—dragon bones, metals, gems, meteorites, and materials from spirit beasts—
the dazzling array of treasures nearly blinded Chen Ming, even causing him to look at the Evil Emperor with an unnatural gaze.
If he hadn't known that the Evil Eye wasn't related to dragons, Chen Ming would have suspected the Evil Emperor was a transformed dragon. Otherwise, why would he have locked so many treasures in his lair?
Chen Ming saw the skeletons of over ten hundred-thousand-year-old spirit beasts, and even five skeletons of two hundred-thousand-year-old beasts. Amidst this vast pile of spirit beast materials, Chen Ming even spotted the still-living remains of a four hundred-thousand-year-old plant-like beast.
Preserved by the Evil Emperor, the spirit beast remained rooted in the earth, instinctively absorbing its energy.
However, under the control of the Evil Emperor, a spiritual force took root within the tree, constantly eroding its spiritual essence and forcing it to concentrate all its essence on branches resembling human arms, nurturing blood-red fruit.
Although the fluctuations of its soul power indicated that this 400,000-year-old plant-like spirit beast was still alive, from the perspective of its soul, it was actually dead beyond mortal end. The Evil Emperor was merely manipulating its remains through sinister means for his own use.
Upon noticing Chen Ming's interest in this tree, the Evil Emperor, acting as a lackey, immediately stepped forward to explain.
"My lord, this tree is called the Evil Demon Tree. It's an extremely evil soul beast that not only devours the bodies of living beings, but also enslaves their souls. The weak are directly digested and absorbed, while the strong are twisted and transformed into minions and driven around by it."
"This soul beast is of extremely high quality and extremely powerful, even more terrifying than my Evil Eye Clan."
"Long ago, this Evil Demon Forest was the territory of the Evil Demon Tree Clan. However, because this soul beast is so powerful and evil, it is inherently limited."
"Generally speaking, although plant-type soul beasts have relatively weak intelligence and only develop clear thoughts after ten thousand years, the Evil Demon Tree Clan is more demanding in this regard. They only gain true consciousness after surviving a hundred thousand years of heavenly tribulation. This is extremely rare for a race that is naturally able to enslave souls."
"After awakening its own consciousness, the attributes of this soul beast will be further improved, rising to the extreme evil, and the desire to attack and devour will be further strengthened. However, as a species that can enslave souls, this soul beast actually has some defects in mental strength. Its thinking is evil and single-minded, and its mental strength is weaker than that of a true spiritual soul beast."
"The one planted on the ground now is the former emperor of the Evil Demon Tree clan, the Evil Demon Tree King who has cultivated for 450,000 years."
"Although my cultivation level was higher than that of the Evil Demon Tree King back then, and as a spiritual soul beast myself, I could restrain the Evil Demon Tree King, it still took me a long time to defeat the Evil Demon Tree King and beat him to a near-death state." "
The Evil Demon Tree clan can absorb escaping spiritual energy to produce special fruit. This fruit can increase the amount of spiritual power and further purify the spirit. However, because the fruit consumes too much energy, this clan basically does not bear fruit unless it is for sowing."
"I've planted him here for nearly ten thousand years. His soul and spirit have completely transformed into fruit, which my people have devoured. His inner cultivation has been almost completely drained. His cultivation, which was over 450,000 years old back then, has been almost completely depleted in these ten thousand years. His essence is even less than that of an average 100,000-year-old soul beast."
"In another thousand or two thousand years, or even a few hundred, this Pearl Demonic Demon Tree King will be completely drained and die, and the Demonic Demon Tree Clan will completely disappear from the Sun and Moon Continent."
The Evil Emperor glanced at Chen Ming at this point. Noticing that Chen Ming hadn't inquired about the complete disappearance of the Demonic Demon Tree Clan, he immediately realized that his master had probably done something similar.
"If you need it, Master, I still have a dozen fruits saved. I'll offer them to you. The Demonic Demon Tree King bore fruit two hundred years ago, and the next will be in about fifty years. If you can't wait, I can forcefully activate the essence of this soul beast and force it to bear fruit. It will only accelerate its demise, as it already has very little energy." "
Is this really the only one left of the Demonic Demon Tree Clan?" Chen Ming stepped forward and touched the Pearl Demonic Demon Tree King. Feeling the soul beast's suitability for his own power, the God of Sin, his heart couldn't help but become excited.
"Ahem, Master, he's the only one left of the Evil Demon Tree clan. The other sentient Evil Demon Trees died long ago because of my forceful catalysis of their fruit, and I didn't spare the remaining older ones either." "
I originally wanted to spare the Evil Demon Trees under ten thousand years old, but considering they can't bear fruit, and remaining in the Evil Demon Forest would only compete with the Evil Eye for food, I ordered the complete extermination of the Evil Demon Tree clan."
"I still have plenty of wood from the Evil Demon Tree clan back there. If Master can use it, that would be great."
"However, the fruits of the Evil Demon Tree clan can give birth to new Evil Demon Trees. I still have over a dozen fruits from the Evil Demon Tree King. If Master needs them, I'm afraid it might be too late."
The Evil Emperor hesitated at this point. He believed that waiting for a new generation of Evil Demon Trees to grow would take him countless years to ascend. Even with extra effort in cultivation, waiting for an Evil Demon Tree to reach the level of a hundred thousand years old would take at least twenty or thirty thousand years.
"This soul beast possesses the highest efficiency in carrying evil energy I've ever seen. Its inherently sinister attributes are also qualified to be used as material for crafting the God of Sin's artifact. However, you've completely drained this Evil Demon Tree King, leaving too little power within to craft an artifact."
"Go and bring me the fruit of the Evil Demon Tree King, and I'll show you the power of a god. Today, I'll use the remains of this Evil Demon Tree King to cultivate a new Evil Demon Tree King, and use it to craft my artifact."
"Yes." The Evil Emperor took a deep look at the drained Evil Demon Tree King, completely bewildered by how such a spent being could be given new life. However, out of trust in the power of the gods, the Evil Emperor obediently handed over a dozen fruits from his treasured collection to Chen Ming.
These fruits weren't from the same batch, but rather the best of each batch. Thanks to the Evil Emperor's special care, the energy within these carefully selected fruits remained brimming with energy.
Under normal circumstances, every fruit nurtured by the Demonic Tree King using his essence to cultivate a Demonic Tree would have a high probability of becoming a 100,000-year-old soul beast or even a fierce beast. However, in reality, no matter what these fruits could grow, under the control of the Demonic Emperor, they would never have the chance to grow.
(End of this chapter)