Martial Ascent to Divinity-Chapter 433 - 418: Black Stone

Unexpectedly, such a precious Battlefield Shield Order was already in hand.

It’s a pity there’s only one; it would be nice to have another to give to Zhang Xinglie.

Zhou Leng walked back under the Frost Giant Tree.

Huang waited in place and immediately rushed over upon seeing Zhou Leng.

After playing with Huang for a while, he organized the gains from the Tree-man World.

The Ancient Tree Fossil, Giant Insect Juice, Ant Eggs, and other items containing Life Force couldn’t be sold; they were all to be reserved for the cultivation of the Star Phoenix Rejuvenation Technique.

Items like Magic Potion and Dragon Meat, which he could consume, also needed to be kept.

Some miscellaneous ordinary treasures would be dealt with by the Martial Arts Brigade.

As for some decent items, part of them would be sold at a high price through the Ice Snow Divine Sect, and the rest directly handled by the Cyan Flame.

In the end, some different items were laid out before Zhou Leng.

The Octagonal Bone Fragment, acquired from Jax in the Dwarf World, had shown no use so far.

A few relics from a High-Level Civilization, gifted by Aiden, felt like treasures but were actually depleted of power, having been seen in the Giant World.

They could be considered nice but of no practical use.

The last item, also gifted by Aiden, was a piece of Martial Arts Traces.

The Black Jade, half a meter tall and irregularly shaped, had one smooth face and three damaged sides.

It was exceptionally light, even lighter than wood.

A strange scratch remained on the smooth side.

Zhou Leng placed the Black Jade before him, quietly stared at the scratch, and tried to feel the essence of Martial Arts.

He almost dozed off but felt nothing.

"Aiden probably couldn’t feel anything himself, so he pretended it was a treasure and tossed it to me?"

Zhou Leng stopped paying attention to the Black Jade, glanced around, and walked toward the Trial Gate.

The first stage, Land of Blades, completed the initial challenge.

The second stage, Insect Beast Valley, was incomplete, not due to the pain, but due to the disgust of having insects burrowing into his body.

But after the High-level Tree-man’s legacy, Zhou Leng felt he could try again.

"Stage Two, Insect Beast Valley."

As soon as Zhou Leng said this, his entire being was sucked into the Gate of Purgatory.

Huang, seeing Zhou Leng vanish, felt instantly bored, yawned, and touched its snout with a paw.

Looking around, just as it was about to find Xiaoba, it caught sight of the Black Jade out of the corner of its eye.

Huang tilted its head, stealthily approached the Black Jade, and stared at the scratch on it.

Initially, it just stared, but gradually, a black sky appeared in its eyes, a giant claw tearing through like white lightning, filling the entire world.

Huang’s eyes flashed continuously, looking intently at the Black Jade.

In the Insect Beast Valley.

Zhou Leng easily endured the beast’s bites, and his body recovered.

Subsequently, a swarm of various bugs surged like a tide, burrowing in and voraciously consuming from within.

Indescribable pain and tingling spread through his body, but the hardest to bear was the unspeakable disgust.

Yet, having undergone the Tree-man’s legacy, Zhou Leng imagined himself as a great tree, and unconsciously was able to slowly endure.

When the time was up, his body was eaten into emptiness by the swarm.

The body regenerated.

Soon, new insects emerged, seemingly mere flies, mosquitoes, and other common bugs.

Zhou Leng faced them with calm detachment.

But soon, an unbelievable scene unfolded.

The bugs didn’t bite, didn’t consume, didn’t even attack.

They burrowed in and laid eggs.

Zhou Leng felt his skin crawl.

The number of eggs inside him increased, and increased.

His skin swelled into purple-red fleshy bulges.

Squish...

The egg on his shoulder burst first, and amidst splattering blood and juices, a fly crawled out.

Then, all over Zhou Leng’s body, the surface burst open, spraying blood and fluid; one by one, insects jumped or flew out.

The whole body was covered with dense, wriggling holes.

These holes remained open, continually spewing out newly hatched insects...

