Star-Devouring Vine

The Domain Lord qualification battle concluded. The supreme super-beings and geniuses of the human race felt no surprise at Luo Feng securing first place. They understood clearly that with Luo Feng's cultivation speed, he was destined to become a prominent figure within the cosmic human race.

Now, they eagerly awaited to see if Luo Feng could master the first layer of the 'Yan Shen Seven Transformations' within 3000 years in Chaos City and become the Chaos City Lord's personal disciple.

***

Inside Chaos City.

“Your Highness Luo Feng.” Three Sector Lords, clad in silver combat armor, approached Luo Feng's cultivation residence, looking up at Luo Feng, who sat cross-legged on the rooftop terrace.

“Hmm?”

Luo Feng opened his eyes on the terrace and glanced down, a faint smile gracing his face.

Whoosh!

He leaped directly from the balcony.

“Have my ordered items arrived?” Luo Feng asked the three Sector Lords before him.

“Yes, Your Highness,” the leader of the three silver-armored Sector Lords replied with a nod, respectfully handing over a World Ring. “All the items you purchased, Your Highness Luo Feng, are within this miniature world.”

Luo Feng took it, and his mental force immediately delved into the World Ring. The 'miniature world' within this World Ring was quite small, only ten thousand kilometers in diameter, but it was packed with a vast amount of goods, occupying an area of over a thousand kilometers. Most conspicuous among them were three silver boxes placed at the very center of that miniature world.

“Excellent,” Luo Feng said with a smile and a nod. “Thank you for your trouble, gentlemen.”

“It's our duty, our duty.”

The three Sector Lords seemed somewhat apprehensive, quickly responding, “We wouldn't dare disturb Your Highness Luo Feng. We shall take our leave now.”

The three departed swiftly.

As they walked along the wide street, all three couldn't help but discuss, “They say this Luo Feng is a peerless monstrous genius, appearing once every ten million eras. Yet, he doesn't seem to put on airs; he's quite easy to get along with. The last time we delivered goods to that Sector Lord from the Primal Secret Region, hmph, he acted like he was something special.”

“That's called bearing!”

“Indeed.”

“I heard His Highness Luo Feng has even been taken as a personal disciple by the Chaos City Lord.”

“I heard he's a registered disciple.”

“Nonsense, he's clearly a personal disciple.”

“Oh, perhaps the information was mistaken.”

The three exchanged whispers through telepathy. They were merely Sector Lords, but as core administrative personnel of the Virtual Universe Company, they often heard and came into contact with secrets. However, most of what they heard had likely passed through many people, and its authenticity was probably halved.

***

Luo Feng, holding the World Ring, immediately entered the living room of his cultivation residence.

Sitting on the sofa, Luo Feng caressed the World Ring and quickly refined it.

“Come out,” Luo Feng said, a hint of eagerness in his eyes, as he directly retrieved the three silver boxes from the miniature world.

The three silver boxes were placed on the dining table.

Each box was approximately one meter long, half a meter wide, and thirty centimeters high.

Luo Feng took a deep breath and quickly opened the three silver boxes. “Click!” “Click!” “Click!” As the boxes opened, each revealed a white plant, carefully arranged. Each plant was about 60 centimeters tall, with silvery-white roots and stems.

“Star-Devouring Vine!” Luo Feng smiled as he looked at these three plant lives. “They've finally arrived.”

Six years ago, when Luo Feng first began cultivating the first layer of the 'Yan Shen Seven Transformations', he had researched his approximate strength upon mastering it, and thus developed a clearer plan for the future. His cultivation in Chaos City was destined to be a long process, so he had to make the most of that time.

How to utilize it?

His greatest asset, the 'Locke Divine Water', was a top-tier treasure for cultivating plant life, so naturally, he had to cultivate plant life.

It was well known that many powerful cultivators resided in Chaos City, often needing to purchase treasures. And since the Virtual Universe Company's spacecraft frequently visited, ordering items was possible.

Luo Feng had ordered three 'Star-Devouring Vine saplings'.

***

Star-Devouring Vine: A very peculiar plant life that grows in the cosmos. It originates on ordinary mineral planets, and as it grows, it automatically devours various metals, rocks, and other substances on the planet. Typically, an ordinary mineral planet is sufficient for a 'Star-Devouring Vine' to evolve to the Universe level, at which point the mineral planet will also disintegrate. The Star-Devouring Vine then roots itself onto large chunks of rock and begins its interstellar wandering.

During its wandering life, the Star-Devouring Vine might devour unique metals, rocks, plants, and so on, leading to further evolution.

***

Plant life comes in many varieties.

Such as primarily defensive, primarily offensive, balanced attack and defense, and other categories. Because there are so many types of plant life, their functions are countless. Some plant lives can even nurture other sentient beings, while others, like trees, must be rooted in soil. Even if transplanted, they require careful handling and cannot roam freely like the Moyun Teng.

In short, the types are extremely diverse, and the functions are numerous.

What is suitable is always the best.

***

Star-Devouring Vine: Known as the 'toughest offensive plant life'. The term 'toughest' here refers to the plant life available for sale within the human race. In the vast cosmos, there are still some miraculous plant lives that are truly unique and cannot be bought or sold. The Star-Devouring Vine naturally enjoys devouring rocks, metals, and wood, making its vines incredibly tough and sharp.

Its attack method is very singular.

It's a single move: 'Entanglement and Strangulation'!

Moyun Teng and Star-Devouring Vine are different. Moyun Teng is primarily defensive, with only some offensive capabilities.

