Chapter 624

623. Chapter 618: Forced Excavation

He had seen the few people on the spaceship.

"Senior!" Four delighted voices rang out simultaneously.

Three men and one woman—he had encountered them in the void while chasing the Thief Immortal King, never expecting to meet them again here.

All four were at the late Immortal Emperor realm, their Immortal Qi condensed and refined, their strength decent.

"It's you," Ding Huan nodded.

"Senior, what happened to that insect?" the woman asked urgently.

"I killed it," Ding Huan said casually.

Killing that insect truly eased his heart.

The four drew sharp breaths—the insect had been so formidable, its speed nearly equal to teleportation, yet this Senior not only caught up but killed it; this power…

"Senior, I am Wang Xingzhi. All four of us are from Qi Fu Star Continent; just beyond this point, there's little distance left—your spiritual sense can already sweep over Qi Fu Star Continent…"

The oldest of the Immortal Emperors spoke respectfully.

Ding Huan nodded; his spiritual sense could already sweep over Qi Fu Star Continent.

But these four had weaker spiritual senses and didn't know he had already seen Qi Fu Star Continent.

"What's going on with these roots?" Ding Huan asked.

Wang Xingzhi hurriedly said:

"We don't know when these roots suddenly appeared, but they grow extremely fast. At this growth rate, they'll likely devour all of Qi Fu Star Continent in less than ten thousand years."

We're desperate, searching endlessly in this nearby void for the cause, but we've found nothing."

"We beg you, Senior, for the sake of a planet's life, eliminate these roots."

Ding Huan's gaze fell on the roots—they were indeed bizarre.

"After you discovered these roots, did anything unusual occur?"

Wang Xingzhi said: "Yes. Since discovering these roots, not a single Immortal Emperor has appeared on Qi Fu Star Continent, and even newly emerging Immortal Sovereigns are growing fewer.

Not only that, everyone feels their cultivation speed has inexplicably slowed drastically. I even suspect the celestial Qi and fortune of the star continent are weakening and dissolving—but I can't confirm it."

Ding Huan said: "No need to suspect—these roots truly absorb celestial Qi and fortune."

Ding Huan had long known these roots could absorb celestial fortune, but he hadn't expected their absorption rate to be this fast.

"Is there any way to remove these roots now?" Wang Xingzhi stared anxiously at Ding Huan.

"Step aside. Better yet, return to the star continent. If I can't remove these roots, you must leave Qi Fu Star Continent within three years."

Ding Huan warned.

Just now, Wang Xingzhi said it might take ten thousand years for the roots to devour Qi Fu Star Continent.

Ding Huan could only say the man was far too optimistic.

These roots had already sensed Qi Fu Star Continent.

Based on their previous speed of attack, Ding Huan estimated it would take no more than a hundred years—even ten years—for these roots to fully cover and devour Qi Fu Star Continent.

If the cultivators on Qi Fu Star Continent believe they still have ten thousand years before being devoured, not one of them will escape.

Within three years?

The four exchanged glances.

But they knew well: Ding Huan had no reason, nor need, to deceive them.

"Senior, do these roots grow this fast?" Qiong Yi, the strongest among them, couldn't help asking.

Ding Huan said calmly: "Perhaps even faster than I said…"

Almost as soon as Ding Huan finished speaking, the roots, previously thousands of zhang away, suddenly surged.

Dozens of root tendrils instantly locked onto the five of them.

Aside from Ding Huan's long knife effortlessly tearing through all roots aimed at him, the other four were all trapped.

The four struggled frantically—unable to break free, even their spiritual sense could barely extend.

Several root tendrils extended, stabbing fiercely toward their crowns.

Ding Huan's long knife whipped up, a curtain of blades slicing through.

All roots binding the four were torn into fragments by the blade curtain.

The four barely escaped death, their faces pale as they rushed toward Ding Huan.

"Senior, thank you for saving our lives," Wang Xingzhi was the first to recover, his voice trembling with fear.

Earlier, he thought Ding Huan's words were alarmist; now, he believed them truer than gold.

If that speed continued, not even ten years—certainly not three—would be needed; these mad roots would completely engulf Qi Fu Star Continent and reduce it to dust.

Ding Huan continuously forged void array patterns, soon carving a complete Life-Stripping Array beneath the nearly boundless roots.

As soon as the Life-Stripping Array was complete, Ding Huan summoned the Mirror of Life and Death.

This giant tree had absorbed countless life forces; no matter who the Wang Ba was behind this, Ding Huan intended to claim all that life force.

The Life-Stripping Array activated.

Thick life-force qi surged like a dammed sea, wildly drawn into Ding Huan's Life-Stripping Array and channeled into the Mirror of Life and Death.

Seeing it worked, Ding Huan rejoiced inwardly and immediately began setting up the Fortune-Stripping Array.

