On the starboat, Lu Ye toyed with the fire gourd. This thing was the world-stabilizing treasure of the Yiyuan World, and ever since he first saw it, Lu Ye had been intrigued by it.

According to feedback from the Asura Field, seven treasure gourds had grown on the Creation Vine. If these seven treasure gourds could be gathered, the wonders of creation could be reenacted.

Lu Ye didn’t know what kind of wonders these were, nor did he plan to collect all seven treasure gourds due to the difficulty. Currently, he had the pill gourd, sword gourd, and fire gourd, and there were clues to the wind gourd. As for the remaining three, their whereabouts were completely unknown—who knew where they were, and there were no leads to find them.

If it hadn’t been for Charng Feng’s misdeeds, Lu Ye wouldn’t have obtained the fire gourd so easily.

On the whole, although he lost one incomplete sword gourd Sword Qi and eight Treasure Blood Avatars from Charng Feng’s ambush, other than that, he hadn’t lost anything substantial. Gaining the fire gourd, he didn’t come out on the losing end!

Upon careful inspection, he indeed sensed an exceptionally fierce bizarre fire within the fire gourd. On that day, Yuan Se used this treasure to contend with Shang Chengyue of the Animitta Palace, creating a grand spectacle. Had Shang Chengyue not preemptively wielded a Tianxuan Sword Qi, he might have met his end.

When Yuan Se unleashed the power of the fire gourd, Lu Ye could feel some reaction in the Talent Tree, clearly indicating the high quality of the bizarre fire within. If the Talent Tree could devour it, there would certainly be benefits.

Carefully observing now, Lu Ye found that the uncanny fire nurtured within the fire gourd was indeed extraordinary. Such a fierce flame was not something the average Sun Blaze could withstand.

Even for him, under such a bizarre fire, his own skills wouldn’t offer much resistance.

Lu Ye couldn’t help but feel a pang of melancholy.

For a cultivator, the path of cultivation is long and arduous. After painstaking effort to ascend to Sun Blaze, one might think they are above the cultivation world, but in reality, they can’t even resist the power of an affiliated treasure. It’s undeniably a sorrow.

Fortunately, although there are quite a few affiliated treasures in the world, as Ma Bin had said, they are mostly held by major forces as world-stabilizing treasures and are not easily used.

The example of Shern Yun roaming around with the indestructible Heavenly Net Umbrella is rare, largely because Shern Yun was too arrogant. Who would’ve expected to encounter a true stellar space supreme treasure, leading directly to its ruin.

Now, that broken Heavenly Net Umbrella is in Hua Ci’s hands, placed by Little Fella’s side for nurturing. Whether it can be restored remains unknown.

The uncanny fire may be fierce, but that’s only for cultivators. For the Talent Tree, it’s a highly nourishing substance.

Without hesitation, Lu Ye slightly activated the power of the Talent Tree, allowing its invisible roots to immediately extend into the mouth of the gourd. In the next instant, Lu Ye felt the wonderful, scorching fire being ravenously devoured by the Talent Tree.

While the uncanny fire within the fire gourd was formidable, he already had the sword gourd as his trump card. Whether or not he used this uncanny fire made little difference. If an opponent couldn’t be dealt with using a peak strike from the sword gourd, then the fire gourd might also prove useless.

He quietly observed the changes in the Talent Tree, soon showing a puzzled expression.

For he didn’t feel any increase in the Talent Tree’s fuel reserves...

This was clearly abnormal. All along, whenever the Talent Tree devoured any fire attribute power, it would augment its fuel reserves for Lu Ye’s use later on.

Since the Talent Tree’s first transformation, Lu Ye could easily sense its fuel reserves, so he knew whether they were increasing or decreasing.

But this time, after the Talent Tree devoured the uncanny fire, its fuel reserves indeed showed no improvement.

On the contrary, it seemed something mysterious had happened to the Talent Tree itself—a change so subtle that, if Lu Ye weren’t so intimately familiar with the condition of the Talent Tree, he wouldn’t have noticed it at all.

Lu Ye focused his mind and continued his investigation.

In the span of one incense stick’s time, the uncanny fire within the fire gourd had been entirely consumed by the Talent Tree.

Upon inspection, Lu Ye noted a slight thickening of the glow on the Talent Tree...

This change was... Lu Ye was first startled, then delighted.

For he had experienced this type of change several times before; it was a sign that the Talent Tree was about to transform!

Up till now, since he first obtained the Talent Tree, it had undergone three transformations.

Initially, when Lu Ye got the Talent Tree, it could only assist in refining and absorbing the elixir pills he consumed, thereby accelerating his cultivation speed.

But after the first transformation, the Talent Tree’s power clearly increased, gaining the ability to extend its roots outside. Through these roots, Lu Ye could devour and refine Spiritual Energy and Spirit Stones outside his body, dramatically accelerating his cultivation speed and also gaining a Talent Tree Avatar.

During the second transformation, the Talent Tree acquired the ability to manifest spirit runes, making various spirit runes much easier to utilize, and Lu Ye could engrave new spirit runes on its leaves.

By the third transformation, through fuel consumption, the Talent Tree could expedite the evolution of spirit runes, and its innate power became gentler, allowing use on others.

Without this change, Lu Ye wouldn’t have been able to help the Merfolk Race dissolve the Bloodline Curse Poison back then. Under the Talent Tree’s power, it might have burned the Merfolk Race cultivators to ashes instead.

