Ma Lian, acting as a scout, continuously tore through the void as he headed toward the Primeval Wood Star Forest. It had already taken them over half a month to return.
"Young Master! This void has become much tougher since the star domains merged. I fear even a Divine Lord might not be able to tear through the void now!" Ma Lian, who had rushed all the way to bring everyone to the Primeval Wood Star Forest, felt that tearing through the void had indeed become increasingly difficult.
"Hmph! This is only natural. The more complete the laws, the sturdier the void. Only then can it support the existence of powerful beings beyond the Saint Ancestor realm. This is easy to understand! Perhaps in the future, even you won't be able to tear through the void so easily," Wu Tianjun said without a second thought. From the inheritances of the Old Demon and the Primordial Spirit Rong, he understood that the Great Primordial War had shattered the star domain, after which no powerful beings beyond the Saint Ancestor realm could exist. Therefore, the key to the emergence of such powerful beings was the sturdiness of the void. At this moment, he still didn't know why the star domains were continuously merging. Initially, he thought a powerful being was behind it, but now he could confirm that wasn't the case. Perhaps the star domain was regulating itself!
"Everyone, don't worry. The merging of the star domains won't affect us too much. What we need to do now is increase our strength. I believe this star domain will stabilize very quickly, and then we can head out again!" Wu Tianjun said to everyone, putting his thoughts aside.
"Young Master! Are we going to cultivate here?" Lu Yunzheng asked.
"Bitter cultivation here, huh..." Huo Yunfeng added.
"Haha, don't worry! Since I've brought you here, I will naturally give you the best cultivation environment—though it will also be the most boring! When I deem your progress sufficient, I'll let you go out and have some real fun," Wu Tianjun said with a laugh.
They journeyed deep into the Primeval Wood Star Forest, where Divine-level demonic beasts had already begun to appear.
"Dragon Demon City, come forth!" Wu Tianjun gestured for everyone to stop and muttered, having already contacted the spirit of Dragon Demon City.
"Boom... Boom..." The ground shook violently. A section of the mountain range seemed to crack open, revealing a pitch-black cave that led straight into the earth.
"Go on down! We'll figure out the rest once you're down. I need to go find some cultivation resources for you all! Hehe! This Primeval Wood Star Forest holds many treasures. Chi Danzi, Ma Lian, you two come with me! The rest of you, enter Dragon Demon City. I'll be back very soon," Wu Tianjun chuckled. His treasure-hunting talent was finally going to be put to use.
"Yes!" The remaining experts did not resist and brought the several spirit bodies into Dragon Demon City. This place had trapped them for twenty thousand years; they missed it greatly!
"Big Brother, go quickly and come back soon!" Mu Li shouted to Wu Tianjun.
"Haha, I'll be back very soon!" Wu Tianjun said with a laugh. He then turned to the experts who were staying behind and said, "For now, just guide them through the basics of cultivation. Don't let them actually begin cultivating yet. Wait until I return to discuss it!" Wu Tianjun was quite serious; he planned to activate the bloodlines of the spirit bodies, so there could be no mistakes.
"Understood! Young Master, please go ahead. I'll take care of things here!" a half-step Saint Ancestor said. If it was as Wu Tianjun said, he was the Fifth Guardian.
"Hmph! You guys go on down..." Wu Tianjun said. "Let's go as well! Time for some looting!" Wu Tianjun said to Mo Lian and Chi Danzi. The Primeval Forest naturally had super-grade Saint Ancestor realm Demonic Beasts, but most of the time they were in a deep slumber. Wu Tianjun didn't want to provoke them; he only needed medicinal herbs, minerals, and spirit stones, so there was no need to clash with those Saint Ancestors.
"That way..." Wu Tianjun determined the direction a bit, then said. There were quite a few bright spots over there.
Three days later.
