Chapter 427: The So-Called Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree, Gradual Digestion |
Su Chen pondered all the way and had already returned to the Floating Island. As soon as he got off the Flight Vehicle, he couldn't wait to return to the Nether Tower. The scorched black corpse was still lying here.
"Finally about to Extract it, the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree."
Su Chen took a deep breath. Exactly three hundred drops of Divine Blood were laid out before his eyes, filling the air with a cold, bloody scent, like rust mixed with rotting petals.
It oppressed one's mind and made one uneasy. Su Chen could even feel faint, fine voices constantly ringing in his ears.
The Aura of the Eldritch Divine Blood permeated and rippled, actually faintly intertwining to form a shadow. It had no fixed shape; sometimes it looked like a human head hanging low, sometimes like a curled-up vicious beast.
New black mist continuously seeped out from the edges of its outline, only to be rapidly sucked back in.
"This is too eerie..."
Su Chen also didn't dare to delay. If it took too long, who knew what kind of thing might be born.
He Extracted it immediately. The three hundred drops of Eldritch Divine Blood turned into a torrent and were absorbed by his body, disappearing into some corner.
A small tree, only the size of a palm, impressively emerged.
Its entire body was crystal clear, with seven branches, straight as if carved from iron. There wasn't a single leaf vein to be seen on any inch of it; only seven faint light patterns extended upwards from the roots.
Just by taking one look, one would know this item was extraordinary.
Su Chen tried to grab it. This Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree didn't resist and was easily grasped in his hand.
【Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree — Sapling: The embryonic form of the Buddha Land's supreme treasure, and also the foundation of the Seven Treasures Refinement. It must be filled with Holy Classes of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, plus two attributes not belonging to the Five Elements, in order to complement each other.】
Su Chen looked carefully. The description on the Status Panel revealed quite a lot of information.
"This thing is still in a sapling state."
Currents of warm Aura transmitted from it. Su Chen muttered secretly, "Seven Treasures Refinement... It still has to be paired with the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree to operate. This thing is already a supreme treasure to begin with, so the Seven Treasures Refinement is likely a top-tier refinement method among top-tier refinement methods."
"This is probably the refinement method Kong Ming was preparing. However..." Su Chen sized up the small tree in his hand. "What are the benefits of filling Holy Classes into it, and how should it be filled?"
Just as he was pondering, he sensed the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree in his hand abruptly tremble. It actually turned into Streaking Light and vanished from his hand. Soon after, the Status Panel slowly opened.
On the main Status Panel, behind "Class Forging" and "Dispatch", another cluster of light converged, gradually evolving into the icon of a small tree.
"The Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree was directly swallowed by the Status Panel?" Su Chen's heart shook slightly. He hurriedly opened the new panel. After unfolding it, it was still a tree-shaped panel. The small tree had seven branches, three on the left and four on the right.
A burst of enlightenment rose in his heart, and Su Chen immediately understood.
This new ability column was exactly the evolution of the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree, presented in a simpler and more direct way. It could also revert back into the small tree from before.
After filling in Holy Classes that met the conditions, with the help of the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree, they would further synergize with each other, thereby enhancing them to a certain extent, or even giving birth to brand-new abilities.
And this kind of synergy could further enhance the activity between the Spiritualities, thereby forming more linked effects during Dispatch.
"It can actually even link up with Dispatch..." Su Chen was truly amazed. This was evidently an ability mutated by the Status Panel.
Just how heaven-defying the Dispatch Holy Class linkage was, one only needed to look at how the World-Slaying Manifestation and Flash-Shadow Body teamed up to snatch the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree for him to know.
【Discovered that the Cinderless Flame matches one of the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree's slots. Fill it?】
"Cinderless Flame?" Su Chen paused slightly. "True, this is an undeniably pure fire-attribute Holy Class."
He naturally chose to fill it. He didn't know if the original Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree allowed one to arbitrarily fill and remove items.
But after being mutated by the Status Panel, he could remove it at any time and then fill it again.
As his thoughts stirred, he could clearly see the second branch from the bottom on the right side gradually being covered by black flames, burning continuously.
"Hmm, currently I only have one attributed Holy Class, so it cannot synergize with other Holy Classes."
Su Chen pondered slightly. Currently, he had Job Entry-ed a total of six Holy Classes.
They were respectively the World-Slaying Manifestation, Eternal Physique, Flash-Shadow Body, Inexhaustible Titan, Cinderless Flame, and The Unsullied.
Among them, only the Cinderless Flame was a fire-attribute Holy Class. All the others were attributeless.
"I can't possibly slowly go and prepare more attributed Holy Classes." Su Chen pondered. Even for him, preparing a Holy Class required a large amount of essence condensed from Divine Power, as well as Divine Blood.
If he wanted to weaken the difficulty and quickly Job Entry, he still needed Essence Power or other Resources. Right now, the Flare Realm had completely crumbled, and he definitely couldn't go to the Spiritual Tower. There was simply no channel to acquire those kinds of powerful Resources.
Moreover, he also wanted to seek excellence. After all, those previous Holy Classes had all undergone multiple enhancements.
