Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)

The bottomless pit was filled with new soil. After that, the withered holy tree quivered, and its yellow leaves gradually grew green once more, pulsing with vitality.

“This is…!”

Ye Ling, Ye Xue, and the rest of the Earth Spirit race’s experts were overwhelmed with shock. Following that, tears of joy streamed down their faces as they witnessed the salvation of their holy tree.

The holy tree held profound significance for the Earth Spirit race, representing their faith. If it perished, they would be akin to children losing their mother. That kind of grief could not be described with words.

Looking at Long Chen, they were filled with gratitude. Even if they had to sacrifice themselves for Long Chen now, they would do it without hesitation. In their hearts, he had ascended to the status of a god-like figure.

As time passed, the holy tree started to thrum with newfound vitality. Divine light then flowed out of it, purifying the foul water.

A complete purification process unfolded as the land throbbed with life. Innumerable seeds sprouted, laboring to break through the soil and bask in the sunlight.

Long Chen had originally thought that this place would take tens of thousands of years to recover. Hence, he was surprised to discover that the desolate land harbored countless hidden seeds. To resist the corruption, some vegetation had gone into a dormant state to survive longer.

Now that their chance came, new plants quickly sprouted, and the desolate land was filled with life under the holy tree’s light.

The foul stench vanished, replaced by the smell of flowers and plants. The once hellish landscape was now transformed into a breathtaking wonderland.

The transformation seemed to occur almost instantly, as if the holy tree was a grandmaster magician. If Long Chen hadn’t personally witnessed it, he wouldn’t have dared to believe it.

As Long Chen watched this stunning scene, his heart was also moved. Those seeds of life made him think of the human race.

The human race had also weathered countless tribulations. Prairie fires turned the grass to ash, yet when the wind blew away the fire, the grass resiliently sprouted anew. In the face of adversity, humanity entered a form of hibernation, only to surge forth with renewed vigor once the tribulations subsided.

This powerful life force embodied a commitment to tenacity and attachment. Despite enduring many hardships, the human race clung tenaciously to life, defiantly fighting against the force of fate.

Observing the seeds sprouting amid adversity filled Long Chen with profound motivation and granted him fresh insights.

“Dean Long Chen, thank you for everything. My Earth Spirit race is eternally grateful to you.”

Suddenly, Ye Ling led the Earth Spirit race in kowtowing toward Long Chen.

“Senior, don’t be like this! It was nothing more than a minor effort from my side,” said Long Chen, trying to pull her up.

However, Ye Ling continued to bow according to their ancient etiquette before slowly rising. “The holy tree has said that you are our Spirit race’s guiding star, so the Earth Spirit race will unwaveringly follow you, even in the face of death,” declared Ye Ling.

She was serious. Furthermore, she made a deliberate distinction between the Spirit race and the Earth Spirit race in her words. Yet, Long Chen remained oblivious to this nuanced detail.

“You don’t need to be so courteous. Without you, I also wouldn’t have made such a huge profit. We are simply mutually benefiting,” said Long Chen humbly.

In truth, Long Chen had a great distaste for this kind of custom. Other than to one’s parents, Long Chen felt like no one should kowtow to anyone.

If someone sincerely felt gratitude, they should remember it in their heart. Some words and things should be simply left in the heart. That would be more significant than saying it out loud.

Long Chen was precisely that kind of guy. If someone helped him, he rarely said thanks. However, when they needed his help, he would go through fire and brimstone to help them without hesitation.

Although Long Chen knew that the Earth Spirit race was a simple race that expressed exactly what they thought and that they cared deeply about this kind of etiquette, Long Chen still didn’t like it.

The holy tree was rapidly recovering, and Xia Chen had fully repaired the exit of this world. The majority of their adversaries had also been eliminated, though it was possible that a few remnants were still hiding somewhere. Xia Chen, however, wasted no time in setting up sensing formation discs and strategically placing them. Any remaining stragglers would be swiftly dealt with.

The Dragonblood Legion naturally didn’t need to do anything against those weaklings, having no interest in killing such feeble opponents.

On the contrary, for the Earth Spirit race, these remnants were their sworn enemies who had to be completely eradicated. Thus, this task was assigned to them.

After undergoing two intense battles in a row with no time to rest, the Dragonblood Legion finally had some time to adjust their condition.

The battle in the Heavenly Fiend Prefecture had been extremely stimulating for them, so many of them already felt like they were on the edge of breaking through. However, to not affect their state in the Esoteric Spirit World, they consciously suppressed their cultivation bases. Now, with that consideration set aside, they were prepared to enter seclusion to further their progress.

Only Xia Chen and Guo Ran continued to work. They sought out a secluded spot in the Esoteric Spirit World to handle the aftermath of the battle—the corpses.

Long Chen joined them in the effort. The processed corpses were thrown into the primal chaos space, destined to be consumed by the black soil.

A while back, Long Chen had tossed the Ten Thousand Dragon Nest onto the black soil. But even after several days, there were no signs of it breaking down.

The Earth Cauldron had told Long Chen that this black soil had miraculous power, but that power also had to mature. The more corpses it devoured, the stronger it got.

In its state now, devouring the Ten Thousand Dragon Nest was a bit too much. It was like gnawing at a bone, resulting in the decomposition being very slow.

Hence, it was better to first break down these corpses. The more corpses the black soil devoured, the stronger it grew.

With this reminder from the Earth Cauldron, Long Chen cursed himself for being foolish. He actually hadn’t taken note of this detail.

Previously, the black soil had required a huge amount of time just to decompose Immortal King corpses, but now those corpses could be instantly absorbed. Long Chen had always assumed that the strength of the black soil was related to his cultivation base and the size of the primal chaos space. Yet, it was actually different. The black soil had its own laws. The more corpses it absorbed, the stronger it got.

Long Chen was excited after learning this. If the black soil got stronger, wouldn’t he be able to directly devour the likes of the Corrupt Blood Tree Demon Saints just by spraying them with it?

Even if it didn’t prove fatal, dealing a severe wound to them would be enough. Then Long Chen would have the power to slay Saints himself.

The black soil had a terrifying killing power toward plant-type lifeforms. If he encountered experts like them in the future, wouldn’t one toss of black soil get him a huge harvest?

Long Chen was instantly motivated to work even harder. He, Xia Chen, and Guo Ran quickly extracted the crystal cores, Neidans, essence blood, and other important parts of the corpses before Long Chen tossed the rest into the primal chaos space to be absorbed.

After tossing more and more corpses into the black soil, Long Chen suddenly noticed a change in the Heavenly Dao Tree at the center of the black soil.

“This is…!”

When he saw seven sparkling fruits on the Heavenly Dao Tree, Long Chen’s heart skipped a beat.