The astralsources in the Deepstar Pool were larger than human heads. So far, Tianming had absorbed more than two hundred of them into his body. The sheer volume of them was akin to a large house, strengthening his Ancient Deepstar Godbody to a frightening degree. Perhaps most saint beastial or tribulation artifacts wouldn't be able to pierce his skin, not to mention the increased power, agility, speed, and defense that came with it.
"The Ancient Deepstar Godbody with two hundred astralsources and Tribulation Sword Body with more than five hundred strands of tribulation sword ki has made me really powerful, even without using saint ki." His physical body was his foundation, after all. By absorbing astralsources, even his innards shone with the power of stars, changing his aura considerably.
"Xuanyuan Yuheng has an Aurum Draconian Physique and more than three hundred astralsources, but the toughness of my body is probably only equal to his if I include the Tribulation Sword Body."
Tianming wondered if he could reach the bottom of Heaven Cauldron. He had already gone past the flames, lightning, ice, and wind spirit hazards. What used to hurt him greatly no longer affected him with his Ancient Deepstar Godbody, including even the toxic mists. Upon close inspection, his skin resembled Lan Huang's Infinite Stardragon Diagram. Now, tribulation sword ki even permeated his long hair and could be fired at will to pierce his enemies, its power also boosted by astralsources.
"To think that absorbing astralsources could help me absorb tribulation sword ki even faster...." Training the two body refining techniques at the same time had resulted in an interesting synergy. Now, he was confident he would be able to hatch the fourth egg.
After passing through layers of tribulation hazards and reaching the bottom of the Heaven Cauldron, he saw a strip of green ahead of him. It was made of spirit hazards with four tribulation patterns, called lifewood essences. Green and inviting though they looked, they could rapidly suck out life force. Most living things that got close to them would end up as a shriveled husk. Tianming would never be able to resist, were he not prepared.
"Are you ready?" Tianming asked the colorful egg that bobbed in response. "Alright, let's do it."
The egg bumped him on the head, as if it was complaining that he was too naggy.
"Haha, great. Now go on and hatch. Nobody will be able to see you at the bottom of the Heaven Cauldron."
He took a deep breath and walked toward the green strip with the egg in hand. "Even though we’re basically stealing this lifewood essence, I'm a member of the Sky Plunderer Clan, so I'm just living up to my clan's namesake. As they say, honor among thieves!"
Lifewood essence was so dangerous that anyone who was the slightest bit physically weaker than him would be vaporized. Tianming steeled his resolve and stepped inside. All of a sudden, he felt like he had been swallowed by the essence.
Within his lifebound space, Ying Huo jumped up and down excitedly. "Tianming, keep pushing! I can already see the head! Push!"
"Don't give up! My little sister is almost out!" Meow Meow lazily said, awakened from its sleep by the commotion.
"Pop it out! I'm going to be a big brother!" Lan Huang yelled as it spun around in excitement.
"Shut up!" It was getting too noisy for Tianming to bear.
Even though he didn't feel anything particularly different when he entered, the lifewood essence soon attached itself to his body. "Damn!"
He watched with wide eyes as he felt like leeches were climbing into his body, sucking up his life instead of his blood. There was no way he would be able to endure something so torturous if he wasn't powerful enough. The starlight on his skin temporarily held the essence back, allowing him to catch a breather, but the pain from it invading his body was still there.
"I need to hold on!" He grit his teeth as he reached the deepest part of the lifewood essence.
"A bit more! It's starting to crack!" Ying Huo and the others cried.
Tianming soldiered on; the egg was his last hope. It had been absorbing the lifewood essence since the moment of their entry. He recalled that Ying Huo hadn’t needed any spirit hazards for its hatching. Meow Meow, on the other hand, had only needed lightning with red heavenly patterns to hatch when he was at the Spiritsource stage. Then when Lan Huang had hatched, it needed spirit hazards with saintly heavenly patterns from the two great formations in Grand-Orient Realm. And now, the fourth egg needed more than a few tribulation spirit hazards with four tribulation patterns.
"When it hatches, it must cultivate with me to reach the seventh level of the Empyrean Saint stage for its power to remain in my body." The Empyrean Saint stage was much more powerful than the Heavenly Will stage, so the spirit hazards required were completely different too.
Much to his relief, the egg's appetite grew more and more as it started absorbing the essence faster and faster.
"I also need to endure the lifewood essence and convert its energy into my own for symbiotic cultivation!" Converting spirit hazards to energy during the hatching was one of the natural talents of Primordial Chaos Beasts. Tianming needed to engage in symbiotic cultivation to be able to achieve true parity with that talent. The more the egg absorbed, the easier it would be for him.
"Give it more!" Tianming said.
"Okay!" it replied telepathically.
The familiar sound of cracking sounded out as Tianming saw the egg's shell begin fracturing. Bright white light leaked out of the cracks, then the shell shattered and Tianming felt himself tearing up. The little fellow was finally born! Right after that, the essence around them got sucked in even faster than before, engulfing it before he could even get a good look at the beast, though he believed he vaguely saw a colorful seed.
"I guess I should’ve expected that." At that moment, he felt a numb sensation in his right hand. It felt like something pricked into his palm and rooted itself into his flesh, like it was sprouting. Tianming's arm was part of the Ancient Deepstar Godbody, yet that little sprout was powerful enough to pierce his skin.
Soon, his whole arm was engulfed in roots, but he didn't feel any pain. It was like the roots were part of him. The black roots seemed to enter and emerge from his arm, but there wasn't a single sign of blood. It was dazzling to look at.
"It smells good!" The fragrance was even stronger now that it had hatched. It smelled like a sea of flowers. "What are you called?"
"Waaaah..." it cried in a girly voice that urged his fatherly instincts.
"Why are you crying?" he gently asked.
"Xian Xian is hungry!" it said in a cute voice.
Tianming was shocked. He recalled hearing that name in his dream. That was what the person in Perpetia had called the spirit body of the Radix World Tree. However, Ying Huo and the rest didn't have names before they were born.
"That's right, I'm hungry!" Xian Xian complained.
"What do we do? Why don't you eat that green stuff?" Tianming said as he pointed at the lifewood essence.
"I want meaty meat!" it cried.
"Meat? What meat?"
"I'll just take a bite, okay?" it gingerly asked.
"Huh? Agh! Dammit!"
It had taken a bite out of his arm.
"Stop, stop! I don't want to lose weight! If you're a good girl, I’ll feed you a large wildbeast outside!"
It was too terrifying. Even his Ancient Deepstar Godbody was useless against its roots.
"Okay! I'm full for now!"
It was still absorbing lifewood essence. They were about to engage in symbiotic cultivation.
"What’s your main body?" Tianming asked.
"I’m the Radix World Tree!"
"Radix World Tree?" It was the tree that had its roots pierced through countless worlds with nine brilliant flowers. Tianming could still remember how it looked. Infernal, chaos, primordial, and radix. All of them sounded ancient and foreboding. The radix was the root of all things!
"Is there a cultivation technique in your memory?" Tianming asked.
"Yes. It's called Radix World Codex."
"Alright, let's start."
Now, he had the Aeternal Infernal Codex, Genesis Chaos Codex, Primordial Terraqua Codex, and Radix World Codex. During symbiotic cultivation, the bloodline of the newborn Primordial Chaos Beast entered his body, making him feel completely different than before. This time, his lifebound beast was a plant!
"This won't turn me into a vegetable, will it?"