Early the next morning,
Gu Tianle was woken up by hunger.
He stumbled to the campfire, roasted another huge slab of demon meat, and wolfed it down whole.
[Ingested trace Life Energy. Stamina recovering.]
"Trace, trace... Eating only meat isn't enough.
I need to get those sweet potatoes growing fast."
He squatted down at the spot where he'd buried the sweet potato the day before.
The soil had already bulged slightly, and a dazzlingly tender green shoot had pushed through the charred earth.
"It's working!"
He rubbed his hands together and activated All Things Resonance again.
This time, he was more skilled—his Life Essence flowed like obedient water, gently wrapping around the sweet potato's roots.
Crack... crack...
The faint sounds of plant growth were clearly audible in the silent wilderness.
The shoot grew at a visible rate, unfurling two plump cotyledons.
Even more miraculously—
A ring of pale green light rippled silently outward from Gu Tianle's hands.
Wherever the light passed, the charred, hardened soil began to moisten, as if quenched by long-awaited rain.
From the cracks near the ground of several tree stumps that had been dead for who knew how many years, clusters of equally tender green shoots sprouted with crisp cracking sounds!
Though he couldn't see them, Gu Tianle could instinctively sense colorful motes of light in the air converging on his hands and sinking into the soil.
His entire focus was on the sweet potato.
In his perception, the seed tuber was swelling rapidly.
On the surrounding roots, one, two, three... new tubers were taking shape quickly!
"Whoa? It's this fertile?!"
He increased his output.
The sweet potato vines, as if injected with growth hormones, spread wildly.
Their leaves ballooned to the size of palm fans in the blink of an eye, glistening with vibrant green.
In just over ten minutes, a cluster of sweet potato vines covering several square meters—abnormally lush and full of life—sprang up on the desolate, charred ground!
[Warning! Life Essence is nearly depleted! Excessive consumption will damage your origin core!]
The system's warning blared suddenly.
Only then did Gu Tianle feel a wave of intense dizziness and weakness.
He quickly stopped, plopped down on the ground, and gasped for breath.
"Looks like I can't use this ability recklessly."
After resting for a good while to recover, he immediately picked up the hoe and carefully began digging.
What he saw next left him utterly dumbfounded.
Beneath the soil, the ground was teeming with sweet potatoes!
The biggest ones were almost the size of footballs, and the smallest no smaller than a fist—each round and plump, their purplish-red skins shimmering enticingly in the morning light.
A rough count showed at least thirty of them!
[Ding! Congratulations, Host! You have completed the Newbie Quest: Successfully plant and harvest your first crop!]
[Quest Reward: Newbie Gift Pack ×1, delivered to System Storage.][Energy Points gained: +10.]
[System Mall module unlocked!][New Quest issued: Build a habitable wooden cabin. Reward: Simple Wooden Bed ×1, Energy Points +20.]
Gu Tianle had no time to check the quest.
He dug up the smallest sweet potato—its color was the darkest, almost deep purple, making it look quite special.
He wiped it on his clothes and took a big bite.
Crunch!
Sweet! Pure, refreshing sweetness burst across his tongue instantly!
Even more astonishingly, the moment he swallowed it—
Boom!
A gentle energy, far purer than demon meat and over ten times more potent, exploded in his stomach.
A warm current immediately surged through his limbs and bones!
"Ugh..."
Gu Tianle couldn't help but groan.
Every pore in his body opened at once, and a layer of black, greasy grime oozed out of his skin, emitting a foul, acrid stench. Yet at the same time, he felt light as a feather, as if he could float away at any moment!
His eyesight became abnormally sharp—he could even make out the veins on withered leaves in the distance.
His hearing could pick up the sound of the breeze brushing against gravel.
He felt as if he had an endless supply of strength coursing through his body!
[Ingested pure plant Life Energy!]
[Detected that Host has long been in a state of severe contamination and malnutrition.
Life Energy has initiated deep purification process.]
[Preliminary physical purification complete! Life level slightly elevated! Current status: Healthy (Excellent)!]
"Body refinement... This is real body refinement!"
Staring at the grime on his arm and feeling the surging power within him, Gu Tianle was overcome with ecstasy.
He tried throwing a punch at a nearby stone.
Bang!
The stone split into several pieces on impact!
"Holy crap. Am I this awesome now?
This strength...
it's definitely more than double what it used to be!"
One sweet potato had the effect of a legendary elixir!
He looked at the remaining pile of sweet potatoes, his eyes shining with the golden light of immortality.
"I'm rich... I'm really rich this time! Am I about to start cultivating immortality?!"
Meanwhile, one kilometer away, behind a dilapidated road sign.
Five scouts from the Limestone Outpost were watching everything through high-powered binoculars and energy detectors.
At that moment, all their hands were shaking.
On the detector screens, the energy intensity curve had just skyrocketed like a mad thing, its peak shattering the level-three threat threshold they'd always known. Only now was it slowly declining.
"T-Team Leader..."
A young scout's teeth chattered.
"W-What is he doing?
Why are there so many demon corpses piled up there?
That green light...
those plants that sprouted out of nowhere..."
The burly man called Team Leader was faring no better—his forehead was covered in cold sweat.
He lowered his binoculars and struggled to regain his composure.
"Seven years ago, in the ruins of the old city... I saw a Reaper crawl out of an abyss rift once."
"Wherever it walked, all living things would decompose automatically, becoming its nourishment."
The scouts' faces turned even paler at his words.
The Team Leader pointed at the young man in the distance, who had just finished eating the sweet potato, each word heavy as a thousand jun.
"But he... is more terrifying than the Reaper."
"Ancient texts record that when the Devouring Demon Lord awakened in primeval times,
he took a blade of grass as a guide,
siphoned vitality from a thousand li around, and forged a Life Demon Domain."
"Did you see that?
All vitality is converging on his hands!
That blade of grass withered in an instant! He's using that blade of grass as a guide to activate his Demon Domain!"
"He's... planting a Demon Domain!"
"Hurry!"
The Team Leader suddenly lowered his voice, fear lacing his tone. "
Record the coordinates!
Energy readings!
The shape of the demon remains!
Write everything down clearly!"
"This information must be sent back to the outpost immediately!"
"The Demon Lord... isn't a legend! He's right here!"
The five men's limbs went weak, but they still summoned up their willpower, packed their equipment as quickly as possible, and fled into the shadows of the wilderness like they were running for their lives.
Before leaving, the Team Leader took one last look back.
At the center of the farm, the "Demon Lord" was examining himself, grinning like an idiot.
And in his eyes, the sweet potatoes on the ground were glowing with eerie dark green veins.
"What he's growing... are Origin Demon Plants."
The Team Leader's entire body went cold.
Then he urged them, "Move faster!"