Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

After hesitating for a moment, Zhao Sheng's brow slowly "flowed" out a wisp of Divine Light, falling upon the surface of the Primordial Spirit Fruit.

In the darkness, a hot and vast breath from the Primordial Spirit Fruit invaded his Divine Thought, instantly bringing Zhao Sheng an extremely novel "scalding" sensation.

Within a hundred zhang radius, billions of Fire Element Spiritual Energy particles became exceptionally active in an instant, turning into countless dazzling light points that converged, whirling around the Primordial Spirit Fruit in jubilation, unexpectedly arousing an inexplicable joy in his spirit.

Feeling the boundless spiritual power surging within the Primordial Spirit Fruit, Zhao Sheng repeatedly felt the impulse to swallow it in one gulp.

Shortly after, he gritted his teeth, suddenly placed the Primordial Spirit Fruit back into the box, closed the lid, and quickly affixed the seal.

"Sigh, it's not yet time to consume it. Firstly, taking it now would waste a great deal of Primordial Spirit Power, and secondly, since the fruit is ultimately condensed from someone else's Primordial Spirit, it might hide unknown dangers. Let's wait. In the future, I'll find a suitable person to consume one first, and decide after observing the results," Zhao Sheng murmured in a complex tone, placing the Jade Box back into his Storage Bag.

At the same time, he now held in his hand a grey-white Nine-story Tower.

Zhao Sheng's eyes brimmed with Divine Light, his Divine Thoughts probing into the interior of the Nine Nether Tower, where the Great Saint's hair still floated amidst the dark Light Cloud, looking both real and illusory, as if not of this world.

However, compared to several years ago, the dark Light Cloud inside the tower had become slightly more "dense," albeit still very sparse!

Over the years, Zhao Sheng had thought of numerous methods, attempting to unveil the True Face of the dark Light Cloud, but to little avail.

To this day, he still had not understood what class of Extraordinary Energy the dark Light Cloud belonged to, only knowing that it could devour Divine Thought, yet it did not react with nature's Spiritual Energy, presenting an "inert" phenomenon under normal circumstances.

After putting away the Nine Nether Tower, Zhao Sheng fell into contemplation, "Should I capture some Yin Soul Ghost Creatures and throw them into the Nine Nether Tower, to see if there could be any discoveries?"

With this thought, he suddenly slapped the ground, his body soared into the air, then transformed into a golden light, speeding away. In the blink of an eye, the Indeterminate Star Cave was left empty.

…

Half a year later, the Nine Nether Tower experiment concluded, yielding very satisfying results.

The tower had an appetite for Yin Soul Ghost Creatures, from Ten-thousand-year-old Ghost Kings to unsuspecting living souls; it was indiscriminate, with a hunger as vast as a Bottomless Pit.

The half-year experiment had led to many conclusions: the lower three layers of the Nine Nether Tower correspond to the Yin Souls below the Qi Refining Realm, layers four to six were for ghostly creatures from Foundation Establishment to the Golden Core Second Realm, and from the seventh layer onward, it only consumed Ten-thousand-year-old Ghost Kings comparable to Nascent Souls.

Moreover, Zhao Sheng discovered that when the Black Nether Divine Light in each layer accumulated to a certain level, it would naturally sublimate to a higher tier.

But he had only seen this sublimation phenomenon in the first three layers twice; the higher layers presumably hadn't accumulated enough to reach the standard for such a qualitative change.

Normally speaking, even an ancient ghost a thousand years old and comparable to Foundation Establishment, when put into the Nine Nether Tower, would only add a trace of Black Nether Divine Light to the fourth layer of the Netherworld Tower.

As for the Ten-thousand-year-old Ghost King that the family had gone to great lengths to send, while its strength was not inferior to a Nascent Soul Cultivator, its consumption by the Nine Nether Tower only added a thread of brightness to the seventh layer of the Netherworld Tower.

The magnitude of the Nine Nether Tower's appetite shocked the well-seasoned Zhao Sheng.

Combining observations from the previous years, Zhao Sheng was quite certain that the Nine Nether Tower must have other sources of energy replenishment, most likely originating from the mysterious and unfathomable Nine Nether Void Realm.

After the experiment's results were out, he nearly gave up the idea of using captured ghost creatures to nurture the Nine Nether Tower, as the return was far too disproportionate to the investment.

However, a sudden piece of news came a few days later that changed the situation.

Receiving transmission through the Sound Jade, Zhao Sheng hurriedly emerged from seclusion and quickly made his way to Mountain City.

After a while, in the Jinxiu Tower located in the city center, Zhao Sheng, Zhao Jingheng, and the Qingshan Elder sat at the head, with seven or eight Golden Cores of Zhao seated below them.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, the Qingshan Elder did not waste words and said gravely, "Since a year ago, when the Ten Thousand Corpses Sect and the Ten Thousand Soul Sect's conspiracy to sabotage the Space-time Sealing Array was thwarted, their armies have been fleeing in defeat from the Heavenly Burial Plain. Over the past year, the remnants of both sects have been roaming everywhere, leaving behind a trail of blood wherever they go.

Today we have reliable information that the Heavenly Corpse Master of Ten Thousand Corpses Sect and the Ghost Manipulating Young Man of the Ten Thousand Soul Sect have secretly infiltrated the Divine City with their remnants, seemingly intending to harm our Royal Family.

Both individuals are Nascent Soul Realm Cultivators, with no ordinary strength.

My purpose for coming here today is to request reinforcements to go to the Divine City, on one hand, to protect the children of the Royal Family, and on the other, to capture the Heavenly Corpse and the Ghost Manipulating culprits.

I wonder who is willing to volunteer and accompany me to the Divine City!"

After the Qingshan Elder finished speaking, his gaze swept over the people below, finally settling on Zhao Jingheng and Zhao Sheng.

Zhao Jingheng saw the expectation in the Seventh Ancestor's eyes, but he firmly sat there without moving or speaking and voluntarily closed his eyes to rest, as if he heard nothing.

Seeing the City Lord's attitude, the Golden Cores of Zhao below hesitated, with two or three looking somewhat ready to volunteer, but not daring to step forward, instead turning their eyes to Zhao Sheng.

Zhao Sheng, observing this scene, internally shook his head and further lowered his expectations for Zhao Jingheng.

This man truly was selfish, fearing that even the interests of the family were insignificant in his eyes, certainly not as important as protecting his own interests.

One must know that Zhao Jingheng was the Holy Emperor of generations past, and the children of the Royal Family were mostly his descendants and relatives.