1390 The Ninth Level
Ling Han pointed into the distance, and said, “I think I saw your dog there.”
The old man immediately took a single stride and disappeared into the distance.
Ling Han wasn’t worried that the old man would become mad upon not finding his dog. After all, it wouldn’t be long before he lost all of his memory again.
This was only normal. He didn’t have a brain, so how could he remember past events?
In any case, the old man was only “living on” as a sheet of human skin because he was far too powerful. However, he could only keep his memories for 30 minutes at most. When this time pa.s.sed, his memory would expire too. This would then repeat itself, over and over again.
When the old man found Ling Han again, he would have definitely forgotten Ling Han’s lie already.
In any case, the seventh level appeared extremely normal. There were blue mountains and limpid waters, and everything appeared tranquil and serene.
In fact, it appeared a little too tranquil and serene. There was no roaring of beasts, and there was no screeching of birds. The buzz and chatter of insects couldn’t be heard, either.
Ling Han continued to stroll through the seventh level.
Whoos.h.!.+
A branch suddenly whipped toward him, the leaves on the branch opening up like mouths. Inside these “mouths” were rows of pointy spikes, much like the teeth of some predator.
This was a man-eating tree!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoos.h.!.+
Several more branches whipped toward Ling Han, trying to entangle and trap him. They could then use their razor-sharp teeth to tear through his body and suck in his flesh and blood.
Ling Han couldn’t help but chuckle, and said, “Go ahead and try.”
He stood there unmoving, allowing the branches to tightly wrap around his body. Countless leaves bit at him. However, what kind of physique did he possess? Not only were the spikes unable to penetrate his skin, but they were even shattered as a result!
“You’ve chosen the wrong target!” The lightning divine pattern on Ling Han’s left hand lit up.
Crackle…
An arc of brilliant white lightning that had a slight blue tinge to it immediately shot out.
Pa, pa, pa, pa!
The branches of the man-eating tree were instantly blown into bits.
The power of lightning was innately transcendent above the five elements of the world. Moreover, the lightning that Ling Han had unleashed possessed the might of heavenly tribulation, and was far more powerful than ordinary lightning.
After unleas.h.i.+ng several bolts of lightning, the man-eating tree was obliterated until there was only a stub of the tree trunk remaining.
Ling Han sliced the tree trunk apart and retrieved a heart-like orb from within.
This was the heart of a tree, and this was were the essence of a man-eating tree was contained. It was incredibly nutritious.
He was already at the Heavenly Body Tier, so such tree hearts could barely provide him with any more growth. However, the people in the Black Tower would find this extremely useful, especially his disciples. After all, Ding Ping and Jiuyao still hadn’t reached the Sun Moon Tier. In any case, Feng Po Yun and Murong Qing were also in desperate need of such nutritious items.
So, the more of these tree hearts he could obtain, the better.
Ling Han continued to explore the seventh level, and he obtained a large amount of tree hearts as he did so. However, he wasn’t successful each and every time. There was a time that he came across a man-eating tree that was at the Eternal River Tier. This tree had been in hibernation, and he had immediately turned around to leave upon noticing it. If he provoked this tree, he would definitely be reduced to fertilizer, unless he immediately escaped into the Black Tower.
Half a day pa.s.sed, and the human skin old man finally returned. As before, his first question was about his dog. However, Ling Han had already discovered the method to deal with him. He randomly pointed in some direction again, sending the old man on a merry trip into the distance.
He explored the seventh level for three days before going to the palace that lay at its very end.
Abundance Sea Palace.
These three words were still dazzling and filled with power.
Xiu!
The human skin old man silently appeared again.
“Your dog is over there!” Ling Han was afraid that the old man would absorb the power of the words again, so he immediately gave his answer before the old man could even question him. At the same time, he randomly pointed into the distance.
The old man was slightly dazed. This person was answering his question before he had even asked it? He didn’t reply, and immediately strode away in the direction that Ling Han was pointing in.
Meanwhile, Ling Han sat down and tried to achieve resonance with the three words.
Three days pa.s.sed, and a shudder suddenly traveled through his body. A burst of mystical power started to funnel into his body, causing his cultivation to elevate explosively.
Success!
