213: Chapter 212 [Branch of Destruction] and [Undying Rune]

Wuzhiqi's voice suddenly rang in Sun Po's mind: "Master, it's not that this fellow has come back to life; it's just that this fellow was attracted by this [Branch of Destruction], so it instinctively rushed over."

Sun Po raised his head and saw that outside the magma secret realm, which was gradually converging into a single point, a large expanse of dark void was exposed. Within that void, Wuzhiqi could be vaguely seen manipulating the cyan [Ren Water Divine Power] to fiercely engage in combat with the immensely huge [Sæhrímnir].

Although Wuzhiqi's size was pitifully small compared to [Sæhrímnir], under Wuzhiqi's control, the cyan [Ren Water Divine Power] acted like massive flying blades, continuously slicing [Sæhrímnir]'s body into pieces of shredded meat. However, [Sæhrímnir]'s recovery speed was terrifyingly extreme; almost as soon as it was shaved off, it immediately grew back, continuously charging and attacking Wuzhiqi in anger. But before ascending to divinity, Wuzhiqi had also originated from a desolate beast renowned for agility. As a monkey, if it could be gored by a pig, that would be a tremendous joke.

Sun Po was slightly stunned. The lotus root and [flame dragon armor] were already on the verge of rushing over to swallow that unknown, endlessly glowing and heating dot in one bite. Naturally, Sun Po could not allow such a situation.

Not to mention, this was originally the secret realm where Li Tiance was located. Although Li Tiance hadn't contributed much, Sun Po had already taken the points. What kind of behavior would it be to completely disregard his teammate's opinion and directly claim this loot as his own?

Furthermore, if he couldn't even control his own cards and bloodline derivatives, what else could he manage?

Sun Po abruptly issued an order in his mind: "[flame dragon armor], stop that damn lotus root person for me!! Do not let that thing move around randomly, and bring it back to me!!"

During its flying charge, the [flame dragon armor]'s figure suddenly trembled, transmitting a wave of aggrieved emotions.

It was the child's first battle, coming out to act as a foolish charger for half a day and taking a beating for half a day. Then, when the monster finally died and dropped good items, it was told not only that it couldn't snatch them, but that it had to guard them and bring them back for its dear old father.

It was just that the [flame dragon armor] couldn't cry; if it had tear glands like a human, it probably would have been bathed in tears long ago.

But no matter how unwilling it felt in its heart, the [flame dragon armor] ultimately complied with the bloodline's decision.

In the middle of its flight, it abruptly changed direction and smashed straight into the chaotic lotus root transformed by the [Demon Pill] Nezha, successfully intercepting it.

Just as Wuzhiqi had said, that little lotus root person had merely caught the scent of that light spot—the so-called [Branch of Destruction]—and thus couldn't help flying forward.

It didn't have much of a consciousness to contend for it itself, so it was grabbed along with the [Branch of Destruction] by the [Explosive Flame Dragon King Form] incarnated by the [flame dragon armor], and returned toward Sun Po's side.

Sun Po put away the chaotic little lotus root person, gently cupped the glowing and heating dot, and began to examine it closely.

Everything in the magma micro-world was still continuously flowing like a river into this tiny dot, and its entirety was becoming brighter and brighter.

Previously, he was too far away, and Sun Po had been completely unable to see what this thing was. Now, observing it from up close, he finally understood.

Just as Wuzhiqi said, the [Branch of Destruction] was a blindingly bright, tiny branch.

Wuzhiqi's voice sounded in Sun Po's mind once more: "This should be the foundation that constitutes the magma micro-world where Li Tiance is located, which is the so-called fruit."

"When this thing reveals its true form, the entire micro-world will naturally cease to exist. Master, we must hurry, otherwise, those contestants will probably soon slaughter enough monsters to draw out each fruit's guardian monster."

Deeply agreeing with this, Sun Po resumed his human form and first handed the [Branch of Destruction] to Li Tiance, saying: "Brother Tiance, this item originally came from your micro-world. Strictly speaking, the flame giant Surtur should also be your points, but I snatched your prey. Why don't I give the item dropped by this monster to you?"

Li Tiance waved his hands repeatedly and said: "Brother Sun, stop joking. If you hadn't come, I would have had to go through a great deal of trouble, and it remains unknown whether I could even successfully defeat this monster. How could I dare take credit? Brother Sun, put it away quickly, otherwise it would be too humiliating for me."

