Even though Xian Xian had reached the seventh level, it still needed to evolve and unlock its bloodline chains to catch up to the rest in terms of combat power. It only had a single star right now, though star counts were quite inadequate for determining the actual level of a lifebound beast. Otherwise, it wouldn't even be able to reach the Spiritsource stage. The stars of Primordial Chaos Beasts represented the level of how much of their bloodline chains had been unlocked instead.
"Ling'er gave me a grade four tribulation manna already, but it definitely won't be able to take it right after hatching. I might have to get other kinds of manna to test first."
Tianming had already prepared that long ago. He had quite a lot of spoils from the faction battles and the Deepstar Battle and had sold off quite a few tribulation artifacts with Jian Xueyi's help to get some tribulation crystals, with which he obtained many manna of different levels up to the Empyrean Saint stage. Xian Xian would be able to evolve to become an empyrean saint beast, at least. It was a simple step-by-step procedure.
"Alright, stop messing around and let Xian Xian evolve," Tianming said. The beasts were still causing a huge ruckus within the lifebound space.
"Take it away! My flesh is falling off!" Ying Huo said, slumped to the ground crying with the white flower on his head.
"Chicken Bro, give Xian Xian one more bite. A really teenie weenie one!"
"No... please.... Manna definitely tastes better. Quick, give it a taste!"
"But meat tastes wonderful too."
After that, Xian Xian used one manna after another to evolve. It didn't take long before it had assimilated the empyrean manna. "These are delicious too. Daddy, I want more."
It stretched its roots out of the lifebound space and pierced into Tianming's flesh, as if it was threatening him with its palm on his shoulder.
"Just be a good girl and evolve and I'll feed you some wildbeasts." It seemed like he would need to prepare a supply of food for it, or all of them would start losing weight.
"This is wonderful! I like it!" It wrapped its roots around the tribulation manna Tianming had given it. It was called Gory Hell. When Tianming undid the heavenly pattern formation around the manna, it jumped out like a blood-colored poisonous dragon, filling the entirety of the Heaven Cauldron with killing intent. However, Xian Xian easily wrapped its roots around it and sucked it all up.
So Xian Xian is unable to hurt me when bursting out of my body because I have the same body as it has now. I wonder how much more powerful it’ll be after it evolves?
They were all waiting curiously to see what changes the evolution would bring. Eventually, Xian Xian managed to evolve much faster than the other three had.
"Tianming, Flower Sis's second flower bloomed," Ying Huo said.
Tianming hurriedly looked into the lifebound space and saw a gigantic plant about three hundred meters in height. It was even longer than Lan Huang, covered in dense vines, leaves, and roots, with the longest ones reaching up to five hundred meters long. Even the singular leaves were larger than Ying Huo.
Then there were the horrifying flowers. Two of the nine flowers had bloomed so far and they looked like the tree's eyes. The first was the original white daffodil that was fragrant and shrouded in white mist. Each petal looked ethereal and dreamy, as if they could lull somebody to sleep.
The other flower had bloomed after Gory Hell was absorbed. It was a brilliant crimson spider lily with tens of thousands of petals, each one sharp like a sword. From a distance, when the petals were grouped together, they looked like an open, bloody mouth. It was the Scarlet Lily, the flower of hell!
The world tree seemed a little terrifying, now that two of its flowers had bloomed. Its spiritform could move about freely in and out of the lifebound space. When it appeared before Tianming, it no longer looked like a baby, but a four-year-old child. It seemed to have grown somewhat, and had longer legs, wider wings, and an even more beautiful dress. The only things unchanged were its wide, googly eyes and cute smile.
"Half-daddy, do I look good?" It twirled in front of him, causing its skirt to flutter.
"Let me see...." He pinched its face and said, "About average.”
"Average?!" It was completely flabbergasted. In an instant, the flowers on its body all turned into red spider lilies and it radiated a threatening aura. Its spiritform had completely changed from the former pure white state to the bloody Scarlet Lily state. "I will bite you dead!"
"No, stop! You're great looking! Far too beautiful! As expected of my half-daughter!" Tianming hurriedly said.
"Hmph, better watch your words. Xian Xian doesn't bark, Xian Xian bites!" It turned back into its former white form as if nothing had happened.
"We have a feisty one," Tianming said in a fatherly manner.
