The Wood Immortal Matriarch had prepared for her fall before the war even began. Her combat power was too low; entering the Void Refinement battlefield was almost a guaranteed death sentence. After discussing it with Qi Ping, she requested his help in a special method of rebirth—condensing her Dao Fruit and True Soul into a seed. When that seed sprouted, she would return in a more perfect form.
Normally, this method was only used when one reached the end of their lifespan without hope for a breakthrough. There was no guarantee of success, and how one could safely cultivate back to the Void Refinement Stage after reincarnation was a massive problem. Memories would only awaken at the Nascent Soul or Soul Transformation Stage. Such an undertaking involved too much risk and uncertainty.
In normal circumstances, she would never have done this. But with Qi Ping serving as her guarantor, she didn't hesitate for a second. It was only because of Qi Ping; she would never have agreed to this with anyone else.
Thus, this woman, once the most elegant figure in the Star-Sea, entered the battlefield with a resolve to die. She fell quickly in the slaughter against the demons. However, her death was not without meaning. She didn't just draw away numerous demons to lighten the burden on Meng Tianqi, the Little Stone Spirit, and Ji Qingyue—she used herself as bait to slay three Void Refinement demons in one stroke!
Among them was a demon whose strength was considered first-rate even among its rank. From the beginning, with Qi Ping's assistance, she had forged her body into a terrifying self-detonation vessel, while using several Void Refinement spirit tools to form a specialized Sealing-Explosion Array.
Upon entering the field, she used special methods to flee rapidly, drawing in several demons. Unfortunately, her strength was too weak, and she could only lure three before she could no longer hold on and had to initiate self-destruction.
In that moment, those three demons were completely bewildered! They thought they had encountered a soft persimmon that could be easily squashed, only for that persimmon to suddenly turn into a super-bomb—and one that understood self-detonation sealing arrays at that.
With a violent explosion, her Void Refinement foundation—which Qi Ping had modified and enhanced—erupted with horrific destructive power. In an instant, those three King-level demons vanished into nothingness amidst their terror.
Before they died, their hearts were filled with indignation. They couldn't understand how such a weak human could erupt with such power, or why she was so willing to blow herself up. Something was very wrong with this Star-Sea world!
At the moment of their death, they even harbored a trace of doubt: was this invasion truly a guaranteed victory? Based on the intel they had gathered, such a situation shouldn't have been possible. If even such a weak human possessed such power, what about the stronger ones? What other methods did they have?
Alas, they would never know the final result. The Matriarch's only regret as she died was that she could only trap three demons; with the power of her explosion, she might have killed even more.
At the same time, the moment she detonated, a seed possessing incredible spirituality began to quietly take root and sprout within the Seven-Colored Ancestral Vein of the Nine Domains. The Wood Immortal Matriarch had given her new self a name: Mu Qingling. She hoped that when she recovered her memories, she would see a Star-Sea world with a brand-new horizon. She hoped that this time, she could have a carefree childhood. Even if the Star-Sea faced its worst end, she could depart with a sense of fulfillment and a sliver of peace.
After the Providential Creation of the Star-Sea descended, a massive wave of that power merged into the seed within the ancestral vein. This allowed the newborn seed to transform, gaining unimaginable wood-attribute creative power along with a trace of the aura of the World Tree.
The vessel she had used for her soul was indeed a seed of the Heaven-Reaching World Tree that had long since lost its life and spirituality. The infusion of her life essence and True Soul, combined with the Power of Good Fortune, actually allowed the hollow shell of the World Tree seed to merge with her and regain its vitality!
On the other side, sensing the aura of the World Tree within the ancestral vein, Qi Ping tore through space and appeared in its depths. He was completely stunned.
"The aura of the World Tree!"
"It actually succeeded!"
His shock was indescribable. He hadn't expected the shell of the World Tree, which even he was helpless to revive, to regain life under such circumstances. This was the World Tree! Legend had it that if it grew successfully, it would at least be a Mahayana-level existence.
Though it was "only" Mahayana-level, its special nature meant it could merge deeply with a world's foundation. As long as the world wasn't destroyed, its power was nearly infinite. It was extremely hard to kill and was essentially among the strongest of all Mahayana existences. There was even a chance to break through and become the true Heaven-Reaching World Tree, whose power was beyond the description of the Mahayana Stage.
"I've truly picked up a treasure this time!"
Although only a sliver of the aura had recovered, and it was a special life-form merged with the Wood Immortal, its potential was now limitless. At the very least, once Mu Qingling fully recovered, her achievements would not stop at Void Refinement. The Body Integration Stage would be no difficult task for such talent and resolve, and there was even a great hope for the Mahayana Stage. The Matriarch had truly bet on the right treasure.
Furthermore, the appearance of a World Tree held unimaginable benefits for any world. Its function was comparable to a world's spine; a world with a World Tree was an entirely different existence from one without. With it, the Star-Sea's development and growth would reach a new level!