Mo Lian and Chi Danzi, who had been escorting Wu Tianjun on his treasure hunt, were utterly numb. Along the way, the Young Master had unearthed all sorts of rare medicinal herbs—Heaven-grade, God-grade, Saint-grade, all dug up by him. Even Saint-grade herbs that had developed sentience and hidden deep underground were found and dug up by him; those that fled into bodies of water were also fished out, unable to escape. Furthermore, he had even dug up a Supreme-grade spirit stone vein from the cave dwelling of some powerful Demonic Beast. Luckily, the owner wasn't present, otherwise they would have been in for a rough time! Because about three hours later, they heard an incredibly furious roar, indicating that the owner of the roar had reached the third step of the Saint Ancestor realm!
During these three days, they had deliberately avoided the territories of Saint Ancestor Demonic Beasts, only collecting materials and herbs of Heaven-grade or higher, simply because Wu Tianjun had declared that anything below Heaven-grade was useless to him. At this moment, they were in the territory of a half-step Saint Ancestor Demonic Beast when Wu Tianjun suddenly stopped, his eyes flashing with wild joy.
"Nine... Nine-Colored Saint Lotus?!" Wu Tianjun said, a little uncertainly. Based on information from Old Demon and the old master of Demon Dragon City, he had somewhat confirmed the aura of a Saint Lotus. He had just caught a glimpse of it; it was very faint, meaning the Saint Lotus was still immature!
"Nine-Colored Saint Lotus..." Chi Danzi's eyes also lit up upon hearing that name. He had only heard of that kind of Saint Medicine once before. Its main function was to gather and strengthen the soul! How precious it was! If a cultivator perished but a wisp of their soul remained, nourishing it with a Nine-Colored Saint Lotus would allow them to recover eventually, though they would still lack a physical body.
"It's that sacred item for healing souls..." Mo Lian said, uncertainly.
"I hope I'm not mistaken!" As if to reassure himself, Wu Tianjun spoke with certainty. After that, he paid no further attention to the half-step Saint Ancestor realm Demonic Beast, flying straight toward it. This item was crucial for saving his mother.
"Young Master..." Mo Lian and Chi Danzi were startled. There was still a half-step Saint Ancestor Demonic Beast over there, how could he be so reckless? They immediately rushed forward as well.
"Young Master, that Demonic Beast..." Chi Danzi said, a little worriedly.
"Hmph! We'll talk when we get there. If it doesn't work out, we'll just kill it. That Nine-Colored Saint Lotus is a must-have for me. If I miss this chance, who knows when I'll ever see one again," Wu Tianjun said in a firm tone.
Ma Lian and Chi Danzi's pupils constricted. This was the first time they had seen Wu Tianjun like this. It seemed he needed the Nine-Colored Saint Lotus to save someone extremely important to him! The two of them didn't think much further. After all, they had decided to follow the Young Master, so they might as well steel themselves and go all out.
"That Saint Lotus is probably still immature..." Chi Danzi mused.
"Hmph! I know it's not fully mature yet, but where else would I find a second Nine-Colored Sacred Lotus? Since I've seen it, I won't let it go. I'll guard it until it matures..." Wu Tianjun said. He knew this was extremely dangerous. Not only was this the territory of the Demon Race, but if the outside world learned of a Nine-Colored Sacred Lotus here, many great experts from various races would surely swarm in. At that point, it wouldn't just be a few Sacred Ancestor-level Demon Race experts they would have to face.
"I don't sense anything at all. It seems the Demon Race is hiding it, not wanting anyone to know! We have a chance," Ma Lian analyzed.
"Wait a minute..." Wu Tianjun suddenly paused. "If they don't want anyone to know, then we'll just pretend we don't know either! Anyway, we're already in the Primeval Wood Star Forest. We'll keep an eye out. If something happens, it won't be too late to act," Wu Tianjun said, his tone astonishing. Just how confident was he?
"This..." Ma Lian and Chi Danzi were even more shocked. The Young Master truly thought differently from others. Not only that, but he was also incredibly self-confident. Normally, if someone knew about such a treasure, who would just leave it be?
"Hmm! Later, I'll interact with that Demon Race a bit. If I can take them as subordinates, that wouldn't be bad either!" Wu Tianjun mused.
