I picked up skill fragments in the demon world.

Chapter 855 Suppressing the Peach Tree

The peach tree, though lacking sentience under the suppression of the Queen Mother of the West, still possesses instincts!

Although this tree lacks sentience, it has followed the Queen Mother of the West for countless millennia. Even with only instinct, its terrifying foundation still allows it to contend with the Creation Fire Spirit.

This was only because the peach tree was severely damaged and the power of the Heavenly Fire Spirit, which is naturally able to restrain the attributes of plants and trees. If the other four Heavenly Spirits had come here, they would not have been able to do anything to the peach tree.

"The Peach Tree is too powerful. I need to cut off its supply of innate divine water. Otherwise, with the supply of innate divine water, I don't know how long it will take for the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit to subdue it." Countless thoughts were swirling in Zhang Chen's mind.

Another day

Zhang Chen stepped into the Peach Orchard and saw that the once lush and verdant peach trees were now completely withered. The branches and leaves on the peach trees had turned yellow and withered, and countless leaves had fallen to the ground. A fiery aura swirled around the peach trees, constantly eroding their vitality.

"Why are the leaves of the peach tree turning yellow? Could it be that the innate divine water I refined is not suitable? So it killed the innate peaches?" Zhang Chen muttered to himself as he circled the peach tree, seemingly unaware of why it had died.

Then Zhang Chen took the Three Lights Divine Water, examined it for a moment, and stuffed it into his robes. He was about to turn and leave when, unexpectedly, a hazy face appeared on a branch of the Peach Tree, calling out to Zhang Chen: 'I want it!'

Looking at the face that appeared on the branch, Zhang Chen was overjoyed: "The innate true spirit of the peach tree has appeared! It was finally forced out by the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit!"

Looking at the eager expression on the face of the innate peach tree spirit, Zhang Chen activated his wood element authority without hesitation: "Come out!"

He had already sensed the presence of the true spirit of the peach tree, and then, with the activation of the wood element authority, the innate true spirit of the peach tree flew out from it.

The innate true spirit of the peach tree was a ball of blue light the size of a football. Once it entered the range of Zhang Chen's Five Elements authority, it was immediately controlled by Zhang Chen.

"Boy, I've forced out the true spirit of the Primordial Peach Tree. Our deal is done. Now, quickly remove the mark from my soul and give me my freedom." The Primordial Fire Spirit appeared on the Peach Tree, its eyes fixed intently on Zhang Chen.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen hesitated and pondered. Seeing Zhang Chen's expression, the Heavenly Fire Spirit couldn't help but show its anger: "Are you going to go back on your word? Don't forget, the Queen Mother of the West is still asleep."

Upon hearing the threat from the Creation Fire Spirit, Zhang Chen sighed softly: "How could I possibly go back on my word? The Ancestor's strength is a thousand times that of mine. I was just thinking, if I were to remove the restrictions in the Ancestor's soul imprint, what power would I have to resist if the Ancestor wanted to kill me?"

Hearing that Zhang Chen had no intention of breaking his promise, the Heavenly Fire Spirit's expression softened slightly: "Then what do you intend to do?"

“The ancestor helped me refine the true spirit of this peach tree. If I refine the true spirit of the peach tree, I will have the power to resist the ancestor. Then I can remove the restrictions on the true spirit for the ancestor, how about that?” Zhang Chen asked.

The true spirit of this peach tree is incredibly powerful. If it were compared to a great river, Zhang Chen's primordial spirit would be nothing more than a tiny droplet of water.

Upon hearing this, the Heavenly Fire Spirit hesitated for a moment, feeling that Zhang Chen's words made sense. His true spirit was still in the other party's hands, and it would be disastrous if they were to turn against him. Zhang Chen was afraid of waking the Queen Mother of the West; wasn't he afraid too?
So he said, "I would like to lend you a hand, but I'm afraid that if I do, you'll come up with new conditions."

"I swear to the heavens that as long as you help me refine the true spirit of this innate spiritual root, I will unconditionally release you from your bonds," Zhang Chen swore to the heavens.

Upon hearing this, the Fire Spirit of Creation believed Zhang Chen's words, since no one dared to joke about swearing an oath to the Heavenly Dao.

After Zhang Chen finished swearing, the Heavenly Fire Spirit nodded in satisfaction: "You don't even have a primordial spirit, so it won't be easy for you to turn the tables and refine the true spirit of this innate spiritual root. You will need to bring it into my suppression ground, and I will use the power of the earth fire to help you refine it."

Zhang Chen did not object upon hearing this. He followed the Primordial Fire Spirit into the underground magma. The Primordial Fire Spirit then took the true spirit of the peach tree and burned it. After the true spirit was burned, all marks were erased, and it was sent to Zhang Chen. Zhang Chen directly separated a wisp of his primordial spirit and began to actively merge into the blank true spirit.

"It would take at least a hundred years to refine this true spirit. This is only because the true spirit has been suppressed by the Queen Mother of the West for many years, erasing all its consciousness and leaving only its instinctive consciousness. Otherwise, it would take tens of thousands of years to refine it," said the Creation Fire Spirit.

