Chapter 335: Three Great Immortal Species, a Star-Dome Route?

Ever since Li Yu awoke from the "script" of the Master of the Veil, his perception had been corrected and reshaped.

After leaving Wanfu City, everything he saw felt incredibly novel and broadened his horizons.

The sight of the Ancient Demon Boat seen through the carriage window at this moment was the same:

This was both an ancient and bizarre continent!

And a giant demon boat suspended in the void.

Its main body was startlingly formed from the fusion of continental rock strata and the remains of what was clearly a powerful evil god; one could even clearly hear a terrifying heartbeat resonating like thunder, as if the evil god integrated into the demon boat had not yet died.

The Pioneer was also an ancient god train, but its hull was pitifully small compared to the demon boat.

Added to this were the giant bronze trees fused with flesh and blood visible everywhere, the purple crystal river flowing in the distance, the rust-colored clouds drifting in the sky, the strange winds mixed with gold sand, and the stardust permeating all space... all these magnificent and horrifying scenes seemed to testify to the extraordinary nature of the Ancient Demon Boat.

Just looking at the external appearance, the Ancient Demon Boat seemed to quite thoroughly outclass Wanfu City.

And this was not even counting the great object that truly caught Li Yu's gaze and almost made him unable to resist opening a "Truth Bubble."

The World Tree!

This was a magnificent, colossal tree that had completely merged into the entire continent.

Its whole body was black-gold and filthy beyond measure.

It seemed to be woven from rotting flesh and some kind of star marrow; the purple-red light radiating from the star marrow crystals was astonishingly bright, completely replacing the functions of the sun and moon, while also continuously releasing radiation of alarming intensity.

Countless tentacle-like branches reached out in all directions, piercing through the Eternal Mist that shrouded most of the demon boat, heading deep into the void.

The surface of the bark was naturally engraved with a large number of text patterns filled with blasphemous and fallen Qi, and the root system, like thick blood vessels, burrowed into the continent—that is, into the flesh and blood of the ancient god.

Since it was a root system, it naturally possessed the power of suction.

This caused the demon boat to resound with frantic screams that made one's soul tremble, in addition to the violent heartbeat.

But these harsh environments did not seem to affect any of the residents living on the demon boat.

"Mortals, or slightly more fragile races, could not survive here."

"The high-concentration pollution radiation is enough to kill the vast majority of living beings."

"To be able to adapt to this environment, one must either be a special immortal species or a favored one of a true god."

"Or, both."

"I never imagined such a special territory was hidden in the present world."

In an instant, Li Yu made some basic judgments.

Because of his observation, the others also looked out at the outside world through the carriage windows, exclaiming in succession.

Even the Children of Taboo could not help but glance sideways.

These God-Chosen favored ones were all well-informed, unlike Li Yu, who was a genuine "bumpkin."

Even they had such expressions, which showed how special the faction of the Ancient Demon Boat was.

The Pioneer's evil artificial intelligence was clearly having a bit of fun, deliberately not providing a detailed description in advance.

It was only at this moment that it transmitted the relevant background via telepathy in the form of a murmuring delirium:

"As you all can see!"

"The demon boat is actually formed by the fusion of an ancient continent and a powerful, nameless ancient god."

"That ancient god did not die completely, but after being defeated by three Star Gods, was alive-refined into a continental fragment and cast into this radiant demon boat, so that their favored clans and people could multiply and live here."

"Those three Star Gods are called 【Rot-Molting】, 【Spiral Abyss】, and 【Shadow Devourer】; they descended into the present world in the ancient era and interbred with humans, giving birth to three immortal species."

"It was only later that they were defeated by the Six Great Orthodox Gods and expelled from the present world."

"In order not to let their bloodline kin go extinct, they united to refine the demon boat and dropped a seed of the Filthy World Tree... but by the time this was completed, the formed demon boat could no longer return to the present world's continent and could only be forced to remain in this void rift."

"For many years, the Filthy World Tree has grown by absorbing the flesh and blood of the nameless ancient god, while also stealing prey from the traps of the Eternal Mist through some lucky branches and roots, and pilfering nutrients from places like the Evil God's Intestines and the Underworld River, only then managing to feed the three species whose numbers are increasing."

"They are the Molting-Form Clan who worship 'Rot-Molting', the Bone-Spiral Clan who worship 'Spiral Abyss', and the Shadow-Scab Clan who worship 'Shadow Devourer'; their abilities are respectively..."