This was very strange. Some words he could achieve resonance with immediately, while with other words he could do so after some time. However, there were also some that he couldn’t achieve resonance with no matter how hard he tried.
Peak stage of the low extreme!
He would spend some time stabilizing and reinforcing his cultivation after he left this mystery realm. He would then return to the Joint Peace Planet to break through to the medium extreme.
There was already no need to guess, and he was certain that the Great Herb in the Abundance Sea Palace was the Heavenly Origin Dao Fruit. The old man naturally came to challenge the killing-formation again, displaying the true meaning of a freakish defense.
The seventh level examined his pill refinement skills again. This time, however, he was provided with a level seven pill recipe. Ling Han spent a long time to fully digest this pill recipe. Although he eventually succeeded in one try again, also reaching a level of perfection, he only won four more days of time. He was also rewarded with far fewer pill recipes than before, the pill recipes only going from level one to level eight.
Right now, Ling Han was filled with curiosity. He was about to enter the eighth level, the level where no one had ever been able to reach the palace that lay at its end before.
The stone room collapsed, and what appeared before Ling Han was a misty and unclear world. He was struck by a headache immediately upon entering this world. In fact, there was even blood beginning to flow out from his nose.
‘There’s poison!’
The atmosphere of the eighth level was suffused with poison. No wonder no one had ever managed to reach its end before. Even with a physique as powerful as Ling Han’s, he still couldn’t prevent the poisonous mist from penetrating his body.
“Where’s my dog? Have you seen my dog?” the old man asked Ling Han. He arrived in front of Ling Han just as expected.
Strangely, however, it was as if the poisonous mist didn’t dare to near his body. The air was clear for a radius of three meters around the old man.
Ling Han grimaced before shuffling closer to the old man, using him to avoid the poison. At the same time, he channeled his Origin Power, forcing the poison that he had already inhaled out from his body.
This was quite easy to do, especially since he wasn’t being attacked by the poisonous mist anymore. Otherwise, if the old man wasn’t here, he would be drowned in poison once he expended all of his Origin Power. At that time, he would be as good as dead.
This old man had finally become useful for once.
Ling Han advanced, and the old man followed beside him. This time, Ling Han didn’t point in some random direction to send the old man away again. Instead, he simply shook his head, saying that he didn’t know where the doggy was. And so, he explored this level with the old man, looking for the location of the palace.
Because there was no map to guide him this time, he could only explore the eighth level blindly. After wandering around for nine days, the two of them finally found the palace of the eighth level. Along the way, Ling Han also obtained some useful items. However, these were all poisonous medicinal ingredients. In any case, the high-level medicinal ingredients had all been eaten by the old man.
Seven Star Palace.
Ling Han didn’t dare to trick the old man away, so the power in these three words was naturally absorbed by the old man.
The eighth Heavenly Origin Dao Fruit!
Ling Han briskly walked over to take the exam of this level. He wanted to see what lay in the ninth level.
This time, he had to reconstruct blended medicinal ingredients. Once again, Ling Han achieved a perfect result on this examination.
He wore an expression of eager antic.i.p.ation as the ninth level finally materialized before him.
However, his expression of eager antic.i.p.ation slowly turned into one of shock and surprise. This was because the ninth level was merely a small stretch of desolate land. There was only a small mountain before him and a palace to his side. Compared to the eighth level, this ninth level was countless times smaller.
‘Hmm?’
Astonishment spread across Ling Han’s face as he gazed at the small mountain. Its shape was far too strange. Instead of a mountain, it looked more like a resting beast—an incredibly large beast.
In the Immortal Realm, such large Demonic Beasts weren’t a rare sight. In fact, there were even some that were hundreds of times larger than this.
Whoos.h.!.+ Whoos.h.!.+
Gusts of wind howled by in a very rhythmic manner. However, Ling Han’s expression became even stranger. These gusts of wind bore an eerie resemblance to snoring.
He walked to the other side of the mountain, and he couldn’t help but grimace. Sure enough, this wasn’t a mountain. Instead, it was a ginormous Demonic Beast. It was pitch-black in color, and its tongue lay hanging out of its mouth. In fact, it was even drooling.
“My dog! My dog!” the human skin old man suddenly exclaimed. He reached toward the mountain— no, dog.