Chapter 196 The Battle Begins (6000, Two Chapters Combined)

At this moment, one could see that the ground behind Su Zhou was already a complete mess.

If it was said that a powerhouse in the Awakening stage could transform into a demolition machine, tearing down a building in a minute, then a powerhouse in the Extraordinary stage was enough to transform into a ruthless wide-area road roller, easily erasing a forest like a simple drawing on paper.

Although Su Zhou was not yet considered to be in the high or peak Extraordinary stage, his spiritual power organs had not yet been constructed to the point of full-body transcendence. However, with his current output, he was comparable to a high-level Extraordinary being. He could crush most difficult obstacles, just like the many formations he had crushed along the way.

After all, if there was a road roller to drive, who would be willing to take the boring ordinary road?

But Su Zhou also knew very well that if it wasn't for the fact that these formations had not been repaired for thousands of years and had suffered from the depletion of spiritual energy, so that all the formations could not exert even a tenth of their full power, he would never have been able to break into the core area of this ancient immortal mystic realm in Kunlun Mountain so easily.

But as the saying goes—it's good to kick someone when they're down and take advantage of their misfortune. To put it bluntly, it's beating a dog in the water; to put it nicely, it's attacking weak points…

In short, Su Zhou's forceful breakthrough was not reckless and foolish, but rather a clear understanding of the weakness of the Kunlun Mystic Realm, choosing the optimal mode of action!

His powerful spiritual vision allowed Su Zhou to easily see every change in the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, thus detecting the activation of formations in advance each time, and then blasting the central hub of the formation at the first moment. And his speed allowed him to pass through all dangerous areas in the shortest possible time, not only avoiding the risk of injury but also making all enemies attempting to besiege him exhausted.

As the formations gradually dissipated, Su Zhou wiped the tree sap from the tip of his spear with a leaf from the tree man's corpse head, muttered ‘sticky’, and then sped forward for a distance before suddenly sensing something: “Very strong life force.”

He looked up at the sky.

It was already dusk in the mystic realm. The sun was setting, and there was no bright moon. But in the high sky ahead, spiritual noctilucent clouds mixed with the evening glow floated in the sky.

Countless water particles scattered the light of the setting sun. Pale blue noctilucent clouds floated in the dim night sky. The clouds reflected the light from the ground, presenting a complex color, shimmering like water waves.

“Judging from this, the Yao Pool should be ahead.”

Staring at the spiritually rich phenomenon ahead, Su Zhou, full of interest, quickly crossed a mountain peak.

Standing at the top of the mountain, he overlooked the vast and beautiful lake before him, and couldn't help but click his tongue: “Good lord, it's really beautiful.”

What was probably the Yao Pool lake before him was filled with misty vapor, neither rising nor spreading, covering the lake surface like a thick layer of ice crystal mist, containing incredibly dense spiritual energy. In the mid-air, huge clouds formed an illusion like inverted mountain peaks, like drooping stalactites, gathering the spiritual energy of the entire sky, dripping jade marrow spiritual water into the lake from the tips.

A faint wind blew away a corner of the water vapor covering the Yao Pool, revealing that what was condensed in the Yao Pool was not spiritual water in the true sense but a strange jade liquid—it was translucent, but if illuminated by light, it would be pure cyan in color, just like the color of spiritual energy in spiritual vision.

The material of the Kunlun Mountain gate he had seen before was like this jade marrow spiritual water solidified.

“This is the ‘jade dew’ in the jade liquor, a unique spiritual material, based on water, which can condense spiritual energy into a solid form, either taken as a spiritual medicine or condensed into jade marrow to forge weapons or buildings.”

Yala, at this time, exerted the effect of Su Zhou's external search engine. Before Su Zhou could speak, it explained: “Don't underestimate it. Just like solid No. 0 Holy Water is a very good holy weapon material, jade marrow is brittle, but its hardness is very considerable. It's not shameful to use it as a weapon or building material. Moreover, it can also exert the effect of a natural spirit gathering array.”

