184: Chapter 183 The World Tree [Yuktrasil]'s Small World?

Chapter 183: A Micro-World of the World Tree [Yggdrasil]?

The voice of [Wuzhiqi] rang in Sun Po's mind: "No, I specifically asked, and the remnant soul of that [Ventilation Great Sage, Macaque King] said there is only one human, which is you, in this [Fenglei Mountain Range] secret realm."

This actually made Sun Po somewhat puzzled. With so many Chinese and foreign contestants combined, where had they all gone?

Li Tiance's mind arrow let Sun Po know that at least Li Tiance was safe and sound, meaning the probability of all other contestants getting into trouble basically did not exist.

Recalling that the environment Li Tiance was in was a volcanic area filled with magma rivers, Sun Po suddenly had a guess in his heart.

Sun Po asked: "Can you actively contact the soul of that [Ventilation Great Sage, Macaque King]?"

[Wuzhiqi] said: "Yes, it said that as long as I call its name in my heart, if it is convenient to respond, it will respond to me."

Sun Po said: "Ask it if there is a volcanic area filled with magma rivers in this [Fenglei Mountain Range]?"

[Wuzhiqi] closed its eyes, falling back into its previous state. In a short moment, it opened its eyes and replied in Sun Po's mind: "It said no. The [Fenglei Mountain Range] is filled with fierce winds, lightning, and fog, and there are no volcanoes."

The more Sun Po thought about it, the more he felt that his previous guess was probably true, while also marveling at this miraculous secret realm.

He hadn't expected there to be such a special secret realm. Judging from the information obtained at the moment, I'm afraid every single contestant had entered a different secret realm.

Yes, every single one of them. In other words, all contestants entered the same secret realm rift entrance, but what each person reached were completely different secret realms.

Moreover, this [Fenglei Mountain Range] did not seem to be a particularly large secret realm either; otherwise, there would be no reason for a mere soul to be able to monitor the entire secret realm.

Even if the [Ventilation Great Sage, Macaque King] used to be a demon king, purely with the body of a soul, it probably wouldn't have this ability.

A flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Sun Po's mind, and [Vedfolnir], which [Wuzhiqi] had heard earlier, flashed across his heart.

He muttered to himself: "The glabella of the nameless vulture perched at the top of the World Tree? The World Tree?"

He suddenly remembered some legends about the World Tree [Yggdrasil] that he had heard in his past life.

Legend has it that [Yggdrasil] is a giant tree that nurtures and constitutes the entire world, and its species is an ash tree.

Its crown reaches high into the sky, and its branches derive nine main worlds, which are Midgard (the human world), Asgard (the realm of the Aesir gods),

Helheim (the realm of the dead), Niflheim (the realm of fog), Muspelheim (the realm of fire),

Jotunheim (the realm of giants),

Alfheim (the realm of elves), Svartalfheim (the realm of dwarves), and Vanaheim (the dwelling place of the Vanir gods).

In addition, countless leaves hang from the branches of [Yggdrasil], and every single leaf is a micro-world.

Sun Po felt that the bizarre situation he was encountering at the moment was quite similar to this [Yggdrasil].

Perhaps he was currently in a micro-world? That is, inside a leaf?

And Li Tiance was in another leaf? Perhaps that huge rift entrance was the entrance to [Yggdrasil]?

After entering, contestants would randomly enter different leaves? Which meant entering different micro-worlds?

But why did this rift entrance only allow [Card Maker]s below the intermediate rank to enter?

Could it be that what this huge rift entrance could lead to were relatively fragile micro-worlds, which was why [Card Maker]s above the intermediate rank could not enter?

If that were really the case, wasn't this World Tree [Yggdrasil] a bit too intelligent? It was almost like a technological screening function.

Sun Po didn't know if his guess was correct, but he vaguely felt that he had grasped some of the truth.

If this was the case, did the authorities know that contestants would enter different micro-worlds again after entering the secret realm? Sun Po believed the authorities knew.

Although [Card Maker]s above the intermediate rank could not enter this secret realm, according to the authorities, once entered, they would be forcibly teleported elsewhere.

It was very likely that there were a few very fragile micro-worlds that only those with spirituality weak enough to be below an intermediate [Card Maker] could enter; otherwise, they would be teleported to other more powerful micro-worlds.

And although the authorities could not enter these micro-worlds, they could investigate the essence of this secret realm and the micro-worlds through certain methods, of which the global live broadcast was proof.

If there were no means to conduct detection outside the secret realm, how could the scenes of the contestants entering the secret realm be obtained? How could the live broadcast be carried out?

