Chapter 111: Divine Nature (Seeking Subscriptions)

Chapter 111: Divine Nature (Seeking Subscriptions)

"Most likely, its power was nearly exhausted after being drained earlier," he mused inwardly, feeling a twinge of regret.

Yet, greed was ultimately insatiable, and Chen Shouyi quickly dismissed his self-reproach.

He turned his gaze to the colossal tree ahead and noticed it wasn’t dead—only the gentle breeze that once surrounded it had vanished entirely. The oppressive aura had also dissipated without a trace.

Even its emerald-green leaves, which once shimmered with an otherworldly radiance, had lost their mystical luster, becoming indistinguishable from ordinary foliage in the forest. What was once a transcendent being had now regressed into mundanity.

Perhaps, if the barbarians returned to settle here again, given enough time, it might gradually regain its power.

But that recovery would not happen overnight.

It might take decades—or even centuries.

……

Next, Chen Shouyi cautiously paced the clearing, his body swaying slightly at times, stumbling at others, as he readjusted to his newly enhanced strength.

Though the improvement wasn’t as significant as he had hoped, it was still substantial by any measure.

In fact, this single enhancement had increased his Strength by nearly 50%, while his Agility had risen by 30-40%. Both attributes had now surpassed the threshold of 14 points.

This was a monumental leap.

By numerical standards, the strength in his arms had reached approximately 580 kilograms—on par with Director Fang of the Martial Arts Notary and Discipline Inspection Office.

He had fully stepped into the realm of a Great Martial Artist.

As for Agility, a score of 14.1 meant he was five times faster than an ordinary person.

Where a normal person would take 0.1 seconds to react to a burn and pull their hand away, Chen Shouyi needed only 0.02 seconds. For a driver spotting danger and reacting, the average person required 0.25 seconds, while he needed just 0.05 seconds.

This was a decisive disparity—as if time itself had stretched fivefold for him. In the span it took an ordinary person to process and react to a threat, Chen Shouyi could kill them five times over.

Moreover, heightened reflexes also translated to greater speed. Even without employing any Martial Arts techniques, his punches could generate two to three tons of force. If he executed a Lunge Thrust, channeling the full power of his muscles, his fist could break the sound barrier, delivering a strike nearing ten tons of force.

Coupled with his robust physique—six times that of an average person—his sharpened senses, and the rapid cognitive processing granted by his heightened Intelligence, his combat prowess would surge by at least fivefold once he fully adapted to his enhanced abilities.

……

Suddenly, Chen Shouyi sensed an unusual disturbance from the Book of Knowledge.

Though puzzled, he dared not take the matter lightly.

After a wary glance around, confident that the barbarians wouldn’t return anytime soon, he closed his eyes and entered the Gray Mist Space.

He immediately noticed that the space had expanded—its diameter growing from 30 meters to 35 meters—while the gray mist beneath his feet had thickened and solidified.

These changes flashed before his eyes in an instant before his attention snapped to the small tree.

A single glance sent a jolt of shock through him.

However, this small branch was enveloped in a faint silver glow, within which countless flickering shadows overlapped in a chaotic dance. Through the hazy layers, he glimpsed images of numerous indigenous people.

Some were deep in the jungle, others beneath the colossal tree, and a few inside dark, low wooden huts. They were scattered across various locations, all engaged in prayer, expressing their reverence and awe toward the colossal tree.

The moment Chen Shouyi laid eyes on this silver glow with its flickering shadows, a suspicion arose in his heart.

This must be the accumulated Faith Power of the divine colossal tree.

It was the source of a Deity's strength.

Yet, Chen Shouyi barely spared these shadows a glance before his attention was completely seized by something else.

At the core of this layer of Faith Power was a tiny, intensely bright point of light, about the size of a mung bean.

It radiated a dazzling brilliance, pure and sharp as a diamond.

Like a small fish caught in a net, it thrashed wildly, darting left and right in desperate struggle. Yet, the branches of the World Tree seemed to exert an invisible force, binding it tightly and rendering escape impossible.

