At this moment, Feathered Tuo Root World had descended into utter chaos.
The three great monster clans each had a guardian patriarch, all at the rank of third-grade Heaven-Mender.
Under normal circumstances, with these three Heaven-Menders suppressing the tides, the realm's safety would have been assured.
But this time, the ones casting their hooks into Feathered Tuo Root World were two second-rank fishing sovereigns!
The Wuchang Emperor and the Dragon Angler had long mingled within the Yingfutu Realm. Old acquaintances, when they crossed paths here, needed no words; their coordination was seamless. Together, they poured their strength into dismantling the defenders' resistance.
Yet though Feathered Tuo Root World was but a minor realm, a mere Feathered World, far beneath a Mountain World in rank, it still possessed a complete realm membrane and a fully-evolved Dao foundation. It was not something that could be toppled lightly.
When the combined might of two second-rank sovereigns threatened the very survival of the realm, Feathered Tuo Root World's own primal consciousness was roused.
A surge of power from the world's origin descended upon the three monster kings.
This empowerment far surpassed the clan arrays they had cobbled together.
With such aid, the battle swung back into balance. In fact, the three monster kings even pressed their advantage, briefly forcing the two fishing emperors onto the defensive.
Meanwhile, Jing Qian's Fate Locking Needle clung to the realm membrane, half its body already outside. If things went sour, he was ready to reel up his bucket and flee at once.
But just then, Good Corn perched on his head suddenly leapt up, straddling his fishing line.
In the next instant, the corn kernel on the hook exploded!
From within that kernel burst a strange aura. Under Good Corn's control, it traced itself into a peculiar talisman, which drifted beyond the realm membrane and into the crossroads of time and space.
That talisman summoned down a unique divine intent, crossing infinite distance to focus upon Feathered Tuo Root World.
Immediately, the blazing sun hanging above the sky dimmed, as though eclipsed by a ravenous heavenly dog.
The fiery orb vanished, and in its place an immense single eye opened upon the heavens.
That terrifying eye was indifferent and cold, sweeping across the realm. Every living creature felt its gaze pierce them, a primal dread flooding their hearts.
Then the eye slowly closed.
Even Jing Qian, safely within the Void Realm, only sending his Spiritual Construct forth, felt as though the eye had ogled him head to toe. His hair stood on end, his skin broke out in gooseflesh.
Before he could even speak, the corn sprout crowed proudly:
"I called my dad! Am I amazing or what?!"
Its voice had barely faded when crash!
A dump truck of raw force smashed straight into Feathered Tuo Root World.
The outer membrane of the realm tore apart under the colossal impact. Matter and spiritual energy within spilled out in a mad torrent.
And that "truck" was no vehicle, but a colossal ear of corn magnified ten-thousandfold.
The corn was lush green, its tassels pure as jade, a white crown piercing the earth like a heavenly pillar.
But its entire body radiated memetic corruption. Any creature who looked upon it would see their subcutaneous fat writhing, swelling into corn-kernel-like pustules that spread across their flesh, hideous and horrifying.
In only a few breaths after its descent, a third of all life within Feathered Tuo Root World lay dead.
The true body of True Corn, heir of the Void Mother Tree, had descended. With its presence alone, the realm was ruined. Even if it were driven out, the corruption left behind could never be purged.
With one stir of its stalk, the tenuous balance collapsed.
The three great arrays shattered. The surviving beasts, though alive, were rotting with sores, worse than death.
The three titled Heaven-Mender demon kings plummeted in strength, utterly unable to resist the sovereign hooks any longer.
And thus, the three second-rank sovereigns began their joint harvest of Feathered Tuo Root World.
The Golden Willow was ensnared by the Dragon Angler's fishing line, dragged straight into Zhuoling Cave Heaven, and planted beside the Longevity Fish Pond.
The pond's surging spiritual power poured through the willow's roots, instantly suppressing it and transforming it into a spiritual root of Zhuoling Cave Heaven.
