Martial Ascent to Divinity-Chapter 619 - 599: Ten Thousand Feathers

Outside, winds rose and clouds surged, while within the old fertile land, all was still and serene.

Yet the Demons trudged onward with heavy burdens.

Zhou Leng originally engaged in direct combat, but the Giant Insect Race, Demons, and Beastmen often dispatched Middle-Rank Grandmasters for ambushes.

Several times, he narrowly escaped being captured.

Thus, Zhou Leng altered his strategy, occasionally launching surprise attacks to assassinate newly appointed and Lower-Rank Grandmasters.

Upon encountering high-status Innate ones, he readily dispatched them.

He declared it as revenge against Middle-Rank Grandmasters who ambushed him.

After consecutively assassinating thirty or so Grandmasters, the Demons couldn’t endure it any longer.

Hundreds of thousands of Demon casualties weren’t as valuable as a single newly appointed Grandmaster.

Ultimately, the Demons gave up on ambushes and stopped attempting to assassinate the "Mad Grandmaster."

This was the nickname the Demons gave to the unknown Grandmaster.

This Grandmaster was indeed the most mad in history.

Although many had been insane experts before, some even more exaggerated than this Mad Grandmaster, very few newly appointed ones had immediately charged at tens of thousands of armies, relentlessly.

An ordinary Grandmaster would have fallen apart long ago in such prolonged warfare.

But this Mad Grandmaster was different; even after battles left him exhausted, he’d suddenly bounce back to life every few days, hiding only to strike again.

Zhou Leng continued his killing spree for an unknown duration, until he felt he had mostly grasped the eighth form of East Wind Fist "Autumn River Mountains," capturing the battle intent of establishing mountains and rivers where all ages are autumn, and then focused on searching for Ancient Tree Fossils.

The good news was that the Demons also knew the old fertile land had many Ancient Tree Fossils; unable to directly sense them, they employed numerous digging and excavating Demons for large-scale soil turnovers.

Tens of millions of Demons acted together, yielding great harvests.

Then Zhou Leng occasionally visited the Demon mining areas, launching surprise attacks on Grandmasters and looting Ancient Tree Fossils.

Faster than mining by himself.

A kilometer deep underground, inside the Magic Spirit Bag.

Zhou Leng glanced at the Magic Spirit Bag.

The Ancient Tree Fossils inside piled into small mountains, a minor portion from his own labor, the rest largely from joint efforts with the Demons.

This quantity far exceeds the required feathers for promotion.

With food in hand, the heart is at ease.

Zhou Leng cut large quantities of Ancient Tree Fossils, consuming and absorbing them.

After ascending to Grandmaster status, the speed of absorbing Ancient Tree Fossils also accelerated.

Within the spinal marrow, the number of Star Phoenix Feathers increased rapidly.

9921, 9922...

9998, 9999, 1000.

The instant the ten thousandth Star Phoenix Feather entered the spinal marrow, silver flames burst from the spine, extending from the cervical vertebra downward to the coccyx, spreading laterally.

By Zhou Leng’s ears, a cry resounded, traversing the nine regions, echoing through the skies.

In a daze, his consciousness entered the infinite void, witnessing a colossal silver Star Phoenix Feather before him.

The silver flame feather was as large as a comet, traversing the firmament, gently brushing past a gigantic planet, vanishing at the edge of the void.

Moments later, the massive planet collapsed, exploded, star-fallen.

The entire world suddenly filled with silver flames.

Instantly, his whole being felt aflame, with every cell in his body burning, boiling.

The severe pain penetrated body and soul.

His body trembled violently.

Huff!

His clothing instantly turned to ashes.

One by one flame-shaped Star Phoenix Feathers unfurled across his back, silver-feather fire like armor and clothing, gently leaping, as if trying to detach and expand into wings.

But eventually, the silver-feather fire receded, leaving only subtle flame burn marks across his back, returning to the spine, entering the spinal marrow.

The vast Star Phoenix Rejuvenation Technique erupted from the spinal marrow, like fire and flame, flooding the body.

The body transformed into a furnace, blazing throughout.

Countless parts were burned and tempered by the Star Phoenix furnace fire, reversing all former wounds, afflictions, leaks, illnesses, errors in the body.

The intense pain spread throughout.

Covered head to toe in sweat, powerful heat evaporated sweat droplets, enveloping him like a steamer, white smoke swirling, gathering into a column, slowly ascending.

The Star Phoenix itself is Stellar Life, its vast Stellar Life force igniting the True Qi within him.

The originally gentle True Qi was catalyzed into tidal surges, surging back and forth within the body.

Star Phoenix’s fiery flames and True Qi waves collided and surged, carrying immense roars.

Boom... boom... boom...

Like stars grinding, the cosmos trembled.

Following a crisp and sharp bird call, the Star Phoenix flames gradually receded.

Countless silver flames transformed into the finest particles, integrating into every cell of the body.

In an instant, the True Qi singularity shivered.

An extraordinary force erupted from an infinitely small center point within the body, resembling a newborn sun, similar to galaxy aggregation, projecting boundless divine light.

Instantly saturating the body.

Zhou Leng found himself enveloped in intense light, divine radiance illuminating his entire body translucent like jade, transforming into a semi-transparent jade figure, sitting at the depths of the earth.

As the extraordinary Stellar True Qi light projected outward, it gradually receded.

The Stellar True Qi light was akin to Star Phoenix silver fire, penetrating every cell within the body.

Star Phoenix and Stellar True Qi merged, indistinguishable.

Zhou Leng’s whole body flushed red, only cooling down after half an hour.

After a long time, Zhou Leng opened his eyes, perceiving his body.

