Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
As an existence that had stood tall and proud for tens of thousands of years, the Light Church had a much longer history than Heaven’s Vault Continent’s Dragon God Empire, Beast People Empire, and Titan Empire.
One could easily imagine just how wealthy the Light Church must be and how spectacular a sight their treasury must be.
Hills of Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, heaps and heaps of elemental crystals and laws of nature fragments, as well as innumerable magic materials and magic devices...
The Laws of Nature Origin Crystals went straight into the system while he collected the elemental crystals and magic crystals, as well as the Saint Domain magic devices and half-divine weapons, and stored them away.
An awfully jubilant Meng Lei collected them all before coming to the area where special items were stored at last.
Largely similar to the Dragon God Empire’s special items and the Titan Empire’s treasuries, the ones here were also a trove of weird and wonderful things.
True god remains, Demon God hearts, fascinating ores, true god-level divine weapons...
There was a dazzling array of items that came in all kinds and variations.
The system’s voice rang out at this point.
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Four-Winged Angel bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“No, don’t assimilate it.”
“Ding! Dropped item detected. Will you pick it up?”
“Yes, pick it up!”
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”
“The Ancient Tree of Life bloodline? What kind of bloodline is that?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but shift his gaze to the item currently in front of him—it was an ordinary-looking piece of wood that was over a meter long and about the thickness of an adult’s arm.
“This is a branch of the Ancient Tree of Life? The Ancient Tree of Life? What kind of tree is that?”
Meng Lei reached out to pick up the piece of wood to take a closer look, but he discovered that it was incredibly heavy to his astonishment. Even holding it was rather strenuous for him.
“It’s so heavy!”
Meng Lei was astonished. Just how terrifyingly strong must he be when his body was comparable to an intermediate deity’s?
Even grabbing a large mountain was a cinch for him, let alone a piece of wood shorter than two meters!
“What kind of botanical lifeform’s remains is this, exactly? To think a single branch is this heavy!”
Meng Lei promptly consulted Dodola.
Dodola took a casual glance at the branch, and then it said dryly, “Do you have to ask me about something like that, too? Isn’t that just a freaking normal piece of wood?”
“Take a close look at it, Dodola,” Meng Lei said, “This piece of wood is shockingly heavy. Even I find it somewhat strenuous to hold it at my current level of strength. It’s definitely no ordinary dried branch!”
“Eh?”
Dodola was slightly taken aback. It couldn’t help but look at the piece of wood again. As it did, its eyes gradually widened until, at last, it gasped. “Oh my goodness, this... This is a branch from the Ancient Tree of Life. Where did you get this from?”
“From the Light Church’s treasury!” Meng Lei quickly asked, “What kind of plant is the Ancient Tree of Life? Does it have anything to do with the Tree of Vitality?”
“Of course it does!”
Dodola nodded lightly. “The vast universe has birthed many interesting and fascinating lifeforms. With animals around, plants would also exist.
“Among them, the most well-known botanical lifeforms have to be the five Primeval Divine Trees. It’s said that they were born in the Genesis Continent and are very, very old and ancient.”
“The five Primeval Divine Trees!” Meng Lei gasped. “Which five trees are they?”
“The Mother Tree of Earth, the Deep Sea Coral Willow, the Fusang1 Divine Tree, the Ancient Tree of Life, and the Golden Apple Tree.”
Dodola explained, “Among them, the Ancient Tree of Life lives in the Forest Divine Realm and is the oldest, tallest and biggest, and most majestic lifeform there. The Fairy Goddess had propagated the famous Tree of Vitality using a branch from the Ancient Tree of Life itself.”
“I see.”
Meng Lei took a breath. Then, he remarked incredulously, “What must the actual Ancient Tree of Life look like when just its branch alone is already this heavy?”
“It’s huge! Unimaginably huge!”
A smiling Dodola said, “When you leave Heaven’s Vault Continent someday, you can head to the Forest Divine Realm and take a look. It’ll definitely astound you!”
“That day will come for sure!”
Then, Meng Lei left the Tower of Time.
“System, assimilate the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline!”
Whoosh!