As Ding Huan continuously siphoned life force and fortune from the roots into the Mirror of Life and Death, the roots recoiled wildly.

But Ding Huan didn't stop—he charged upward along the roots again.

These roots had absorbed so much life force and fortune; even with his Mirror of Life and Death, he couldn't strip them all in a short time.

He suspected these roots were released by some being from the Divine Realm.

If so, these roots likely led to some corner of the Divine Realm.

If he could sever this tree root before it withdrew back into the God World, that would be perfect.

Ding Huan also knew that this was probably not very possible.

This tree root stretched vast and boundless; even his divine sense couldn't cover it all—how could he sever it?

Ding Huan only wanted to cut off a portion of this tree root, so that it could no longer continue to grow.

At the very least, in the short term, it must pose no threat to the Immortal World universe.

Ding Huan let the Life-and-Death Mirror cling beneath the tree root, stripping away its vitality and fortune, while he himself frantically searched upward for the root's source.

Qiong Yi, Wang Xingzhi, and a few others stared blankly as the tree root and Ding Huan vanished together from their divine sense, taking a long time to recover.

"This senior really is powerful…" that female cultivator finally came back to herself.

This tree root had appeared here for many years, and they had always been helpless against it.

The moment this senior arrived, in just a short time he made the tree root disappear—how could mere 'powerful' even describe it?

Only Wang Xingzhi sighed: "This senior has also brought himself great trouble because of this. If I'm not mistaken, this tree root is definitely not something from the Immortal World universe.

It very likely comes from a higher-rule plane, existing solely to absorb the Immortal World universe's vitality and fortune.

Although the senior repelled that tree root, there's absolutely no way he could cut it down. This senior will surely be remembered by the tree root's master in the future, sigh…"

All of them sighed. They very much wanted to help Ding Huan, but they all knew their own limits, well aware that with their strength, trying to help Ding Huan would be nothing but a fool's dream.

The void tree root retreated quickly; Ding Huan was even faster.

After passing through more than a dozen void vortices, Ding Huan finally felt the change in the rules of heaven and earth.

The void became thick and suffocating; divine sense and immortal essence were suppressed without limit.

He couldn't keep going up—Ding Huan knew this should be the edge of the plane's domain. If he kept going up, he would very likely be crushed to death by this void.

Right here.

Ding Huan kept laying down severing immortal arrays, while the long saber in his hand frantically tore at this boundless tree root.

Because vitality and fortune were continuously being swept away by Ding Huan's Life-and-Death Mirror, and Ding Huan was also laying down severing immortal arrays above the tree root and putting blade to work,

the tree root that had originally been frantically pulling itself upward was finally pinned in place by Ding Huan.

The tree root sensed an intense crisis.

The originally vast and boundless tree root began to contract frantically.

In just a few short days, Ding Huan's divine sense could already make out the size of this tree root.

Although Ding Huan couldn't see further up, judging by the speed at which this tree root was shrinking, once it shrank to a hundred million zhang across, he would have a chance to sever it.

Severing immortal arrays were laid down one after another, and the long saber, under his divine sense's control, kept tearing at the tree root.

Because the tree root kept pulling itself upward, the severing immortal arrays Ding Huan laid down were also continually carried away by the tree root.

After the tree root shrank to a certain range, it almost stopped shrinking.

A tree root covering such a vast expanse in the boundless void—wanting to sever it was completely impossible.

Ding Huan carved out array pattern after array pattern, and the long saber in his hand coordinated with these severing array patterns to strike with full force.

"Crack!" A tearing sound rang out.

A portion of the tree root was forcibly gouged away by Ding Huan.

The severed portion of the tree root instantly vanished into a plane domain beyond the reach of Ding Huan's divine sense.

Ding Huan then deployed a relocation immortal array, sending the portion of tree root he had severed into the Five Elements World.

This portion of tree root he had cut off was ten thousand zhang across and a full hundred thousand zhang long.

Ding Huan raised a hand; the Life-and-Death Mirror shrank and landed in his palm.

His divine sense swept in—the Life-and-Death Mirror's life-and-death space was filled with vitality aura, all of it absorbed from the tree root.

Not only that, a portion of the Immortal World universe's fortune was also locked within the Life-and-Death Mirror.

Ding Huan was very satisfied as he put away the Life-and-Death Mirror.

With such abundant vitality in the Life-and-Death Mirror, even if he were swept into the edge of the plane domain before him, in a place with no vitality at all, he could still survive.

This tree root had a portion forcibly gouged away by him like this, and had part of its vitality and fortune stripped away.

To grow back into the Immortal World universe again, it should take some time, right?

This was the time he had won for himself; during this period, he might already be able to finish off the tree root's master.

Although he had once again offended an absolute powerhouse, Ding Huan didn't take it to heart.

Not to mention that he had temporarily repelled this disgusting tree root—just the vitality he had harvested couldn't be measured by wealth.