Chapter 2655: Arms Turning Outward

Novel:

In the boundless darkness, countless Dao fish crumbled into dust. The golden light on the Talent Tree gradually intensified, and its branches and leaves swayed.

Lu Ye made a quick check, confirmed that his Dao power reserves were fully restocked, and only then nodded in satisfaction.

After thinking for a moment, he began to examine the Star Abyss Treasury again, exchanging for several subordinate treasures for the Talent Tree to devour.

Although there were many treasures in the Star Abyss Treasury, he usually didn't need them. Previously, during his battle with Jiao, he had exchanged for a Chaos Balance to turn the tide, but that had been conditional. If not for the rules of the Star Chessboard, even with the Chaos Balance, he could not have been Jiao's match.

Therefore, for him, these Star Abyss Coins were not very useful if kept; it was better to spend them quickly.

Furthermore, he would soon be promoted to the Integration Realm, and his strength would experience a significant increase.

However, Lu Ye ultimately kept some Star Abyss Coins in case of need.

The process of the Talent Tree devouring subordinate treasures was not quick, and he was not in a hurry. Seizing this opportunity, he calmly refined the Soul Crystal belonging to Xue Jiu's soul clone in his sea of souls, drawing insights into Xue Jiu's cultivation.

As the current master of the Blood Race, Xue Jiu had unparalleled mastery of the Blood Dao. His numerous cultivation insights were incredibly precious. Under such cultivation, Lu Ye felt his mastery of the Blood Dao steadily rise.

What improved was not only his mastery of the Blood Dao, but also the Dao of Space.

This Xue Jiu had once seized the Phoenix Race's bloodline and had made good progress in the Dao of Space. Compared to the Phoenix Lord, his Dao of Space was indeed inferior, because the Phoenix Race inherently specialized in it.

But compared to Lu Ye, he was significantly stronger.

Now, these numerous cultivation insights had all become resources for Lu Ye's growth. Benefiting from this, Lu Ye could clearly feel that his own Void Dao patterns had significant shortcomings, and the more he refined the Soul Crystal, the more apparent these shortcomings became.

The Talent Tree's derivation of Dao patterns was based on his knowledge and understanding of Dao patterns. Now that Lu Ye's knowledge and understanding of the Dao of Space had greatly matured, his previous derivations appeared full of flaws.

Several subordinate treasures were gradually devoured and refined by the Talent Tree, their inherent mysteries vanishing and turning into fragments.

Lu Ye sensed for a moment and found that such an expenditure was not enough for the Talent Tree to advance, which was within his expectations.

Lio had passed its second threshold, consuming several subordinate treasures in total, but even after it awakened, it would still only be a subordinate treasure; it wouldn't necessarily be promoted to a supreme treasure.

That was a goal achievable only after passing the third threshold.

In other words, if Lio truly wanted to be promoted to the supreme treasure tier, it would have to shatter a supreme treasure!

In contrast, the Talent Tree was already at the subordinate treasure level back in the Starry Sky, because it could devour and refine subordinate treasures long ago.

If it were to advance again, it was highly likely to grow into a supreme treasure.

Therefore, for the Talent Tree to advance, the number of subordinate treasures required would definitely be far more than what Lio needed to pass its second threshold, and the Star Abyss Coins Lu Ye had were nowhere near enough.

As he sensed now, this was indeed the case; the consumption of these several subordinate treasures only increased the capital for the Talent Tree's transformation by less than ten percent.

Lu Ye couldn't help but scratch his head, lamenting that it was truly a long and arduous journey. He wondered how much effort it would cost him for the Talent Tree to transform again.

Settling his mind, he continued to refine Xue Jiu's Soul Crystal. For him at the moment, this Soul Crystal was of paramount importance.

It was unknown how much time had passed. After Xue Jiu's Soul Crystal was completely refined, Lu Ye slowly opened his eyes.

Darkness still surrounded him. The Phoenix Lord had left him here, seemingly with no intention of bothering with him. He wondered what the Phoenix Lord was thinking.

He looked around, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Previously, Lu Ye hadn't noticed much, but now he faintly sensed that this darkness was not boundless, but rather contained fluctuating spatial power.

In other words, it was highly probable that this expanse of darkness was not large, but had merely been infinitely stretched by some spatial technique of the Phoenix Lord, which was why he couldn't fly out of this area no matter how hard he tried.

He couldn't discern this before because his mastery of the Dao of Space was insufficient. The current faint perception was undoubtedly the effect of Xue Jiu's Soul Crystal being refined.

Thanks to that Soul Crystal, Lu Ye could be considered to have become proficient in the Dao of Space, and being able to discern the truth of this darkness was clear proof.

Although he had figured it out, how was he supposed to get out?

He likely couldn't break the Phoenix Lord's spell. Since she intended to put him in his place, she simply wanted him to beg.

Lu Ye, however, had a stubborn streak.

The Phoenix Lord probably didn't have time to specifically monitor him. This was likely a casual secret technique she cast, so he might not be unable to break it now.

As he was thinking this, Lu Ye suddenly felt something, let out a soft sound of surprise, and looked down at the back of his hand.

Within his Small Flower Realm, something seemed to be stirring.

He quickly checked. After confirming what was stirring, he thought for a moment and then smiled.

He took out the item and held it in his hand.

