Purple Heart Fruit

In the battles that followed, Zhou Yuan constantly adjusted himself, refining the combination of his laws with the Zhenkong Blade and gradually increasing its power until he reached a strength close to that of his virtual opponent.

However, because he had wasted too much origin force earlier and needed more origin force to recover from his injuries, Zhou Yuan eventually exhausted his origin force and was cleaved in two by the virtual opponent.

Zhou Yuan resurrected in the distance and began the battle anew, charging straight at the virtual opponent.

In the days that followed, Zhou Yuan immersed himself in battles at the Killing Ground, constantly challenging virtual opponents who used the Zhenkong Blade. His combat techniques grew increasingly polished, and his control of the Zhenkong Blade became more and more refined. By driving the blade with his own laws, he was already displaying his strength to its absolute limit.

Before he knew it, more than three months had passed, and Zhou Yuan's spaceship had arrived at the Yunyan Secret Realm.

During this time, Zhou Yuan had unexpectedly and naturally combined his Earth Origin Law with his Space Origin Law to create the embryonic form of a blade technique.

This blade technique primarily drew upon the Earth Origin Law's heaviness and suppressive intent, as well as the sealing intent within the Space Origin Law. Once the blade was struck, it could restrict and suppress an opponent with the Earth Origin Law and Space Origin Law, leaving them unable to dodge and able only to withstand the blow head-on.

Zhou Yuan named this blade technique the Zhenkong Slash.

"Master, we've arrived at the outskirts of the core region of the Yunyan Secret Realm. Where should we land?" Beibei asked after exiting the Dark Universe.

Zhou Yuan gazed at the starry sky before him and felt deeply shaken. An immense continent had appeared ahead, surrounded by countless enormous planets, completely defying the laws of the universe.

This was a secret realm—a region of the universe with unusual laws that was completely unrestricted by the laws of the outside world. Even continents measured in light-years could form here.

"This should be Continent No. 6. Just approach any super-giant planet. Be careful of savage beasts." Zhou Yuan had already learned about the situation in the Yunyan Secret Realm.

The core region was divided into eight continents, each with a diameter exceeding one light-year. Countless enormous planets surrounded every continent. The smaller ones were several million kilometers in diameter, while the larger ones reached hundreds of millions of kilometers.

The super-giant planets Zhou Yuan referred to were those exceeding one hundred million kilometers in diameter.

Countless savage beasts born from the secret realm of the universe lived on these planets. Most were at the universe level, generally led by Domain Lord-level savage beasts. Occasionally, World Lord-level savage beasts would appear.

That was also why only ordinary World Lord experts came here. There were simply too many savage beasts, and anyone below the World Lord level would face immense danger upon encountering any beast herd.

These savage beasts would occasionally fly off their planets and migrate to other planets. That was why Zhou Yuan had told Beibei to pilot the spaceship carefully, in case they encountered a migrating herd.

Soon, Beibei parked the spaceship in orbit around a super-giant planet. Zhou Yuan opened the hatch and flew out, storing the spaceship in his World Ring as well.

Standing in the void, Zhou Yuan looked at the planet before him. It was approximately 180 million kilometers in diameter, with land covering sixty percent and oceans covering forty percent. The oceans were mainly divided into three regions, surrounded by land. The entire planet appeared extremely desolate.

Zhou Yuan flew straight down toward a mountain range below. He canceled the effects of his Transformations of a Thousand Forms and returned to his true form, two hundred meters tall, while his aura changed to the World Lord level. The moment Zhou Yuan landed, his World Lord aura spread outward, and the beast herds nearby fled at once.

"The universe origin energy on the planets in the core region of the secret realm is truly dense—dozens of times denser than on Nanyun Star. Beibei, check for resources nearby." As Zhou Yuan sighed over the density of the universe origin energy, he took out a detector. Ignoring the fleeing savage beasts, he had Beibei check whether there were any mineral deposits or other resources nearby.

"Master, there are seven Class C mineral veins within a thousand kilometers. Their estimated reserves exceed ten billion tons. Should we mine them?" Beibei reminded him.