A warm current surged within.

An indescribable immense power remained constant within him.

Looking down, the skin showed little change, but the force beneath was entirely different.

Zhou Leng took out the tungsten steel ball and lightly pinched it between two fingers.

The tungsten steel ball was crushed into extremely fine dust, which fell with a gentle rustle.

Zhou Leng faintly sensed that there was a huge difference between star transformation and the Qi transformation of the whole body.

The Qi transformation of the whole body, in essence, only strengthens the physical power, akin to training the body to be stronger, but it remains ordinary human flesh.

However, star transformation is a more advanced evolution.

It bears a slight resemblance to the trend of a Martial Saint evolving towards a Void God.

Although this trend is extremely weak and cannot yet compare to a true Martial Saint, it is far more powerful than the Grandmaster’s Qi transformation of the whole body.

Moreover, the body seems to possess a power similar to divine techniques.

Currently, the body indeed cannot use True Qi, but even without using stellar true energy, the destructive power it possesses is not inferior to ordinary True Qi projection.

The starbody sharpens itself.

At the command of one’s mind, the starbody will mobilize the body’s entire power to concentrate at one point.

Taking out a piece of paper, without using any force, the right hand brushed over the paper, with only the thought of cutting it in mind.

Shhh...

The white paper split into two.

"This is the divine technique of a Martial Saint, thought turning into a blade..."

Zhou Leng nodded lightly, indeed, star transformation far surpasses the ordinary Qi transformation of the whole body.

However, there is a vague sense that within his power, there is a force similar to Star Power.

It is not stellar true energy, but rather... the aura of the Undying Star Body.

A brief thought makes it clear.

The first layer of the Undying Star Body, "Crossing Body," has not yet been cultivated, theoretically, it should not produce power.

But because he completed a star transformation himself, his body acquired the aura of a stellar divine body, and even though it is just a little bit, it has formed a unique reaction with the Undying Star Body, gaining a small amount of its power ahead of time.

Zhou Leng carefully savored the power and saw something unusual out of the corner of his eye, looking down.

This was the underground cave opened up by the Magic Spirit Bag, containing much dust.

Now, countless specks of dust on the ground were orbiting around him, slowly circulating a meter away.

Among the dust, small insects were also instinctively crawling in circles, never stopping.

The body like a great sun, all beings obey.

"Good."

Zhou Leng nodded lightly, and the dust and small insects stopped, forming peculiar dust rings.

Those small insects seemed to awaken from a dream, as if bowing and kneeling, then hurriedly left.

Zhou Leng took out the earth chariot, collected the underground small house, and rose to the surface.

Looking up, everything was bright, and the world was pure and beautiful.

The variety of colors in his vision abruptly increased by a magnitude, the sounds heard were more abundant and intense, and the odors sensed by his nose increased tenfold.

Smelling an unpleasant odor, a thought arose, and the odor was expelled from the nostrils by an invisible force.

Unable to enter the nose again.

Having succeeded in cultivation, he could return.

However, he should bring back some local products.

Zhou Leng looked around, suddenly feeling something unusual to the left front.

Immediately realizing, it was a faint breath radiating from the left front triggering some kind of perception within himself, though not clear enough.

Similar to a sixth sense.

Zhou Leng ran toward that direction, and soon, the various complicated information increased more and more.

Finally, he clearly judged that there was a giant insect army there.

Recalling now, it was probably the subtle environmental changes in the forest, air, etc., caused by the march of the giant insects, differing from other places, thus being captured by himself.

Before Zhou Leng got close, the giant insects were already alarmed; the next instant, he appeared behind the giant insect army.

A few giant insect Grandmasters turned and looked back.

They saw a figure as swift as the wind, dashing into the giant insect army.

A whirlwind swirled around Zhou Leng’s body, the grasses and trees at his sides split in two, the air slashed the ground, and earthy yellow fissures extended forward.

With his arms spread like wings, hands merging like blades, he used no weapons at all, nor even aimed at any giant insect.

Where he passed, the necks of giant insects below the Innate within ten meters silently split, their heads rolling to the ground, eyes blank.

Within two meters, the Innate giant insects met the same fate.

Wounds were neat as a mirror.

"Hiss hiss..."

Several giant insect Grandmasters were horrified, the wings behind them buzzing fearfully.

The mad Grandmaster had grown stronger again.

"Call for help!"

Zhou Leng glanced up, seeing three newly promoted giant insect Grandmasters. He spoke in tree-man language, "Give me gifts, and I spare your lives."

Many of the Giant Insect Race’s items are hidden inside their bodies; once they die, they are either impossible to retrieve or disintegrate, rarely able to be obtained.

Now, having succeeded in cultivation, he wanted to accumulate resources, but the other party was too weak, lacking much combat interest.

Upon hearing this, the giant insect Grandmasters opened their mouths, revealing bags from which various items spewed out.

The remaining Innates also emptied their bags, tossing out various items.

Zhou Leng swiftly swept past, collecting all useful items except for the disgusting Insect Race stuff, then turned to leave, heading toward the Tree-man Base.

"Phew..."

Hundreds of thousands of giant insects watching the mad Grandmaster’s retreating figure felt much relieved.

All along the way, Zhou Leng moved forward continuously.

Ordinary armies could no longer hinder him in the slightest.

Encountering giant insects exploiting resources, confronting demonic and beastman Grandmasters, he charged without hesitation, slaying the Grandmasters.

Thanks to the power of star transformation, Zhou Leng was even more reluctant to use stellar true energy, saving it for the second star transformation.

Only when facing middle-rank total Grandmasters would he use stellar true energy for the final blow.