"Hmph, I refuse to believe that I, a dignified Grandmaster, cannot handle a mere Bi Shui Vine," Zhou Yan snorted coldly. He then sat down on the ground, circulated the cultivation technique within his body, and began to absorb the venom.
...
Time flowed, and three days later.
The once luxuriant trees on this island had all withered away, replaced by a carpet of dead branches and fallen leaves.
For these few days, the entire island had been filled with an aura of deathly stillness, as if all vitality had been drained, leaving only desolation and bleakness.
And now, about ten days had passed since Zhou Yan's last cultivation session.
Zhou Yan still had not woken up. In fact, his body seemed to have thinned considerably. Faintly, his skin could be seen through his clothes, his muscles shriveled, and he looked as if he had aged.
"Crack!"
Suddenly, a shattering sound echoed, and the ground beneath Zhou Yan's palm began to crack.
"Rumble~"
Then, a loud boom followed. The hard rock surface instantly collapsed, and Zhou Yan's entire arm emerged from the cracks in the shattered stone. Afterward, Zhou Yan's arm regained its sensation.
"Finally broken through to the third level of the Divine Emperor realm?"
At this moment, Zhou Yan opened his eyes and muttered to himself.
Now, a golden glint flickered in his eyes. He seemed to have become noble and sacred, radiating an intense power, like an emperor ruling over the world.
"Third level of the Divine Emperor realm?"
Zhou Yan's gaze swept around, a trace of surprise in his eyes. "This area, there were originally thousands of spiritual herbs, how could they have withered so much in just a few days? Could it be..."
As a thought occurred to him, Zhou Yan's pupils contracted. He took several deep breaths, suppressing the turmoil in his heart, then stood up and looked into the distance.
"Hiss!"
After taking only a few steps, Zhou Yan couldn't help but gasp. Before him lay a scene of utter devastation. As far as the eye could see, the towering ancient trees had long since rotted into dust, and the surrounding soil was dark brown, exuding a thick, foul stench.
Clearly, these ancient trees had been damaged during the previous outbreak of the poison.
"It's as I suspected. I didn't expect my judgment to be correct!"
Zhou Yan murmured, raising his head with a look of shock in his eyes. He had not anticipated that his greatest fear would come to pass.
The Bi Shui Vine was no ordinary plant.
This Bi Shui Vine possessed a potent poison in its roots and stem. Although it was only a fifth-grade poisonous plant, its toxicity rivaled that of sixth or seventh-grade plants. Even some eighth-grade spiritual plants would be helpless against such potent venom.
Furthermore, this poisonous plant possessed extreme aggression. If any martial artist approached within a hundred meters, it would launch an attack.
This made it a deadly threat, even though it was merely a fifth-grade spiritual plant.
Even some ninth-grade spiritual plants might not dare to provoke it easily.
Zhou Yan had gone to considerable effort to retrieve it.
It was just that he hadn't expected the Bi Shui Vine he had spent so much time harvesting to be ruined like this.
Such a loss made Zhou Yan shake his head and sigh. If it hadn't been absolutely necessary, he would never have been willing to waste such a precious spiritual material.
"Sigh..."
After a period of silence, Zhou Yan let out a long breath, a bitter expression on his face.
"Since it has come to this, I can only risk trying."
With his decision made, Zhou Yan closed his eyes and began to activate the cultivation technique in his mind, preparing to absorb the venom of the Bi Shui Vine.
"Pfft."
A faint sound echoed, and the next moment, the venom of the Bi Shui Vine slowly seeped into Zhou Yan's body. Zhou Yan immediately circulated the "Heaven Swallowing Art" to absorb the venom and strengthen himself.
As the venom was absorbed, a layer of dark blue gradually appeared on Zhou Yan's body. Within his body, his previously stagnant realm began to improve, eventually reaching a bottleneck.
"Buzz!"
A soft hum suddenly emanated from Zhou Yan's dantian. Then, a gray bead appeared within his dantian. The surface of the bead was covered with strange patterns, and a vast torrent of primal energy flowed within the bead, emitting terrifying fluctuations.
At that instant, Zhou Yan's body underwent a profound transformation. Dark red flames erupted from his body; this was the fire of his bloodline.
There were streaks of crimson in Zhou Yan's bloodline. Moreover, his bones and meridians were tempered to become stronger, and his blood became hot, as if boiling.
"Hmm?"
Zhou Yan frowned. He carefully observed the changes within his body and soon discovered a drop of crystal-clear blood suspended in his dantian, floating quietly. This drop of blood contained a terrifying energy, capable of burning mountains, boiling seas, and destroying everything.
"Could it be because of this drop of blood?" Zhou Yan speculated.
This drop of blood was excavated by Zhou Yan from a skeleton on Earth. The deceased should have been a transcender of the innate level. For some unknown reason, after death, their essence had been condensed into a single drop of vital blood.
Zhou Yan took this drop of vital blood, stored it in a jade box, and placed it in his storage ring.
However, Zhou Yan was unaware that everything he had done was observed by the ancient tree beside him. At this moment, a green light bloomed from the canopy of that tree, illuminating the dark forest like a lighthouse.
"Roar..."
At this very instant, Zhou Yan suddenly heard an enraged roar from the distant forest. The next moment, Zhou Yan looked in the direction of the sound and saw a group of enormous demonic beasts charging towards him.
These demonic beasts were agile and moved with incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, they appeared outside the lush ancient tree.
"These are... Earth Dragons?"
As Zhou Yan clearly saw the appearance of these demonic beasts, his face froze.
The demonic beasts before him were pure white, with backs as sharp as blades. Their mouths were open, revealing scarlet fangs.
These demonic beasts roared furiously and, still several zhang away from the ancient tree, leaped onto the trunk, coiling themselves around the verdant ancient tree, enveloping it.