Penglai's Treasure, Leaving the Cosmic Ark!

"What? All four of them completed the challenge?!"

"Either no one appears at all, or four peerless geniuses appear at once!"

"The final victor was Venerable Han. Where did he come from?"

"I heard he is a disciple of a Boundless True God."

"As expected, he was formidable. From the moment he began expounding the Dao, I knew Han Tianzun was extraordinary!"

"Miao Hua and Ren Chuan... What a pity they ran into Venerable Han."

After hearing the Penglai Divine General's announcement, many people began discussing it.

The inheritance opportunity had gone through many cycles, yet no one had ever completed either challenge.

This time, however, four people had emerged.

Venerable Miao Hua and Venerable Ren Chuan in particular had both come within a hair's breadth of completing two challenges.

The ordinary bamboo cultivated by Miao Hua had soared one hundred thousand levels into the sky, while his spirit soil had reached the limit of the Ninth Order.

Ren Chuan had cultivated First-tier Divine Soil, but his ordinary bamboo had only reached 99,999 levels, falling short by a single level!

In the end, both of them had narrowly lost to Venerable Han.

"I knew he was strong, but I never knew he was this strong!" Venerable Zhuo Hua exclaimed. "He soared one hundred thousand levels into the sky while also condensing a grain of Divine Soil."

"Venerable Han is indeed terrifying." A trace of awe flashed through Liu Qingci's eyes as well.

Miao Hua and Ren Chuan might have seemed to fall short by only a little, but that little represented an enormous gap.

"Han..."

Zi Zhao ran toward Zhao Xing with great strides, his eyes blazing with fervor as he sought to ask for guidance.

Yet after taking just two steps, he discovered that he had slammed headfirst into a mountain.

"Hm?"

Zi Zhao was left dizzy and disoriented by the impact, only to realize that he had already left the Water Bamboo Grotto-Heaven.

The details of what had happened within the Water Bamboo Grotto-Heaven gradually faded from his memory. Only his insights into the Dao remained clear.

"I have been isolated. I can no longer remember Venerable Han's aura, and even his appearance has become somewhat blurry."

Venerable Zi Zhao felt despondent. In his mind, Han Bing was now nothing more than a vague name.

After the final victor had been decided, everyone was teleported out, and all of them experienced the same condition as Venerable Zi Zhao.

Naturally, Xu Huai, Liu Qingci, Zhuo Hua, and the others who had already remembered him were unaffected.

"Whoosh~"

Everyone vanished at the same time. The trial ground within the Water Bamboo Grotto-Heaven immediately became empty, leaving only Zhao Xing standing where he was, gazing at a grain of sand in his palm.

"What did you come to understand?" The Penglai Divine General appeared beside Zhao Xing.

"Heaven and earth gave birth to life, and life changed heaven and earth." Zhao Xing spoke thoughtfully. "The universe's development to this day was not the result of a single factor."

The Penglai Divine General neither confirmed nor denied it. "Zhao Xing, you may contemplate such principles slowly. Once you become a god, you will have ample time to consider the relationship between heaven, earth, and all things."

Zhao Xing's heart skipped a beat. He looked up at the Penglai Divine General. "You know my identity?"

"When you first entered, I only knew that you were a Mountain Chief from some point in the future, because I sensed the existence of the Earth Treasury Divine Needle." The Penglai Divine General smiled. "As for the founder of the Three Epochs Boundary Theory, the Dao Manifestation Era Origin Theory, the Eight Methods of Layered World Mountain, and the Ten Directions Mountain Scripture, my teacher only told me that just now."

Zhao Xing was astonished. How had the Earth Treasury Divine King learned of him?

However, he did not ask further. He quickly followed behind the Penglai Divine General and tunneled toward the depths underground.

"Are you wondering why we know of you? After all, we cannot leave, which means that we are effectively dead in the future."

"Yes." Zhao Xing nodded. "This junior is indeed curious."

"Earth God King Jun is my martial uncle. He occasionally comes to visit my teacher," said the Penglai Divine General.

Zhao Xing immediately understood.

