Life Leaf

Shi Fen and Luo Feng are currently kept in the dark, knowing nothing about the true Babata.

Both are holding their breath, working silently and diligently, each intending to give the other a surprise.

Shi Fen takes a moment to return home, makes a few arrangements, and confirms that all three families are steadily improving their strength, allowing him to focus on other matters with peace of mind.

Shi Fen boards a fighter jet and heads to Elder Qian's Forging Room.

Elder Qian is in excellent spirits, looking triumphant, high-spirited, and smug; the joy on his slightly younger-looking face is impossible to hide.

After refining the Wood Bud Crystal, Elder Qian successfully broke through to the Planetary Level. With the help of ethereal Genetic Origin Energy, he has opened up new horizons in forging, and his forging capabilities are improving rapidly.

Having easily fulfilled two long-cherished wishes, how could Elder Qian not be happy?

"Double happiness has arrived." This is the most intuitive feeling in Elder Qian's heart.

"Master, are you busy?"

Seeing Elder Qian buried in his work in the Forging Room, Shi Fen asks with a grin.

"Nothing, go away, don't distract me from my forging." Elder Qian doesn't even lift his head, focusing entirely on the prototype of an SSS-grade combat vest in front of him, swinging his forging hammer with careful precision.

"Hehe, it's nothing much." Shi Fen chuckles, pretending to be nonchalant as he sets down two Wood Bud Crystals, then continues, "I just figured that since you've broken through to the Planetary Level, you need to consolidate your realm a bit more."

Seeing the two Wood Bud Crystals Shi Fen placed down, Elder Qian can no longer remain calm. He puts down his forging hammer and cannot help but caution, "Just how many Wood Bud Crystals did you get? I heard you already exchanged four with Hong, and adding the one you gave me, plus these two, that makes seven. Such precious treasures shouldn't be wasted so casually."

Shi Fen smiles mysteriously and says with a grin, "It's just a Wood Bud Crystal; I'll give you something even better later."

With the treasures of the Botanical Garden now in his hands, Shi Fen doesn't even look twice at treasures like Wood Bud Crystals; his confidence is currently sky-high!

Elder Qian frowns, staring intently into Shi Fen's eyes.

He notices that although Shi Fen is smiling on the surface, his eyes reveal absolute confidence and even a hint of "contempt" for the Wood Bud Crystals.

Elder Qian has lived for nearly a hundred years and has a wealth of life experience; he has always been accurate in judging people and believes he cannot be wrong.

The contempt in Shi Fen's eyes, though faint, is definitely real.

A bold idea suddenly rises in Elder Qian's heart. He smiles and accepts the Wood Bud Crystals, then says, "Fine, then I will accept them."

Shi Fen smiles as well.

The two of them, like old friends with years of tacit understanding, reach a consensus without a word.

The main reason Shi Fen came here was out of respect for Elder Qian, to prepare him mentally so that when he eventually reveals his full power, he won't shock the old man.

Elder Qian vaguely understands this as well.

Between smart people, there is no need to be too explicit.

After a moment of silent, knowing eye contact, Shi Fen speaks first: "Master, you carry on with your work; I'm going to forge some tools."

"Mm, go ahead," Elder Qian replies, then picks up his forging hammer to continue working on the combat vest.

Having received Elder Qian's approval, Shi Fen immediately walks away as if nothing happened, his gait slightly arrogant and a bit devil-may-care.

Shi Fen walks with a smug, splayed-foot stride toward the material room within the Forging Room.

Watching Shi Fen's arrogant demeanor, Elder Qian feels a sense of anticipation, hoping that Shi Fen is truly as he suspects...

Shi Fen enters the material room, checks the storage list, and weaves quickly through the numerous shelves, searching for the storage spot for the materials from the King-Level Crocodile Dragon he hunted.

At the time, Shi Fen had been immersed in an epiphany and showed no signs of waking up. Beast, Yaorao, and Iceberg, fearing the King-Level Crocodile Dragon would rot, didn't wait for him to wake up and personally dissected the beast.

They sent the materials of the King-Level Crocodile Dragon along with those of other Lord-Level monsters back to the Forging Room.

As for the precious edible ingredients, Iceberg personally froze and packed them all, sending them to the ultra-low temperature freezer under the Extreme Martial Arts Hall in Yangzhou City, thoughtfully storing them well for Shi Fen.

Now, the Shi, Luo, and Wei families eat these precious ingredients every day to improve themselves.

It is only because Shi Fen learned of these actions after waking up that he is so courteous to Beast, Yaorao, and Iceberg.

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't even bother looking twice at those ordinary councilor-level powerhouses.

"Ah, here it is."

After a brief search, Shi Fen finally finds what he is looking for.

He retrieves the sealed, precious materials of the King-Level Crocodile Dragon, uses his Spiritual Force to control the container—which is the size of a small shipping crate—so that it floats quietly behind him, and strolls leisurely back to the Forging Room.

Seeing Shi Fen intending to use the King-Level Crocodile Dragon materials, his junior fellow apprentices immediately crowd around out of curiosity.

"Senior Brother, what are you planning to forge with the King-Level Crocodile Dragon materials?"

"Building a top-tier airtight canister," Shi Fen answers politely.

