Rapid Growth! Demon Eye Demon Tree!
Ye Yang was overjoyed.
In just one minute, he could gain a year's worth of Soul Power!
On Douluo Continent, a Soul Beast's strength was measured by its years.
Its years were not measured by its lifespan.
In other words, many Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts had powerful bloodlines and cultivated rapidly.
They could also find excellent places to cultivate, allowing them to cultivate rapidly.
Although they were called Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts,
they might actually have lived for only ten or twenty thousand years.
Or even less!
For example, Ye Yang remembered that a Ferocious Beast called the Myriad Demon King lay dormant in the Core Circle of the Star Dou Great Forest!
His Soul Power had reached a terrifying 530,000 years!
He ranked fifth even among the ten great Ferocious Beasts and was extremely powerful.
Yet his true form was merely a Demon Eye Demon Tree.
It was a very ordinary plant that had simply been lucky enough to devour an Immortal Herb, gaining a terrifying devouring skill and growing rapidly.
He became the strongest Plant-type Soul Beast, ruling over the Soul Beasts in more than a third of the Star Dou Great Forest's outer region!
But no matter how incredible that Immortal Herb was, it was no match for Ye Yang's badass system!
"Upgrade!"
Excited, Ye Yang spoke quickly without the slightest hesitation.
The next moment, he underwent a small transformation.
It was as though he had received the finest nourishment and basked in the warmest sunlight. Every cell in his body leaped for joy and grew.
The thirty-six roots beneath him continued to lengthen as well.
In the end, they all doubled in length, reaching more than twenty centimeters.
The fine, hairlike rootlets on them doubled in number too, reaching nearly three thousand.
More small roots even grew out, bringing his total number of roots to forty-nine!
The stems and leaves aboveground were growing too.
One point was terrifying indeed!
"Continue!"
Ye Yang said without hesitation.
[Ding! Command received...]
The system continued spending points to strengthen Ye Yang's devouring skill, allowing him to keep devouring the energy in the roots.
Soon, Ye Yang was delighted to discover that the other grass roots tangled around his own and encroaching on his territory had grown somewhat wilted after he devoured a great deal of their energy.
They looked as though they had been pulled out by the roots and left under the scorching sun for a whole day.
Many of these grasses had absorbed Soul Power and could actually be considered very low-level Soul Beasts.
Blue Silver Grass was the lowest-grade plant on Douluo Continent and the one with the most vigorous vitality. It also counted as the lowest-grade Soul Beast.
Other weeds also had the ability to absorb Soul Power and cultivate.
The stronger they were, the more spiritual awareness they possessed, and the better they understood how to seek benefits and avoid harm.
Their roots slowly withdrew, fleeing toward other patches of soil, but they moved very slowly, barely faster than their natural growth.
"Trying to leave now? Too late!"
With a thought, Ye Yang controlled all his roots, winding them around the grass roots that had invaded his territory and continuing to devour them.
This time, the system's voice rang out after only a little over forty seconds.
[Ding! Congratulations, host. Your accumulated Soul Power has reached 100 points. You can upgrade into a two-year Soul Beast. Would you like to upgrade?]
Sure enough, there was a reason the strong only grew stronger.
The stronger one was, the faster one absorbed Soul Power and the faster one improved.
A few minutes later, however, Ye Yang reached his limit.
He had grown eighty-one main roots.
Each main root bore three thousand extremely fine rootlets.
Every ten-odd seconds, Ye Yang gained another year's worth of Soul Power!
But he could not speed up any further.
Without asking the system, Ye Yang knew he had reached the limits of his foundation.
He was only the lowest-grade Blue Silver Grass. The system could strengthen his abilities, but it could not strengthen the foundation of his bloodline.
Looks like I need not only points, but evolution points too!
I need to get a little stronger before I can hunt!
Ye Yang pondered.
He had learned from the system that he could obtain points by exchanging valuable things with it, such as all kinds of natural treasures, Soul Bones, and high-grade metal ores.
The system would also reward him when his cultivation reached certain levels.
Evolution points, on the other hand, came from the origin of high-level Soul Beasts.
By absorbing them, he could raise the grade of his bloodline.
He could grow from ordinary Blue Silver Grass into a Blue Silver King, a Blue Silver Emperor, or even a Blue Silver Divine Emperor!
At the same time, after killing Soul Beasts, he could absorb their Soul Power and convert one-tenth of it.
Kill a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, and he would gain a thousand years of Soul Power!
A day later, not a single living plant remained within ten meters of Ye Yang.
All the Blue Silver Grass, the various other weeds, and even the low-growing shrubs had been devoured dry by him!
