Finding the Bitter Snow Vine (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

The Primordial Universe, Ancestral God Secret Realm.

This was one of the most dangerous secret realms in the entire Primordial Universe, its scope vast beyond measure, spanning a full 160 million light-years, comparable in size to a cosmic nation. Ordinary dangers here could cause even a Cosmic Venerable to fall.

Shua!

Dark Lord appeared, clad in black robes. His aura spread outward, time and space bending to his will as endless darkness scattered in all directions, as if he were the master of the universe itself.

Though the Ancestral God Secret Realm was said to be extremely perilous, requiring even Universe Masters to tread carefully, as long as one avoided the Nine Nether Time-Space and didn't recklessly charge into the Ancestral God Sect, other threats were nothing to Dark Lord.

Those top-tier Special Lifeforms at the Cosmic Overlord level would have to flee at the mere sight of him.

Gales of Black Flame Cyclone howled, stretching for hundreds of millions of kilometers, cutting across the starry cosmos. An ordinary Cosmic Venerable caught in them would surely die.

But before they could even touch Dark Lord, every Black Flame Cyclone dissipated into nothing, annihilated by his will.

A fifth-tier Universe Master, even facing a True Deity one-on-one in the Primordial Universe, would not flinch. If he joined a peak-level force, he could become a top executive on the spot.

Hua~

Dark Lord seemed to be strolling leisurely, but with each step he took, he crossed several light-years.

Space was no longer a constraint. Every stride felt like leaping across layers of time and space, as endless darkness enveloped a range of nearly a hundred light-years, probing everything with overwhelming dominance.

"Woo... woo..."

Some lifeforms sensed this darkness, but a mere touch filled them with terror, forcing out mournful cries.

The several Ancestral Gods within the Ancestral God Sect knew that Dark Lord had descended into the Ancestral God Secret Realm, but as long as he didn't trespass into restricted areas, they wouldn't bother antagonizing a fifth-tier Universe Master.

Even if he captured a Special Lifeform and took it away, it was fine—so long as he didn't come too often.

Though the Ancestral God Secret Realm was vast, with a diameter of 160 million light-years, the Special Lifeforms it nurtured were few, especially those with high gene multipliers—hard to find even in eons.

The outer regions were quickly scouted by Dark Lord, covering nearly half. He pressed deeper, entering the heart of the Ancestral God Secret Realm.

In other Cosmic Secret Realms, wherever danger levels were high, human Universe Masters had also descended.

Chaos City Lord, Dark Marquis Lord, Ice Peak Lord, Dragon Travel Lord, Void Gold Lord...

Even Giant Axe Founder, a True Deity himself, personally set out to search for Special Lifeforms. This showed just how much the human race valued Zhang Dong.

But their movements were extremely covert, never letting any alien race catch wind of it.

If Zhang Dong's information were to fall into the hands of other races, Universe Masters—or even the strongest—would truly come to assassinate him.

A First-Class True Intent was indeed extraordinary enough to make powerful beings abandon all pretense and strike early to nip the anomaly in the bud. Fortunately, the Primordial Universe lacked causal means.

Otherwise, with a single thought from those Universe Strongest, Zhang Dong would be dead.

Three years later...

"Such a fast rate of progress." In the Virtual Universe, Dark Lord could almost see Zhang Dong's improvement with his own eyes.

He demonstrated the laws and explained the principle of Teleportation for inanimate objects to Zhang Dong.

In response, the latter began to draw inferences, his comprehension of the laws skyrocketing. Before long, he advanced from the twelfth floor of the Heavenly Bridge to the fourteenth.

One step away from grasping Teleportation for inanimate objects and reaching the fifteenth floor.

What an absurd level of insight.

Dark Lord had seen many geniuses. Back then, Origin Ancestor's disciples were all monsters, and Dark Marquis Lord was also a prodigy.

But compared to Zhang Dong, they all seemed like ants. He had never witnessed such a pace of progress.

