Chapter 1624 (Raw 1606): Great Harvest
Soon, Xiao Chen was within one thousand steps of the closest Starry Sea Fluorescent Tree—also known as the Tree of Life.
At such a distance, he was extremely insignificant compared to the towering giant.
What rose before him did not seem like a tree but a small mountain. It made the gargantuan bodies of the Black Star Sawtooth Sharks look rather normal.
On the other hand, he appeared like he had shrunk by one hundred times from normal.
Xiao Chen rested for a short while. Then, just as he was about to continue, he paused.
A Black Star Sawtooth Shark slowly swam by, startling him.
Only when the Black Star Sawtooth Shark was far away did Xiao Chen resume slowly approaching the Tree of Life.
He raised his head slightly and immediately felt dizzy. This tree was too tall and too big.
To extract the juice from the tree, one needed to make a horizontal slit on the tree first. After that, one just stuck in a funnel to direct the flow.
Without thinking much, Xiao Chen took out a dagger and infused Veritable Essence Energy into it. Then, he used some force to stab it in and slowly cut out an opening.
Immediately, pale-white sap leaked out of the cut, looking very distinct in the seawater.
Xiao Chen revealed a smile on his face. This did not seem to be as difficult as he had imagined.
He took out a funnel and stuck it in, fixing it in properly. Then, he aimed it at a jade bottle.
This jade bottle was refined by Xiao Chen. While it did not look big, in reality, it was a storage bottle similar to the Universe Ring.
Soon, the juice seeped out from the funnel, containing strong, intoxicating lifeforce.
However, Xiao Chen soon frowned. Why is it like that?
The white sap turned turbid, including a lot of impurities. Its color became extremely unsightly.
With a doubtful expression, Xiao Chen immediately gave up and sealed the cut.
In reality, the turbid Life Juice Source was already very valuable. The Life Juice Source in the starry sea"s markets was all of such quality.
Even so, such Life Juice Source was still extremely valuable and rare. It was just not that miraculous. However, this was clearly not what Xiao Chen sought.
Not giving up, he climbed up the Tree of Life to extract the juice from a higher spot. The outcome was still the same; there were no exceptions.
Xiao Chen carefully moved to the nearby Trees of Life. However, there was no change; the result was still the same quality.
Standing on the branch of a Tree of Life, he looked at the depths where the Black Star Sawtooth Sharks were and entered deep thought.
He could not understand what was going on.
Just at this moment, three Black Star Sawtooth Sharks pa.s.sed by. Xiao Chen moved like a fish and darted behind the tree leaves.
Only when the three Black Star Sawtooth Sharks had swum past did he come back out.
What is that?
Xiao Chen saw that the Black Star Sawtooth Sharks had the corpses of oceanic ferocious beasts in their gigantic mouths. However, they were not eating the corpses.
Strange, could they be full? Still, there is no way to preserve corpses at sea.
Once dead, the bodies of most oceanic ferocious beasts could not resist the corrosion of the starry sea.
It would be like earlier when that young Black Star Sawtooth Shark"s corpse quickly corroded.
Let"s go over and take a look.
Xiao Chen felt suspicious. After thinking about it for a moment, he quietly followed, swimming over.
Although the Black Star Sawtooth Sharks were gargantuan, their Mental Energy was extremely strong. If Xiao Chen was careless, they might discover him.
He did not dare get too close, only following from a distance.
After a while, he saw an inconceivable scene: a particular Tree of Life with many ferocious beast corpses piled up at its base.
As the corpses corroded, they turned into nutrients for the Tree of Life to absorb.
The size of this Tree of Life was not much different from the others. However, it was several times brighter. The fluorescence from its leaves was glaringly intense.
A shoal of Black Star Sawtooth Sharks surrounded that Tree of Life, growling like they were praying.
The surging sound waves shook the Tree of Life and its leaves. Drops of silver liquid fell like a heavy rain of light in the sea.
After that, those Black Star Sawtooth Sharks opened their mouths and swallowed the silver liquid that was mixed with the seawater.
No wonder these Black Star Sawtooth Sharks were born with the strength of Primal Core cultivators. They consumed Life Juice Source like a snack, strengthening their bloodline. It would be strange if their descendants were not strong.
However, such a method was primitive and wasteful. These Black Star Sawtooth Sharks did not maximize the effects of the Life Juice Source; they just primitively swallowed the Life Juice Source, not refining it.
