61: Tree of Divine Thought

Lin Yuan's eyes were like lightning, a faint smile playing on his lips. "The weight of it? I understand perfectly." His gaze was as sharp as a blade being unsheathed, as if everything in heaven and earth were in his palm, and he had already prepared for any storm.

"However..." Feng Tianxiu's eyes erupted with brilliance, like stars suddenly lighting up. "Since you have already stepped into the Spirit Refining Realm, this title of First Saint of the Tianqing Sub-Hall should be truly showcased at the Spirit Martial Hall headquarters in the Xuanxiao Great World!"

Before his voice could fade—

"Clang! Clang! Clang—!"

The rapid tolling of a bell, like a death warrant, suddenly tore through the tranquility of the courtyard, rolling in. Feng Tianxiu's brows twitched slightly. "The Tian Yuan Secret Realm has closed! The little ones inside are coming out!"

The curve of Lin Yuan's lips suddenly deepened into a cold and dangerous smile. "The timing is perfect. It's time to collect on those gambling debts." His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a Soul-freezing disdain and an unquestionable majesty, as if his words were Law, already deciding the fate of the world.

Feng Tianxiu's lips moved slightly. "A trivial matter, why do you need to personally..."

"No!" Lin Yuan said decisively, his word like thunder, his gaze piercing through the Void Realm. "Some debts must be collected personally, and some faces must be slapped personally!"

*Step!*

He took a single step! His Ninth-Grade Divine Thought and the Law of Speed resonated with a roar! Only a faint, nearly imperceptible afterimage remained as he vanished.

Feng Tianxiu's pupils constricted. Looking at the empty courtyard, he sucked in a breath of cold air. "A thousand miles in one step?! This... how can this be something a newcomer to the Spirit Refining Realm can achieve?!" His heart shook violently, but it soon turned into a sense of pride. "Fine, with me here, I'd like to see who in this Xuanxiao Great World dares to touch even a hair on his head!"

...Outside the Tian Yuan Secret Realm, the atmosphere was as frozen as ice.

Yin Wuchang stared fixedly at the high-hanging leaderboard. The name "Lin Yuan" at the top was like a red-hot branding iron, searing his eyes! The string of numbers following it—fifteen million points!—was even more like an invisible slap across his face!

"Fake! It must be fake!!" His face contorted, and his hysterical roar made the eardrums of those around him ache. "A Gathering Origin Realm ant, how could he... how could he get fifteen million?!"

"Elder Yin, it seems you have a short memory for such an important person. Have you forgotten the gambling bet you made yourself?"

A cold voice, like a spring from the Nine Netherworlds, came from above the Nine Heavens without warning.

Everyone looked up in shock!

They saw Lin Yuan standing with his hands behind his back, stepping through the air. His robes fluttered without wind, and no aura leaked from him, yet he was like a bottomless ancient abyss, hiding a terrifying power beneath the surface capable of burning the heavens and boiling the seas! Just being swept by his gaze made their Divine Soul tremble!

"You... you actually broke through to the Spirit Refining Realm?!" Yin Wuchang felt as if he had been struck by five lightning bolts. The anger on his face was instantly replaced by unbelievable horror, and his voice even changed pitch.

Lin Yuan didn't even deign to answer. Without even lifting his eyelids, he casually raised a finger.

*Buzz!*

A giant palm of golden Divine Thought, condensed to the extreme and almost physical, appeared out of thin air! The palm lines were as clear as dao marks, carrying a terrifying pressure that could crush mountains and tear the Void Realm. Ignoring the distance in space, it snatched directly at the Storage Pouch on Yin Wuchang's waist! Wherever it passed, the air groaned under the burden, and visible ripples appeared in space!

"Junior, how dare you!!" Yin Wuchang's eyes nearly split. The terrifying pressure of the fifth level of the Feather Transformation Realm erupted like a landslide or a tsunami, attempting to freeze space and crush the hand! However—

*Rip!*

His proud power of Law, in the face of that golden divine palm, was like boiling water poured on snow, instantly melting and collapsing! It couldn't even block it for a moment!

*Crack!*

The Storage Pouch shattered! Two treasures glowing with light and emitting startling energy fluctuations—the very items put up for the bet that day—were steadily snatched out by the Divine Thought palm and fell into Lin Yuan's sleeve.

"I'll gladly accept Elder Yin's 'gift'." Lin Yuan's tone was flat, as if he were merely brushing away a speck of dust. He turned to leave, his composure and disregard more piercing than any insult!

"Leave your life behind for me!!" Yin Wuchang went completely mad, losing all reason! He suddenly spat out a mouthful of essence blood and sacrificed his Lifebound Treasure that he had nurtured for a thousand years—the Soul-Losing Nail!

A black light so shrill it tore at the Divine Soul, carrying overwhelming resentment and the power of death, shot out faster than lightning, aimed straight at Lin Yuan's back! This nail specifically destroyed Divine Souls; even those in the Feather Transformation Realm would be injured upon contact. It was a notoriously evil treasure of the Heavenly Yin Sect!

At that critical moment!

