Changes in Cultivation

From the outside, the God-Prison Blood Tree looked like an ordinary birch sapling. Its trunk stood straight as a sword, and seven leaves grew across its three branches.

Vivid red veins showed through its nearly transparent leaves, already forming patterns of mysterious complexity.

A faint white rune barrier surrounded the sapling, which looked full of life.

It seemed almost sentient. After Dago took it out, all seven leaves swayed gently, as though waving to him.

Dago had fed it Flax's heart blood since it was a seed, so it was naturally very close to him.

But Dago had recently used up all the blood from the heart. The little tree was probably starving by now.

The wooden box, which came with a simple rune barrier array, was Bernal's handiwork, made so Dago could carry the sapling with him.

In fact, Bernal had insisted on it. The sapling had to stay with Dago because its food was now Dago's blood.

Dago reached through the barrier and gently flicked the sapling's leaves, "playing" with it for a while.

Then, without warning, his azure eyes turned pitch-black, leaving only a pinprick of icy blue at their centers.

The ribbon tying back his long hair snapped open. His black hair danced without a breeze, and a rapid series of crisp cracks sounded from his bones and flesh. His body shot upward and grew powerfully built as streaks of black lightning burst from his pores.

A terrifying aura of despair spread outward. He had entered the Blackened State!

Both layers of rune barriers surrounding the room trembled. Ripples of every size raced across their translucent surfaces, like rain lashing a still pond.

Just a few wisps of aura from his Blackened State had nearly overwhelmed the Second-Circle rune barriers.

Dago wasted no time. As soon