Chapter 1175: A Rude Awakening
"This is..."
Yi Yun was surprised by this turn of events. Although he knew that the Azure Wood Divine Tree was able to restrain a bronze giant, he never expected that the Azure Wood Divine Tree could directly reduce the bronze giant’s servant to Yuan Qi before wholly absorbing it.
What sort of origin did the Azure Wood Divine Tree have?
Yi Yun guessed that the mysterious woman with the Nine Transformations Red Lotus on her forehead might have transplanted the divine tree from a particular primitive land. It was the nemesis of the bronze giants and their servants by nature.
Even the Purple Crystal, which symbolized a Great Dao, was unable to absorb energy that had life. As for the Azure Wood Divine Tree, it apparently had no such restriction when it came to bronze giants.
Yi Yun studied the Azure Wood Divine Tree within his dantian. It had already grown from a sprout to a tiny tree. It was about twenty feet tall, and in its leaves were etched Great Dao patterns. It looked lush, green, and full of vibrancy.
Yi Yun stroked his chin. He could not help but consider the idea that, since the Azure Wood Divine Tree was able to absorb the demonic servant, it was possible for him to cleanly absorb every demonic servant gathered there.
According to what Senior Divine Dream said, the land where the demonic servants slept was nothing impressive. However, their very presence there was still a hidden threat to the Yang God Empyrean Heaven. If the demonic servants were ever unleashed upon the world, it would cause a catastrophe, if not the total destruction of all life.
Furthermore, these demonic servants were extremely nourishing for the Azure Wood Divine Tree. Absorbing them could enhance its growth.
Back when Yi Yun broke through to the Dao Manifestation realm, his four nine-leaf Dao fruits hung from the Azure Wood Divine Tree. After he broke through to the Dao Palace realm, his Nine-treasured Dao Palace had fused with the Azure Wood Divine Tree. Looking at it that way, the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s growth was directly related to Yi Yun’s cultivation realms.
After making up his mind, Yi Yun aimed at another rundown grave. With one strike, he tore open the grave and saw the blood ice buried within.
A notch in the red ice crystal had been sliced open by the pure Yang broken sword but there was nothing within the ice crystal.
It was an empty ice crystal coffin.
Yi Yun frowned slightly as he opened a few more graves, all of which were empty.
Back when Dong Xiaowan came here with the Jadewave Sect, she had been possessed by a demonic servant. However, from the looks of it, that was not the only demonic servant that had awoken that day.
Perhaps there were other demonic servants that had awoken and left the ancient ruin.
When he realized this, Yi Yun’s heart clammed up.
These demonic servants were not going to cause immediate disaster after they escaped, but they were bound to escape. Even now, they were slowly awakening from their slumbers.
As time went on, more and more demonic servants would recover their strength and wreak havoc in the external world. It would only spell trouble when that happened.
"I need to kill them before they recover their strength."
Yi Yun broke open a grave and found a demonic servant.
Upon sensing Yi Yun’s appearance, the demonic servant screamed sharply but before it could do anything else, it was sealed within Yi Yun’s spatial cage.
The Azure Wood Divine Tree materialized behind Yi Yun and instantly reduced the demonic servant into Yuan Qi for absorption. All of the energy that it had accumulated over many years was quickly transformed into nutrients for the Azure Wood Divine Tree.
"Next."
Yi Yun’s eyes sparkled. A fierce bear in hibernation could be killed by mortals, much less Yi Yun who had the Azure Wood Divine Tree. He was the demonic servants’ nemesis. Killing them took nothing from him.
Gradually, Yi Yun sensed that the energy stored within the Azure Wood Divine Tree was increasing. It was slowly growing taller as its leaves became more luxuriant.
However, after he had absorbed more than a hundred demonic servants for the Azure Wood Divine Tree, Yi Yun suddenly felt an ominous feeling.
He took a slight step back and, at that moment, a black storm stirred in front of him.
In his energy vision, he could see the demonic servants open their eyes one after the other, shooting out dark red beams of light.
"Pa! Pa! Pa!"
The red ice coffins underground exploded in succession as demonic servants rushed out from their blood ice enclosures. Having their slumber disturbed made them extremely furious. They wanted to devour everything around them.
"Oh no!"
Yi Yun’s heart sank. In the end, it was him that managed to awaken the sleeping demonic spirits. Now, twenty to thirty thousand demonic servants were rising from the ground. Even with the Azure Wood Divine Tree, he was unable to vanquish such a massive number of demonic servants.
Fortunately, Yi Yun could sense through his energy vision that the demonic servants in front of him were only huge in number. Since they had just been forcefully awoken, they were like premature babies. They were extremely weak and did not pose any threat.
Furthermore, after any of the demonic servants discovered Yi Yun, they became very apprehensive towards him. None of them dared to truly attack him.
With the pure Yang broken sword in hand, he looked at the black swath of demonic servants. He was fully focused and on high alert. He figured that the demonic servants would eventually attack together. When that happened, he would be in danger. Once he was too overwhelmed to resist, he would be devoured clean by the tens of thousands of demonic servants.
"Roar——"
At that moment, a demonic servant roared. It was several times bigger than the other demonic servants. Its color was deeper and it was easy to tell that it was one of the stronger demonic servants.
Yi Yun watched as the powerful demonic servant’s body sparkled with intense light. He believed that it would lead the charge to attack him but suddenly, something that surprised Yi Yun happened. The demonic servant abruptly turned back and bit another demonic servant that was much weaker than it. It swiftly consumed its fellow!
"What?"
Yi Yun was more than a little taken aback. With the powerful demonic servant taking the lead, the other demonic servants began to engage in a massacre. The stronger demonic servants devoured the weaker demonic servants. None of the weaker demonic servants put up any meaningful resistance, as if they were resigned to being devoured.
As for the demonic servants that ate their kind, they became more powerful. Soon, tens of thousands of demonic servants were reduced to eight to nine thousand.
Upon seeing this, Yi Yun finally realized that this was a way for the demonic servants to rapidly gather strength.
Due to his presence, these demonic servants had no choice but to awaken early. Only by devouring their own kind could they make up for the loss.
"Die!"
How could Yi Yun allow them to continue increasing in power? With a long roar, the pure Yang broken sword in his hand blazed with Yang flames. It was as if a sun had appeared out of nowhere in an icy underground world.
At the same time, he completely imbued the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s powers into his sword. Slashing out with his sword, both the divine tree’s power and the pure Yang power surged forth. Demonic servants were burned clean from wherever the sword beam passed. They melted immediately!
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
The demonic servants screamed loudly as they attempted to escape. At that moment, the Azure Wood Divine Tree’s phantom image materialized behind him. He charged into the demonic servants and began his slaughter!
The veins of the Azure Wood Divine Tree shot out in every direction like green whips. Wherever the whips lashed, demonic servants were split apart and exploded into a shower of light.
The light was absorbed by the Azure Wood Divine Tree, making its veins appear even more resplendent.