The Six Yang Holy Water was a pure water refined by an extremely powerful expert of the Divine Ability Realm collecting the six types of masculine and firm qi between heaven and earth.
These were the Qi of Great Yang, Qi of Lesser Yang, Qi of Profound Yang, Qi of Fierce Yang, Qi of True Yang, and Qi of Radiant Yang. The six types of yang qi transformed into holy water, vast and mighty, washing the spirit and nourishing flesh and blood. When cultivating, integrating a drop of holy water into one's magic power could make true qi even more condensed, and the speed of cultivation would progress faster.
Among the three Taiyi Sect disciples, only Yao Dian carried one gourd of it, while the other two, Yu Fen and Xia You, both failed to possess any. From this, its preciousness could be seen.
Now, when this holy water dripped onto the World Tree sawdust fragment, surges of Six Yang qi were absorbed into it, and a trace of vitality actually appeared on this fragment. There was no mistake, it was vitality. That intense artistic conception of a withered tree encountering spring again emanated from within it.
Fang Han even saw that on this palm-sized fragment, a tiny green bud slightly bulged out, as if it had sprouted. The moment this slender tender bud emerged, a powerful wood qi burst forth piercingly, rolling like the tide. He instantly felt as if he was completely situated in a green ocean, with trees everywhere between heaven and earth!
The world became a tree!
"This kind of wood qi is fully enough to allow me to temper the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art to an unprecedented realm! By absorbing the wood qi of the World Tree, refining Daoist gang qi will be as easy as lifting a finger!"
Fang Han hurriedly spurred his magic power, wanting to absorb the wood qi emanating from this World Tree and integrate it into his own Wood Sovereign True Qi, then refine gang qi in one fell swoop, reaching the third realm of the Divine Ability sequence, the Origin Gang Realm, doubling his magic power.
The cultivation of the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art was precisely to absorb the spiritual qi of various grasses and trees between heaven and earth, temper them with magic power, changing in myriad ways, combining at will, and commanding the wood of heaven and earth, possessing immense power. However, the World Tree was the number one divine wood between heaven and earth during the immemorial era, the center of heaven and earth, communicating with the Immortal Realm. Ever since it was severed by an immemorial mighty figure, it disappeared from the mortal world, and people cultivating the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art were fundamentally unable to absorb the spiritual qi of this kind of tree.
The spiritual qi of the World Tree, one could imagine with their toes, was inconceivable, possessing all sorts of great capabilities.
Fang Han was filled with joy.
However, in the next moment, an unexpected mutation occurred.
When Fang Han's "Wood Sovereign True Qi" just came into contact with the wood qi of the World Tree, not only did he fail to absorb the slightest bit, but instead, he was sucked in by the other party. His own true qi was like floodwater opening its floodgates, rolling away and being sucked dry!
That tender bud sprouting from the fragment was actually like a demonic entity! Absorbing his own true qi!
"Not good! How could it be like this!" Fang Han turned pale with fright, hurriedly and forcibly cutting off his own true qi, hiding it entirely within his mind. Only then did he barely stop the World Tree fragment's insatiable extraction from him.
This move was being too smart for his own good. Not only did he fail to absorb spiritual qi, but he actually lost true qi himself.
Fang Han calculated in his heart that the lost true qi would probably take him a month to cultivate back.
There were only ten years until the decisive battle with Hua Tiandu, and now one year had already passed. Every single day could not be delayed. Now losing a month's worth of cultivated true qi, causing his cultivation to regress, his heart ached terribly. He wished he could just kick this World Tree fragment away, pluck off the tender bud, and crush it to pieces!
"Damn it!" Fang Han's face was as gloomy as water.
"Do not feel regret. This is a good thing. I know what is going on." Yan saw all of this and looked thoughtful.
"How is this a good thing? I had originally refined my true qi to the point of crystallization, only lacking one step—comprehending the word 'gang'—and I could have refined gang qi. Now, being messed up like this, I am afraid it will delay me for quite a few days. You also know that the current situation is becoming increasingly difficult." Fang Han suppressed his temper, staring fixedly at the World Tree fragment.
