With the remainder of the spirit beast meat and outsider corpses that had been delivered from the numerous sects from the three domains, Nie Tian recovered the twenty three drops of Blood Essence he had consumed.
Since there was still some low-grade spirit beast meat left, he absorbed its flesh power and provided it to the green aura in his heart.
After that, the spirit beast meat and outsider corpses in all of the rings of holding were exhausted.
However, there was still a long way to go before the green aura would fall dormant again and enter the next upgrade cycle.
At this moment, Nie Tian had run out of materials that could provide him with flesh power.
Sitting in the secret room and looking at the empty rings of holding scattered in front of him, Nie Tian thought to himself, “I wonder how long it’ll take for me to gather enough flesh power for my bloodline to make another upgrade. From the look of it, I’ll have to rely on the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace to get more outsider corpses from now on.”
Eighth grade spirit beasts and outsiders were as powerful as Void domain human experts. Spirit beasts and outsiders at such a high grade couldn’t be found in many human domains.
Even though his three domains weren’t among the most advanced ones, he could receive a consistent supply of flesh power from them.
“My bloodline is only at the seventh grade now,” Nie Tian thought to himself, a mixture of delight and worry filling his face. “After my bloodline advances to the eighth or ninth grade, the amount of flesh power I’ll need will be as vast as the sea. By that time, I’ll be under even greater pressure if I want to further upgrade my bloodline.”
Right now, his cultivation base was still at the late Profound realm, which was actually behind his bloodline.
That was on top of the fact that he had awakened his bloodline long after he had become a Qi warrior. The reason why he had been able to upgrade his bloodline continuously over the years was because he had accumulated a significant amount of spirit beast meat and outsider corpses fighting battles here and there.
Besides, he had basically spent all of the spiritual materials, spirit stones, and spirit jades he had obtained over the years on such accumulation. These factors had contributed to his seventh grade bloodline.
“Right now, fierce battles are taking place in the Dead Star Sea, and many major human domains. These battles between humans and outsiders will definitely cause the deaths of a large number of outsiders.
“From the look of it, the fiercer the battles are, the more outsider corpses I’ll be able to gather.
“Perhaps this turmoil plaguing the human world will be an opportunity for my bloodline upgrade…”
Having run out of materials that could provide flesh power, Nie Tian had to shift his focus to the refinement of his spiritual sea, and the spiritual cores within it.
Time flew.
After six months of painstaking cultivation, he finally refined his spiritual power core, flame power core, and star power core to their limits. Only his wood power core still lacked refining.
“The breakthrough from the Profound realm to the Soul realm is a major one. I’ve got to be very careful.
“To improve the efficiency of my wood power core refinement, I can seek a place wreathed in rich wood power to establish the Wood Thriving Formation. That way, the transformation of my wood power core will be greatly accelerated.
“A blessed land like that will also help that Godspirit Tree sapling grow faster.”
With these thoughts, he suddenly remembered the Realm of Split Void. Since the upheaval, the foreign impurities that kept pouring into the Realm of Split Void had been continuously transformed into spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth.
After many years of accumulation, the level of condensation of the spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth in the Realm of Split Void had already exceeded that of the Domain of Heaven Python.
This had made the Realm of Split Void a uniquely vigorous realm.
Usually, realms with such a feature were referred to as super-large-scale realms. The realms where the four great sects had set up their headquarters fell into this category.
Their spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth would never run dry.
“There are a few areas at the perimeter of the Realm of Split Void that are especially rich in wood power.”
With this thought, he decided to visit the Realm of Split Void. Therefore, he rapidly ended his secluded cultivation in the Realm of Maelstrom and teleported directly to the Realm of Split Void. After briefly notifying Li Langfeng of his intention, he jumped onto his Star Boat and whizzed into the distance.
In Graydusk Forest.
Nie Tian had visited this forest before, and knew that it was wreathed in rich wood power, as well as highly concentrated tainted spiritual Qi.
Back before the upheaval struck the Realm of Split Void, Graydusk Forest had been a forbidden region roamed by powerful mutant spirit beasts that had adapted to its hostile environment.
When the palace left by the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace had been unearthed and the grand underground spell formation had been activated, the tainted spiritual Qi in the Realm of Split Void had started to be purged and transformed. It was also at that time that a large amount of tainted spiritual Qi had quietly gathered to Graydusk Forest.
Even when the outsiders had launched a massive invasion, Graydusk Forest had survived the outsiders’ claws, as if they had also been apprehensive about something here.
It was also because of this that Nie Tian had once holed up in Graydusk Forest when he had been driven into a dead end.