A faint, knowing smile played on Feng Tianxiu's lips. As if shooing away a fly, he lightly flicked his finger at that world-destroying black light.

"Ding—!"

A crisp, eerily light sound!

The terrifying Soul-Losing Nail, three feet away from Lin Yuan, suddenly halted as if it had hit an invisible Wall of Sighs! Then, under countless horrified gazes, it disintegrated inch by inch, turning into a cloud of fine powder!

*Puff—!*

Yin Wuchang felt as if he had been struck by a ten-thousand-pound hammer. He sprayed blood, his face turned the color of gold leaf, and his aura instantly withered to the extreme! His Lifebound Treasure was destroyed, and his Divine Soul's Foundation suffered a heavy blow!

Silence!

Absolute silence!

All the Cultivators were like statues, forgetting even to breathe. The way they looked at Feng Tianxiu's back was filled with nothing but bone-deep fear and awe! With a flick of a finger, he had effortlessly turned the Lifebound Treasure of a Feather Transformation Realm expert into ashes?! This... this had already exceeded the limits of their understanding! Could it be... that this Hall Master Feng had already stepped into that legendary, elusive—All-Dao Realm?

"I've taken your things." Lin Yuan's indifferent voice, like a heavenly decree, drifted from afar. Every word pounded on Yin Wuchang's broken heart. "As for your head... I'll leave it on your neck for now. When I come to take it personally, don't be scared to death beforehand."

Before the echoes faded, he and Feng Tianxiu had already merged into the clouds and vanished.

Leaving behind only a messy silence and a despondent, deathly pale Yin Wuchang slumped on the ground, his eyes filled with nothing but endless fear and despair. He knew he was finished, completely finished... Spirit Martial Hall, Azure Dragon Hall.

The dense Spiritual Qi flowed silently like a liquid veil. Nine Star Stones at the top of the hall cast a soft starlight, illuminating the entire hall like a dreamlike fairyland. Lin Yuan and Feng Tianxiu sat opposite each other at a desk. The desk was carved entirely from ten-thousand-year-old green jade, crystal clear, with natural dao marks flowing incessantly within the jade. A light touch of the finger would ripple out circles of Spiritual Qi containing dao rhyme.

Above the desk floated a three-dimensional star map of the Xuanxiao Great World, condensed from the purest Innate Spiritual Qi. Billions of domains moved slowly within it, stars flickering on and off. At this moment, the location of the Tianqing Domain was blooming with a unique nine-colored divine glow, resonating mysteriously with the Nine-colored Divine Thought that naturally flowed around Lin Yuan as if it were alive.

"Brother Feng," Lin Yuan said, his finger casually tapping on the green jade desk. Each tap harmonized with the pulse of heaven and earth, causing the surrounding Spiritual Qi to dance. The Nine-colored Divine Thought inadvertently dispersed, actually dyeing the thick surrounding Spiritual Qi with magnificent colors and spontaneously condensing into tiny Spiritual Qi star-vortices that slowly rotated around him like stars guarding an emperor. "How can one's cultivation in the Spirit Refining Realm advance by leaps and bounds?"

Feng Tianxiu watched this phenomenon, which could be called a divine miracle. Even with his deep cultivation of over three thousand years, his fingers inside his sleeves couldn't help but tremble slightly. He took a deep breath, suppressed the stormy waves in his heart, and said solemnly, "The core of the Spirit Refining Realm lies in nourishing and growing your divine sense seed. This process is like cultivating a world-spanning tree that connects heaven and earth, requiring nothing less than pure, vast energy and insights into the Great Dao."

He pointed his fingers like a sword and tapped the air.

*Buzz!*

A massive, translucent projection of a giant divine sense tree appeared in the void! The tree's main trunk was gnarled like a dragon, and its bark was imprinted with dense, mysterious Law chains, each seemingly communicating with the Heaven and Earth Origin! Among the branches and leaves, grand scenes of stars flickering, the sun and moon revolving, and the changing of the four seasons continued incessantly!

"An ordinary divine sense seed, after sprouting, is only a ten-zhang sapling at the Peak of the First Heaven." Feng Tianxiu swiped his finger, and a ten-zhang tall, slender little tree appeared on the projection, its Law patterns sparse and dim. "Even if one Cultivates to the Peak of the Spirit Refining Realm, it is only a hundred-zhang body with sparse leaves and shallow dao rhyme."

"But your Ninth-Grade Divine Thought..." Feng Tianxiu's voice suddenly became incredibly solemn. His hands formed an ancient and mysterious seal, and his aura became as deep as the Universe.

*Boom!*

The projection suddenly expanded and transformed! A heaven-propping giant tree hundreds of thousands of miles high, its canopy covering the star river, rose from the ground! Its main trunk was as thick as a divine pillar supporting the heavens, and its crown spread out, obscuring the endless Void Realm. Most shockingly, massive main branches as thick as mountains extended from the giant tree, each entwined with a completely different Origin Law, radiating brilliant light! Among the branches and leaves, every single leaf was the manifestation of a complete Law, swaying gently in the void and emitting the Soul-shaking sounds of the Great Dao! The entire giant tree was a Law Universe in the process of evolution!