148: A thousand years have passed, all gone in an empty dream.

Huo Fucheng's face was hidden beneath ink; the ink scroll in the sky unfurled, covering this entire world within it.

Colored ink formed into clumps and fell from the sky, shrouding the area where the seed was.

Sun Chunchen's phantom stood behind the seed; seeing the scene of the world around him changing, he did not panic, but instead felt a sense of leisure.

"The Submerged Domain Ink Scroll is a decent Domain-rank Source Beast, but it is a pity that what you are facing now is the seed of the 'Ancient Medicine King Tree.' Even if it is only stained with a wisp of its parent's aura, it is not something you can contend with."

Following his words, the patterns on the surface of the seed slowly lit up, and emerald leaves the size of palms appeared in the surrounding Void Realm, then these leaves made contact with the ink scattered across the sky.

In an instant, all the ink seemed to be swept away; its colors became faint, and then it gradually disappeared from the sky.

Huo Fucheng waved his hand, and the ink in the sky gathered back into a scroll, coming behind him. He looked deeply at Sun Chunchen,

"So that's how it is. You are not truly a Spirit Rank Contract Master, but merely a soul body. To think you were able to deceive my eyes for such a long time.

However, let's leave it at this for today; we shall meet again."

As he spoke, he ignored the remaining members of the Huo Family who were not shrouded by the aura of deathly silence, turned around, and prepared to escape.

Sun Chunchen's palm moved beneath the seed of the Ancient Medicine King Tree. "Bestow life with sincerity, grow green with spirit, all things grow, heaven bestows spirit."

After he finished chanting, an extreme green light erupted from the seed, rushing toward the earth beneath his feet, and a green halo spread out along the ground in all directions.

Next, a shocking scene occurred; the spiritual nature and volume of the various plants on the ground grew wildly in an instant. The various plants squeezed together, then merged and devoured one another. In almost an instant, only a few particularly massive spirit plants remained.

The moment they took shape, they waved their bodies, either whipping their vines, firing wooden spikes, or shining beams of light to attack Huo Fucheng, who was attempting to leave.

Huo Fucheng frowned. The colored ink on the scroll behind him reorganized and gathered, forming the shapes of several different Source Beasts. They walked out of the scroll, releasing various different skills to block those spirit plants that had been forcibly grown.

Sun Chunchen's eyes lit up; this was what he had been waiting for. The seed in his hand tore through the Void Realm and instantly appeared in front of Huo Fucheng.

Then, amidst his terrified gaze, it landed on the center of his forehead. In an instant, the vitality of this body was completely drained by the seed, turning into a handful of loose sand that dissipated into the air.

A ray of spirit light separated from it, and Huo Fucheng's figure appeared in the distance, exceptionally illusory. He looked at the seed with a face full of resentment, and his body was wrapped in a thick layer of ink.

Immediately following, the meter-long scroll cut through the Void Realm, preparing to flee from this place of trouble.

Who would have thought that the seed would flash through the air again, landing precisely on the path in front of the scroll? It just gently smashed downward, landing on the scroll.

Who knew that the scroll, as if struck by a heavy blow, would fall from the sky and land on the ground.

It trembled for a moment, then prepared to float up again to continue fleeing into the distance.

Sun Chunchen's phantom appeared beside the scroll, and his palm suddenly reached into it. Old Ancestor Huo's soul body was then pulled out from the ink scroll by him.

Sun Chunchen held his soul body high, ignoring the panic in his eyes, and looked up at him indifferently,

"You have lived long enough."

Spirit light flickered on his hand. At this moment, Old Ancestor Huo's soul body shattered like ice crystals into pieces of light feathers, flowing like water into the seed of the Ancient Medicine King Tree.

Thus, Old Ancestor Huo, who had ruled Zhiyao County for thousands of years and had once been a hero in legends passed down through generations, perished here by a large river Beyond the Border.

After Old Ancestor Huo's figure dissipated, those few sky-reaching spirit plants that had been forcibly grown also returned to calm. Sun Chunchen's gaze turned toward these peculiar spirit plants that had been created through cross-rank enhancement.

He couldn't help but sigh inwardly; this was their opportunity, but also their catastrophe. If they could seize this opportunity and stabilize their forms, they might potentially form a new race of Source Beasts.

If they could not stabilize, then their bodies would collapse and disintegrate, turning into nutrients to nourish this land.

Sun Chunchen's gaze fell once more on the few remaining members of the Huo Family. Even though they had unleashed the greatest power and speed of their lives, they were still within the detection range of the current Sun Chunchen.

Looking at his own palm, Sun Chunchen dismissed the idea of continuing to attack. For now, he should avoid attacking as much as possible; there really wasn't much time left.

Regardless, here Beyond the Border, without the protection of Old Ancestor Huo, it would be very difficult for these surviving members of the Huo Family to continue living normally.

His gaze fell upon Old Ancestor Huo's Source Beast, the "Submerged Domain Ink Scroll." With Old Ancestor Huo's soul body gone, the ink scroll also seemed to have been severely damaged; it lay quietly on the ground without any movement.

Looking closely, he realized that there were many fine cracks on the scroll now, as if its body had been shattered by the seed's earlier strike.

"Right and wrong are hard to judge; enjoy your final moments."

Sun Chunchen saw that this scroll would not last much longer. Finally, he looked at the seed, nodded slightly, and his figure faded and disappeared.

The seed swayed slightly in the air, a tiny crack was torn open beside it, and then it burrowed inside and also disappeared without a trace.

The "Submerged Domain Ink Scroll" shuddered slightly on the ground, but did not fly up.

Ink slowly flowed out from its cracks, staining the surrounding land—one kilometer, two kilometers, ten kilometers, a hundred kilometers.

The surrounding region transformed into a colorful, painted hue, and then many featureless, vaguely humanoid ink figures appeared on the ground.

Their movements were strange, like tireless machines repeating a bizarre scene over and over again, and they would even take the initiative to attack outsiders they encountered.

Later comers arrived here and discovered that these figures were neither Source Beasts nor soul bodies, but a type of strange creation.

Although there were no Source Beasts living here, the colored ink inkstones within were an extremely rare Spirit Rank Materials, which attracted large numbers of people to come hunting and exploring.

This place was also called the "Colored Ink Spirit Plain."

Perhaps with the passage of thousands upon thousands of years, this place might truly give birth to a new and special kind of Source Beast.

...

Xianyuan City.

In the small courtyard, Sun Chunchen slowly opened his eyes; there was a hint of fatigue between his brows,

"The distance is still too far. Dealing with a low-level Domain Rank Old Ancestor Huo actually took such a long time."

He sat cross-legged on the bed and waited for a moment. A tiny crack tore open in front of him, and the small seed squeezed out from it.

The seed swayed left and right in the air, then quietly landed in the palm of Sun Chunchen's hand.

"If I cannot conceal my aura, then I will have no choice but to turn this Xianyuan City upside down." Sun Chunchen gripped the seed tightly and muttered to himself.