The Creation of the Heavens and All Realms

Chapter 49: Striding Away

Once Zhou Tianci had broken the formation on the Spirit Repository’s gate, the over two-meter-thick diamond gate was no match for him. With just a few swift strokes of his sword, Zhou Tianci destroyed the gate and strode inside with his head held high. The moment he entered the Spirit Repository, Zhou Tianci couldn’t help but feel his heart stir with awe. “What a magnificent Spirit Repository—truly a world of its own!” Enveloped by the dense spiritual energy, Zhou Tianci felt an infinite sense of comfort wash over his entire body, as if he had eaten a ginseng fruit. Glancing inside, he saw the Spirit Repository radiating with a brilliant glow, filled with countless precious spiritual herbs. Zhou Tianci dared not waste any time. From the moment he had forced his way into the Garden of Ten Thousand Spirits until now, roughly half an incense stick’s worth of time had passed. According to the time units of his previous life, one incense stick in this world equaled five minutes, so half an incense stick was two and a half minutes. Zhou Tianci estimated that it would take the Huang family no more than one incense stick’s worth of time to receive the news and dispatch someone here, so he was already running very tight on time. The vastness of the Garden of Ten Thousand Spirits’ Spirit Repository exceeded Zhou Tianci’s imagination. Beyond the diamond-hard gates lay a warehouse approximately one kilometer long and wide, with three stories and a height of over twenty meters. The warehouse was filled with shelves—some made of stone, some of white jade, some of wood, and others of steel… These shelves varied in size, with the largest standing over one zhang tall and the smallest no more than one chi. “The Huang family truly lives up to its reputation as the monopoly dealer of spiritual herbs in the City of Tears and Blood—their stockpile is truly astonishing. But this works out to my advantage now!” Zhou Tianci darted over to a white jade shelf. Resting on it was a spiritual herb about two chi long, its branches and leaves crystal-clear, and its flowers resembling wind chimes that swayed of their own accord even without a breeze. “I don’t know what kind of spiritual herb this is, but what does it matter?” Zhou Tianci muttered to himself with a smile. He examined the white jade shelf and quickly figured out the layout of the formation on it. “Clang!” Zhou Tianci struck the carving in the lower left corner of the stand with a fist, shattering it. The stand, which had been bathed in light, immediately dimmed, and the spiritual herb fell from it. Zhou Tianci caught the spiritual herb and, using his Primordial Spirit to activate the Tree of Creation and Immortality, began to devour it. It took only two or three seconds to consume the entire herb. “The spiritual energy contained in this single medicinal plant is equivalent to that of over a thousand ferocious beasts…” Zhou Tianci felt deeply satisfied. While devouring this medicinal plant, he hadn’t been idle; he had already picked another one. Zhou Tianci kept track of the time in his mind; in the span of a minute, he had devoured more than 40 spiritual herbs. He specifically targeted those with high spiritual energy—generally speaking, the more spiritual energy a spiritual herb contains, the more precious it is. More than forty spiritual herbs, each thousands of years old, provided him with an extremely generous reward; Zhou Tianci could even feel the Tree of Creation and Immortality on his spiritual platform growing! “What a pity. If I could devour all these spiritual herbs, the effect would likely be even better than that of the Thousand-Jun Stone and the Blood Soul! Just the Spirit Repository of the Garden of Ten Thousand Spirits alone holds such resources—if I could control all of the City of Tears and Blood’s resources, just imagine how much the Tree of Eternal Creation would grow!” ” Zhou Tianci gazed into the Spirit Repository, his heart filled with regret. It housed tens of thousands of spiritual herbs, yet he had consumed less than one percent of them. Two minutes later, Zhou Tianci resolutely left the Spirit Repository. Though his heart ached at the thought of leaving, he had no choice. The Huang clan’s forces must already be closing in on the Garden of Ten Thousand Spirits; if he didn’t leave now, he feared he