Chapter 648 - Ancient Tree of the Netherworld

Fang Yanying said, "Uncle-Master, I was just gliding through the Yellow Spring when an extremely fast virtual shadow hit my body, and then the next thing I knew I was surrounded by the ox heads and horse faces.

The others were shocked. The spiritual consciousness of a sword immortal was the most sensitive, yet she was still selected by the virtual shadow. Moreover, Fang Yanying's battle strength was amongst the strongest in this world. If they were attacked in the same way, they might have been seriously injured owing to the lack of strength to resist the attacks of those Yinsi deities.

During this change in the Yellow Spring, even Shen Lian was unable to detect his surroundings because a mysterious force was blocking his senses.

The biggest change was the mammoth tree, where it was most possible to understand the secrets of this Yellow Spring.

The Painting of Mountain, River, and Country pierced through the dimension, approaching the mammoth tree at the speed of light. A few moments later, they finally reached a huge tree covered in green, rooted in the Yellow Spring with no ends. Pieces of leaves were as big as houses whereas its branches were arranged like bushes made of magnified blades and swords.

An immortal sparrow used its pair of claws to scratch the head of a bull as huge as Taixing Mountain, creating multiple sparks, but it was not able to uncover it. The bull was ramming into every corner, forming waves on the Yellow Spring.

Suddenly, another virtual shadow rushed towards Fang Yanying. Before Fang Yanying could react, Shen Lian immediately appeared beside her and flicked his finger, hitting the virtual shadow.

Ripples were formed in the dimension, where a small black hole appeared, releasing a scent familiar to Shen Lian. It was the Nine Underworlds.

Shen Lian reacted by releasing his sword aura and pursued the virtual shadow. Finally, a gush of red blood appeared in the void, and a tree branch fell from the thin air into the Yellow Spring. It wiggled for a bit before growing into a fully grown tree, just like a mini version of the mammoth tree.

The branches were shaking, the tree leaves were singing, and the killing aura was more imminent.

Shen Lian felt the hunger in his opponent's mind as if it wanted to consume him alive.

Due to the two attacks on Fang Yanying, Shen Lian finally confirmed that the opponent was actually drawn to his and Fang Yanying's killing sword aura.

As expected, the sky-piercing mammoth tree shook. Countless virtual shadows came through from the skies. Shen Lian sent the Painting of Mountain, River, and Country off, leaving himself behind.

His spiritual shape changed as he cast the grand prowess, its size not smaller than the original shape of Bull King. Both his feet stepped into the Yellow Spring, and then the Yellow Spring's Qi of Essence dashed towards the seeds of the heaven and earth planted between his eyebrows.

Now he could not care about whether the seed of heaven and earth enjoyed this food or not. He had no extra time to cultivate the Essence Qi of the Yellow Spring.

Shen Lian was only seen waving his arms to grab the branches which were shot at him. At this instant, Shen Lian unlocked his released his aura to exterminate any demonic barrier.

Even Daoist Dengfeng saw Shen Lian's rich mana shining as bright as the bright moon. His Taiyue Real Shape Incantation would never gain him the strength as great as Shen Lian's.

In Shen Lian's current state, all that he saw were his resources, be it the Art of Gigantes, Taiyue Real Shape Incantation or the great strength from the bloodline of the Xia clan, he could all receive into his system. He was also stepping into the all-knowing realm.

He lost count of the branches he had hit off. These branches eventually fell into the water, forming small sized trees with the intention to entangle his feet. However, his feet were still discharging strong Taixu Divine Qi, blending the void into a lump. Whether it was the Yellow Spring water or the little trees, they all disappeared due to this unmatched force.

On the other side, Kui Li was sending a spiritual consciousness for Shen Lian to investigate the origin of the tree. The heavenly King once planted a Jianmu, the world tree that would grow through the barriers of humans and Heaven, helping mortals to become celestials. Eventually, a grand disaster ensued and the Jianmu was destroyed, but its core's source fell into the Yellow Spring and grew into the ancient tree of the netherworld, just like the Dao bearing tree of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva or the Bodhi tree of Buddha.

However, the underworld was saturated with filthy Qi. As time passed, the ancient tree of this netherworld finally grew into a demonic tree with a cruel habit of killing. It enjoyed feeding on killing aura the most to develop its own divinity.

Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva could no longer tolerate the sins made by the ancient tree, hence he restrained it. After countless years, the restraint weakened, and then Kui Li and the Bull King stepped on it accidentally, broke the restraints and finally released the ancient tree.

Although the tree had not transformed yet, its mana had reached the level where it was unmatchable by demons and saints.

If it was not for the restraints that weakened it, maybe even a Daoist of Taiyi level, like Shen Lian, would not have been able to overcome it.

However, Kui Li saw this as an opportunity he could not miss. Defeat the Ancient Tree of Netherworld and he would enjoy unimaginable benefits.

After Kuili transmitted his divine thoughts, the large bull let out a sad howl, as its crown was finally lifted up by Kui Li, revealing the brain within.

A bull shaped Primordial Spirit flew out of the bull and looked at Kui Li begrudgingly before it blended into the Yellow Spring and vanished within the waves of the spring.

At that moment, the Netherworld's Ancient Tree saw the opportunity and used its roots to wrap around the body of the bull. The bulls flesh shrunk at a rapid pace.

Even Shen Lian could hear its sigh of content.

Kui Li continued to scratch open the bull's stomach, grabbed a colorful pebble and flew off. Its feathers were already damaged, revealing wounds that could no longer be patched back. It was also badly injured, but this seemed to be compensated by its satisfaction of getting the pebble.

The pebble was also known as Spirit Mixing Pebble. It was extremely meaningful for her. Using a special method to inject its own Qi into it, it would receive the feedback of Qi of origin in multiple folds. This was extremely crucial for her to acc.u.mulate her mana in a short period.

If it was not for the Bull King who took this treasure, even Shen Lian would not be able to defeat him.

As for the Ancient Tree of the Netherworld, Kui Li also knew that she would not be able to move this ancient tree, a feat only possible for Shen Lian and Lu Jiuyuan.

If Shen Lian could overcome this ancient tree, he would surely gain the experiences of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, a great boost for his future improvements. If Shen Lian could really exist like Buddha, she would gain shelter from this too, just like one of her relatives whose status was improved through relationsh.i.p.s and no longer worried about being arrested.

Shen Lian never knew Kui Li's intention to lick his boot. He had put his entire focus into fighting this mammoth tree.

The ancient tree of this netherworld had the ability to grow from wherever it was at. In addition, its roots were planted into the Yellow Spring, replenishing it with countless Qi of essence. It was almost invincible. It was the most troublesome amongst all his opponents.