Seeing how resolute Li Tiance was, and considering that now was not the time for false modesty, Sun Po nodded and replied:

"In that case, let's talk about it later. In any case, a monster like this won't be the last one, and there are plenty of points left, but right now there is indeed a matter that requires Brother Tiance's help."

As he spoke, Sun Po pointed at the sky and condensed a cluster of water clouds, saying: "I am also a beginner at the art of condensing and riding clouds; Brother Tiance will have to accompany me to fight a battle in this void."

Li Tiance looked up following Sun Po's gaze, only to see a colossal white giant ape battling a massive, heaven-obscuring blob of something unknown.

Li Tiance had also been to the extraterritorial battlefield, but it was his first time seeing a monster so huge that its full appearance couldn't even be clearly seen.

Li Tiance couldn't help being somewhat dazed, and he mutteredly asked: "Brother Sun, the most powerful monster in my magma river is that flame giant. What is the most powerful one in the giant timber jungle where you were?"

Sun Po nodded somewhat helplessly and said: "This monster is called [Sæhrímnir], and it is an incomparably huge wild boar. Giant trees a hundred meters thick are nothing more than the bristles on its body. In terms of size, it is indeed much larger than the flame giant. This fellow's greatest ability is being undying and unkillable, but this fellow also only has the ability to be undying and unkillable, and its intelligence is quite mediocre."

Even though Sun Po spoke so casually, Li Tiance still felt somewhat shocked: "Such a monster is actually only of gold grade?

Look at that vitality! Can a monster like this really be killed by the likes of us right now? Furthermore, there is also such a terrifying gold-quality monster on your side?

Could it be that every contestant has to face a gold-quality monster in the end?"

Sun Po nodded and recounted what he knew to Li Tiance. Li Tiance was stunned for a long time before saying:

"The authorities must be crazy, right?"

Sun Po, however, said: "Whether the authorities are crazy or not aside, let's kill this monster first before making further plans."

Li Tiance nodded, then summoned the [Golden Phoenix], stepped onto its back, and flew toward the void together with Sun Po.

After flying to an unknown height, Li Tiance and Sun Po were finally able to clearly see the true appearance of this monster.

This was an incomparably huge, wild-boar-shaped monster that was constantly growing new flesh.

Several divine blades of Ren water transformed by Wuzhiqi using the cyan [Ren Water Divine Power] hacked fiercely onto its shoulders and back. The flesh and blood on its shoulders and back not only recovered as before in a split second, but even grew more flesh and blood, making its entire form become even larger.

Wuzhiqi's voice came over: "Master, this monster is truly extreme. Although its intelligence, attack power, and attack methods are all very lacking, they are replaced by unparalleled regenerative ability. If this monster is torn apart or slashed, the chunks of meat on its surface will immediately regenerate, and they will proliferate to become even more and larger. Ordinary methods are hard-pressed to take effect against it."

Sun Po thought to himself that this was indeed a troublesome ability, and no wonder even just its thoughts could spawn numerous orange-quality [Armored Rock Boar].

Furthermore, Sun Po also felt that gold-quality monsters seemed to already possess some very extreme and extraordinary traits, such as [Sæhrímnir]'s regeneration, or the flame giant Surtur's fire of destruction. It was just that the flame giant Surtur had bad luck and happened to run into a freak like Sun Po—a mere junior Card Maker whose [flame dragon armor] could contain a wisp of [Chaos Flame], while also borrowing a portion of power from the Titled Card Maker Jiang Yan—leaving it helpless and forced to obediently await execution.

But such good fortune wouldn't always be there. Like with this [Sæhrímnir], Sun Po couldn't think of any special ways to restrain it.

Previously, Wuzhiqi had said that Li Tiance was the key to killing this monster, so Sun Po had simply gone along with it, pulling Li Tiance out of the magma secret realm first to see how he would perform.

In Sun Po's understanding, Li Tiance's exclusive talent [Heavenly Khagan] was certainly strong, but it was strong in its unreasonable guaranteed-hit rule. It should be the most easily restrained when dealing with a monster like [Sæhrímnir], but since Wuzhiqi had specifically named him, there should be its own logic to it.

Wuzhiqi didn't look very stressed at the moment; it just couldn't kill [Sæhrímnir], but similarly, [Sæhrímnir] couldn't harm it either.

If Sun Po and Li Tiance hadn't come, the two of them probably could have worn each other out until the end of time, until Wuzhiqi's spirituality was exhausted.

Wuzhiqi lazily waved its fingers, and the giant blades transformed by the [Ren Water Divine Power] flew up and down, completely wrapping around [Sæhrímnir].