"At the end of the 341st epoch before the Desolate Territory, the Cosmic Ark fell, and the Fushan Domain was formed." The Penglai Divine General spoke calmly. "The gods of the Ancient Hill of Antiquity once considered rescuing us."

"Though our ideals differed, we ultimately shared the same roots. The rescue effort began very quickly."

"However, we had already been trapped to death. This stretch of history had been fixed and could not be distorted or changed, so naturally, we could not be rescued."

"People could not be taken out, but inanimate matter could still be removed by certain means, at a relatively smaller cost."

"Through cycle after cycle, everything movable aboard the Cosmic Ark was taken away. It could be considered a way to recover some of the losses from the Cosmic Ark Project."

"The cost was jointly borne by my teacher, the Earth Treasury Divine King, and my martial uncle, the Zhoushan Divine King."

Zhao Xing came to a sudden realization. "In other words, only because the two God Kings allowed outsiders to enter could they come in?"

"That is correct." The Penglai Divine General nodded. "This also involves the existence of a historical God King, so it is inconvenient for me to say more. However, my teacher, I, and many powerful Divine Generals can sense the cycles."

"What exactly happened to the Cosmic Ark?" Zhao Xing asked doubtfully.

"You can regard it as a valley of time." The Penglai Divine General sighed faintly. "When you entered the Cosmic Ark, you walked into that valley."

"To me, this is what the valley is like:"

"Whenever I live aboard the Cosmic Ark until the final day of its 1,200th Solar Year."

"Time stops flowing. When I open my eyes the next day, I have returned to the first day of the first Solar Year of the 341st epoch before the Desolate Territory."

"A time loop?" Zhao Xing imagined a scene in his mind. After the Cosmic Ark had fallen, because of its unique nature, the "water" representing time circulated only within it instead of drifting onward with the River of Time into the next epoch.

Because the Penglai Divine General and the others had become one with the Cosmic Ark, they could not escape it, nor could they be fished out. They could only cycle through it endlessly.

The Cosmic Ark had formed an immense, infinitely repeating time trap, powerful enough that even God Kings could not Break Free from it.

The Penglai Divine General, the Earth Treasury Divine King, the Zhoushan Divine King, and the others possessed sufficiently powerful true spirits and deep enough comprehension of the Time Great Dao, allowing them to retain their memories through countless cycles within a fixed span of time—the 341st epoch before the Desolate Territory—and a fixed location—the Cosmic Ark.

But others could not.

For those in the Divine Realm, the definition of death was different.

They still existed during one stretch of time, yet outside that fixed time and place, they could also be considered dead.

"Enough, do not overthink it." The Penglai Divine General smiled. "As I said earlier, after becoming a god, you will have enough time to contemplate reincarnation, time, and the Life Great Dao."

"For now, come take a look at the inheritance treasures I prepared for you."

"Yes."

Inheritance treasures? Zhao Xing's eyes lit up. After all these years of hardship, this was the moment he had been waiting for!

They quickly tunneled deep underground and arrived at the Dead Vein isolation zone.

Yet the Penglai Divine General continued leading Zhao Xing downward.

Under his protection, Zhao Xing passed through a region of pitch-black Dead Veins.

Along the way, Zhao Xing began to speculate.

What treasure was the Penglai Divine General going to give him?

"If it were an inanimate object, such as a treasure, it could simply be stored in a storage ring."

"Since it is hidden underground, it should be a living thing, most likely a plant."

After all, Bowei had said that the Penglai Divine General enjoyed farming.

He did not know how long they had descended before light suddenly appeared below. As they drew closer, Zhao Xing discovered a hemispherical barrier beneath them.

A patch of Divine Soil floated within the spherical barrier, and a fiery red plant grew atop it.

Only after landing did Zhao Xing discover that the Divine Soil nurtured seven fiery red bamboo stalks, each only one hundred meters tall.

"This landmass exceeds one hundred thousand World Yuan Units, doesn't it? Such a massive patch of divine-grade soil is nurturing only these seven bamboo stalks? And they are so short?" Zhao Xing was somewhat surprised.

