Chapter 209 The Truth and True Form of the Beast God Realm (7700 words, a 10,000-word update today, requesting monthly tickets~)

Under Su Zhou's gaze, the black space-time tunnel had indeed turned white.

As the wave-like fluctuations from the other side gradually slowed down and subsided, it even slowly stopped operating. The pitch-black abyss-like depths gradually transformed into a soft, milky-white light curtain, like well water with minimal ripples.

That was the current state of the space-time tunnel that once led to the Beast God Realm—a space-time gate that had almost completely ceased activity.

This couldn't help but amuse Su Zhou. Just a moment ago, the Peacock Divine Bird had swaggered over with a group of ferocious beasts, seemingly about to do something big. But it turned out that after their vanguard was killed, they lost their nerve and simply closed the door?

Although it sounded cowardly, it wasn't surprising. After all, the Peacock was also a high-level Extraordinary, probably a top-tier powerhouse in that area. The other side likely didn't have any existences of sufficient caliber. If he were to actively charge over, probably no one could stop him.

So, to avoid being invaded, it was normal for the Beast God Realm to self-seal.

Su Zhou didn't know how to explain to Yan Sheng, who was continuously pressing him for answers. After all, he was just an ordinary young professor whose oral communication skills weren't up to par. He couldn't fully describe the various details he could observe. He really wished he had a phone in hand to send over a multi-million pixel photo directly.

Yan Sheng on the other end of the communication line was silent for a long time, so long that Su Zhou thought the connection had been broken. Then, it slowly spoke: [Understood. Researchers from the Dao Discipline Bureau will be there shortly to collect data.]

Su Zhou nodded. He sighed, "In any case, the space-time tunnel is temporarily sealed, and the Beast God Realm is not a threat for now—I don't know what the situation is on their side, but I imagine it's not peaceful."

In reality, it was far from peaceful.

"Disaster! Disaster!"

Terrified cries echoed throughout the city. A great fire had even broken out in the city center. In the enormous Feather Clan royal city, a massive riot was unfolding. Numerous servant-species beasts, and a small number of combat-species, had fled back to the Beast God Realm in a panic, bringing with them the fear, terror, and the news of the 'King's death'.

"The King has fallen!"

Upon hearing this news, countless production-class avian spiritual beasts were trembling as they sealed the gates of their residences, trying to prevent their homes from being destroyed by rampaging beasts. Throughout the city, various combat-class spiritual beasts who knew a little about what was happening were holding their ground in their families, observing the current situation with suspicion and uncertainty, trying to discern the truth.

Divine beasts had long lifespans. The current generation of Peacock Divine Bird had been the Feather King for over two hundred years. This was definitely considered a rare, long-reigning ruler among divine beasts. Although the concepts of divine beasts and rulers were imports brought by the Immortals and Gods, unlike 'humans', divine beasts were very fond of such titles.

The ruler's long lifespan had granted the Feather Clan long-term stability. The Peacock Divine Bird's power was sufficient to suppress other avian divine beasts, allowing for peaceful development and the gradual expansion of the Feather Clan's territory and strength.

It was precisely because the Peacock Divine Bird felt it had a great advantage that it had the leisure to search through ancient texts, seeking out the secrets to connecting to the outside world. It had found the ancient ruins located not far from the Feather Clan's main city, rumored to lead to another world.

Other clans' divine beasts often had throne夺 battles every ten years. Forget about development, even recuperation was difficult, let alone wasting time to notice the various movements of the Feather Clan during this period.

The Beast God Realm had five types of spiritual beasts, and the five kings and five clans competed with each other. Naturally, the Peacock wouldn't tell its competitors about its discovery of the Beast God Realm's connection to the outside world. Instead, it planned to rely entirely on its own family's strength.

The already-powerful Peacock's primary goal was to use the various resources excavated from the other world to become the strongest being capable of suppressing all beasts, becoming the undisputed master of the Beast God Realm.

But this time, the plan had failed. The news that numerous servant-species had been sacrificed, and that the Peacock itself was missing, perhaps even dead, had instantly caused inexplicable thoughts to arise in the hearts of all the ambitious divine birds within the Feather Clan.