“By the way, the taste is not bad, but the jade marrow is too hard after melting, and it's easy to get stuck in your teeth.”

“Such a large area… how long can I drink for.” With Su Zhou's poverty, he was immediately fascinated by the Yao Pool, but soon, he noticed that there were large peach groves growing around this magical lake.

“Peach grove?” Su Zhou's eyes lit up, and his spirit was lifted: “Pan Tao!” (Immortality Peach)

With the power of spiritual vision, he could see that after thousands of years of growth, all the peach trees were tall and lush, layered upon each other, and their roots were essentially one. The smallest peach tree and the oldest peach tree were essentially derivatives of the same tree.

How to say it? Its similarity to the Pan Rong Undying Tree was almost like that of blood brothers! It was just that the Pan Rong Undying Tree mainly highlighted the characteristics of the banyan tree and was exceptionally tall, while the Pan Tao was a peach tree. Although magical and also forming a forest by itself, it was just the size of an ordinary tree.

“Perhaps the immortals and gods suppressed the size of the Pan Tao, after all, for them, the divine tree doesn't need to be so powerful, wasting nutrients. It's best to concentrate the gathered spiritual power into divine fruit.”

Su Zhou easily understood this line of thought. He didn't pay too much attention to these, and thought seriously: “I wonder if the Pan Tao tree has intelligence and can communicate. A Pan Tao tree spirit with ancient wisdom is actually far more precious than the Pan Tao itself…”

At the same time, the spirit of the Wisdom Tree in Su Zhou's soul space was also exceptionally joyful, making a sound: “Hungry! Hungry! Hungry!”

“Don't shout hungry, tsk, it's making me hungry too.”

Forced to dispel his serious appearance, Su Zhou swallowed, looking longingly at the peaches in the peach grove that seemed to have grown recently, and whispered: “Not now… we have other tasks. We'll come back and communicate with these peaches… no, divine trees, properly in the future.”

Saying so, he was about to continue to move forward, fly over the Yao Pool, and head to the Kunlun Five Mountains, which were not far away.

However, with the sound of a gust of wind rapidly passing by, a gust of wind suddenly rose from the other side of the Yao Pool. This gust of wind drove the thin clouds and rapidly approached Su Zhou's direction.

The visitor was unkind.

Even without instinct, using his brain, he could clearly know that the existence in that gust of wind was obviously not coming to exchange greetings.

Sure enough, that gust of wind carried the clouds across the Yao Pool and then fell in front of Su Zhou.

The clouds dissipated, immediately revealing a group of burly fierce beasts wrapped inside.

Although each fierce beast had a ferocious shape similar to jackals, wolves, tigers, leopards, bears, lions, eagles, and owls, they all seemed to have been transformed by special methods. Even though they already possessed the strength of the Awakening stage, they did not have any intellectual characteristics, and their eyes were all a fierce blood red.

Now, all the fierce beasts were lying on the ground very docilely, and in the center of the gust of wind and clouds, a huge golden shadow swayed and transformed into a petite golden-haired figure, landing on the ground, guarded by the beasts.

This figure landed gracefully, golden hair falling to her ankles, strands of hair fluttering in the wind, but upon closer inspection, they were all connected pieces of golden fluff, storing terrifying spiritual power inside—according to Su Zhou's rough observation, it was at least five hundred Zhou Bu Yi!

Although the exposed skin was as white as snow, and those with poor eyesight might think it was as delicate as could be broken with a puff, Su Zhou was not blind. He could see very clearly that under that seemingly delicate skin, there was a spiritual power structure that was probably stronger than the armor of a chariot, not to mention the muscle tissue deeper inside, which was like carbon fiber twisted together, spiritualized. This meant that the other party's strength was definitely not as weak as her appearance disguised.

