191: The haunting

Li Ke forcefully suppressed his emotions.

He slowly closed his eyes, calming the turbulent Qi within his body.

He waited quietly for a long time.

However, the mysterious surge of Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence around him seemed to have completely ended, and the surroundings fell into a state of tranquility.

This gigantic blue flower had visibly withered, and the petals at its edges even showed signs of turning yellow.

Although in the deepest part of the pistil, there was still an extremely faint, almost imperceptible Divine Soul Origin, slowly seeping out Li Ke a wisp of silk,

proving that the ancient Life Irrigation Ritual was still in operation.

But that precious amber flower nectar from before had accumulated over countless years since the Lost Era.

Now that he had consumed it all, it was unknown how many years it would take for so much to regenerate.

"Is there no third Divine Ability?"

Li Ke slowly opened his eyes, his brows slightly furrowed.

Logically, after absorbing such a massive amount of Divine Soul Origin and accumulating so many Law fragments,

both the strength of his Divine Soul and the concentration of the surrounding Law environment were already at an extremely top-tier level.

At the very least, he should have condensed three Divine Abilities.

Yet, he only barely managed two, and the Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence that propelled the evolution of Divine Abilities had somehow subsided.

"Could it be... that the rank of this Myriad Souls Physique Divine Ability is too high, exhausting all the potential?"

A thoughtful expression appeared on Li Ke's face.

In his previous life,

he had indeed seen similar rumors in a demonic Sect's ancient text.

It stated that in the cultivation world, there was once an astonishingly talented Dao Sect Prodigy,

when he underwent his Golden Core Breakthrough, despite having the blessings of multiple Immortal Sect secret arts and all sorts of Heaven And Earth Treasure readily available,

he ultimately only condensed one Natal Divine Ability, seemingly named Innate Qi.

At that time, many within his Sect believed that

he had made a mistake during his Breakthrough, pointlessly wasting the Sect's massive resources, and they ridiculed and taunted him relentlessly.

This person suffered a lot of suppression and bullying for a time, even being stripped of his subsequent cultivation resources.

It wasn't until an Old Ancestor True Immortal from that Sect, who had been in seclusion, emerged and personally investigated the matter,

that he stroked his beard and sighed, saying that this was a great blessing.

It was simply because the rank of that Innate Qi Divine Ability was too high,

having almost exhausted all the Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence, which was why it prevented the generation of subsequent Divine Abilities.

From then on, everyone in the Sect was as quiet as cicadas in winter, and those who had mocked him before either apologized or offered compensation.

Many stewards in charge of resources received severe punishments.

This incident once gave rise to many widely circulated idioms,

such as "Don't bully a young man for being poor," and "Thirty years to the east of the river, thirty years to the west of the river"...

Later, that Dao Sect Prodigy indeed made rapid progress in his cultivation, soaring into the sky,

and eventually successfully ascended to the position of True Immortal,

with the revered title of One Qi Immortal...

Li Ke suppressed his chaotic thoughts, and his mind returned to tranquility.

He stood up, walked out of the gigantic blue pistil, and gently landed on the ground.

His feet stepped on the coarse white sand, feeling a cool and hard sensation.

This was his first time setting foot in this Garden of Sentient Beings with his complete body, where spirit and flesh were one.

The strong sense of oppression from the Origin of the Dao, which he had felt in his Divine Soul state, had vanished without a trace.

With the Physical Body's bearing and protection, the Divine Soul's perception of external pressure was weakened countless times over.

Li Ke looked around.

This small garden, suspended in the Void Realm, was only about twenty square meters in size.

Apart from the somewhat withered gigantic blue flower at its center,

there was only a circle of gray-white stones resembling a flowerbed, and the coarse white sand beneath his feet.

Beyond the garden was an endless, deep Void Realm, enveloped in a thin layer of white mist.

And through that thin layer of mist,

Li Ke could vaguely see, diagonally below this Garden of Sentient Beings,

the gigantic multi-headed faceless idol.

On its massive gray-white stone neck, several heads of varying sizes were irregularly distributed.

All the heads had a chillingly blank face, staring emptily into the surrounding Void Realm.

One of the largest heads was directly facing the Garden of Sentient Beings where he was, as if silently observing it, giving off a faint sense of dread.

Li Ke slowly squatted down and gently picked up a handful of white sand from the ground.

The sand rubbed between his fingers, making a faint rustling sound, and felt hard and cold.

