Arranging Chen Jiahan and Da Xiong, Li Cheng颐 left the courtyard. His figure flashed hundreds of meters across the city sky, arriving at a semi-tall black tower that resembled a giant tree.

He landed and stood still on the black tower's terrace, hundreds of meters above the ground. He stepped forward, grasped the handle of the terrace door, and knocked gently twice.

*Click.*

The door opened, swinging inward.

A servant completely enveloped in a black robe quietly bowed to him.

"Master, the Baicao Garden (Hundred Herbs Garden) is fully maintained. The gardeners are currently performing pollen collection tasks."

The Baicao Garden was a supply base similar to a permanent botanical garden that Li Cheng颐 had created independently using his Yin God identity in recent years.

Thanks to the convenience of the Qu Ling Prefecture, the far-reaching trading caravans provided Li Cheng颐 with many shortcuts for collecting flowers and plants.

He couldn't leave here to collect flowers in the territory of Yao Xiangyu's mother, so relying on manpower to collect them from various places became the main method.

After all, as a Yin God, the free funding supply of tens of millions of taels a year was enough to use. Not to mention that he could also find ways to make money himself.

After entering, Li Cheng颐 walked down the passage all the way to a large circular hall.

In the hall, a huge botanical garden had been transplanted, and many gardeners were carefully using special Zhen Qi (True Energy) to nurture precious flowers.

These gardeners were also Zhen Qi martial artists, but most of them cultivated the same kind of specialized Zhen Qi.

Li Cheng颐 tapped his toes and gently leaped into the air, landing in the center of the botanical garden, stopping beside a blooming crape myrtle tree.

"This area is all using Zhen Qi to warm and bloom the flowers?"

He asked the gardener who was bowing his head in salute.

"Yes, Yin God, all fifteen flowerpots here are using individuals that have just finished blooming, and then using Zhen Qi to warm them and bloom again, according to your instructions," the gardener replied.

"Very good." Li Cheng颐 nodded, stepped forward, reached out his hand, and gently stroked the crape myrtle flower.

These crape myrtle flowers had already passed the season for blooming, but he forcibly made them bloom a second time using Zhen Qi.

Using this unnatural method, he wanted to test whether Hua Qi (Flower Energy) could still be absorbed.

Whether it was necessary for time to accumulate sufficiently, and whether it was feasible to use other energy conversion to stimulate growth.

He pinched the petals for several seconds, but only a very small amount of Hua Qi flowed out.

'As expected, it doesn't work?'

A hint of disappointment flashed in Li Cheng頤's eyes.

Obviously, this meant that the source of Hua Qi was not only related to the plant's own nutrition and state, but also involved some other mysterious and unknown realms. Technology wouldn't work, nor would Zhen Qi.

'Clearly the temperature, nutrition, soil, and light are all taken into account here...'

He sighed.

In the past two years, the Hua Qi in his Evil Flower imprint had been almost completely collected. Now, he only needed to collect a little evil thought to evolve the latest Green Velvet Poppy flower language.

After evolution, he could choose the tenth main flower.

Releasing the crape myrtle flower, Li Cheng颐 strolled through the flowers. Purple, red, yellow, white, and other colorful flowers flashed past him. Some of these were common on Earth and Moon, while others were rare.

Climate, terrain, and soil reasons led to significant differences in the number of many flowers, and there were also some unique flower species here.

'The tenth main flower, and after that, there are only two left, and I can complete the Evil Flower imprint. Then I can open the fusion Flower Scale Armor, and... the summoning ability Thousand Leaf Hundred Flower Army... Twelve Flower God Generals... These ultra-ancient powerful beings, why were they destroyed in the first place... What changes will summoning them bring to me... These are all unknowns.'

Li Cheng頤 vaguely sensed in his heart that he seemed to be getting involved in an extremely large and ancient era.

The fate of the Evil Flower and his fate were already intertwined. The broken armor of the previous generation's Evil Flower master showed that even the Flower Emperor had powerful enemies who could destroy them.

Whether it was internal strife or external enemies back then, if the victor still existed, they would definitely not allow the Evil Flower to rise again.