The only question was exactly how much of the World Tree's ability Mu Qingling would possess. Regardless, this was a magnificent boon for the Star-Sea.
After observing for a while, Qi Ping directly contracted the sprouting seed as his Life-Bound Spirit Tree. This had been agreed upon with the Wood Immortal before, or rather, she had suggested it herself. She requested that if she successfully merged with the World Tree, Qi Ping would contract her and help her build a solid foundation in her early stages.
Qi Ping had been very surprised when she made the suggestion. Although he did have such a thought, he was concerned that since she was a meritorious official who had followed him from the beginning, contracting her as a spirit tree might be inappropriate.
But her reasoning was simple. In the Star-Sea, her life and death were already entirely in Qi Ping's hands; no one could defeat him here. Thus, she might as well become his spirit tree so he could nurture her without reservation. With the Star Emperor's full support, she couldn't imagine how strong her early foundation would be! Who wouldn't want such treatment? One only had to look at how well Qi Ping treated his other contracted beasts to know.
Most importantly, ever since Qi Ping helped her achieve her vengeance, a shadow of him had appeared in her heart. Although she had restored her original appearance after breaking through to the Void Refinement Stage—becoming the most stunning woman in the Star-Sea—past memories remained a thorn in her heart, even though she had ground her enemies into dust.
Her willingness to be reincarnated was partly due to this desire. She wanted to have an entirely different life. She believed that with Qi Ping's protection, she would have a beginning that did not fail her expectations. The Star-Sea was no longer what it used to be.
As the Wood Immortal was reincarnated and contracted, the trio of Meng Tianqi, the Little Stone Spirit, and Ji Qingyue began their most difficult battle. If the Soul Transformation battlefield was "hard" mode, the Void Refinement tier was an absolute nightmare! They couldn't even estimate how many enemies there were; they only knew they had to kill them as quickly as possible. If they slowed down and were surrounded, death was the only outcome.
Fortunately, the battlefield was vast enough that they wouldn't encounter a massive wave of enemies all at once. Furthermore, Void Refinement demons weren't common; King-level demons of this rank were rarities even in the Demon Realm.
Most fortunately of all, the three of them were exceptionally fierce within their rank.
First was Meng Tianqi. His comprehension of the Laws of Life and Death had long since reached the Great Perfection of Void Refinement. Over the years, with the help of resources and the ancestral vein, his cultivation had caught up. But for him, the greatest improvement was in his comprehension of the laws themselves.
The Star-Sea had seen numerous wars, where countless ordinary cultivators and legendary experts fell—including many at his level. He had killed many, and he had saved many. Every instance of life and death he experienced gave him profound insights. War was the best soil for the Law of Life and Death; it was just that he had been unwilling to create too much slaughter before. With the help of these wars, his mastery over the laws skyrocketed!
And his harvest did not end there. By following Qi Ping in conquest and construction, he saw even "greater" life and "greater" death. Life was the birth of the Nine Domains, where countless beings thrived with unimaginable vitality. Death was watching regions decline, only to see the new life hidden within that decay.
Specifically, under the threat of the demons, the Star-Sea erupted with an unimaginable will to live. This new perspective, this more robust sense of life and death, infused his laws with something far more powerful. The reason he broke through to Body Integration later than Bai Liyun was precisely because of this; while his laws hadn't broken through yet, they had become far more powerful than before.
His plan was to break through to Body Integration once he had fully integrated this new element. This integration made it possible for him to defeat Ji Qingyue—and she was once the absolute strongest in the world! Once he broke through to Body Integration through this war, he would directly become an exceptionally powerful existence in that realm.
Then there was Ji Qingyue, the former number one expert and owner of the Myriad Law Celestial Physique. This physique, which was naturally close to the Dao, gave her an immense variety of methods and a terrifying foundation. Like Meng Tianqi, she was an absolute powerhouse at the peak of Void Refinement.
Beyond these two, the strength of the Little Stone Spirit was even greater! Although it was only at the early stage of Void Refinement, its true strength lay in its status as a Void-grade lifeform! After devouring numerous spirit tools and ores to reach this stage, its Military Conquest Mystic Patterns had not only inherited the power of every divine weapon but had also allowed it to become a special Void-grade entity.
Fully grown Void-grade lifeforms were existences that even Mahayana experts would find troublesome or terrifying. While the Little Stone Spirit was not yet fully grown, its foundation was enough to make it a top-tier existence among Void Refinement experts. Combined with the ancient tools and ores it carried, its endurance was immense; as long as it didn't run out of materials to devour, it could replenish its strength indefinitely.
In short, while the Star-Sea was at an absolute numerical disadvantage, every single one of its combatants was a peak expert of their rank. This added unimaginable variables to the battlefield. Since they didn't have to face all their enemies at once, the two humans and one beast had more opportunities.
But the demons were not easy either. They possessed horrific Void Refinement demons like the Black Hole Demonic God, and their numbers were far greater. When the two sides met, an earth-shattering slaughter began...