260: The fighting spirit surges!

Chapter 259: Soaring Battle Intent!

It was deep night in the Netherworld.

This world, built from countless universe crystals, had stable energy, and the temperature in all four seasons was like early summer.

Even the occasional night wind carried a hint of heat.

For hundreds of miles, the chirping of insects was incessant, like a midsummer carnival, exceptionally lively.

Only the clever fierce beasts had long since hidden themselves far away, avoiding the group of killing gods who had taken up residence here.

At this moment, in the Misty Valley.

Chen Fan had been here for nearly a month, essentially treating it as his base.

After emerging from the Virtual Universe, Chen Fan and his group gained a new identity—the personal guard team of Yaso, the World Lord of North Dragon City!

From then on, they could act high-handedly in this World Lord World under the banner of North Dragon City.

And Yaso would handle all the fallout.

This was the gentleman's agreement between Chen Fan and Yaso.

Similarly, any treasures Chen Fan obtained in the Netherworld also had to be preferentially traded with Yaso... Time flowed silently.

Seven days passed in a flash, and soon it was time to leave Misty Valley.

Whoosh!!

Facing this ancient life tree that blotted out the sky, Chen Fan directly soared towards it without the slightest hesitation.

“Everyone, time to pick some fruit!”

Chen Fan was in a great mood, reaching out to pluck several pink life fruits from the treetop and store them away.

“Hahaha, this is what I'm best at!!”

“Me too!”

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!

Amidst joyful laughter, everyone transformed into streaks of light, rushing towards the ancient life tree to participate in the fruit picking.

With laughter and chatter, the number of pink fruits rapidly decreased.

Some special fruits in the universe had many taboos when harvested, but life fruits were not delicate at all; they could be picked directly by hand.

However, preserving the essence of the life fruit after picking was a problem.

Once detached from the trunk, the energy and essence contained in the life fruit dissipated quickly.

If not properly preserved, it would become an ordinary fruit in about fifty years.

This was also an important reason why fruit-type treasures were extremely rare among those left behind by Heavenly Azure Dragon Lord and Blood Blade Venerable.

For this, Chen Fan had already prepared jade boxes for everyone to store the life fruits.

Chen Fan's movements were extremely fast, picking one after another with almost no pause.

Feeling the warm, jade-like life fruit in his hand, beautiful images from Chen Fan's memory surfaced.

In a trance, Chen Fan seemed to return to cultivating the Blade Body.

At that time, he held a thousand refinement blood fruit in one hand and a profound flame dinghua fruit in the other, cultivating the first realm of the top-tier divine ability, Blade Body, according to the inherited memories left by Blood Blade Venerable.

Thinking of this, Chen Fan separated a wisp of consciousness and entered his Sea of Consciousness.

At this moment, Chen Fan's Sea of Consciousness contained an unimaginably vast spiral galaxy.

Visibly, this galaxy was constantly rotating, never ceasing.

At the very center of this densest spiral galaxy, however, there existed a tiny, naturally dark region—a “black hole.”

Exactly like the dantian, such a galactic vortex and black hole were representative of a Universe Rank Psycher Master.

Sizzle!!

Spiritual power, like a thin mist, spontaneously generated from the black hole, filling every part of this spiral galaxy.

It was like a hazy glow covering the entire massive surrounding area.

Chen Fan's consciousness leaped over this layer of glow, reaching the deepest part—

At the location of the spiral galaxy's sole black hole, the golden, glittering great blade still floated up and down.

However, compared to before, the blade aura surrounding this golden great blade had become increasingly sharp.

According to Chen Fan's estimation, perhaps every wisp of overflowing blade light could easily kill a martial artist below Astral Rank Eight.

If all the blade lights were concentrated, even Universe Rank Seven or Eight martial artists might not be able to withstand a single strike from him.

“I need to find an opportunity to challenge the Blade Hell Corridor again and obtain the materials for cultivating the second realm of the Blade Body.”

Chen Fan murmured to himself, making a decision.

After all, the Blade Body was a divine ability from a top Universe Overlord.

For Chen Fan, who was still merely a Planetary Level or even Astral Rank martial artist,

it provided immense help, both in terms of combat power amplification and physical strengthening.

However, now that Chen Fan had become a Cosmic-level martial artist, he naturally needed to upgrade this divine ability... Soon, everyone had picked nearly a thousand life fruits.

The one who harvested the most, naturally, was Chen Fan, who had acted first.

He alone collected close to five hundred pink fruits.

