Chapter 295: Chapter 288: The Holy Hall Level Skill of the [Creation Celestial Pillar]

This was the third time Shi Ming had seen a complete Holy Hall-level creature!

The "Giant Tree" from Ah Jian’s memories was the Creation Celestial Pillar!

Its rank among the Holy Hall-level Sea Beasts was unknown, but it was definitely higher than the Abyss Lord. Shi Ming had gotten a clear look at the seed that fell from it; it was over eighty percent similar to the Seed of Life in Da Yu’s Treasure Vault.

However, the seed in the memory was extremely plump, while the one in Da Yu’s Treasure Vault, though still filled with life energy, was not nearly as rich.

They must have come from the same source.

Even though he was only seeing a memory, Shi Ming could still indirectly sense the seed’s extraordinary energy. Just consuming it caused a hulking beast to explode on the spot, and the creatures that ate its remains were able to leap directly to A-rank!

And that was just a single seed that had fallen from the Creation Celestial Pillar.

If one were to absorb all of the Creation Celestial Pillar’s energy, the requirements would likely be no less than those for the Great Black Heaven Dragon. Even an S-rank Awakened or creature would instantly explode, unable to withstand its power.

"Hmm..."

Inspiration struck Shi Ming!

He suddenly had a bold idea.

’The anomaly on Mount Everest blocked the Eye of the World’s surveillance. But what if I aim the Eye of the World at the Creation Celestial Pillar in the memory? Could that bypass the mountain’s anomaly and get me intel on this Holy Hall-level Sea Beast?’

No sooner said than done!

He picked up a pen and sketched the "Creation Celestial Pillar" as he had seen it.

"Eye of the World, acquire intel!"

[BEEP~ BEEP~]

[Compiling intel...]

[Searching. Confirming detailed coordinates... Search successful. Summarizing intel... Intel generated.]

To Shi Ming’s surprise, the Eye of the World actually provided a response!

This only confirmed Shi Ming’s suspicion: back when he’d investigated Mount Everest, the thing that had blocked the Eye of the World’s intel and turned it into a pile of black squares wasn’t the Creation Celestial Pillar itself, but the mountain itself—or something else on it!

’Its suppressive power is even greater than a Holy Hall-level Sea Beast’s?’

There was no way to verify any of it.

Shi Ming looked at the intel from the Eye of the World.

[Jianmu Tree]

The two words Jianmu Tree slowly faded, replaced by—

[Creation Celestial Pillar]

[The Jianmu Tree, which pierces the heavens and traverses the firmament, fused with the origin of the Life Sanctuary. This ancient, wondrous tree evolved consciousness, becoming a Holy Hall-level beast that symbolizes life. Its entire body, from roots to leaves, is rich with life force. A single fallen leaf can heal severe external injuries.]

[Having evolved into a Holy Hall, the Creation Celestial Pillar has retained the Jianmu Tree’s innate "traversal" ability. This may be a good thing, or it may be a bad thing.]

[Last Active Period: 4000 years ago]

[Holy Hall Skills: Supreme Sanctuary]

[Normal Skills: Instant Rooting, Celestial Traversal, Firmament’s Pressure, Creation Branches and Leaves]

[Kill Method: Corrosion. The Creation Celestial Pillar represents the concept of life and cannot be killed at its root. It can be internally corroded, causing its roots to snap and stalk to wither, putting it in a state of collapse and preventing regeneration.]

The amount of information was immense.

The intel wasn’t finished. He continued reading.

Next were the conditions for acquiring the Holy Hall Level Skills "Supreme Sanctuary" after killing the Creation Celestial Pillar. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

[Acquisition Condition: Nine-Rebirth Transformation.]

The Eye of the World also provided a detailed explanation for this so-called "Nine-Rebirth Transformation."

It wasn’t the "Nine Transformations to Sainthood" from the fantasy novel *Never Underestimate a Poor Young Man* that Shi Ming had read in his past life, but rather something more like the "Bride’s Robe Divine Skill" from martial arts novels:

Bathing in its blood—or rather, its sap—and allowing the Holy Hall Skill’s origin to directly enter the body would not lead to an immediate awakening. Instead, the recipient would be hit by a surge of life force and instantly explode, dying completely, just like the "lucky" creature in the memory that had devoured the seed.