A green deluge containing surging life force suddenly gushed out of Meng Lei’s brain and instantly spread throughout his body. It flowed through his limbs and integrated itself into his organs.
All the cells in Meng Lei’s body gradually turned green, which in turn also caused his flesh, blood, bones, internal organs, and skin to turn green. It looked as if Meng Lei was going to turn into a Namek1!
“How amazing! I actually don’t feel any pain at all while assimilating the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline! This is a groundbreaking first!”
Indeed, he had assimilated many different bloodlines ever since the very first time he tried assimilating one—the Fire Dragon bloodline—and every single time, intense pain had accompanied the process, causing him to suffer tremendous pain and agony.
This was the one and only time that he hadn’t experienced any pain. Even Meng Lei himself was rather unused to it!
The assimilation process lasted about ten minutes. At the end of the assimilation process, Meng Lei had completely turned into a tree.
His hair had turned into dense and lush leaves, his body into a thick and sturdy tree trunk, his arms into tree branches, his legs into tree roots...
He was 100-meters-tall and boasted lush, luxuriant leaves.
He brimmed with vitality and stood tall and straight.
The most amazing thing was that Meng Lei was giving off a torrential and surging sense of vitality. All the shelves around them displayed botanical magic materials that had long since withered and dried up were “given a new lease of life”. New shoots sprouted from them and began to grow madly as though they had been injected with steroids.
One meter, two meters, three meters...
Within the short span of a few breaths, a forest had formed around Meng Lei. All sorts of plants grew lushly around him, engulfing Meng Lei, the cause of it all.
“S-such strong life force!”
Meng Lei could sense the change in his divine body. Not only had his divine body greatly strengthened, but the life force within him had also become more than 100 times stronger.
A life force that had become 100 times stronger!
Now, this was something extremely astonishing. It meant that Meng Lei’s cell viability had become even stronger, so his rate of recovery from injuries had become faster, and he could last even longer in battles now...
“System, bring up the stats interface!”
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Primeval Bloodline: Primordial Human <16%>, Assimilated Bloodlines: Gods-Slaying Rat, Divine Netherworld Phoenix<Youth>, Hundred-Armed Giant, Ancient Tree of Life<13%>)
Wealth: 6.5 million Divinity Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Metal-Origin Divine Body (1%)
Spirit: Intermediate-Deity (Elementary-Grade)
Power of Divinity: 200 Divinity Crystals
Laws of Nature:
Double-Elemental Fusion: Some increase
Triple-Elemental Fusion: Wind-Light-Dark (0.1%), Metal-Wood-Earth (0.1%), Earth-Wood-Thunder (0.1%), Metal-Dark-Ice (0.1%)
Quadruple-Elemental Fusion: Ice-Metal-Dark-Fire (0.1%)
Meng Lei marveled, “The Ancient Tree of Life bloodline’s assimilation rate is actually only at 13%?”
“System, how much does it cost to raise the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline assimilation rate?”
“Dear host, raising the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline by 1% requires 100 million Divinity Crystals,” replied the system coldly.
“100 million Divinity Crystals? That’s so expensive!”
Meng Lei’s jaw dropped. “Is the Ancient Tree of Life bloodline also an Ancient God bloodline?”
“Yes, it is, host.”
Meng Lei was rather excited. “To think it’s actually another Ancient God bloodline! I’ve struck gold this time!”
Both the Primordial Human bloodline and the Ancient Tree of Life bloodlines were Ancient God bloodlines. He had two Ancient God bloodlines now!
This meant that he now had an additional form of assurance on his road to becoming an Ancient God. This was simply wonderful!
When Meng Lei got out of his tree form and resumed human form, he noticed at once that thick and lush vegetation had surrounded him. He couldn’t help but frown. Then, he sent the plants that had sprouted from the magic materials into the Tower of Time and planted them into the ground with a grand wave.
Magic materials that could qualify to be displayed here were all highly valuable and rare materials. Rather than letting them wither, he might as well plant them in the Tower of Time.
Meng Lei then continued to check out the other treasures.
“Ding! Pickup successful. You have obtained the Six-Winged Angel bloodline. Will you assimilate it?”