After making arrangents for Chen Jiahan and Da Xiong, Li Chengyi left the courtyard. His figure flashed across hundreds of ters above the city walls and arrived at a dark tower that resembled a giant tree, half as tall.
He descended onto the black tower’s terrace hundreds of ters above ground, stood still, approached the door, and gently knocked twice on the door handle.
Click.
The door opened, swinging inward.
A servant clad entirely in a black robe bowed silently to him.
"Master, the maintenance of the Hundred Grass Garden is complete, and the gardeners are now carrying out the pollen collection task," the servant said.
The Hundred Grass Garden was a supply base similar to the Eternal Botanical Garden that Li Chengyi had set up in the past few years, using the power of the Yin Gods and pollen.
With the convenience of Quling Mansion, networks of trading caravans had opened many shortcuts for Li Chengyi to collect various plants.
He couldn’t possibly leave this place to collect plants on Yao Xiangyu mother’s territory, so using manpower to collect from various places had beco the main thod.
After all, as a Yin God, the supply of ten million-plus taels of free funds per year was already enough. Not to ntion that he could also find ways to make money himself.
After entering, Li Chengyi made his way along the corridor, descending to a circular motion to a massive hall below.
In the hall, a colossal botanical garden had been transplanted, with many gardeners carefully nurturing precious flowers with specialized True Qi.
These gardeners were also True Qi Martial Practitioners, but most of them cultivated the sa type of specialized True Qi.
With a light tap of his toe, Li Chengyi effortlessly floated up and landed in the center of the botanical garden, stopping beside a blooming Ziwei flower tree.
"Did you use True Qi to bloom all these flowers?" he asked the gardener bowing beside him.
"Yes, Divine Yin Lord, all fifteen flower trees and pots here have been ticulously blood with True Qi following your instructions, using specins that had just finished blooming to flower again," the gardener replied.
"Very well," Li Chengyi nodded and stepped forward, gently touching the Ziwei flower with his hand.
These Ziwei flowers had already passed their natural blooming season, but using True Qi, he had forced them to bloom again.
Using this unnatural thod, he wanted to test whether he could still absorb the Flowers.
Whether enough ti was needed to accumulate, or whether forced blooming by converting other energies, was feasible.
His fingers pinched the petal for several seconds, but only an extrely faint trace of Flowers seeped out.
’So it doesn’t work after all?’
A hint of disappointnt flashed in Li Chengyi’s eyes.
Clearly, this ant that the source of the Flowers was not just the plant’s own nutrition and condition; it also appeared to be tied to so other mysterious and unknown realms. Neither science nor True Qi worked.
’I’ve taken into account temperature, nutrition, soil, light...’
He sighed.
In the past two years, he had almost completely collected the Flowers from the Mark of the Evil Flower. Now he just needed to gather a bit of Evil Thoughts to evolve the Green Fleece Mugwort’s Flower Language Technique.
After the evolution, he would be able to choose the tenth primary flower.
Letting go of the Ziwei flower, Li Chengyi wandered among the flowers. Purple, red, yellow, white, and other various colors of flowers passed by his side. So were common on Earth-Moon, while others were rare.
Climate, terrain, soil differences led to a significant variance in the numbers of many plants, with so unique species only found here.
’The tenth primary flower, and then there are only two left before the Mark of the Evil Flower is complete. Then, I can unlock the fusion Floral Dress and... summoning abilities... Thousand Petals Hundred Flowers Army... Twelve Flower Generals... these ultra-ancient formidable beings, what exactly caused their downfall... after summoning, what changes will it bring ... all these remain unknown.’
A faint premonition flickered in Li Chengyi’s heart; he seed to be caught up in a trendously ancient and vast tidal wave of an era.
The fate of the Evil Flower was intrinsically intertwined with his own, and the shattered Armor of the previous generation’s master of the Evil Flower indicated that even the Emperor of Flowers, powerful as they were, also had enemies strong enough to destroy them...
Whether it was internal strife or an external enemy in those tis, if the victors still existed... they would certainly not allow the Evil Flower to rise again.