"No need. Mining such a small amount of resources would be too troublesome," Zhou Yuan replied. Compared with before, Zhou Yuan's assets were no longer limited to what they had once been. He had already stopped caring about Class C minerals.

Zhou Yuan put away the detector and flew off in a randomly chosen direction. He urgently wanted to fight a World Lord-level savage beast. Ever since activating the Hunyuan Dao Seed, he had never fought at full strength in reality.

As Zhou Yuan flew without concealing his aura, all kinds of savage beasts along his path scattered and fled, escaping the route he traveled.

Before long, Zhou Yuan discovered a group of savage beasts gathered in a valley. It consisted of several hundred Domain Lord-level savage beasts, the strongest of which had an aura at the peak of Domain Lord level nine. In the middle of the beasts was a small patch of grass, and a pale-purple fruit grew on it.

"Beibei, check what that fruit is." Zhou Yuan stopped some distance away and had Beibei examine the fruit's information.

"Master, this is a Purple Heart Fruit, an E-grade treasure that can assist with breaking through to the World Lord level. It hasn't matured yet, but according to the information I found, a Purple Heart Fruit that has already turned light purple will mature within a hundred years. Once mature, it will be dark purple. The recorded price of a Purple Heart Fruit is five trillion universe coins," Beibei replied.

"Let's do it. This thing is quite valuable, so it's worth making a move." After hearing Beibei's reply, Zhou Yuan decided to seize it. Treasures naturally belonged to the virtuous, and with his strength, Zhou Yuan naturally counted as one of the virtuous parties.

With that, Zhou Yuan descended from the sky, holding the Zhenkong Blade, and swung it once.

A gigantic blade light descended from the heavens, cleaving a rhinoceros-like giant beast several hundred meters long in two.

"Roar!" The beast herd was enraged. Roars rose and fell, instantly spreading throughout the valley. Hundreds of Domain Lord-level savage beasts turned around at the same time, their blood-red eyes fixed on Zhou Yuan. The terrifying auras emanating from their bodies gathered together, forming an invisible pressure that distorted the air around them.

Zhou Yuan paid it no attention. He gripped the Zhenkong Blade with both hands, and the earth-element secret patterns on the blade slowly lit up. Pale-yellow light flowed across the blade like water.

"Kill!" Zhou Yuan shouted explosively and shot into the rhinoceros-like beast herd like an arrow released from a bow. The Zhenkong Blade carried a howling wind as it cleaved out a blade aura containing the explosive power of the Earth Origin Law, striking directly at the several giant rhinoceroses in front.

"Boom!" The blade aura struck its targets in an instant. The enormous bodies of several giant rhinoceroses were cleaved in two, and blood sprayed outward like fountains.

At the same time, Zhou Yuan deliberately controlled the range of the blade aura, avoiding the location of the Purple Heart Fruit. It cleaved only the surrounding mountain ranges, each over ten thousand meters tall, in two. The broken mountains collapsed with a thunderous roar, and the dust that rose blotted out the sky and sun, turning the entire valley into ruins in an instant.

Zhou Yuan himself had already used the recoil from the blade aura's eruption to shoot toward the Purple Heart Fruit in the center of the rhinoceros-like beast herd. His movement technique had reached perfection, and every step landed precisely on the rhythm of the giant rhinoceroses' movements.

A giant rhinoceros had just prepared to turn its head and bite when Zhou Yuan's figure had already slipped perfectly past its blind spot. Another giant rhinoceros raised its front hoof to stomp, but Zhou Yuan had already drifted into the air along with the momentum of its swinging hoof.

"Now!" Zhou Yuan's figure twisted strangely in midair, like the most supple vine, dodging the simultaneous interception of three giant rhinoceroses. His right hand reached out with pinpoint precision, scooping up the Purple Heart Fruit along with the soil around the small patch of grass and conveniently storing it in his World Ring.

The entire process flowed as smoothly as water, without the slightest pause, as though he had always been destined to make that move at that exact time and place.