Now, many years had passed, and Nie Tian was returning to Graydusk Forest by himself.
The wood power in the overgrown forest was extremely rich. Nie Tian found a random place to berth his Star Boat before summoning the seventy-two tree branches and establishing the Wood Thriving Formation.
The moment the Wood Thriving Formation came to form, pure, highly-concentrated wood power started to converge on it from the lush trees in its surroundings.
Compared to the wood power he channeled from wood-attributed spiritual materials, the wood power he received from the Wood Thriving Formation seemed to be easier to absorb and refine.
As he cast the incantation, he also noticed that the Godspirit Tree sapling was rapidly condensing wood power just as his wood power core was doing.
Many years ago, when he had entered Graydusk Forest, he had been apprehensive about the fierce mutant spirit beasts, and hadn’t had the audacity to go too deep into the forest.
Now, many years later, even though he had left the Star Behemoth bone in the starry river outside the Realm of Maelstrom, he had total confidence in killing any mutant spirit beast that dared to attack him.
“As powerful as the mutant spirit beasts here may be, they won’t possibly pose a threat to me now.”
With this thought, he moved from one location to another in Graydusk Forest. Every time he finished absorbing and refining the wood power in a location, he would move deeper into the forest to reestablish the Wood Thriving Formation in locations where the trees were even lusher.
As he did, he indeed encountered a few mutant spirit beasts. However, since they were all at the fourth or fifth grade, he killed them without effort, and used their flesh power to nourish the green aura in his heart.
During this process, both his wood power core and the tiny Godspirit Tree sapling within it were showered with a copious amount of pure wood power.
Two weeks later, his wood power core was refined to its limit.
However, the Godspirit Tree sapling still yearned for more wood power.
“Heavenly Wood Heal body refinement is divided into five stages. I’ve been stuck at stage four, Flesh Tempering, for a long time now. Not only do I need vigorous flesh power to cast Heavenly Wood Heal, but rich wood power as well. Is Graydusk Forest an ideal place for it?
“It’s just that the green aura in my heart has an irrepressible desire for flesh power. I’m afraid that if more flesh power enters my body, it’ll be forcibly channeled away by the green aura, therefore jeopardizing the effect of Flesh Tempering.
“I guess it all comes down to obtaining more high-grade spirit beast meat.”
Sitting in the middle of the Wood Thriving Formation, Nie Tian looked at the seemingly endless Graydusk Forest, his mind drifting away.
He had discovered that the mutant spirit beasts he had killed here were much stronger than normal spirit beasts, and the flesh power they contained turned out to be much richer as well.
A thought suddenly entered his mind.
“The mutant spirit beasts in Graydusk Forest had long since grown adapted to its hostile environment, and developed the ability to strengthen themselves with the tainted spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth. If even the outsiders didn’t dare to enter Graydusk Forest back in the day, does it mean there are formidable mutant spirit beasts here?
“If I remember correctly, the outsider invasions had been led by peak seventh grade outsiders like Basto.”
Nie Tian’s interest was suddenly provoked. He decided to put the Wood Thriving Formation on hold, and instead conduct a thorough search of the forest first.
“Even if there are seventh grade mutant spirit beasts here, they’re no threat to me. Instead, they’ll end up materials that will provide me with rich flesh power.”
He summoned the Star Boat and flew towards the depths of Graydusk Forest.
The deeper he got, the taller the trees were, and the richer the wood power and tainted spiritual Qi became.
Every once in a while, fifth and sixth grade mutant spirit beasts would charge out, roaring ferociously.
However, he killed them one by one by relying on nothing but his fleshly strength and the Flame Dragon Armor. Afterwards, he absorbed their flesh power with Life Drain.
ROOOAARRRR!!
A resounding beastly roar suddenly echoed through the forest.
Lands shook and mountains were rocked throughout the entire forest, as if this was a warning to the intruder.
Nie Tian laughed. “Finally, a mutant spirit beast worth killing! Judging from its aura, it should be at the seventh grade.
“No wonder those outsiders didn’t dare to invade this forest. Seventh grade mutant spirit beasts could indeed cause them serious casualties.”
Calm as always, Nie Tian steered the Star Boat towards the source of the roar.
SHEW!
Moments later, the Star Boat descended by a vast lake in the depths of Graydusk Forest. Like miasma, the gray tainted spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth could be seen floating over the murky lake.
The lake covered a very large area. The trees that grew close to it were all more than ten meters tall.
At this moment, a herd of mutant spirit beasts were gathered by the lakeside. Among the sixth grade mutant spirit beasts stood a seventh grade mutant Earthshatter Beast.