All these were latent threats.
Li Chengyi’s thoughts spun rapidly, and without realizing it, he had reached the botanical garden’s exit.
At the exit, a frail-looking woman in a white robe with silver trim was squatting down, gently caressing a newly blooming yellow moonflower.
"Sister Qiu Ming? When did you get here?" Li Chengyi wasn’t surprised; ever since the botanical garden was established, the Four Great Yin Gods had enjoyed coming here for a stroll whenever they had nothing else to do, to clear their minds or imrse in silent contemplation, as this was a fine place for such activities.
"The master hasn’t returned from his travels, and he has brought back a piece of the Illusory Color Dragon’s foreclaw for you. He also wants us to handle the Armyworm Cult in Congyun County to the south," Qiu Ming answered.
"The Armyworm Cult? I heard that this sect has quite a history?" Li Chengyi was surprised, "They have bases in the mansion, right?"
"Indeed, conspiring with foreign forces to disrupt the order in the mansion. They’ve been warned but didn’t listen, so it’s ti to kill one to warn a hundred," Qiu Ming nodded.
"Together?"
"Yes. This sect does have so capabilities; their leader cos from a significant family within the city. If they are still hoarding the heads of their collaborating forces, there might be strong ones escaping, so we should work together to prevent too many from running away."
"Understood."
"By the way, do you know which power they have colluded with?" Qiu Ming suddenly raised her eyebrow and asked.
"...Is it related to ?"
"Huanggu Pavilion and Spirit Wisdom Valley."
Li Chengyi paused for a mont; if it wasn’t for Huanggu Pavilion, Wang Yiheng from the Wang Family, who had been missing for two years now, would’ve suffered greatly...
"When do we leave?"
"Anyti."
"That works." Li Chengyi ambiguously agreed. It was a good opportunity to gather so Evil Thoughts for one evolution of the Green Fleece Mugwort.
He had been in secluded cultivation for so ti, and it was about ti for him to go out and about.
"How about early tomorrow morning?" he proposed.
"Fine."
*
*
*
Earth-Moon.
The Yun Fortress defense line.
Huge space fortresses, linked by three ring-shaped silver-gray orbits, form a massive wheel.
In the center of this wheel lies the enormous warti spaceport, hastily assembled for combat.
Large numbers of warships, spacecraft, and fighter jets constantly move in and out from here.
At this mont, a Feiyi Master fleet that had just co through a brutal battle, suffering heavy losses, was slowly returning to port, passing the safety inspection of the massive blue light rings.
The fla-like rings glimr with a bright blue light, coloring the surrounding orbits and fortresses in shades of blue.
Among this fleet of spacecraft, whose diater spanned tens of thousands of kiloters, mingled a particularly eye-catching black shadow.
Its body was long and serpentine, with bat-like wings on its back and sharp, horn-like spires crowning its head; the length of several tens of kiloters was reminiscent of a winged python.
It was Shadow Dragon Faren.
He had just returned from the battlefield, getting ready to rest and resupply.
Even with the imnse size of a Shadow Dragon, in the realm of starry sky wars, it was only sowhat larger than a battleship and far smaller than so top-tier motherships.
As the fleet entered the harbor, the blue light of the inspection swept over Faren. He twisted his enormous body uncomfortably. He’d swallowed too many shadows, which led to a mild indigestion. Thus, returning to rest was actually to focus on digestion, to fully absorb the consud shadows before proceeding to the next step.
As he approached the spaceport orbit, Faren’s colossal body shrank rapidly, twisting and transforming into a human form, and he gently landed on the silver-gray orbit.
His appearance was that of a tall Caucasian man with silver hair and a stern face.
This was the human with the best physical quality among those he had recently devoured, so he had chosen it as the base for his human form.
Without colleagues, the whole Shadow Dragon legion’s fleet was mostly operated by dragon descendants under their control, so the fleet was completely dominated by the words of the three-headed Shadow Dragons.