As for her appearance, it was indeed good. Comparable to him, this girl's eyebrows and eyes could be called beautiful and delicate, but her aura was quite heroic, with an extremely sharp, predator-like temperament.

However, the most important thing was the desire burning in the golden eyes of this figure that Su Zhou was very familiar with.

It was appetite.

“You want to eat me?”

Somewhat amused, even though he saw that the girl before him was probably the transformed body of the speculated Golden Winged Roc, and had at least the strength of a mid-to-high level Extraordinary being, Su Zhou still found it somewhat amusing: “Is it instinct? Or, am I just food in your eyes?”

“I kind of want to, you smell very good—but I'm not hungry, so I won't eat you.” The golden-haired girl said quite honestly. Her voice was not bad, but the tone was ancient and clumsy. For a moment, Su Zhou needed to think carefully to understand what she was saying: “Rather than that, Dragon Descendant, are you the leader of that group of Immortal Realm remnants? Or are you just being driven to explore this ruin as a pathfinder?”

She seemed to want to know the status of Su Zhou, this Dragon Descendant, in the ‘Immortal Realm Remnants’.

At this time, the golden-haired girl and the beasts around her formed a very classic formation.

Black Black Black Black Black
Black Black Gold Black Black

“Immortal Realm Remnants? I didn't expect Earthlings to have so much clout in other worlds.” Su Zhou didn't answer the other party's question in the first instance. He just marveled at the other party's formation and then asked back: “Did you steal the authority of the Kunlun Mystic Realm? Let me give you a piece of advice, it's better to hand this thing over as soon as possible, otherwise, don't say I didn't warn you.”

“Not for the time being, I still have many questions that need answers.” The golden-haired girl defaulted to the fact that she possessed the authority and then decisively refused. She narrowed her eyes, sizing up Su Zhou, who had broken through nearly ten dangerous formations without lacking any spiritual power or showing any signs of fatigue: “It seems you really are the leader… I won’t beg you to…”

Boom! The sound of spiritual power colliding rang out in the open space between the two.

Spiritual power probed and clashed against each other. A dangerous atmosphere began to rise on both sides. Invisible gales were surging in the open space between the two, even stirring up small tornadoes. The golden-haired girl said in a deep voice: “Interesting, you, a Dragon Descendant, aren't afraid of me?”

“Stop talking nonsense—I have a question before we start fighting.”

And Su Zhou had no intention of following the other party's pace at all. He could see lightning flickering and condensing around him, turning into dazzling arcs of electricity—how could a keyboard warrior who had roamed the internet for more than a decade allow others to take the initiative in the conversation? Anyway, judging from the other party's aura, it didn't seem like they could solve the problem by talking nicely.

Might as well beat her up first.

Facing the group of beasts on the other side, who were already panting heavily and about to rush up, and the golden-haired girl, who was frowning and also raising her spiritual power, her long hair rising like wings, Su Zhou asked calmly: “Let me ask you.”

“Have you ever eaten people?”

At the same time.

At the other end of the Kunlun Mystic Realm.

The four-person team led by Su Zhou was running rapidly through a huge abandoned palace complex.

Li Yeyu, as the captain, was leading the team with her Spirit Sight ability to scout ahead, while Guan Wanjing was guarding the rear, and Li Hanshan was in second place, observing the front for any spiritual power fluctuations and possible enemies with his extraordinary eyesight.

And Shao Qiming was holding a spiritual-power-modified concussion grenade in his hand, waiting for the other three to give an order to throw it to the place where it needed to be thrown.

Shao Qiming had spent most of his life as a weak medicine jar, but after Su Zhou cleared the curse in his body and he himself ate the Wisdom Fruit and began to cultivate, although his appearance still looked deceptively weak and unable to lift a finger, his physique was actually far beyond that of ordinary people.

However, this kind of strength was still a bit naturally insufficient compared to other talented cultivators. Fortunately, combat did not only require strength. Shao Qiming's reaction ability and control over strength were extremely strong, so he was responsible for throwing the concussion grenade in his hand at the first moment he noticed danger, resisting the enemy's impact and providing counter-attack opportunities for his teammates.

