Chapter 344: Sound Emperor? Followers of the Earth Supreme Realm! Bodhi Ancient Tree!

Xiao Yan was for a moment somewhat worried, because his greatest reliance was the ability to refine alien fire through the Burning Decision and the Buddha Fury Fire Lotus that merges multiple alien fires.

If Chu Yang's idea was to fight using alien fire, he would not answer under any circumstances, because once he lost the alien fire, his strength would plummet.

But if Chu Yang wanted him to help gather all alien fire, waiting for himself and his alien fire, his strength would also become far stronger than it is now.

Even if he did not break through to Dou Emperor at that time, he could at least reach Half‑Emperor and stand on the same level as Chu Yang.

Thinking of this, Xiao Yan slightly eased his mind.

At worst he could repay Chu Yang with a favor in other aspects later; after all, once he has enough strength, he gains the confidence to bargain.

…………

After leaving the Ancient Domain Terrace, Chu Yang went straight to the depths of the Wanghuang Ancient Domain, sitting cross‑legged atop a mountain peak, sorting through the myriad pieces of information in his mind.

These pieces of information came from the images he had just seen via the Clare audio, but those images could not be linked together, yielding only fragmented data.

Chu Yang could only barely arrange these data and then infer the general content.

The final result pointed to an ancient era, to a war that once occurred in the Wanghuang Ancient Domain.

Chu Yang could not discern the war's cause from the data, but judging from some images, the two sides were most likely the native strongmen of the Douqi Continent and the Outer Evil Tribe.

The Ancient Domain Terrace was not the battlefield's center, yet even so, from the images, every participating strongman's weakest level was the Dou Saint Realm.

Even the Dou Emperor‑level combatants reached double digits!

This point further confirmed to Chu Yang that the secret of the Primeval Ancient Domain must be linked to the Douqi Continent's historical fissure.

However, the information was too one‑sided, and there was not much valuable content beyond that.

It is worth mentioning that Chu Yang spotted in those images a figure who could very likely be the Sound Emperor.

This person's strength was immense, and it was precisely his arrival that turned the originally hard‑fought battle at the Ancient Domain Terrace into a lopsided trend, granting the Douqi Continent side a complete victory.

The Sound Emperor wielded a bamboo flute as a weapon, killing with melody; even a Dou Emperor‑level strongman of the Outer Evil Tribe would be slain by sonic waves if they entered his hundred‑zhang radius.

From this, one can judge that the Sound Emperor's strength must surpass the Dou Emperor level! If measured against the realms of the Great Thousand Worlds, the Dou Emperor corresponds to the Supreme Realm, so the Sound Emperor is likely at least an Earth Supreme Realm strongman! The Bodhi Ancient Tree appears once every thousand years, yet since the ancient era—over ten thousand years to the present—it has never manifested.

Now it reappears, but in the Wanghuang Ancient Domain.

Combined with the information from the Ancient Domain Terrace, the Sound Emperor, who is highly likely linked to the historical fissure, also participated in the war that occurred in the Wanghuang Ancient Domain.

All clues point to the Wanghuang Ancient Domain, and the anomalies here make Chu Yang feel he is getting ever closer to the truth.

The reason he wants to uncover the Douqi Continent's historical fissure is not merely curiosity, but a persistent feeling that the Douqi Continent hides some secret.

If he can excavate this secret, it may bring him an unexpected surprise.

Putting his thoughts aside, Chu Yang reached out, tore open the space before him, then created a relatively stable pocket world and stepped into it.

For the next nearly month, Chu Yang remained in seclusion within the pocket world, cultivating while also diverting attention to forge pills.

Back then, in the Kama Empire, he obtained a great amount of heavenly materials and earthly treasures from various races; later, when visiting major factions, he exchanged pills for numerous medicinal herbs.

Because Chu Yang would readily produce ninth‑grade pills, the major factions were naturally eager to trade with him.

After all, those heavenly materials and earthly treasures are hard to fully utilize in the hands of the major factions, and even hiring high‑grade alchemists to brew medicines carries a considerable failure rate.

Rather than that, they would rather trade them with Chu Yang; they don't even mind taking a loss to forge a good bond with the continent's top strongman.

Thus Chu Yang's stock of medicinal herbs is abundant, sufficient at least to sustain him until he fully evolves the Four Sacred True Spirits.

However, he also discovered a drawback: using the Ascension Spirit Manual to swallow pills can accelerate the evolution of the Four Beast True Spirits, but it is far inferior to the Divine Dragon True Spirit's method of directly devouring special treasures.

After the Divine Dragon True Spirit devoured the Void Thunder Pool, its thunder attribute power surged, and subsequent evolutions will continue to boost thunder strength.

This is akin to devouring special treasures, which can refine a true spirit's essence, whereas ingesting herbs or pills merely accumulates the energy needed for evolution.