"Zhao Xing, do you know what kind of bamboo this is?" the Penglai Divine General asked.

Seeing that the Penglai Divine General intended to test him, Zhao Xing did not hold back and directly used his panel to inspect it.

As long as it was a living thing and its realm was not absurdly high, he should at least be able to see its name.

Yet after Zhao Xing finished looking, his gaze turned vacant.

He could barely believe his eyes.

"Senior, this... this is Firecracker Bamboo?"

That was right. It was Firecracker Bamboo, and divine-grade Firecracker Bamboo at that!

According to what Zhao Xing saw, the seven bamboo stalks had all been cultivated from ordinary-grade Firecracker Bamboo.

They had advanced step by step, Breaking the Limit, yet retained the characteristics of Firecracker Bamboo all the way, forcibly reaching the divine grade!

As for their exact grade, Zhao Xing could not understand it. There was not even a realm displayed, which clearly meant the gap in level between them was far too great.

"Oh? You dared to guess that?" The Penglai Divine General was somewhat surprised. "Although it has the appearance of Firecracker Bamboo, its level is too high and its divine power too vast. Instead, people do not dare guess that it is Firecracker Bamboo. Yet you guessed it immediately."

"I... I simply did not dare believe it." Zhao Xing looked utterly stunned. "Your ability surpasses my imagination."

The greater the leap in a lifeform's advancement, the greater its change in appearance should have been.

The fact that the Penglai Divine General's seven Firecracker Bamboo stalks had retained their original form was precisely the most extraordinary part.

It had the same underlying principle as the imperial-grade Resilient Vine cultivated by Guluo He.

Even after advancing, the Resilient Vine remained a Resilient Vine. It had not mutated into something else.

Mutation was exceedingly difficult to control. When Zhao Xing had learned the Marrow Extraction Divine Power, he had continuously produced mushroom variants, until eventually even he no longer knew what species he had created.

Although some terrifying beings occasionally shone brilliantly at the Primordial Beginning Assembly, that uncontrollable factor was also highly taboo in battle.

"The Great Dao is simplest at its core!" the Penglai Divine General declared proudly. "The Earth Treasury Art differs from the True Self Faction's Variant Method and Derivation Method. It emphasizes preserving the original characteristics of plant life."

"Moreover, these seven Firecracker Bamboo stalks are all mother bamboo."

"They are also the finest creations of my life. As long as they remain within Divine Soil, every five epochs, they can reproduce one divine-grade Firecracker Bamboo."

"The Source of Life will not diminish?" Zhao Xing asked in shock.

"It will not." The Penglai Divine General said proudly, "As long as the conditions of the Divine Soil remain unchanged, it never will."

Zhao Xing sucked in a cold breath.

Phoenixes gave birth to peacocks, peacocks gave birth to roc, rocs gave birth to hawks, and hawks gave birth to chickens. The origin of life along the Life Great Dao usually diminished with each generation, each generation becoming weaker than the last.

This also conformed to the universe's progression from primordial beginning, to origin, to myriad phenomena, to extinction. As the universe's origin weakened, lifeforms generally evolved toward weaker levels.

This was especially evident in powerful individuals.

The Penglai Divine General had given him seven bamboo stalks, and every one of them was a mother seed.

A mother seed meant it could reproduce, which was already exceedingly precious.

And their Source of Life would not diminish, making them even rarer!

The Penglai Divine General's inheritance was difficult, but it was absolutely worthy of such a demanding trial!

"Do you know how powerful seven divine-grade Firecracker Bamboo stalks are?" the Penglai Divine General asked smugly.

"I do not."

"Take a guess."

"Could they kill a mid-stage Divine General?" Zhao Xing deliberately guessed low.

"Hahaha, who are you looking down on?" The Penglai Divine General burst into laughter. "Even if offspring they produce explode, within thirty thousand World Yuan Units, a Free Divine General without a high-grade Dao Divine Artifact would not survive, even if he were a late-stage Divine General. I mean every profession, including Qi Sect Martial Practitioners."

