Chapter 859: Magic Pressure Eighteen Thousand Five Hundred! The Second Observation of the Creation Mystery!

The Advanced Treant, its entire body a mixture of curse energy and natural force, had not become too warped because Hussein's own blood curse magic was relatively pure. It still resembled a twisted treant, with branches full of spirals, like a treeman that had grown spiraling horns.

This Advanced Treant used its twisted treant strength to deflect the Flame Giant's battle axe. Under Hussein's control, the Advanced Treant stepped onto the blade of the Flame Giant's axe.

The Flame Giant stared wide-eyed, because although the Advanced Treant before him had somehow transformed and become more powerful, it was still like a drop in the ocean compared to his own strength.

This was of course to be expected.

The Advanced Treant's magic pressure was only 6,000, while the Flame Giant's magic pressure could be said to be 16,000, with an entire racial soul breakthrough limit separating the two.

But the one operating the treant from behind through curse power, controlling it in battle, was the Second Circle great wizard Hussein.

In the cockpit of the Exploration Vanguard, a crimson thread appeared in Hussein's palm. That thread, passing through Locke's bloodline power, crossed the crystal wall system of the Three-Hole World and remotely controlled the treant on the ground below.

The treant that had been transformed into a tree demon, under Hussein's exquisite combat direction, was not only holding its ground but even had the possibility of turning the tables.

But from the crater rims, the remaining giants had descended, eleven in total. Besides the Flame Giant, there were the Wind Giant, the Water Giant, the Earth Giant, the Grass Giant, the Mountain Giant, the Oracle Giant, the War Giant, the Victory Giant, the Steel Giant, and the Sovereignty Giant.

Among them, the Wind Giant and the Water Giant had already run toward another treant and begun fighting it. The remaining nine giants simultaneously surrounded the more powerful Advanced Treant.

It was clear they would not give Locke any opportunity to descend.

Hussein furrowed his brow.

"If there were only that Flame Giant, I would still have a chance. Using my Grand Magic, the Heaven Instrument of Stolen Life, I could convert the energy obtained into curse energy for the Blood Progenitor True Form, then share that curse energy with what I have cursed, increasing its magic pressure to defeat the giant."

"But now there are too many giants."

The nine giants surrounded the Advanced Treant. Flickers of dread and unease crossed their eyes. They had never encountered such a powerful enemy. Even the demon wolf clan in the underground world did not seem quite this sinister.

From the Advanced Treant's body, Hussein's curse power was radiating outward, and that curse power felt just as sinister to these giants.

Locke said to Hussein, "Kill the Grass Giant first. Once the Grass Giant is killed, I can immediately descend my saintly avatar."

Hussein snapped to attention. Indeed, as long as the Grass Giant could be killed, the treant itself would no longer matter.

As long as Locke's saintly avatar could descend, this world would have virtually no means to counter it. The only possibility was that still-mysterious God Above Gods.

In the Exploration Vanguard's cockpit, Hussein chanted a spell under his breath. The Advanced Treant let out a piercing cry, and within its twisted sound came a voice blood curse. This was the Demonic Sound Blood Curse that Hussein had cast indirectly.

If these giants did not have a Second Circle standing, a single Demonic Sound Blood Curse would probably be enough to wipe them all out.

The giants covered their ears and staggered.

At the same time, Hussein controlled the Advanced Tree Demon, raising its branches. The spiraling branches automatically extended, transforming into terrifying blades, shooting toward the female Grass Giant's throat.

Boom.

The Grass female giant stared wide-eyed. Why was she the unlucky one again?

The blade-like branch of the Advanced Tree Demon pierced through her throat. Large amounts of crystalline golden blood dripped onto the ground and where it fell, patches of grass spread outward.

The tree demon withdrew its branch, the spiraling branch stained with the female giant's blood. Immediately, Hussein chanted rapidly, wanting to cast the curse spell a second time.

For a curse wizard skilled in blood curses, any act of allowing contact with their own blood was dangerous.

An excellent blood curse user could, with just a trace of bloodline power, use high-level geometric curse formations to lock onto the target's bloodline and perform a chain curse.

But the Advanced Tree Demon's body suddenly produced a cracking sound.