Seeing that [Sæhrímnir] couldn't break out of the encirclement of those few huge cyan divine blades for a while and could no longer threaten Sun Po and the others,

Wuzhiqi turned its head and said again: "Master, although the guardian monsters nurtured within these fruits are powerful in strength and reach as high as the gold quality, they also tend to have their own weaknesses."

"The weakness of the flame giant Surtur is its core dropped material, the [Branch of Destruction]. The weakness of this [Sæhrímnir] follows the same logic, which is precisely its core dropped material, the [undying rune]."

Sun Po, however, asked in puzzlement: "[undying rune]? Could this be the reason why [Sæhrímnir] is undying and unkillable?"

Wuzhiqi nodded and continued: "That's right. People from the [Northern Ice Bear Kingdom] should not be unfamiliar with runes. Their public card sequence [Giant Bear]'s ultimate form, the [Rune War Bear], is precisely a card that relies on runes for combat. It can be said that the strength of every [Rune War Bear] varies greatly, and the reason for the difference lies in the fact that during the stage of advancing from the rampaging bear to the [Rune War Bear], the runes branded by each [Rune War Bear] are different. Throughout the entire [Northern Ice Bear Kingdom], this [undying rune] should be considered a very top-tier rune."

Hearing this, Sun Po grew interested and asked: "Then this [undying rune] can also be dropped?"

Wuzhiqi said: "Naturally. The fruits of these micro-worlds are inherently the most valuable things in this exam. It can be said that every leaf micro-world contains truly good things, and these good things are left for capable contestants like you."

Sun Po felt a burning sensation in his heart; he indeed had something in his hands that could make use of this gadget.

Previously, when he was sweeping through the material market of [Jinyang City], he accidentally ran into a material hunter from the [Northern Ice Bear Kingdom] who was dumping materials.

That was a golden hoop. Sun Po had thought it was a scam at the time, but the system identified that it turned out to be the [tightening hoop], one of the legendary 'Three Hoops' from [journey to the west].

In the original work of [journey to the west], the owner of that [tightening hoop] was the [Black Bear Spirit] of Black Wind Mountain, who was also later the mountain-guarding deity of Mount Luojia. It could be considered a card with quite promising development prospects.

Sun Po had intended to make a public card sequence [Giant Bear] of the [Northern Ice Bear Kingdom] and then load the [tightening hoop] as a material to acquire this [Black Bear Spirit], but it had always been delayed due to various reasons, leading to it not being made. On one hand, there was no time; on the other hand, he somewhat looked down upon the ordinary [Giant Bear] series, which, even when advanced to the very end, would only amount to a [Rune War Bear].

Having experienced the double-sided-in-one-card Huang Chao / Zhong Kui, Wuzhiqi, and [Overlord Xiang Yu], Sun Po's palate had become somewhat picky.

If it were an ordinary [Giant Bear], even if the [Black Bear Spirit] were finally loaded, its upper limit would still be insufficient. However, if he could make a [Giant Bear] card, load the [Black Bear Spirit] to enable it to reach orange quality, and then load this [undying rune], there would presumably be a certain possibility.

After all, the [Rune War Bear] also evolved from the [Giant Bear]. Perhaps it was just because the [Rune War Bear] had a higher quality that it could load runes; then if a white-quality [Giant Bear] loaded the [Black Bear Spirit] MOD and reached the level of an ordinary [Rune War Bear], could it also brand runes?

By then, adding this powerful [undying rune], it might also add a decent combat force.

After all, besides being able to load MODs infinitely, Sun Po's biggest advantage was that after loading MODs, the original low-tier cards could still maintain their original low-tier quality. This kept the pressure on Sun Po's spiritual space extremely small, allowing it to far exceed Card Makers of the same rank or even higher ranks, and also made Sun Po's spiritual consumption extremely low—he could unleash orange or even gold card effects with merely junior-tier card consumption.

Therefore, Sun Po would definitely follow the path of having a large number of cards in the future. Although for now, due to limited financial resources and limited materials, he still followed the principle of focusing on quality rather than quantity.

But it was foreseeable that once Sun Po's materials and low-tier card sequences were sufficiently adequate, he would definitely pull together a card army. By then, all kinds of cards would surely be among them, but Sun Po would follow only one rule: they must be strong enough.

Wuzhiqi continued: "This [undying rune] belongs to an illusory entity. Only by completely obliterating [Sæhrímnir] can it be revealed, but if this thing is not revealed, [Sæhrímnir] cannot be completely obliterated."