However, so far, they had not encountered any dangerous enemies that required them to do so.

“How far is it to the area where Professor Su sent the signal?”

This was asked by Li Yeyu. Her tone was cold, without much emotional color, and her words were very concise, never saying an extra word if she could avoid it. And Shao Qiming, who had been replicating the map of the Kunlun Mystic Realm in his mind, immediately replied: “Not far, it's on the flat-topped mountain ahead, about thirty-three kilometers in a straight line. At our speed, we can reach it in less than an hour.”

Of course, this was just an optimistic estimate. Even if there were no dangers in the Kunlun Mystic Realm, there were still many strange and rugged terrains—the courtyards, palaces, and various ruined halls they had just passed through were places they had to bypass. After all, who knew if there were any remaining dangerous spiritual power formations in those areas? Better safe than sorry.

“The ecology of this mystic realm is too bizarre!”

The one who said this complaint was Guan Wanjing. He was at the rear of the team, responsible for guarding the team's back, but at this time, he was complaining about the small group of small beasts that were closely following the team: “Could it be that as long as we don't accept their offerings, they won't stop?”

One could see that behind the entire Su Zhou's team, there was a large group of bouncing, cute, and petite beasts—there were rabbits, birds, chubby little bears, deer, or various dogs, cats, cattle, and sheep that looked very cute.

These small beasts were not afraid of people, nor did they attack people. On the contrary, they were either hugging, holding, or even carrying on their heads and backs, carrying a large number of fruits that looked full of spiritual energy, chasing after the entire team, as if they had to make them accept them.

“They are likely to be the descendants of the spiritual beasts that the old immortals and gods created to serve themselves.”

Shao Qiming also knew some of the truth about the old immortals and gods. Anyone who wanted to enter the Kunlun Mystic Realm knew a related part. Moreover, Su Zhou had mentioned some things when he went out to eat and shop with him, so Shao Qiming's guess was very well-founded: “It's just that the immortals and gods have left for thousands of years, and these servants have not been taken away. They have lost the power of transformation and inheritance. However, the will to serve humans has been integrated into their blood, so when they see us, they instinctively surge forward, wanting to ‘offer spiritual objects’ to us.”

“Is that so? Tsk, speaking of which, this hall is too big, right?”

Although his tone was rough, Guan Wanjing's mind was obviously not as carefree as he showed. He observed the surrounding situation and couldn't help but click his tongue: “If I hadn't confirmed that we weren't repeating the same space over and over again like a ghost hitting a wall, I would have suspected that we were trapped in some kind of space formation.”

“It is indeed very strange.”

Even the talkative Li Yeyu nodded in agreement at this time: “Especially this big pit, it's really too big.”

Since the team of four entered the Kunlun Mystic Realm not long ago, they had been teleported to the side of a huge sinkhole.

The size of that giant pit could not be estimated by the human eye at all. Even Li Hanshan, who possessed the eyes of the Chongming Bird, could only shake his head, indicating that he could not see the end—this meant that the pit was so large that its diameter was at least over five kilometers.

Although his eyes were indeed powerful, and he could even see things tens of kilometers away at high altitudes, but on flat ground, with various things obscuring his vision, Li Hanshan could only see about four or five kilometers away, which was enough to see the end of the horizon on Earth. However, here, he still encountered an unexpected limit.

In short, after admiring it for a while, the team moved away from the giant pit and came to a palace that seemed to be built around the giant pit. They did not enter the palace, but walked along the edge of the palace, preparing to meet up with Su Zhou and the others—but now, at least twelve kilometers had passed, and they could still see the giant pit in the distance, and the giant pit did not show any signs of shrinking.

Its diameter even reached over ten kilometers!

“What kind of pit can be so big? And what could create such a vast geological feature in the Kunlun Mystic Realm, the abode of immortals and gods?”

