After taking a bite, Taiyin could not taste anything at all. There was nothing in his mouth either, as though he had merely bitten into air. The golden block-shaped fruit in his hand remained completely unscathed.
He hesitated for a moment, then tried taking a few more bites. Still, he bit into nothing and tasted nothing, yet the golden block-shaped fruit in his hand vanished into thin air.
Even with the reaction speed of a Supreme Being, Taiyin had not observed how the thing had disappeared.
It had been there one moment and vanished into thin air the next.
Once the Enchanted Golden Apple had been eaten, a strange expression appeared on Taiyin's face as he inspected his Sea of Wheels internally.
The Sea of Wheels was the first step in a cultivator's cultivation. Located beneath the cultivator's dantian, it represented their vitality and lifeline.
Like the growth rings of a tree, the Wheel of Life within the Sea of Wheels continuously accumulated marks with the passage of time, representing the draining away of life.
Yet now, although Taiyin had only just begun his fourth life, the tiny, nearly imperceptible mark engraved by time upon his still-pristine Wheel of Life since the start of that fourth life had suddenly vanished into thin air.
"It seems to have the same effect as that potion from before, the one that allowed me to condense a wisp of Primordial Spirit and Living Blood from a remnant thought."
Taiyin raised a hand and examined his palm. He could still sense an invisible, mysterious force enveloping his body, providing an exceedingly weak defensive effect. "It could probably withstand a few attacks from a battlefield general among mortal martial artists."
He frowned and waved his hand experimentally. A trace of Divine Power seeped out, forming an attack at the Sea of Wheels realm that struck the invisible force field around his body.
Yet after that force shattered, some strange power remained.
"Hmm!" Taiyin's gaze shifted as he noticed something unusual.
After the fragile defensive force around his body was shattered by his own attack, a small portion of the attack's remaining aftershock was directly erased into thin air.
With a thought, a glimmer of light blossomed from Taiyin's fingertip and transformed into a swarm of lifelike little bees, which crashed into his body one after another.
The first little bee possessed attack power at the Sea of Wheels level, the second at the Dao Palace realm, the third at the Four Extremes...
In the blink of an eye, the swarm of little bees vanished. Taiyin came to a shocked realization.
"A full twenty percent! This force enveloping me has erased a full twenty percent of all attacks directed at me out of thin air!"
As a Supreme Being whose control over power had reached the pinnacle of perfection and who permanently remained in Divine Prohibition, Taiyin could freely unleash attacks from ultimate killing moves of a Supreme Being down to the faintest breeze brushing one's face around his own body.
His control over power was incomparably precise, allowing him to clearly perceive even the slightest fluctuation of force.
But now, whether it was an attack containing the power of a casual strike from a Supreme Being, enough to blast a Quasi-Emperor Ninth Heaven to death in an instant, or an attack incapable of moving even a speck of dust—
Without exception, twenty percent of it was erased into thin air by this strange power.
No more, no less—exactly twenty percent!
Moreover, Taiyin could not sense any sign that this power had weakened.
What a terrifying concept was this?
On a battlefield where powerful experts clashed, the slightest opening could prove fatal. Being able to erase twenty percent of an enemy's attack out of thin air meant that an opponent originally close to one's own realm would have their attacks weakened by twenty percent—attacks Taiyin could completely ignore.
Meanwhile, he could endure his opponent's attacks head-on and shatter their defenses in an instant.
If this miraculous effect could still hold during a battle between Supremes, Taiyin was fully confident that he could face the combined assault of three experts at the same realm in one go—and even kill them all!
Even if they wanted to flee, they would not be able to escape!
Still reeling from the shock, Taiyin took several other items made of small blocks from the chest and tried them one by one.
They were a Honey Bottle, a Healing Potion, cake, and bread.
