Reversed Peanut Seed!
Zhang Chen felt the information of the skill, deeply shaken inside. He thought this skill was indeed powerful, just that it was basically useless for him.
The so‑called Reversed Peanut Seed was to force a flower back into seed form. This skill was seriously defying the heavens, but for him, it was useless! Zhang Chen felt that in this lifetime he’d never get to use it.
Fortunately, Zhang Chen still had enough experience points and could continue upgrading.
It was just that now the skill had reached Second Tier, and the points required had already hit one billion. If he wanted to upgrade again, it would take ten billion points.
"I hope I can grind out a skill that absorbs the vitality of plants, otherwise the next upgrade from Level 3 to Level 4 needs a hundred billion, and there’s absolutely no way I can cough that up." Zhang Chen secretly prayed in his heart. His eyes shifted to his skill panel, then he clicked without hesitation:
[20 New Skill (Third Tier): Authority of Wood Element * Reversed Peanut Seed * Plant Body (0/10000000000)]
[Note 1: Plant Body — can transform one’s body into Wood Attribute]
[2733000000]
Looking at the new skill description, a strange look flashed in Zhang Chen’s eyes. He carefully sensed all the subtle mysteries of the Divine Techniques. A hint of surprise appeared in his gaze: "Interesting."
It could turn his body as hard as wood, and he could draw nutrients from the earth, even absorb the essence of Heaven and Earth and the Spiritual Qi of sun and moon to promote his own growth.
As for the hardness of the plant body, it was based on his skill level. If Zhang Chen raised the skill to Third Tier, then after transforming into a plant body, his body hardness could reach that of Third Tier plants.
It was just that this skill was useless to him, because he already had the old Ice Body. The old Ice Body completely covered all the advantages of the plant body; Plant Body was far inferior to the old Ice Body.
"I’m screwed. I didn’t grind out the skill I wanted—one that seizes the lifespan of plants!" At this moment Zhang Chen’s expression was somewhat ugly.
Now to upgrade to Third Tier, he needed ten billion points. Where was Zhang Chen supposed to find ten billion points?
His eyes swept over the rest of his skills. He still had 2.7 billion points left. He could upgrade other skills—for example, upgrade Sun Charcoal Fire to Tenth Tier, or level up Soul Hooking and Soul Stealing and the like. But after thinking it over for a long time, Zhang Chen still chose to give up for now.
"If I can imprison that hand, based on the points it gains every year, plus me using the Invisibility Technique to steal other Divine Spirits’ points, scraping together a hundred billion points won’t be that hard for me. Might as well wait. My current strength is already good enough." Zhang Chen thought to himself.
The lack of lifespan was like a sharp sword hanging over his head, making him not dare relax for even a moment.
What he truly relied on was still that hand. That hand had given him fifty billion points in a single go. Next year, if he waited another year to accumulate fifty billion points, at most the year after that he could upgrade again.
For Zhang Chen, that was totally worth it!
"My dog life comes first." Zhang Chen muttered under his breath, then put away the Nine Bends Yellow River Array, turned, and walked back the way he came, waiting for good news from the Great Freedom Celestial Demon.
Zhang Chen waited another three days before seeing the Great Freedom Celestial Demon drill out of the void. At this time its Flower Opening had reached Fifth Grade; the entire lotus was pitch‑black and deep, emitting black light, as if it had taken some massive tonic.
"Brat, I’m ready. We can act now!"
Zhang Chen’s gaze swept over the Great Freedom Celestial Demon, then he took a deep breath. "Whether it works or not depends on this shot."
Zhang Chen could tell that the Great Freedom Celestial Demon before him seemed to have gained enormous benefits, its strength having improved. But he didn’t care. No matter how strong the Great Freedom Celestial Demon got, could it escape the control of Soul Hooking and Soul Stealing?
So Zhang Chen stood still and opened his own Ice Domain. As soon as his several‑meter‑wide domain unfolded, the Great Freedom Celestial Demon dove straight into Zhang Chen’s inner domain. With a few flashes, they had already arrived in the endless void. Standing inside the Ice Hell, it gave a reminder: "Brat, I’m about to act."
The next instant, a wave of energy spread out from the Great Freedom Celestial Demon’s body, traveling along the Ice Domain and radiating in all directions through Heaven and Earth. Zhang Chen stood within the Ice Domain, watching coldly. As that wave spread out, he saw that not far away, the crystal hand’s skin seemed to show signs of revival, the surface flesh twitching ever so slightly.
"It’s working!" Zhang Chen carefully observed the hand’s reaction. As he watched more and more skin on the hand’s surface begin to twitch non‑stop, showing a trend of revival, he couldn’t help being overjoyed.
On the other side, when the Great Freedom Celestial Demon heard Zhang Chen muttering, it chuckled and cursed, "Your old ancestor here is simulating the signals from its body. How could it not respond? It’s like if someone quartered you and you found your own arm—could you not try to get it back? I can lure it into the Ice Hell, but whether you can suppress and seal it depends on your own abilities. If you can’t seal it and it runs off, both of us are going to be in deep trouble."
