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Deep within the natural forest.
Xu Yuan grew increasingly astonished.
The life energy of the natural forest where the nature elves resided was overwhelmingly dense.
Even before reaching the ancestral grounds of life, the life energy had nearly liquefied.
Going deeper, Xu Yuan saw that dewdrops formed from liquefied life energy had condensed on the leaves of towering trees around him. Some nature elves were busy collecting these dewdrops.
However, upon reaching the ancestral grounds of life, there was no longer any liquefied life energy.
Here, the vitality was incredibly pure, having ascended to another level—equal to the level of laws. It felt as though what permeated the surrounding heavens and earth was not just energy but rather the power of laws.
"The Holy Heart Plane may not compare to the God Realm, but it is undoubtedly at the pinnacle beneath it. Having such a scene at the core of the plane is only natural?" Xu Yuan internally rationalized.
He could sense that deep within the massive World Tree lay a vitality no less potent than the life essence on Demon Island.
In fact, its scale was even grander.
The life essence on Demon Island was merely a remnant left behind by two God Kings after their deaths when it drifted to Douluo Continent. It wasn't the complete essence of the two God Kings, and with destruction essence intertwined with life essence, much of their vibrational energy had been neutralized despite not being completely annihilated.
But here in the ancestral grounds of life of the nature elves stood a living World Tree—a realm of pure vitality.
Yes, a realm.
Before Xu Yuan stretched an enormous trunk connecting heaven and earth.
No canopy above.
No roots below.
His entire field of vision was occupied by the trunk.
Roughly estimating, the trunk of the entire World Tree was three kilometers thick. Scattered across the trunk were numerous hollows, each resembling another world.
"Friends of the Ten Thousand Stars Chamber of Commerce, please follow me."
The nature elf guiding Xu Yuan led him into the interior of the World Tree.
Once inside, Xu Yuan's perception became even clearer.
"The vitality here can directly invigorate my life essence. Combined with the already heightened clarity of laws, my comprehension efficiency has greatly increased."
A complete cultivation sanctuary.
The nature elves' possession of a semi-divine king-level Elf King was largely due to the contributions of the World Tree.
Feeling his own transformation, Xu Yuan suppressed the urge to cultivate immediately and continued following the nature elf deeper.
This was only the entrance to the World Tree's interior.
Based on his understanding of Rex, Xu Yuan knew that the slot arranged for him would be the best possible.
This cultivation session might lead to another transformation.
Another transformation after opening his inner realm and ascending to godhood!
Within his perception, Xu Yuan arrived at the deepest part of the World Tree.
At this moment, a massive emerald-green light cluster floated before him.
"This is—"
Xu Yuan's eyes widened as he stared at the emerald-green light cluster, feeling as if he were witnessing the operation of all things.
Was this the essence of the World Tree?
He remained silent because other powerful individuals were in deep meditation nearby, as the nature elf who had guided him earlier had reminded him.
Surrounding the life essence were eight other powerful beings already in closed-door cultivation.
Using the simplest method, they enveloped themselves in their magic power to avoid interference from others before entering a state of deep insight.
Xu Yuan took a deep breath and wasted no time. He stepped forward, took his position, and sat cross-legged near the essence of the World Tree.
As Xu Yuan entered his cultivation state, the chieftain of the nature elves observed his practice.
"Magic power has reached the supergod level—he must be a newly recruited external domain powerhouse by the Ten Thousand Stars Chamber of Commerce."
It seemed such occurrences had happened before. After observing Xu Yuan for a while, the chieftain withdrew his gaze.
Meanwhile, Xu Yuan had entered a state of rapid cultivation.
Beside the essence of the World Tree, the abundant vitality was sufficient to replace any form of energy for cultivation.
Even if a supergod-level practitioner trained with full force, consuming this vitality wouldn't cause noticeable ripples.
At this moment, Xu Yuan continuously absorbed the surrounding vitality, refining his inner realm while using this vitality to replenish his depleted godly soul power and blood qi.
With endless vitality supplementing him, the breakthrough in realms Xu Yuan had achieved became instantly stable.
Moreover, the essence of the World Tree seemed to catalyze his Life-and-Death Rune.
The vitality here had reached the level of laws. Simply absorbing it was akin to receiving a baptism of laws, and under this vitality's influence, Xu Yuan's Life-and-Death Rune became increasingly refined.
Xu Yuan even sensed that the withered wood in his Scroll World had regained vitality.
Without any intervention, simply infusing it with the power emanating from the essence of the World Tree reversed its previous mutated state, reviving it as if it were about to take root again.
Xu Yuan directly transferred it from the Scroll World to his inner realm.
The withered wood sprouted branches, rejuvenated with a second spring, quickly rooting itself in Xu Yuan's inner realm. Its roots anchored precisely at his Life-and-Death Rune, one of the foundational pillars of laws in his inner realm.
