Apotheosis

As he stared at the round stones hidden under the leaf beneath his feet, Zen's mind was in turmoil. He wondered at how he could take out the stones.

"Just give it a try!"

Zen told himself as he took two steps back and put pressure on his legs to gather his life vitality and forceful energy. At the same time, the power from the dragon scales flowed into his body continually. He activated all the dragon scales to summon his utmost strength.

With his current formidable physique, the power of the dragon scales couldn't burden his body as much as before.

In addition, Zen closed his eyes and began to communicate with the stars.

"Double Stars-"

The moment Zen muttered to himself, starting a line of communication with the stars, the sky above the Feather Emperor Secret Land flashed with the brilliant light of two stars.

Their immense power blended into Zen's life vitality.

"-Brilliance!" he shouted out the last word as he leapt up from the ground.

Since he was on a leaf, he was not affected by the powerful gravity of the place. As he jumped into the air, his body rose to a height of about ten feet. He then rolled once before diving down toward the leaf below.

His fist gathered powerful momentum and struck the huge leaf.

The punch had gathered all the power that Zen could use up. He had also activated his Stellar Body alongside. It was infinitely stronger than the punch he had used to injure War Emperor York.

Boom!

As soon as his punch landed on the leaf, a violent sound reverberated around him. It was as if thunder itself had struck the ground. Anyone positioned on the huge tree would have heard it clearly.

Below Zen were several scared stiff mineral-devouring bugs. Spreading their wings, they flew off in panic.

Zen's fist was still pressed tightly against the leaf. Traces of blood trickled from between his fingers and along the huge leaf.

Even though Zen possessed a physique as strong as a sacred weapon, the toughness of the leaf under his feet far exceeded it. The heavy punch that he landed on it was like smashing an egg against a rock. Although the leaf containing the ores did not crack even a bit, his fist still hurt.

'The last three layers of the leaves are sturdier than the golden leaf below. No wonder even the Soul Sea Realm masters failed to take out the ores from within them, ' Zen reflected, however he was not too disappointed. He had already expected this and had only wanted to confirm the fact.

The pickaxe — that was what he needed to solve this problem.

If he could get the Black Star pickaxe, he should be able to dig out the ores from within these leaves. However, the pickaxe itself was wrapped within the golden leaf. Nobody from the four divine kingdoms had managed to extract it, and Zen knew it would be a near impossible task for him to do so as well.

Failing to

ou're lucky, you might be able to find one or two sacred weapons at most among the cursed weapons. You could as well go on mining here."

If Zen sold the mountainous pile of ores beside Camilla in the four divine kingdoms, the money would be enough to purchase five or six sacred weapons. That was far more than the value he could possibly get from the rubbish.

"Camilla is right. With your strength, there's no need for you to do something so foolish," Randy stated, agreeing with Camilla. Still, for some unknown reason, he felt that Zen wasn't just going to the armory to pick undamaged weapons.

"It's fine. I'm just curious. I'll come back later to mine!" Zen replied with a smile. Just as he finished speaking, he raised his head and happened to meet Fiona's eyes.

Although he had been busy going in and out of the pyramid, he hadn't forgotten to pay attention to those around him. His sharp gaze was always aware of everything. He knew that Fiona's gaze had been closely focused on him.

As they locked eyes, Fiona showed him a soft, gentle smile and jumped down along the pyramid. Because of the suppression of the blood sacrifice's power, no one was able to fly at this place, so she had created a fiery red barrier around her body with her life vitality and glided several dozen feet down before arriving in front of Zen.

"Let me go with you! I would like to take a look as well," she suggested to Zen.

Her goal for exploring the Feather Holy Sea and entering the Feather Emperor Secret Land wasn't to obtain the ores and treasures. She had come here to gain experience.

Zen smiled and nodded in approval. He turned around and led the way, going around the pyramid and following the straight path to its left. There were quite a few divine-level geniuses who were returning from the armory one after another. Their gazes fixed on Zen and Fiona with curiosity as they passed by the two.