Marquis Huanming, Ten Thousand Feather Tree

The fourth floor of the third Trial Tower.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

As Jiang Luo swung the longsword in his hand, rain began to patter down. Countless droplets enveloped him, condensing into layers of water walls.

Beast after beast, the Flying Hou, slammed into these water walls, sending ripples cascading across their surfaces.

Although Jiang Luo pushed the sword techniques of the Rainwater Sutra to their absolute limit, he ultimately struggled to withstand the ferocious onslaught of the Flying Hou.

"Bang!" One Flying Hou opened its maw and clamped onto Jiang Luo's body, while two others lunged in succession, tearing him into fragments.

His points froze at 3,162,000, ranking him 571st among Stellar-level disciples.

The space before Jiang Luo shifted, and he reappeared in the cavernous hall of the Ancient Wheel Hall.

Ji Chen, with his shock of purple hair, looked at him with a beaming smile. "Not bad. For your first time entering the Ancient Wheel Hall and attempting the Trial Tower, achieving such a score is quite impressive."

"It shows that while your comprehension of the Origin Law of Water is still shallow, this sword technique is formidable enough to help you unleash the full power of the water laws."

Jiang Luo's expression remained calm; after all, he had only just stepped across the threshold of the Origin Law of Water.

But among the geniuses in the Ancient Wheel Hall, who hadn't already crossed that threshold?

If not for the profound nature of the Rainwater Sutra, he might not have even reached the fourth floor of the third Trial Tower.

However, what pleased him most was naturally the points.

3.16 million points were equivalent to 31.6 Hunyuan Units!

Many peak World Lords had a total net worth of only that much.

The price of an ordinary galaxy was only a few quadrillion Universe Coins.

How many galaxies could that buy?

How much faith power could that bring him?

Of course, if Jiang Luo wanted to cultivate mortal faith within a galaxy, he would inevitably need to relocate a massive number of universal citizens.

Even becoming the lord of a galaxy didn't mean one could do whatever they pleased.

Only by becoming a peak King-level powerhouse like the Blood Demon King could one truly act as a local emperor, even organizing things like the Blood Demon Trial without fear of interference from the Universe Kingdom.

Many lords of life-bearing planets were Domain Lords or even World Lords; even as a galaxy lord, one couldn't simply order them to move away.

The manpower and resources required to spread and cultivate faith were also an astronomical figure.

Moreover, if Jiang Luo were to buy a large number of galaxies, he would naturally prefer to buy territories that bordered each other and could be connected into a single expanse.

Rather than scattered galaxies.

The premium would certainly be high.

Ji Chen's expression suddenly shifted, interrupting Jiang Luo's thoughts. "The teacher wants to see you. Follow me."

Ji Chen's teacher?

Jiang Luo was stunned, but he followed Ji Chen to a teleportation point within the Ancient Wheel Hall.

"Through this teleportation point, disciples of the Ancient Wheel Hall can teleport directly back to the virtual universe regions or islands where their star sectors are located."

Ji Chen offered a brief explanation before activating the teleportation point.

Whoosh!

The next instant, the two appeared on a floating island.

The scenery was beautiful, with flowers and plants visible everywhere.

Looking outward, Jiang Luo could see an endless continent beneath the island.

It was the Gulun Continent!

This floating island was much smaller than Gulun Sacred Island, with only a single, ancient-looking palace upon it.

Ji Chen led Jiang Luo into the palace.

At first glance, Jiang Luo saw the silver-skinned elder, Bu Li.

Bu Li was standing respectfully beside a young man.

The young man had a red dot on his forehead that seemed to possess a strange gravitational pull, drawing Jiang Luo's gaze and spiritual consciousness toward it.

It stirred an impulse in him to throw himself into that red dot like a moth to a flame, body and soul.

This is within the virtual universe network... Jiang Luo was shocked.

It was a testament to how terrifying that young man was.

"Greetings, Teacher!"

Ji Chen pulled Jiang Luo forward. "This teacher is the lord of the Huanming Star Sector, Marquis Huanming."

