Mara-Struck

"Young Master, what do you plan to do?"

A night had passed since the three had parted ways.

Walking through the Star Dou Great Forest, Qian Renxue and Snake Spear Douluo had now reached the forest's outer region.

"First, we'll return to Heaven Dou City. Elder Snake Spear, go raise funds when we get back. I'll also report this to Grandfather. Whatever amount we can gather, we'll prepare it all."

Without the slightest hesitation, Qian Renxue lightly clenched her fists and spoke resolutely.

This might cause some unnecessary trouble, but in her eyes, such things were now utterly insignificant.

She absolutely could not let Senior think she lacked sincerity, much less become disappointed in Spirit Hall because of this!

She believed that once her grandfather learned the specifics, he would definitely support her decision.

In Qian Renxue's heart, before a Healing Douluo as overwhelmingly powerful as Ning Yao, every trouble seemed trivial.

Snake Spear Douluo nodded in approval.

"Yes, Young Master."

Compared with Qian Renxue, he had a far clearer sense of Ning Yao's power.

It was too terrifying—bottomless and unfathomable. When the time came, he had to personally describe Ning Yao's miraculous deeds properly to the Grand Worshipper.

It was simply too terrifying.

He had subdued the Titan Giant Ape with a casual gesture, then effortlessly healed himself, a severely wounded Titled Douluo, back to his peak in an instant...

Snake Spear Douluo could now only describe it as a miracle.

Meanwhile, Ning Yao was likewise still walking through the vast forest.

Except he was still within the mixed zone.

Over the course of the night, he had not left the mixed zone. Instead, he had conducted an experiment.

He had come to a withered tree whose life was nearing its end and bestowed upon it a portion of divine power belonging to the Abundance.

The power had been negligible. After what happened with the Titan Giant Ape, he wanted to see just where this world's limit of endurance for the Abundance's power truly lay.

The result was obvious. Although this trace of divine power from the Abundance was already unimaginably tiny in his eyes, the instant it was bestowed, the withered tree underwent a drastic transformation.

The tree, which had originally still been in its juvenile stage, became lush with branches and leaves in an instant, overflowing with vitality. Its size even began growing exponentially.

In just a few seconds, it had grown into a colossal tree over a hundred zhang tall, towering far above the surrounding forest and even taller than the two hundred-thousand-year soul beasts from before.

Not only that, Ning Yao discovered that after the withered tree had been revitalized, perhaps due to the world's own rules, it had actually developed a trace of intelligence after reaching a certain level of strength.

It was only the faintest beginning, but the very first thing it did after accepting the power was deeply bow to Ning Yao.

Thus, although the process had been somewhat strange, this was still the first thing since arriving in this world that had successfully absorbed even a tiny trace of his power.

Ning Yao had originally thought the Titan Giant Ape would be the first, but he had clearly overestimated the strength of hundred-thousand-year soul beasts in this world.

Although the Titan Giant Ape was still alive, it was practically crippled now. Ning Yao even felt that if he continued to leave it alone, it would not be long before the Abundance's power completely backlashed and turned it into a walking corpse.

In the Star Rail Universe he had come from, this condition had a common name.

Mara-Struck.

As for what would happen to the withered tree afterward, Ning Yao could not predict it. But at the very least, its strength had now completely surpassed those two hundred-thousand-year soul beasts.

Moreover, the withered tree had already gained rudimentary intelligence. After ordering it not to leave this place, Ning Yao departed.

By now, Ning Yao had traveled a considerable distance and was about to leave the mixed zone.

"This world is still far too low-level..."

Walking through the dense jungle, Ning Yao felt somewhat helpless.

He had known before that the Douluo Continent world was weak, but he had never expected it to be weak to this extent.

It seemed he truly had to be more cautious in the future.

Even when bestowing blessings, he had to do so in moderation. Otherwise, a moment of carelessness might destroy this world.

But soon, Ning Yao involuntarily thought of another place.

He slowly stopped and raised his head.

If he remembered correctly, the God Realm, the higher plane above Douluo Continent, seemed countless times stronger than this place.

He wondered whether those gods could...

Ning Yao sank into thought.

If he truly wanted to go, he could sense that plane above Douluo Star. He could go up at any time.

But having only just crossed over, Ning Yao ultimately decided to spend some time enjoying himself on Douluo Continent first.

The God Realm could wait. Although in the original work, the gods seemed only somewhat stronger than the soul masters of Douluo Continent, weren't there still God Kings?

Ning Yao had already made up his mind. When he felt the time was right someday, he would visit the God Realm.

He would see just how far his Abundance could reach in the God Realm, the highest plane of this world.

He stepped forward once more, and this time, Ning Yao's speed was clearly much faster than before.

As his speed increased, in less than a day, Ning Yao arrived at the border of the Star Dou Great Forest.

One more step forward would take him to the border of the Heaven Dou Empire.

Soon, Ning Yao found an inn nearby.

The inn was filled exclusively with soul masters, who appeared to be preparing to hunt in the Star Dou Great Forest.

However, the moment Ning Yao stepped into the inn, he ran into a problem.

He seemed to have forgotten something.

It seemed he did not have any currency from this world on him at all.

When Qian Renxue and Snake Spear Douluo had left, they had not paid him any advance compensation either.

So now he...

Standing at the inn's entrance, Ning Yao fell silent.

He had originally intended to try something new and see how the food of Douluo Continent differed from that of Blue Star. After all, during the years he had spent as Jianmu, he had not eaten a single drop of food. He had also wanted to buy a map to check Soto City's exact location.

But now...

Just as Ning Yao was feeling troubled, a voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Young friend, could you please make way?"

A clear, ethereal voice sounded behind him. Ning Yao immediately stepped aside, revealing the path ahead.

He had indeed been standing in the doorway and blocking guests from entering.

Turning around, Ning Yao also got a clear look at the group that had called out to him.

There were four of them in total, all women.

They wore matching blue uniforms and were led by a middle-aged woman who appeared somewhat older.

The two sides exchanged glances. Before either could say anything, waves of exclamations came from the people inside the inn.

Besides praising their beauty, Ning Yao also heard a familiar name.

Tianshui Academy.

One of the predecessors of the Four Element Academies from the original work.

Ning Yao had some impression of this team, though not much. He only knew that it was one of the Heaven Dou Empire's top academies, accepting only beautiful women with talent in water- and ice-type attributes.

"Young brother, did you run into some trouble here? We've been standing at the entrance for quite some time, yet you never noticed us?"