129: Cang'e recognizes his master

Under the current blessing of the Ancient Tree, Xiao Shi’s speed was incredibly astonishing.

He continuously moved towards the giant tree at the end of the path.

Although this path was very long, under Xiao Shi’s rapid movement, it didn't take long for him to successfully reach the end of the path.

There was an entrance here, leading directly to the core area.

The moment Xiao Shi stepped into it, he immediately found himself in a world of giant trees.

In this world, there was not just one giant tree, but an incredibly vast number of giant trees.

And all of them were extremely enormous.

Xiao Shi knew that this core area was as important to the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree as a heart.

However, when he arrived here, he did not experience the imagined feeling of becoming the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree's master.

Although he still possessed privileges and blessings, these privileges and blessings were all brought by the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree's crystals.

This made Xiao Shi frown.

He was certain… he had not yet become the master of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree.

“I clearly obtained the mysterious coffin… why hasn’t the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree recognized me as its master yet?”

Xiao Shi realized that there must be some crucial details he had overlooked.

Immediately, he took out the coffin again and studied it carefully.

After some research, Xiao Shi had a conjecture.

To become the master of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree… perhaps it wasn't enough to just put the coffin into his storage bag.

Instead, he had to… integrate it into his body!

Only when the coffin was within his body could he gain the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree's recognition as its master!

If it was merely placed in the storage bag, it wouldn't make it recognize him as its master.

“So… how can I integrate this coffin into my body?”

Xiao Shi fell into deep thought.

Among the information related to the coffin, there was no method shown for integrating it into the body.

Xiao Shi needed to figure it out himself.

“The more common methods of containment usually involve refining…”

“But given the level of this coffin, and its massive size, if I were to refine it, it would probably take at least several decades, or even longer…”

“Refining it definitely won’t work…”

Xiao Shi pondered seriously.

However, besides refining, he had no other way of containing it.

After all, containing such a behemoth within one's body was, under normal circumstances, not something he, at his current strength level, could accomplish.

After some deliberation, Xiao Shi felt that integrating the coffin into his body could only be attempted through the Crimson Tiger Totem.

He gently closed his eyes, feeling the Crimson Tiger Totem within his body.

Buzz!

As a thought stirred in his mind, the Crimson Tiger pattern on his back suddenly burst forth with dazzling light.

Xiao Shi reached out, placing his palm gently on the coffin.

He conveyed the intention of wanting to integrate it into his body to the Crimson Tiger Totem.

Under his will, a low tiger roar suddenly reverberated in his mind, seemingly the Crimson Tiger Totem’s response.

Immediately after, a powerful and strange converging force erupted from within his body.

This converging force, like a tide, quickly enveloped the coffin that his palm touched, flowing along his palm.

Swish!

The next moment, the entire colossal coffin vanished into thin air from in front of Xiao Shi.

Boom!!

Xiao Shi only felt his body tremble.

This coffin… had already appeared within his body!

“The Crimson Tiger Totem really works!!”

Xiao Shi was incredibly excited by this.

Originally, he had only approached it with a 'let's try' mindset.

He hadn't expected it to actually succeed!

After the entire coffin integrated into his body, it had already shrunk to the size of a fist.

At the same time, the moment the coffin integrated into Xiao Shi’s body, rumble!

The giant tree world where Xiao Shi was located immediately vibrated intensely.

Every tree here showed him signs of submission.

Moreover, an indescribable sense of control instantly filled his entire mind, making Xiao Shi feel as if the interior of this Ancient Tree had become his own world.

He was the king here!

Not only that, a strange image appeared in his mind.

In the image, there was an incredibly enormous, sky-reaching giant tree!

However, most of this sky-reaching giant tree’s body was submerged in the soil underground, with only an extremely tiny branch exposed.

And on this branch, a city was built—it was Tree Shadow City, one of the Five Shadow City!

Although Xiao Shi had known early on that Tree Shadow City was built upon the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, he hadn't expected… that Tree Shadow City was merely located on a small section of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree’s exposed branch.