These were all hidden dangers.

Li Cheng颐's mind was racing, and he unknowingly walked to the exit of the botanical garden.

At the exit, a gaunt woman in a white robe and silver belt was squatting down, gently stroking a newly blooming yellow night-blooming cereus.

"Senior Sister Qiu Ming? When did you come?" Li Cheng颐 wasn't surprised. Since the establishment of the botanical garden, the four Yin Gods liked to come here to stroll around when they had nothing to do, whether to relax or to ponder silently. This was a good place.

"Master is away and hasn't returned, so I brought back a piece of Rainbow Dragon Claw fragment for you, and ordered us to take action to solve the Locust Sect in the southern Congyun County," Qiu Ming replied.

"Locust Sect? I heard that this sect seems to have a long history?" Li Cheng颐 was surprised. "This sect also has strongholds and branches in the prefecture, right?"

"Yes, colluding with foreign forces to disrupt the order of the prefecture city. We warned them but they didn't listen, so we simply killed the chicken to warn the monkeys," Qiu Ming nodded.

"Shall we go together?"

"Yes. This sect has some strength. Its leader comes from a large family in the city. If they also secretly harbor leaders of colluding forces, good players may leak out, so we will act together to prevent too many from escaping."

"Understood."

"By the way, do you know what forces they are colluding with?" Qiu Ming suddenly raised her eyebrows and asked.

"...Is it related to me?"

"Yellow Bone Pavilion and Linghui Valley."

Li Cheng頤's expression paused. Two years ago, the Wang family suffered heavy losses, and Wang Yiheng was still nowhere to be found. If it hadn't been for the Yellow Bone Pavilion...

"When do we leave?"

"Anytime."

"Alright." Li Cheng颐 responded meaningfully. It was a good opportunity to collect some evil thoughts and complete the Green Velvet Poppy's evolution.

He had been cultivating in seclusion all this time, and it was about time to go out and take a stroll.

"How about early tomorrow morning?" he asked.

"Good."

*

*

*

Earth and Moon.

Prison Gate Fortress Defense Line.

Vast space fortresses were connected as one by three ring-shaped silver-gray orbits, like a giant wheel.

In the center of the wheel was a temporary wartime spaceport.

A large number of warships, flying ships, fighters, etc., were constantly entering and exiting from here.

At this time, a Flying Instrument Master fleet that had just finished a fierce battle and suffered heavy losses was slowly returning to port, passing through the blue giant halo of security check.

The flame-like halo shone with a bright blue light, dyeing the surrounding orbits and fortresses blue.

And within this fleet of flying ships, which was tens of thousands of kilometers in diameter, was mixed a rather striking black shadow.

The giant shadow's body was like a long snake, with bat wings on its back, and sharp horn-like spikes on its head. It was tens of kilometers long, like a giant winged python.

He was the Shadow Dragon Fane.

He had just returned from the battlefield and was preparing to rest and resupply.

Even with the Shadow Dragon's enormous size, in the interstellar war, it was only slightly larger than a warship. It was far inferior to some top-tier mother ships.

As the fleet entered the port, the blue light of the inspection scanned over Fane's body. He uncomfortably twisted his huge body. He had swallowed too many shadows, causing him to have some indigestion now. So, returning to rest was actually to concentrate on digestion. After completely absorbing them, he could proceed to the next step.

As he approached the spaceport orbit, Fane's enormous body rapidly shrank, twisted, and transformed into a human form, gently landing on the silver-gray orbit.

His appearance was that of a tall white man with silver hair and a stern face.

This was the human with the highest physical fitness among the humans he had last devoured, so he was chosen as the basic human form.

There were no colleagues. The entire Shadow Dragon Legion fleet was basically controlled by the dragonspawn they controlled, so the fleet was completely the domain of the three Shadow Dragons.

Fane stretched lazily and approached one of the fortresses with a lava furnace in a cheerful mood.

There was nothing more comfortable than taking a lava bath after exercising.

Just as he was about to leave, a silver light shot over and landed not far from him, transforming into a human form.

