Sage of Humanity

It doesn't make sense, Jian Guhong and others might be able to help him a bit, but what can a Divine Sea like himself do? Engaging with such an old fellow who has lived for countless years, it's true that having a few more Mental Eyes isn't too much.

From now on, never casually promise someone anything! Lu Ye reminded himself secretly.

Yang Qing scanned him up and down: "Divine Sea Level 7... It's a bit lacking, I'll give you ten days, any issue with advancing to Level 8?"

Lu Ye really wanted to say there was an issue! But facing Yang Qing's seemingly smiling eyes, he knew in his heart, this matter couldn't be brushed off.

Although Yang Qing had always been in a trapped state, he wasn't completely ignorant of some matters within the Nine Provinces, perhaps not comprehensively, but he knew the general situation.

Especially Lu Ye, Yang Qing had paid attention to him since their first meeting, how could he not know about Lu Ye's cultivation speed?

Moreover, Yang Qing could easily discern Lu Ye's current state at a glance, giving ten days was already a generous amount.

"Senior, what exactly do you want me to do?" Lu Ye asked uneasily.

"Advance first, you'll naturally know when you return."

Yang Qing was too lazy to explain too much, wasting words.

Helplessly, Lu Ye could only fly to a distant spirit mountaintop to cultivate diligently. As for whether the existence of the Talent Tree would be exposed, it didn't matter. The Talent Tree was ultimately just a relatively powerful inheritance, and it might be highly attractive to cultivators with low cultivation, but to Yang Qing, it probably wasn't of any use.

Moreover, the cultivation of the Talent Tree had always been hidden, Yang Qing might truly not discover anything.

Lu Ye had advanced to the Divine Sea Level 7 during the expedition to the Blood Refinement World, and afterwards refined a large amount of Sacred Blood. Each drop of Sacred Blood contained enormous energy, and the process of refining Sacred Blood was actually equivalent to accumulating one's own foundation, just that the efficiency wasn't as convenient or rapid as in the Nine Provinces cultivation.

But there's no resisting the large quantity, before and after, he almost refined more than half of all the Sacred Seeds' Sacred Blood in the Blood Refinement World, and the small amount not refined was due to the doppelganger, partially giving it up.

So even after returning to the Nine Provinces without much cultivation, his cultivation had long since approached the Divine Sea Level 8.

It didn't take ten days, in a total of five days, he made the breakthrough.

The remaining five days were used to consolidate his own cultivation, stubbornly dragging it to the full ten days before returning to find Yang Qing.

He couldn't avoid it, whether he stretched his neck or retracted it, it would be a slash either way.

Yang Qing was waiting for him, hands behind his back, standing under the big tree where he previously cooled off. Seeing him return, he nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad!"

Lu Ye said, "What does Senior want me to help with? Can you tell me now?" The feeling of having something on his mind was very unpleasant.

Yang Qing gave him a meaningful look: "Rest assured, what I want you to do is surely something you can accomplish, I won't force you to do what you can't."

Pausing for a moment, he began to speak: "Do you know why I chose this place to recuperate?"

Lu Ye shook his head.

Yang Qing's eyes revealed a nostalgic expression: "Because this place, ten thousand years ago, was the foundation of the strongest sect in the Nine Provinces!"

In the period before the Nine Provinces, the Nine Provinces cultivation world had an abundance of powerful figures, it was an era where the name of the Nine Provinces shook the stellar space. The strength of the Nine Provinces, so strong that even after ten thousand years, there are still records of it in the major races and ancient domains of today's stellar space.

How strong was the strongest sect in such a powerful top-level domain?

Lu Ye couldn't imagine, nor did he understand why Yang Qing suddenly talked about this with him, but all he could do at this moment was listen quietly.

"Human Emperor Sect, remember this name, it is the sect name of that strongest sect."

Lu Ye nodded silently and suddenly recalled something: "During the pre-Nine Provinces period, wasn't there also a sect called the Sword Weapon Sect?"

His sword gourd and many Artifact Refining insights were brought out from the secret realm of the Sword Weapon Sect. Back then, he only knew it was an ancient sect, but didn't know from which specific period it came.

Now it seems very likely that the Sword Weapon Sect was also a legacy from the pre-Nine Provinces period.

"There seems to be such a sect, why, did you get the inheritance they left behind?" Yang Qing asked.

Lu Ye nodded: "Received some legacy."

"Having received the legacy, then you have the obligation to help propagate and enhance their inheritance." Yang Qing admonished.

"Yes." Lu Ye agreed, planning to look for an opportunity later to place the Artifact Refining insights brought from the Sword Weapon Sect into the Heaven's Augury treasure vault. In this way, all the Artifact Refiners across the Nine Provinces could exchange and explore, which would be considered helping the Sword Weapon Sect propagate the Artifact Refining part of their inheritance.

As for the part about Sword Dao... he was powerless there, so he could only rely on Nian Yuexian. Back in the Sword Weapon Sect, it was she who inherited the Sword Dao legacy.

"Ten thousand years have passed, the once glorious sect is long gone, but within the Human Emperor Sect, there still remains something very special," Yang Qing said, turning to look at the massive tree in front of them.