"Because of the special location, all three clans have legendary and demigod-level powerhouses internally, plus the three Star Gods providing support from the outside, and their permanently neutral stance, which is why they have been able to survive for so many years."

"But now, the growth of the World Tree has reached a bottleneck."

"Those roots and branches that stole nutrients have all been severed."

"The three clans face the predicament of exhausting their resources, and once the World Tree withers from lack of nutrients, the demon boat will disintegrate, and they will all die in this void rift."

"For this reason, the three clans secretly allied with my Wanfu Kingdom, which led to the birth of the 【Demon Boat Station】."

"I assume you have all received your respective divine oracle orders!"

"Then, go execute them: negotiate the deal with the three clans, complete the mission, and help this World Tree pass through the world barrier so it can re-introduce the three Star Gods into the realm."

"Once you successfully help the clans of the demon boat open the external passage."

"Then the 【Pioneer】 will use the Demon Boat Station as a starting point to open up a new route to the Boundless Spirit Realm; this train will no longer just shuttle through the present world, but will enter above the Star Dome, and can even go directly to your respective homelands."

"Once this great undertaking is completed, you will all receive a lifetime free ticket."

"Wherever the Pioneer goes in the future, you will all be able to go; once on board, you will all receive the protection of the great Master of the Veil's authority."

Without a doubt, this segment was actually the introductory background for the mission.

It was very detailed and very direct.

And at the end, it painted a beautiful picture for everyone.

One has to say, an ancient god train shuttling through the boundless sea of stars and the multiverse... this scene, just imagining it, already makes one yearn for it.

After listening, the group slowly stepped off the Pioneer.

And on the bronze plaza within the station, they saw the immortal species, roughly divided into three clans.

Li Yu's curious gaze swept over them without any concealment.

There was no need to look further; one only needed to stare at the three figures at the very front, whose Qi was the most intense and terrifying.

The appearance of the first one already made Li Yu feel shocked.

His entire body was covered in a horny layer like rotting tree bark, with fluorescent green pus seeping from the cracks; the intense radiation caused the surrounding air to distort.

His face looked like a melted wax figure, his features completely twisted and reorganized; a hideous gash split the top of his head, from which a bloody, newly-born head squeezed out, and the old skin shed and hung down like a wriggling cloak.

"Molting-Form Clan!"

"The clan that worships the Rot-Molting Star God, a genuine immortal species that can devour radiation to grow stronger; they molt once every hundred years, and only after molting nine times in succession are they considered to have entered adulthood."

"The new body is indestructible and can release radiation storms, and the 'old skin' that is shed also transforms into a bizarre living creature that can be summoned for battle."

"Every adult individual is proficient in the art of curses."

"This person is at least at the legendary level within their clan; what a terrifying Qi. If they had malicious intent, with a single curse, I fear there would be few God-Chosen favored ones on the field who could withstand it without dodging."

"The most shameless part is the so-called 【Old Skin】."

"It is very much like a so-called magic cloak; a mature Molting-Form individual can summon nine at once, which is equivalent to gaining an excellent treasure every time they molt."

After finishing his internal grumbling, Li Yu looked at the representatives of the other two clans.

One female and one male!

The female one had an appearance somewhat similar to a human woman, but a bizarre and horrifying version.

Her delicate and graceful body was actually completely charred, black as ink, with skin covered in cracks from which dark, corrosive black smoke seeped; she was literally a charred corpse just pulled out of a kiln.

But what truly attracted Li Yu's gaze was her shadow.

That black shadow that was constantly changing, like a "living thing."

Li Yu felt an extremely terrifying threat from it.

"Shadow-Scab Clan!"

"An immortal species that worships the Shadow-Devourer Star God; when they are born, they are just a shadow that can barely interfere with reality. The process of reaching adulthood is to constantly invade the real world and, through various secret arts, construct an 'external corpse' of their own—that is, the charred body—which usually takes eight or nine hundred years to fully achieve."

"Their entire clan is female; it can be considered parthenogenesis."

"Their abilities are even more disgusting than the Molting-Form Clan; their true form is a shadow, almost immune to most physical attacks, yet they themselves can attack the enemy's shadow, thereby causing the enemy's true body to suffer equal damage, or be completely controlled as a puppet."

"The black smoke released from within their external corpses contains highly toxic poison; once the dosage is too high, it will cause the enemy's body to carbonize."