"Huh?" His words made Ma Lian and Chi Danzi gape even wider. In this world, perhaps only this Young Master would dare to think such a thing.
"Alright then! Let's continue searching for treasures! We'll come back to this territory later." Wu Tianjun turned and walked in another direction. Since he didn't want to take it now, it was better to leave quickly to avoid trouble.
"..." Ma Lian and Chi Danzi were speechless. This guy changed his mind too quickly.
Another ten days passed. Wu Tianjun and the other two had almost traversed a quarter of the Primeval Wood Star Forest. Of course, they avoided the territories of Sacred Ancestor-level Demon Race experts. Through this, they were also startled by how powerful the Demon Race in the Primeval Wood Star Forest was; they had only explored less than a quarter of it and had already encountered nine Sacred Ancestor-level Demon Race experts! Naturally, over those ten days, they had harvested a bountiful harvest. They found over a hundred Sacred-tier herbs, more than twenty thousand God-tier herbs, and even more Heaven-tier ones. Chi Danzi's Inner World was already piled high with several mounds of them. Generally, the laws within an Inner World are not fully complete and often lean towards a certain fundamental origin, making it impossible to store living things. It is not much different from a storage space, except that it greatly prolongs the time it takes for materials and herbs to decay, almost preventing any damage. Therefore, God-Venerates and above rarely carry storage rings on them, instead throwing items directly into their Inner Worlds!
They let Chi Danzi store them because he was a God-Venerate-level alchemist! Perhaps it was because he had been imprisoned and lacked alchemy materials that he hadn’t yet reached the Sacred God-level Alchemist stage, even though he was already infinitely close to a Sacred Ancestor!
Wu Tianjun had previously wanted to learn alchemy and artifact forging but never had the chance. Now he wanted to learn. After all, what could be better than having a God-Venerate-level alchemist to teach him? Moreover, Ma Lian was a Sacred God-level artifact forger. If he didn’t learn now, who could he blame?
“Perhaps this is enough for us for the next ten years?” Having decided to learn alchemy and artifact forging, Wu Tianjun also collected some Human-tier and Earth-tier materials and herbs for practice. As he pulled up an Earth-tier herb, he looked up and said to Ma Lian and the other.
"Enough already!" Ma Lian and Chi Dan's foreheads were covered in black lines. Their life's savings, accumulated over twenty thousand years of imprisonment, were almost completely depleted. Yet, even at its most abundant, it wasn't even one percent of what was being spent now. Wu Tianjun said it might be enough for ten years? This guy digging up the Yuanmu Star Forest was truly unscrupulous!
"Heh! Well then, let's head back! I want to learn alchemy and artifact forging now!" Wu Tianjun said with a grin. It had been a long time since he had seriously studied!
Far from this place, a vast mountain range stretched across the starry sky like a continent. Its scale was more than five times that of the Xuantian Continent. It bore a name renowned throughout the cosmos: the Yaoyuan Mountain Range. Somewhere within it, five young people stood. One of them, a youth who looked seventeen or eighteen, was handsome and elegant, his white robes fluttering. His face, still bearing traces of youthfulness, turned to speak to the several youths opposite him.
"From now on, you will be the Four Great Heavenly Kings guarding the four directions of my Wu Family!" the youth said solemnly, yet his lazy demeanor remained unhidden.
"As you command, Big Brother!" the four youths said in loud voices, their eyes filled with reverence and respect as they looked at the other youth. He was an invincible existence they dared not even dream of! They all possessed the Earth Core Realm! Given their age, it showed they were also geniuses, super geniuses!
"Good! Come cultivate with me! Let's start in this Yaoyuan Mountain Range!"
"Yes!" the four youths replied in unison again. They believed this person would be the one to control the winds and clouds of the starry sky in the future.
His name was Wu Tianyuan! A monstrous prodigy no less than his younger brother, who was considered the number one prodigy of the starry sky – the Peerless Demonic Lord Wu Tianjun!