"If it is the mother plant? Within thirty thousand World Yuan Units, even a peak Divine General would not survive unless he possessed a top-grade Dao Divine Artifact!"

"What? They are actually that powerful?!" Zhao Xing revealed a look of shock.

"Of course!" said the Penglai Divine General. "You have cultivated the True Self Faction, so you should know that plant life is inherently difficult to nurture. The effort and growth time it requires surpasses all races. Therefore, in terms of life energy level, it also stands above all races."

"Yan Ao is tough enough, isn't he? But if he were within thirty thousand World Yuan Units when a mother plant exploded, he would certainly die!"

"Over countless cycles, I have blown myself up many times, and I have also blown up gods of different professions. This has all been verified!"

Watching the Penglai Divine General ramble on endlessly, Zhao Xing did not know what to say.

He could only mock Bowei in his heart.

This is what you call peace-loving?

Elder, do you want to hear what he is saying right now?!

"You are truly formidable." Zhao Xing could only echo respectfully.

The Penglai Divine General truly was incredible. Cultivating such divine-grade plants was not something an ordinary Agriculture God could accomplish.

"Elder, how effective would Firecracker Bamboo be against a Tribulationless True God?" Zhao Xing suddenly thought of this question.

"A Tribulationless True God? I do not know about that." The Penglai Divine General pondered. "I have never blown up a Tribulationless True God at the Divine General level."

"However, by my estimation, if the mother plants are deployed, as long as it is not a True God on the level of a Boundless True God, it could possibly be blown to death."

"You can try it in the future."

After hearing this, the way Zhao Xing looked at the seven bamboo stalks changed entirely.

"However, remember this: once mother bamboo explodes, it is gone, and it will be difficult to reproduce it again."

"You must also maintain an Earthly Advantage environment identical to this one. As for the Celestial Timing environment, it is not particularly demanding."

"First memorize the Earth Treasury Divine Meridian diagram of this soil. Once you have done so, we will go to the next location."

The Penglai Divine General did not let Zhao Xing collect them immediately, instead having him first learn the arrangement of this soil.

The techniques of the Earth Treasury Department were fundamentally all somewhat related to formations.

Strictly speaking, what Zhao Xing was learning now should be called the Earth Treasury Divine Meridian Diagram—Firecracker Bamboo Edition.

By turning the Divine Soil into veins and arranging them according to the diagram, one could cultivate divine-grade Firecracker Bamboo, maintain its grade without decline, and allow it to survive for a long time.

Naturally, there were many other tricks involved, such as the differing properties of divine-grade soil. This also involved certain theories from the Ten Divine Soils and Proterozoic Divine Meridian Theory.

About twenty years later, Zhao Xing had already gained an initial grasp of it.

"You still cannot collect them yet. First, take a look at the second batch of treasures I have left for you."

"Yes."

Zhao Xing soon followed the Penglai Divine General to the front of a cave estate surrounded by a black-and-white bamboo forest.

The Penglai Divine General pushed open the estate gate. Inside were many Small Towers, shimmering with divine power and nearly blinding Zhao Xing.

"These are... Divine Power Towers?" Zhao Xing was stunned again.

Before him stood more than ten thousand Small Towers. Most were Divine Soldier Grade Divine Power Towers, but over one thousand were Divine General level Divine Power Towers.

"Mm. I used up many of them. As for the rest, I could not be bothered to sort them. Go count them yourself," the Penglai Divine General said indifferently.

"Yes." Zhao Xing entered excitedly to take inventory.

The Penglai Divine General walked to the waters outside the cave estate.

"Pff~" A walrus emerged from the water, surfacing as it looked reluctantly at the Penglai Divine General.

"Lord God, are you leaving?" The walrus affectionately rubbed against the Penglai Divine General's palm.

"Yes, Ying." The Penglai Divine General stroked the walrus. "Do not be sad. This person I have entrusted to you has great potential. I cannot escape this cycle, but with his help, you may have hope of escaping this cage in the future."

The walrus sadly swayed its tail.

Independent spacetime, Divine Machine City.