"Then I can only change the attributes of these Holy Classes..." Su Chen's gaze drifted to a certain material he had stored previously—【Monolith Crystal】
This was a Reward the Spirit of the Vast Sun had given him previously. It could artificially endow a Holy Class with a certain attribute. He originally thought he might only be able to use it later when preparing refinement methods, but right now was just right.
Using a similar item to alter a Holy Class's attribute would always consume less time and energy than Job Entry-ing a new Holy Class.
"Earth attribute..." Su Chen pinched this brown crystal. He didn't know if changing a Holy Class's attribute would have any impact on the professional abilities, but it was best to find a matching Holy Class.
"The World-Slaying Manifestation excels at attacking, and is related to Mystic Tools, so it's best to change it to metal attribute. The Eternal Physique is for Stamina, which actually matches the earth attribute, 'great virtue carries all things'."
"The Inexhaustible Titan seems okay too... Hmm, water flows endlessly, water attribute works too. As for the Flash-Shadow Body..."
Su Chen thought for a long time, but couldn't think of what it matched with.
"Or maybe wind attribute? After all, besides metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, it still needs two Holy Classes that are not in those categories."
"Right, there's also the Wind-Chasing Martial Artist profession inside the Flash-Shadow Body. Doesn't that count as wind attribute?" Su Chen suddenly thought of this, but after trying briefly, he found it wasn't accepted by the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree.
"Could it be because the Proportion is too low?" Su Chen shook his head, temporarily shelving the Flash-Shadow Body.
"Still lacking a wood attribute. Wood attributes generally lean towards healing." Su Chen suddenly thought: "I still have the first four sequences of the Undying Bird on me, which all lean towards healing. If I find another four matching wood-attribute Specialized Classes, perhaps I can directly forge them into a wood-attribute Holy Class..."
"I have the Immovable Vajra, which fixes the body in a lightly injured state. The power of recovery can also be transformed into a strength boost."
"Hmm..." After some pondering, Su Chen gradually formed a draft in his mind.
"Eternal Physique..."
Su Chen's mind stirred slightly, and he opened the Dispatch column again. The remaining Holy Classes he had dispatched still hadn't shown any movement.
"The Spirit of the Eternal Physique hasn't returned, so I can't do it through the Status Panel. But I can also directly absorb this thing..."
Holding the Monolith Crystal in his hand, Su Chen attempted to Drain it. In fact, this thing was originally meant to be absorbed by the physical body. After all, other people didn't have a Status Panel.
A heavy Aura surged out from the Monolith Crystal, gradually submerging into his body, infiltrating everywhere. Su Chen felt his whole person become much more solid, gradually giving rise to a feeling of fullness.
【The Eternal Physique, currently on Dispatch, suddenly finds its body becoming increasingly heavy, gradually being dyed with a smear of brown.】
"I can actually influence the Spirit of the Eternal Physique in reverse?" Su Chen paused slightly. "True, it originally should be like this."
【The Eternal Physique's Stamina boost is increased to thirty-two times.】
"Oh? There's actually a certain enhancement." Su Chen was quite surprised. He thought it would only change the Holy Class's attribute. "Perhaps because it is indeed extremely matching. If it didn't match, it might be weakened."
It only enhanced by two times, which wasn't considered obvious, but the function of this thing wasn't to enhance the Holy Class anyway.
【Discovered that the Eternal Physique matches one of the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree's slots. Fill it?】
Su Chen naturally chose to fill it. Another branch turned brownish-yellow.
Soon after, the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree underwent a wondrous Transformation.
The branch where the Cinderless Flame resided spread out black flames, which intertwined with the brownish-yellow light spreading from the Eternal Physique, faintly undergoing some kind of change.
A line of text emerged beneath the tree roots—
【Calamity Star Conjunction: When using the Eternal Physique and Cinderless Flame simultaneously, the Cinderless Flame will temporarily merge into the Eternal Physique, which can double Basic Stamina.】
This ability... Su Chen's eyelids twitched, and he sucked in a breath of cold air. "It almost completely changed the underlying operational logic of the abilities."
Although he lost a portion of the Cinderless Flame's boost, the Eternal Physique's basic thirty-two times Stamina boost directly became sixty-four times. The benefits were outrageously large.
Moreover, it could also synergize with the Eternal Physique's Weak Characteristic for Doppelganger stacking.
Hiss—using pure Stamina to forcefully tank the usage cost of Sky-Scars seemed to not be a dream anymore?
Su Chen clicked his tongue secretly. This was only filling in two attributed Holy Classes, and they already enhanced each other so much. If it was completely filled, he estimated it would be even more abnormal.
Suddenly, Su Chen thought of something. "If Kong Ming had the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree on him back then, I wonder if the outcome of the battle would have changed?"
This kind of ability for Holy Classes to mutually enhance each other naturally wasn't mutated by the Status Panel; the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree originally possessed it.
But this thought only flashed through his mind. Since it was already in the past, there naturally was no point in delving deeper.
"Looking at it this way... Regardless, I have to find a way to head to the Abyssal Domain." Su Chen stroked his chin.