"An airtight canister?" Everyone is puzzled.

"When the time comes, I'll use it to help you all improve your strength collectively," Shi Fen says mysteriously.

"Wow!"

"Long live Senior Brother!"

"Long live Senior Brother!"

Their eyes light up immediately, and they cheer with irrepressible excitement. They had just witnessed Shi Fen give Elder Qian two Wood Bud Crystals.

Not long ago, Elder Qian had used another Wood Bud Crystal given to him by Shi Fen to successfully break through and become a Planetary Level powerhouse.

Seeing this, they would be lying if they said they weren't envious.

Now that they actually had the chance to "ride the coattails" of Shi Fen, they couldn't be happier.

Watching the anticipation and excitement on everyone's faces, Shi Fen grinned and said, "Haha, I'll teach you all how to forge the highest-grade airtight containers today while I'm at it. Follow me."

The group grew even more excited, swarming behind Shi Fen and waiting quietly for his "class" to begin.

Although all the silver-tier tools in the Treasure Refining World had been unlocked, Shi Fen awkwardly discovered that none of them had any "starting energy." To use them, he would need to prepare a massive amount of energy crystals.

Shi Fen did have a way to manufacture large quantities of energy crystals, but since he lacked a spaceship for the time being and dared not act on Earth, he had to shelve the idea for now.

If he were to take action on Earth, anyone with a bit of status would be able to detect Earth's anomalies.

Shi Fen was accustomed to being cautious. Besides, he could barely get by using SSS-grade metal, so he decisively chose to continue "lying low." He used the equipment in the Forging Room to forge a specialized airtight container.

Shi Fen really missed the Ultra-High Temperature Furnace right now, but unfortunately, its prototype hadn't begun re-testing yet. If the prototype passed, he could forge even better containers from the spaceship alloy wreckage.

Fortunately, the second prototype of the Ultra-High Temperature Furnace was scheduled for testing at the end of this month.

If it could pass the test, the existence of the Ultra-High Temperature Furnace would provide Shi Fen with the best forging foundation. Manufacturing some simple weapons to earn his first pot of gold for venturing into the universe would be a sure thing.

Although he possessed various treasures given to him by Yi, they were all high-tier items. Without the item consignment service of a five-star account, Shi Fen didn't dare sell them! He could only rely on forging standard weapons to barely make a living.

Shi Fen used his Spiritual Force to demonstrate a special forging lesson for his junior brothers.

Throughout the process, Shi Fen didn't touch anything with his hands, relying entirely on his Spiritual Force to control the tools and perform the forging.

His junior brother, who was also a Spiritual Master, gained the most from this lesson. Shi Fen opened up a new perspective for him; it turned out that a Spiritual Master could forge in such a way.

The others also gained a great deal.

Although Shi Fen used his Spiritual Force to forge, he did so very slowly, completely mimicking their forging speed and habits to provide hands-on, detailed instruction.

In the eyes of the others, there was no difference between Shi Fen using his Spiritual Force and not using it.

Several hours later.

Shi Fen hurried home, carrying a jet-black, gleaming "black vat" over half a meter in diameter.

Upon returning to his bedroom, Shi Fen took the black vat into the Treasure Refining World and entered the Life Secret Realm within the Plant Hall.

Shi Fen took clear, sweet spring water from his World Ring and filled the black vat to the brim.

He then retrieved a delicate, emerald-green leaf the size of half a palm, brimming with life force, from the "Life Cube" in the Plant Hall. The moment the emerald leaf left the "Life Cube," it immediately began radiating dense life energy.

Without the slightest hesitation, once the leaf was removed from the "Life Cube," Shi Fen tossed it directly into the water in the black vat and immediately used his Spiritual Force to seal the lid.

As the emerald leaf entered the water, thin, bright green streams appeared where the leaf touched the liquid, and it began to show signs of melting. At this rate of dissolution, it would take at least several days for the leaf to melt completely.

Shi Fen's movements were swift; the entire transfer took less than one second.

Shi Fen subconsciously took deep breaths of the escaping energy to avoid any waste, even though he possessed a massive quantity of "Life Leaves."

Shi Fen vividly explained what it meant to be "the richer you are, the more you love to save."

After inhaling just a few "breaths" of the life energy escaping from the "Life Leaf," Shi Fen was shocked to discover that his gene level had actually increased a little, rising from 103 times to about 135 times.

One must know.

The combined life energy of the Jade Marrow and the Millennium Willow Heart had only increased Shi Fen's gene level by 0.03 times. Yet, the life energy that escaped from the Life Leaf in just one second had increased it by at least 0.32 times.

One can imagine just how dense and terrifying the life energy of the "Life Leaf" was.

Discovering that the effects of the "Life Leaf" were so astonishing, Shi Fen couldn't help but boast, "Reaching the limit of my gene level will be as easy as drinking water! This Seat's hundred-fold gene level is guaranteed!"

In fact, there were better water sources in the Life Secret Realm, but given his current strength, Shi Fen still didn't dare use them, choosing instead to use high-quality spring water to dilute the life energy of the "Life Leaf."

Even so.

This vat of diluted "Life Leaf" medicinal water would still need to be further diluted with more water before Shi Fen could safely consume it.