Instantly, within a single hour, the Peacock Divine Bird's direct bloodline and guards had sealed the ancient passage to the other world in a panic, then directly left with the former king's descendants, disappearing to who knows where. The Beast God Realm didn't have any 'the father dies, the throne is inherited by the son' rule. Now that they had lost their clan's strongest member, the first thing those not-yet-grown pureblood peacocks needed to do was to go into seclusion, hide away to grow and develop.

Because if they didn't, the other divine birds who wanted to compete for the Feather King's throne would likely use them as a tool to establish their power.

"Was it the Azure Bird or the Vermilion Bird who rebelled first?" An elderly peacock, who hadn't awakened the Five-Colored Divine Light power, was leading its clan's pureblood descendants, preparing to hide in the deep mountains within the Beast God Realm according to a pre-prepared escape route. Standing in a mountain gorge, it gazed far away at the Feather Clan's main city burning in flames, and the various divine birds competing against each other around the city, unleashing dazzling spiritual light. It couldn't help but sigh, "The news that the King is missing, possibly dead, has only been out for less than an hour, and the entire Feather Clan is already in such chaos."

"The King's two hundred years of recuperation and development efforts have been reduced to nothing in a single morning. These proud divine birds aren't willing to wait even half a second, unwilling to even make the slightest gesture of observation..."

Forget it, this is the Beast God Realm... After all, if they were in that position, they would make the same choice.

After all, even if beasts built cities, achieved civilization, and possessed systems, at the end of the day, this world still valued bloodlines, the law of the jungle, and an unchanging hierarchy...

Beast God Realm.

Naturally, Su Zhou couldn't imagine that the neighboring Beast God Realm was already in such chaos that no one cared whether the Peacock was dead or not, or even who had killed it, if it was dead.

After confirming that the space-time tunnel had completely stabilized and that no more ferocious beasts would emerge, he walked out of the sealed great hall.

The isolation barrier created by the Peacock Divine Bird had disappeared, and the majority of the exploration team members had already left. Now, only Bai Canglang, Tang Yuan, Garuda, Shao Qiming, Guan Wanjing, Li Hanshan, and Li Yeyu of his squad were waiting for him.

"You guys didn't leave?"

Seeing people waiting for him, Su Zhou was a little embarrassed. He shrugged and smiled, "There's no need. I wouldn't be in any danger."

--Of course you wouldn't be in any danger.

Actually, everyone present wasn't worried about Su Zhou's safety. They simply had things they wanted to say to Su Zhou, and discoveries to report, so they weren't in a hurry to leave immediately.

Conversely, they were a little worried about what would happen if Su Zhou encountered another particularly powerful divine beast and killed it in a matter of seconds—these divine beasts were most valuable alive. In hindsight, there was no need to kill that Peacock Divine Bird.

Of course, now that it was dead, there was nothing to regret. They might even cheer. The Peacock Divine Bird's corpse had already been transferred out. It was probably being rushed to the nearest medical research institute for preservation, awaiting analysis.

"Professor Su..."

At this time, Shao Qiming walked forward with a smile, and his opening remarks gave Su Zhou goosebumps. "Hey, please, just be normal."

"Oh, A'Zhou, I previously discovered a huge pit in the northern part of the Kunlun Secret Realm, suspected to be the tree pit of some abnormally huge giant tree..."

Shao Qiming smiled, switching his address smoothly. He told Su Zhou about the possible existence of a giant tree, subtly hinting at the existence of a 'divine tree'.

Su Zhou was also very curious about this. Even the Divine Wood蟠桃, Pan Tao (Peach of Immortality) had been suppressed in growth by the Immortals and Gods, and now it had turned into a peach forest. Besides the essence of the divine wood, there didn't seem to be any special phenomena. What could be the former habitat of the giant tree pit that Shao Qiming and the others saw?

Could it really be Jianmu (a mythical tree)?

"I'll go take a look later." Thinking this, Su Zhou turned his head and looked around.

He could see that Li Hanshan was currently squatting in the place where the Peacock's corpse had been. He reached out and touched the soil soaked in the blood of the divine bird... and then he had been spacing out in place, looking like an autistic child who could stare at ants fighting all day.

Guan Wanjing was sitting to the side, cultivating—the spiritual energy density in the Kunlun Secret Realm was much higher than in the outside world. Perhaps it was because the corpses of many妖神, Yaoshen (demon gods) here constituted a natural array. Cultivating here was twice as effective, worthy of being called a blessed land.