He had never even heard of these things that changed a Holy Class's attribute in the Dust Star Sea. They could definitely only be found in the Abyssal Domain.
There were also refinement methods for the Morning Star Tier to temper Morning Star Fire.
As well as various Resources needed to prepare Holy Classes in the future, like Perfect-Grade Eldritch Source Power, and various similar things.
Thinking of this, he briefly sorted through his own Resources. He still had quite a few good things obtained from the Spiritual Tower left.
There was still one portion of Perfect-Grade Eldritch Source Power left. This would definitely be used for future Holy Classes. There were also two Great Heaven Pills.
"Right, I'll eat one first. I usually don't consume this thing anyway. In case I run into an unexpected situation, it will be too late to eat it then." Su Chen took out the fist-sized black pill and put it directly into his mouth, forcefully swallowing it down using his muscle power.
As soon as it fell into his stomach, his sense of security increased greatly.
"There is also the Ten-Thousand-Year Lightning Arc obtained from a previous Dispatch. Lightning attribute... can also be filled into the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree. But what specific aspect of Holy Class to prepare, I have to think about carefully."
Perfect-Grade Eldritch Source Power, coupled with this Ten-Thousand-Year Lightning Arc, was enough to weaken a Holy Class to a level where it was fairly easy to Job Entry.
"There's also the Defiled World Flame..." Su Chen reached out and took it out from the Status Panel. This was a grayish-white flame, as if covered with a layer of shadow, exuding an elusive Aura.
It wasn't hot, but taking one look at it made one feel Anxious and Apprehensive in their heart, as if pressed down by a thousand-jin stone.
【The Defiled World Flame surges into the shed skin of the Crimson Flame Responding Thunder Great Exalted, its surface becoming increasingly replete...】
Su Chen kept looking at those requirements. The one that needed to be completed first was Profession Requirement number five.
It required saving a completely corrupted Life Star from the hands of an Eldritch God. There were extremely many prerequisite steps, and it was definitely very tedious.
The Defiled World Flame gradually submerged into his body. Requirement number five continuously flickered and dimmed.
Until a certain moment, the text vibrated, and three words abruptly emerged as a suffix—【Completed】
"Hiss..." Su Chen watched helplessly, still unable to help but click his tongue. Such a huge requirement, just completed as easily as saying it.
"I wonder if the Abyssal Domain has this kind of thing..."
He glanced at the Defiled World Flame in his hand. It was already very sparse, but there was still some left.
His gaze then fell on requirement number three. After being weakened by the Perfect-Grade Eldritch Source Power last time, although the difficulty had decreased a lot, the remaining Defiled World Flame still couldn't complete it.
But he still had another portion in his hands. "Heavenly Venerable... Tsk..."
Taking out this second portion, he couldn't help but think of the Heavenly Venerable's act of "stealing chickens" for him.
Fiercely pouring it into the shed skin of the Crimson Flame Responding Thunder Great Exalted, the words "Completed" also quickly surfaced behind requirement number three.
Number two didn't need to be bothered with. Right now, only number four was left. After the previous weakening, it originally only had the Lightning Punishment Body Tempering ritual left.
There was still a lot of Defiled World Flame remaining. Even after "Completed" surfaced behind requirement number three, the Defiled World Flame in his hand still wasn't completely consumed, with a small wisp left.
"It's done just like this..." Looking at the Crimson Flame Responding Thunder Great Exalted's five Profession Requirements, four of them already had "Completed" floating behind them.
Only requirement number two was left, which was three kinds of Forbidden Tomes, as well as Body Tempering and Meditation Methods. These would naturally be completed during his process of developing the Profession Development Progress.
Spirit-Flesh Unity had also long been completed by him.
This meant that right now, he only needed to max out his Development Progress, and then he could directly advance to Morning Star.
Su Chen remained silent for a long time, unable to help but spit out two words: "Abnormal."
"Truly abnormal..." He couldn't help but add another sentence.
Through his communication with Taixuan Tianyi, as well as the example of Kong Ming, Advancing to Morning Star, even in the Abyssal Domain, was a step that required extreme caution and consumed a vast amount of time and energy.
"But the satisfaction is real."
These Profession Requirements, just a few simple words would require a massive amount of time, energy, and Resources. Having them completed directly all at once was naturally satisfying.
"I have to max out the Development Progress as soon as possible..." Su Chen's eyes flickered. "Morning Star... Morning Star..."
After advancing to the 8th-Tier, he went straight to the Flare Realm. His Profession Development Progress had almost zero improvement, currently only at 2%.
Although he couldn't wait in his heart, the Backlash from using Limit Break multiple times previously still hadn't been endured yet. Right now, he still couldn't improve it.
"Why hasn't The Unsullied come up with a method yet..." Su Chen glanced at the Status Panel. Consuming six drops of Divine Blood, he Dispatched the World-Slaying Manifestation and Flash-Shadow Body out again.
With the Seven-Branch Wondrous Tree present, the Probability of the filled professions linking up was higher.
After a series of operations, he only had a single drop of Divine Blood left in his hands, completely dried up.