The Bud's Function

When Gulanxiu charged into the blood-red clouds, he immediately felt a strange aura affecting him.

Restlessness!

His heart was restless, as if he had a desire to kill.

But Gulanxiu's will was exceptionally firm. He remained unmoved and continued plunging downward. One layer of blood-red clouds after another parted before him, until at last he broke through the final layer.

He surveyed the land below!

Endless mountains, wastelands, swamps, and all kinds of terrain stretched out beneath him. Yet the landscape was strangely distorted. Some mountains seemed to have been shaved down, while others had been cleaved apart. Across the wastelands, he could see enormous, regular craters, each hundreds of kilometers in diameter.

One crater after another.

As if... they were the footprints of some colossal beast.

Most importantly, every area below was shrouded in a faint red mist. Because of it, anything too far away was impossible to make out.

"Ancient God Ruins? It seems this place hasn't changed much in all these years, even by Luo Feng's era," Gulanxiu sighed softly.

The Ancient God Ruins spanned thousands of billions of kilometers in diameter. It was so vast it defied belief—a planet thrown into it would be like a grain of sand in the desert!

The ground was barren, without a blade of grass or a trace of life!

Gulanxiu descended from the sky and landed on the edge of a massive crater.

"Is this Baleful Qi?" Gulanxiu sensed an invisible force constantly tempting his heart. At the same time, another strange force seeped through his skin and into his body. This strange force... couldn't be stopped, not even with Origin Energy. It drilled into his body, then back out again.

It treated the human body like air, passing freely in and out.

"Just as the original story said, it can't be resisted!" Gulanxiu murmured.

"Wait!" Gulanxiu suddenly realized something. Although the Baleful Qi passed in and out of his body, it never entered his Sea of Consciousness.

Inside his Sea of Consciousness, the Green Bud radiated a gentle azure light, tinting the entire space pale blue and leaving not a trace of impurity!

The moment the invisible Baleful Qi touched that pale blue light, it seemed to encounter its natural enemy. It immediately skirted Gulanxiu's Sea of Consciousness and emerged from another part of his body.

"What's the meaning of this? The Baleful Qi can enter my body, but not my soul! What does it take me for?" Gulanxiu murmured.

"It seems the Green Bud can also protect the soul. If so, does that mean the Baleful Qi can't affect me at all? Can I walk freely through the Ancient God Ruins without worrying about it?" Gulanxiu exclaimed excitedly.

This was the third ability Gulanxiu had discovered since activating his cheat. He still didn't know the Green Bud's limits, but at least the Baleful Qi in the Ancient God Ruins couldn't affect him.

It was no wonder Gulanxiu had only just discovered this. During the Giant Axe Life-and-Death Battle, he had hardly encountered any powerful Illusionists. After all, Illusionists were different from Warriors: they needed a legacy to develop their abilities, and Cosmic Level powerhouses with backing weren't likely to risk their lives in the Giant Axe Life-and-Death Battle.

After joining the Core Layer of the Giant Axe Fighting Arena, Gulanxiu had barely fought at all, and all those battles had taken place in the Virtual Universe. Naturally, the Green Seed's power couldn't affect the Virtual Universe, so he had no chance to discover it.

Ultimately, it was because the Green Seed was so unintelligent. It never communicated with Gulanxiu or introduced itself. He had to explore and develop every ability on his own, wasting hundreds of years.

Of course, Gulanxiu guessed that the Green Seed had been subtly improving his talent from the very beginning. His native planet had never produced a Cosmic Level powerhouse in all of its history, yet despite becoming a slave and having almost no access to a legacy, he had not only reached Cosmic Level but also comprehended a Law, becoming one of the most outstanding talents in the entire Universe Country.

Gulanxiu was thrilled to discover the bud's new ability, but he didn't let it go to his head. This was the Ancient God Ruins, the most dangerous place on the Bloodfall Continent. The danger here came not only from the invisible Baleful Qi but also from the cultivators within the ruins.

Influenced by the Baleful Qi, cultivators in the Ancient God Ruins were bloodthirsty. Even if you hadn't provoked them, they might still attack you. Some wanted to rob you, while others simply killed for the sake of killing!

Gulanxiu carefully made his way through the Ancient God Ruins, using his Heaven's Eye perspective as he compared his surroundings to the map Liu Qingyuan had given him.

But the Ancient God Ruins were simply too vast, spanning the equivalent of dozens of World Cities. Liu Qingyuan's map covered only a small part of them. Although Liu Qingyuan had told Gulanxiu roughly where he would land, even now Gulanxiu still hadn't found any terrain that resembled the map.

Suddenly, through the sensory perspective granted by the Green Bud, Gulanxiu sensed a fierce attack coming at him.

He hurriedly drew the Blood God Axe and swung it behind him.

"Boom!" A tremendous force struck Gulanxiu, blasting him several kilometers away.

Fortunately, the attacker had also been stopped by Gulanxiu's swing.

His attacker was a muscular man about five meters tall, with a pair of horns on his head. He was bare-chested and wore a skirt made from Wild Beast hide around his waist. A dark-red Gauntlet covered each hand, and his powerful aura formed streams of air around his body.

"Realm Lord!" Gulanxiu exclaimed inwardly. Wearing his Heavy Metal Stym armor, his basic strength was equivalent to a Domain Lord Ninth Stage. His mastery of Laws was also decent, and the Blood God Axe further enhanced his strength. Even an ordinary First Stage Realm Lord shouldn't have been a match for him. Yet he had been at a disadvantage in that clash.

There was no doubt that the Bull-headed Man before him was powerful.

The Bullhead was equally shocked. He was a World Lord Third Stage, after all! His basic strength was forty times that of someone at Domain Level 9. Yet Gulanxiu had emerged unscathed from his sneak attack. How could that not astonish him?

Then his gaze fell on the Gauntlet in his hand. A crack had appeared in the center of the dark-red metal. It had been left by the collision with the blood-red battle-axe moments ago.

The Bullhead stared greedily at the Blood God Axe in Gulanxiu's hands and laughed. "Ha ha! What a treasure! But it'll be mine soon!"

As he spoke, he accelerated and charged at Gulanxiu. At the same time, blood-red patterns appeared across his bare torso and exposed face, forming a complex design. His aura suddenly grew much stronger.