Zhang Chen couldn't stay underground forever; he also needed to oversee the construction of the altar. So, he sent a wisp of his primordial spirit into the true spirit of the peach tree and began to devour it directly. With the help of the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit, he wasn't afraid of being backlashed by the peach tree's enormous true spirit.

"You continue refining the wood spirit here. I have to go out on business. Once I've refined this true spirit, I'll naturally come back to release you from your constraints." After saying this, Zhang Chen used a fire escape technique to leave, leaving the Heaven-Opening Fire Spirit grumbling and cursing as it refined the true spirit of the peach tree for Zhang Chen in the earth fire. Meanwhile, Zhang Chen left the main hall and arrived at the root of the peach tree. Looking at the withered peach tree, he saw water vapor gather in the void, which he instantly transformed into the Three Lights Divine Water using his power of water, nourishing the innate peach tree.

Previously, the power of the Heavenly Fire Spirit had invaded the Peach Tree, causing great damage. Now that he had the opportunity to refine and control the Peach Tree, Zhang Chen certainly wouldn't allow it to continue to wither.

As the overwhelming Three Lights Divine Water nourished it, the peach tree was rejuvenated, its vitality flowing endlessly around it, and new branches sprouted from its withered trunk.

In just one day, the entire peach tree underwent a dramatic transformation, fully reviving, with flower buds even beginning to sprout anew among the branches.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Chen couldn't help but look surprised: "The Three Lights Divine Water is truly incredible."

After Zhang Chen finished speaking, he turned and left, traveling all the way to the underground palace. After supervising and correcting the work of the group of strongmen, he returned to the alchemy room.

At this moment, Lady Biyun was standing in the alchemy room examining the elixir formula. When she saw Zhang Chen return, she asked in a low voice, "How is it?"

It seemed as if he was asking about the task left behind by the Queen Mother of the West, but in reality he was asking about Zhang Chen's plans.

"Everything is going smoothly!" Zhang Chen gave Lady Biyun a reassuring look: "Don't worry, everything is under control."

Upon hearing this, Lady Biyun nodded, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Chen looked at Biyun Niangniang's expression with a hint of surprise.

“I just want to say that by constructing that building, you have already shaken the dragon vein of Kunlun Mountain. Heavenly punishment will surely descend in the future. Although you are not afraid of the heavenly punishment, it is not just lightning. There are various kinds of calamities, such as human calamities and killing calamities. What if a star falls from the sky and kills you, or what if you are involved in a major cause and effect under the influence of karma and someone kills you? What will you do then?” Lady Biyun asked, her voice full of worry.

"With the Queen Mother of the West protecting me in the Western Kunlun region, no one should be able to kill me. I'm safe for now," Zhang Chen said softly, embracing Biyun Niangniang. His voice was calm and serene.

What could Zhang Chen do? He had no choice! If he didn't complete the task assigned by the Queen Mother of the West, how could he explain himself to her? If she punished him, he would truly be the one who had to suffer the consequences.

Although he has been tricked by the Queen Mother of the West, he still has some freedom and room to maneuver, and can take the opportunity to make some demands on her.

After comforting Lady Biyun, Zhang Chen began to ponder the feng shui formation again. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the feng shui formation was designed to gather the power of the dragon veins of the entire Kunlun Mountains, thereby seizing the dragon energy of the entire earth and absorbing the power of the earth to nourish something.

"The Queen Mother of the West suffered setbacks in the Heavenly Dao and wanted to absorb the power of the Earthly Dao, to absorb the creation of the entire earth to fulfill herself?" Zhang Chen looked at the feng shui formation in front of him and felt that his speculation was very likely.

"If the Queen Mother of the West absorbs all the life force of the entire earth, the balance of Yin and Yang in heaven and earth will be disrupted, and the world will be destroyed and return to chaos. Wouldn't that mean that all future time and space will be severed? Even the time and space I live in will be severed?" Zhang Chen was somewhat alarmed. The more he looked at it, the more he felt that this feng shui formation was not right. Once the Queen Mother of the West absorbed all the primordial energy and creation of the entire earth, what use would the Heavenly Dao be if it was powerful? Heaven and earth would return to chaos.

"Something's not right! Something's completely wrong!" Zhang Chen muttered to himself, countless thoughts racing through his mind as he traced lines on the diagram with his fingers.

"If I could modify this feng shui formation and secretly design it as a trapping formation, using it to imprison the Queen Mother of the West, wouldn't our whole family then be free?"

Zhang Chen's heart skipped a beat when he thought of this. This idea was brilliant. If it were to be realized, all threats would disappear without a trace.

Most importantly, once I integrate the Peach Tree, the Primordial Fire Spirit, the Primordial Water Spirit, the Primordial Wind Spirit, and the Primordial Earth Spirit into the Five Elements River, I should have the power to protect myself, right? At that time, I should be able to push my Five Elements Dao to an incredible level, right?
Zhang Chen knew all too well the terror of karma. Under the pull of karma, the tribulation was merely a formality. With such immense karma in the Kunlun underground passage, he was almost certain to fail, and even if he didn't, those around him would be implicated.

"We need to plan ahead and be prepared. The Queen Mother of the West is too ruthless. She actually wants to drain the earth's source of this world. If the world is destroyed, I'm afraid I won't be able to survive either," Zhang Chen muttered to himself.

(End of this chapter)