would be trapped here, which would put him in grave danger. Huang Shuyi was racing toward the Garden of Ten Thousand Spirits at full speed, followed by nearly ten Huang Clan members at the Innate Realm, including his son, Huang Jue. “Whoever you are, I’ll make sure you die a miserable death!” In the darkness, Huang Shuyi’s features were contorted into a ferocious grimace. He had just been making arrangements for the spiritual herb auction scheduled for a few days later. For the Huang family, the quarterly spiritual herb auction brought not only substantial profits but also immense prestige, so everyone in the family took it very seriously. Huang Shuyi had barely uttered a few words when he received news of an incident at the Garden of Ten Thousand Spirits. Without a moment’s hesitation, he immediately rushed to the scene. Upon hearing the news, the others left two Innate-level cultivators behind to hold the fort at the clan estate, while the rest followed closely behind Huang Shuyi. Huang Shuyi, a Gangqi Realm cultivator, moved with astonishing speed, his figure blurring into a series of afterimages as he reached the Garden of Ten Thousand Spirits in just over half an incense stick’s time. In front of the Garden of Ten Thousand Spirits, dozens of guards lay scattered haphazardly on the ground. “This aura…” Huang Shuyi sensed the lingering aura before the main gate, and his expression shifted several times. “Could it be that Ming Kui has entered the city?” Huang Shuyi couldn’t help but wonder. Upon entering the gate, Huang Shuyi’s expression grew even more grim. The first floor was littered with corpses—no fewer than three hundred of them. Each had died with an expression of terror on their face, as if they had witnessed something truly terrifying. “What a ruthless act—not a single survivor!” Huang Shuyi’s heart ached. The guards of the Garden of Ten Thousand Spirits were the Huang Clan’s core forces; every one of them possessed Late Postnatal cultivation and held promising futures. He never imagined they would all perish here! Huang Shuyi had no time to grieve; he immediately headed for the Spirit Repository. The spiritual herbs stored there had been prepared specifically for this auction—they could not be lost under any circumstances. To his heartbreak, Huang Shuyi saw Huang Congyi’s lifeless body lying at the entrance to the Spirit Repository! “Congyi!” Huang Shuyi crouched beside Huang Congyi, his heart bursting with rage. Although Huang Congyi’s cultivation level wasn’t high, he possessed a natural talent for business—he managed most of the Garden of Ten Thousand Spirits’ operations. His death was a massive loss to the Huang family. “Whoosh!” Just as Huang Shuyi was seething with rage, a figure darted out of the passageway. Huang Shuyi roared, “You scoundrel!” A silvery-white blade shot from his hand, slashing directly at the figure. Zhou Tianci hadn’t expected Huang Shuyi to arrive so quickly; he’d run into him the moment he stepped out of the passageway. Facing Huang Shuyi’s gongqi, Zhou Tianci shifted his stance and dodged out of the way. At the same time, his Destruction Sword Qi engulfed Huang Shuyi. “Roar!” Huang Shuyi did not dodge; if he had, Zhou Tianci would have been able to break free. Sensing the threat of Zhou Tianci’s sword energy, Huang Shuyi’s entire body trembled, and a thunderous roar erupted from within him, like the bellow of a dragon. A phantom image of a Azure Dragon, over one zhang tall, enveloped Huang Shuyi; the sword energy struck the phantom, creating tiny ripples on its surface. “Azure Dragon’s Claw!” Huang Shuyi’s expression was solemn and imposing, and the overwhelming aura radiating from him placed immense pressure on Zhou Tianci. A giant claw formed from his gongqi lunged toward Zhou Tianci, breaking the sound barrier and emitting a thunderous sonic boom! “No wonder he’s the head of the Huang family—he’s certainly kept his true strength well hidden!” Zhou Tianci hadn’t expected Huang Shuyi to be this powerful; during the previous ambush on Ming Kui, the strength he’d displayed hadn’t even been a tenth of what he was showing now. With that in mind, Zhou Tianci realized that Liu Yuntao and Wan Wusheng must have also been holding back their true strength at the time, which made him even more wary of those old foxes. Facing Huang Shuyi’s Azure Dragon Qi, Zhou Tianci’s expression turned resolute. “I’ll