The other fifty people each picked seven or eight life fruits.

After collecting the life fruits from his servants, Chen Fan did not ask Ma Liang and the others to hand over their own fruits.

“Keep them; you can give them to your relatives and friends when we return to Earth.”

Chen Fan smiled as he looked at his fellow Earth martial artists, each with an excited expression.

No other reason,

a single life fruit could directly create a Universe Rank powerhouse; its effect was terrifying.

Even the lowest-grade life fruit still commanded an unimaginably high price.

But for Chen Fan and the Earth martial artists, the most important thing was the terrifying energy contained within the life fruit that could elevate Astral Rank martial artists directly to Universe Rank.

After all, these martial artists from Earth also had their own relatives and friends.

One must know that a Cosmic-level martial artist's lifespan was a full hundred thousand years.

Compared to the mere decades of ordinary humans, one life fruit could allow their loved ones to accompany them for a very, very long time.

Because of this, everyone was incredibly excited, their gazes towards Chen Fan filled with gratitude and admiration.

It was truly great to follow Chen Fan!

This was the sincere sentiment expressed from everyone's hearts.

At this moment, Chen Fan silently took in everyone's expressions, not saying a word.

Suddenly—

Chen Fan's gaze fell on Wang Teng, revealing an expression of keen interest.

“Old man, you also have a chance to break through to Universe Rank now.”

Somewhere in the valley, Wang Teng looked down at the seven life fruits, emitting a faint red glow, stored in his spatial ring, a slight smile playing on his lips.

As his thoughts churned, he involuntarily recalled his grandfather, Wang Changsheng.

With these life fruits, the Wang family could not only gain several more Cosmic-level martial artists.

Moreover, his grandfather would also be able to step out of Earth and witness this vast and magnificent universe... Not just Wang Teng, but Ma Liang, Thunder God Hong... also shared this thought. “Everyone, compose yourselves; we depart in ten minutes for the core of the World Lord World, the location of the Styx River!”

Chen Fan's voice was low and powerful, “There, millions of Astral Rank martial artists are gathered, and it is also our stage!!”

“What!?” Ma Liang was startled.

“Millions of Astral Rank martial artists! My goodness!!”

Thunder God rubbed his shiny bald head, his face full of emotion.

“Doesn't that mean we'll be facing not just small teams, but entire armies now?”

Xue Zhan also spoke, battle intent soaring in his eyes, “One can imagine that the frequency of battles will far exceed the past. Are you all afraid?”

Fang Yuan drew his Battle Blade, Scarlet Gloom, and gently stroked it, a faint glint flashing in his eyes.

His strength had risen from Astral Rank Three to Universe Rank; however, this surge in power also ignited the battle intent of this young martial artist with exceptional talent—

He wanted to fight!

“How could we be afraid?!”

Han Li retorted, straightening his back and saying,

“I, Han Li, am now a Cosmic-level martial artist with a small black hole in my body.”

“No matter how many of them there are, they are ultimately just a group of peak Astral Rank martial artists; we can deal with them relatively easily.”

“If there are really too many, we'll just blast them with laser guns!!”

Saying this, Han Li looked eager, seemingly impatient: “My laser gun... no! My great blade is already thirsting for battle.”

Everyone: “...”

Although a bit speechless, listening to the playful banter of these two young men, Han Li and Fang Yuan, the martial artists instantly felt much better.

Chen Fan took a deep look at Han Li, a hint of admiration in his eyes—

This kid's thoughts perfectly aligned with his own.

Thinking this, Chen Fan touched the Rank Four Battle Blade behind him, a benevolent smile appearing on his face.

These martial artists who entered the Netherworld were about to suffer!

The first to bear the brunt would be the Third Prince's forces!

A dense killing intent emanated from Chen Fan!

“Even so, we must not let our guard down!”

Suddenly, Hong reminded them in a deep voice.

As Earth's most senior and experienced powerhouse, he possessed richer experience.

And having lived through the Great Nirvana era when monsters ran rampant, Hong was even more steady and cautious.

“The Owner is right!”

“What if they also brought C-class laser guns like ours? That wouldn't be good.”

At this moment, Mo Handerson pulled out a sleek, deep-blue C5-class laser gun and shook it, signaling everyone not to underestimate the enemy.

“Put your gun away, it's quite dazzling,” Yisite waved his hand dismissively.

“Hahaha...”

Amidst hearty laughter, Chen Fan appeared.

“This time, everyone, go all out. As long as you don't aim your guns at North Dragon City or our allies,

feel free to attack others; don't hold back too much.”