The only possibility was that the authorities had already explored this largest secret realm that had ever appeared in the extraterrestrial regions, and had a sufficient understanding of its essence.

Since the authorities could not directly send high-combat-power [Card Maker]s to enter the remaining unexplored parts directly, they thought of using this as the competition venue for the national tournament.

But this secret realm might also have certain particularities, with its rift entrances distributed within the five countries, so they came up with this joint play-acting-like competition.

But if everyone went to a different micro-world after entering the secret realm, what was the point of teaming up?

In any case, everyone fought alone to accumulate points, and even forming a team alone would yield high point bonuses. Contestants who teamed up would be at too much of a disadvantage.

It stood to reason that the authorities wouldn't make such an obvious and low-level mistake. The biggest advantage of teaming up compared to being a lone wolf was naturally that their combined strength was greater. Whether fighting other contestants or powerful monsters, perhaps acting alone could not achieve success, but with teammates, some things could be accomplished.

Unless the authorities were certain that within these seven days, the contestants would definitely find a way to converge.

Sun Po was still brainstorming, pondering in his heart: "World Tree [Yggdrasil]? Leaves? Branches? Nine Realms?"

After meditating for a long time, Sun Po suddenly understood: "That's right, leaves always grow on branches. In other words, according to the authorities' estimate, this seven-day period is definitely enough for capable contestants to explore this micro-world, break through the leaf, and merge into the branches.

In other words, above the branches is where the participating contestants will meet. I'm afraid the micro-world in this leaf is just a warm-up, and the branches are the real stage."

Just at this moment, Sun Po saw that the [Wind-Roaring Giant Ape]s ahead had stopped their steps and started climbing higher up the giant tree. Seeing this, [Wuzhiqi] also raised the height of the water cloud accordingly.

At the same time, amidst the flashing thunder, Sun Po vaguely saw these [Wind-Roaring Giant Ape]s looking at the dense forest ahead with full vigilance, baring their teeth as if there was something dangerous in the giant tree jungle.

"Roar, roar, roar!!!"

Suddenly, bursts of huge beast roars sounded from the dark giant wood jungle, followed by a tremor of the earth.

The tremor of the earth was accompanied by blood-red lights resembling searchlights moving from afar to near. Until they were close, Sun Po could clearly see the appearance of the arrivals.

Those were wild boars dozens of meters tall. These wild boars were like charging chariots. Although the [Wind-Roaring Giant Ape]s were already very huge, these wild boars were more than twice as tall as the [Wind-Roaring Giant Ape]s.

Their bodies were hung with chapped, stone-like substances, and the surface of this stone-like skin was covered with dark red spikes, looking exceptionally ferocious.

[Wuzhiqi] said: "Alright, master, there is a group of monsters named [Armored Rock Boar] here. They are one of the few unawakened monsters in this [Fenglei Mountain Range], but their spirituality is not weak. They are just right to be used to start with and accumulate points."

Meanwhile, in front of the giant screens in various cities outside, the audience's discussion about the competition became increasingly heated.

"Qin Wudao and the [Black Pharaoh] are simply too fierce, scaring these monsters so much that they don't even dare to show their heads. I feel like the champion is probably one of these two."

"Look at that Sun Po who summoned a gold card. To think that I initially thought he was a potential stock; he didn't know how to make a move just now, and now he is chasing those big monkeys all over the forest and can't even catch up. It's hilarious."

" "

Among the audience, there were also some calm and knowledgeable people. As the saying goes, "Insiders watch the doorway, outsiders watch the excitement." They could see that these huge [Wind-Roaring Giant Ape]s were leading the way for Sun Po, and knew that the outcome was still uncertain.

These people did not just look at who killed faster or who had higher points like ordinary spectators; they were absorbing nutrition through this live broadcast. Most of these people were relatively young civilian [Card Maker]s.

They might lack resources and strength, but many of them did not lack ambition and courage.

When the competition started, news spread that the competition venue was an extraterrestrial secret realm. Therefore, these young and ambitious [Card Maker]s silently watched this unique live broadcast in the crowd, both to see the methods of these geniuses and to see the real extraterrestrial regions.

For a long time, civilian [Card Maker]s had only one way to go to the extraterrestrial regions, and that was to join the army.

But joining the army was an extremely dangerous action. After all, joining the army meant garrisoning the extraterrestrial regions, and what kind of place was the extraterrestrial region?