Lu Ye was expecting him to say what this special thing was, but after waiting for a long time without any further explanation, he suddenly realized, "This tree was left from ten thousand years ago?"

Yang Qing nodded.

Lu Ye clicked his tongue in amazement, looking the tree up and down, but he couldn't see anything special about it. Logically speaking, if left over from ten thousand years ago, this tree should be extremely old and weathered, and after ten thousand years, the Nine Provinces cultivators should have noticed something unusual about this tree.

In fact, in Lu Ye's perception, the tree's age wouldn't exceed a hundred years because it wasn't big enough, tall enough, nor grand and ancient enough.

It was precisely because there was nothing special about it that there was no anomaly, which is why the Nine Provinces cultivators didn't pay attention to it. Otherwise, this place would have long become the foundation of some top big sect.

Seeing Lu Ye's confusion, Yang Qing explained, "There are supreme treasures in the stellar space, born with the heavens and the earth, each one unique and possessing unfathomable powers. One such supreme treasure is called the Reincarnation Tree... don't overthink it, the tree in front of you is not that supreme treasure, it's just a doppelganger of it. Essentially, all domains in the stellar space that are powerful enough will have such a doppelganger of the Reincarnation Tree. It's not exclusive to the Nine Provinces. The tree in front of you was sought by your ancient Nine Provinces ancestors from the Reincarnation Tree."

"The real Reincarnation Tree goes through a reincarnation every ten thousand years, evolving from nothing to something, from small to large, interpreting the true meaning of the stellar space with infinite mysteries. However, its doppelganger is far inferior, going through a reincarnation every hundred years. This is the reason you couldn't see anything special about it, because in fact, it indeed only has a hundred years' age. After a hundred years, it will wither and die, and then regrow."

Lu Ye understood, feeling that his eyes had been opened wide. These supreme treasures and Reincarnation Trees, if not for Yang Qing speaking about them, he wouldn't have known about them for a long time.

Indeed, having an elder in the family is like having a treasure!

Feeling a bit eager, he asked, "So what are we going to do? Go and snatch that real Reincarnation Tree?"

Yang Qing couldn't help but twitch his eye corner, secretly thinking why are all Nine Provinces cultivators like this? Instinctively wanting to snatch anything they fancy?

Back then, the Human Emperor of the Human Emperor Sect wanted to snatch him, a member of the Dragon Race, upon seeing him in the stellar space, which resulted in them becoming acquainted through a fight.

To snatch a Reincarnation Tree, this kid really dares to think! Is that something that can be snatched? And for a mere Divine Sea Realm to boast so shamelessly, it truly amused him.

He replied crossly, "We are going to snatch something, but not the Reincarnation Tree!"

Saying this, he placed his hand on the tree trunk in front of him, and who knows what power he activated, but the tree suddenly shuddered slightly. Immediately after, the emerald green leaves of the tree began to turn yellow as if in an instant, the doppelganger of the Reincarnation Tree had gone through many years.

Soon after, the leaves withered and fell from the heavens, and the originally vibrant tree began to wither like an old man nearing the end of his life.

The falling leaves did not land on the ground, but instead transformed into a dense yellow halo, gathering and surging together.

Yang Qing's voice came, "There is a mystical connection between the doppelgangers and the true body of the Reincarnation Tree, and even separated by millions of miles, this connection will not diminish. Therefore, the doppelganger of the Nine Provinces' Reincarnation Tree has a special ability that when it withers and enters the next reincarnation, it can open a passage to the true body of the Reincarnation Tree!"

Lu Ye watched in amazement, transmitting audio to Number Nine, "Do you know about the Reincarnation Tree?"

Number Nine replied, "Of course I know. Although the strong ones from the pre-Nine Provinces era have all died out, much information was still left behind at the time."

This is also the reason Number Nine knows about the lower four realms, upper three realms, and spirit jade.

"Then why haven't you mentioned it before?" If not for Yang Qing demonstrating it in front of him this time, Lu Ye might never have known the mysteries of the Reincarnation Tree doppelganger.

Number Nine righteously said, "What use would it be to tell you? Going to the true body of the Reincarnation Tree requires a sufficiently powerful strong one to accompany you, and I can't accompany you there."

This reasoning was understandable.

The true body of the Reincarnation Tree is not something a Divine Sea Realm could casually approach.

However, Yang Qing's mention of the true body and doppelganger of the Reincarnation Tree inevitably reminded Lu Ye of his own Talent Tree.

When he condensed his doppelganger, a root tendril used to split out from the Talent Tree, and now, it seems like the entire Talent Tree has split into two. Does this count as the Talent Tree being able to doppelganger?

It seems like it does!

In this way, there are still some similarities between the Talent Tree and the Reincarnation Tree.

But comparatively speaking, there is still a significant gap between the two.

The doppelganger of the Reincarnation Tree, regardless of how far away, can open a passageway to the true body when the next reincarnation begins, but his doppelganger definitely can't achieve this level.

Within the Nine Provinces domain, even if his doppelganger is far apart, he can still sense it, but this sensing distance definitely has a limit, which Lu Ye has yet to ascertain at present.

Perhaps in the future, when he goes to the stellar space, he will have the opportunity to determine this, because the stellar space is vast enough.