212: Tea tree gathers spirit, and Baiye is obtained

It was Xiao Zhuo!

He didn't even glance at the brutal, purgatorial melee below.

His gaze directly locked onto the storm's center, that Main Body of the enlightenment tea tree, glowing with spiritual light and painfully condensing its spiritual consciousness.

"Troublesome." Xiao Zhuo frowned slightly, seemingly annoyed by the Chaos before him.

The next instant, he moved!

There was no earth-shattering commotion, only extreme speed and finesse!

The Universe God Step was activated again! His figure seemed to instantly decompose and reassemble, ignoring the distance of space.

The violent storm of emerald leaf blades was close at hand, easily capable of tearing apart the body of a Tribulation Stage Cultivator, yet Xiao Zhuo's figure passed directly through the storm in an incredible manner!

Buzz—!

Space Law was forcibly activated! Although its power was suppressed and weakened by ninety percent in this place, that trace of spatial power, precisely controlled by Xiao Zhuo, still formed a layer of distorted, barely visible ripples around his body.

This layer of ripples, like the most precise key, found a fleeting point on the enlightenment tea tree's spiritual light barrier/boundary, which was slightly chaotic due to its rampage, yet made tougher by the nascent spiritual consciousness at its core.

Crack!

An extremely faint sound of shattering, yet one that seemed to strike everyone's hearts, rang out.

That barrier/boundary, which had only briefly cracked after two full-force bombardments from eight top Prodigies, split open before Xiao Zhuo like a bubble popped by an invisible finger, silently forming a hole just large enough for one person to pass through!

Xiao Zhuo's figure showed no hesitation; he took a step, passed through the hole, and appeared directly before the enlightenment tea tree's main trunk, which, though not large, was gnarled and vigorous!

The violent emerald storm seemed to deliberately avoid the small area he occupied, or perhaps it was smoothed by the faint yet profound spatial ripples around him.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

The brutal sounds of killing, the clash of Magic Treasures, and the dying wails from below seemed to instantly recede.

At the bottom of the sinkhole and atop the cliff, all surviving Prodigies, whether the eight blood-soaked Cao Yunqing and his allies, or the besiegers driven by greed who had miraculously survived, all had their gazes involuntarily drawn to the figure that had abruptly appeared before the tea tree's main trunk!

Shock! Incomprehensible shock!

Ximen Feng's pupils constricted, his fan bones almost crushing: "He... how did he get in?!"

Monk Chaoyun's Buddhist light paused, his face filled with disbelief: "In this place, this person can still activate Space Law?! Where did this monster come from?"

The emerald Soul fire in Li Qitian's eye sockets flickered wildly, his gaze fixed on Xiao Zhuo's back, his voice dry and filled with extreme greed: "To be able to use Law power in this place! This person... this person must possess a great secret! A secret even greater than the enlightenment tea leaves!" The flame in his bone lantern swayed violently.

The figure under Nether Bone's cloak trembled noticeably for the first time; his withered claw, holding the blood-stained bone mirror, tightened, and the murky mirror surface frantically tried to lock onto Xiao Zhuo, but only reflected a distorted, blurry image of light and shadow.

A bloody glint flashed in Cao Yunqing's eyes as he looked at Xiao Zhuo's back, who regarded myriad dangers as nothing; for the first time, a strong sense of apprehension and... killing intent arose within him.

And those besiegers were even more dumbfounded.

They fought to the death, couldn't even get close to the tea tree, suffered countless casualties, yet that person... walked in as if on flat ground?

The silence lasted only for an instant.

The next moment, countless gazes rapidly transformed from shock into naked, even more fervent and crazed covetousness than when they were snatching the enlightenment tea leaves!

That figure, who disregarded the deadly terrain and treated top Prodigies and the death storm as nothing!

That method of forcibly breaking through the barrier/boundary that even Li Qitian and Cao Yunqing needed to cooperate to briefly tear open!

This person must be hiding an earth-shattering Legacy or supreme Magic Treasure!

The enlightenment tea leaves were indeed precious, but compared to the secrets on this person... the flames of greed burned fiercely in the eyes of every survivor, almost incinerating their reason!

