124: Phoenix Brand

With the previous failure as a lesson, none of the remaining fourteen people attempted to fly again; instead, they honestly climbed across the trunk.

They didn't know how long they had been climbing. Even though they had summoned their respective beast tamings to transform into beast taming armor to boost their strength, they still felt their limbs aching and were extremely exhausted.

But just then, they also felt a surge of pure vitality emerging from the wutong tree, helping them recover their physical strength, though it couldn't erase the feeling of fatigue.

"It seems making us climb the tree isn't just out of pure malice, but actually has the effect of tempering the body."

This discovery made everyone even more excited, and their climbing speed increased significantly once again.

They looked up, and the branch above where they could rest seemed very close.

But as the old saying goes, a mountain looks close until you try to reach it.

It clearly looked close, but that was just an illusion caused by the common-sense-defying size of the branches.

Finally, with a heave of his body, Su Ze flipped onto the lowest branch.

There were ten branches in total at roughly the same height, so it was inevitable that some of the fourteen people would end up resting on the same branch.

No one took action immediately; instead, they kept their distance and remained wary of each other.

After all, the lowest branches were the thickest, and each branch here was likely enough to accommodate thousands of people.

And now, there were at most two or three people on a single branch.

Su Ze and Jiang Jianbin arrived on the same branch. The latter had arrived a step ahead of him and was already resting while searching for any hidden prizes nearby.

His strong physique indeed gave him many advantages in this kind of competition, but this was also because many people, including Su Ze, were still hiding their strength. The difference in physical fitness between monster beasts was much larger than that between humans.

Besides them, the number four seed from Vermilion Bird Beast Taming University was also here.

He was the runner-up in the same group as Su Ze and was already Su Ze's defeated opponent, so naturally, he wouldn't take the initiative to look for trouble.

He stayed far away by himself, so Su Ze and Jiang Jianbin didn't need to be so guarded against each other.

The reason why three people chose the same spot was naturally because no one wanted to stay with the four number one seeds plus the top three from Imperial Capital Beast Taming University.

After all, for those people, knocking others down to disqualify them was as easy as lifting a hand and wouldn't take much time.

And those seven people didn't want to stay together either, to avoid exposing their trump cards and consuming energy too early.

Therefore, each of those seven people occupied one branch, and the others naturally had to squeeze together.

"How is it? Did you find anything?" Su Ze sat on the ground recovering his strength, casually asking the grinning big dark fellow beside him.

"Hehe, I found a level fifty-plus monster beast crystal core and several quenching thought beads," Jiang Jianbin said happily.

To him, these prizes already made the trip worthwhile.

However, he still leaned in quietly to Su Ze's ear, looked at the Vermilion Bird Beast Taming University number four seed in the distance, and said, "But the stuff that guy found is even better. He even tried to hide it from me, but I saw it all—it's a demon beast egg of at least Gold-rank!"

"Once I recover a bit more strength, I'm going to go over and snatch it from him."

Su Ze really didn't care for these prizes, so he advised Jiang Jianbin, "It's just a Gold-rank demon beast egg; there's no need to fight over it. Save some strength to climb higher; aren't there better rewards up there?"

Jiang Jianbin glanced at Su Ze and then said, "Try jumping up."

Although Su Ze was puzzled, he still jumped up forcefully.

This also caught the attention of some people, who thought someone was stubbornly trying to fly again, but when they realized he had just jumped in place, they looked away.

As Su Ze landed from the height, he immediately exhaled a breath of scorching air and then said with a flushed face, "Up there... it's so hot!"

Jiang Jianbin replied, "Exactly. I felt it when I was climbing up from below. The surrounding temperature has been slowly rising, and after crossing a branch of the wutong tree, it increases in steps."

"Climbing up one more branch is my limit, so of course, I have to take this opportunity to collect as many prizes as possible."

At the same time, the Golden Feather Phoenix Bird excitedly explained to Su Ze through their contract, "This is the power of a brand left by a Phoenix, and it's a pure-blooded Phoenix!"

"This wutong tree must have been the nest of a Phoenix before, which is why its power brand was left behind!"

"As long as I can obtain this brand, I can undergo a second Nirvana, trace back to the Ancestral Blood, and become a pure-blooded Phoenix!"

Su Ze was also greatly excited upon hearing this: "Can you feel where that brand is?"

Feng Qingyi's voice came again: "I'm not sure of the exact location, but it's definitely above. The higher I go, the stronger my sensing becomes!"

Su Ze looked up at the treetop that covered the sky like a canopy and said, "Could it be... the brand is inside that wutong fruit? It seems I won't be able to bypass it after all..."

Su Ze had now also discovered that the power helping them recover their strength during the climb came from the wutong tree.

The Phoenix rests on the Wutong because the wutong tree can withstand their power.

Therefore, the power from the wutong tree was also helping their bodies adapt to the residual power left by the phoenix imprint in the surroundings.

It was precisely because this power subtly changed their body's endurance that they hadn't felt the temperature rising.

Only a fellow like Jiang Jianbin, whose physical abilities exceeded those of ordinary people, would have a clear perception of these changes.

And the reason Su Ze had such a strong sensation after jumping just now was, firstly, as Jiang Jianbin said, once you cross a branch, the power emitted by the phoenix imprint increases in steps.

These branches are like levels; crossing one means accepting a higher level of challenge.

Secondly, it was because Su Ze had not yet accepted the power from beyond this branch to improve his body's adaptability to the higher-altitude power.

If Su Ze had climbed to that height step by step, he probably wouldn't have found it as unbearable as he just did.

Su Ze could now confirm that none of them could fly all the way up to the height of the wutong fruit without accepting the wutong tree's power to modify their body's endurance.

At the same time, even with the help of this power, not everyone could persevere all the way.

Like Jiang Jianbin, he knew his strength could at most last through two levels.

So he had found his place; he wouldn't save his strength to compete for later prizes but would try his best to collect enough prizes in the first two levels.

Su Ze looked at him, who was already eager to take action, and said, "Do you want me to help you?"

Hearing this, Jiang Jianbin shook his head and said, "No need. You're much stronger than me; you should save your strength and keep climbing up."