As for Li Yeyu, she was standing guard very professionally to the side, her aura was steady, she didn't speak, and she didn't relax. She had the air of a security bureau employee.

"Worthy of being the captain I appointed. Among the group, she and Qiming are probably the most reliable."

Su Zhou thought to himself. At this time, Bai Canglang also stepped forward. This time, his words and tone were unusually serious. "Although this exploration of the Kunlun Secret Realm had various accidents, overall it was considered a success. Professor Su, you are a hero of this operation. You should be rewarded immediately—but, what is the source of your bloodline? We can't judge, we can't allocate resources..."

This time, Bai Canglang was representing the Zheng Nation (lit. "Correct Nation", standing in for China) official to communicate with Su Zhou. They originally thought that Su Zhou might be a return to the blood of the most ancient 雷泽龙神, Lei Ze Long Shen (Thunder Marsh Dragon God), but now that they saw Su Zhou suddenly display a fire attribute that was somewhat outrageously strong, they were a little confused.

After all, resources were most effective when used on the cutting edge. Not knowing Su Zhou's essence, they really had a hard time giving out rewards.

"Just treat me as being flamboyant... Sigh, don't take it seriously, I just sang a line casually."

Su Zhou saw that Bai Canglang was actually thinking about what kind of ancient divine beast the name '父夸, Fu Kua (father boast)' was, and he immediately waved his hand, "Just treat me as having the Thunder Dragon bloodline. It's all irrelevant."

Su Zhou wasn't really showing off with these words—his fundamental fire attribute spiritual power came from the 'Sacred Geometry', a supreme cultivation method of a Great Existence level. With a sports car, who would want a wheelchair? He didn't need any other inherited resources. He could win even by just auto-attacking.

On the contrary, the seemingly disguised wind and thunder techniques had provided Su Zhou with a lot of help.

Among other things, the power of wind allowed him to fly, and the power of thunder allowed Su Zhou to sense various electronic devices and be unusually sensitive to various electromagnetic phenomena. Summoning heavenly thunder even made up for his lack of long-range attack methods—these improvements were much greater than purely increasing his fire attribute.

Since that was the case, it was better to let the Zheng Nation official provide him with conveniences in this regard, and he could focus on cultivating his fundamental cultivation method.

"I understand, bloodlines are indeed just assistance. The most important thing is the person—I understand!"

After hearing Su Zhou's words, Bai Canglang's expression suddenly became serious, and his gaze towards Su Zhou was full of admiration. Su Zhou, who didn't know about Bai Canglang's previous conversation with Xuan Lu, was naturally at a loss, not knowing what he understood.

At the same time, Yan Sheng, who was eavesdropping on the side—not that it was intentional eavesdropping, Su Zhou knew that these conversations would be heard by Yan Sheng—was also thoughtful and enlightened.

[Su Zhou's main element must be fire, but his talent for lightning must also be very good, so he used this attribute for disguise.]

[As for why he doesn't want people to know the source of his bloodline, let's treat it as the willfulness of a young man. Moreover, being known for his main element makes it easier to be targeted. This consideration is correct and very cautious, it's a very normal decision.]

Anyway, if there was a need, the Zheng Nation official could dig up an ancient book from who-knows-where tomorrow and create a dragon with a long history, existing since ancient times, even worshiped by countless people, for Su Zhou—they could do whatever the situation required. If they were given enough preparation time, they could even build ruins along with it.

That was about all there was to tell. The gate to the Secret Realm reopened, and the second batch of fully armed exploration teams, even carrying heavy firepower, began to enter.

Su Zhou and the others, along with Garuda, cooperated with the second exploration team to enter the central mountain Kunlun Palace, transferred the relevant permissions. The exploration of the Kunlun Secret Realm could be said to be coming to an end.

Of course, no enemies were encountered along the way. On the contrary, the group was surrounded by a group of petite spiritual beasts, and were forced to take a lot of fruit.

Throughout the process, Garuda was a little lost, even more so after transferring the relevant permissions. She would also shiver whenever she saw Su Zhou.

Fortunately, unlike Li Hanshan, Garuda could still communicate normally. When Su Zhou asked questions, she could answer obediently.