On a small mountain constructed from clocks, the hand of the clock atop the throne suddenly twitched. The person seated upon it and the surrounding space regained their sense of time. The Boundless True God raised his head and looked at his hands with a speechless expression.

At this moment, another tuft of red hair had grown on his right hand—more than eight thousand strands—and it was still spreading, seemingly with a tendency to grow ever more numerous.

The Boundless True God closed and opened his eyes, swiftly grasping the chain of events.

"Zhao Xing has completed Penglai's trial. More than eight thousand gods are now inquiring about the name Han Bing."

"But they are only fine hairs. They do not yet constitute any powerful karma."

The Boundless True God nodded slightly and blew a breath onto his arm.

All the fine hairs immediately fell away.

Across countless spacetime realms, every god seeking information felt as though an icy wind had swept through their minds.

"Boundless Divine Venerable."

"He is from Divine Machine City."

"The Boundless True God has acted and cleared away the karma."

"Honorable Boundless True God, I had no intention of prying. Please forgive me."

Countless thoughts and voices flashed by. Some knew of the Boundless True God, which was why there was an exchange. Many wandering gods did not know the Boundless True God, but they still understood that this was taboo and could not be investigated further.

Many red hairs fell away, yet one remained—the longest one, a white hair. It was comparatively thick and had already grown half a meter long.

"Hmm?" The Boundless True God immediately became vigilant.

White represented Good Cause and Good Result.

Yet this was precisely what made him most wary.

The Boundless True God did not fear evil causes and evil results. At worst, he would fight a battle.

Good Cause and Good Result, however, meant that a god was bestowing favor upon Zhao Xing, and that was instead difficult to handle.

The Boundless True God pinched the white strand and reflected upon what lay within it.

"So that is it. Penglai's Last Words are merely to save a Divine Soldier Grade sea beast?"

The Boundless True God was relieved.

The Penglai Divine General's final Last Words were a great constraint upon Zhao Xing, because the Boundless True God had sensed that Zhao Xing had received immense benefits. He did not know exactly what they were, but he knew their weight.

Following the thread to its end, he examined the Penglai Divine General's Last Words and learned that the Penglai Divine General merely wanted Zhao Xing to rescue the Pet Beast he had raised in the future. That was only a trivial matter.

"Let Zhao Xing handle it himself." The Boundless True God snapped the thread, but did not destroy it. He simply placed it in his palm so that he could observe whether any changes occurred later.

"Zhao Xing, its name is Ying." Outside the cave dwelling, beside the waters, the Penglai Divine General looked at Zhao Xing. "It has been with me for a long time. I have treated it like family."

"I cannot escape the Cosmic Ark. My only regret is it. I hope that one day, you can rescue it and bring it out."

"Senior, I swear upon my Dao heart that I will certainly come and rescue it in the future." Zhao Xing made the oath solemnly.

"Good. Then I have no regrets." The Penglai Divine General nodded. "The third inheritance is my divine essence."

"Now, we shall go pay respects to my teacher. Only after you have paid respects to my teacher can you receive the complete inheritance without paying a price."

Only then did Zhao Xing learn that once the Penglai Divine General's Inheritance was passed on, it would disappear completely.

Even aboard the Cosmic Ark in the 341st era of the Desolate Territory, he would no longer exist.

Among the Earth Treasury Sect's secret arts was a move called Return to Origin Divine Essence. It was a sacrificial spell.

It could transform everything one possessed into pure divine origin essence.

Once Return to Origin Divine Essence was used, the Minister of Agriculture would cease to exist. Perhaps he would become a mountain, a sea, or a handful of earth.

At the end of their lives, Earth Treasury Ministers of Agriculture would use this method to return once more to the cycle of the universe's origin.

"I am at the peak of the Divine General level. After you absorb my divine essence, even if you do not inherit it all, you should at least reach the middle stage of the Divine General level. Come, let us meet my teacher."

Zhao Xing did not move.

"What, are you unwilling?"

"Senior, I cultivate all three sects. I cannot inherit your divine essence right now."