"I’m very clear on how serious this is. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely do everything I can to seal it." Zhang Chen grumbled back, annoyed.
Hearing Zhang Chen’s words, the Great Freedom Celestial Demon fell silent and only quietly continued working his methods.
As time trickled by, a full half month later, that enormous hand trembled lightly, as if it had fully revived. A terrifying Qi Mechanism shot straight into the sky, but fortunately Zhang Chen had his Ice Domain. The vast, surging aura was instantly decomposed and dispersed the moment it entered the Ice Domain.
"Body... body... body..."
From within that hand came one muffled, broken roar after another:
"Give it back... give it back to me..."
The voice was ancient and hoarse, stuttering like a person with a speech impediment, unable even to string together a complete sentence.
Listening to that ancient tone, a trace of solemnity flashed in Zhang Chen’s eyes. He knew the real test for him had arrived.
Right as his eyes were locked firmly on that enormous hand, he suddenly saw it begin to shrink. From a size like a mountain range, it turned into the size of a small hill, then a house, then finally shrank to the size of a pot lid, and then transformed into the size of a normal human hand.
Because the hand had shrunk, Zhang Chen finally saw its full appearance clearly. It was actually a slender, long-fingered woman’s hand, flawless and perfect, as if wrought by Creation itself.
"Could it be that Ancient God was a woman?" Zhang Chen thought to himself in surprise.
The hand turned in the void, as if it had locked onto Zhang Chen. The hazy, broken words rang out from the air again: "Origin... Qi... my... body... back..."
Though the words were broken and halting, Zhang Chen understood seventy to eighty percent. The other party was roughly saying there was an Origin similar to its own on his body and was ordering him to hand over its body.
"Too bad I don’t have your body. How am I supposed to give it back?" Zhang Chen silently muttered in his heart.
The next moment, he saw that hand circling around him nonstop. It seemed to sense the Domain Power surrounding Zhang Chen and was quite wary of it, not daring to come close for a long time, only circling around him in loops.
"Hey, old guy, can you do this or not?" Seeing that hand wandering back and forth, Zhang Chen shouted toward the Great Freedom Celestial Demon.
Hearing him, the Great Freedom Celestial Demon said, "Although this hand is only a remnant soul, its will muddled and hazy, it’s not stupid. Its Innate Intuition is still there. Your domain is a world unto itself. Once that hand enters your domain, it will be cut off from the Third Heaven. If it weren’t wary, that would be what’s strange."
Hearing this, Zhang Chen raised a brow, suddenly understanding that there was such a reason behind it.
"If it keeps circling outside and refuses to come in, that’s when it’s a headache. Hurry up and think of a way to coax it inside." Zhang Chen complained to the Great Freedom Celestial Demon.
The Great Freedom Celestial Demon scratched his head at that, sitting cross-legged on that black lotus. His eyes looked at the hand outside that was endlessly circling Zhang Chen. A moment later he slapped his thigh. "Got it!"
"What idea?" Zhang Chen immediately asked.
"You pretend to shut down the domain. When this hand senses the aura of its own body gradually disappearing, it will definitely lose its mind and rush in to stop you from closing the domain," the Great Freedom Celestial Demon said.
Zhang Chen was familiar with this routine. In his previous life, people had played this trick to death.
Looking at that hand eyeing him like a tiger watching its prey, Zhang Chen let the Qi Mechanism around him circulate in the next instant and mobilized his Ice Domain, putting on the act of closing the Ice Domain. But he didn’t dare actually close it. Without the support of the Ice Domain, he didn’t dare face that hand directly. If he got slapped to death by that hand, wouldn’t he have died for nothing?
As Zhang Chen gradually shut his Ice Domain, that hand sensed its connection with its "flesh body" in the unseen becoming weaker and weaker. Anxious as an ant on a hot pan, it began whirling frantically, circling wildly around Zhang Chen.
Feeling that sense of connection grow weaker and weaker, it finally couldn’t hold back. With a few flickers of its figure, it charged straight at Zhang Chen’s domain.
As the fingertips of that hand reached into the domain, Zhang Chen’s expression changed drastically. "How is this possible!"
He felt his connection with the domain weakening. The instant that fingertip entered the domain, its aura rapidly filled the entire domain and was already interfering with and affecting the domain’s operation, vaguely gaining a faint, inexplicable control over it.
"This is my domain! Yet with just one clash, a mere fingertip took over the control. Looks like I still underestimated these old freaks’ power. Can my Ice Hell really hold something like this?" Zhang Chen’s eyes were full of shock and doubt, his pupils brimming with disbelief.
As that hand gradually pushed in from fingertip to finger pad, Zhang Chen was like he’d been hit with a Body-Stabilizing Technique, completely losing the ability to move, and then his entire body suddenly exploded.