Chapter 717 Tempering the Flower

Therefore, Ji Xuanyuan announced that he would host a Royal Dao Field of unprecedented scale. Open to all regardless of region, it would be a competition of various talents—Spirit Control, Artifact Refining, and Alchemy Technique—though the most important event was, of course, Magical Combat. At the same time, the Great Zhou Dynasty would grant the winners rewards more lavish than ever before.

Once this news broke, talk of the Seventh Princess’s marriage immediately died down. Everyone was far more interested in just how grand the scale of this Dao Field would be.

Regardless of the commotion outside, Drunkard Wine had become a huge hit, and Master Wang’s mind was focused solely on his cultivation.

Grasping the concept of yin and yang brought Wang Meng not just an increase in strength, but even more questions. It was just as the saying goes: on the great path of Divine Cultivation, the more you know, the more you realize you don’t know. Only a god could be truly omniscient and omnipotent.

So far, Wang Meng had only passed the first twelve layers. Now, he was challenging the Thirteenth Layer of the Divine Sealing Tower.

The Divine Sealing Tower’s treatment of Wang Meng was on another level. The world of the Thirteenth Layer that he entered was vastly different from the one other Cultivators in the Divine Space had experienced. Although there were certain limits, it was still a genuine struggle for Little Flower, given its current level.

For Little Flower, this was merely a process, but for Wang Meng, who accompanied it, the experience offered a unique form of spiritual tempering.

According to rumor, the Thirteenth Layer was supposed to be a forest where a Tree Demon Lord would spawn. Defeating it would earn the Divine Sealing Tower’s acknowledgment and a certain reward for one’s Fate Grid. What Wang Meng entered, however, was a forest on the verge of extinction.

The forest was in the process of being devoured by a horde of Sand Demons. Sand Demons were bizarre demonic creatures with bodies made of sand and stone. Innately ferocious, their sole purpose was to devour life. They were natural-born destroyers, frenzied killers.

The moment Wang Meng set foot in the world of the Thirteenth Layer, he stumbled upon the Sand Demons beginning a new wave of consumption. To them, the forest was nothing more than a meal on a plate.

Under the draining touch of a humanoid Sand Demon, a great tree nearly a thousand years old rapidly decayed, crumbling into fine, grayish-black grains of sand.

“SKREEE!” Suddenly, a Yellow Sand Demon spotted Wang Meng and let out a piercing, tragic shriek…

Innumerable Sand Demons, in the middle of feeding, instantly halted…

In an instant, the countless Sand Demons exchanged information through some form of communication that resembled Magic.

The arrival of fresh life was like a bolt of Celestial Thunder striking a placid lake, and the Sand Demons charged toward him in a frenzy.

Sensing the Sand Demons’ frenzy, Wang Meng simply smiled and released Little Flower from the Five Elements Spirit Holding Bracelet.

A white light shone from Little Flower’s body as the surrounding Wood Element power began to flow into it in a steady stream…

KILL! Countless sharp, green vines shot out from Little Flower’s body, forming a gigantic crown of thorns. The thorns surged and roiled, crushing down toward the Sand Demons. In an instant, dozens of them were whipped to dust.

The Sand Demons surged forward, wave after wave. They had no concept of death, no sense of fear—only the singular goal of devouring life.

However, a prolonged battle against multiple opponents was exactly the kind of fight the current Little Flower no longer feared. The trials of the Twelfth Layer in the Divine Sealing Tower had already forged its will to be incredibly strong. Having absorbed the trace of divinity Wang Meng had infused into it, Little Flower’s power now held infinite possibilities. High-intensity combat would only cause it to birth even greater strength.

Wang Meng, on the other hand, was now at leisure. He retracted his aura, completely concealing his life force. For a moment, the Sand Demons utterly ignored his presence. In their eyes, aside from the fact that he could move, Wang Meng was no different from a rock.

It was a battle of attrition. As it raged on, Wang Meng, his life force concealed, roamed about the level and ended up making an unexpected discovery.

Deep within the forest lay a ruin, buried underground.

A stone gate, obscured by countless vines, was carved with depictions of a god’s former glory.

Directly above the stone gate was an ancient seal. Even after eons of erosion, the seal still radiated faint fluctuations of a divine aura, beckoning a fated person to find it.

Wang Meng pushed open the stone gate, revealing a stone path that led straight underground. A faint breeze blew out to meet him, and the damp air carried a slightly musty smell.

As he ventured underground, he found the walls of the stone path covered in murals depicting the history of a deity: teaching followers, gathering power, rising to prominence, establishing a Temple… However, certain crucial parts had been forcefully erased by some power.

Wang Meng smiled, checked on Little Flower’s status, and continued onward.

He lost track of how long he walked before entering a great hall, where he saw a shattered Immortal Array.

This Immortal Array was the core of the ruin, and also the core of the forest.

Wang Meng studied the Immortal Array. It was an ancient one, containing hundreds of ancient Immortal Techniques that were now lost to the world.

After studying it carefully for a moment, Wang Meng smiled. ‘Ancient doesn’t necessarily mean better.’ In Master Wang’s eyes, this Immortal Array was far too obsolete. He reached out a hand, unleashed his Divine Power, and began to reconfigure the array…

In an instant, under Wang Meng’s guidance, the Immortal Array’s power began to slowly activate. Suddenly, a torrent of Wood Element energy erupted from the array’s core. The entire ruin brightened as a verdant light of life filled the space.

Just then, he felt a pulse from Little Flower… ‘Looks like the little one has had another breakthrough.’

Wang Meng smiled. ‘Just as I thought.’ He continued repairing the Immortal Array. The moment he set the final piece in place, another message came from Little Flower. The entire forest had become one with it; the forest was now its domain, and its power was engulfing the Sand Demons…

When Wang Meng emerged from the ruin, he saw the forest pulsating with renewed vitality. An invisible shroud of life-giving light covered the canopy. Bathed in this light, the Sand Demons let out wretched screams. Vines erupted from the earth, grinding them into fine sand. Great, thousand-year-old trees uprooted themselves, transforming into treants that began to ferociously slaughter the Sand Demons. You may feel you can lord over life most of the time, but only when it fights back do you realize how weak you truly are.

As the last Sand Demon crumbled to fine sand, a glowing portal opened in the space before him. The task for the Thirteenth Layer was complete. Wang Meng could feel a subtle wisp of power flow into his Fate Grid Seed—the first time he had ever experienced such a sensation.

But the one who had gained the most was Little Flower. Its breakthrough on the Twelfth Layer had completely thrown open the gates to its power, allowing it to fully unleash the astonishing strength of a plant-type True Essence Beast. Little Flower now had a much clearer sense of its future path of cultivation.

Wang Meng chose to continue the challenge. In a flash of light, he took Little Flower and entered the Fourteenth Layer of the Divine Sealing Tower.

For Little Flower, whose power had just surged, a challenge of this level was no longer difficult. Soon, they cleared the Fourteenth Layer as well.