The long-haired Realm Lord Morrison said excitedly, "Thank you, Master!"
The Blood-Robed Elder smiled. "You've done a great service by discovering this Heavy Treasure. You deserve it."
As he spoke, the Blood-Robed Elder sent out a thread of divine power, preparing to imprint it on the Green Lotus!
"Hm?" The elder exclaimed in surprise. He discovered that he couldn't imprint his divine power on the Green Lotus, yet he couldn't find anyone else's imprint on it either.
Could it have special requirements for recognizing its master? the elder wondered.
Since he couldn't make it recognize him as its master for now, he'd take it away first. That would keep the other powerful figures from the Immortal Temple from finding it. Since he'd discovered the Heavy Treasure first, it belonged to him.
He waved a hand, preparing to put the Heavy Treasure into his World Ring, but awkwardly, the Green Lotus didn't budge.
With no other option, he went over to it, grabbed the tip of one of its closed petals, and shouted, "Rise!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, a rumble shook the earth beneath the Green Lotus, as if there were an earthquake!
He was actually lifting the Green Lotus straight out of the ground by sheer force.
The elder sighed. "What a heavy treasure. Without an Elder's power, it would be difficult to move. But taking it back to the Immortal Temple like this would draw too much attention. Am I supposed to let the other Elders have it?"
The elder was in a bit of a dilemma. Although he ranked fifth among the Twelve Elders of the Immortal Temple, the gap between him and the other eleven Elders—apart from the Great Elder—wasn't that large. They simply had different abilities.
If he obtained this Heavy Treasure, he'd be able to overpower the other ten Elders and stand on equal footing with the Great Elder. He might even surpass him. Naturally, he didn't want another Elder to get the treasure.
But this treasure was far too conspicuous. Wherever it went, its ten-thousand-meter-tall azure glow would be like a giant beacon. And since he couldn't put it in a storage ring, it would inevitably be exposed if he kept it up.
Thinking of this, the elder set the Green Lotus down again. He made a series of gestures in the air with both hands, then said in a low voice, "Open!"
A hundred-meter-wide opening appeared in the space before him. Through it, he could make out a continent stretching over ten thousand kilometers, where many people lived. Their appearance and clothing were almost identical to those of the people on Bloodfall Continent.
At the center of the continent stood a majestic palace. Inside it was a towering statue that bore the elder's likeness. This was the elder's Divine Kingdom.
Normally, an Immortal God's Divine Kingdom ranged from one million to one billion kilometers across. Given the elder's Peak King strength, his Divine Kingdom shouldn't have been this small. Even one nearly a hundred million kilometers across would have been normal.
Unfortunately, the elder had been born on Bloodfall Continent. The Virtual Universe Company's blockade of Bloodfall Continent extended beyond the Sky Erosion Palace outside it. To stop its Immortal Gods from escaping through the Space Interlayer, they had sealed off the entire continent.
Normally, after breaking through to immortality, one would enter the spatial turbulence and find a Space Fragment to serve as the foundation for their Divine Kingdom. In theory, the larger the Space Fragment, the more powerful the Divine Kingdom it could support.
But because space had been sealed, the Immortal Gods of Bloodfall Continent could only enter the outer layer of the spatial turbulence. They couldn't even reach the Divine Kingdom Layer, so they naturally couldn't find large Space Fragments to support their Divine Kingdoms. In the end, they had to make do with Space Fragments only tens of thousands of kilometers across!
The elder picked up the hundred-meter Green Lotus again and shoved it into his Divine Kingdom. As soon as it entered, he felt his body grow lighter.
His power was enhanced inside his own Divine Kingdom, so pushing the hundred-meter Green Lotus was no longer so strenuous.
He quickly pushed the Green Lotus over to the palace at the center of the continent, then placed it inside a side hall a thousand meters tall. Smiling, he said, "Since it won't recognize me as its master yet, I'll put it in the Treasure Vault for now and study it when I have time. First, I'll deal with the trouble outside!"
With that, he flashed out of his Divine Kingdom and returned to the Ancient God Ruins.
When the long-haired Realm Lord Morrison saw the elder appear, he hurriedly said with respect, "Congratulations, Master, on obtaining the Heavy Treasure!"
The elder smiled and nodded. "You did well, Morrison. But knowing too much won't be good for you."
As Morrison stared in shock and disbelief, the elder suddenly struck, killing him with a single punch.
Then the elder looked at Morrison, whose body had been reduced to a mass of blood mist, and murmured, "Good child, don't blame your Master. The other Elders can't find out about this. I have to eliminate anything that might expose me! And it's not just you. The cultivators nearby have to go too. Even if they know nothing, being here is a crime!"
As he spoke, the elder's figure blurred and vanished. He began a brutal slaughter in the surrounding area. The cultivators nearby were out of luck. Pursued by a King-level Immortal who specialized in Teleportation, not a single cultivator within a radius of a million kilometers managed to escape!
After finishing this, the elder flashed away with Teleportation. A few more Teleportations brought him back to the Immortal Temple!
Three days later, the Green Lotus's ten-thousand-meter glow slowly contracted and gradually disappeared.
Gulanxiu had regained consciousness, but with no idea where he was, he didn't dare leave the Green Lotus. Instead, he checked his condition.
Gulanxiu felt clear-headed and full of inexhaustible strength. He also discovered that the range of his Heavenly Eye had increased tenfold, reaching one hundred thousand meters, and that his Gene Level had improved as well.
"One hundred times! My Gene Level has actually reached the hundredfold limit. Too bad I still haven't broken through the limit. Before, each improvement increased it fivefold, but this time it only went up fourfold," Gulanxiu murmured, sounding a little disappointed.
"But my comprehension has improved again, and my perception of the Laws has become much clearer. I'm probably no worse than the geniuses who appear once every ten million eras!" Gulanxiu said excitedly.
By his own estimate, his original talent had probably been around the level of the Fourth Secret Realm or Third Secret Realm. After hunting Chaos Beasts in Chaos City and improving, he'd likely become a genius who appeared once every era. His talent and comprehension would have been considered pretty good even in the Axe Secret Realm.
After his first improvement in Bloodfall World, he'd probably become a genius who appeared once every ten thousand eras, on par with Bolan from the original story. After a hundred years of hard cultivation, he could probably have passed the seventh level of the Sky Bridge. He then cultivated for another eight hundred years, and now he was likely at the ninth level.
After this improvement to his talent, he'd probably become the strongest human genius to appear once every ten million eras, comparable to legendary geniuses like Kedi and Erosion Fire mentioned in the original story. If he cultivated for another thousand years, he'd probably be able to pass the Cosmic Level Heavenly Mountain. Of course, Gulanxiu didn't plan to remain at the Cosmic Level for another thousand years. Once he got out and completed the Dragon Tower Star Dragon Hunting Mission, he planned to break through!
Before you continue