“If you're going to fight, fight heartily; don't hide and cower like a woman!”

Chen Fan smiled, constantly encouraging everyone:

“After all, everyone here is now a Cosmic-level martial artist. Dealing with mere peak Astral Rank martial artists is just a dimensionality reduction strike.”

Saying this, Chen Fan's gaze swept over Ma Liang, Wang Teng, and the others, continuing:

“Moreover, most of you are talented martial artists who could rival Universe Rank martial artists even at Astral Rank. Whether it's one-on-one or group combat, you must have confidence in yourselves.”

“But there are so many of them!”

At this moment, Lin Xinghe spoke, a helpless look on his face.

“What if there are many? Ants can bite an elephant to death, but have you ever seen a swarm of ants bite a spaceship to death?”

Chen Fan said with great pride, waving his hand.

Twenty D3-class spaceships appeared in mid-air, silently hovering.

An invisible pressure permeated the area; even Hong and the other Cosmic-level martial artists felt a huge threat.

Especially Xue Zhan and Jia Yi, who understood it even more clearly.

After all, they had personally operated the D-class spaceship's planet-destroying cannon, blasting the Astral Rank martial artists under the Third Prince who were besieging Fu Qingxi into dust.

Whether Astral Rank One or Nine, not a single person escaped.

Even though Xue Zhan and Jia Yi were now Cosmic-level martial artists, they believed they still couldn't withstand a single shot from that planet-destroying cannon.

The Universe Mercenary Alliance did not permit martial artists above Astral Rank to enter the World Lord World, but it did not explicitly forbid bringing spaceships into the assessment.

After all, which martial artist undergoing a normal Universe Mercenary Alliance assessment would expect their opponent to carry a spaceship with them?

Furthermore, the price of a spaceship and a spatial ring capable of holding a spaceship.

Even the entire wealth of an ordinary Cosmic-level martial artist would fall far short, let alone an ordinary Astral Rank martial artist.

“With these spaceships holding the line, you can all go all out!” Chen Fan continued to encourage everyone.

“Good, since we have backup, if we don't go for it, we're cowards!”

Xue Zhan, once the number one figure in the Jingji Garrison, even though he was past his prime, still had some hot-bloodedness remaining in him.

Today, his hot-bloodedness and battle intent were completely ignited by Chen Fan.

Let's do it!

“Count me in too!” The burly bald giant, Thunder God, spoke with full vigor.

His voice was as resonant as a great bell, making the eardrums of those around him buzz.

“Count me in!” Wang Teng jumped up.

“And me!”

“Me!”

“...”

Soon, the passion of the group was ignited by Chen Fan, and they eagerly wanted to fight.

“Very good, very good. Then let's pack up and prepare to leave.”

Chen Fan nodded with satisfaction, then turned to look at the massive ancient tree not far away, slowly saying:

“But before we go, there's one more thing we must do!”

After speaking, Chen Fan flew directly in front of the ancient life tree, reaching out to embrace its trunk.

As Origin Power surged, he completely enveloped the entire tree.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!

The sound of rushing wind rose as Ma Liang and his group all rushed towards the ancient life tree.

Their only goal was to uproot the tree together!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!

With the combined efforts of fifty Universe Rank martial artists, the ancient life tree was easily pulled from the soil.

“Collect.”

With a thought, Chen Fan easily collected this ancient life tree into the space of the moon of destiny.

In the vast, boundless pale space, a towering ancient tree suddenly appeared, swaying without wind.

“Mission accomplished, thank you all!”

Chen Fan smiled as he looked at everyone who had contributed.

“No need to thank us, we should contribute. It's all for Earth!”

Ma Liang was excited, constantly rubbing his hands together.

Not just him, Hong and Thunder God also had eager eyes.

Transplanting such a precious ancient tree to Earth would ensure that future generations would enjoy the benefits of life fruits.

This was a great long-term good deed!

“Hmm, since the cleanup is complete.”

“Then now, let's depart!”

“Depart!”

“...”

Whoosh—

As the hatch doors of twelve silver-white spaceships opened.

Chen Fan's group divided into twelve small teams, directly entering their pre-assigned warships.

Boom!!!

A roar resounded, and streaks of light flashed.

These spaceships cut through the sky, flying at extreme speed towards the core of the World Lord World—the Styx River Plain!

Thank you all for your rewards, monthly passes, and recommendation tickets. I'll open a single chapter at the end of the month to properly thank you all.

Deeply grateful!