Chapter 52

Hai Shan's roar frightened the few people, who hurriedly kowtowed repeatedly. "Please calm down, great gods, calm down! They are already the most beautiful women and the strongest men of our Water Blue Clan! Please calm down, great gods!"

Chen Zizai laughed and said, "We don't need such sacrifices. Let them search for the demons; that is the most valuable contribution!"

"May we follow the great command of the gods!" The leader of the Water Blue Sect hurriedly led away the two men and three women, none of them understanding why the gods would dislike such comfortable and pleasurable enjoyment.

Heng Yi saw the figures carrying wood and baskets of plants returning and didn't want to stand idly by. "I'll go help them."

As he spoke, he walked away, and Hu Baizhe quickly followed, saying, "Wait for me!"

"Baizhe, you help feed the pigs to the children, and while you're at it, distribute the fruits and meat in the house to them—" Heng Yi flew away without looking back.

Hu Baizhe turned and flew back to the treehouse. Hai Shan laughed, "Why did you come back?"

"Rubbish! Who goes to feed pigs! It's dirty and smelly!" Hu Baizhe glared at Hai Shan, who looked at the table of food with a smug smile. "Your man said to distribute the food. You wouldn't want him to see the food untouched when he returns, right?"

Hu Baizhe reluctantly picked up the food, but Chen Zizai stopped her. "I like children." As he spoke, he took the fruits and food on the wooden board and went off.

"This Chen Zizai is really strange." Hai Shan had never seen anyone like him. They usually had no interest in such tasks, but this person from the Xu family of the Peak Sect was willing? Hai Shan laughed again, "But Heng Yi is even stranger!"

Heng Yi flew to the forest and found a few strong men chopping trees with stone axes. Seeing their hard work, he summoned the sword hidden in the mark on his forehead and casually swung it, neatly cutting through the thick trees.

After chopping a few trees, Heng Yi picked one up to fly back when he noticed a few Water Blue Clan men, who had knelt down at some point, tightly gripping the other end of the tree. "What's wrong?"

The men, with their heads and faces pressed to the ground, held the branches tightly and said in fear, "Great and merciful gods! We absolutely cannot let your noble hands do such heavy work. Please put down the dirty tree and let us do it!"

"It's fine, I can help quickly!" Heng Yi said, but the men kowtowed repeatedly, their foreheads bleeding from the impact. Suddenly, a few more children, who had also knelt down, joined in, pleading, "The Water Blue Clan cannot let the great gods do such work! The Water Blue Clan is willing to offer everything to the great gods, and we will not allow the great gods' swords to be defiled by trees or their hands to be dirtied. That would be a great disgrace to the Water Blue Clan! Please, great gods, put down the dirty tree—"

"Alright, alright! I'll put it down, stop kowtowing!" Heng Yi was afraid of them and quickly put the tree on the ground and put away his sword.

The group gratefully stood up, some carrying trees and others picking fruits.

Heng Yi, who had come to help, could only watch, unable to intervene.

A boy of about ten years old slid down from a tree, ran to Heng Yi, and knelt on the ground, holding a particularly bright apple and moving his knees closer. "Great and merciful god, this fruit is very good. Please enjoy it!"

"I'm not hungry, you eat it." Heng Yi saw the thin child and thought he really needed more food.

Unexpectedly, the child, with a sobbing voice, said, "Great and merciful god, please believe my skill in picking fruits. This fruit is really sweet and delicious! Please enjoy it—"

Two other children who had just climbed down from the tree also knelt. "Great and merciful god, he is the best at picking fruits! This fruit is definitely sweet and delicious. Please don't refuse!"

Heng Yi quickly took the apple and started eating, praising it as he did. "It's really delicious."

The child happily smiled and kowtowed, then turned to go back to work. Heng Yi called him back, took a fresh fruit from his storage talisman, cut it into pieces with his sword, and called the others who were busy. "Each of you take a piece. Eating one will keep you full for a month and give you endless strength."

The divine fruit's energy supply, for the Water Blue Clan's physical condition, would have this effect.

"Thank you, great gods, for the divine fruit!" The Water Blue Clan people did not refuse, each gratefully taking a piece, kowtowing, and then feeding it to themselves.

Those who ate it soon felt a surge of energy in their bodies, as if they had just woken up and eaten a full meal, all fatigue gone!

Heng Yi realized that staying here would not only be unhelpful but also a hindrance, so he flew away to search for the Shadow Clan's traces. This was the only way he could help the Water Blue Clan, as they could not stop him.

