Chapter 2935: Seven Ranks

Another month has slipped by. Outside the Phoenix Nest, while seemingly calm, powerful undercurrents are in fact swirling.

Within the Phoenix Nest, numerous preparations are proceeding at full throttle, while outside, the enemy's explorations are steadily advancing.

According to intelligence from the Primordial Parasol Tree, the enemy has deployed a large number of ordinary cultivators to explore the void rift zone, aiming to find a relatively safe path to the Phoenix Nest. Surprisingly, this strategy has proven quite effective.

Although they have suffered significant casualties, they have indeed managed to carve out a path. Currently, many Half-Sages have already penetrated deep into the void rift zone. At this rate, it may only be a matter of months before they truly reach the Phoenix Nest.

Ultimately, this natural defensive barrier outside the Phoenix Nest is an insurmountable chasm for ordinary Dao Integration cultivators, yet for Half-Sages, it is merely a problem that can be resolved given some time.

Furthermore, even if Bloodthorn and others didn't use ordinary cultivators to clear the path, they could still cross that area relying solely on themselves. Indeed, doing so might even take less time, though it would involve some risks.

Inside the tree hollow where Lu Ye resided, his body, which had been sitting motionless for a long time, swayed slightly before he slowly opened his eyes.

As he stretched out his hand, a mass of black light suddenly appeared. When Lu Ye clenched his hand, the black light abruptly burst open, transforming into a straight long saber.

At a glance,獠's current appearance was no different from before, except that the black light on its blade seemed to have become much deeper.

If that were all, it would be fine, but the crucial point is that the boost 獠 now provided Lu Ye was stronger than before.

After 獠 consumed Sorrow and ascended to become a Supreme Treasure, Lu Ye spent a considerable amount of time nurturing it to its peak. At that time, it provided Lu Ye with a boost of a full two thousand and forty-eight streams of power.

獠 was Lu Ye's Dao Soldier, essential for his Dao Integration, and as Lu Ye originated from the Soldier Cultivation path, these more than two thousand streams of power were naturally not external forces but rather part of his inherent foundation.

During this cultivation session, this boost leaped from two thousand and forty-eight streams to over three thousand five hundred, an increase of a full fifteen hundred.

The exact number was one thousand five hundred and thirty-six streams.

Such an improvement, even relative to Lu Ye's overall strength and foundation, was not insignificant.

It is important to know that once one's cultivation reaches his level, further increases in strength become very difficult. For example, for Fei, decades or even centuries of diligent cultivation might not result in even a single stream of power increase.

Yet Lu Ye, after only three months in seclusion, achieved such a massive improvement.

This was undoubtedly due to the Talent Tree and also confirmed the feasibility of Lu Ye's plan to use the Talent Tree to devour 獠 and thereby enhance his own strength.

One thousand five hundred and thirty-six streams — this is a very interesting number, as it is exactly three times five hundred and twelve!

And five hundred and twelve is the most basic power of a Supreme Treasure.

In other words, even the weakest Supreme Treasure in this world can unleash five hundred and twelve streams of power.

The reason 獠 was able to provide Lu Ye with a boost of over two thousand streams after becoming a Supreme Treasure was because it had consumed Sorrow, inheriting everything from Sorrow, thus leapfrogging many other Supreme Treasures.

According to Ba Qiu's classification of Supreme Treasure qualities, after consuming Sorrow, 獠's quality should have been Grade Four!

Now, it is Grade Seven!

Every time a Supreme Treasure's grade improves, it brings an enhancement to its basic power.

This was the result of Lu Ye using the Talent Tree to devour more than twenty Supreme Treasures.

In contrast, Lu Ye's advantage was immense. One must remember that Ba Qiu had roamed the Inner World for countless years before nurturing Sorrow to Grade Four, yet Lu Ye, in just three months, advanced 獠 from Grade Four to Grade Seven!

This was because he didn't need to seek out battles or fight in bloodshed, painstakingly destroying others' Supreme Treasures and allowing his own saber to gradually absorb their mysteries during combat.

Another huge advantage was that nurturing was no longer required!

Previously, Lu Ye had spent a great deal of effort, time, and Dao power just to nurture 獠 to its limit, enabling it to provide a boost of over two thousand streams of power.

But now that 獠 had become a fruit of the Talent Tree, the nurturing process was directly bypassed. The 獠 saber fruit on the Talent Tree could directly unleash Grade Seven power immediately after its upgrade.

What was saved was not merely Dao power, but more importantly, time.

Lowering his head to gaze at the long saber in his hand, Lu Ye slightly frowned.

While it was certainly gratifying that his strength had significantly improved in such a short time, proving his venture with 獠 was very worthwhile, an increase of over fifteen hundred streams of power was not enough to change the overall situation.

Although his current strength could surpass Fei, it was at most on par with, or even slightly inferior to, Bloodthorn and Si Shengya. As for Xing Zhou, there was no need to mention him; he was the top Half-Sage whom even Si Shengya admitted to being inferior to.

So... he still needed to continue improving.

"Just a tiny bit more!" 獠's voice came. Compared to its previous state, after being devoured and transformed into a fruit, 獠's self-awareness had undoubtedly become clearer. "Lu Ye, I feel like if I just devour one more Supreme Treasure, I should be able to advance another grade."

The previous twenty-plus Supreme Treasures allowed 獠 to improve by three grades; now it needed just one more to advance another grade.