Su Zhou wasn't the kind of person who liked to bully people—arguing with people and bullying people were two different things. Seeing that Garuda seemed really afraid of him, he didn't deliberately tease her. Instead, he took her outside Kunlun Palace and asked calmly, "Garuda—that's what you call yourself. You said that you have the dual inheritance and memories of a divine bird and a human妖神, Yaoshen who transformed into a divine bird. So, you don't know which side you belong to, right?"

"...Indeed."

Garuda could speak human languages. The memory inheritance of the human 大鹏金翅鸟, Dapeng Jinchi Niao (Golden Winged Garuda)妖神 contained this memory. Although her tone was archaic, her intelligence wasn't low. After receiving online education and Mandarin pronunciation popularization provided by Zheng Nation, her speech was already similar to that of ordinary humans. "It's not that I want to be confused, but I feel that as long as I choose one inheritance, the other inheritance will abandon me, even turn around and attack me, reverse my cultivation power, and kill me."

When Garuda said this, she had a deep sense of helplessness, "Most importantly, if I choose humans, will humans accept me? After all, I'm a divine bird born from heaven and earth. Although I was born with the aura of a human妖神, I have no parents, no teachers, and no 'relationships'... According to human ethics and human certification, am I considered human?"

"I guess not... But on the Beast God Realm side, they think I'm a natural divine bird and will definitely acknowledge my bloodline."

She didn't lie just because she had been captured by humans and was very afraid of Su Zhou. She honestly said all the thoughts she was struggling with: "One side is the reason for my birth, but they may not acknowledge me. The other side acknowledges my origin, but they have ulterior motives. So, I have always been unable to choose. I always wanted to see what humans are really like... Wuwuwu..."

Speaking of this, she seemed to have recalled something bad, and then her legs went limp. Her calves and feet were next to her thighs, and she sat on the ground and cried, "Now that I have transferred the permissions, is it useless? Will I be killed like the Peacock... Wuwuwu..."

"Sigh, a good person, crying as soon as she says it... Alright, stop crying. So, you actually came here to see what humans are like."

The members of the second exploration team were basically special forces soldiers, even various professional security bureau agents. Although Garuda, this blonde beauty, cried after saying a few words to Su Zhou, they turned a blind eye, as if this had not happened--so the feeling was even stranger, somewhat like a rich young master bullying a man and a woman, and the servants pretending not to see it.

Su Zhou sighed at this: "Actually, there's no need to care about whether you are human or demon or beast or not. These things are all tools for dividing camps, dividing lines created by intelligent life. If you are just afraid of death, then Garuda, as long as you guarantee that you will not harm humans, and are willing to cooperate with humans, then the Zheng Nation official will be very happy to regard you as one of the thousand gold horses, recruiting many intelligent beasts, even妖族, Yaozu (demon race), that may become refined and awakened in the future, for human use."

"But if you are interested in human civilization, and are willing to live like humans and abide by human rules--then, look at your current body, this face, who can say that you are not human?"

Saying this, Su Zhou raised his hand and pointed to the blonde girl's face.

Feeling Su Zhou's movement, Garuda looked up blankly--her appearance was indeed very human, even considered a delicate beauty, without even pointed ears or other non-human characteristics. It's just that the hair, upon closer inspection, was all downy feathers, not individual strands of hair.

--But that's better than being bald, right? You can't say that being bald isn't human.

"The fact that you chose to cultivate something like the Transformation Art shows one thing."

Su Zhou wasn't like he was at the beginning, forcibly brainwashing Garuda with logic. Instead, he seriously explained his thoughts, "That is, you want to become a human, subconsciously expecting this form."

At this time, he was standing in the center of the Kunlun Secret Realm. Su Zhou stood on the mountain peak, overlooking the Kunlun Secret Realm, the vast scenery of the妖神天界, Yaoshen Tianjie (Demon God Heaven Realm), and the mountain peaks formed by the corpses of the many妖神. His tone was calm, "In fact, I really understand the thoughts of the old Immortals and Gods--as long as you are willing to become a human, then no matter what your background is, for them, you are human."

"Just like those divine beasts in the Beast God Realm, their world is connected to the Kunlun Secret Realm, and the Kunlun Secret Realm is a place where the old Immortals and Gods preserve their bloodline inheritance. If it is obtained by the beasts of the Beast God Realm, it will undoubtedly cause great losses, even damage to their own clan."