Obviously, as a liquid-stage existence, under the suppression of nine Second Circle level magic pressures, it had finally reached its limit. The curse power of the Blood Progenitor True Form that Hussein had shared with it, that is, the undying force of the blood clan, had only been able to sustain it until now.

The Flame Giant attacked from behind, leaping high into the air, then bringing his axe down on the treant's back.

Crack.

The treant exploded and disintegrated into ash. Only the branch stained with the female giant's divine blood remained, though the branch was also burned black.

As for the Grass female giant, she lay on the ground, breathing in more than she breathed out.

Locke furrowed his brow. Hussein had not killed her immediately, and this prevented him, who had been ready at any moment to let the forest principles sense him and descend his saintly avatar, from acting. He could only wait for the female giant's slow death.

Hussein said, "My fault. She was just one step away from dying."

Locke shook his head slightly. Hussein had remotely controlled what had originally been an apprentice-level treant to fight nine Second Circle level native giants. This was already extraordinary.

Not every Second Circle wizard could achieve this level of feat.

Bringing him along on this occasion had truly been the right call.

Moreover, he had completed Locke's command just now.

Beyond that, they were not even in this world at the moment and had no way to directly understand or intervene in it. So Locke suspected that even if Hussein had managed to deliver the final blow just now, under the God Above Gods' interference, the female giant might not necessarily have died.

At that moment, on the other side, the other treant had also been hacked into countless fragments by the Wind Giant.

Locke noticed that the hundred-meter-tall Wind female giant had two rings on her hand. Those two rings were the two magical rings that had accompanied his half-body here.

Hmm?

Locke looked at the Wind female giant with surprise. Under his attention, she quietly used the wind to pick up the Sealing Stone on the ground without being noticed by the Water Giant.

In the present world, the Wind female giant looked at the stone in her hand and said quietly, "Everything Nicholas said came true. Indeed there were outsiders, indeed there would be stones. If all of that is true, could the other things he said also be true?"

"Nicholas, the one rejected by the gods, the one whose flesh is eaten daily by vultures. Can I believe what you say? I must truly be mad."

The Wind Giant hid the stone and said nothing to the other giants, and did not report it to the God Above Gods.

The Wind Giant and the Water Giant soon regrouped with the other giants.

The giants gathered around the Grass female giant, whose body had begun to slowly turn to stone.

They discussed among themselves.

The Flame Giant said, "The three trees sent down by the demon god have all been destroyed by us. This is wonderful. We have successfully repelled the invaders."

"But those three outsiders turned themselves into stones. Look, this is one I have in my hand. There should be two more. Has anyone found them?"

Seeing everyone look at them, the Water Giant shook his head with puzzlement and stepped back half a step, looking at the other giants with a face full of confusion.

"I can swear on the God-King's name, we absolutely did not see any such strange stone."

The Wind Giant spoke up as well.

"I did not see any either. Also, the land around the treeman the God-King destroyed has been ravaged by the God-King's power, and no stone can be found there either."

The Flame Giant's expression turned sour.

"So two stones are now missing."

"We must find those two stones and find a way to destroy them. Otherwise, those stones might still be able to summon the demon god from the heavens down to us."

The Flame Giant looked up, his expression fearful, at the full moon gradually disappearing in the sky.

He did not want to feel that terrifying power ever again.

The Wind Giant looked toward the Grass female giant. "And there is Margrit. She is dying. Heavens, her injuries are too severe."

In an instant, the giants began to stir with anxiety. The word death was extremely distant from these existences who considered themselves immortal.

And now that word had appeared before them, throwing the giants into fear and unease.

The Flame Giant fell into hesitation.

"If Margrit dies, she will enter the underground world, right? Then she will become our enemy. We rule the world of the living. The demon wolf clan rules the world of the dead. That is our agreement. We enjoy eternal life and will never die, but once we die, we enter enemy territory. And those demon wolves die permanently, unable to enjoy the beauty of the present world and the offerings of mortals, but they can stay far from the shadow and fear that death brings to them."

The Sovereignty Giant suddenly spoke. "Do not be afraid. I have a way to heal her. Do not forget. I am the God of Sovereignty, the protector of sovereignty."

"I have some medical attributes."

He bent down, raised the serpent staff in his hand that represented sovereign authority, and placed it against the throat of the female giant that had been pierced through by the Advanced Treant's branch. In an instant, the staff transformed into a serpent, the serpent dreamlike and illusory.