"It is because I previously used the Forgetfulness Water to wash away the billions of years of filth on it, and then you used the Six Yang Holy Water to give it vitality, causing it to sprout new buds. This is the best gift bestowed upon you by heaven. If you use your Wood Sovereign True Qi to nourish it day by day, it will gradually release its own potential, ultimately completely turning into a sapling. Then it will be able to autonomously absorb the immortal qi of the Immortal Realm from the void. When the time comes, merging with your magic power, your strength will grow unprecedentedly!" Yan said excitedly: "Right now it has not yet grown into a sapling. Its functions are incomplete, and it needs your nourishment. This is equivalent to a mortal raising a tiger cub; at the beginning, it requires you to feed it milk, but when it is fully grown, its roar will shake the mountain forest, becoming the king of hundreds of beasts!"
"If it truly grows into a seedling of the World Tree under your nourishment, then you will possess this number one divine wood of the immemorial era, and in the future, you can even use it to become an immortal! This is also a magic treasure; when it truly grows up, even the Yellow Spring Diagram cannot compare to it! This is also a major hope for defeating Hua Tiandu."
Listening to Yan's excited voice and looking at the fragment sprouting tender buds, Fang Han felt that it indeed contained majestic power within it, but it had not grown completely and needed him to consume his own true qi to stimulate its potential.
"Since it is so, I will endure some hardship and inject Wood Sovereign True Qi into it every day, hoping it can truly grow into a sapling and be of use to me."
From then on, Fang Han began strenuous cultivation, condensing Wood Sovereign True Qi in the Five Hells King Cauldron every day, tempering his own magic power, while the King Cauldron was entirely handed over to the Great Asura demoness to control, sneaking along the seabed, drifting toward Guixu.
Fortunately, Fang Han had killed the Target Island Master and obtained three thousand Life-sustaining Golden Pills, as well as obtaining three large gourds of Origin Infant Pills. His pills were ample, and even eating them for three to five years would be no problem. The Life-sustaining Golden Pill was a top-grade item among Human-tier pills, even better than the Essence Pill. After the demoness consumed them, her magic power also increased extremely fast.
As for Fang Han eating Origin Infant Pills, his magic power also increased quickly, but he had to feed the World Tree tender bud, this behemoth that devoured magic power and true qi. Ninety-nine percent of the magic power and true qi he cultivated every day was devoured, so his cultivation progress was actually not significant.
Occasionally, when the King Cauldron drifted to some deserted islands or uninhabited continents on the sea, Fang Han would also come out, executing the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art to absorb the spiritual qi of the trees on the island.
The days had reached the transition between spring and summer, exactly the time when vegetation flourished. Coupled with the moist climate on the sea situated in the tropics, it was even more suitable for the growth of vegetation. On some islands that had been uninhabited for ten thousand years, it was lush and verdant, and the spiritual qi of the vegetation was unimaginably dense. Rare trees grew among them, such as the "Silver Tuo Wood," "Clear Paulownia Wood," "Agarwood," "Five-Color Wood," "Three Lights Wood," "True Iron Wood"… ancient trees a thousand years old.
Fang Han did not discriminate between meat and vegetables, absorbing all of it. Wherever he went, after executing the Green Emperor Wood Sovereign Art, the vitality of the trees, flowers, grasses, and even mosses was completely absorbed, and the greenery withered, becoming incredibly desolate.
In a full month's time, who knew how many islands he stripped of all vitality. Vegetation that had proliferated for tens of millions of years had its roots severed. At least three to five thousand thousand-year-old ancient trees had their spiritual qi sucked away by him, turning into Wood Sovereign True Qi.
And he took these Wood Sovereign True Qi to continue feeding the World Tree's tender bud.
This bout of cultivation could be described as day and night without end. It was also fortunate that Fang Han's current body had cultivated into the Yama Golden Body and comprehended the true meaning of Ksitigarbha, his muscle toughness comparable to a flying sword, only then was he able to sustain it.
During the cultivation these past few days, although he did not increase his magic power by even a tiny bit, nor did he refine his true qi into gang qi to elevate his realm, he had condensed his entire body's true qi to be even purer, and his understanding of the Wood Sovereign Art became even more profound.
Originally, he progressed too fast. Condensing true qi relied mostly on the function of that Heavenly Wood Divine Needle, allowing him to successfully cultivate it in just three short months. He was very unknowledgeable about some changes in true qi, and therefore his foundation was unstable. But now, because a large portion of his true qi was sucked away by the World Tree's tender bud, causing his progress to slow down, it allowed him to pause and comprehend the true essence of wood.
