Sage of Humanity

Chapter 2095: Chapter 2093: A Quantum Leap from Nothing to Something

Time flowed by as Lu Ye carefully observed, discovering that the refined Star Abyss ambience entering his body could be divided into three parts. The first part was impurities burned away by the Talent Tree, things useless or harmful to cultivators.

The second part was regular Spiritual Energy, which could be found anywhere in the stellar space, and cultivators relied on this Spiritual Energy for their cultivation.

As for the last part... Lu Ye initially didn’t notice it because its presence was so minuscule, yet it undeniably existed.

Strangely, this tiny presence merged into the Talent Tree as he refined and cultivated.

It wasn’t absorbed by the Talent Tree; it merged instead. After two hours, Lu Ye noticed a slight mark on a blank leaf of the Talent Tree. If he hadn’t been continually focused on sensing it, he would have hardly noticed this change.

With a calm inspection, Lu Ye keenly felt that this tiny mark was an extremely mysterious condensation of power, just too sparse to be easily detected.

This is... Dao force!

Despite already having this conjecture, Lu Ye was immensely exhilarated when it was confirmed.

Because, according to the information provided by the Thunderbolt Battle Fortress, being a creature not born from the Star Abyss, without constructing his Dao foundation, one can’t possess their own Dao force. Only by establishing the Dao foundation and entering the Dao Realm can Dao force enter one’s body.

Yet now, with the unique feature of the Talent Tree, he was able to break this rule by refining the Star Abyss ambience!

It was always an exclusive advantage of Star Abyss living creatures.

This wisp of Dao force was not complete, and even if activated, it wouldn’t greatly enhance Lu Ye, but this was ultimately a good start, it was a leap from nothing to existence, a qualitative change!

If he could have more Dao force, his safety on the front line battlefield would be greatly guaranteed.

Gradually opening his eyes, Lu Ye spoke, "Senior Sister, I need to cultivate for some time."

Jiu Yan paused for a moment, then nodded, "Alright, I will protect you."

In just this brief time, her expression had returned to normal, as if nothing had occurred before.

Lu Ye closed his eyes again and resumed the cultivation state he was maintaining earlier.

As time passed, the Dao force marks on the Talent Tree leaf became increasingly distinct and complete.

After a full ten days, Lu Ye finally obtained a complete wisp of Dao force. With examination, this wisp of Dao force was like a golden thread, flowing and moving on the leaf like a living thing. Just by looking at it, one could feel the infinite mystery contained therein, where the inner profound force seemed capable of evolving the ultimate truths of the world.

Lu Ye finally understood why those Star Abyss outsiders valued their Dao force so dearly; cultivating this stuff was incredibly difficult. With the power of the Talent Tree, he constructed numerous small spirit energy gathering funnels on his body, and his cultivation speed was astonishingly fast, yet even so, it took him this much time to gain a wisp of Dao force.

Other cultivators would definitely spend more time!

And once engaging in combat, Dao force was easily consumed, no wonder those Star Abyss outsiders would eat their enemy’s corpses to replenish themselves after fierce battles.

Of course, this was also related to the richness of the Star Abyss ambience here. Though this place was not the frontier of the battlefield, it wasn’t a central location either. If in a place with denser Star Abyss ambience, the efficiency should be higher.

Difficult to cultivate yet essential to cultivate, because in this place, Dao force was the foundation of survival.

Lu Ye spent another twenty days, cultivating an additional two wisps of Dao force, before finally pausing.

These three wisps of Dao force all converged on a single leaf of the Talent Tree, appearing like three golden fish swimming back and forth.

The main reason for entering the battlefield this time was to assist Jiu Yan in establishing her Dao foundation. He had already made progress on his side, so there was no need to rush; he could slowly cultivate and obtain more Dao force.

First, he must nurture the powers of the fire gourd and sword gourd because the power of these affiliated treasures was crucial for dealing with Star Abyss outsiders who held Dao force.

"Senior Sister, I’m done on my side." Lu Ye opened his eyes and said to Jiu Yan.

Jiu Yan turned to observe him for a while before nodding, closing her eyes to start her own cultivation.

Lu Ye contemplated, summoned a drop of treasure blood, transforming it into a doppelganger to remain vigilant outside while his main body began nurturing the sword gourd and fire gourd.

This task was quite simple, requiring only sufficient resources to complete, and he had brought plenty of resources to nurture the two treasure gourds, especially the fire gourd, for which he had specifically reserved enough Scorching Sun Essence to nurture dozens of uncanny fires when on the Giant Red Planet.

Under the devouring of a large number of magic treasures of different qualities, the Sword Qi within the sword gourd gradually became whole.

Once the sword gourd was nurtured to completion, Lu Ye began nurturing the fire gourd.

With the consumption of Scorching Sun Essence, uncanny fire slowly gestated within the fire gourd.

Lu Ye was about to put away the fire gourd when he suddenly remembered a question, that being whether the Talent Tree would experience another transformation? If so, what are the conditions for that?