Faren stretched his back contentedly and made his way toward one of the fortresses with a lava furnace.
A lava bath after a workout was the utmost comfort.
But just as he was about to leave, a streak of silver light shot forth and landed not far from him, transforming into a human figure.
The newcor had silver hair and a fair skin that seed to shine, with two red dots on the forehead, and eyes without pupils—only black hollows filled with countless flickering silver spots.
It was none other than Ding ng of the Nine Feiyi, known as the Tempter.
"General Faren, please wait a mont," Ding ng softly called out, stopping the departing Shadow Dragon.
"Ti is precious. The Divine Star Generals are indeed troubleso. I need to rest well so I can quickly go assist Saul and the others. Miss Ding, unless it’s important, please don’t bother ," Faren said indifferently, showing no interest in these fragile humans. A Shadow Dragon inherently had no gender, and could change bodies whenever it pleased.
Faren preferred a perfect physique with tough, spiky skin and strong, terrifying muscle bursts over smooth and tender flesh.
"It’s just a small issue I was hoping to inquire about, Mr. Faren..." Ding ng took a step closer, the silver light in her eyes flickering intensely, pulsating as if resonating with the countless stars above.
An invisible electrical field quickly spread out from her, enveloping Faren.
"What’s the aning of this?" Faren frowned.
"It’s just to prevent outside intrusion, there’s no need to be afraid," Ding ng said with a smile.
"Afraid? Have you humans always been so arrogant?" Faren replied coldly. "Speak, what is it?"
"It’s like this—I’ve always been fascinated by the Black Sea and heard that Mr. Faren hails from there. You must have a deep understanding of it. Would you consider trading so of that knowledge to ? I can offer compensation," Ding ng casually fabricated an excuse.
"Why co to when your own people have had contact with the Black Sea? What can be said is just that, and what cannot be said you wouldn’t understand, nor could I tell you," Faren responded aloofly.
He had more patience than Saul and wasn’t as cold as Ying, making him the best target for contact. Yet as a Shadow Dragon, he had his pride.
If it were Dongjun or Emperor Yi, it’d be one thing; but everyone else? No one wastes ti chatting with an ant on the roadside unless they’re insane.
Especially since the Dragon King Ceremony was imminent, and they were on the cusp of achieving their ultimate goal of the millennium. Once the ceremony was successful, even Dongjun could be crushed in one encounter!
Just as Faren was about to further decline, his expression changed abruptly.
"What are you doing?!" His eyes suddenly beca threatening, and he lunged forward, closing the distance and reaching out to grab Ding ng in a single bound.
This attack was too swift and unexpected; with his current strength, his right hand instantly transford into a vast draconic claw-shaped shadow, seemingly enveloping Ding ng and crashing downwards.
Swish!!!
Ding ng hadn’t expected such an abrupt attack; after all, she had not assaulted him directly, only aid to read mories from his dragon descendants’ brain waves and take control of so to secretly monitor Faren.
But before she could even start, he had detected her.
Hum!!!
Just as the shadowy claws were about to crush her, a blast of iridescent light exploded beside her, spreading and covering the surrounding space.
The dazzling colored light, like a siren’s call, instantly captivated all of Faren’s attention.
It circled Ding ng like a moat of color, spinning into a ribbon of hues around her.
This was the power of Maze Castle, a personalized defensive force field, befitting her status as one of the Nine Feiyi.
As one with weaker combat capabilities, Ding ng had naturally perfected her defenses to the extre.
Maze Castle employed Yi Country’s most advanced spatial displacent technology; what seed to be a re colorful ribbon was actually a hypnotic strip leading to other spaces.
Approaching it could result in being drawn into it, lost in the gaps of unknown spaces.
The shadowy claw shrank to the size of an egg and disappeared into the Maze Castle in a blink.
Faren withdrew his hand, giving Ding ng a more serious look.
"I hope there won’t be a next ti," he said icily, issuing a warning.
Were it not for the upcoming Dragon King Ceremony, he would’ve slain this wretch for daring to ddle with his dragon descendants!
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