"Perhaps my disciple Zhang Dong has the potential to become a Universe Strongest?" The thought crossed Dark Lord's mind. "If I take that step, I too could become a Strongest. Then, master and disciple both as Strongest—that would be a legendary tale in the Cosmic Sea."

Divine Eye True Lord of the Divine Eye Clan had a Universe Strongest as a disciple. That clan boasted seven Universe Strongest—how dazzling.

Thinking of this, Dark Lord threw himself even more earnestly into demonstrating Teleportation for inanimate objects to Zhang Dong.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

A sharp, urgent sound rang out.

It was a communication request for Dark Lord. He answered it in front of Zhang Dong. Ice Peak Lord's cold face appeared on the screen, and he spoke succinctly: "Found it. It's the plant lifeform Bitter Snow Vine. I'm heading back to the Initial Universe now."

"Bitter Snow Vine?!" Dark Lord was ecstatic. "Good, good, good. So it's Bitter Snow Vine."

Bitter Snow Vine was a very rare Special Lifeform in the Primordial Universe. In Luo Feng's era, five were known to exist, and Fanuonuo Fort Lord was one of them—a top-tier Cosmic Overlord.

The characteristic of plant lifeforms was that their gene multipliers weren't high, but their size was enormous.

Over a million kilometers, a thousand-fold gene multiplier, and most importantly, they had a talent secret method—Transplant.

It could have two clones. Counting the original body, that made three full clones. Even if the original died, it could cultivate another Bitter Snow Vine from one of the clones.

"Bitter Snow Vine, huh? Much better than Barking King." Zhang Dong was also quite satisfied in his heart. "Better than taking over a Golden-Horned Beast."

Though Barking King was a Special Lifeform with a two-thousand-fold gene multiplier, its size wasn't large.

And it had no clone talent. Once killed by Luo Feng, it was truly dead. As Zhang Dong thought of Barking King, a sudden idea popped into his mind. He immediately split his consciousness to search through the data.

Back when the Giant Axe Meeting was convened for him, Zhang Dong's authority had been greatly elevated, comparable to that of a true Cosmic Venerable.

He could access most of the information.

"Hmm, I didn't find any news about Barking King. That means either it hasn't been born yet, or it hasn't become an Immortal."

Zhang Dong planned to have Dark Lord help him search.

If he could find Barking King, he would spend one Clone slot to go there.

It wasn't easy to possess a high-gene Special Lifeform; Barking King was already good enough. Bitter Snow Vine was a large-volume lifeform anyway, so there was no need to keep looking for Blood Sea.

Dark Lord looked at Zhang Dong. "After you return from the Feather Slaughter Clan, prepare for possession. Don't rush it either—delay it by a hundred years or so. And don't reveal your realm to that Gao Li."

He said this not out of doubt about Gao Li's loyalty, but because alien races stopped at nothing. Once Zhang Dong became a Realm Lord, Gao Li would also need to be placed somewhere safe enough.

"Yes, I'll go defeat those Realm Lords in a hundred years." Zhang Dong said respectfully, "Teacher, since Bitter Snow Vine can have Clones, should I still keep cloning Special Lifeforms?"

"I'll keep searching for you in the Ancestral God Secret Realm." Dark Lord, as far as Zhang Dong's requests went, now basically fulfilled them as much as he could.

A disciple who could improve just by being given resources and having laws explained—who wouldn't like that?

Zhang Dong smiled. "Thank you, Teacher. I'm sorry to trouble you with so much care for your disciple."

Such a major event had occurred among the upper echelons of the human race, yet the Feather Slaughter Clan remained completely unaware.

Elder Xu Jin still thought Zhang Dong was preparing for the mission, after all, the target he needed to kill was far too strong.

He stayed in Huoyi Palace in seclusion, cultivating. Most of his time was spent practicing techniques in the Virtual Universe. Although the Source World's system was different, combat methods and skills could still be applied universally.