The vast majority of the entire Azure Calamity Ancient Tree was buried deep underground; the exposed part was not even the tip of an iceberg!

This also gave Xiao Shi a clearer understanding of the immense size of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree.

At the same time, he clearly felt that the entire Azure Calamity Ancient Tree was currently in a dormant state.

And he now possessed the ability to awaken it!

However, the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree was still very weak now.

If forcibly awakened… it would not be beneficial to the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree.

He had now completely become the master of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, possessing great control over it.

This greatly excited Xiao Shi.

If it weren't for the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree's extreme weakness, he even felt that he could, by controlling the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, directly break away from Rapid Shadow Palace and establish Red Tiger Sect as an independent force in this Tian Dou Province!

There would be no need to continue relying on Rapid Shadow Palace.

Unfortunately, for some reason Xiao Shi didn't know, the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree was extremely weak now.

It was not enough for him to become independent in Tian Dou Province by relying on the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree.

However, with the powerful existence of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, Xiao Shi could stand more firmly in Rapid Shadow Palace.

Having become the master of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, Xiao Shi could even teleport within the Ancient Tree.

He only needed a thought to go to any location within the Ancient Tree.

At the same time, he could freely mobilize all the power of the Ancient Tree.

This made Xiao Shi ponder that even if a Blood Martial Realm martial artist entered the Ancient Tree, he could easily kill him!

To some extent, within this Ancient Tree, he was an invincible existence.

Unless it was a martial artist whose strength was inherently stronger than the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, or someone whose strength was very close to the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree.

As long as a martial artist's strength was lower than the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, once he entered the Ancient Tree, Xiao Shi could easily toy with him to death!

Swish!

With a thought in Xiao Shi's mind, his entire being vanished from the core of the Ancient Tree and appeared in an unfamiliar area.

This area… was precisely the area where the coffin was located before!

It was also the most hidden area within the Ancient Tree.

Under normal circumstances, no one entering the Ancient Tree could find this area.

Only someone like Xiao Shi, who became the master of the Ancient Tree, could directly arrive at this hidden area by conveying his thoughts.

Upon arrival, Xiao Shi was surprised to see… that this area was filled with countless crystals!!

At first glance, the number of crystals here was immeasurable!

And the sizes of these crystals were not equal.

The ones Xiao Shi had previously obtained by killing were merely the smallest crystals among them.

There were even larger crystals here.

Although Xiao Shi had long anticipated that the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree’s crystals were definitely more than the seven that had dropped, he hadn't expected… that these crystals would be so numerous!

Numerous crystals densely covered the ground, forming a huge, complex, and profound formation on the ground!

The coffin from before was located on top of this formation.

“What kind of formation is this?!”

Xiao Shi had never seen such a massive formation before.

The materials that made up this formation alone consisted of countless crystals.

It went without saying that this formation must be an extremely high-end formation!

“Could the weakness of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree stem from this formation?”

Xiao Shi's heart suddenly had a guess.

After all, these crystals were extremely important to the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree itself.

Now that it was using all of its crystals for the formation, it would naturally remain in a state of weakness.

This made Xiao Shi think that the existence of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree itself was to guard this mysterious coffin.

This formation… must be able to provide some kind of protection for the mysterious coffin.

Xiao Shi had already entered this formation at this time.

Suddenly, his body trembled violently.

An extremely intense craving instantly emanated from within his body.

However, this craving did not originate from the coffin within his body, but from… the Crimson Tiger Totem!!

At this moment, the pattern representing the Crimson Tiger Totem on Xiao Shi's back erupted with incredibly strong light; the entire pattern seemed to squirm as if alive, as if it was about to come to life from Xiao Shi's body.

At the same time, the Crimson Tiger Totem frantically conveyed a thought to Xiao Shi.

“This formation…”

“Can restore the Crimson Tiger Totem!!”

Upon sensing the thought conveyed by the Crimson Tiger Totem, Xiao Shi’s eyes gradually widened, revealing intense excitement and ecstasy.

The Crimson Tiger Totem, as the most important item of Red Tiger Sect, had originally been nurtured under Jin Yun City.

