Ch. 600 - The Void Tree

"Where exactly in the Void Valley did you find that monkey statue?" Xu Zimo asked.

"You’ve heard of the 'Path of No Return', haven’t you?" Old Master Pi asked.

"Yes. They say the spatial turbulence there is so intense that even Void Trees can’t survive. That’s why it’s called the Path of No Return," Xu Zimo nodded.

"That’s right. Once you enter the Void Valley, keep heading north for several hundred kilometers, and you’ll reach the border between the safe zone and the Path of No Return," Old Master Pi explained. "The valley where I found the monkey statue was right at that border."

"Can I have this golden monkey statue?" Xu Zimo asked.

"You can take it, but I have a theory, want to hear it?" the old man replied.

"Go ahead," Xu Zimo nodded.

"If the creature you're looking for, the Void Spirit Monkey, really exists, and this statue somewhat proves it does, then why hasn’t anyone seen it in tens of thousands of years?" Old Master Pi continued, "There’s only one explanation: it’s been hiding somewhere living beings can’t reach."

"You mean the Path of No Return," Xu Zimo said.

"It’s just my guess," the old man nodded. "If it were in the safe zone, someone would’ve seen it by now. But in the Path of No Return, it could stay hidden for tens of thousands of years. And if that’s the case, it’ll be troublesome. Because we can’t enter the Path of No Return."

"I’ll figure something out," Xu Zimo said, taking the golden monkey statue. After chatting a bit more, he said goodbye and left.

The statue felt heavy in his hand, but other than that, there was no special sensation.

Since it constantly gave off dazzling golden light, Xu Zimo stored it in his God World to avoid trouble.

Not wasting any time, he summoned Night Terror from his God World and headed to the Void Valley’s entrance.

The area was guarded 24/7. Even though it was already dark, small groups of people were still going in.

"Travel pass," a guard in blue clothes lazily asked at the entrance.

Xu Zimo handed him the pass, and the guard let him through.

Staring at the swirling, distorted space vortex in front of him, Xu Zimo walked straight in.

He immediately felt weightless, as if he were floating and falling at the same time.

The feeling lasted a while, and it felt like he was being wrapped in soft space.

Suddenly, his vision brightened.

He fell to the ground and felt solid again.

Looking around, the landscape was beyond barren.

There wasn’t a single blade of grass. As far as the eye could see, there was no life at all.

The ground was completely bare, and deep rumbling noises echoed from beneath the crust.

Xu Zimo got his bearings and started walking north.

After climbing a hill and taking only a few steps, he saw a figure flying at him through the void.

Reacting quickly, he punched the dark figure.

It let out a pained cry and flew backward.

Before he could see it clearly, it disappeared into the void again.

"A Void Beast," Xu Zimo muttered with a frown.

He clenched his right hand, and powerful spiritforce spread out, freezing the surrounding void completely.

At that moment, space shattered in front of him, and a massive beast lunged forward with its jaws wide open.

Xu Zimo snorted and grabbed its front leg. Shifting his body slightly to dodge the attack, he channeled the power of creation and smashed the beast into the ground several times.

After a few strikes, the beast stopped resisting.

As it lay dying, Xu Zimo got a clear look at it.

It was a pale, almost transparent creature.

Its body resembled a fish, covered in hard scales, but it had four short legs.

Its eyes were tiny like beans, and a sharp horn grew above its nose.

Before Xu Zimo could do anything else, the beast died on the spot.

After death, its body dissolved into mist and merged with the void, leaving nothing behind.

Xu Zimo had read that, apart from spatial turbulence, Void Beasts were one of the most hated things in the valley.

They could hide in the void and attack by surprise. Low-level cultivators couldn’t freeze the space to defend themselves.

And worst of all, killing a Void Beast yielded nothing. Their bodies were part of the void itself, born from nothing, and returning to nothing.

Ignoring all this, Xu Zimo kept heading toward the northern border.

He traveled through the Void Valley all night.

As morning came, the sky inside the valley brightened.

The place was even more barren than a desert. Along the way, Xu Zimo saw only a few abandoned tents others had left behind.

……

Xu Zimo spent seven full days traveling through the Void Valley.

Around noon on the seventh day, he heard the sound of fighting up ahead.

This was the first time he had encountered anyone else since arriving.

The clash of blades and a loud, angry voice rang out in the distance.

"Qin Yuan, I discovered this Void Tree first. Do you really want to fight me to the death over it?"

"Zhang Qihao, rare treasures belong to the fated. Just because you saw it doesn’t mean it’s yours!"

The two voices argued as Xu Zimo walked closer and saw them fighting.

One wore black, the other white.

Both wielded swords and had cultivation at the Paragon Meridian realm. Their sword aura raged around them.

In front of the two men stood three trees. Because of the distance, Xu Zimo couldn’t see them clearly at first.

He approached step by step. The two fighters didn’t notice him.

After a few strides, Xu Zimo reached the Void Trees.

Only three trees stood there, each surrounded by thick spatial energy.

The space around them wasn’t extremely distorted. The Void Trees were just over a meter tall, pale white with a hint of transparency.

Each tree had only one branch, and each branch had just one bright green leaf.

The tree trunks were etched with curving patterns, spiraling from top to bottom.

"Someone’s stealing the Void Trees!" the two men suddenly noticed Xu Zimo and yelled, rushing at him.

"Annoying," Xu Zimo said casually.

With a wave of his hand, he knocked them both flying.

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