Chapter 556: Jackpot

Instantly, Xiao Yan turned his head to look at the Asura statue behind him, and saw that the third face of the three-faced Asura, previously ethereal, had undergone a tremendous transformation.

Green, vein-like strands spread across the entire third face; Xiao Yan could clearly see emerald-colored fluids flowing like blood, and from afar, it resembled an embryo developing into flesh.

"Is it going to become human?"

Xiao Yan didn't know what effect the third face had—even Hun Lao Gui had said his own third face failed its trial.

But regardless, his Asura Soul-Cutting Art was finally beginning to cultivate the third face, and he now knew what kind of energy was needed.

Xiao Yan exhaled deeply; as he released the Clan Mark and his cultivation began to slowly decline, he suddenly realized his cultivation had risen significantly!

"Fourth transformation!" Xiao Yan was overjoyed—he had only been around mid-Second Transformation, but after days of continuously outputting Dou Qi while the Bodhi Ancient Tree pumped in special life force, he had condensed two additional vortices, reaching Fourth Transformation and beginning to cultivate the Fifth Transformation!

"My Soul Force has also increased a bit—it's nearly mid-Heavenly Realm now." Xiao Yan couldn't help but be astonished; the Bodhi Ancient Tree was too miraculous, no wonder it was called the most wondrous natural phenomenon on the Dou Qi Continent.

Perhaps the Bodhi Ancient Tree lacked the destructive power of Xu Wu Tong Yan or Jing Lian Yao Huo, but in terms of auxiliary ability, it was unquestionably number one on the Dou Qi Continent!

Just as Xiao Yan was ecstatic, praising the Bodhi Ancient Tree, a hum sounded—the tree's spirit extended several green sprouts and retrieved a cluster of emerald light from Space; the moment the light appeared, Xiao Yan's heart thudded!

"Bodhi Heart!! Sage Emperor!"

Xiao Yan leapt up from his cushion, staring at the emerald light held by the sprouts.

Legends said refining the Bodhi Heart not only granted immunity to all illusions and hallucinations, but also bestowed the power to see through Void and perceive truth—becoming a Sage Emperor was merely a side effect!

Of the Bodhi Three Treasures, the Bodhi Seed was the most common—a mortal's treasure—because each time the Bodhi Tree appeared, many Bodhi Seeds would scatter across the world like radiant light.

The Bodhi Heart, however, was unique—one only appeared every thousand years! It could subtly alter one's physique, enhance innate talent, and directly elevate one to Dou Sage, not merely Half-Sage!

As for the final treasure, Hundred Lifetimes Reincarnation beneath the Bodhi Tree, it bestowed wisdom. The Bodhi Ancient Tree was called the Tree of Wisdom not because it was wise itself, but because it could grant wisdom to others!

Look! What do you call a good boss and a great company? Overtime pays overtime! Good performance gets bonuses!

If the Bodhi Ancient Tree founded a Bodhi Ancient Hall, Xiao Yan would join immediately!

With a hiss, two sprouts, like chopsticks, gently nudged the Bodhi Heart to Xiao Yan's lips; with a slight push, the Bodhi Heart, jelly-like, slipped in with a slurp.

The instant he swallowed the Bodhi Heart, a vast, overwhelming life force flooded his entire body—cool and refreshing. The Bodhi Heart drifted through his Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and he clearly felt all the injuries and ailments accumulated from years of cultivation, all the hidden burns left by refining Spiritual Flames, being completely healed.

It gave him a sensation of returning to primal form, reborn and remade.

"Amazing!"

Xiao Yan hadn't even begun refining the Bodhi Heart yet; if he did, the explosive energy released would be unimaginable—how much would his cultivation rise?

Merely swallowing the Bodhi Heart had already made his cultivation stir again!

No wonder the original Bodhi Sage, at only Two-Star Dou Zun, could instantly become a Sage Emperor—the Bodhi Ancient Tree was terrifying!

Yet Xiao Yan hadn't realized his greatest gain wasn't the Bodhi Heart. As the Bodhi Ancient Tree slowly extended its sprouts, preparing to grant him the final Hundred Lifetimes Reincarnation and bestow wisdom, an anomaly occurred!

Whoosh!! Suddenly, the infernal heat throughout the Bodhi Ancient Tree's space surged violently—a black flame, emitting no light, even absorbing light, was radiating an terrifying high temperature!

Shush-shush!!

The Bodhi Ancient Tree's spirit was also startled; a primal fear made it snap its gaze toward a distance—Xiao Yan, overwhelmed by the shock of the Bodhi Heart, had completely forgotten: his biggest prize hadn't been claimed yet!

"This is!"

At this moment, Mao Wu was not in the state of a Spiritual Flame Fusion—he had reverted to his most primal form, like a slow-rising mass of black flame.