However, with the fall of Seven Stars Province, Red Tiger Sect had no choice but to stop nurturing the Crimson Tiger Totem and take it away.

After the Crimson Tiger Totem parasitic on Xiao Shi, he had also been searching for a way to nurture the Crimson Tiger Totem.

Unfortunately, among the many items he had dropped, none could nurture the Crimson Tiger Totem.

At most, he could only nurture it with his own Taiyin Qi Strength.

However, this method of nurturing… was far less than one ten-thousandth of array nurturing.

It was simply unrealistic to rely on Taiyin Qi Strength to restore the Crimson Tiger Totem.

He hadn't expected… that within this Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, there would actually be a formation capable of nurturing the Crimson Tiger Totem!

And this formation was far more advanced than the formation under Jin Yun City back then, and would have even better nurturing effects!

This made Xiao Shi very excited.

Although he could also choose to place the coffin here and let it continue to enjoy the nurturing of this formation, compared to this coffin, it was clear that the Crimson Tiger Totem would gain greater nurturing effects and improvements!

“But if I want to nurture the Crimson Tiger Totem here, I need to temporarily separate it from my body first…”

Xiao Shi pondered thoughtfully.

After all, he couldn't stay here with the Crimson Tiger Totem forever, not going anywhere.

If he wanted to nurture the Crimson Tiger Totem, he would inevitably have to leave it here.

Now that he had become the master of the Azure Calamity Ancient Tree, even if he left the Crimson Tiger Totem here, he wouldn’t have to worry about any accidents.

After all, the entire Azure Calamity Ancient Tree was now under his control.

After pondering for a while, Xiao Shi decisively chose to first detach the Crimson Tiger Totem from his body.

Buzz!

As his thought moved, the Crimson Tiger Totem on his back immediately transformed into a crimson light, detached from his body, and appeared directly within the formation.

Xiao Shi could clearly see that the Crimson Tiger Totem, appearing within the formation, immediately received nourishment from the formation, and the light emanating from the Crimson Tiger Totem became even more dazzling.

Although he had detached the Crimson Tiger Totem from his body, Xiao Shi could also make the Crimson Tiger Totem return to his body with just a thought.

“For now, let the Crimson Tiger Totem be nurtured here.”

Xiao Shi knew that only when the Crimson Tiger Totem recovered would he gain a greater improvement.

Moreover, the Crimson Tiger Totem also held higher-level secrets of Red Tiger Sect!

Its importance was immense.

“Next, it’s my turn to improve myself!”

Xiao Shi’s eyes gleamed with anticipation.

Previously, many high-quality items he had obtained through killing could bring him personal improvement.

Now, he planned to use these items to maximize his strength before leaving.

Whoosh!

Xiao Shi first took out the Star Orb of Vortex Opening!

This exotic treasure, capable of opening thirty-three Qi Vortexes, had once brought him immense shock.

Although he now only had one last Qi Vortex left to open in his body, opening this final Qi Vortex was even more difficult than the previous ninety-nine Qi Vortexes.

“With the effect of this Star Orb of Vortex Opening, it should be enough to open the last Qi Vortex, right?”

Xiao Shi took a deep breath.

This Star Orb of Vortex Opening was a substance with an aura like a star.

After absorbing it, Xiao Shi instantly felt the mysterious aura filling his body.

Under the effect of this aura, the last Qi lock in Xiao Shi’s body immediately vibrated.

These auras continuously converged towards the Qi lock, forming a vortex-like condensation on the last Qi lock in Xiao Shi’s body, causing the entire Qi lock to vibrate and then emanate a crack.

“It’s working!!”

Xiao Shi’s eyes lit up.

One must know that when he previously used Grand Yin Qi to impact the Qi lock, the entire Qi lock hadn't even moved a bit.

To have such an effect now was already quite good.

Immediately, under the effect of this aura, more and more cracks appeared on the entire Qi lock.

In an instant, the entire Qi lock was already covered with countless cracks, just a tiny bit short of breaking through this Qi lock and completing the final Qi Vortex opening.

“Just a tiny bit left?”

Xiao Shi narrowed his eyes slightly.