use you to test my strength!” Zhou Tianci thrust his long sword straight at the center of the Azure Dragon’s massive claw, the blade pulsing with a destructive energy that seemed capable of slicing through the very air. “Hiss… hiss…” The Qi collided with the sword energy, and the rippling force scattered in all directions, shattering the surrounding wooden doors and stone slabs into pieces. “Heh heh, Head of the Huang Clan, your physical cultivation is indeed superb, but it’s still no match for me. Under normal circumstances, this Ancestor wouldn’t mind having a little fun with you, but right now I’m in a hurry to get going, so I’ll have to take my leave!” Zhou Tianci shouted in a different voice. The moment he spoke, he had already caught up alongside Huang Shuyi, ready to leave. Huang Shuyi snorted coldly, “I don’t care who you are. You’ve entered the Garden of Ten Thousand Spirits and killed a member of the Huang family—you’ll leave your life behind here!” Zhou Tianci burst out laughing. “You’re no match for me. If you want to play, this Ancestor will gladly oblige. But let me give you a word of advice: if we keep this up much longer, the Spirit Repository below will be destroyed!” Huang Shuyi’s face paled at these words, and his movements faltered. “Are you here to chase me, or to save those spiritual herbs? The choice is yours!” Zhou Tianci burst out laughing as he charged forward. Huang Shuyi hesitated for a moment but ultimately decided to head down to the Spirit Repository. The repository contained spiritual herbs painstakingly collected by the Huang family—of immense value—and with the auction about to begin, he couldn’t let anything happen to it. Having shaken off Huang Shuyi, Zhou Tianci swiftly vanished into the night. He circled the city extensively before finally returning to the military camp at dawn. “I killed three Huang family Innate-level cultivators, seized nearly a hundred rare spiritual herbs from the Huang family, and gained insight into Huang Shuyi’s true strength. This mission was quite fruitful.” Back at the barracks, Zhou Tianci felt deeply satisfied; the operation had gone off without a hitch and had largely met his expectations. Thinking of Huang Shuyi, Zhou Tianci suddenly coughed twice, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. Earlier, when he had clashed head-on with Huang Shuyi, it had seemed as though nothing had happened, but in reality, he had been injured. Not only was Huang Shuyi’s Azure Dragon Gāng Qi immensely powerful, but his own physical strength was no less than Zhou Tianci’s. It must be noted that at this point, Zhou Tianci’s physical strength had already reached 200,000 jin, and a full-power strike could generate no less than 400,000 jin of force—comparable to a Body Refinement expert at the Gāng Qi Realm. “Could Huang Shuyi also be at the Innate stage of Body Refinement?” Zhou Tianci suddenly realized that Gu Dali had mentioned the Huang family possessed a sophisticated Body Refinement technique called *True Form of the Azure Dragon*. Cultivating this technique required Dragon Scale Flowers, and not long ago, the Huang family had swindled some from Hu San…Judging by this, the Dragon Scale Flower was most likely used by Huang Shuyi specifically to cultivate the *True Form of the Azure Dragon*! After a moment, Zhou Tianci cleared his mind of the jumbled thoughts and focused his attention on the growth of the Tree of Eternal Creation. This time, he had consumed nearly a hundred spiritual herbs, and the Tree of Eternal Creation had grown slightly. As always, the Tree of Eternal Creation fed back to his spiritual soul upon growing, and Zhou Tianci’s spiritual soul grew stronger as a result. “If I had enough resources, my spiritual essence could grow infinitely stronger!” Zhou Tianci couldn’t suppress the fervor in his heart; the sensation of constantly growing stronger intoxicated him. While Zhou Tianci was thoroughly satisfied, the Huang family was thrown into complete chaos. Huang Shuyi rushed into the Spirit Repository only to discover that nothing had gone wrong there. This brought him immense relief, but at the same time, his hatred for Zhou Tianci skyrocketed! “Conduct a thorough search of the entire city immediately. No matter who this person is, I will not let him get away!” Huang Shuyi declared to the members of the Huang family who had arrived shortly afterward.