As this black flame rose, each tendril of flame, viewed from afar, resembled a miniature black hole; surrounding light and Space twisted continuously. This was the Bodhi Ancient Tree's spirit space, yet it was still being twisted like a knotted rope by this power.

"Is it evolving into Heavenly Emperor Fire?!" Xiao Yan's heart jolted—this shouldn't be possible. Xu Wu Tong Yan Tian Zi Huo existed as only one entity; even Hun Xu Zi currently used only Earth Sub Flame.

According to Xiao Yan's deduction, Heavenly Emperor Fire was a backup: after consuming all Sub Flames, it would form a single flame second only to the original.

To refine an Imperial Grade Pill, two Alchemists must cooperate—naturally requiring two flames capable of refining Imperial Grade Pills.

The original Xu Wu Tong Yan would assist the Alchemist with the strongest Pill Alchemy, while the other Alchemist used Heavenly Emperor Fire as support.

Of course, if one could obtain Jing Lian Yao Huo, one would use that instead—hence Xiao Yan considered Heavenly Emperor Fire the final backup.

Without incident, Xiao Yan would ultimately face off against Hun Xu Zi in a Pill Alchemy contest—the winner would lead the refinement of the Imperial Grade Pill.

Yet now, Xiao Yan sensed Mao Wu evolving once again!

"How could this happen… Could it be caused by the Dou Di's negative energy?!"

The Dou Di realm was unknown; Dou Di had vanished too long. Even Hun Tian Di didn't know what abilities Dou Di possessed, only that Dou Di Bloodline was miraculous—it could alter an entire clan.

This time, Mao Wu devoured most of a Dou Di's negative emotions and absorbed twenty-four purest Bodhi Seeds—breaking all norms and evolving toward Heavenly Emperor Fire!!

Xiao Yan stared tensely at the floating black flame in midair. Ordinary Sub Flames equaled Spiritual Flames ranked fifteenth or lower; Earth Sub Flames were roughly eighth to tenth; Heavenly Emperor Fire, perhaps ranked fifth or sixth?

Even if inferior to Xun Er's Golden Emperor Burning Heaven Flame, it should match the power of Sheng Ling Zhi Yan or Ba Huang Po Mie Yan!

This was the real jackpot!!

Left behind by a Dou Di—beyond common understanding!

Xiao Yan had thought he needed to refine the Bodhi Heart to break through to Dou Sage—but now, with his Fourth Transformation cultivation and Mao Wu's feedback from devouring Dou Di energy into Heavenly Emperor Fire, he might break through to Dou Sage directly, or at least reach Half-Sage!

Beside him, the Bodhi Ancient Tree's spirit was stunned—the very evil force formed from Dou Di's negative energy, which had tormented and endangered it for so long, possessed such power!

But it wasn't surprising; this Dou Di's negative energy had suppressed the Bodhi Ancient Tree for ten thousand years, even overpowering its spirit—imagine the power it originally held.

Moreover, Xiao Yan forgot: even Earth Sub Flame possessed the power of Swallowing Flame. Back then, the Black Robe Dou Di died before the Bodhi Ancient Tree—ask yourself, who among those with Dou Di Bloodline could be stronger than the Dou Di himself?

Though these negative energies lacked Source Qi, they carried Dou Di energy and bloodline! If Hun Tian Di learned a Dou Di's dying negative energy resided within the Bodhi Ancient Tree, he'd personally rush here to kill for it!

Yet events kept piling up!

Within the Bodhi Ancient Tree's spirit orb, Xun Er and the others awoke, then were ejected into a trunk space.

Since Mao Wu had devoured most of the Dou Di's negative energy, control of the Bodhi Ancient Tree had shifted to its spirit—the evil soul illusions automatically dissolved, releasing Xun Er and the others.

Seeing Hun Yu and the others also ejected, Xiao Yan frowned, then glanced at Mao Wu—it still needed time to fully consume all Dou Di negative energy and evolve.

"Before Hundred Lifetimes Reincarnation… first deal with some trouble."

Though Xiao Yan held no grudge against these people, others might not feel the same.

"Tree Boss, I'll come back for you soon—don't even think about running off. There's still a Hundred Lifetimes Reincarnation left." Xiao Yan bowed to the spirit with a smile.

Instantly, before the spirit's stunned gaze, Xiao Yan stepped out of the spirit space in one stride.

Watching Xiao Yan's retreating figure, the Bodhi Ancient Tree swayed its branches, emitting a shush-shush sound: What an interesting human.

A humming sound arose, and strange ripples spread out; then, in a special trunk-space of the Bodhi Ancient Tree, space tears suddenly ripped open, spitting out a number of disheveled figures—precisely the group who had entered the Bodhi Ancient Tree with Xiao Yan, including Xun Er.