"It does not matter. You can keep it first and absorb it whenever you wish." The Penglai Divine General said, "You only need to use the Return to Origin Method to draw it in, and it can be temporarily preserved within the Extreme Land."

"Senior, I do not understand." Zhao Xing shook his head. "Why are you unwilling to keep living? Perhaps there will be hope in the future..."

"Hahaha, I have lived enough. Is that reason enough?" The Penglai Divine General laughed loudly.

"Come, child. Do not overthink it. Dust returns to dust, earth returns to earth. This is the inherited path of the Earth Treasury Sect's Ministers of Agriculture."

"As a mountain chief, you should understand."

Zhao Xing was silent for a while before ultimately following him to meet the Earth Treasury Divine King.

The Penglai Divine General could not escape his predicament. Day after day and year after year, amid endless cycles, he had to follow the fixed historical events every time.

Saying that he had lived enough was no empty claim.

Furthermore, the failure of the Cosmic Ark Project had left the Penglai Divine General with a sense of guilt, so he chose this method to return his inheritance to the Ancient Hill of Antiquity.

"Perhaps this was also a kind of release for the Penglai Divine General."

Upon the towering Primordial Ancient Divine Mountain stood a temple.

The entire mountain was shrouded in layers of spacetime barriers, making it impossible to see its full form clearly.

Not long after Zhao Xing followed the Penglai Divine General into concealment, they appeared at the foot of the mountain.

Then a stone ox appeared and carried them up the mountain.

When Zhao Xing observed it through the panel, he discovered that this stone ox was not a living creature at all, but merely the divine manifestation of the Earth Treasury Divine Ox technique.

The same spell was utterly different in the hands of the Earth Treasury Divine King. Zhao Xing could clearly sense the fluctuations of life, yet it could not truly be considered alive.

"Clip-clop, clip-clop~"

The stone ox carried the two of them up the stairs, and they soon arrived at the temple.

It was a small temple of blue tiles and red walls, exceedingly simple.

With little bridges, flowing water, and dense shade from the trees, Zhao Xing and Penglai passed through two covered corridors and arrived before a quadrangle courtyard.

On the stone steps before the courtyard gate sat an old man wearing a straw hat. His trouser legs were rolled up, and both hands rested on a hoe. He lowered his eyes in thought, yet also seemed to be asleep.

Gods had a thousand faces and a thousand forms. What Zhao Xing saw now was the form constructed from the Earth Treasury Divine King's legends.

"Teacher, I have come." The Penglai Divine General respectfully knelt before the old man. "This disciple has found a candidate."

"Greetings, Patriarch." Zhao Xing knelt on the ground.

The old man raised his head, smiling in his eyes. "Penglai, congratulations. He is very good."

"Hahaha, thank you for your praise, Teacher."

"Is there anything else you wish to say?"

"No, Teacher. I am going!"

As the spacetime beside them rippled gently, Zhao Xing lifted his head again, only to find that the Penglai Divine General had vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a pale yellow orb of light.

It was Zhao Xing's first time witnessing this ancient tradition of the Earth Treasury Department. In the Ancient Hill of Antiquity during the Wilderness Era, no one in the Earth Treasury Department still knew this inheritance secret art.

As the Penglai Divine General's Divine Treasure Return to Origin took place, the earth and space seemed to tremble.

However, the shaking swiftly ceased with the Earth Treasury Divine King's voice.

"Zhao Xing, do not waste his life."

"This junior will remember."

"Go."

The Earth Treasury Divine King lowered his head again, and everything around them seemed to become still once more.

The next moment, Zhao Xing appeared atop Penglai Mountain.

At this moment, an additional divine essence had appeared within his Extreme Land, while his inner world now held a patch of divine soil, upon which stood seven bamboo plants and over ten thousand divine power presses.

"Buzz~"

The Profound Spirit History Book rubbing trembled. This time, however, it was neither a notification nor a warning. Instead, it began to shatter inch by inch.

At the same time, Zhao Xing heard a deep, booming voice in his mind.

"Yan Ao, the power of his history book rubbing has run out. Quick, pull him out!"