Chapter 245: Strongest Soul

Soul Ink was astonished.

’Four avatars... It’s a miracle.’

From what he knew, even the most powerful experts with avatars only had two at most.

’What did it mean to have four avatars?’

’If Li Yang reached the Emperor Level in the future, he would possess the combat power of five Emperor Level experts!’

’It would be like the Human Race instantly gaining five new Emperors!’

’And they would be Emperors with avatars, making them incredibly difficult to kill! The sheer terror of that threat would be immense!’

Hearing Soul Ink, Li Yang said with a sigh, "Soul Ink, could you please not use the word ’useless’ when you talk about my octopus avatar?"

Not far away, the Eight-armed Octopus—which had already broken through to the Longevity Realm and now measured several hundred meters long—stared at Soul Ink’s phantom.

Soul Ink glanced at Li Yang’s octopus avatar and pursed his lips. "It doesn’t help your cultivation at all. If that’s not useless, what is?"

"If that octopus avatar were some other powerful World Realm life form, your growth rate would be much faster."

He had always lamented that the octopus avatar occupied one of Li Yang’s precious avatar slots.

Li Yang ignored him, his attention on the World Tree before him.

’Let’s see if I can gestate a Fire Nether Divine Beast avatar now!’

Li Yang took a deep breath. With a wave of his right hand, a peculiar fragment of skin appeared in his palm.

The skin fragment was entirely red, covered in strange, esoteric markings.

"Well, being able to gestate more avatars is certainly a good thing. Li Yang, you could create another life form comparable to the Sky-Fierce Flood Dragon avatar. For instance, that Flaming Bird you traded for earlier would be a great choice. Wait, is that a piece of skin from a Fire Nether Divine Beast?"

Soul Ink was now coming to terms with the fact that the World Tree avatar could gestate again.

He had been surprised by Li Yang’s World Tree avatar several times before, and now he finally understood why Li Yang had traded for things like the Flaming Bird.

But as he looked at the skin fragment in Li Yang’s hand, Soul Ink asked in astonishment, "Li Yang, are you actually planning to gestate a Fire Nether Divine Beast avatar?"

He had just assumed Li Yang was preparing to gestate the Flaming Bird.

"I am," Li Yang said with a nod.

Seeing Li Yang’s nod, Soul Ink immediately shook his head. "Li Yang, I admit your World Tree has undergone a massive mutation. Being able to gestate the Sky-Fierce Flood Dragon avatar was already a miracle. But you can forget about trying to gestate a naturally born deity like the Fire Nether Divine Beast."

"It’s impossible to gestate a life form of that caliber. If you could, it would violate the fundamental laws of the universe."

He acknowledged that the mutated World Tree’s life essence had probably elevated to a much higher level, perhaps even surpassing that of the Sky-Fierce Flood Dragon, which was why it could be gestated.

This was theoretically sound.

As long as a life form’s essence was of a lower order than the World Tree’s, the World Tree could gestate it.

And through its mutation, the World Tree’s life essence could potentially reach a state that surpassed the Sky-Fierce Flood Dragon.

But to gestate a naturally born deity like the Fire Nether Divine Beast, the World Tree’s life essence would have to be superior to that of the beast itself.

’Surpassing the order of a naturally born deity... Is that even possible?’

Hearing Soul Ink’s doubts, Li Yang just smiled. "It’s just a try."

He said nothing more and placed the red skin fragment before the World Tree.

HUMMM...

The World Tree shimmered faintly, emitting a soft glow that enveloped the red piece of skin.

When the white light faded, the red skin fragment was gone.

In Li Yang’s perception, a strange transformation was taking place within the World Tree’s internal gestation space, where the red skin fragment had materialized.

Li Yang could feel the World Tree analyzing the red fragment.

’Will it work?’ Li Yang’s eyes were filled with anticipation.

’If this succeeds, the reward will be immense.’

’An avatar at the level of a naturally born deity! How powerful would that be? In just a few hundred years, it could easily become one of the Deities, even without actively cultivating!’

’Huh? The World Tree is actually trying to gestate the Fire Nether Divine Beast?’

Soul Ink was also watching, his eyes filled with disbelief.

The two waited. This time, the sensation was different from Li Yang’s previous experiences. The red skin fragment remained in the gestation space for several minutes.

He could clearly sense the World Tree avatar getting closer and closer to successfully gestating the Fire Nether Divine Beast. At the very end, it was just a hair’s breadth away.

A trace of excitement also appeared in Li Yang’s eyes.

But just then, a repulsive force suddenly manifested. The gestation space warped, and the red skin fragment was ejected, reappearing right in front of Li Yang.

’It failed.’

Looking at the reappeared red skin fragment, the joy in Li Yang’s eyes vanished in an instant.

Soul Ink, standing nearby, was still in a state of shock, clearly wondering if his entire understanding of the world was flawed.

’How could something that violates the fundamental principles of the universe happen right before my eyes?’

But when he saw the red skin fragment reappear, his confidence flooded back. He said coolly, "See, Li Yang? I told you it couldn’t be done."

Li Yang remained silent, but his mind was racing.

’It was so close to succeeding just now.’

The World Tree’s consciousness was his own. He could clearly perceive its changes. It wasn’t that the Fire Nether Divine Beast couldn’t be gestated, but that the World Tree was still missing something.

With this thought in mind, Li Yang didn’t try again.

"Li Yang, didn’t you also trade for the Flaming Bird’s blood? Just gestate that," Soul Ink suggested from the side.

Li Yang shook his head. "I’ll wait a bit longer."

"What’s there to wait for?"

Soul Ink asked, perplexed, "The sooner you gestate it, the faster you’ll be able to comprehend the laws."

Li Yang didn’t answer. He had his own plan.

’The World Tree’s ability to continuously gestate life must be due to the Inner Power Skill from the mysterious small sword. If that’s the case, then if the World Tree cultivates that skill to a higher level, won’t the order of life it can gestate also become higher?’

Ten days ago, Li Yang had just broken through to the Longevity Realm, and the World Tree had followed suit. Right now, they were cultivating the Soul Chapter of the Inner Power Skill from the mysterious small sword!

It was clear he hadn’t yet mastered this part of the skill.

Now, Li Yang wanted to wait until the Soul Chapter was cultivated to the limit of the Longevity Realm before trying again.

He wasn’t in a rush to gestate another avatar. His rate of progress was already among the absolute fastest in the entire Human Race.

’That’s the plan! I’ll focus on cultivating the Soul Chapter first!’

Li Yang made his decision, setting aside the matter of gestating an avatar for the time being.

...

Back on Earth, Li Yang awaited the arrival of the people from the Human Race’s Eternal Saint Hall, all the while continuously cultivating his soul.

The soul was a wondrous thing. Powerful geniuses almost always possessed souls that were exceptionally strong for their age.

However, the soul was innate; there was no known method to enhance it. If there were, everyone would be a genius.

But the Inner Power Skill within the mysterious small sword allowed Li Yang to do just that.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed. Li Yang’s soul, at the Longevity Realm, had finally reached its peak.

(Author’s Note: Apologies, something came up. I’ll post an extra Chapter tomorrow to make up for it. My thanks to the users who donated 1,500 and 100 points. Thank you!)