45: Desolate ruins, withered bones, silent ATMs

The tearing force of the void turbulence was everywhere; Liu Qingtian's massive tree body, like a lone boat in a raging sea, struggled to maintain its balance.

The starlight barrier had been heavily depleted in the previous battle; its light was now dim, barely able to withstand the most violent energy impacts.

The coordinates provided by Lin Feng were like a lighthouse in the darkness, guiding the way. Ignoring the excruciating pain in his tree body and the rapid depletion of his energy, Liu Qingtian drifted with all his might toward that direction.

He did not know how long he had traveled through the chaotic void, but finally, a faint speck of light appeared ahead. As the distance closed, the speck of light gradually expanded, revealing the outline of a world.

However, it was not a vibrant world.

What entered Liu Qingtian's "vision" was an incomparably broken and deathly silent scene. The earth was cracked, mountains had collapsed, the sky was grey and dim, with not a trace of green to be seen, and not a hint of Spiritual Qi to be felt. There was only endless ruin and weathered, withered bones, telling the story of a place that might have once possessed a civilization, but had long since completely perished.

This was a completely dead, broken Small World. Even its Realm wall was incomplete, with void energy constantly eroding the interior, accelerating its disintegration.

"Is this the place?" Liu Qingtian's tree soul stirred slightly. Lin Feng must have had a purpose in guiding him to such a place. It was remote enough, dead silent enough, and almost impossible for any living beings to exist; it was the perfect location for hiding and recovery.

He cautiously passed through the broken Realm wall and descended onto this desolate land. Beneath his feet lay soft ash and shattered bones, and the air was filled with a decaying scent of all things coming to an end.

After confirming there were no threats around, Liu Qingtian could no longer hold on; his massive tree body collapsed to the ground with a boom, kicking up clouds of dust. The starlight retracted completely, the cracks on his tree body were shocking to behold, and his aura had withered to the extreme.

The losses this time were too great. The forty percent of his power he had just recovered was almost completely exhausted in the trap formation at Burial Dragon Valley and the final traverse through the void, even damaging a portion of his Origin.

He needed energy, a massive amount of energy!

Liu Qingtian struggled to activate his spiritual ripple vortex and Myriad World Roots, attempting to draw in energy. However, this dead, silent world itself had almost no Spiritual Qi to absorb. His Myriad World Roots pierced through the Realm wall, connecting to the Jade Dream Realm and the Bone Abyss.

But this time, the natural spirit essence and death origin he drew were becoming exceptionally slow and thin. It was not that those two worlds had problems, but rather that his roots had also been severely damaged in the previous battles and traverses, greatly reducing transmission efficiency.

At this rate, wanting to recover to his prime would likely take hundreds of years or even longer! He simply could not afford to wait!

What to do? A surge of anxiety welled up in Liu Qingtian's tree soul. The debt owed to the burying netherworld was like a sharp sword hanging over his head, Lin Feng's information fee was not a small sum, and there was also the covetous Wood Spirit Dynasty, the mysterious Nihility Cult... without strength, everything was empty talk.

His consciousness involuntarily turned toward the silent fierce halberd beside him—the burying netherworld.

At this moment, the burying netherworld's halberd body was dim; it seemed that the last time it autonomously unleashed that trace of pressure, it had also consumed a considerable amount of its power.

But Liu Qingtian knew that inside this fierce halberd, there must be an unimaginably terrifying amount of energy. The efficiency displayed when the shadow of annihilation drained his power was truly terrifying.

An extremely bold, perhaps even crazy, thought uncontrollably popped up—

Since the shadow of annihilation could extract his power, could he... could he inversely "borrow" a bit of energy from the burying netherworld?

Once this thought appeared, it could no longer be suppressed.

The risk was immense! Once he angered the existence within the halberd, or triggered the Original Owner's brand, the consequences would be unimaginable.

But compared to sitting and waiting to die, taking a risk seemed to be the only choice.

Liu Qingtian's tree soul struggled for a moment, and in the end, the desire to survive overcame his fear.

He cautiously extended his toughest willow branch, one containing a faint trace of Annihilation Qi—a remnant from when he was tempered by the Power of Annihilation—and slowly, as if touching a taboo, reached toward the body of the burying netherworld.

The tip of the willow branch lightly touched the cold halberd shaft.

There was no reaction.