Fortunately, aside from the red block-shaped potion—the Healing Potion—which possessed the miraculous effect of restoring the marks on the Wheel of Life,
the other items did not display effects as heaven-defying as the block-shaped Golden Apple. This allowed Taiyin to breathe a slight sigh of relief amid his shock.
He looked at the Block Person fellow before him with complicated eyes and sighed.
"Fellow Daoist, your special power is so powerful that one cannot see its limits! If people with ill intent discovered your abilities, they would certainly stop at nothing to control you and use you for themselves!"
After a moment of silence, Fang Zheng looked at the silent black-haired man and asked eagerly, "So, how did it taste? Was it good? Was the Golden Apple sweet, or did it have no flavor? What was the cake like? And what did the Healing Potion taste like...?"
Taiyin smiled. Looking at this Block Person fellow whose expression could not be read from his stiff face, yet whose youthful nature could still be sensed, he said in a clear, standard voice with the same accent as Fang Zheng, "These Golden Apples have no taste, but their medicinal effect is indeed quite good."
"Huh?" Fang Zheng froze. "You can talk... No, you learned my language?"
Taiyin nodded with a smile. "I can hold a rough conversation now. If we talk at length a little longer, I will be able to learn it completely."
"Then how about we talk about our pasts together and pass the time?"
Fang Zheng hurriedly said, "Sure! I'll tell you first..."
Having finally found someone he could speak with, Fang Zheng chattered on about his name and past experiences. He complained about his misfortunes and told him about the White Tiger and Vermilion Bird that had suddenly attacked him after he transmigrated into this world.
He also asked Taiyin about his title, his past experiences, how he had arrived here, why he had left behind a lake of blood, whether the blade tip was his weapon, why he had suddenly become younger, and so on...
Terrified of being imprisoned again, Fang Zheng rambled on without holding anything back.
Taiyin, meanwhile, had lived for over forty thousand years before his death, then spent several hundred thousand years after death as a remnant thought without being fully erased. Though he looked young, he was still an elder.
After listening, he too smiled and slowly recounted his own past.
Being able to chat with a living person made Fang Zheng very happy. He did not know how long he and Taiyin talked, but he gradually felt himself calming down, no longer constantly restless and anxious as before.
The marks left on his mind by the despair he had suffered while trapped also seemed to fade considerably.
As they talked, Taiyin suddenly rose to his feet and invited him with a smile.
"Little Fellow Daoist Fang Zheng, after calculating, I have once again locked onto the coordinates of my homeland."
"Next, I intend to pierce through this void and return to the homeland I have been away from for several hundred thousand years. Would you like to come as my guest, so that I may fulfill my duties as a host?"
Fang Zheng froze for a moment, then frantically nodded his blocky head and shouted, "Sure, sure! I'm going!"
Taiyin nodded and extended his hand. "Then turn off your Flight Mode first and come stay in my hand for a while. I am returning home."
Fang Zheng hurriedly turned off Flight Mode as instructed. Taiyin extended his hand and gently closed his five fingers. The space-time around Fang Zheng was instantly torn apart and transformed into a scroll, which Taiyin collected into his palm.
It was exactly like what had happened when he stored the Bedrock earlier.
Although Creative Mode itself was impervious to any attack, cutting through space itself could bypass that invincible defense and trap him temporarily.
Looking at Fang Zheng in his palm, completely defenseless and allowing himself to be stored away, Taiyin could not help but sigh. "This truly is... possessing indescribably immense power, yet having the mind of only an ordinary youth."
"The power to create something from nothing and command infinite resources is so formidable, yet it remains constrained by a mortal mind, making it difficult to bring out more of its wondrous uses."
"Perhaps this is the balance of the Heavenly Dao."
"If he carelessly lets wicked people with ill intent discover him, they could probably deceive him with ease."
Yet Taiyin changed the subject and laughed heartily. "But... I can never repay the debt of saving my life. Since you trust me so much, then you are my dear friend."
"I will surely answer your kindness with kindness."
Before you continue