This process of death was called the first transformation.

The remains produced by the explosion would still be a symbol of Life Origin and could be devoured by a second creature. This would be the second transformation.

After the second creature consumed them, it too would explode.

A third creature would consume the remains. This would be the third transformation.

Rebirth, death, rebirth, death... Like a game of pass the parcel, only when the process reached the ninth transformation would the Life Sanctuary’s skill origin become absorbable, as if it had been tempered. A ninth Awakened or sea beast would then have to kill the eighth one through conventional means and seize its skill origin to truly obtain [Supreme Sanctuary]!

The first eight were all just preparing the wedding dress for another.

Only the ninth would be able to truly master its power!

The most stringent requirement was that not just any creature was qualified to be part of the "wedding dress." Only the consumption and death of an S-rank creature counted as one transformation.

After reading through the entire process, Shi Ming couldn’t help but sigh.

He had originally thought that the conditions for accepting the Great Black Heaven Dragon’s "Origin of Destruction" to obtain the "Nine-Headed Sanctuary" were already demanding enough—not only did one have to establish a connection beforehand, but one also needed a combined total of 500 points in Physical Strength and Endurance. Few creatures could ever reach such a level.

But he never imagined that acquiring the Creation Celestial Pillar’s skill would be so much more demanding than the Great Black Heaven Dragon’s!

’So difficult!’

...

...

...

「Three days of preparation passed in a flash.」

The appointed departure time had arrived.

Shi Ming and the other two gathered on the Admiral-class wandering ship, the Kunwu. The mission was highly covert; the rest of the Kunwu’s crew had been put on leave, with only the tireless Great Captain Rong Bing remaining. In addition to the Kunwu Heaven-Opening, Rong Bing had also, as promised, borrowed the guardian treasure of the explorer ship, the Nine Cauldrons: the "Jade Sea Cangwu."

The Jade Sea Cangwu was a section of parrot wood that showed rainbow-colored patterns under the sun.

It was only an arm’s length long.

With this, Shi Ming had now encountered the guardian treasures of all three of Da Yu’s Admiral-class wandering ships.

Kunwu Heaven-Opening: Originally named "Heaven-Opening Giant Axe," an axe.

Jade Sea Cangwu: Originally named "Phoenix Perching on the Parrot Wood," a piece of wood.

All-Heavens Big Dipper: Originally named "Kuixiu Stone," a stone.

’A good name really does raise the coolness factor.’

With everything ready, the Kunwu shot southwest like an arrow across the sea. No navigational instruments were needed; the mountain peak standing tall in the ocean was the ultimate directional beacon!

The Kunwu was fast.

As they drew closer, the details of Mount Everest became clearer. The side facing the sun had a rugged silhouette rimmed in brilliant gold. The mountain had no vegetation, only bare rock and the eternal white snow above the snowline, standing proud in the endless ocean.

The steadfast, unyielding mountain loomed larger and larger.

The Kunwu, dozens of meters long, seemed as tiny as a drifting leaf in comparison.

...

"So this is Mount Everest.

"They say that back in the Land Era, it was nearly 9,000 meters tall..."

"A 9,000-meter peak... it’s hard to even imagine. A sight like this really gets my inspiration flowing."

When the Wandering Era began, Rong Bing was only two or three years old, and Li Jiuyuan hadn’t even been born. Neither of them had ever seen Mount Everest in its heyday. Of the three, only Shi Ming was intimately familiar with this number one peak.

He gazed at the sky-blotting sight of Mount Everest before him.

He blinked.

[Declining ■■■■... Decaying ■■■■■... ■■■]

[■■■■]

[...]

[Nothing to see here. Move along.]

The seventy-two-character prompt had revealed only two words. The last sentence was just a snarky comment from the Eye of the World, not actual intel.

Declining, decaying.

’Has the Creation Celestial Pillar already decayed from within and started to decline?’

’It matches Da Yu’s intel.’