The moment Chen Shouyi saw this point of light, his heart pounded violently, and an overwhelming desire surged within him.

Could this be Divine Nature?

A thought suddenly flashed through his mind—Divine Creatures were called so precisely because they had condensed Divine Nature, granting them long lifespans and placing them one step away from the threshold of godhood.

Compared to Faith Power, this was the true Foundation of Godhood.

Countless scientists on Earth had attempted to study Divine Nature—even Divine Cores—to unravel the secrets of godhood and strengthen humanity's power.

Yet, as far as Chen Shouyi knew, no one had ever succeeded.

This thing was neither matter nor pure energy, but rather a peculiar aggregation of energy and information.

His gaze fixed unwaveringly on the point of light, his feet seemingly driven by an unseen force as he stepped closer to the small tree, his heart pounding fiercely.

The faint silver Faith Power gradually dispersed and shattered, dissolving into countless shimmering specks of light that slowly merged into the surrounding space. The space itself visibly expanded, while the Divine Nature's range of struggle grew smaller and smaller. Drawn by an invisible force, it inched closer to the tree trunk.

"Don't hog it all—I still need it!"

Seeing this, Chen Shouyi panicked and quickened his pace.

In a few strides, he reached the small tree and reached out to grab the point of light. The moment his fingers made contact, his Mind Spirit jolted violently, and he was flung backward. It took him a long while to regain his senses.

His soul was still too weak to withstand the power of Divine Nature.

He tried several more times, but without exception, he was repelled instantly. After repeated failures, he finally gave up in resignation.

The glow of Faith Power grew increasingly faint, soon becoming indistinguishable, while the Divine Nature slowly sank into the trunk of the World Tree.

In a daze, an invisible force seemed to ripple outward, and the leaves of the World Tree emitted a crisp, melodious Mysterious Heavenly Sound.

Standing amidst it, Chen Shouyi felt his spirit invigorated, his mind as if cleansed. The mental exhaustion caused by the Divine Nature's impact rapidly recovered to its peak state.

Accompanied by this Mysterious Heavenly Sound, the small tree swiftly began to grow and flourish.

From its original height of just over one meter, it gradually grew to surpass two meters...

At that moment, Chen Shouyi suddenly noticed a golden illusory fruit growing among the leaves.

The reason he described it as a "speck" was because it was incredibly small, about the size of a sesame seed, yet it emitted a dazzling golden light, making it strikingly conspicuous.

A thought flashed through Chen Shouyi’s mind, and he stepped forward, focusing intently on it.

In the next instant, his Mind Spirit wavered, and he found himself transported to a peculiar place—empty and boundless, disconnected from both sky and earth, as if suspended in midair.

Fortunately, having grown accustomed to such mental immersions in the Memory Space, he felt no panic.

Calmly surveying his surroundings, he realized this was entirely a world of wind.

Gentle breezes, gales, soft winds, chaotic gusts, typhoons, tornadoes—all manner of winds ceaselessly swirled and raged here.

After merely observing for a short while, he felt an overwhelming flood of information filling his mind, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. After only half a minute, he was forced to withdraw from this world.

Regaining his senses, Chen Shouyi felt the lingering presence of that information in his mind. He seemed to grasp something profound, yet upon closer reflection, it was as if he had perceived nothing at all.

His gaze returned to that speck of golden fruit.

"Could this be the power extracted by the World Tree after absorbing the Divine Nature of that colossal tree?"

The Otherworld was a mysterious realm. He knew that many True Gods possessed divine domains—such as the God of Knowledge or the Hunting God.

These divine domains were not mere titles or self-proclaimed honors.

They were crystallizations of the gods' comprehension of the world, nature, laws, human nature, and civilization—acknowledged by the Otherworld as sacred offices, imbued with mystical power. Each divine domain represented the sphere of their strength and the direction of their relentless pursuit.

"And this golden fruit is clearly the divine colossal tree’s comprehension of wind. Perhaps, compared to the enhancement of physical attributes, this golden fruit is my true reward." Chen Shouyi felt a sudden clarity in his heart.