One is a qualitative change, the other a quantitative change.

With equal evolutionary degree, the Divine Dragon spirit's power now surpasses the other three true spirits.

However, at present Chu Yang cannot attend to everything; priorities must be set, and perfecting the Refinement Treasure Manual naturally takes far higher precedence than boosting the Four Sacred True Spirits.

Even with Chu Yang's alchemical efficiency, turning all stored herbs into pills will take time, as the Four Sacred True Spirits require a massive number of pills for evolution.

Feeding these four Gold‑Swallowing Beasts to satisfaction is no easy task.

When Chu Yang left the pocket world, the evolution "progress bars" of the Four Sacred True Spirits jumped a large segment again, but during that period he had been continuously "feeding" the Phoenix True Spirit, Divine Turtle True Spirit, and Qilin True Spirit.

The three spirits' progress bars have each reached seventy percent, while the Divine Dragon spirit only rose five percent, reaching seventy‑five percent.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Chu Yang plans to have all four spirits upgrade simultaneously.

After all, once upgraded, the Four Sacred True Spirits will undergo a qualitative change; who knows whether Ao Ting can still suppress the Divine Dragon spirit's power and maintain balance with the other three spirits? If the balance breaks and conflicts arise among the Four Sacred True Spirits, the joke would be huge.

Another reason is that Chu Yang vaguely feels… this is likely only the first stage of the Four Sacred True Spirits' evolution, or the first tier of the Ascension Spirit Manual.

After all, this is a technique contained within the Divine Tree fruit; if it can only raise the ceiling of the Si Sacred True Spirit to the Dou Emperor level, it doesn't quite match the Divine Tree's "prestige".

Moreover, whether it's the Refinement Treasure Manual or the Dragon‑Elephant Bright King Decision, both have extremely high growth caps, so the Ascension Spirit Manual won't be inferior.

Chu Yang has kept the enhancement of the Dragon‑Elephant Bright King Manual on hold, not because he ignored the technique, but because there was simply no suitable opportunity.

If one can draw the true dragon‑true elephant power into the body, this body‑refining method's level will rise again! "Let's calculate the time… Zi Yan should be about done digesting the Dragon‑Phoenix Origin Fruit's power, right?"

Chu Yang squinted, pondering, when he suddenly felt a surge of Qi energy flowing in the deepest part of the Wanghuang Ancient Domain, which invigorated his spirit.

Bodhi Ancient Tree!

…………

In the depths of the Wanghuang Ancient Domain, a towering ancient tree stood on the vast plain, appearing somewhat abrupt.

The ancient tree emitted bursts of fresh aura that gathered overhead, constantly shifting into various shapes, looking extraordinarily strange.

The ancient breath emanating from the tree seemed as if the tree had traversed the long river of time and space, arriving from the very dawn of ages. A dazzling radiant glow floated slowly before the tree.

Through the light, one could faintly see a heart‑shaped outline rhythmically beating.

Bodhi Ancient Tree! Bodhi Heart!

Chu Yang stood alone in the high air a hundred zhang above the Bodhi Ancient Tree, looking down.

At this moment, in front of the Bodhi Ancient Tree, countless figures had already gathered; they were almost all at the Dou Zun Realm, yet none at the Half‑Saint level.

Chu Yang merely said that strongmen below the Dou Saint level could vie for opportunities, but no one knows whether this "below Dou Saint" includes Half‑Saint.

Therefore no faction or half‑saint strongman dares to risk incurring his displeasure to test the rules.

Led by Xiao Yan and the top youngsters of each tribe, the peak‑level Dou‑Zun warriors are employing various tactics to battle the five half‑saint puppets that guard the Bodhi Ancient Tree.

Seeing the five half‑saint puppets all being blasted to death, Xiao Yan and the others rushed straight toward the Bodhi Ancient Tree.

Immediately, the Bodhi Ancient Tree suddenly burst into dazzling light, attempting to envelop everyone within it.

Chu Yang's eyes flashed with a sharp light; his figure vanished in an instant, and when he reappeared, he was standing before everyone.

The brilliant light fell, immediately wrapping Chu Yang, and the scene before his eyes changed rapidly.

It was still the Wild Ancient Realm, but the Bodhi Ancient Tree was nowhere to be seen; the surroundings were silent, and the plain was empty.

After waiting quietly for a moment, Chu Yang shook his head and said, "Where is your illusion? Why won't it appear?"

"Or perhaps that illusion which can communicate human negative emotions and desires has no effect on me?"

He seemed to be speaking to the air, but as soon as the words left his mouth, a miniature Bodhi Ancient Tree materialized nearby.

The trunk quivered slightly, and the leaves rustled, as if responding to Chu Yang.