The newcomer had silver hair, skin as white as if it was glowing, two red dots between her eyebrows, and eyes that had no pupils, only a large number of silver light spots that gathered and dispersed in the black void.

It was none other than Ding Meng, one of the Nine Instruments, the Bewitching Heart.

"General Fane, please wait." Ding Meng softly called out, stopping the Shadow Dragon who was about to leave.

"Time is precious. Those bastards from the Star God are indeed difficult to deal with. I have to rest well and hurry to help Sal and the others. Miss Ding, please don't bother me if you have nothing to do." Fane had no interest in these fragile, porcelain-like human women. The Shadow Dragons themselves had no gender. If they liked, they could change their bodies at any time.

Compared to smooth and delicate skin, he preferred a perfect physique that was hard, full of spikes, with strong recovery power and terrifying muscle bursts.

"I just have a small question that I would like to ask Mr. Fane..." Ding Meng took a step closer. The silver light in her eyes rapidly flickered and pulsed, as if echoing the countless stars above.

An invisible electric field rapidly spread around her, centered on her, enveloping Fane.

"What do you mean?" Fane frowned.

"It's just to isolate external detection, don't be afraid." Ding Meng smiled.

"Afraid? Have you humans always been so arrogant?" Fane said coldly, "Speak, what's the matter?"

"It's like this, I have always longed for the Black Sea. I heard that Mr. Fane came from the Black Sea, so you must have a very deep understanding of it. I wonder if you can trade some related knowledge to me. I can pay you." Ding Meng made an excuse.

"Some people in your country have also come into contact with the Black Sea. Why are you looking for me? The things that can be said are those, and the things that can't be said, you can't hear, and I can't say." Fane said indifferently.

He had better patience than Sal, and was not as cold as Ying, so he was the best target to approach. But as a Shadow Dragon, he also had his own pride.

If it was the Eastern Ruler and the Instrument Emperor, then it would be fine, but the others? No one would waste time chatting with an ant on the side of the road for half a day. Except for psychopaths.

Especially now that the Dragon King Ritual was imminent, they were about to achieve their ultimate vision for thousands of years. As long as the Dragon King Ritual was successfully held, even the Eastern Ruler could be crushed!

Fane was about to continue to decline when his expression suddenly changed.

"What are you doing!?" He suddenly revealed a fierce look, his body rushing forward. In an instant, he crossed the distance between the two of them, grabbing at Ding Meng with one claw.

This attack was too fast and too sudden. With his current strength, under the instantaneous burst, his right hand transformed into a large area of dragon claw-shaped shadows in the blink of an eye, almost completely enveloping Ding Meng, slamming down.

*Whoosh!!!*

Ding Meng didn't expect the other party to attack so suddenly. She had clearly not attacked him, only the surrounding dragonspawn, wanting to read their brainwave memories and control a batch of dragonspawn to secretly monitor Fane.

Unexpectedly... she was detected by the other party as soon as she made a move.

*Buzz!!*

Just as the shadow claws were about to press down, a burst of colorful light exploded beside her, covering and spreading to the surrounding space.

The psychedelic colorful light seemed to hypnotize, attracting all of Fane's attention from the beginning.

The colorful light was like a moat, slowly floating around Ding Meng, turning into a colorful ribbon that rotated.

That was the Maze Fortress, and it was also Ding Meng's exclusive protective force field as one of the Nine Instruments.

As one of the Nine Instruments, whose frontal combat strength was slightly weaker, she naturally did her best to ensure her safety.

The Maze Fortress was like this, using the most cutting-edge space-maze technology in the Instrument Country. It looked like just a colorful streamer, but it was actually a psychedelic belt leading to other spaces.

Anyone who approached could be sucked into it and lost in the unknown space gaps.

The shadow claws instantly shrunk, turning into the size of an egg, and disappeared into the Maze Fortress in the blink of an eye.

Fane withdrew his hand and looked at the other party a little more seriously.

"I don't want there to be a next time." He warned with a cold face.

If it wasn't for the Dragon King Ritual being imminent, he would have killed this trash who dared to make small moves on his dragonspawn!

(End of chapter)