In the lush Star Dou Great Forest, a circle twenty meters across had appeared, filled with withered flowers, grass, and small shrubs.
Only a few small trees, with their vigorous vitality, could still hold out.
At the very center of the circle was a little blade of grass with blue leaves and silver veins, also looking half-dead.
This was naturally Ye Yang's disguise.
His stems and leaves were still only a finger's length tall, withered, yellow, and dying.
But his roots buried in the soil rivaled those of a small tree and brimmed with life!
This was the foundation of his growth, the key to lying low and developing in secret.
However, his points were gone.
All 100 points had been spent.
In exchange, he had gained numerous thick, long roots.
As well as 72 years of Soul Power cultivation!
The extraordinary growth of his roots had consumed quite a bit of his Soul Power.
Otherwise, breaking through to become a Hundred-Year Soul Beast would have been no problem.
However, he had not gained even 0.1 evolution points or spirit points.
Those trashy flowers, grasses, shrubs, and saplings simply could not provide them.
The importance of evolution points went without saying: they could make him a stronger Plant-type Soul Beast.
Blue Silver Grass was the trashiest Plant-type Soul Beast, the kind that others could easily beat up even across a level gap.
Only a stronger bloodline could close that gap.
As for his spirit points, he needed only another 0.1 to enter the Spirit Connection Realm.
The Spirit Origin Realm was the level of spiritual power ordinary people possessed, while Spirit Connection was an ability only cultivators had.
That was a transformation!
As its name suggested, Spirit Connection meant one could already use spiritual power to unleash certain spiritual abilities.
Some Soul Masters at level twenty or thirty already had Spirit Connection Realm spiritual power.
But for Soul Beasts, especially Plant-type Soul Beasts, even fifty thousand years might not be enough to reach the Spirit Connection Realm.
Raising his spiritual power would give Ye Yang the means to suppress other Soul Beasts!
"Still, gaining 72 years of Soul Power in a single day is pretty good."
"But it's not enough."
Naturally, Ye Yang was not satisfied.
"Douluo is too dangerous. I have to rise quickly. I need at least ten thousand years of Soul Power to barely protect myself."
Ye Yang pondered, feeling somewhat anxious.
Over the course of the day, Ye Yang had sensed battles between various Soul Beasts several times.
They slaughtered one another, and even members of the same species constantly devoured each other. The weak were prey to the strong.
There were simply too many Thousand-Year and Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.
Even the weakest Thousand-Year Soul Beast could wipe him out with a casual strike.
Ye Yang was rather frustrated. He seemed to be close to the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest rather than in its outer region.
Fortunately, he was just a blade of grass hidden among withered grass, and no one paid him any attention.
But when powerful Soul Beasts fought, the shock waves from their battles spread even from over a hundred meters away, leaving him shaken.
Ye Yang's sense of danger soared, and he sent his roots spreading outward even more frantically.
He wanted to devour more Plant-type Soul Beasts and even animal Soul Beasts to rapidly strengthen himself.
Without points, he could still rely on himself. He also had to earn points, evolution points, and Soul Power points!
[Warning! Warning! A Hundred-Year Demon Eye Demon Tree has been detected ahead. Approaching it will put the host in danger!]
After an unknown number of days, the system's notification suddenly sounded in Ye Yang's mind.
Hearing it, Ye Yang was both startled and delighted.
A Demon Eye Demon Tree!
It was the same species as the fifth-ranked Ferocious Beast, the Myriad Demon King, and possessed a powerful devouring ability!
If you die, your bird points skyward; if you don't, you'll live for ten thousand years!
Devouring these trashy weeds every day was far too slow.
If he was going to do it, he would make it a big haul!
By devouring the Demon Eye Demon Tree, he could not only gain points but also improve his foundation, strengthen his devouring ability, and gain Soul Power!
He could accomplish several things in one stroke!
So, upon hearing the system's warning, Ye Yang advanced instead of retreating.
He would take a gamble!
He concentrated most of his roots and sent them spreading eastward.
The place where Ye Yang had taken root was a patch of withered yellow.
It extended for several hundred meters around him.
To avoid exposing himself, he no longer sucked the things in his territory dry, instead letting them cling to life and provide him with cover.
A kilometer away, however, lay a desolate wasteland.
Not just the flowers, grass, and shrubs, but even the great trees had dried up and rotted!
There were also quite a few Soul Beast bones, wrapped in leg-like roots that had taken hold inside them!
A dark-black tree towered over the earth like a king of hell.
Pairs of closed eyes covered its trunk, looking like marks left by axe blows.
Many vines lurked among its branches and leaves, waiting for a chance to strike.
As if sensing Ye Yang's approach, the Demon Eye Demon Tree instantly opened more than a hundred eyes!