However, the selling price of the Star-Devouring Vine is higher than that of the Moyun Teng. Without a certain status or connections, one simply cannot acquire Star-Devouring Vine saplings! Because the Star-Devouring Vine, as an 'offensive plant life' and touted as the 'toughest', serves as an excellent auxiliary helper, especially during combat...

If the Star-Devouring Vine's countless vines can entangle an opponent, even if it only affects their speed or attack, the outcome of a battle could be rewritten!

Its sole ability, 'Entanglement and Strangulation', and its greatest advantage, being 'the toughest among purchasable plant life', lead to its high demand.

Three Star-Devouring Vine saplings cost Luo Feng nearly 900,000 Mixed Yuan units.

Of course, all saplings are initially the same, but their final cultivation results will differ.

Take the Moyun Teng, for example: at the Sector Lord level, the worst has 36 main vines, while the best has 360. Huyan Bo's Moyun Teng, when it was at the Sector Lord level, only had 108 main vines, yet it took countless efforts and resources to make it break through to Undying. Luo Feng's Sector Lord-level Moyun Teng has 216 main vines, making its breakthrough to Undying perhaps ten times harder than Huyan Bo's.

The Star-Devouring Vine is more expensive than the Moyun Teng.

At the Sector Lord level, the weakest cultivated Star-Devouring Vine has ten vines, while the strongest has a thousand vines.

***

“Star-Devouring Vine!” Luo Feng looked at the three saplings, a smile on his face.

The three Star-Devouring Vines, along with the vast amount of cultivation materials spread throughout the miniature world, cost him a total of nearly 2 million Mixed Yuan units! Without sufficient funds, how could he dare to cultivate them?

“Moyun Teng for defense, Star-Devouring Vine for auxiliary offense,” Luo Feng mused. “The Star-Devouring Vine's toughness is legendary; even as a sapling, it can devour planets…”

“Luo Feng, don't get too happy too soon.”

Babata's voice echoed in Luo Feng's mind. “Your teacher's Moyun Teng, with only 108 main vines, cost 6.2 million Mixed Yuan units, plus luck, to finally break through. That Moyun Teng barely possessed the strength of an 'early Marquis-level' Undying. Your Moyun Teng has a full 216 main vines, making it ten times harder than your teacher's! If it were the strongest Moyun Teng with 360 main vines… it would probably be ten times harder than a Golden Horned Beast breaking through to Undying! But similarly, once it becomes Undying, a 360-vine Moyun Teng would possess King-level power.”

“The Star-Devouring Vine is more expensive than the Moyun Teng.”

“Cultivating the weakest ten-vine Star-Devouring Vine to Undying is, of course, easy.”

“But a five-hundred-vine Star-Devouring Vine would be comparable to the strongest Moyun Teng.”

“And the legendary 'thousand-vine' Star-Devouring Vine, breaking through to Undying, would probably be as difficult as a Zerg Queen breaking through to Undying… nearly identical! Of course, if successful, an Undying-level 'thousand-vine Star-Devouring Vine' would absolutely possess peak King-level power.”

***

Listening to Babata speak so much in one breath, Luo Feng couldn't help but smile.

He, of course, knew all this. The cosmos contained billions of lives, wondrous beyond measure, but there was never a free lunch! The cosmos was fair. For beings like Starry Sky Behemoths and Zerg Queens, the difficulty of breaking through to Undying was incredibly high. The same applied to plant life; the more powerful the plant life… the more absurdly difficult it was.

Should one choose to cultivate a weaker plant life, making it easier to break through to Undying?

Or cultivate an extremely powerful plant life, potentially never breaking through to Undying?

The choice was entirely personal.

“Haha, that's why I ordered three saplings,” Luo Feng chuckled. “Three Star-Devouring Vines: one to be cultivated into a 'hundred-vine Star-Devouring Vine', one into a 'three-hundred-vine', and one into the top-tier 'thousand-vine'.”

The nearly 2 million Mixed Yuan units spent included almost 900,000 for the three saplings themselves, with over 1.1 million Mixed Yuan units going towards purchasing various resources for cultivation.

Primarily, cultivating the 'thousand-vine Star-Devouring Vine' consumed over ninety percent of the resources.

“Fortunately.”

“Fortunately, I have Locke Divine Water; otherwise, cultivating a Sector Lord-level thousand-vine Star-Devouring Vine would be enough to bankrupt a Marquis-level Undying,” Luo Feng mused. “I'm fine; I'm spending 2 million now… by the time I reach the Sector Lord level, the Virtual Universe Company's other 50 million Mixed Yuan units will be credited to my account.”

***

Cultivating the Star-Devouring Vine was easy. First, soul-binding, then a simple cultivation process. Most of the time, these three Star-Devouring Vines would reside in the Locke Divine Water lake. Babata would also be responsible for supervision, observing the evolution process of the three Star-Devouring Vines, and providing other resources at appropriate times to promote their evolution.

***

“Currently, these three Star-Devouring Vines are just saplings, but I'll be in Chaos City for a long time. By the time I master the first layer of the 'Yan Shen Seven Transformations', I expect all three Star-Devouring Vines to have reached the peak of the Sector Lord level,” Luo Feng smiled, then dismissed further thoughts and immersed himself entirely in the cultivation of the 'Yan Shen Seven Transformations'.

Cultivation knows no time…

Luo Feng often sat cross-legged on the rooftop terrace of his cultivation residence, just like many other diligent cultivators.

A year, ten years, a hundred years… time flowed ceaselessly… and Luo Feng continued to make progress…