"I can help you purge the Dou Emperor's negative emotions, but I need to know the truth of that time; don't try to fool me with polished images."

Chu Yang's expression was flat, and his tone even carried a hint of pressure.

The miniature Bodhi Ancient Tree—or more precisely, the tree spirit of the Bodhi Ancient Tree—shook, then emitted bursts of light.

A moment later, two towering figures abruptly materialized on the plain, exuding a terrifying aura.

Chu Yang instantly judged that the two's realms were far beyond merely Dou Emperor—they were Earth Supreme! One wielded a bamboo flute and was exactly the strongman that Chu Yang had previously seen on the ancient realm platform through a Klein bottle, the one suspected to be the Sound Emperor. The other was clad in black, with a stern face and surrounded by gray‑black mist.

The two fought each other; the black‑clad Earth Supreme employed mysterious, unfathomable tactics, and his power was neither Dou Qi nor the spirit power of the bamboo‑flute strongman.

Outer Evil Tribe!

If earlier it was only speculation, Chu Yang can now be certain that the Dou Qi continent's strongmen gathered in the Wild Ancient Realm to resist the Outer Evil Tribe! In the end, the black‑clad Earth Supreme was defeated and tried to flee.

The scene then shifted; he confronted the Bodhi Ancient Tree, attempting to forcibly draw its power and tree spirit to heal his wounds, but was slain by the Bodhi Ancient Tree together with the bamboo‑flute strongman.

However, at the moment of his fall, a wisp of the black‑clad Earth Supreme's negative emotion merged into the Bodhi Ancient Tree, and after a long time it infiltrated the tree spirit.

The scene abruptly halted; Chu Yang squinted and suddenly asked, "Was that person the Sound Emperor?"

The Bodhi Ancient Tree gently swayed a few times, releasing a wave of Soul Force.

After deciphering its meaning, Chu Yang frowned.

Because the Bodhi Ancient Tree told him that the bamboo‑flute strongman was not the Sound Emperor, but the strongest among the Sound Emperor's many followers! Recalling the information obtained earlier in Yin Valley, the founder of Yin Valley was also a follower of the Sound Emperor, but due to insufficient strength he could not continuously follow the Sound Emperor.

Later, when the Sound Emperor vanished without a trace, he founded Yin Valley, abstaining from external conflicts, merely waiting for the Sound Emperor's return.

Now it seems the Sound Emperor indeed has many followers, some even as powerful as Earth Supremes like the bamboo‑flute strongman! If even his followers are that strong, what realm could the Sound Emperor himself be in?

Heaven Supreme? But if he truly is a Heaven Supreme, how could he be unknown in the Vast Thousand Realm? "Have you ever seen the Sound Emperor?" Chu Yang asked again.

The Bodhi Ancient Tree emitted a burst of light, finally manifesting a human shape before Chu Yang.

Seeing this figure, Chu Yang couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

She was a woman, with delicate features and a tall figure; she was not strikingly beautiful, nor particularly charismatic, yet at a glance she exuded an unparalleled elegance! He truly did not expect that the mysterious Sound Emperor could be a woman.

"What realm is this person in?" Chu Yang withdrew his gaze and looked at the Bodhi Ancient Tree.

This time the Bodhi Ancient Tree gave no reply; Chu Yang thought for a moment and asked, "Is she still alive?"

The Bodhi Ancient Tree trembled lightly, yet still gave no response.

"You don't know either…" Chu Yang frowned.

After a moment, he waved his hand and said, "Never mind! I'll first help you purge the negative emotions of that Outer Dou Emperor!"

As the words fell, Chu Yang gently waved his hand, and a robust wave of Soul Force surged out, directly enveloping the Bodhi Ancient Tree's tree spirit.

Fine strands of gray‑black vapor emanated from the tree spirit within the Bodhi Ancient Tree.

In just a few breaths, Chu Yang withdrew the Soul Force; the Bodhi Ancient Tree's tree spirit, which had been somewhat lively, suddenly shook violently, sending out waves of soul energy.

The meaning contained within it seemed to say…

"It's not over yet; why did you stop?" Chu Yang smiled and said, "Don't you still have another option?"

"Leave the remaining matters to him!"

"Also give him another opportunity; after it's over, come find me again—I have many things I want to discuss with you."

The Bodhi Ancient Tree showed some displeasure, emitting a wave of soul energy that protested; it gradually faded and finally vanished completely.

"Is that how you make me wary?" Chu Yang said, slightly surprised.

The tree spirit of the Bodhi Ancient Tree had just expressed discontent, yet it seemed to leave in a sulky silence, daring not to speak.

If the Bodhi Ancient Tree can even directly contend with an Earth Supreme, why would it be so wary of him, a Six‑Star Dou Saint? (End of chapter)