At the bottom of the sinkhole, the killing intent that had momentarily frozen due to Xiao Zhuo's appearance instantly re-ignited with a hundredfold intensity, its target, however, quietly shifted to Xiao Zhuo, standing alone beneath the ancient tree!

Xiao Zhuo looked at the three-zhang-tall ancient tree before him, experiencing the extremely rich fragrance around him, his entire being seemingly immersed in an ethereal Concept.

"The enlightenment tea tree is indeed extraordinary!" Xiao Zhuo had recognized the tree the moment he first saw it, and now he could sense its divine uniqueness even more.

Xiao Zhuo ignored the suddenly erupting gazes behind him, mixed with greed and killing intent, his mind calm as water.

He slowly closed his eyes, and his long-unused Soul Perception instantly activated; the world turned black and white, and a surge of Soul Power, imbued with Divine Sense, gently probed towards the core of the violently trembling, sky-piercing ancient tree.

There, a newly born, faint consciousness flickered precariously like a candle in a storm.

It instinctively resisted external intrusion, and the leaf blade storm was precisely the frantic manifestation of its alarm and self-defense.

Xiao Zhuo's Soul fluctuations did not forcibly Breakthrough; instead, they carried a strange rhythm that soothed all things, like melting snow in early spring, quietly seeping into that chaotic consciousness.

There were no words, only the transmission of pure intent:

"Chaos and greed are not your fault."

"At the beginning of new life, spirituality is ignorant, and protection is instinct."

"I shall help you condense your spiritual consciousness, shed your ignorance, and attain clarity."

"I will resolve these troubles for you. Would you be willing to give me one hundred leaves?"

The chaotic consciousness fluctuated violently, and the furious leaf blade storm actually paused for an instant.

It sensed the gentle power contained in Xiao Zhuo's intent; that power not only lacked malicious intent to plunder but also carried a pure benevolence that guided new life, more harmonious with its Origin than the strange forces present here!

To the nascent consciousness, which was enduring the severe pain of condensing spiritual consciousness and was on the verge of collapsing from the disturbance of frantic external attacks, this was no different than the only piece of driftwood a drowning person could grasp!

A desire and trust stemming from life's instinct overpowered its nascent fear.

"Will... ing..." an extremely faint, broken, and supplicating fragment of intent, filled with filial affection and prayer, was arduously transmitted back.

The corner of Xiao Zhuo's mouth curved into an almost imperceptible smile.

He no longer hesitated; as his Soul Power surged, an Origin imprint within the Soul Power dissipated, and this Soul Power instantly transformed into incredibly pure nourishment, slowly injecting into the core of that chaotic consciousness!

To Xiao Zhuo, this Soul Power was utterly insignificant, but to the enlightenment tree spirit, this Soul Power was the crucial aid for it to completely condense its spiritual consciousness.

Buzz—!

The entire enlightenment tea tree glowed with a brilliant emerald light; the light pillar that had shot into the sky suddenly retracted, all of it receding into the main trunk.

The chaotic Dao rhythm flowing on the trunk suddenly became clear and orderly, and a vast yet no longer chaotic spiritual majesty rippled out like water!

It was complete! The spiritual consciousness had fully condensed!

Almost at the moment the spiritual consciousness stabilized, dozens of emerald streams of light automatically shot out from the tree crown, hovering precisely before Xiao Zhuo, no more, no less, exactly one hundred!

Each leaf was plump and glistening, containing the purest enlightenment profoundness.

This was the nascent tree spirit's most primal gratitude and promise—it had sensed Xiao Zhuo's power and benevolence, and it also believed he could fulfill his promise and clear away its troubles.

One hundred tea leaves were the greatest sincerity it could offer at this moment.

Xiao Zhuo did not hesitate, sweeping his hand to collect all one hundred shimmering enlightenment tea leaves into his sleeve.

And at this very moment, several violent attacks from Cao Yunqing, Li Qitian, Ximen Feng, and others, imbued with the extreme greed ignited by covetousness, tore through the air and fiercely struck Xiao Zhuo, who stood silently beneath the tree!