Within Chikang's No. 004 Cultivation Secret Realm aboard the quietly suspended Sky Ruins Firmament beneath the skies of the Myriad Heavens Market.
Song Chi stood before the Golden Apple Mother Tree. After countless millennia of growth and accumulation, the mother tree had reached a height of several hundred million kilometers and attained the limit of the ninth rank.
Brilliant golden radiance flowed across its entire body. Several not-yet-fully-ripe ninth-rank golden apples hung amid its branches and leaves, emitting immense life energy that made one's soul tremble.
Yet at this moment, the Golden Apple Mother Tree's aura had long reached a bottleneck. Without external aid, even if it waited another several hundred thousand years, it would likely still struggle to break through that final boundary and enter the mythic rank.
But at this very moment, Song Chi was that greatest external force.
"The time has come."
He murmured softly, his gaze calm.
First, he took out the tenth-rank Evil Spirit Divine Tree Heart he had obtained from Transcendence City.
The instant it appeared, the temperature of the surrounding space plummeted. A cold aura of death and souls spread outward, clashing with the Golden Apple Mother Tree's immense life energy. The mother tree's branches and leaves swayed violently as it instinctively rejected it.
Song Chi had expected this. With a thought, the eleventh-rank peak mythic power of the market outside abruptly descended into the secret realm, gently enveloping the Evil Spirit Tree Heart. It slowly cleansed and neutralized its excessively frigid aura of death, leaving behind only the purest soul essence and life energy.
Next, he took out his second treasure—the Starsea Sunflower Heart. This sunflower heart was a dreamlike azure blue, as though it contained a miniature sea of stars. It exuded gentle, inclusive stellar power. Its attributes were relatively neutral,