The falling giant being didn’t emanate even the slightest soul fluctuations.

Also, he wasn’t wreathed in a strong flesh aura, which meant he most likely wasn’t an outsider.

However, his magnificent, mountainous body brimmed with energy: the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth!

Only humans could take the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth into the spiritual seas in their dantian region, form spiritual cores, and use them as the source of their power.

This was the fundamental difference between humans and outsiders.

The spiritual Qi of heaven and earth was indeed the giant being’s source of power. However, the cultivation system he had adopted was clearly different from that of most human Qi warriors.

Rich spiritual Qi of heaven and earth filled his whole body!

His acupoints, meridians, bones, flesh, and blood all brimmed with pure, refined spiritual power!

This was very different from the four great sects’ so-called orthodox cultivation system, where cultivators only channeled spiritual power into the spiritual sea in their dantian region, and largely ignored their body refinement.

The mainstream cultivation method mandated that Qi warriors cultivate their spiritual seas at early stages, and then move on to the cultivation of their souls, until they could completely discard their fleshly bodies.

Since humans were born with feeble bodies, which could never grow to be as strong as the outsiders’ and spirit beasts’ flesh aura-wreathed bodies, they had always upheld the principle of playing to their strengths and avoiding their shortcomings. They believed that this was the Dao of human cultivation.

All those who refined their fleshly bodies with secret magics, like Yin Yanan, were considered to be on the wrong path.

Some of the so-called crooked Qi warriors in the Doomed Star Sea also emphasized body refinement.

However, people like them had always been considered crooked and excluded from the mainstream world.

As for the slowly-descending giant being, his muscles, blood, bones, meridians, and internal organs all contained copious amounts of spiritual power, not to mention the spiritual sea in his dantian region. This suggested that he had attached great importance to the refinement of his body.

Perhaps that was why his body still exuded rich life force, and was without the slightest signs of corrosion countless years after his demise.

“His body still contains terrifyingly strong energies of heaven and earth!” Nie Tian said. His perception seemed to have grown even keener after his heart had started thumping wildly. “Those lightning bolts wrapping around him, that frosty gem on his neck, and that shiny golden plate on his chest... They seem to correspond to his internal spiritual energies, which means he had probably mastered the profound truths of lightning power, ice power, and metal power.

“Aside from these, even his pure spiritual power alone is far more immense than that of the grand elder.

“And this is only the spiritual power scattered all over his body. I can’t even sense or fathom the spiritual power in his spiritual sea.

“If...”

He suddenly froze as his train of thought reached this point.

“What?” Dong Li asked.

Nie Tian’s expression flickered drastically as he cried out in astonishment, “Paragon! He must have been a paragon before he died! A mighty, fear-inspiring paragon who had refined his body to the extreme, made the cultivation of pure spiritual power the core of his cultivation, and at the same time, mastered the profound truths of metal, ice, and lightning power!”

He uttered these words with absolute certainty.

Even though he didn’t have any proof, he was fully convinced that the giant being was a dead paragon, a human paragon!

Dong Li was flabbergasted. “How... how is that impossible?! Our ancestors were oppressed and trodden on by the powerful races in the Spirit World for many eras after humanity was born in the Realm of Middle Continent. The Ancientspirits and outsiders in the Spirit World treated humans like animals, and slaughtered them in large numbers at sacrificial rites. Back then, humans didn’t even know how to channel the energies of heaven and earth to practice cultivation.

“Everyone knows that humanity rose to prominence in the Mortal World.

“If such a human paragon was actually born in the Spirit World, the rise of humanity would have happened much earlier.

“Besides, there are no records about him in the history of the Mortal World or the Spirit World...”

Pei Qiqi also muttered something in a low voice with a disbelieving look on her face.

No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t wrap their minds around the fact that the descending giant being was a human, and a paragon no less!

If he was indeed a human paragon, and had created a time of glory in the Spirit World, how come there hadn’t been any records about him?

Not just them, even Nie Tian himself found this hard to believe. “The Tree of Life is the guardian of the Spirit World. Its three generations have covered almost the entire history of the Spirit World. Its first-generation self even stopped Grand Monarch Heavenly Spirit, who was a paragon, from entering the Spirit World.

“And its memories are passed down from one generation to another. If even it claims to know nothing of the enormous being in the depths of the Realm of Middle Continent, does it mean that it has lost some of its memories?

“Or is there another reason?”

With these thoughts, Nie Tian forced himself to withdraw his gaze from the giant being and did his best to adjust his flesh aura circulation in order to slow down his heartbeat.

Then, he activated his Life Detection bloodline talent in an attempt to sense the existence of the Tree of Life.

He was convinced that he could sense the Tree of Life’s vast, mighty magnetic field in this dark land as long as it was within a certain distance from him.

As for entering the Dark Abyss, he decided to put it on hold until he found the answers to the many questions he had.

“Nie Tian. Nie Tian...”

After a while, he heard the Tree of Life’s soul call indeed, and learned that it was coming towards him at full speed.

At that moment, the giant being suddenly started to descend at an accelerated speed!

It was as if he was set off by something the moment he established a connection with the Tree of Life!

Both the giant being and the third-generation Tree of Life approached him at their fastest possible speed.

The lush third-generation Tree of Life, which had grown dozens of times larger than when he had first seen it, suddenly flew into the sky from another area of the dark land, giving rise to loud rumbles.

“The Tree of Life!” Many human and outsider experts exclaimed in astonishment.

Wisps of light green wood power hovered around the emerald branches and leaves of the Tree of Life. It seemed to be growing even as it charged into the sky.

Meanwhile, rich life force spread into its surroundings, as if to nourish this dark land.

However, numerous minor Spectre Trees, Ghost Spirit Grasses, and Heavenly Demonsbanes rapidly withered, even though they were hiding themselves in remote areas and in the depths of the earth.

Now, after Nie Tian had killed the strongest main bodies of these spirit plants and devil plants, their escaped descendants were wiped out as well.

Not a single one of them was spared.

FIZZ!

Beams of dazzling golden divine light suddenly shot out of the piece of armor on the giant being’s chest.

Their target was none other than the third-generation Tree of Life, despite the fact that it was far away and wasn’t even charging towards him!

WHOOSH!

An emerald green branch flew out of the third-generation Tree of Life and shot towards the giant being like an emerald bolt of lightning.

Immediately afterwards, thousands of green branches shot towards him like a storm of emerald lightning bolts.

The frosty gem at the giant’s Adam’s apple lit up, instantly turning a vast area around him into a world of ice and snow.

The branches shooting over like divine lightning bolts exploded one after another upon coming within a ten thousand meter radius around him.

The explosions sent fragments of the branches flying in every direction.

Many nearby humans and Bonedrudes were pierced through by the darting fragments, and died before they could even scream.

Just like that, a fierce, yet confusing, conflict broke out between the descending giant being and the third-generation Tree of Life.

Nie Tian’s face turned very grim. “It appears that they’re fighting for me! I wonder if both of them harbor ill intentions towards me, or just one of them!” He suddenly started wondering if the Tree of Life was actually as kind as it had always appeared to be.

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