In other words, it would take devouring about six or seven Supreme Treasures to allow it to improve by one grade, which would then increase Lu Ye's strength by five hundred and twelve streams.

In the past, finding six or seven Supreme Treasures would have been quite difficult. When Blood Calamity plotted to seize the Starry Sky Chessboard, it took him tens of thousands of years.

But the current situation was different.

Not only were numerous Half-Sages active throughout the entire Star Abyss, but Supreme Treasures were also no longer as rare.

Even their own Half-Sage faction possessed many Supreme Treasures.

However, many of the Supreme Treasures held by the Dragon race were either companions that had served Dragon Sovereigns for countless years or had recently come to pledge allegiance to Lu Ye and the Primordial Parasol Tree. Apart from the former being the Dragon Sovereigns' reliance in battles against enemies, the latter group all possessed sentience. Having eagerly come to join them due to the current overarching situation and willingly allowing the Dragon Half-Sages to wield them, it was naturally not appropriate to devour them.

The only Supreme Treasures Lu Ye could consider were those in the enemies' hands.

Fortunately, the enemy possessed a considerable number of Supreme Treasures. If they could all be captured, the boost from even just one Mountain Saber would likely be no less than that provided by inner world secret techniques.

As he thought this, he couldn't help but recall the Star Abyss Treasury.

Abyss could deploy so many Supreme Treasures at once for the puppet Half-Sages to use, so there must be even more within the Star Abyss Treasury. Who knows how many Supreme Treasures' sentience Abyss had corroded over countless millennia.

If he could find the exact location of the Star Abyss Treasury, he could truly become incredibly powerful overnight.

Unfortunately, just as people did not know the exact location of the Harmony World, the Star Abyss Treasury also only existed in legends. Perhaps only Abyss itself knew the exact location of this treasury.

Collecting his thoughts, Lu Ye softly called out, "Tree Elder!"

The void before him twisted, and the Primordial Parasol Tree appeared.

When Lu Ye opened his eyes, Tree Elder had already noticed but had chosen not to appear and disturb him until Lu Ye actively called out now.

"Little Ye, this Supreme Treasure saber of yours... seems a bit different from before?" Tree Elder gazed at the 獠 saber thoughtfully.

"Hahaha, Tree Elder has sharp eyes!" With a burst of laughter, 獠 had already transformed into Lu Ye's likeness, standing before the Primordial Parasol Tree.

The Primordial Parasol Tree stared in astonishment, looking at Lu Ye's likeness formed by 獠, then at Lu Ye himself, momentarily unable to comprehend the situation.

It was normal for a Supreme Treasure's sentience to manifest, just as he himself was currently manifested. Yet his true form still existed, which was clearly different from 獠's current situation.

獠's appearance was more akin to a monster's transformation.

As 獠 spoke, it clenched both fists, raised its arms, and struck a very strong pose. "Tree Elder, I've become stronger, much stronger than before!"

While an increase of over fifteen hundred streams of power was good for Lu Ye, it was not a qualitative transformation.

But for 獠 alone, it was almost exponential growth, and it was just a tiny bit away from further advancement.

"...I can see that." The Primordial Parasol Tree was momentarily speechless.

獠 changed to an even stronger pose. "I can become even stronger!"

Tree Elder's eyes lit up. "Really? How?"

He naturally knew what a powerful Dao Soldier meant for a Soldier Cultivator.

獠 immediately spoke mischievously, "Call more of your friends over, let me devour them. The more I devour, the stronger I become. Sooner or later, I'll be able to cut down any Half-Sage or True Sage with a single strike!"

The Primordial Parasol Tree was momentarily unsure whether to believe him.

Lu Ye, however, simply raised his hand and retrieved 獠 into the Talent Tree.

Tree Elder immediately turned to Lu Ye, with an inquiring look, "Is what he said true?"

Lu Ye replied, "He can indeed become stronger, and he does need to devour other Supreme Treasures. However, there's no need for Tree Elder to call any friends. Aren't there still many puppet Half-Sages and Source Realm Half-Sages?"

The Primordial Parasol Tree's eyes lit up. "That's a good point. What do you plan to do?"

"First, tell me about the current situation," Lu Ye said. After three months in seclusion, he had been completely unaware of the outside world since arriving at the Phoenix Nest.

That being said, he had some general guesses about the current situation.

As expected, the enemies had gathered outside the Phoenix Nest, and their pathfinding efforts had made significant progress. If he hadn't emerged from seclusion quickly enough, the enemies might have already reached their doorstep.

"Little Ye, if you wish to deal with those puppet Half-Sages, I might be able to lend you a hand!" the Primordial Parasol Tree continued.

Lu Ye asked, "Tree Elder means..."

"Do you know why there is a zone riddled with void rifts outside the Phoenix Nest?"

"Please enlighten me, Tree Elder!" Lu Ye humbly requested.

The Primordial Parasol Tree smiled slightly. "This is naturally related to my abilities. I am the Phoenix Nest, sharing the same lineage as the Phoenix clan. I am naturally proficient in the Dao of Space, especially skilled in translocation techniques. Originally, there was no natural barrier outside the Phoenix Nest. It was only due to the Phoenix clan and myself repeatedly activating spatial power here over countless years that the surrounding void became distorted and chaotic, subsequently forming the rift zone. And while that zone can be said to have formed naturally, having resided here for many years, how could I not have made arrangements and explored it..."

As the Primordial Parasol Tree narrated, Lu Ye's eyes gradually brightened.