that later grew upon it all be called Iron Poplar Needles?

Recalling the way the violet lightning had gathered and descended, Qi Fei estimated that there was an eighty percent chance this impossibly huge Iron Poplar had been killed by the lightning.

If that was truly the case, then the Iron Poplars that had grown afterward could naturally all be considered Iron Poplar Needles.

Of course, Qi Fei still needed to make a careful distinction before he could be certain that these trees were the Iron Poplar Needles Tong He had described. After all, the name itself suggested that they ought to possess the ability to attract violet lightning.

But when the violet lightning had gathered earlier, why had it struck nowhere else and descended directly upon this grove of Iron Poplars?

Perhaps only Iron Poplars more than three thousand years old possessed the right to be called Iron Poplar Needles.

Even so, it was impossible to determine the truth from a distance of a dozen yards. He would still need to examine them up close.

Yet as Qi Fei continued approaching the grove, he was astonished to discover that although the formidable violet lightning serpent had dispersed, the white clouds above had not.

They remained gathered in the sky, rolling and churning as thunder rumbled and currents flickered within them. Before long, streaks of electric arcs began leaping through the clouds once more. They slowly converged again, seemingly preparing to gather into the form of another violet lightning serpent.

The violet lightning truly was not limited to a single strike.

Thinking of the tribulation caused by the violet lightning when Tong He had once refined magical artifacts, and comparing it with the celestial phenomenon before him, Qi Fei immediately understood.

Just as Tong He had refined artifacts whose quality and quantity surpassed perfection, and just as this enormous tree covering five miles had exceeded all natural limits and thereby drawn the punishment of thunder and lightning, something here might likewise have appeared beyond the bounds of convention. Otherwise, it would never have attracted the retribution of heaven and earth.

With this realization, Qi Fei no longer dared to approach the grove recklessly. If the heavenly thunder continued and one of its strikes landed upon him, the result would not merely be scorched skin as before. Being instantly reduced to ashes was also well within the power of this violet lightning.

Seeing the violet lightning gather into another tribulation, Qi Fei knew that the phenomenon would not end anytime soon. Since watching it was somewhat dull, he turned his attention back to the battle among the four beasts in the valley.

At that moment, the Eight-Winged Earthworm was fighting the three demon beasts alone. Though it appeared somewhat flustered, it used violet lightning against the White Giant Eagle while relying on its hundreds of claws to deal with the Wolf King and Dragonfish. It was still able to match all three opponents evenly.

Its countless clawed limbs and long, broad body gave it a particular advantage against the two beasts on the ground. Since the Golden-Silver Wolf King and the Dragonfish did not dare meet its attacks head-on, the earthworm even held a slight upper hand in the ground battle.

The only creature that truly caused it trouble and forced it into a state of confusion was the White Giant Eagle.

The eagle’s advantage in the air was clearly incomparable. Although the Eight-Winged Earthworm also possessed eight wings, it was difficult to tell whether it was unwilling to stray too far from the strange flower or simply unable to take flight easily while fighting.

Thus, during its attacks from the ground against the air, so long as the White Giant Eagle avoided its lightning strikes and coordinated with the two beasts below, the earthworm would be thrown into disarray for a time before managing to steady its position.

It had probably never expected the three demon beasts to unite against it. Whenever it found itself unable to respond in time during the battle, it let out a strange crackling cry, as though venting its fury.

Fortunately, the three demon beasts seemed determined to defeat it first. Thus, even though the Eight-Winged Earthworm fully revealed the aura and power of a creature several levels above them, their attacks were completely unaffected. One assault followed another in an unending frenzy.

The exchange of attack and defense continued for several moments. Then the strange flower finally bloomed in full, releasing an intensely rich fragrance.

The scent was like orchids mingled with musk. The instant it spread, the four beasts in the valley became even more agitated. Even Qi Fei, standing on the mountaintop more than half a mile away, immediately felt his spirit rise and his mind become indescribably clear and alert.

Qi Fei said in astonishment:

This fragrance, like orchids and musk, is not as marvelous as the Hundred Herbs, but it should still qualify as an exceptional medicinal ingredient.

Qi Fei had followed Tong He for a long time. Though his attainments in alchemy and pill refinement could not be called outstanding, his knowledge was far beyond that of an ordinary person his age.

He had not learned a great deal about identifying medicines and distinguishing materials, but he could still judge the quality of a medicinal substance from its fragrance alone.