"Hmm, this clan is the nemesis of most cultivators."

"However, if they were to encounter a follower of the 【Master of the Furnace】 or a 【Judgment Star Lord God-Chosen】 like Lady Ba, they would likely be countered to death."

With these thoughts, Li Yu looked at the representative of the third clan.

This one's appearance was the most eye-catching.

And it was obvious to anyone!

He was a hybrid.

Because his exterior was literally that of a snail-man.

His back was covered by a spiral exoskeleton, the number of spiral layers symbolizing his age, with extremely abstract and polluting text engraved upon it.

His body was soft and transparent, with the blood vessels and intestines inside clearly visible.

Especially the "marrow core" suspended in the heart position, which flickered with a starlight that made one look twice.

"Bone-Spiral Clan!"

"According to the Pioneer's AI description, although this clan is not very intelligent, their defense and combat power are the best among the three clans."

"Their defense goes without saying; whether young or adult, they can completely retract into that spiral shell, the hardness of which is unimaginable."

"And their combat power all comes from that heart born from a complete simulation of a star core."

"When activated, not only can they release radiation storms of unimaginable intensity to kill enemies in an instant or force them to mutate, but even more terrifyingly, within a certain range, they can control gravity and attraction, just like a god."

"The most critical point is that in times of necessity, such as when the demon boat is on the verge of extinction."

"They can choose to have the entire clan commit suicide and fuse, thereby condensing into a 'super-large star core,' and use this to forcibly drag the three Star Gods who are eyeing them from the outside into the present world."

"Of course, to accomplish this, other conditions must be met, such as the sacrifice of the other two clans, the sacrifice of the World Tree, and some favorable timing."

"No wonder the six great righteous gods would allow this 【Ancient Demon Boat】 force to remain stuck in this crevice instead of simply wiping them out."

"These three tribes all look extremely troublesome."

"If we were to attack by force, it might even lead to disaster; it is better to wait silently for their World Tree to lose its nourishment and wither to death."

Just as Li Yu was observing them one by one and muttering in his heart.

Both sides had already begun a friendly contact.

This was, after all, a deal that had been reached long ago!

The three Star Gods, the City Lord's Mansion, and the divine entities behind these distinguished guests had quietly negotiated behind the scenes.

They only needed to execute it.

Among the three immortal species, the Bone Conch tribe had the strongest combat power but lacked brains, the Shadow Scab tribe was difficult to communicate with, so naturally, the Transmogrification tribe took the lead.

What surprised Li Yu quite a bit was that the name of their tribe's representative was quite archaic in style.

He saw the waxen face pull into an ugly smile and greet them enthusiastically, his old leather cloak wriggling and blowing a foul wind.

"My name is 【Transmogrification Daoist】, and these two are Lady Shadow and Venerable Conch respectively. We three each hold the position of High Priest within our tribes, and we welcome the distinguished guests to the Demon Boat."

"To avoid giving those six shameless righteous gods an excuse to send troops to conquer us, the Pioneer can only stay here for one hour, so I will not stand on ceremony with you all."

"Our three tribes have each arranged some tasks and corresponding rewards."

"Distinguished guests, please come up and choose for yourselves."

"This is only the first attempt, so we do not require you to help our Demon Boat World Tree pass through the barrier and earn its freedom immediately."

"If it does not succeed this time, then we shall try the next."

"We and all of you are beings with long lives, so there is no rush, no rush at all."

Transmogrification Daoist's words sounded like there was no rush.

But his actions and those of the other two priests were not slow at all.

As soon as he finished speaking, they each made a move.

The Daoist summoned a giant piece of human skin covered in various tasks, while Lady Shadow spat out a cloud of black smoke, the contents of which were the same.

As for Venerable Conch, he simply used starlight to project the text.

The Forbidden Children, Troll Kings, Buck-toothed Green-skins... these passengers in the arena were all heaven-favored children who were overlords in their own homelands.

Although they had divine oracles, they were not very interested in doing tasks, especially when time was as tight as only one hour.

But when they glanced over and caught sight of the task contents and the rewards, they were all moved.

"Search for small fissures existing in the 【World Barrier】 and guide the path for the branches and roots of the World Tree?"

"Reward: If successful, one tiny Star Marrow."

"Is it truly there?"

Almost immediately, the sharp-eyed Skull-Hunting Rat Demon saw one of the tasks and its reward, and let out a cry of excitement.

(End of chapter)