Zhou Leng became a nest for insects.

Gritting his teeth, he silently endured...

Who knows how much time passed, but Zhou Leng finally couldn’t take it anymore and exited the Trial Gate.

Upon returning, Zhou Leng looked down at his skin, seeing all unchanged, yet all over tingling with unbearable disgust.

Though he had left the Insect Beast Valley, that feeling clung like a bone-gnawing worm, refusing to dissipate.

"No way, it’s too disgusting... Fourth stage, Red Lotus Fire Purgatory!"

Zhou Leng entered the Red Lotus Fire Purgatory, first engulfed in searing flames, then freezing flames.

The intense pain drove away the previous disgust.

It hurt, but it was exhilarating.

Even until burned to death by the Red Lotus Fire Purgatory, a smile remained on his face.

Much later, Zhou Leng awoke, pondering once more the significance of the Gate of Purgatory.

"To confront fear, perhaps..."

Turning his head, he saw Huang napping with the Black Jade.

"Eh?"

Zhou Leng walked over and picked up the stone.

"Ah..." Huang woke with a start and pounced on the stone.

Recognizing Zhou Leng, it instantly woke up, wagging its tail.

"Do you want this stone?" It was the first time Zhou Leng had seen Huang like this.

Huang nodded fervently, smiling.

"Does this thing help you with your cultivation?"

Huang nodded, then quickly shook his head.

"You just keep pretending."

Huang opened his mouth blankly, as if he didn’t understand what Zhou Leng was saying.

"Since it suits you, you keep it. If you comprehend it, remember to tell me what it is," Zhou Leng said.

Huang still looked blank, clinging tightly to the black jade stone with both front paws.

"Dumb dog, acting smart at the right moment," Zhou Leng stretched out his hand, pinching Huang’s face.

Huang smiled happily, not angry at all.

Zhou Leng glanced at the black jade stone, guessing that since humans couldn’t comprehend it, it was probably marks left by a beast expert.

"Do you have a storage item? Should I make one to hang around your neck? In battle, take it off, or let Xiaoba store it in his nose."

Huang’s eyes lit up, nodding desperately.

"Let’s go, I’ll have the elf make you a magic spirit bag bellyband."

One man and one dog ran to Mammoth Town, had the elf slightly modify a magic spirit bag, and fastened it around Huang’s chest and abdomen.

With the magic spirit bag, Huang was so excited he went crazy, running wildly around Mammoth Town, barking twice at everyone he met, proudly pointing at the magic spirit bag with his paw.

Zhou Leng found Silver Lake Moon, practiced Silver Lake Wind through the magic mirror, and eventually he relented and decided to offer two Life Tree seeds.

With the Tree of Life, there would be a continuous supply of Water of Life.

Although it was only at the Grandmaster level, very hard to reach Demigod level, the Water of Life it produced was sufficient for someone to use until Martial Saint.

Calculating this way, his actual gains in the Tree-man World far exceeded the original estimate.

One Tree of Life was worth at least a hundred billion, or even more.

If he could somehow catalyze it into a Demigod, it would be a trillion-dollar treasure.

It’s just the early investment in cultivation is quite large, but taking it slow is fine, as there are enough corpses in the Fierce Beast Realm, and abundant water in Mammoth Lake.

If nothing else works, let Huang ask Elder Tree for some guidance on the Tree of Life, after all, they’re trees, they’re kin.

Next, Zhou Leng gradually dealt with the acquired treasures, most of the time spent on cultivation, occasionally hanging out with Xu Qingjin.

Since Zhou Leng took the initiative to hold hands, they tacitly acknowledged the relationship, becoming even closer.

The young people were very gossipy, and within two days, Xu Qingjin was called "Mrs. Leng" by the whole school, including the teachers.

The once chaotic life returned to tranquility.

In the morning, he practiced Star Gazing Technique, Star Phoenix Rejuvenation Technique, Undying Star Body, and Taiqing Sea Robe, while also performing high-intensity resistance training.

In the afternoon, he practiced Celestial Tide Palm, Void-Breaking Finger, Heart and Mind Shadow, among other external combat techniques.