Ordinary fire-type resources clearly no longer contribute to the Talent Tree’s transformation, only serving as supplemental fuel. The opportunity for the fourth transformation was the devouring of a large amount of uncanny fire. Will the next transformation also require such fire?

A thought struck Lu Ye, and he decided to give it a try. After all, it was merely consuming one piece of uncanny fire. As for whether this was the opportunity, one experiment would tell.

He activated the Talent Tree, allowing the invisible roots to probe into the gourd’s mouth. However, in the next moment, Lu Ye’s expression changed, and he quickly withdrew the Talent Tree’s power.

At that fleeting moment of contact, he felt something amiss.

The Talent Tree... seemed to want to devour the fire gourd!

Recalling carefully, Lu Ye confirmed it was no illusion. If he hadn’t reacted quickly, the fire gourd might truly have been devoured by the Talent Tree. Even if it couldn’t be devoured instantly, any damage to the fire gourd would surely greatly diminish its power.

A Talent Tree that has undergone four transformations can even devour affiliated treasures?

Even though he knew the Talent Tree would definitely have some unusual changes after this transformation, he didn’t expect such a change... It was still surprising.

After pondering for a while, Lu Ye didn’t dare let the Talent Tree have any direct contact with the fire gourd. Although devouring the fire gourd might bring him significant benefits, the fire gourd was still very useful.

He had to activate the fire gourd to release the uncanny fire inside, hovering not far in front of him. Then he activated the Talent Tree’s power, letting the invisible roots penetrate the uncanny fire. In an instant, the uncanny fire vanished without a trace.

Lu Ye quietly sensed, soon revealing a disappointed expression. The Talent Tree had little reaction, even none at all. This undoubtedly indicated that even if it could transform again, the opportunity wasn’t the uncanny fire.

Just as he thought this, he suddenly sensed something unusual.

Because after the uncanny fire was devoured, the Talent Tree’s fuel reserve didn’t change.

Logically, if devouring uncanny fire wasn’t a condition for transformation, it would boost the fuel reserve. But since it didn’t increase, where did the devoured uncanny fire go? It couldn’t have just disappeared; that was a treasure nurtured by many Scorching Sun Essences.

Calming his mind and checking carefully, Lu Ye soon discovered a change on one of the Talent Tree’s leaves.

That leaf, which had three threads of Dao force from a month’s cultivation, now unexpectedly had an additional golden thread, becoming four threads.

The Dao force increased...

Did this come from devouring the uncanny fire?

Thinking carefully, this seemed to be the only explanation. He had previously speculated that the power displayed by affiliated treasures contained Dao force; otherwise, they couldn’t pose such a threat to those Star Abyss outsiders. This speculation couldn’t be verified before, but now the evidence was right in front of him.

The additional thread of Dao force couldn’t appear out of nowhere, and the uncanny fire couldn’t have disappeared without a trace. It was transformed into this thread of Dao force by the Talent Tree!

Although he felt quite certain, such matters needed verification.

Lu Ye used some more Scorching Sun Essence to nurture another uncanny fire for the Talent Tree to devour. This time, he closely observed the leaf bearing the Dao force. As expected, as the uncanny fire was devoured, another golden thread of Dao force appeared on the leaf, transforming four threads into five...

Lu Ye was overjoyed.

With his own cultivation efficiency in this environment, it would take ten days for just one thread of Dao force. However, with the power of the affiliated treasures, the efficiency was far greater. The only limitation was resource supply. Even if he exhausted all the magic treasures and Scorching Sun Essence he carried, he could gain nearly a hundred threads of Dao force.

With a hundred threads of Dao force at his disposal, according to the Thunderbolt Battle Fortress’s intelligence, this was the capital only available to those in the Dao Realm. Those who hadn’t entered the Dao Realm, even the Star Abyss outsiders, couldn’t wield so much Dao force.

In other words, if Lu Ye converted all his resources into Dao force, he would rival the Dao Realm even if he hadn’t reached it.

Is there a more advantageous deal in the world?

Moreover, one piece of uncanny fire in the fire gourd equates to one thread of Dao force. So, if he allowed the Talent Tree to completely devour the fire gourd, how much Dao force could he gain? It surely wouldn’t be just one thread. Supreme treasures are the condensation of the Dao, and affiliated treasures are derivatives of supreme treasures, thus containing significant Dao force within!

Dao Tree... So it was like this; the name of the Dao Tree holds such deep meaning. Suddenly, many things seemed clear. Lu Ye had never understood why the Talent Tree was called the Dao Tree until today, when he glimpsed the truth.

He certainly wouldn’t let the Talent Tree devour the fire gourd, nor the sword gourd, but he had more than just these two affiliated treasures!

A thought came to mind, and he took out a palm-sized, tattered little umbrella.

The Heavenly Net Umbrella.

This thing couldn’t be repaired by Hua Ci, nor at the Constellation Palace, because their natures were incompatible. Lu Ye originally planned to place it in the Spirit Jade Vein but had forgotten it.

Since this treasure was already damaged, it was just right to bring it out for devouring!

However, just as Lu Ye was about to proceed, he stopped and, after some contemplation, diverted the Dao force to infuse it into the Heavenly Net Umbrella.