CHAPTER 217: GREAT CHANGE

[Name: Ji Yang]

[Race: Netherworld Locust Tree]

[Vitality: 1780]

[Divine Abilities: Eye of insight, Reversing Dan Progress, Blindfolded Perception, Soul Condensation, Protective Armor, Thousand Mile Red Land, Spirit Awakening, Spring from Withered Wood]

[Cultivation Techniques: Lunar Eclipse, Yin Gathering, Incense-Golden Body, Spirit Devour, Solar Eclipse]

[Combat skills: Taizu Long Fist, Seven Emotions Six Desires Sword (Fragmented) (one transmission available), Taiyi Seal (one transmission available), Big Dipper Seven-Star Fist (one transmission available), Venomous Yin Wind Palm (one transmission available)]

[Blood and Qi: 500 (convertible to vitality)]

[Spiritual Energy: 62]

[Simulation Points: 30]

[Deductible Techniques Available]

[Status: Absorbing Solar Essence…]

Two months of quiet cultivation had once again pushed Ji Yang’s vitality to a new peak. With each rise, his consciousness expanded, brushing against the limits of his being while hinting at the vastness of the road beyond. That awareness struck something deep within him. The thought rooted in his heart, swelling into an unshakable urge.

Without hesitation, Ji Yang began converting his blood and qi into vitality. The reserves he had left were from the Grand Sacrifice and the clan’s offerings during these two months. He had planned to keep them for simulations, but he could no longer afford caution. He had a premonition—this time, he would break through into an entirely new realm. Besides, there was more than enough; simulation alone would never exhaust it all.

As the conversion began, his vitality surged with violent force. 1781… 1785… 1800… 1850… 1900… 2000.

When the tally reached two thousand, Ji Yang stilled. Nothing happened at first, and doubt flickered through his mind. Had he misread the signs?

The answer came an instant later. The ground itself began to tremble. His trunk quivered, not from within, but from the roots below. What had once crept outward slowly now erupted with a frenzied force, surging like veins of fire through the earth.

The spreading roots shook the soil, sending ripples across the ground. At the same time, his trunk underwent its own transformation. Once no taller than four or five meters, it now stretched skyward without restraint. As it rose, the sun-burned engravings of martial techniques etched into its bark shimmered faintly to life.

Six meters… seven… eight… nine. The growth was swift, and with it, his once lush canopy began to thin.

But the change did not end there. Tender buds burst from the elongated trunk, filling in the gaps. In the blink of an eye, they swelled into branches, thickened, and unfurled into full limbs crowned with dark locust leaves. What would take ordinary trees years was completed in mere breaths.

Ji Yang quickly activated his Free Growth ability, guiding the process before it ran out of control. As he had reminded himself before, height was not always strength, and to grow too tall too quickly could bring only danger.

Even so, despite his restraint, the trunk soared past ten meters before finally halting. Within the wild mountains such a height was unimpressive, but in the clan’s ancestral shrine, the barrel-thick trunk towered conspicuously, impossible to ignore.

He spread his branches outward, thickening his crown to appear fuller, more balanced. Probing his roots, Ji Yang was startled—their reach had extended far beyond his imagination. What had once barely stretched a few dozen meters past the clan’s boundary was now spreading toward the fertile fields. Several hundred meters of distance had been swallowed in an instant.

Outside the shrine, Chen Xingzhen had been on his way when the ground quaked. He arrived just in time to witness the transformation.

For a moment, he stood stunned, then joy broke across his face. The Divine Tree’s change was a blessing no less than Tianyu and Tianjing’s breakthrough into the Innate Realm. Entering the hall, he saw where the tree’s growth had split the stone floor, slabs shattered beneath the expanding trunk. The ancestral shrine itself now seemed too small to contain it. Clearly, expansion could no longer be delayed. RÃƝоᛒĚš

After a round of solemn prayers, Chen Xingzhen summoned the clansmen and began planning the renovation. This time, it would not be a small repair but a grand undertaking. They would use the new construction methods Chen Tianquan had brought from Yong’an City and take the chance to refurbish the entire clan estate. The timing was fortunate: the new Blood Rice crop had yet to be planted, leaving the people free to work.

High above, Ji Yang shifted his attention inward, frowning at the remnants of his reserves. After the conversion, only sixty points of blood and qi remained. Though meager, it was still sufficient. And if it proved lacking, a few more ferocious beasts sacrificed by the clan would replenish it quickly enough. Hardly a true problem.

His gaze settled on the simulation interface, and his mind grew contemplative.

He had tried both single-fold and ten-fold simulations. Single-fold carried the greatest risk—he could not bring his abilities with him, and one misstep left him with nothing. Yet it consumed far fewer points, giving him more chances. Often it took several trials before the odds of success began to tilt in his favor.

Ten-fold simulation, in contrast, allowed him to bring his abilities along. It offered greater control and a higher chance of entering rare maps, but the danger there was far worse. In those realms, the risk of dying mid-simulation or failing to manifest was high, and the loss could be absolute.

Measured against each other, the single-fold seemed safer in the long run, though limited in reward. After weighing the options, Ji Yang could only laugh inwardly. In the end, it all came down to luck.

Still, he could judge the advantages clearly enough. The clan’s strength had grown, but true stability was still beyond reach. Ten-fold simulations demanded too many points and too much time—months for a single attempt. The returns did not match the clan’s current needs.

Single-fold simulations were fast, but the risks were sharp, and the rewards meager. Only rarely did they yield great gains, and chasing those flashes of fortune cost more than they were worth.

The middle path, then, was best.

It saved time, conserved points, and still offered a chance at rare maps. If fortune favored him, he might even acquire abilities of genuine use. As for ten-fold simulations—those could wait until the clan was secure and resources abundant.