Jiang Luo was not overly surprised this time; he had already guessed as much when he saw Bu Li earlier.

"Greetings, My Lord!" Jiang Luo bowed respectfully.

The entire Huanming Star Sector was the direct territory of Marquis Huanming, and theoretically, every cosmic citizen within it was his subject.

Given the overwhelming strength of Marquis Huanming, even the seventeen top factions combined could not contend with him.

Marquis Huanming's expression remained indifferent, revealing no emotion: "You are the third genius from my Huanming Star Sector in this generation to enter the Ancient Wheel Hall.

"According to tradition, I grant a reward to every genius who enters the Ancient Wheel Hall.

"As a disciple of the Ancient Wheel Hall, you should not be lacking in cosmic coins, so I shall bestow a treasure upon you instead.

"This is the list of rewards. Many of the treasures here are not even available at the Huanming auctions; they cannot be bought with money alone. You may choose any one item."

Jiang Luo immediately received an email containing a long list.

The most numerous items were telekinetic weapons and force weapons.

Beyond those, there were various rare metals, materials, fruits, and seeds of special plants.

There were even over a hundred types of secret technique inheritances.

Although they were the fewest in number, Jiang Luo knew that these hundred-plus secret technique inheritances were the most precious items on the list.

If he did not possess the Wordless Seal to condense willpower and manifest divine abilities and techniques, he would likely have chosen a secret technique inheritance.

As Jiang Luo browsed the list of treasures, his gaze suddenly paused, locking onto one specific item.

Special plant life: 'Ten Thousand Feather Tree'.

After reading the brief description on the list, Jiang Luo immediately searched for detailed information on the 'Ten Thousand Feather Tree'.

As a disciple of the Ancient Wheel Hall, his authorization level had seen a leap in status, and sure enough, he quickly found the detailed data on the Ten Thousand Feather Tree.

After scanning it, Jiang Luo could not help but feel a surge of joy.

The Ten Thousand Feather Tree was a type of special plant life, similar in life level to the Cloud-Touching Vine and the Conch-Spiral Flower.

It was far inferior to the Star-Eating Grass or the Blood Demon Flower.

However, the Ten Thousand Feather Tree was far rarer than the Star-Eating Grass or the Blood Demon Flower.

Furthermore, the Ten Thousand Feather Tree possessed a very rare ability: it could produce sub-trees.

These sub-trees were both offspring of the mother tree and extensions of its own consciousness.

The Ten Thousand Feather Tree could consume its life essence to produce sub-trees that resembled both dandelions and feathers.

These sub-trees could detach from the mother body to act independently, yet they remained under the mother tree's control.

Hence the name, Ten Thousand Feather Tree.

It functioned in a way similar to the relationship between a Zerg Mother Queen and her Zerg warriors.

However, the Ten Thousand Feather Tree lacked the perfect coordinated attack capabilities of the Zerg, and producing sub-trees consumed significant resources, thereby weakening the mother tree.

Consequently, the Ten Thousand Feather Tree was considered somewhat of a "chicken rib"—tasteless to discard but of little value—to true powerhouses.

But for Jiang Luo, it was exactly what he needed.

He had been worrying about how to garrison the life planets he had purchased.

Faith was his foundation and his greatest secret.

Only slaves under his absolute control could earn his trust.

But setting aside how many slaves he would need to purchase once he controlled more life planets in the future, just imagine how many life planets existed in a single star system?

More importantly, there were limits to slaves.

Once a Universe-level slave broke through to the Domain Lord level, the control chip would cease to function.

Therefore, only a Zerg Mother Queen, subordinates enslaved by his soul, or his own clones could be fully trusted.

Soul-enslavement secret techniques usually had a limit on the number of targets; it was impossible to truly control tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of subordinates.

And how many clones could one possibly split off?

As for a Zerg Mother Queen, he could neither afford one nor even gain access to one at his current level; he would likely need a stroke of immense luck to ever encounter one.

Even if he did encounter one, he currently lacked the ability to enslave it.

Thus, this Ten Thousand Feather Tree became the perfect substitute.