He examined it carefully but did not detect any unusual aura.

It seemed to be just ordinary stone fragments, and he wondered how the Tuhana Civilization had transported them here...

Puff puff...

He gently scattered the sand,

clapped his hands, and slowly walked towards the edge of the garden.

However, as he approached the edge,

an extremely subtle sense of danger gradually arose in his heart.

Li Ke's brows furrowed slightly.

He stopped, standing still, his dark eyes scanning the surrounding Void Realm.

Buzz...

The next instant,

countless blurry black Qi figures suddenly surged from the surface of his body.

Li Ke a swarm of bees, they silently scattered in all directions,

some instantly sinking into the sand beneath his feet.

Some glided along the ground, merging into the gray-white stones of the surrounding flowerbed.

Some clung to the blue flower, disappearing into the dried petal patterns.

And a small portion still circled around Li Ke's body.

Li Ke's mind stirred slightly.

This group of black Qi figures flew from different directions towards the edge of the Garden of Sentient Beings.

As soon as they rushed out of the Garden of Sentient Beings's edge,

all the black Qi figures felt a huge downward gravitational pull and rapidly plummeted towards the bottom of the garden.

And in Li Ke's mind, he simultaneously shared the vision of all the black Qi figures.

His vision, in its rapid descent, gradually moved away from the solitary Garden of Sentient Beings at the very top.

Passing through layers of thin white mist, the full view of the gigantic idol below became increasingly clear.

Countless thick arms extended from the idol's torso, Li Ke intertwined branches.

Each arm held up Gardens of Sentient Beings of various sizes.

Layer upon layer, densely packed, intertwined with each other, their number was so vast that it was difficult to count them for a moment.

Finally seeing the full view of this Garden of Sentient Beings,

Li Ke couldn't help but feel a touch of emotion.

"This gigantic idol is probably the core of the Life Irrigation Ritual..."

"Li Ke a divine pillar piercing through Heaven and Earth, rooted in the Sea of Ancestors, drawing the power of countless extraordinary Bloodlines... The Tuhana Civilization, what a grand undertaking..."

As the black Qi figures descended, one after another,

they quickly dropped below the neck of the gigantic idol, falling towards what appeared to be its chest height.

In this area, a few scattered Gardens of Sentient Beings had begun to appear.

They were all large Gardens of Sentient Beings, covered in various strange, colorful, and vibrant flowers.

However, just as a few of Li Ke's black Qi figures were about to split off,

and fly towards those large Gardens of Sentient Beings.

Suddenly!

An incredibly massive shadow coiled up from behind the idol.

Its tip suddenly detached from the idol and lunged towards the group of black Qi figures!

It was actually a gigantic octopus tentacle!

The tip of the tentacle, covered in countless suckers, swept through the air!

Splat!

Splat!

Splat!

In the Void Realm along its path, countless tiny bubbles emerged as if from boiling water.

Small octopus tentacles suddenly drilled out from those bubbles,

groping around aimlessly, emitting a chilling, sticky sound.

In mid-air, all the black Qi figures that were descending.

At the moment the gigantic tentacle swept past, they had no power to resist.

Their surfaces instantly became covered in dense, tiny octopus tentacles.

After a silent squirming,

with a "pop" sound,

they transformed into wisps of black Qi and vanished without a trace.

In the Garden of Sentient Beings at the very top,

Li Ke's entire vision suddenly disappeared, plunging into darkness.

His expression immediately became grim.

"Why hasn't this damn thing left yet..."

"Could it be... that it's waiting for me to come out?"

Li Ke's brows immediately furrowed tightly.

"In any case, it seems unable to reach this height and can only move in the area below the idol's neck."

"As long as I don't leave this Garden of Sentient Beings, it can't threaten me for now..."

Li Ke sighed slightly, feeling a hint of regret.

He had originally thought that his ability to descend into the interior of the Sea of Ancestors with his Physical Body was an Opportunity,

and he could thoroughly investigate the mysteries of this place.

Unexpectedly, that terrifying entity capable of polluting the entire world's Origin was so persistent.

Never mind, the resources here were already exhausted anyway,

and he had also left his seed through the Divine Ability Myriad Souls Physique.

Everything could be dealt with later...

Boom!!!

Li Ke no longer hesitated. With a flick of his sleeve, his entire body suddenly exploded.

Transforming into an endless stream of black Qi figures, they circled in the air for a moment,

then vanished into the Void Realm.