In the limited information available to civilians, the extraterrestrial region was a terrifying environment where purple monsters roamed everywhere and orange monsters were as common as dogs. There, most ordinary [Card Maker]s with only blue-green card qualities were characters who couldn't even withstand the aftermath of a battle.

Legend has it that the monsters there were much stronger than monsters of the same tier within the territory, being able to exceed half a tier of strength or even more, and many monsters' intelligence was not inferior to humans.

But every coin has two sides. Although the extraterrestrial regions were more dangerous, the five major nations were still in the exploratory stage there. It was not like within the territory where numerous secret realms were monopolized, and most of the precious resources in the secret realms had already been plundered, leaving civilian [Card Maker]s with often very ordinary materials.

Just like the [Chibi Purgatory] secret realm, at the very beginning, there were not only ordinary monsters like [Boiling Fire Nether Soldier] in this secret realm.

Although legendary figures who dominated the Battle of Red Cliffs like Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu did not appear in it, figures of the likes of Huang Gai and Cai Mao also appeared within it, and the authorities had already killed them, seized key materials, and even awakened the [true name card] [Cai Mao] with them.

And after such opportunities were filtered once by the authorities, filtered again by the noble families, and filtered for a few more rounds by major material hunter teams with paid fees, naturally it was basically impossible for any to remain.

By the time the secret realm was finally completely opened as a public secret realm, the degree of danger had indeed decreased a lot, but the corresponding precious materials, treasures, and opportunities had almost all disappeared.

But the extraterrestrial regions were different; they had not been completely developed. In the hearts of many young civilian [Card Maker]s, the opportunities there should be more than those within the territory.

Since ancient times, there has been no shortage of people among young people who dare to risk their lives. Under the huge base of civilian [Card Maker]s, there were plenty of people who wanted to explore the extraterrestrial regions, even if it meant losing their lives for it.

And these people who dared to take risks often had a keen sense of smell. Through this unprecedented live broadcast of the five-nation joint extraterrestrial secret realm exploration, they had smelled some fresh scents—that was the breath of change, the gaps left by the trendsetters of the five major nations and the huge noble families as they were forced to maneuver.

These young civilian [Card Maker]s were not only observing the contestants, but also caring about the unique environment of the extraterrestrial regions and these monsters outside. They were discussing and analyzing with each other, trying to see some clues from them to prepare for possible variables.

"Looking at the skill effects and expressed attributes of the wolf-shaped monster that Qin Wudao encountered earlier, it was at most of purple monster quality. However, the intelligence it displayed was completely different from the wolf-shaped monsters I had seen in secret realms within the territory. Not only were they orderly in advance and retreat, but they also knew how to probe, and even knew how to use joint long-range attacks to strike the cliff, trying to make the [Black Dragon] fall to the bottom of the cliff."

"The monsters dealt with by the [Black Pharaoh] couldn't be seen clearly; the screen was full of yellow sand, and after the yellow sand dispersed, there was a ground full of dried corpses. His combat footage has little reference value."

"The mechanical monsters dealt with by [Yuan Zongli] didn't seem to have been seen in secret realms within the territory; they looked like creations stepping out of ancient historical books. But their attack method didn't seem to rely on the huge shoulder cannon behind them; instead, they relied on drill-like arms? What were those shoulder cannons for?

What a pity, even though it was a relatively powerful type among purple monsters, it was killed without displaying many types of attack methods."

"Without summoning cards, [Jiang Cha] could make all monsters within her line of sight kill each other. She probably has a high-intensity, large-range mental control skill. Although her combat footage also has little reference value, this is truly an enviable ability."

"Sun Po being able to get help from monsters must not rely on mental control skills. I guess it's because his golden ape card belongs to the same monkey species as the monsters, so there is an unknown way of communication. Viewed this way, the intelligence of those giant ape monsters should be the highest among all purple monsters seen so far, actually being able to communicate.

Or could other purple monsters also communicate, it's just that the contestants' cards happened not to be of the same species as the monsters?"

"The monsters these contestants have encountered so far are all purple monsters, and not a single orange monster has appeared. I strongly suspect whether these purple monsters are cannon fodder sent out by orange monsters to consume the contestants."

"Wait, someone has found an orange monster? Why is this wild boar as big as a small hill?"

"Is Sun Po's golden-quality ape card really not a mental control type? Is this kid a monkey king?

It's one thing for these giant apes to lead the way for him, but why are they even helping him fight?!"

"No, this is too much of a cheat. His points aren't increasing by single digits, they're increasing by hundreds!!"

"The monsters that these monkeys led Sun Po to find are all of orange quality!!"

" "