A top-tier spiritual root like the Golden Willow was the equivalent of a rare spiritual vein, birthing its own vitality and dramatically boosting the foundation of the cave heaven's resources.
Meanwhile, the Azure Lion and White Phoenix were both bound in dense threads by the Wuchang Emperor, bundled like dolls and hauled back into the Sea of Grievous Souls, where he subdued them.
Before he could even decide what to do with them, his younger sister had already slipped off her wedding robes, cast them over the Moonlit Heavenly Phoenix, and dragged it away toward her own abode.
The emperor only shook his head, unable to rein in his little sister. Mounting the Azure Lion, he slowly sank beneath the waves.
Just before the seawater closed over him, he gave his fishing hook one last flick, shaking the Meat Worm spiritual construct loose. It fell directly into Jing Qian's Void Realm, carrying along with it a trace of Dao pattern.
As for Feathered Tuo Root World, the True Corn had finished its harvest.
Billions of roots stretched from its body, spreading like endless tentacles throughout the realm. Every source of vitality was plundered, living creatures, treasures, ley lines, and spiritual constructs; nothing escaped its grasp.
It was like a marauding army sweeping through: not a single thread of spiritual energy was left untouched. When it was done, the entire Feathered Tuo Root World lay barren, desolate, stripped to the bone.
True Corn compressed all the realm's remaining essence into a massive stone sphere, hung it at its waist, and only then turned to Jing Qian and Good Corn, who had held out to the end:
"Good Corn, you're independent now. Show some spine, don't run to me for every little thing.
"You managed to find a realm and asked me to intervene, but now the place is stripped bare, not even a feather left. You'd have done better mining it slowly yourselves.
"Support the Dao Son in his cultivation properly, and stop bragging all day long."
Then True Corn turned to Jing Qian and said:
"Dao Son, cultivate well. Advance quickly to the Star-Seizer realm. We've got a big deal lined up that needs your help.
"The benefits are enormous, and they'll be of great use to your path.
"Oh, and keep your identity as the Yanfu Heir hidden. We've got plenty of enemies. If you're exposed too soon, you won't be able to handle the pressure.
"As for this realm's resources, the three of us will split the real gains. That's the rule in the Void. Not worth breaking it for your sake.
"But the scraps left behind, gather them up. They'll still be of use, and consider it rations for Good Corn."
With that, True Corn once again unfurled its billions of tendrils, completely enveloping Feathered Tuo Root World.
Spiritual power surged, compressing the very crust of the realm. A world once the size of a third of Earth was crushed down into a single mountain.
Then True Corn seized the Locking-Life Needle, anchoring it into the mountain, before kicking the shrunken mass into the Void.
Inside the Void Realm, Jing Qian held the fishing line taut, not daring to relax for even a breath.
This second bout of Void Fishing was even more thrilling than the first.
He felt like a walking calamity. Twice he had visited Feathered Tuo Root World, and twice he had managed to utterly devastate it.
The sight of three sovereigns jointly reaping a Feathered World had left him awestruck.
And his harvest exceeded all expectations.
At the end of his fishing line, dragged along with the help of sovereign power, was an entire star.
The massive body of matter, heavily compressed, scraped against the Void and caught fire, blazing like a meteor.
As its substance burned away and collided with spacetime, the meteor stirred the Sea of Primordial Qi, birthing a new core of vitality within.
A star once exhausted of all essence had been reborn.
But its rank had plummeted from a Feathered World all the way down to the lowest tier, a Shattered Star.
In this cultivation cosmos, stars and realms were ranked by the richness of their foundations.
At the very bottom lay the countless barren stars, devoid of essence, worthless for cultivation.
Above them were the Shattered Stars, each anchored by a single core of vitality connected to the Sea of Primordial Qi.
Beyond were the Scattered Stars, with multiple cores and abundant energy.
Higher still were the Main Stars, with so many cores and such dense essence that they birthed membranes to shield themselves.