Many years have passed since the Talent Tree’s three transformations.

Lu Ye could always feel that the three transformations weren’t the Talent Tree’s limit, and he had been waiting for the Talent Tree’s fourth transformation. He wanted to know what changes it would undergo and what new arcane mysteries would be born after the next transformation.

Regrettably, over the years, regardless of how many fire-type treasures Lu Ye devoured, the Talent Tree showed no signs of another transformation—not even the slightest hint.

Until today!

When the Talent Tree devoured the uncanny fire within the fire gourd, this sign emerged.

The surprise came so suddenly that Lu Ye was momentarily at a loss for words. After several confirmations, it was indeed a sign that the Talent Tree was about to transform.

Of course, right now it’s just a hint, and it will still be a while before the Talent Tree undergoes a transformation. Once it transforms, it will turn into a fire seed and be nurtured anew.

But... why is this happening?

That ball of uncanny fire took the Talent Tree one incense stick’s time to devour, and realistically, it wasn’t much in quantity. Even if you calculate by devouring speed, the increase in fuel for the Talent Tree from such a short time of devouring is not significant.

But the current situation is that there is no change in the fuel reserves, yet the Talent Tree itself has changed.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Ye vaguely felt that this might be related to quality! 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The Talent Tree’s fourth transformation requires devouring fire-type treasures with not only quantitative sufficiency but, more importantly, a guarantee of quality!

This is completely different from the first three times, where the transformation naturally happened as long as the quantity devoured was sufficient.

Previously, the fire-type treasures Lu Ye devoured may have had decent quality but fell far short of what the Talent Tree required, so even if he devoured them, it merely boosted the fuel reserves.

This time is different; the uncanny fire nurtured within the fire gourd is of extremely high quality throughout the entire stellar space, which is why it triggered a change in the Talent Tree.

Thus, when Yuan Se summoned the uncanny fire from the fire gourd, the Talent Tree reacted because it aids in the Tree’s transformation.

These are merely Lu Ye’s speculations, but they are likely not wrong.

To verify whether this hypothesis is accurate, the method is simple: just devour another piece of uncanny fire of the same quality, and it can be judged.

With this thought, Lu Ye quickly began to refine the fire gourd.

The birth and nurturing of the uncanny fire within the fire gourd are akin to the nurturing of Sword Qi within the sword gourd, both requiring substantial investment.

Except nurturing Sword Qi requires various magic treasures, whereas nurturing uncanny fire requires a large amount of fire-type energy.

Therefore, Lu Ye must first refine the fire gourd before he can begin nurturing the uncanny fire; without refining it, he even lacks the qualification to activate the power of the fire gourd, so how could he nurture the uncanny fire?

Yuan Se was rather sensible, as he had erased all his imprints on the fire gourd when handing it over, undoubtedly simplifying Lu Ye’s refining process.

"Lu Ye, we’ve reached the Insect Path." Yiyi’s voice reached his ears. It hadn’t taken long on this journey, and she noticed Lu Ye was busy, so she refrained from disturbing him.

Upon hearing the voice, Lu Ye opened his eyes, stood up, and retracted the starboat.

In front of the Insect Path entrance, a Moon Jade-class Central Hub battleship was stationed, while the Jade Conch Moon Jade stationed here came forward to meet him. After some simple inquiries from Lu Ye, learning that all was peaceful, he proceeded with Yiyi and Amber into the Insect Path.

At present, this Insect Path is indeed not stable; only Sun Blaze can easily traverse it physically. Others wishing to pass must rely on the battleship’s protection to have a chance.

Thus, even though many have heard that this Insect Path connects to the Jade Conch Galaxy, no one dares to venture blindly.

Perhaps once the Insect Path stabilizes in the future, people will travel through to visit the Jade Conch, but certainly not now.

Traversing the Insect Path, when his vision cleared, Lu Ye found himself back in the Jade Conch Galaxy, encountering another Moon Jade-class battleship stationed here.

He felt a moment of sentiment, remembering the difficulties of returning to the Nine Provinces from the All Phenomena Ocean back then, going through considerable hassles even when using the Soul Race ancestral land.

It is much more convenient now.

Upon Lu Ye’s appearance, nearby cultivators immediately turned their attention, approaching one by one to pay their respects.

Looking around, he noticed quite a number of Three Worlds cultivators gathered here, evidently planning to enter the All Phenomena Galaxy through the Insect Path.

However, since passage utilizes battleship protection, this can only happen once a month, and it’s not the time yet, so the cultivators are waiting.

Once the battleship sails to the other side, it will return here. While troublesome and a great spirit jade expenditure, it is the only way to ensure enough safety.

Lu Ye didn’t linger too long, continuing with Yiyi and Amber towards the entrance of the ancestral land.

It’s undeniable that the Three Worlds cultivators are better off now than in his day, residing in the Jade Conch Galaxy, able to temper themselves in the Asura Field in the Nine Provinces; if bored, they can embark on the monthly battleship voyage to tour the All Phenomena Ocean, ensuring not idleness.

Jade Conch Galaxy in its current state clearly shows signs of prosperity, and once accumulated to a certain extent, an explosive growth in overall strength is inevitable; Lu Ye eagerly anticipates that day’s arrival.

.

I have things to do today, so there will only be one update.