The Radix World Tree had a main body and a spiritform body, but Tianming found it easier to identify it by its spiritform. He couldn't really talk to a plant, after all, though it didn't make much of a difference since both were intrinsic parts of Xian Xian. The delineation between its body and soul was just more obvious than most. In combat, its main body with the two flowers would be the one that fought.
"After the Scarlet Lily bloomed, my radixspring turned white-red. Now, it also has a plant's damaging properties!"
He cultivated a little more and realized that the Radix World Tree's elemental type wasn't so simple. "I wonder how powerful it’ll be once all nine flowers have bloomed...."
The evolution had brought quite a lot of growth to his heavenly will, but he was still quite some ways from a breakthrough.
"Xian Xian, let's go to the Abyssal Battlefield and show your big brothers what you're made of."
"I'm not going. Xian Xian is hungry. Xian Xian wants meat," it said pitifully.
Its vines were slowly circling around Lan Huang, as if it wanted to give it another try.
"What's going on?" Lan Huang cried as it was lifted into the air.
"Stop!" Tianming felt cold sweat on his forehead; this little fellow was easily the most terrifying of all of them. It would even try eating its own brother to abate its hunger. "There’s many wildbeasts in the Abyssal Battlefield! You can eat your fill there!"
"Then let's go, quick! I'm hungry!" Its spiritform hung around his neck as it shook and tugged at him.
"Fine, I'm going now."
"Quick! Xian Xian is hungry! Xian Xian wants meat!"
"Coming right up!"
"Aah, the hunger!"
Lan Huang fell back to the ground in the lifebound space, then fearfully huddled with the other two. The whole place was covered in branches, vines, leaves and flowers.
"Dammit.... Even I’m shivering in fear!" Ying Huo said.
"Why does it feel like we're on the bottom of the food chain now? Since when were we the servants? Little Sis just hatched, right?" Meow Meow said.
"Haha..." Lan Huang chuckled suddenly.
"What's so funny, Tortoise Bro?"
"I think Little Sis wants to eat the other six eggs," Lan Huang said as it pointed.
"Dammit!" Ying Huo charged and cried, "Flower Sis, spare the eggs!"
Meow Meow stretched its claws out to scratch its head. Sighing, it said, "Little Sis is messing everything up, but it's got nothing to do with me! Time for a nap!"
It stretched and immediately fell asleep, only to dream about flying. Opening its eyes, it saw itself wrapped in vines that were pulling it toward the bloody spider lily.
"What are you doing, Flower Sis?!"
"Chicken Bro didn't let me eat the eggs and told me that your little eggs are tastier. Hehe!"
"Dammit!" Meow Meow despaired. "Li Tianming! I demand a new residence!"
"Dream on. There's only one lifebound space," Tianming said.
"Whoaaa!"
......
An hour later, Tianming returned from the Abyssal Battlefield. He seemed so exhausted he couldn't even walk properly. "It just ate eight ninth-order demon beasts! How can I afford to feed it?!"
Within the lifebound space, Xian Xian stroked its round tummy and burped.
"If it's eating so much now, won't it devour even more in the future?"
Thankfully, he didn't have much to complain about after witnessing its abilities in the Abyssal Battlefield. Having the Radix World Tree on the battlefield could elevate his combat ability to another level. It was so powerful it could control the whole battlefield and could quickly send help to whoever needed it.
"With Xian Xian, I can take on a whole group of people. Back then, I was the core of the battle formation, but Lan Huang later took that role in group battles. It seems that my future strategies will have to revolve around Xian Xian for maximum combat effectiveness. Lan Huang isn’t just large, it’s also a water type and can be used to nourish Xian Xian. These Primordial Chaos Beasts are getting more ridiculous one after the other."
In the coming days, he, the chicken, cat, dragon, and flower would take on the world.
......
When night fell, Tianming returned to his newly named Number One Pavilion, only to find a white-robed man waiting for him in the snow. "Is something up? I thought you'd be in the Fiend Palace."
He had been waiting for a chance for Xuanyuan Yuheng to leave so he could get a look for himself. Since he was here, Tianming decided to turn back and take a look.
"Do you know what this is?" Xuanyuan Yuheng asked as he took out a blue dragon scale from his spatial ring and tossed it to Tianming."Enlighten me."
"It's a scale from the oceansoul fatedragon. I also have its eyes and heart. Want to take a look? he asked, snickering.