"It's not that Immortals and Gods can't sever the space-time tunnel, but they didn't do so. Instead, they chose to educate those beasts--of course, this education is arrogant and condescending. They require the beasts of the Beast God Realm to become human. After becoming human, the seal of the Beast God Realm will break itself."

Saying this, he turned his head, looked at Garuda, and said indifferently, "Do you understand? The tunnel to the Beast God Realm is directly connected to the Kunlun Secret Realm. As long as those spiritual beasts are willing to become human, they can come to Kunlun earlier than us, the theoretical orthodox inheritors, and obtain the inheritance of the Immortals and Gods."

"This is a kind of peculiar reproduction, a kind of expansion of civilization."

Garuda actually didn't know the origin of the Beast God Realm, but her instinct told her that Su Zhou wasn't lying. As a strong person, although he sometimes spouted trash talk, he wouldn't bother lying at this time.

So, she asked suspiciously, "Then why are they unwilling to become human? Obviously..."

Su Zhou didn't answer this question, because after Garuda said this sentence, the doubts that had troubled her for a long time had been answered.

--Why are they unwilling to become human?

Being able to ask this question in itself meant that she wanted to become human.

She fell silent again, but this time Garuda, who was no longer confused, left with the second exploration team. The Zheng Nation official had questions to ask this native who was born in the Kunlun Secret Realm.

As for Su Zhou, no tasks were issued to him. He could go back whenever he wanted, and he could stroll around the Kunlun Secret Realm whenever he wanted--no one would restrain him, and no one would want to restrain him.

So, he just strolled around casually. Accidentally, or rather, by fate, Su Zhou strolled to the side of 瑶池, Yaochi (Jade Pool), next to the蟠桃林, Pan Tao Lin (Peach of Immortality Forest).

Coincidentally, another gust of thunder and wind blew past, and a ripe peach just happened to fall from the branch and landed in Su Zhou's hand.

Casually finding a stone with a good shape, Su Zhou sat on the stone, eating the peach, and looked at the water of Yao Lake, and the beautiful spiritual mist that lingered above it. He couldn't help but sigh, "Is this the life of an immortal? It's too happy!"

The peach was indeed a蟠桃, Pan Tao, a spiritual fruit of very high quality. Although it didn't have the effect of eating one and living for three thousand years as in mythology, it must be said that in the present, not long after the spiritual energy had recovered, a spiritual fruit that could immediately restore several weeks of spiritual power with just one bite, and also had a life-force nourishing effect, was really very rare.

If it was in its complete form, eating a蟠桃, Pan Tao like this would not guarantee living for three thousand years, but living thirty years longer really wouldn't be a problem. And now, it could at least heal a lot of hidden injuries, and living a few more years wouldn't be a problem.

Of course, the most important thing was that it was delicious.

Crunch, Su Zhou took a bite, feeling like he was biting into琼浆玉露, Qiong Jiang Yu Lu (jade nectar). It didn't immediately turn into a pure stream of spiritual energy in his mouth, but into a ball of sweet spiritual liquid, giving people a clear and transparent taste. At this moment, every part of the person's body would be swept by a gentle spiritual power, and slowly repairing damaged areas.

This feeling was more comfortable than soaking in a hot spring in winter. If it was a超凡者, Chaofan Zhe (extraordinary person), they could even quickly detect some hidden dangers in their body through the process of repairing themselves with the蟠桃, Pan Tao (Peach of Immortality) spiritual power. Even spiritual martial artists could therefore feel their body's meridians more deeply and improve their control over their body.

The first蟠桃, Pan Tao had the best effect. The second one was a bit lower. For Su Zhou himself, he felt that it had no effect after eating half of the second one. It was just a purely delicious spiritual fruit that could restore spiritual power. For ordinary people, they would probably be full after eating half of one. The excessive spiritual power would not be so easy to digest, and they might not be able to eat for a few days.

"I'll apply for a few later and take them out for my relatives and friends to eat."

If it were other people, they might need to consider it, but if it was Su Zhou, the Zheng Nation official would probably say 'eat as much as you want'--of course, this would not really be said, because everyone knew that if Su Zhou was really allowed to eat as much as he wanted, just like he ate in the cafeteria with an unlimited meal card, this peach forest, no matter how large, might not be able to last a week.

