By the time Qing Chen reached the ninety-ninth step, he looked inward at his Sea of Qi. His Golden Core was already nearly twenty percent more solid than when he had left the Cave Abode;
-progress like this would have required at least two or three years of bitter cultivation in the outside world.
Even though he had anticipated it, he could not help marveling inwardly at Mystic Origin Exalted Immortal's heaven-reaching abilities.
The instant he stepped onto the final stair, the dragging weight beneath his feet abruptly vanished.
He looked up. Ahead lay neither the halls nor the Secret Realm entrance he had imagined, but an open stone terrace.
At the center of the terrace towered an enormous mass.
It could be called a mountain, yet it had the form of a tree;
-its trunk resembled a stone pillar holding up the heavens, thrusting straight into the shadows overhead. Its surface was covered in spiraling Magnetic Runes that looked remarkably like the growth rings of an ancient tree.
Countless offshoots extended from the trunk, some thick as mountain peaks, others slender as gnarled branches. Interlacing at varying heights, they actually wove a stone canopy in midair.
It could be called a tree, yet it bore the ponderous weight of a mountain;
-its entire body consisted of strange dark-gold stone, and fist-sized leaves had crystallized at the ends of its branches. They were pure Magnetic Crystal.
From afar, it looked as though a mountainful of stars had fallen onto its boughs.
Stranger still, this stone tree was pulsing faintly.
Each rise and fall gave off a low "humm-," like a heart that had slumbered for untold ages.
"This is..."
The moment Qing Chen's gaze touched it, without anyone needing to explain, a name naturally flashed into his Sea of Consciousness