Gourd Continent, Magic Plant Garden.
Yin Ming walked up to a colossal tree thirty zhang tall. His consciousness synchronized with his External Avatar, and a slumbering wisp of split soul within the Shapeshifting Wood awakened.
He manipulated the tree roots, bringing them to life as tentacles. They wrapped around a transparent crystal the size of a millstone and began drawing upon the World Origin Crystal to raise the Shapeshifting Wood's rank.
With a sharp "crack," the World Origin Crystal shattered in response. Origin crystal energy streamed endlessly through the roots and into the Magic Plant.
His main body had long since risen to the Sixth Ring, and with ample World Origin Crystals, his External Avatar's Shapeshifting Wood would encounter no bottleneck whatsoever in breaking through to the Sixth Ring.
"First, raise the Shapeshifting Wood to the Sixth Ring!!"
"During that time, increase the number of liches in the Dark Plane and, while at it, refine the Seventh-Ring cultivation method."
"Once the Shapeshifting Wood completes its transformation, I can use the Undying Altar and Humanity's Karmic Fire to gather the liches, analyze the Undying Xuanming God, and construct the Seventh-Ring True-Name Totem Rune."
Having laid out his plan, Yin Ming watched as the Fourth-Ring Shapeshifting Wood began to wither a month later. Its leaves drifted down one after another, and it became a dead tree as it entered its transformation phase.
Three months later, buds began to sprout from the withered branches. The newborn Shapeshifting Wood started mutating from a tree toward a human form, advancing into a Fifth-Ring Magic Plant.
"For a single Magic Plant to rise to the Fifth Ring, the cost is equal to the World Origin Crystals produced by a tiny plane over a hundred years."
"Good thing the Abyss and the Wizard Black Tower created this