The healing principles of the Three-Hole World responded rapidly.

Then the serpent burrowed into the Grass female giant's throat. Very quickly, the wound in her throat was filled.

She abruptly stood up, breathing deeply.

Female Giant Margrit expressed her gratitude to the Sovereignty Giant. "Thank you. I had already glimpsed the underground world just now, and saw those demon wolf clansmen baring their teeth at me."

"Thank goodness you were there at the critical moment."

"You saved me."

The Sovereignty Giant said, "Of course. That is my duty. Only my power can save only one of us divine beings. If anyone else is on the verge of death going forward, even I will be powerless."

"But the problem should be resolved. We have successfully blocked that demon god."

The Flame Giant said, "Yes. There are still two stones sealing the demon god's servants. But it is fine. I can travel the hills and plains and search for those two stones..."

The next moment, the God Above Gods' voice appeared directly in the minds of all the giants. It seemed to have become hysterical, completely abandoning its past practice of issuing oracles only through the God-King and the Oracle female giant.

'All gods are to leave the crater rims and enter the mortal world. Find the two missing stones.'

'Convey our oracle to every mortal city-state in the present world. No household is permitted to conceal stones. All people must bring out every stone in their homes for us to inspect one by one.'

'If these two stones cannot be found within one month, I will send down heavenly fire. I will sweep the great land clean, remake humanity, and reshape the world.'

'Because these mortals have disappointed me enough.'

All eleven giants showed expressions of fear and unease.

Because they all felt from the God Above Gods' words the other party's fury and anxiety.

Could it be that the demon god in the sky was so powerful that even the omnipotent God Above Gods was threatened?

In the Exploration Vanguard's cockpit.

Locke thought: 'That Wind Giant has the test rings. Those must have been given to her by my half-body. Where exactly is my half-body?'

'This world's time flow rate differs from that of the wizard world. And the Heart Peach Spell is a magic cast by Teacher, and very mysterious, so I cannot be certain how long my half-body has existed in this world or what its current situation is. But presumably it is not very free, otherwise it could right now help me summon a saintly avatar from within that world.'

'And there would also have been no need to give both test rings to the Wind Giant. Since the Wind Giant concealed a Sealing Stone, she has absolutely communicated with my half-body.'

Old Pirate Henry assessed the situation.

"Things are looking a bit grim. All the power we sent down has been eliminated. Of the three gasification wizards, one has even been captured. I do not know how long that Sealing Stone can hold out. The other two are also in uncertain straits."

Old Pirate Henry furrowed his brow. "Should we try sending down the First Circle wizards one more time?"

At that moment, all seven First Circle wizards felt their scalps prickling slightly.

The native power of this Three-Hole World was somewhat alarmingly abundant.

They had no confidence that a second forced descent would result in any greater success than their colleagues the first time.

Locke looked at Old Pirate Henry and said, "No need. Through this round, I have already successfully gotten one treant avatar to descend by deceiving those natives."

"Everyone, do not forget that a Scarlet-Earth Holly treant can revive as long as one branch remains. Before the battle, I had one treant snap off a branch in advance and insert it into the forest."

"Those giants cannot fully control the world principles, so they cannot distinguish between an ordinary tree and a Scarlet-Earth Holly cutting."

Hussein looked at Locke with puzzlement. "But you are still separated from it by a crystal wall system. Before, you infused your power into three branches to cast magic across the worlds and illuminate the treants. Now only one branch is left, and it has none of your magical power in it. With your current magic pressure, you should not be able to make it grow rapidly and illuminate it."

"If your current magic pressure were sufficient, you would not have illuminated only three treants before."

Locke said, "That is correct. With my current magic pressure, I indeed cannot do it. So I just need to raise my magic pressure, right?"

Hussein blinked.

"Oh, that is a very fair point. Then raise it."

On the other side, Old Pirate Henry's eyes went wide, his expression one of astonishment.

Hang on. What were these two talking about?

Magic pressure was something one could raise just by saying so?

The seven registered wizards, hearing the exchange between Locke and Hussein, also had their minds seize up momentarily. They all felt as if some logic had broken down, as if they had missed something.

Mr. Augustine was going to raise his own magic pressure in order to descend his saintly avatar?