Above the Main Stars lay the true Feathered Worlds, capable of sustaining mortal life and nurturing Dao lineages like the Feathered Tuo Root World had once been.
And beyond the Feathered Worlds were the exalted Mountain Worlds, where the Yingfutu Realm resided, with an entire tier of Tree Worlds separating them.
For a cultivator, advancing to the fourth-rank Star-Seizer realm required projecting their divine sense and power into at least one Scattered Star.
From this point onward, a cultivator could incorporate a star's vitality core into their own cultivation system, thereby generating vitality on their own and never again worrying about running out of power.
Beyond that, they could also receive the star's strengthening, greatly amplifying their divine abilities and battle strength.
The higher the grade of the star seized during advancement, the greater the empowerment it bestowed.
However, even the lowest tier, a mere Shattered Star, was far beyond what Jing Qian could truly comprehend at his current stage!
With a casual kick, True Corn sent the Shattered Star crashing into the Sumeru Dimension, causing this once-empty cosmos to suddenly gain a tangible celestial body beyond the Void Realm.
This Shattered Star represented immense matter and vitality, an enormous boon for the growth of Sumeru.
Though it could not directly grant Jing Qian immediate combat strength, it would greatly accelerate the expansion of his Void Realm. That kind of accumulation was the very foundation of future power.
On his second attempt at Void Fishing, he had reeled in an actual star. Jing Qian and Good Corn were both beside themselves with excitement.
Good Corn tugged at him eagerly:
"Master, plant me on that star! Your cave realm is far too cramped. I feel stifled just staying here!"
Inside the Void Realm, Jing Qian peered through the membrane at the newly appeared meteor, its massive pressure weighing down on him.
He stirred the power of his Sumeru Life Pattern, slowly moving the Void Realm until it hovered before the Shattered Star, finally settling atop it.
At once, faint streams of vitality and abundant matter from the star began flowing steadily into the Void Realm.
The entire star was becoming nourishment for the Void Realm's growth!
At the same time, Jing Qian opened a small fissure in the Void Realm's membrane, through which Good Corn extended its roots, embedding them into the Shattered Star.
It wasn't just after the vitality that the corn already monopolized a core of yin energy.
What it needed now were the raw materials and elements that this star provided.
Just as flowers need fertile soil, so too did Good Corn.
Together, the Void Realm and Shattered Star reshaped the atmosphere of the Sumeru Dimension.
As the master of this cosmos, Jing Qian reaped immense benefits.
Of all his gains from the trip to the Sea of Grievous Souls, this Shattered Star was without question the greatest prize.
Once the star was settled, Jing Qian turned his attention to the Meat Worm spiritual construct, lying low and motionless in a corner of the Void Realm.
Cast off by the Wuchang Emperor and abandoned in this realm, it dared not stir under the crushing weight of the Void Realm's suppression, pretending to be dead.
But Jing Qian had no intention of letting it be. He strode directly toward it.
Still, he didn't torment the unique spiritual construct. Instead, he raised his hand and summoned over a talisman seal that rested on its forehead.
Holding it, Jing Qian carefully sensed it, then drew forth the Hell Scroll and cast the seal upon it.
Immediately, a twenty-seventh ghostly shadow began to take form upon the scroll.
The talisman turned out to be the life imprint of a ghost from the Sea of Grievous Souls.
By refining it, the Hell Scroll could subdue the corresponding great ghost.
When the scroll's transformation was completed, the image of the beautiful female ghost who had once commanded the Meat Worm emerged upon it.
The Wuchang Emperor, before leaving, had casually tossed Jing Qian her very life imprint!
With that assistance, he easily suppressed the formidable Earth Fiend ghost, saving himself untold trouble.
He then dragged the female ghost out from the Void Furnace, unsealing her confinement.
The terrifying ghost, who had been abducted into this place, suddenly awoke only to find that everything had changed.
The sea was gone, her cave dwelling vanished, and even her freedom had been stripped away.
A strange imprint had defiled her sea of consciousness, seizing her utterly.
She was no longer pure.
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