Apotheosis

Zen frowned upon hearing those words. It was the voice of Fredric, the crown prince of the York Divine Kingdom.

He was not afraid of the threat Frederic posed. After all, among the divine-level geniuses that were there, not one had the strength to threaten him. Even Fredric was not qualified to do that.

Zen's strength was not on the same level as these divine-level talents—his was greater. This was a fact that many divine-level talents and princes were unwilling to admit.

Since Fredric had dared to threaten him the way he did, then this mineral-devouring bug might not just be a simple bug. There must be a secret hidden within it.

Smiling faintly, Zen's gaze landed on Fredric. "I'll be dead? But how will I die, Fredric? Care to elaborate?"

Fredric also observed the mineral-devouring bug for a while. He really did not expect that Zen would be able to catch it with his hands. 'It's the green kind!' he thought to himself, breathing shallowly because of his anger. After a few moments of silence, Fredric smiled back at Zen. He then replied, "This kind of mineral-devouring bug is captured by the Soul Sea Realm masters every year! When did it become your turn to capture it? You're unqualified to do that!"

Zen's gaze immediately shifted to Randy. Randy nodded and told Zen, "The mineral-devouring bug's number is small. There are only about thirty to forty of them appearing each year. Even the Life and Death Realm masters have difficulty capturing those bugs, and usually, it would only be the Soul Sea Realm masters from the four great divine kingdoms who would be able to catch them."

"Is this bug very important?" he asked.

In his mind, the mineral-devouring bug was peculiar. As its name suggested, devouring ores was its main thing, but aside from that, it was also incomparably agile. Its reaction to the things happening around it was blazing fast. Zen traveled through space as he was trying to catch it, and even with almost no time to react, the bug was still able to avoid him.

However, he didn't believe that these bugs were worth the Soul Sea Realm masters' troubles. That made him curious. Yes, the ores in these bugs' stomachs might be valuable, but that still wasn't enough to attract the Soul Sea Realm masters' attention, practically making them obsessed with it.

"Yes," Randy replied with an understanding smile on his lips. "These mineral-devouring bugs have a special ability. They can cut any leaf on the giant tree!"

"What? So what if it can do that?" Zen asked, now more confused than ever.

Randy knew that Zen would ask this question, and so he continued to explain, "Only the Life and Death Realm warriors would be able to enter the 30th layer and those above it. The reason is that they might encounter mineral-devouring bugs—those creatures pose an incredible threat to the Virtual Tribulation Realm warriors. Because of that, the Virtual Tribulation Realm warriors who aren't that powerful are not allowed to enter those layers.

As for the 40th layer and the above, only Soul Sea Realm masters could enter them mainly because in those layers, there is a high chance of encountering purple mineral-devouring bugs. Those are the matured

a small chance of finding a Soul Core inside a purple mineral-devouring bug's body, there was even a lower chance that a green mineral-devouring bug would have it inside it.

Another key point in all of these was that a year might have passed since the mineral devouring bug devoured a Soul Core from a leaf on the top layers, and it would have already fully digested it...

So, if a short while before the Feather Emperor Secret Land opened, a green or purple mineral-devouring bug flew up to the 45th layer or higher layers, dug out a Soul Core, swallowed it but still hadn't digested it when a Soul Sea Realm master captured it, then the Soul Core would still be there and the Soul Sea Realm master would have the honor of obtaining it for his or her divine kingdom!

However, in the span of a few years, it had already become too difficult even for the most powerful warriors to obtain a single Soul Core despite slaughtering several hundred mineral-devouring bugs.

As the ores in the bug's stomach slowly flowed out of it along with its bodily fluids, Randy's eyes started to show a hint of disappointment. However, Zen only smiled as he continued watching what was happening. Seriously, he asked, "What's wrong, Lord Randy? No Soul Core?"

Randy nodded and replied, "No Soul Core!"

Zen didn't care about that too much. First, it still wasn't clear to him what the function of the Soul Core truly was, and second, he was currently focused on finding life stones. A Soul Core was not a life stone, so he couldn't care any less about it.

Although this mineral-devouring bug apparently didn't have a Soul Core in its stomach, the sheer amount of life stones it had made Zen incredibly satisfied.

After a few moments, he turned to Camilla, who was beside him, and smiled. "Could you please help me sell these items?" he said pleadingly.

Camilla's eyes widened, and as a response, she pouted and said, "What the hell? No! They're so dirty and disgusting!"

Of course, Zen would not let a woman do such a dirty job. Chuckling, he personally took out the ores one by one from the mineral-devouring bug's body fluids.