That was Second Circle level magic pressure.

...

Golden Crown Mountain district, inside the dormitory at Golden Crown Mountain. Locke instructed Douglas to stand guard outside his study, and looked at Douglas with a smile. "Douglas, I am about to consume a Tourmaline King Peach. I need no one to come and disturb me."

Douglas bowed to Locke and said, "Mr. Augustine, I will not allow anyone to disturb you during this process."

Wizard King Laghemaon said in his mind: 'Excellent. This is a good opportunity to grow closer to him. Douglas, you must perform well! Opportunities like this do not come often.'

Douglas said inwardly: 'Teacher, I will seize it.'

Locke glanced at Douglas. Over this recent period, he had been consistently overhearing Douglas and that ancient Wizard King from the past occasionally discussing their so-called secret treasure and always saying they were going to come find him. And yet after waiting three months, these two had held their composure remarkably well.

They had still not come to find him.

And every day they were discussing how to come and find him, how to get him to open the door to the secret treasure, and how to build trust with him before doing so...

Locke had been waiting day after day for them to approach him, and yet three months later, these two were still discussing it every day without the slightest sign of actually bringing it up.

So Locke had simply asked Douglas to guard the door for him.

That way it would probably bring them closer, and when Douglas finally opened his mouth to speak to him, he would feel a bit more at ease.

Behind the study was a stone demon sculpture, which was in fact his potion pet. That is to say, he had always kept a contingency plan in place.

The obelisk stone demon was his true guardian.

If Douglas tried to do anything to him while he was meditating, the obelisk stone demon, which had advanced to the crystallization stage from consuming a considerable amount of Second Circle potion dregs, would immediately act.

That said, Locke was quite curious about what kind of secret treasure this nameless Wizard King from the Age of Stars had left behind.

At that moment, in the study, Locke took out a pile of Clear Sky Wizard Stones. He absorbed this batch of Clear Sky Wizard Stones newly obtained from the Heidelberg Plane, raising his magic pressure from sixteen thousand five hundred to seventeen thousand.

Then Locke picked up one Tourmaline King Peach and ate it.

The first Tourmaline King Peach could raise his magic pressure by one thousand.

In an instant, Locke felt a certain cool power surging into his soul. He was involuntarily drawn into the non-thought state of the Advanced Meditation Method.

He saw a star chart resembling a peach tree type, formed by countless particles of material dust in the infinite void. Within this dust star chart, countless energies were flowing.

'This is... the Creation Mystery contained within the Tourmaline King Peach...'

Locke immediately understood why the Tourmaline King Peach could help wizards break through to Second Circle, and why the first time a wizard consumed a Tourmaline King Peach it could directly increase their magic pressure by one thousand.

The Tourmaline King Peach contained the Creation Mystery within it.

At that moment, in the Advanced Meditation Method, Locke was observing the formation process of a plane. Within this Creation Mystery, there seemed to be no involvement of primordial force tidal waves, or perhaps this stage did not require them, or perhaps this was a different type of plane formation process.

For wizards of different circles, the gains from witnessing the Creation Mystery differed.

If a wizard could directly witness the Creation Mystery every time they consumed a Tourmaline King Peach, even the same Creation Mystery, they would certainly gain enormous improvement each time.

'So that is it. The Tourmaline King Peach contains a Creation Mystery planted within it by the breeder who cultivated it. How is this achieved? What level of magical plant is this? Its fruit must all contain the same Creation Mystery. So consuming it repeatedly produces diminishing returns, and the first consumption is the most effective.'

'And moreover, this is not an ordinary Creation Mystery.'

Locke instantly realized that he was not directly observing the Creation Mystery. Rather, the energy converted from the Creation Mystery contained in the Tourmaline King Peach's flesh was being channeled into him.

'Consuming this magical peach can help me absorb the Creation Mystery. But I cannot say clearly how this is accomplished. So every wizard who consumes this peach, depending on their circle, can receive a fixed identical improvement.'

At that moment, Locke observed the star chart and saw what appeared to be materials resembling natural magical force structural substances flowing through the void of material dust. This caused each cluster of material dust to undergo a magical reaction, beginning to exchange material with different regions of other material dust.

This material dust star chart great tree, although not a true magical plant, had entered a special state resembling that of a magical plant lifeform. And because of this, the entire plane gradually took shape within this special state.