It was a feather, a zhang long, with five-colored flowing light, exceptionally beautiful.

A Phoenix feather. This item had been given to him by Su Yan when they parted ways, instructing him to use its guidance to go to the Phoenix Nest when he eventually cultivated to the peak of the Integration Realm.

Since then, Lu Ye had always kept this feather safely stored in his Small Flower Realm.

He hadn't expected it to react today.

The feather belonged to Su Yan, and likely only Su Yan could make it react.

Lu Ye understood perfectly and gently released the feather from his hand.

The five-colored light immediately came alive, flying forward like a warship on the sea, riding the wind and breaking waves. Wherever it went, it broke through the layers of darkness, and Lu Ye followed without hesitation.

The boundless darkness was completely pierced through by the feather in less than a quarter of an hour. When Lu Ye saw light ahead, a slender figure also simultaneously appeared in his sight.

She stood in front, her slender, jade-like hand holding the feather, smiling sweetly as she looked at the suddenly appearing Lu Ye.

"Su Yan..." Lu Ye called out.

Although he had already guessed that Su Yan was behind the intervention, leading him out of the darkness, he couldn't help but feel surprised and delighted upon seeing her.

He hadn't intended to come to the Phoenix Nest so soon, planning to heed Su Yan's original words and come only after reaching the peak of the Integration Realm.

Being brought here by the Phoenix Lord this time was completely unexpected.

A divine sense suddenly permeated from an unknown place. It was the Phoenix Lord, who had sensed the anomaly here. She had left Lu Ye alone after bringing him here.

Although the Phoenix Race, for various reasons, did not discriminate against humans like other races in the Inner Realm, the Phoenix Lord, due to personal reasons, actually had no good impression of humans.

Not to mention, this human had also seized the vital blood of the most outstanding Phoenix Clan descendant of this generation.

She had intended to leave Lu Ye in the darkness to temper his personality. Although their interaction was brief, the Phoenix Lord could still tell that this human weapon master was arrogant.

Who would have thought that with just one moment of inattention, her own daughter would go against her!

Primarily, she hadn't expected Lu Ye to actually have Su Yan's feather, which allowed Su Yan, who had been in seclusion for many years, to sense Lu Ye's arrival.

"You wretched girl!" the Phoenix Lord cursed angrily.

Su Yan couldn't help but stick out her tongue, took a step forward, grabbed Lu Ye's hand, and whispered, "Run!"

With one leap, the surrounding space blurred.

Inside the Phoenix Nest at the very top of the Primordial Parasol Tree.

In a magnificent hall, the Phoenix Lord sat at the head seat, gazing helplessly into the depths of the void.

On either side of her, there were five figures each, a total of ten Phoenix Clan members, seemingly in a discussion.

At this moment, all ten Phoenix Clan members looked outside the hall; even with the Phoenix Nest's obstruction, it still couldn't block their sight.

"Is this the human boy connected to young Su Yan?" asked Feng Qiwu, the First Elder on the left.

The Phoenix Lord snorted coldly, "If it weren't for him, why would I have brought him back?"

The Second Elder, Huang Xuanyin, said thoughtfully, "I heard that in the conflict of the Snowfield, a human played a significant role, causing the Insect and Blood races to suffer heavy defeats. Was it this young man?"

Although the Snowfield conflict had only recently ended, these Phoenix Clan elders each had their own channels. Even if Huang Shiniang hadn't said much after returning, they still obtained detailed information from there through their own channels.

Currently, the war in the Snowfield was winding down. This conflict should have lasted much longer, but now it was ending quickly, because the Insect and Blood races had suffered too great losses. Morale was shaken in various war zones, and countless Integration Cities withdrew from the war zones, leaving the Snowfield.

Under such circumstances, how could the war continue? The Eternal City's faction could be said to have achieved a great victory.

Another elder asked with a puzzled expression, "Did I see it wrong? He's still only in the Fusion Realm?"

"The reports indeed say he's in the Fusion Realm, but somehow he received numerous blessings from supreme treasures, and his strength in the chessboard game was unstoppable."

"Humans... what a truly wondrous race." Another elder sighed, looking up at Huang Shiniang. "It is said that our ancestors were also human in origin, but they gained the Phoenix Race's bloodline, which is why our branch of the Phoenix Race came to be?"

It was precisely for this reason that the Phoenix Race did not discriminate against humans. Before Ba Qiu's rise, the Phoenix Race was even quite close to humans.

Not only was this true for the Phoenix Race, but Dragon City's attitude was the same.

It was just that some matters dated back too far, and some of the clan's secrets could only be accessed by the Dragon Venerable and Phoenix Lord, so even these elders did not know the full details.

The Phoenix Lord nodded slightly. "The ancient texts indeed have these records." Changing the subject, she added, "Enough with the small talk. I've summoned you here today because of the Dragon City Grand Ceremony."

The Dragon City Grand Ceremony was a rare grand event in the Inner Realm, a tradition held by Dragon City since ancient times, occurring once every three hundred years.

It could be said that this was a highly anticipated celebration throughout the Inner Realm, because during the ceremony, anyone could go and participate. At that time, Dragon City would be even livelier than the Myriad Realms, attracting countless cultivators who flocked to it.

For such a grand event, Phoenix City would certainly send representatives to participate, and what needed to be discussed today were the candidates for participation.

Related to the novel