Suddenly, Xiao Chen"s eyes lit up. He now understood that he could obtain the pure Life Juice Source only from the Trees of Life that received special care.
That had to be the case. The color of this Life Juice Source was much vivider than what those untended trees produced. Furthermore, it was a pure silver color.
However, there were so many Black Star Sawtooth Sharks guarding this Tree of Life. Xiao Chen simply did not dare to act rashly.
Wait!
Xiao Chen"s mental state was very good. His emotions were not stirred up; he merely calmly waited.
Finally, he found his opportunity. Fifteen minutes later, the Black Star Sawtooth Sharks left, satisfied. Only one Black Star Sawtooth Shark remained to guard the place.
Xiao Chen observed the surroundings and understood somewhat. These Black Star Sawtooth Sharks seemed to group together in tribes.
Each tribe of sharks should be guarding a Tree of Life that could release the pure Life Juice Source.
With this thought, Xiao Chen rejoiced in his heart. This time, he really struck it big.
Through casual observation, he discovered at least twenty of such tribes nearby. The amount of Life Juice Source he could obtain would be extremely horrifying.
Xiao Chen calmed down and executed the Fish Dragon Art, silently swimming over.
"Bang!"
Suddenly, without any warning at all, Xiao Chen felt a huge force. Something heavy struck him, instantly shaking his internal organs. Intense pain racked his entire body as he went tumbling through the water.
Was I discovered?
Horror flooded Xiao Chen"s heart, making it race. He thought of an escape route and prepared to flee immediately.
However, he discovered from a distance that this particular Black Star Sawtooth Shark was only rolling over casually, trying to find a comfortable position for leaning on a tree.
Xiao Chen heaved a sigh of relief. He had been truly frightened earlier. He was dancing on a knife"s edge.
He was not an opponent for any of these mature Black Star Sawtooth Sharks. What more a large tribe of thousands of them?
Xiao Chen"s expression turned even warier. Just casually rolling over already contained such force. He wondered how horrifying a Black Star Sawtooth Shark would be when it truly got angry.
This time, he proceeded more cautiously and finally reached that special Tree of Life. Then, he quickly swam upwards, putting a distance between him and the Black Star Sawtooth Shark below.
As Xiao Chen continued swimming, he discovered that at some point, the surrounding leaves were densely covered in flas.h.i.+ng silver drops of liquid.
Such high-quality juice from the Tree of Life had leaked out because no one harvested them.
The praying actions of those Black Star Sawtooth Sharks were for the sake of shaking the tree leaves and making these drops of Life Juice Source fall by themselves.
"This is truly wasteful!" Xiao Chen shook his head with a smile. However, this wastage was good; it happened to benefit him.
Actually, Xiao Chen did not know that the Starry Sea Fluorescent Trees were something like deities to the Black Star Sawtooth Shark tribes. They could not even touch it.
He cut an opening with his dagger. Sap immediately started flowing. So, he quickly took out the jade bottle and caught it.
This time, silver sap dripped into the jade bottle in a steady stream. After a while, Xiao Chen had already collected several kilograms of it, yet more still trickled out. This made him extremely happy.
After he collected two hundred and fifty kilograms, the flow slowed, and impurities started to appear.
Xiao Chen came to a realization. Although this Tree of Life might seem huge, it actually did not contain much pure sap. It required some time to acc.u.mulate sap. After the pure sap was drained, what was left would be the turbid sap.
Anyway, he had enough. There were still more than twenty such special trees waiting for him.
Xiao Chen sealed the cut and immediately s.h.i.+fted targets, making full use of his time. The drain on his Veritable Essence Energy was somewhat horrifying. His time at the bottom of the sea was limited, and he needed to act fast.
Soon, he realized that he really did not have enough time.
After harvesting ten of the special Trees of Life, he found that his Veritable Essence Energy would allow him to remain underwater for only another hour.
Am I going to leave just like that?
Xiao Chen"s harvest was already ma.s.sive. A preliminary estimate came to at least two and a half tons of silver Life Juice Source. Furthermore, it was entirely pure.
However… Xiao Chen looked towards the center of the Black Star Sawtooth Shark nest, where a Tree of Life that was different from the rest stood.
There were even more Black Star Sawtooth Sharks surrounding the base of that Tree of Life. That Tree of Life had to belong to the chief.