Liu Qingtian took a deep breath, visualizing the methods of the Silent Origin Spirit Transformation Secret Chapter within his tree soul, especially the parts about "primal silence" transformation and absorbing the Power of Guixu from all things. At the same time, he used that faint trace of Annihilation Qi as a primer, attempting to transmit a weak yet clear request intention into the interior of the halberd:

"Loan... Origin... will repay... double in the future..."

Once the intention was transmitted, Liu Qingtian's tree soul tensed up, ready to be backlashed at any moment.

Time seemed to freeze.

A few breaths later, just as Liu Qingtian thought he had failed and was preparing to withdraw the willow branch—

The burying netherworld's halberd body suddenly gave a slight tremor!

A cold, domineering, and emotionless consciousness suddenly transmitted from within, branding itself directly into the depths of Liu Qingtian's tree soul:

"Granted."

"Collateral: The cost of the next action will increase to sixty percent of your Origin. For this loan, the interest is thirty percent. Time limit: three hundred Reincarnation ticks, approximately equal to thirty years in the Sumeru Spirit Realm. If the principal and interest are not repaid by the deadline, your entire Origin and true spirit will be forfeited to settle the debt."

The terms were suffocatingly harsh! It was practically blatant usury!

But Liu Qingtian had no capital to hesitate.

"Agreed!" He immediately responded with his consciousness.

The next moment, a terrifying energy that was pure, vast, yet ice-cold and deathly to the extreme, like a primordial flood breaking its dam, surged wildly along that willow branch into Liu Qingtian's almost dried-up tree body!

This energy was of extremely high quality, far exceeding any energy he had absorbed before, and even purer than the Origin of those three Golden Body Realm experts! However, its attributes were extremely biased toward annihilation and death. If not for Liu Qingtian cultivating the Silent Origin Spirit Transformation Secret Chapter and having undergone tempering by the Power of Annihilation, he would likely have been assimilated by this energy in an instant, turning into a true dead object!

Even so, he felt as if his tree soul was about to be frozen; every wooden cell was wailing, yet under the massive energy impact, they were being forcibly reshaped and filled!

Pain! Extreme pain!

But accompanying the pain was the sense of fulfillment as his power rapidly recovered!

Fifty percent... sixty percent... seventy percent...

His tree body expanded and repaired at a speed visible to the naked eye; the cracks sealed up, and the newly grown wood presented a dark, metallic purple-black luster, incomparably tough.

The spiritual ripple vortex spun crazily, desperately converting this annihilation energy, stripping away the deathly intent within, and converting it into pure Qi of Life and Death.

The willow leaf grotto-heaven, like a long drought meeting sweet rain, absorbed the energy frantically; its internal space rapidly stabilized and expanded, and even that trace of Annihilation Qi grew slightly, becoming more condensed.

In less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick, Liu Qingtian's strength not only fully recovered but even broke through to the Great Perfection of the Heaven Comprehension Realm! Moreover, his Foundation was solid, and his energy was vast, far exceeding what it was before!

The energy flow finally stopped.

Feeling the surging power within his body and the "debt contract" deeply imprinted in his tree soul, Liu Qingtian's mood was incomparably complex.

This burying netherworld was simply a cold, efficient "Annihilation ATM," but the interest rate was terrifyingly high.

However, he had survived after all, and he had become stronger.

He withdrew the willow branch, his gaze toward the burying netherworld filled with wariness, yet also a hint of something else. This fierce halberd did not seem entirely impossible to communicate with, as long as one paid a sufficient "price."

Just then, through the Myriad World Roots, Lin Feng's familiar mental consciousness came through with a hint of fatigue and teasing:

"Yo? Not dead yet? Looks like you even turned a misfortune into a blessing? Your aura has gotten quite a bit stronger, Old Liu!"

"Cut the crap, pay the information fee! For saving you just now plus providing the coordinates, I'll round it down; let's count it as one wisp of Golden Body Realm Origin Energy! I support installments, but the interest will be calculated at the Realm wall black market rate!"

Liu Qingtian: "..."

He had just felt a little wealthy, and in an instant, he was heavily in debt again.

These two "creditors" were not easy to deal with.

He shook his head helplessly and began to examine this broken, dead world. This would be his temporary dwelling place, and also the starting point for him to pay off his huge debts and break through to higher Realms.

The road ahead was still difficult, but at least, he had grasped power once again.