With Divine Communication in Celestial Tide Palm, he began to create a killing move.

At night, he lit Concentration Incense, focusing his attention on studying Divine Text, and stared at the "Star Refining Furnace" for cultivation.

Star Refining Furnace truly lived up to being a complete stellar treasure, with only one Divine Text inscribed on it, yet even after such a long time of cultivation, he couldn’t comprehend anything.

Now he’s able to conduct Bone Forging, but for the Cyan Flame’s magic spirit trial, he’s temporarily not breaking through, choosing to stabilize his foundation after entering the trial.

Song Juesi and Zhang Xinglie were very grateful after receiving the medicinal fruit from Zhou Leng.

Although Elder Song’s body was already on par with young people, the stronger the life force, the better, as he’s already entering Innate Mountain to attack Grandmaster level.

Zhang Xinglie reached a bottleneck in cultivating Mountain Slaying Battle Body, with ordinary medicines unable to keep up with the cultivation, but with the ancient tree fossil and giant insect juice, the cultivation of Mountain Slaying Battle Body advanced rapidly.

Soon, the Snow Mountain Wolf sent a message that the initiation ceremony was about to begin.

Zhou Leng replied that he would go immediately, then checked the Martial Guard intelligence, combined with Xue Chengsong’s information, to find the traces of those Innates conspiring to seize the mines.

They used a mine as a base to constantly harass nearby related mines, killing workers.

The mine under Zhou Leng’s name was forced to shut down, workers left, and all mines under the Xue Family were also shut down.

Not only the Xue Family was implicated, but many small company mines in the vicinity were all shut down.

Xue Chengsong analyzed that Liu Liang and the other Innates’ initial target was the entire mining area.

Since the Huang Meng Sect launched a big purge in Rucheng, the forces in Rucheng have undergone new changes.

The appearance of Liu Liang likely signifies the Lou Family’s involvement in Rucheng.

Martial Guard and Xue Chengsong’s analysis were almost identical.

The Lou Family, secretly returning to Rucheng.

The mine where Liu Liang and the other Innates were, was officially named under a Shuangjiao subsidiary.

But in reality, it was the Lou Family’s enterprise.

Ma Xingkong’s grudges with the Lou Family were vividly remembered by Zhou Leng, unforgettable for a lifetime.

Zhou Leng, under the guise of going to the Demon Spirit World, bid farewell to everyone and entered Shuizhou Demon City alone.

After reaching an uninhabited area, he disguised himself, using the magic spirit ring to change his appearance.

In less than two hours at a speed of over 600 kilometers per hour, he reached the mine where Liu Liang and the others were.

Data showed that they stayed hidden during the day and emerged at night.

Zhou Leng wasn’t in a hurry, observing and waiting from afar.

On the watchtower stood two martial artists, playing on their phones, very relaxed.

The mine wasn’t operational, all the vehicles stopped, and no one even wore a safety helmet.

This mine, secretly bought by the Lou Family, hadn’t started operations; all the people inside were martial artists from the Lou Family’s Pioneer Company.

Zhou Leng waited silently until nighttime, then sneaked in.

The guards inside the mine were extremely lax.

Before long, Zhou Leng reached the outside of the main building.

Light from inside through the windows cast on the ground, windows were open, inside the mesh, a few people were chatting.

"How many mines nearby have stopped work now?"

"A total of 27 mines, with 15 shut down, the other 12 are owned by major forces in Rucheng, can’t be touched."

"How are your results?"

"Plenty of high-energy ores and high-energy shells, also got a regular Spirit Land Jade."

"I only got some high-energy ores."

"Although they are low-grade ores, each mine has an annual gross profit of twenty to thirty million with no problem."

"What’s their reaction?"

"What reaction can they have? Each goes to find their backing Innate, and those Innates aren’t foolish; with you being Bone Forging and under the name of Shuangjiao Company, no one wants to be the first to step out."

"Then let’s apply pressure for another half-month. After half a month, we will show up and buy the mines at a low price."