In the blink of an eye, another year had passed.
Jie Ning and Arannis left the Kodi Mountains and arrived at the border between the northern regions of the two great empires. Unlike the south, this was a vast desert.
The Death God Desert was the name of this stretch of wasteland.
It was said that this was the trace left behind after the battle between the God of War and the God of Thunder. Even though more than a thousand years had passed, most of the land remained a desert, as though some inexplicable force had cut off all vitality here.
As expected, Arannis had successfully become a Level 8 Mage, while Jie Ning could already sense that his opportunity to break through and become a Saint Realm Mage was close at hand.
He could feel his perception of the fluctuations of every life in the world becoming increasingly clear. He could "see" the fluctuations of life rising, converging, and vanishing throughout the world...
The more powerful a life was, the stronger the Life Fluctuation it produced in the world. Just as he could feel his own Life Fluctuation influencing the world.
His eyes grew brighter and brighter. Jie Ning could feel that his mind was more active than ever before.
Under Arannis's watchful gaze, Jie Ning suddenly crouched down and looked at an ordinary blade of grass before him. At least, it looked ordinary to Arannis.
If there was anything unusual about it, it was that amid the yellow desert, this blade of grass was a little greener.
From the surface, this grass appeared to be an exceptionally fragile and ordinary lifeform.
But Jie Ning's perception told him otherwise. In his senses, the Little Grass before him emitted an incomparably immense Life Fluctuation.
However, Jie Ning was certain that this Little Grass was not some powerful magical beast, which inevitably stirred his curiosity.
Thus, following the grass's roots, Jie Ning extended his spiritual force downward to investigate.
He guessed that the grass's actual size beneath the ground far exceeded his imagination, which was why it produced such an enormous Life Fluctuation.
"Huh." As his spiritual force spread out and he "watched" the astonishing sight before him, Jie Ning could not help but marvel.
He had guessed part of it correctly. The underground root system of this Little Grass was indeed incredibly developed, and that was the source of its vigorous vitality.
However, the origin of those roots concealed another enormous secret.
Dense roots had wrapped themselves into a huge sphere. It was obvious that something lay within, and from the center of the roots came a faint, heart-palpitating aura.
The root system of this "Little Grass" had already shielded most of that aura, yet the traces that leaked out still made Jie Ning's heart tremble. It felt as though the very essence of his life was being suppressed.
His spiritual force passed through the roots, and in an instant, a corpse appeared before Jie Ning's "eyes."
"This is a God Corpse..." Jie Ning immediately realized.
"What a pity. It is a God Corpse that has lost its Divine Spark..." The next moment, although he had never intended to refine a Divine Spark and become a god, seeing that the God Corpse had lost its Divine Spark and was merely filled with roots still made Jie Ning feel a flicker of disappointment.
"Perhaps it was this Divine Spark that triggered the battle between the two gods in the first place, leading to the creation of the Death God Desert," Jie Ning guessed.
Of course, this was not a baseless conjecture.
After all, the Divine Spark of the God Corpse had vanished. There were only two gods on the continent, so no matter how one thought about it, the Divine Spark was most likely in the hands of one of them. Ordinary people could not destroy a God Corpse.
After steadying his thoughts, Jie Ning focused on the God Corpse again. Judging from its aura, he was certain that it was an Earth God Corpse.
At this moment, it was tightly wrapped in the roots of the "Little Grass." Those roots had been trying to draw divine power from the God Corpse.
As everyone knew, aside from gods who had fused Divine Sparks with their Saint Realm bodies, the bodies of all other gods were condensed from divine power and could be considered enormous sources of energy.
Clearly, this Little Grass was far too weak to have much effect on the God Corpse. Aside from the wound on its head, the corpse remained largely intact.
"This grass really possesses a treasure without being able to use it..."
"Hm? No, that is not right..." Jie Ning carefully sensed the changes in the roots and immediately overturned his own conclusion. To his surprise, he discovered that this grass actually seemed to have drawn a thread of divine power from the God Corpse.
"It is just an extremely tiny amount, with almost no effect on the God Corpse. No wonder I failed to notice it at first glance."
He sensed that tiny strand of divine power enter the plant's roots from the God Corpse, only for the divine power to seemingly disperse in an instant.
"The divine power in a God Corpse is solidified and does not easily dissipate, but the minute amount drawn out disperses rapidly instead."
Yet the dispersed divine power remained enclosed within the roots of the Little Grass. The roots swiftly absorbed that scattered divine power, then used it to continue growing, expanding the area surrounding the God Corpse.
Jie Ning fell into thought...
Above ground, Jie Ning opened his eyes and looked at Arannis beside him. "Lannie, it seems we will need to stay here for a while longer."
As he spoke, he roughly explained what he had discovered underground to Arannis.
"My god, there is actually a God Corpse down there." Arannis found it hard to imagine. Gods were already the strongest forms of life in her understanding, yet a God Corpse was buried directly beneath their feet.
"Then should we dig out the God Corpse?" Arannis looked eagerly at the ground before them.
Jie Ning quickly stopped her and explained, "The God Corpse itself is of no use to us."
"A God Corpse like this is merely an aggregation of divine power."
"Below the God-level, there is almost no way to handle the solidified divine power within it. At most, one can only obtain a negligible amount of divine power through slow, grinding effort, just like this grass."