Suddenly appearing in this emerald-green peculiar space, everyone's expressions changed; many faces still bore faint traces of shock, clearly realizing that everything they had just experienced was an illusion.

Even Jiu Feng, skilled in spiritual illusions, and Soul Jade, who possessed the Soul Sovereign's Divine Grade Bloodline, felt a chill of dread—for that spiritual illusion was no ordinary illusion; even Jiu Feng's colored eyes could not pierce it!

If Xiao Yan had not awakened with that Bodhi Seed, even he would have needed time to break free.

"What a terrifying Bodhi Ancient Tree."

"This is strange—according to my clan's Ancient Texts, the Bodhi Ancient Tree shouldn't be this sinister." At his side, Gu Hua also frowned deeply.

The Gu Clan, an extremely ancient Dou Emperor Family, has existed since the Wild Wasteland Era; the Bodhi Ancient Tree appears once every thousand years, and the Gu Clan's Ancient Texts naturally record it, with each generation dispatching clan youths to come.

The Bodhi Ancient Tree is a very safe opportunity, a benevolent gift arranged by the Dou Qi Continent—no one who returned from it had ever encountered anything so bizarre.

"Perhaps it has something to do with the Bodhi Ancient Tree having vanished for ten thousand years."

Gradually, the group regained their composure, slowly calming their inner shock, and began to survey this peculiar space teeming with vitality.

"Where's Xiao Yan?" At this moment, Xiao Yixian and others noticed Xiao Yan had not emerged.

"Could Young Master Xiao Yan still be inside the Ancient Tree?!" Qing Lin's heart tightened; everyone turned toward the Ancient Tree projection that had spat them out.

In this miraculous inner space stood a colossal tree projection, thousands of zhang tall—just moments ago, they had been drawn into that shadow and endured a terrifying illusion!

And now Xiao Yan had not been spat out yet!!

"Heh, probably couldn't break the illusion—became a Tree Slave." Hearing this, Jiu Feng's heart leapt with joy—if Xiao Yan had been turned into a Tree Slave by the Bodhi Ancient Tree, this would truly be the best news of the day!

"Hehehe, too bad—the Xiao Clan can't be destroyed again by my Soul Sovereign." Soul Jade shook his head, a look of regret on his face—he had planned to claim credit with Xiao Yan's head, the Xiao Clan's Young Clan Leader.

Now it was gone.

Upon hearing Jiu Feng and Soul Jade's words, Cai Lin and others' eyes instantly turned icy, fists clenched.

Yun Yun whispered, "Now is not the time for battle—and I believe he won't die so easily."

Hearing her master's words, Nalan Yanran nodded in agreement—how could that guy die so quickly? She refused to believe it!

"No—it's not just Brother Xiao Yan. The Bodhi Ancient Tree's projection is different from what we first saw—the Bodhi Heart is gone." Xun Er, however, remained calm, quickly realizing even the Bodhi Heart was missing!

Upon hearing Xun Er's words, everyone hurriedly looked upward at the Bodhi Ancient Tree projection—where the emerald-green light orb had once rested in the center, it had vanished!

"Could it be that Xiao Yan got the Bodhi Heart and passed the Bodhi Ancient Tree's Trial?!" Hai Bodong exclaimed. No wonder they were spat out—it must be because Xiao Yan passed the Trial!

Hearing this, the Yan Alliance members all showed expressions of delight!

Damn, so he got the Bodhi Heart!

Seeing the Bodhi Heart gone, Jiu Feng and Soul Jade, who had been smug moments before, instantly turned grim, teeth gritted—turns out the fool was them!

Gu Qingyang said, "According to some Ancient Texts, the Bodhi Ancient Tree has three treasures: first, the Bodhi Heart; second, the Bodhi Seed; third, meditation beneath the Bodhi Tree. Xiao Yan still hasn't emerged—perhaps he's undergoing the Bodhi Tree meditation. This is an immense opportunity!"

Hearing Gu Qingyang's words, Jiu Feng snorted, "What Bodhi Tree meditation? The Bodhi Heart was merely reclaimed by the tree—he's dead!"

"I don't believe he got the Bodhi Heart."

"You don't believe it? Too bad. But I got it. What are you going to do about it?"

At that moment, Xiao Yan's voice echoed from all directions of this special space—and before everyone's eyes, he stepped out from the projection of the Bodhi Ancient Tree.

"Brother Xiao Yan!"

"Xiao Yan!"

Xiao Yan had his hands clasped behind his back, a slow stream of emerald light radiating from his body—light identical to that of the Bodhi Ancient Tree.

(End of Chapter)