At that moment.
"Devoured a strand of spiritual energy from the Nine Nether Nine-Headed Ghost Chariot. Evolution Points +5,700." "Devoured a strand of spiritual energy from Ghost Chariot, the Nine-Headed Ghost Bird. Evolution Points +6,000." "Devoured a strand of Nine Nether origin energy. Evolution Points +7,800."
For a full hundred thousand years.
Lin Tian had patiently laid his plans here in the Eastern Continent Mountain Range, then brought all the Seventy-Two Fierce Beasts who originally belonged to Ghost Chariot under his command.
He had been willing to spend a hundred thousand years waiting for this very moment.
Waiting for Ghost Chariot, who was even more cautious, more cowardly, and more prudent than Lin Tian himself.
To emerge from his lair and face him directly.
At last, that moment had arrived.
System notifications rang incessantly through Lin Tian's sea of consciousness.
Lin Tian could not help rejoicing.
Then.
Thirty-six stars appeared amid the swaying of thirty divine leaves.
They surrounded Ghost Chariot's twenty-seven faces.
Suddenly, those thirty-six stars conjured seventy-two phantom stars!
This transformation.
Was precisely the interchange of illusion and reality produced by adding a trace of the Creation Jade Tablet Fragment's creation innate illusion origin to the Innate Sea-Covering Formation!
At that moment.
The Innate Sea-Covering Formation, which originally held only thirty-six stars.
Suddenly manifested the radiant power of a hundred and eight stars, with reality and illusion alternating.
For a moment.
The stars formed thirty-six greater celestial circuits and seventy-two lesser celestial circuits, combining into a complete hundred and eight celestial circuits!
At that moment, the might of heaven and earth and the terrifying power of the Primordial World's Great Dao erupted above the ancient tree, a hundred thousand zhang tall!
In an instant.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The Eight-Direction Hongmeng Cage Formation, woven from nine nether vines.
Pierced the void like lightning, its nine nether vines clamping viciously around Ghost Chariot's nine necks.
In a single exchange.
Ghost Chariot, who had only intended to come out, show off, and then negotiate with Lin Tian, suffered a crushing defeat at his hands.
Even those who had placed considerable hope in Ghost Chariot.
The Azure Luan, the Nine-Headed Owl, the Nine-Headed Demon Phoenix, and the other powerful leaders of the Seventy-Two Fierce Beasts, who had believed Ghost Chariot would turn the tables before his subordinates and defeat the outsider Lin Tian, were all stunned at that moment!
"So Master was just toying with us all these hundred thousand years..."
"I never imagined Master's strength was this overwhelming!"
"What formation is this? I thought that Innate Sea-Covering Formation with its thirty-six stars already outshone everything past and present! But Master was hiding his strength all along. This... this is actually the Innate 108-Celestial-Circuit Star Formation!"
"Master always forced us to buy and sell, making 'fair trades' with us. I thought he only knew how to exploit opportunities and use petty tricks to torment others. Who would have thought that, despite having the strength to seize all our treasures and bloodlines, Master would still graciously treat us with respect and trade fairly with us? He is truly a sage!"
"The first time I saw Master, I knew he was a righteous soul!"
"Exactly. I traded half my bloodline, racial power, and innate spiritual treasures to Master for a drop of Three Lights Divine Water. My abilities have long since broken through their bottleneck, and the half of my bloodline and racial power I paid has been fully restored."
"Over these hundred thousand years, my abilities and divine powers have advanced by far more than a single realm. Given the right opportunity, I could step straight into the realm of a great encompassing golden immortal."
"All of these... are the changes Master has brought us over these hundred thousand years."
The seventy-one Fierce Beasts who had come together to besiege Ghost Chariot saw him defeated in a single exchange, his vital points seized by Lin Tian's nine nether vines.
Rather than alarm, the seventy-one Fierce Beasts felt delight, and an uproar of discussion immediately rose to the heavens.
Such absolute domination in strength could actually make the ever-prudent and cautious Nine-Headed Ghost Chariot abandon resistance at once.
He immediately stopped sitting on the fence and became a subordinate of their master, Lin Tian.
"I surrender! I surrender!"
When the nine nether vines seized the vital points on Ghost Chariot's nine necks, he immediately sent several messages through his Spirit Awareness to surrender to Lin Tian.
A wise man knew when to bow to circumstance.
Over these hundred thousand years.
Ghost Chariot had secretly watched everything Lin Tian did in the Eastern Continent Mountain Range.
In truth, Lin Tian had harmed none of the Seventy-Two Fierce Beasts or their descendants.
Instead, over these hundred thousand years, Lin Tian had repeatedly used those seemingly extremely unfair fair trades to exchange for the Seventy-Two Fierce Beasts' Cultivation Arts and Divine Abilities, life-bound spiritual treasures, and more.
Every one of the Seventy-Two Fierce Beasts who traded with Lin Tian obtained tremendous resources.
The progress the seventy-one Fierce Beasts had made in their divine powers over these hundred thousand years could be described as advancing by leaps and bounds.
Not only had the seventy-one Fierce Beasts who traded with Lin Tian gained tremendous opportunities and blessings, but their descendants had also received an abundance of benefits.
Precisely because of this.
Ghost Chariot had never taken the initiative to come out and confront Lin Tian directly, instead silently observing what Lin Tian was doing from his lair.
And throughout those hundred thousand years of observation, as the Nine-Headed Ghost Bird who could see into the deepest hearts of all living beings, Ghost Chariot.
Had actually been pleased to see this vine and beast, with their heaven-reaching methods, bring new opportunities and blessings to the Seventy-Two Fierce Beasts eking out their existence here in the East Continent Forest.
At that moment.
After Ghost Chariot called out his surrender.
He spat from his mouth a dark, netherworld-shrouded life-bound spiritual treasure: the Ghost Chariot Core.
Then.
Using his two claws, Ghost Chariot climbed down the trunk of the hundred-thousand-zhang ancient tree, step by step.
With his nine heads pressed close to the trunk, he carried the Ghost Chariot Core down to Lin Tian, then sent a message through his Spirit Awareness.
"Master, I am willing to lead the Seventy-Two Fierce Beasts in your service. Even if our livers and brains must stain the ground, we shall not refuse!"
Good.
Lin Tian was overjoyed.
He sat steadily on the Nine-Headed Azure Luan's back, looking relaxed as he regarded Ghost Chariot, the Nine-Headed Ghost Bird before him, whose imposing aura towered to the heavens despite his utmost deference.
Ghost Chariot possessed the natural majesty of a superior being, inherent to an innate Fierce Beast.
Even as he knelt against the tree trunk and pledged allegiance to Lin Tian.
Ghost Chariot still carried the bearing of one who commanded myriad beasts and refused to stand beneath another.
The chief reason the Nine-Headed Ghost Chariot had bowed his noble heads to Lin Tian was that Lin Tian's methods over these hundred thousand years-subduing the Seventy-Two Fierce Beasts and bringing them new opportunities and blessings-had truly won him over.
Today, he had fought Ghost Chariot upon the hundred-thousand-zhang ancient tree.
Although Ghost Chariot had surrendered after a single exchange.
That single exchange.
Had only yielded this victory, now ripe for the effortless picking, because Lin Tian had exhausted his ingenuity and schemes, deployed every method and divine power, summoned the Spirit Treasure, and spent a hundred thousand years laying his plans.
Lin Tian extended his nine nether vine, curled it around the Ghost Chariot Core offered to him, then sent Ghost Chariot a message through his Spirit Awareness:
"Ghost Chariot, are you willing to accompany me to Mount Buzhou on the Central Continent?"
Before you continue