Five thousand miles away from the Blackwood Plains was an endless wilderness with flat, open terrain.
In the wilderness, a small city was built, made of boulders, with watchtowers, martial arts fields, and mansions.
The inspection army sent by the Ministry of War to the Wood Essence Market Realm was stationed inside this city. The number of sergeants wasn’t large, but every single one of them was an elite amongst elites.
At this moment, one of the sergeants standing on the watchtower saw in the sky, a pillar of blood, rising up into the sky, piercing through the clouds and straight into the firmament.
At that very moment, the entire Wood Essence Market Realm’s heaven and earth aura seemed to have shaken.
Thus, this one sergeant, immediately rushed to the city and reported the information to the commander of the patrol army.
“The Blackwood Plain is an important place that the Ministry of War has ordered to be closely supervised, and since pillars of blood have risen from the altar deep within the Blackwood Plain, something extraordinary has definitely happened.”
The Commander-in-Chief of the Patrol Army immediately ordered that the first and second inspection teams be dispatched to the Blackwood Plains to find out what had happened.
For each squad, there were only ten people.
However, the First Inspection Squad and the Second Inspection Squad were all experts among experts, and the weakest sergeant in terms of strength was at the Heavenly Extremity Realm Grand Circle.
The captain of the first inspection team and the captain of the second inspection team were even stronger at the Fourth Transformation of the Fish Dragon. Inside their bodies, they had already opened up a holy vein that could transform their true qi into a small amount of holy qi.
With their strength, even if they were to break into the Tree People Clan hard, no one would be able to stop them.
“The Blackwood Plain is the heaviest of the heaviest of the heaviest, once something changes, it might reach the heavens and alert Her Majesty the Queen. Everyone must act carefully and not be careless.”
The captain of the first inspection team, his face solemn, took the lead in jumping to the top of the head of the Purple Lin Quod King Beast and dashed off.
Subsequently, all the other soldiers, too, rode their savage beasts and flew towards the Blackwood Plains.
When they entered the stone gate, the surroundings became unusually cold, and there seemed to be ice slag on the ground, making a “giggling” sound when they stepped on it.
Zhang Ruochen released his Spatial Domain and Spiritual Force, and walked carefully down a stone staircase that led to the ground.
In the Sea of Qi, the Qiankun Divine Wood Scroll was active.
On the diagram, it emitted a faint glow.
Obviously, it had sensed the Origin Qi of the Wood Essence Market Realm. As, Zhang Ruochen walked towards the bottom of the earth, the light of the Qiankun Divine Wood Diagram became brighter and brighter.
It was unknown how long he had walked, but Zhang Ruochen finally arrived at the bottom of the altar.
The space at the bottom of the altar was quite vast, as huge as four football fields, and the surrounding area was pitch black, with only a red glow illuminating at the centre.
Only when Zhang Ruochen walked over did he realise that it was actually a huge pool of blood.
In the pool, it was full of blood, not only the blood of tree people, but also the blood of savage beasts and humans. All kinds of blood gathered together, emitting a strong bloody aura.
At the edge of the blood pool, there was a pattern engraved.
Those lines were connected to the blood pool at one end and the ground at the other. From afar, those ripples looked like a blood vessel, giving off a rather bizarre feeling.
“How could there be so much savage beast and human blood here?”
Suddenly, Zhang Ruochen detected a violent energy that was rapidly striking towards him from the direction behind him.
With a shock in his heart, he immediately turned around.
“Swish!”
Only a shadow was seen, flashing before his eyes.
Before he could see what the other party actually looked like, a powerful force struck his chest, sending him flying.
“Boom!”
Zhang Ruochen slammed into the top of the stone wall and fell to the ground, propping up the ground with one hand and letting out a mouthful of blood with a wow sound.
He lifted himself up and looked forward, only to see that at the edge of the blood pool, there stood an old man who was only about one metre six in height, wearing a grey robe.
It had the form of a human, but it was a tree person.
Its body, was piled up from a single finger-thick tree pole, even its hair and beard were also a single wooden beard, every part of its body was wooden.
“You are that one Tree Ancestor Lord of the Tree People Clan?”
Zhang Ruochen endured his injuries and slowly stood up, staring at that one old man across from him.
From the mouths of those other tree people, Zhang Ruochen had naturally heard of the name “Tree Ancestor”.
In the entire Tree Man Clan, the only Tree Man with such a powerful cultivation was the Tree Ancestor, so it wasn’t hard to guess.
The voice of the Tree Ancestor, a little dry, coldly said, “Extra-terrestrial Death God, you actually dare to intrude here. What exactly do you want?”
Vaguely, a powerful pressure actually emanated from the Tree Ancestor’s body, as if it was trying to break Zhang Ruochen’s will with its formidable power.
Zhang Ruochen’s face did not change as he smiled and said, “I also wanted to ask you, why is there so much blood of savage beasts and humans underneath the altar? Where did all this blood, come from?”
Although, Zhang Ruochen had been hit by the Tree Ancestor’s strike, like he was seriously injured.
In reality, he had the Dragon Pearl protecting his body and did not suffer multiple injuries. Only that he had just spat out a mouthful of blood, and it looked as if his injuries were very serious.
In this way, it was possible to paralyse the Tree Ancestor. As long as he found the right opportunity, Zhang Ruochen could launch a thunderous strike and completely turn the situation around.
The Tree Ancestor said, ”You’re about to become a dead man anyway, so there’s no harm in telling you. The blood in the blood pool is from your human race’s soldiers, sent here.”
A look of surprise appeared in Zhang Ruochen’s eyes as he said, “People from the Military Ministry, sent the blood here?”