His utilization of true qi truly began to reach the peak of perfection. Areas he previously could not utilize well laid a solid and profound foundation for future breakthroughs.
He also began to rejoice in himself, fortunate that he did not break through to gang qi early, otherwise his foundation would be increasingly unstable, like a castle in the air, making it even more difficult to comprehend the Yin-Yang changes of the fourth realm of the divine ability sequence and the Heaven-Man mysteries of the fifth realm in the future.
The first three realms of the divine ability sequence—magic power, true qi, and gang qi—could all be broken through as long as one had the help of treasures and spiritual qi. But the fourth realm, the Yin-Yang Realm, and the fifth realm, the Heaven-Man Realm, absolutely required reliance on comprehension; it was not something that having magic treasures and a massive amount of spiritual qi could achieve.
During the entanglement and extraction of spiritual qi with the World Tree, although he couldn't absorb spiritual qi, he gradually began to understand the vast and majestic wood nature of the World Tree, and the experience obtained from it caused his Wood Sovereign True Qi to undergo changes.
The tender bud sprouting from the World Tree fragment also grew somewhat, seemingly about to truly put out branches and leaves, predicting to grow into a small sapling. Fang Han knew that this tender bud, as long as it sprouted branches, leaves, and roots, would take complete shape and no longer require his own true qi for feeding, becoming capable of unleashing inconceivable immense power.
He was slowly nurturing it now!
This day, as Fang Han was cultivating in the cauldron, he felt that they were approaching another maritime island. At the same time, he "smelled" a trace of noble wood qi. He hurriedly flew out from within the cauldron, soaring onto the sea surface, and saw a giant island in the distance. The spiritual qi on that island was abundant, with towering peaks and flowing water everywhere. Large swaths of thousand-year-old ancient trees grew on the island, proudly touching the clouds, standing between the mountain and sea. Every single tree displayed an aura of preciousness.
To his surprise, every single tree was the rare Golden Thread Nanmu.
"Good! I discovered a forest of Golden Thread Nanmu. In this forest, every single tree has at least one thousand five hundred years of age. They are excellent materials for building the main beams of royal palaces in the secular world, and their wood qi is noble. I didn't find any on the many deserted islands along the way. After absorbing these Golden Thread Nanmu, I will be able to refine the Wood Sovereign True Qi to be even more delicate."
Seeing this patch of Golden Thread Nanmu, ancient trees approaching two thousand years of age, Fang Han rejoiced secretly in his heart. He hurriedly flew over, arriving in the sky above. By spurring the Wood Sovereign Art, instantly a massive whirlpool resembling a dragon sucking water swept down from his body.
"Bang bang bang…" Bang bang!
The Golden Thread Nanmu ancient trees were blasted open one by one, then turned into thoroughly dried wood as massive amounts of spiritual qi were extracted.
"Audacious! You actually dare to come around the forty-nine islands around the Thunder Emperor Cave Dwelling to make trouble and destroy our Golden Thread Nanmu. If you are a disciple of an immortal dao sect, we can still negotiate; if you belong to the demonic path, then do not blame us for not being polite!"
Right at this moment, suddenly on the island, radiant light flashed, and several young men and women flew up. Seeing Fang Han, they shouted loudly.
Fang Han took a look and found that not a single one among these young men and women was an expert of the Divine Ability Realm; they were all still in the Physical Body Realm, only possessing spiritual artifact dharma clothes and flying swords on their bodies. He immediately did not take them to heart. "Thunder Emperor? How come I have never heard of such a cultivator? The seven great Demonic Emperors of the demonic sect are the Yellow Spring Great Emperor, Innate Great Emperor, Red Dust Great Emperor, Blood Shadow Great Emperor, Heavenly Absolute Great Emperor, Ghost God Great Emperor, and Savage Great Emperor. There is absolutely no Thunder Emperor."
"The Thunder Emperor is an ancient natural god! Much more profound and distant than the seven emperors of the demonic sect, having ascended to the Immortal Realm long ago. Currently, this Thunder Emperor Cave Dwelling belongs to the reincarnation of the Lightning Mother, who obtained the Thunder Emperor's talisman edict and newly built the forty-nine islands," a female said loudly.
"The reincarnation of the Lightning Mother?" Fang Han was taken aback.
"Fang Han, did you notice the martial arts movements on these people? They are the martial arts of the Yuhua Sect." Yan suddenly said sinisterly.