But the attitude was there. As long as Su Zhou wanted it, no one would say 'no'.

As for whether the蟠桃林, Pan Tao Lin (Peach of Immortality Forest) had intelligence like other divine trees... At least Su Zhou didn't find it, and the Spirit of the Wisdom Tree in Su Zhou's mind didn't notice it either.

Speaking of which, although this soul had been shouting that it was hungry, its body wasn't here. Looking at the full forest of蟠桃, Pan Tao (Peach of Immortality) and the灵水, Ling Shui (spiritual water) of Yao Lake, it was like a diabetic dessert lover arriving at an ice drink dessert shop, so greedy that it was about to cry.

"Don't shout, it's not like I won't let you eat! Sigh, you're really troublesome!"

Scolding it, Su Zhou could only guarantee that he would bring Yao Lake灵水, Ling Shui and local Kunlun soil to change the soil and fertilizer for it, which barely calmed down the soul that had been shouting 'hungry, hungry, hungry'.

As for the huge tree pit in the northern part of the Kunlun Secret Realm that Shao Qiming was talking about, Su Zhou actually went to take a look. He could confirm that it was indeed a tree root depression left by a divine tree. Moreover, the divine tree had its own will and left a very strong unique spiritual power reaction. It wasn't like the蟠桃, Pan Tao (Peach of Immortality), which had been suppressed by the Immortals and Gods into a pure fruit-producing tool.

From the attitude of the Spirit of the Wisdom Tree, which had no interest at all, it was clear that the divine tree wasn't a derivative of the Dao Tree, but a derivative of the World Tree--there was no doubt that it was more than ninety percent likely to be Jianmu.

"Legend has it that Jianmu貫穿, Guan Chuan (pierces through) the human and divine worlds, and is a divine tree that can travel through worlds... Could 西母大天尊, Xi Mu Da Tian Zun (Great Heavenly Lord West Mother) and this batch of Immortals and Gods have used Jianmu as a bridge to go to other worlds?"

Su Zhou was asking Yala this time. The snake spirit, who was lying on top of Su Zhou's head and arranging his hair into a nest shape, replied easily, "Of course, otherwise, how would They have taken away so many Immortals and Gods? And if it wasn't like that, how could the divine tree have disappeared on its own? It's obvious that it went to other worlds."

"What about the other Immortals and Gods who left in later generations?"

"They relied on their own abilities. Hasn't your history proved it? Basically, all the Immortals and Gods with abilities left."

Su Zhou啧啧, zeze (tsk tsk) said, and didn't think much about this question. Compared to these, he would rather continue to admire the lake view, eat蟠桃, Pan Tao (Peach of Immortality), and rest his mind.

By the Yao Lake, the waves were surging, and the stalactite cloud peaks in the sky were dripping spiritual liquid, stirring up bursts of ripples. The calm wind blew through, mixed with the fragrance of the peach forest... The night view of the Kunlun Secret Realm was indeed very beautiful and had a very immortal atmosphere.

The place that Su Zhou chose wasn't far from where he and Garuda fought in the beginning. He could even see Garuda turning into the true form of the 金翅鸟, Jinchi Niao (Golden-Winged Bird), diving at the speed of sound, leaving traces of shockwaves on the ground.

Seeing this scene, he hesitated for a while, but after thinking about it, he still decided to ask, "Speaking of which, Yala."

"Hmm?" Sensing Su Zhou's subtle change in tone, Yala immediately knew that he wanted something from her this time, and her tone suddenly lengthened, "What is it?"

"It's just that, those妖血, Yaoxue (demon blood) cultivators seem to have something like demon true bodies... After all, don't I have your bloodline? Can I also cultivate it?"

Hearing Su Zhou say this somewhat hesitantly and looking very embarrassed, Yala immediately laughed strangely, "Haha! Who was it that said before that long, snake-like things don't look good and don't fit their aesthetics? Why, do you want to cultivate it now?"

"One time is not another, and who said it doesn't look good? Now I think the long, snake-like appearance is very good-looking!"

Su Zhou didn't blush or pant when he lied, and Yala naturally wouldn't tease Su Zhou on this matter. At most, she would joke a few times, 'Why don't you quickly say it smells good?' Then, she directly replied, "Of course you can."