Chen Zizai had said that the number of invading Shadow Clan members was unknown. Newborn Shadow Clan members could use their inherited powers by the second day, but they would not use them well. The ability to fly was the last they learned, while powerful combat skills were learned the fastest.

These Shadow Clan members would choose a place on land to survive, initially searching for food and reproducing. They would only move to more distant areas when the food around them ran out.

If they did not encounter humans at the beginning, there would be no significant threat initially. However, given the land area and distribution of Seed Star 820905, this period would be very short because the Shadow Clan disliked water and would only target aquatic life if they could not find enough food on land. This meant that within a few days, the Shadow Clan's rapid reproduction would lead to a lack of food, and they would start hunting humans.

Currently, the information-gathering phase was underway. Practitioners assigned to various regions would send the information they gathered through the practice beads to the Seed Array, which would determine the next combat arrangements based on the distribution and combat situations.

Shadow Clan members who passed through the time-space gate usually had two leaders, one male and one female. The female continuously gave birth, while the male was responsible for necessary combat.

The leaders' combat strength was typically at the Earth Venerable level, and these two were the enemies that needed to be found and eliminated as soon as possible. The offspring of the female leader inherited significantly more power than those of other Shadow Clan members, with about a 1% chance of inheriting 100% of their parents' strength. These offspring would choose suitable mates to continue reproducing, rapidly forming a significant combat force. The longer it took to eliminate the leaders, the more variables and difficulties would increase. If delayed too long, they would face a large group of Earth Venerable-level Shadow Clan members as enemies.

On this Seed Star, humans had just defeated many fierce beasts and entered a period of rapid reproduction. Most of the land was unknown territory. The flying Shadow Clan members would disperse across the land to efficiently use resources and reproduce. Each island's forest could potentially hide a large group of Shadow Clan members.

The number of groups the invading Shadow Clan had split into was unknown.

Relying on his wind-riding ability, Heng Yi moved through the forests at great speed, crossing over a dozen mountains in no time.

Suddenly, Heng Yi saw a bare rock mountain.

Flying to the top, Heng Yi was surprised to see a basin on the mountain top filled with rolling, fiery lava.

'Is this what they call a volcano?' Heng Yi flew closer, gathered his energy in his palm, and quickly extended it into the lava. The intense heat made his palm burn painfully.

Feeling the scorching heat, Heng Yi remembered the Hell of Water Refinement and Xu Wenfeng's words, and his heart raced. 'This is a great place to practice; the heat should be manageable!'

Heng Yi took off his robe, stored his magical tools in his storage talisman, and slowly sank into the lava...

The extreme heat flowed into his body through his true qi, turning his entire body a fiery red. However, his Earth Venerable constitution would not be burned to death by this heat. The pain in his meridians, however, was almost as intense as the pain from the Hell of Water Refinement, making him feel as if he would burst into flames at any moment.

Heng Yi's consciousness was almost overwhelmed by the heat, and he quickly gathered his energy to resist the pain, just as he had in the Hell of Water Refinement. He used his willpower to fight the burning pain inside his body.

His body, now a fiery red, seemed to reveal the bones beneath the flesh, which also turned red in the high heat...

Heng Yi's breath became hot, burning his chest and throat...

He panted heavily, not knowing how long he had endured, when he suddenly felt dizzy and disoriented. Realizing something was wrong, he quickly flew out, splashing red lava as he fell to the ground beside the rock.

The heat in his body quickly dissipated, but he had lost a significant amount of weight, his body reduced to a skeleton with charred skin, and he was completely exhausted.

'With constant will, the spirit relies on perseverance, the mind is determined, life is born from qi, qi condenses into the soul, the soul connects the seven orifices, and merges with heaven and earth...' Since childhood, whenever he was hungry, Heng Yi would recite this mantra he had learned in his dreams. Now, he subconsciously recited it, and the natural energy of heaven and earth instantly gathered around his body, forming a red light layer. This energy seeped into his skin, flowed into his meridians, and quickly replenished the missing water and substances in his body. Within a short time, Heng Yi's almost shriveled body visibly recovered, though the intense pain from the lava still burned through his meridians, making him grit his teeth to avoid groaning.

However, the pain did not lessen or disappear, continuing to stimulate his senses.

'I must endure. Big Brother became strong this way, and I can do it too. I will become stronger and more resilient. Strength is the only way to achieve my ideals. I must become stronger, stronger...'

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