Looking out, Lin Tian saw a towering ancient tree radiating golden light from its entire trunk.
The ancient tree stood in the middle of the withered forest.
Like a bolt of lightning, the little beast circled the ancient tree, darting up and down.
It howled without pause, its movements expressing its excitement to the fullest.
Lin Tian extended a thread of divine sense, enveloping the ancient tree, which stood several hundred zhang tall.
As Lin Tian's divine sense enveloped the ancient tree several hundred zhang tall,
the golden radiance covering its surface immediately dissipated!
It revealed the charred interior beneath.
Within that charred interior, lightning and golden light wound up and down the ancient tree like spirit snakes!
The power released by each bolt of lightning was no weaker than the Nine Heavens Azure Thunder Tribulation the little beast had endured earlier!
Yet the little beast darted joyfully up and down through this terrifying pool of golden light and lightning.
"Lightning-struck wood?!"
At that moment, Lin Tian was utterly astonished.
In truth, lightning-struck wood could be found everywhere on the Primordial Continent.
After all, virtually any towering ancient tree that reached a hundred zhang in height would be struck by lightning, and any such tree that survived a lightning strike could generally be called lightning-struck wood.
However.
Ordinary lightning-struck wood would immediately become rotten timber or ashes after being struck.
Even if some remnant remained, it would generally have lost all signs of life.
Even if it managed to cling to life, it would have virtually no prospect of becoming a Spirit Treasure or magic treasure.
But this lightning-struck tree had not merely retained the vigorous vitality of the original towering ancient tree.
It had also preserved the immense Tribulation Lightning that had struck it!
And it had trapped a portion of that Tribulation Lightning's essence!
That was why lightning and golden light appeared together at this moment.
The grade of this lightning-struck tree alone had already reached the pinnacle of houtian magic treasures!
The quality it displayed faintly exuded an aura of standing proud above the world, capable of suppressing all divine might.
Lightning-struck wood like this was undoubtedly an exceptional material for artifact refinement.
As long as no mistakes were made during refinement, it would surely become another pinnacle magic treasure, its grade second only to a houtian spiritual treasure.
With that being the case,
Lin Tian was secretly amazed.
At the same time, the various magic treasures associated with lightning-struck wood in the legends of the primordial world surfaced in his mind.
Lin Tian suddenly recalled a magic treasure from the Investiture of the Gods Calamity-the God-Striking Whip.
The God-Striking Whip had been refined from a piece of lightning-struck wood.
The God-Striking Whip's fearsome reputation had resounded throughout the entire Investiture of the Gods era.
It had once made the Three Thousand Great Golden Immortals who had heard the Dao at Hongjun's Zixiao Palace turn pale at the mere mention of it.
After all, no one wanted to be struck by the God-Striking Whip and then have their name recorded on the Investiture of the Gods List.
With a slight stir of Lin Tian's thoughts,
Lin Tian took a step and immediately entered the ten-thousand-li radius around the ancient tree.
Dense lightning filled every part of that ten-thousand-li expanse.
Yet the little beast frolicked through that dense lightning like a fish in water.
Lin Tian's ten-zhang-tall vine body strode into that ten-thousand-li expanse.
Finally, he stood before the ancient tree, extended a Nine Nether Vine, and gently touched it.
Rustle!
As Lin Tian's Nine Nether Vine touched the ancient tree's surface,
a large sheet of dried, charred bark immediately peeled away!
As the bark fell off, the ancient tree's true appearance was revealed.
A glittering divine tree, as though cast from gold, appeared before Lin Tian!
"Holy shit! This isn't lightning-struck wood. It's golden-strike divine wood, something even higher-grade!"
Lin Tian was utterly stunned.
He truly had not expected a Golden-Strike Divine Wood to exist in this withered forest.
If a piece of lightning-struck wood could be made into a magic treasure comparable to the God-Striking Whip,
then this golden wood could be refined into a Spirit Treasure whose quality reached the highest grade of houtian Spirit Treasures!
Moreover,
the God-Striking Whip he had known of in his previous life was merely an ordinary magic treasure the Primordial Heavenly Venerable had used to send Jiang Ziya on his way.
Neither its grade nor its power could compare to a houtian spiritual treasure.
But a Spirit Treasure refined from Golden Strike Wood, though similar in function to a magic treasure refined from lightning-struck wood,
would utterly crush the God-Striking Whip in both power and hardness.
Lin Tian could not help rejoicing.
"Little Beast Emperor, your nose really is incredible! From who knows how far away, you could even detect something unusual about a divine material like Golden Strike Wood. I'll have to give you a proper reward later!"
Though the journey had taken several hundred years, finding golden-strike divine wood, a supreme material capable of being refined into a houtian spiritual treasure, filled Lin Tian with delight, and he immediately promised the little beast emperor a reward.
Awoo! Awoo!
Hearing that there would be a reward, the little beast emperor immediately cheered and bounced about without stopping.
Meanwhile, Lin Tian had already raised his countless Nine Nether Vines.
He intended to draw this Golden Strike Wood into his Purple Mansion space.
But just as he extended his Nine Nether Vines,
a low rumble of thunder suddenly sounded at the horizon, crushing the void as it rolled toward him!
"Hmph! Stop right there!"
A terrifying wave of might swept over them, its powerful impact immediately setting the twelve vine leaves on Lin Tian's body trembling uncontrollably.
At the same time,
the little beast, which had been frolicking through the pool of lightning, immediately sensed that terrifying might as well.
Its gaze gradually grew solemn, and it immediately turned its head toward the source of the shout.
"Who's there? Are you courting death?!"
In that instant, before Lin Tian could see who it was, the other party brazenly attacked.
Terrifying divine power immediately spread across an expanse of several million li. With a flick of broad Daoist robes, a cutting radiance ten thousand zhang long suddenly slashed down at both Lin Tian and the little beast!
The very first move was a killing blow meant to leave them dead!
The newcomer had come with ill intent.
In the flash of an instant, Lin Tian's twelve divine leaves swayed wildly, lustrous streams of light flowing from them.
The Nine Nether Vine's innate divine ability, Universe in the Sleeve, erupted instantly!
Rumble!
Rumble!
In an instant,
two incomparably terrifying forces, their momentum surging to the heavens, collided!
Like two planets crashing together, the explosion resounded across the eternal firmament, shaking the void as divine radiance and dazzling, immense power spread wildly!
With that single collision, the withered forest for several million li around was instantly razed to the ground!
Only the Golden-Strike Divine Wood remained as immovable as a mountain, standing firm!
In an instant,
three figures hovered above the Golden Strike Wood, facing off against one another in a triangular formation.
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