"Once one reaches the God-level, unless it is a God Corpse of the same element that can be used to quickly recover some divine power, it is not particularly useful." This was probably the main reason this God Corpse had been abandoned here.
"To us, this God Corpse is nothing more than a tasteless scrap," Jie Ning concluded.
Arannis was somewhat confused. "If that is the case, then why are we staying here?"
Jie Ning said mysteriously, "Although the God Corpse itself is useless, it is extremely useful to me."
As he spoke, Jie Ning pointed at the Little Grass before them.
Arannis looked at the utterly unremarkable grass, deeply puzzled. "Even the God Corpse is useless, so what use could a blade of grass like this have?"
"Lannie, do you remember what I told you about how someone in the Saint Realm becomes a god?" Jie Ning asked.
"I remember. You said one must comprehend the Heaven and Earth Laws..." Arannis stared at the Little Grass as though she wanted it to bloom. "But what Heaven and Earth Laws could such a blade of grass possibly contain?"
Jie Ning shook his head helplessly. "Lannie, laws are everywhere. For example, the reason you can only walk on the ground rather than fly through the sky without using magic is because of a law."
"I have a feeling that this insight may not only allow me to become a Saint Realm Mage, but may even let me take a great step forward on the path from the Saint Realm to godhood."
When it concerned Jie Ning's cultivation, Arannis could not understand it, but she immediately agreed. "Then let us live here for a while. Perhaps I might even break through to Level 9 here..."
Arannis was a wind-element mage. In this open desert, Wind Element was abundant, making it a fairly suitable environment for her cultivation. However, she still had some way to go before becoming a Level 9 Mage.
With Arannis's agreement, Jie Ning looked around, found a suitable spot, and directly took a complete house from his Space Ring and set it down. Then he cast earth-element magic to raise several high walls around it to block the wind and sand.
After arranging their lodging, Jie Ning sat cross-legged directly above the God Corpse and used his spiritual force to sense below.
In the days that followed, Jie Ning and Arannis settled down here temporarily.
Jie Ning knew that plants drew nourishment from the earth and grew as a result. In this world, the essence of the earth was Earth Element, so most plants essentially grew by absorbing Earth Element.
He had tried directly observing the growth of plants to deepen his understanding of life and earth, but unfortunately, it had not produced much effect.
The Earth Element condensed into solid form within the ground was connected too tightly. After plants absorbed it into their bodies, it transformed in ways Jie Ning could not understand, becoming part of the plants.
All matter in this world, living and nonliving alike, was fundamentally composed of elements.
Jie Ning believed that if he could comprehend the transformation from ordinary nonliving elements into life, his understanding of the Life Law would surely advance greatly.
And now, such a scene was unfolding directly before his spiritual force.
Divine power first dispersed and regressed into lower-level Heaven and Earth elements, then the roots of the Little Grass absorbed them. After being absorbed, those elements became part of the Little Grass, allowing it to grow...
Jie Ning carefully observed everything, comparing it with the way other nearby plants absorbed ordinary elements from the earth...
Suddenly, Jie Ning understood something. He seemed to have gained a different understanding of Earth Element. He could clearly feel the Earth Element around him becoming more active, and he instinctively manipulated it into combinations...
"The God Corpse will not work. Ordinary elements and divine power differ too greatly in essence, and I have not yet deciphered the elemental structure of the God Corpse..."
Suddenly, an idea struck Jie Ning. He opened his eyes and looked at the stone walls he had previously raised.
Jie Ning thought for a moment.
Then, all at once, a lump of mud appeared before him, followed by a block of iron, a block of copper, a block of gold... All kinds of metals appeared one after another before Jie Ning.
"On the elemental level, the only difference between metal and ordinary mud or stone lies in the different combinations and arrangements of elements."
Beside him, Arannis watched the various ores appear around Jie Ning and felt rather lost. Wasn't he supposed to be comprehending life? Why did it look like he was comprehending earth magic now?
Unaware of his wife's inner complaints, Jie Ning only felt that he had never been so close to these Earth Elements. They seemed like a part of him.
During this process, Jie Ning's Spiritual Sea seemed to surge with waves as it began undergoing an overall transformation.
Arannis noticed that something seemed to have changed about Jie Ning's condition...
And so, the days passed one by one.
Jie Ning "gazed" at a sphere floating above his Spiritual Sea, his joy mingled with a touch of wry amusement. My soul is actually a ball?
Outside, Arannis remained vigilant, occasionally glancing around. Earlier, she had discovered that Jie Ning had entered deep meditation and immediately realized that he must have gained some insight. Perhaps he was even about to break through.
She hurriedly stood guard, preventing any unexpected disturbance from interrupting Jie Ning.
Jie Ning opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Arannis still keeping watch beside him, and warmth rose in his heart.
"Lannie..." Jie Ning called out to Arannis.
Arannis looked at Jie Ning in delight. "Jie Ning, did you successfully break through?"
Jie Ning smiled and nodded. Then he stood and embraced Arannis. "That is right. From today onward, I can be considered a Saint Realm Mage as well."
I slacked off at work and wrote a chapter today.
As usual, I am asking for votes.
And once again, thanks to yesterday's supporters:
Lai Jie Jia, Infinite Sword Demon, and reader 20211013203324541.
Thank you to those three for their monthly votes.
Of course, I am also very grateful for the recommendation votes from all the other brothers and sisters.
Finally, can anyone recommend some good Coiling Dragon fanfiction? I want to read some too.
Before you continue