As the life tree rooted into the Life-and-Death Rune, the inner realm rapidly reorganized around it as its core.
Boom!
The inner realm underwent a transformation.
The Space-Time Rune manifested.
Primordial Character Runes, Seal Character Runes, Calamity Character Runes, and other runes evolved from soul rings all emerged.
The entire inner realm seemed to condense into one unified entity.
This wondrous sensation brought clarity to Xu Yuan's mind.
"Is this... the creation of a plane?"
Essence?
No essence had been condensed.
The inner realm was founded upon Xu Yuan himself—everything stemmed from him. At the moment the laws were perfected and unified, the inner realm naturally ascended to become a plane.
If one were to speak of an essence running through this inner realm, it would be Xu Yuan's multitude of runes.
With a thought, Xu Yuan gathered his runes, forming a river that spanned the inner realm.
Upon this river, it seemed everything within the inner realm was recorded.
The change in the inner realm was only the beginning.
Xu Yuan's other two small worlds also underwent transformations. Both the Scroll World and Dream Space completed their evolutions, seemingly becoming planes.
At this point, any living organism entering them could survive and reproduce because these two small worlds now possessed all the characteristics of a plane, with complete laws.
Blood qi surged out of his body, coalescing into the shadow of a spear. The concentrated vitality infused into it, and the thread-like green patterns covering it widened.
The replenishment of vitality increased the proportion of Living Metal in his Absolute Essence Body.
---
Time passed.
When Xu Yuan came back to his senses, a month had passed.
He was politely escorted out by the nature elves.
Taking one last longing look at the World Tree, Xu Yuan departed reluctantly.
Cultivating beside the essence of the World Tree had been extraordinarily efficient.
In just one month, Xu Yuan's godly soul power and blood qi had broken through to the supergod level.
And this was only a small portion of his gains.
Leaving the mother star of the Holy Heart Plane, Xu Yuan informed Rex via the Ten Thousand Stars Chamber of Commerce and then piloted the Probe Abyss back to Douluo Star alone.
During the voyage, Xu Yuan finally had time to organize his gains.
"The increase in just one month was immense."
Recalling the sensation, it felt as though the World Tree had consciously assisted the evolution of his inner realm and two small worlds, as if pushing its own evolution.
"The three months prior weren't wasted. Using Tang San's efforts, following that wound, I aligned my inner realm and two small worlds with the essence of the Holy Heart Plane early on. Perhaps because of this, the World Tree pushed the evolution of my inner realm and two small worlds."
Those three months amplified the efficiency of his one-month cultivation beside the essence of the World Tree by more than tenfold.
Additionally, the possibility of being erased as an unwelcome outsider implicitly boosted his cultivation efficiency.
On the return journey, Xu Yuan continuously digested his gains.
The evolution of the inner realm came first, followed by his insights.
Now that he had some free time, he intended to thoroughly comprehend all the changes.
Thus, a month later.
Hell Plane.
Xu Yuan's Probe Abyss landed.
Integrating the Probe Abyss into his body, Xu Yuan gazed toward the horizon.
"This Lord of Hell, his perception is quite sharp."
After waiting briefly, the Lord of Hell appeared before Xu Yuan.
Seeing Xu Yuan, whose aura had undergone a complete transformation compared to three years ago, the Lord of Hell's expression was one of shock.
"S-senior." He clasped his hands respectfully.
"What is it?"
"N-nothing, just welcoming you back, predecessor." The Lord of Hell replied.
"Speak. What do you want to know? You were quite cooperative before."
Suppressing his excitement, the Lord of Hell asked softly, "Senior, I don't know about the method for Blood Mages to ascend to godhood..."
"Blood Mage ascension?" Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes.
He hadn't deduced it.
Although the Blood Mage Contract forbidden spell originated from the Blood Mage system, the Blood God Transformation forbidden spell clearly wasn't something the Blood Mage system could transition into.
Though they shared the same origin, their essence had changed.
Reaching the end of the Blood Mage path and transitioning to the Blood God Transformation required starting over, and even then, there was no guarantee of attaining godhood.
After a brief contemplation, Xu Yuan provided the Lord of Hell with an answer.
"If you trust me, you can try channeling laws through your bloodline powers. I have the Rune Art; you can study it."
Saying this, Xu Yuan left behind a rudimentary Blood Character Rune.
It was a rune he had improvised on the spot.
By now, his understanding of laws far surpassed his past self.
With his inner realm, devising a rune in a field he excelled in was effortless.
As for its simplicity, naturally, this Blood Character Rune was of a low level, riddled with flaws that allowed one to glimpse a sliver of its mysteries.
This actually facilitated the Lord of Hell's comprehension.
The Lord of Hell solemnly held the Blood Character Rune aloft before him.
Xu Yuan paid no heed to the Lord of Hell and vanished as a streak of crimson light.
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