This was not just Li Yeyu's question. Even Li Hanshan, who didn't speak, revealed a hint of doubt in his eyes, but no matter who it was, they couldn't figure out its origin.

But Shao Qiming, who had heard Su Zhou brag about his adventures and knew about the existence of the ‘Pan Rong Undying Tree’ in the Divine Tree World, frowned slightly.

“I didn't think of it at first.” He thought to himself: “But the more I went on, the more I replicated its entirety in my mind, the more similar it became.”

“This giant pit… looks like the shape left behind after a tree disappeared out of thin air…”

And what else could such a huge tree pit be?

Even if it wasn't a divine tree, it must be a descendant of a divine tree.

Shao Qiming, who had eaten the Wisdom Fruit, understood very well how important things related to the divine tree were to his friend, so he planned to tell Su Zhou about this place and his guess after he saw him later, so that he could come over and take a look and confirm it.

However, just then.

Shao Qiming heard the voice of Li Hanshan, who rarely spoke in front of him, and even when he did, he only reported the necessary information.

“There are hostile enemies, above the left, approaching.”

Li Hanshan's words were brief, and his voice was somewhat hoarse and had a rather abnormal tone, with a creepy ear-piercing sensation that made people uncomfortable.

Immediately afterward, the sound of evil wind came swooping down from above!

“Enemy attack!”

After hearing the other party's words, without the slightest hesitation, Shao Qiming directly threw the concussion grenade that he had prepared along the direction indicated by Li Hanshan, and then picked up his blinding flashlight from his waist. At the same time, everyone in the team took out their weapons and entered a combat state!

A month of training and several days of joint capture of spiritual birds in actual combat had made the entire team extremely tacit, without the slightest hesitation.

Boom! The grenade exploded, and a special strong sonic boom shook the area!

Thus, when the rare intelligent avian ferocious beast that was rapidly swooping down from the sky was shaken and fell from the sky by the concussion grenade that was enough to stun an elephant, it was still dazed in its heart.

—What's going on? According to what the king said, the ordinary teams of the Immortal Realm remnants should not have magical treasures… What was I attacked by?

It was not the lowest-level ‘Offering Species’ and ‘Servant Species’ in the Beast God Realm, but a ‘Combat Wisdom Species’ that was born as a high-ranking citizen. In addition, it was already powerful, so halfway through the fall, it still forcibly controlled its spiritual power to suspend its body in the air, but it was a bit embarrassed: “Never mind, according to the king's instructions, we must kill all these Immortal Realm remnants.”

“That Garuda thinks he can choose freely, but he doesn't know that only the strong can be free! He, a mere Roc in the Extraordinary stage, without subordinates and family, dares to refuse the recruitment of this generation of Bird King, and is destined to have no good end!”

“As for the descendants of the immortals and gods, they are even more our mortal enemies!”

Thinking so, the beast, which was already at the peak of the Awakening stage, raised its head fiercely and looked at the mere four humans in the mid-to-high Awakening stage in front of it, and then issued a declaration-like cry!

Sound waves traveling at three hundred and forty meters per second, carrying terrifying spiritual energy that was frightening, swept towards the team!

And the retaliation was the blinding flashlight traveling at three hundred thousand kilometers per second!

The familiar flash of light skillfully locked onto its eyes!

“Gah!”

This time, it finally couldn't help but wail and was flashed down.

“It's another avian demon beast. It seems to be a goose, but its strength is stronger than what we've encountered before. It's at the peak of the Awakening stage.”

Guan Wanjing muttered, and then without hesitation, he held his shield and stepped forward, while Li Yeyu also issued instructions in a cold voice: “Be careful. This demon beast seems different. It has intelligence and is extremely hostile!”

“Don't hold back, don't think about capturing it. Let's use the most ruthless methods to deal with it!”

There is a third chapter, later, first ask for the end-of-month monthly tickets and recommendation tickets~