This phenomenon made Locke realize that the world lotus at the base of the Three-Hole World's crater rims had probably formed in exactly this way.

In other words, that creation lotus flower had very likely once looked like what he now saw in his mind: material dust converging together.

That is, this creation star chart.

And the flow pattern of energy in this creation star chart was helping to micro-adjust the spell models in his consciousness sea, making their positions more reasonable. At the same time, it was driving an increase in Locke's magic pressure and producing some optimization of his soul structure.

When Locke's normal magic pressure reached just over eighteen thousand, Locke took out the second Tourmaline King Peach and ate it.

Consuming the second Tourmaline King Peach could raise his magic pressure by another five hundred.

Originally, Locke had planned to wait another two or three years, wait for the Heidelberg Plane to bring him two more batches of Clear Sky Wizard Stones, then raise his magic pressure to eighteen thousand, and only then consume the Tourmaline King Peach.

But after seeing the World Tree Leaf in this plane, Locke abandoned that plan directly.

Because if he wanted to use the third and fourth batches of Clear Sky Wizard Stones to raise his magical power, he would need even larger quantities of Clear Sky Wizard Stones, and the speed at which the Heidelberg Plane could capture Clear Sky Wizard Stones was variable, sometimes more, sometimes less.

So originally, Locke had been planning to wait.

Because that was the maximum utilization of resources.

But in the instant he saw the World Tree Leaf, Locke immediately realized that his time was also a resource.

So he directly consumed the Tourmaline King Peach to raise his magic pressure.

After all, the Tourmaline King Peach could only raise his magic pressure to 19,999 at most. And right now he could raise his magic pressure to 18,500 through the Creation Mystery as quickly as possible, the better to advance his exploration of this world.

After all, when he thought it through carefully, if he could not enter this plane immediately, this exploration expedition might come to nothing, turning into something like Wizard Gakula's situation.

Even with his abundant reserves, preparing for the next exploration team would be a matter of unknown timing.

Conversely, using all resources currently in hand to strengthen himself might actually allow him to seize the opportunity and immediately obtain even more resources.

When something needs to be decided, decide it.

Two days later, Locke's magic pressure reached 18,500.

At the same time, he reached across one world and used growth acceleration on the Scarlet-Earth Holly branch buried in the soil. Drawing on the externally loaded magic pressure bolstered by the beast panel, he raised his magic pressure to 19,999, which was the theoretical world-level upper limit of the Three-Hole Plane.

Then he forcibly revived the Scarlet-Earth Holly. Drawing on the residual moonlight of the Moon of Evolution, he used the Lunar Blessing Curse to illuminate that treant.

And the moment the treant was illuminated, his Moon of Evolution once again entered that world through this member of the ecological community.

Inside the void warship, Hussein wore an expression of complete unsurprise, while everyone else, including Old Pirate Henry, stared at Locke with expressions of shock.

The captain really did just raise his magic pressure because he said he would?

This...

Locke looked at Hussein and said, "Hussein, your current magic pressure is 13,000. This means you can have two major Grand Magic Rune patterns. Can you tell me what magic you have incorporated into your two Grand Magic Rune patterns?"

Hussein smiled and said, "The first is the Advanced Treant Transformation Blood Curse. The second is the Primordial Werewolf Transformation Blood Curse."

"Do not misunderstand. I am only using these two blood curses to strengthen my Blood Progenitor True Form. The Advanced Treant Transformation Blood Curse can enhance my Blood Progenitor True Form's self-recovery ability. That is a small trick I discovered through repeated testing. I can incorporate a Grand Magic Rune pattern into different blood curses to give my Blood Progenitor True Form the characteristics of those curses."

"This way, my Blood Progenitor True Form can obtain the characteristics of the Primordial Werewolf and the Advanced Treant. This was also one of the reasons the three black wizards of the Pale Pilgrimage spent so long besieging me alone and could not bring me down."

"My understanding of the Blood Progenitor True Form differs from theirs. The curse spells they incorporated into their Grand Magic Rune patterns were basically all offensive curse spell models."

Hussein said, "This makes it very difficult to truly forge the Blood Progenitor True Form. Only transformation-type curse spell models produce the best forging effect on the Blood Progenitor True Form."