“It should be! This is a secret agreement made between the higher-ups of the Blackwood Tree People Clan, and the soldiers of the Human Clan. If we guard the altar for them, they will let us, the Blackwood Tree People Clan, go free, so that we can continue to live and reproduce in the Blackwood Plains.”The Tree Ancestor said.
Zhang Ruochen hurriedly asked, “What exactly is the use of this blood stored in the altar?”
“Old me doesn’t know either.”The Tree Ancestor shook his head.
Suddenly, the Tree Ancestor’s eyes chilled as he said, “You’re asking too many questions, now, I’ll send you to hell.”
“Wow!”
The Tree Ancestor struck out with a palm, and seven wooden vines flew out from his palm.
The wooden vines were very sharp, as if they were seven lances stabbing out, radiating a chilling power, presenting forty-nine shadows of wooden vines, sealing off Zhang Ruochen’s retreat in all directions.
The power that erupted from the seemingly randomly struck palm was quite terrifying, enough to impale a Fish Dragon Third Transformation cultivator into a sieve.
However, Zhang Ruochen was waiting for this opportunity, and just as the Tree Ancestor struck out with his palm, Zhang Ruochen performed in Spatial Shift, disappearing from his original position and appearing behind the Tree Ancestor.
“Not good.”
The Tree Ancestor was startled, having already felt the spatial fluctuations behind it and knew that Zhang Ruochen was right behind it.
Without even having the time to turn around, the Tree Ancestor immediately gathered its strength and struck behind it with a backhand.
“Spatial Crack.”
Zhang Ruochen’s arm swung and chopped towards the Tree Ancestor’s vest.
As his palm slashed past, space was torn apart and a huge two-metre long crack appeared.
The space under the ground was too small, so Zhang Ruochen didn’t dare to use the “Space Collapse” rashly, fearing that he himself would be caught in the chaotic space. After all, his control over space was not that strong right now.
“Gimme!”
The Tree Ancestor’s arm was chopped off by the spatial crack and turned into a grain of wood powder.
However, with its profound cultivation and quick strain, it escaped with its life.
The Tree Ancestor flung itself forwards and retreated inside the corner, turning over and nervously looking towards Zhang Ruochen, “You’re not injured?”
“Of course I’m injured, only, it’s not that serious.”
Zhang Ruochen added, “As expected of a Tree Ancestor, your speed is really fast, that strike just now actually failed to kill you.”
“Since you didn’t manage to kill me, then the next person to die will be your turn.”
The broken arm of the Tree Ancestor quickly grew a bright green shoot, and in a moment, a wooden arm grew back.
“It’s true that I’m not your opponent, but I’m afraid it’s not that easy for you to kill me either.”
After saying this, Zhang Ruochen didn’t hesitate and directly leapt into the blood pool with a plop.
His body, then, completely sank.
“The Extraterrestrial Death God is also too stupid, this is no ordinary blood pool. In the blood pool, it contains a powerful sacrificial power, enough to refine his body into a puddle of pus and blood, turning it into a part of the blood pool.”
The Tree Ancestor’s eyes were tightly fixed on the blood pool.
A full half an hour passed, but Zhang Ruochen did not emerge from the blood pool.
Thus, it breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile appeared on its stiff face as it gently straightened its beard and said, “I didn’t expect, I really didn’t expect, the Extra-Terrestrial God of Death actually jumped into the pool of blood on his own and died. It’s good to die, sparing old me the need to exert more effort.”
When Zhang Ruochen jumped into the blood pool, he immediately propped up his spatial domain, transforming into a three-metre-diameter air mask, and dived down towards the bottom of the blood pool.
According to the guidance of the Qiankun Divine Wood Diagram, the Origin Qi of the Wood Essence Market Realm was at the bottom of the blood pool.
“I’ve already dived down close to fifty metres, but I actually haven’t reached the bottom of the blood pool, and I don’t know how many people and savage beasts’ blood it’s filled with. The people from the Ministry of War, why did they send the blood here? Could it be that this altar, too, was built by them?”
Zhang Ruochen was puzzled.
“Wow!”
Right at this moment, the Qiankun Divine Wood Diagram shook violently and transformed into a speck of light that flew out from Zhang Ruochen’s brow, taking the initiative to fly towards the bottom of the blood pool.
At the bottom of the blood pool, there was actually a small altar as well, only nine metres tall, which also took on a cylindrical shape and was engraved with patterns.
The Wood Essence Market Realm’s Origin Qi was suppressed right underneath the altar.
“Wow.”
The Qiankun Divine Wood Diagram flew over, and the scroll unfolded, emitting a haze of light. Those haze lights converged together to form a spatial gate, which directly took that mass of Origin Qi and collected it into the gate.
Afterwards, the Qiankun Divine Wood Picture automatically wound up, suspended in the blood.
Zhang Ruochen rushed over and grabbed the Qian Kun Divine Wood Diagram, revealing a delighted expression, saying, ”It finally worked! The Qiankun Divine Wood Diagram has absorbed the Origin Qi of the Wood Essence Market Realm, so I should be able to enter that subtle cultivation state again. Taking this opportunity, I can definitely raise my spiritual power by one rank again to forty-two.”
The Qiankun Divine Wood Diagram absorbed a ball of Origin Qi from the Five Elements Ruins Realm, allowing Zhang Ruochen to enter a kind of metaphysical cultivation state, and his Spiritual Strength directly increased to the forty-first rank.
The Origin Qi of the Wood Essence Ruins Realm was ten times more powerful than the clump of Origin Qi of the Five Elements Ruins Realm, and it was enough to raise Zhang Ruochen’s Spiritual Strength to the forty-second rank.
Once his spiritual power reached the forty-second rank, Zhang Ruochen would be able to explode with the power of a Fish Dragon Fourth Transformation cultivator even if he only used his spiritual power alone, and his strength would increase greatly!
