Chapter 13: Mysterious Stone Tribe (3)

(Weird... How weird...)

Jiang Sheng's whole attention was all on the three little green buds growing in the crevices between the coarse gravel and rocks. Their appearance was no different from a wild weed growing everywhere by the roadside.

But in this Jiao Continent filled with boulders, rocks, sand, gravel, and pebbles, three little plants are like three drops of verdant paint on a wall painting. They might be insignificant, but they still bring a hint of variables to this grey and dull world.

The Mysterious Stone Tribe was a part of this lacking Jiao Continent ecosystem. But so do the three little green plants.

(I wonder how the three green buds came into existence? Shall I pay some attention to them?)

This question puzzled Jiang Sheng momentarily, causing him to study the Jiao Continent more attentively afterward. From the initial intention of simple scanning across the surface, Jiang Sheng had now inspected the atmosphere, soil, and three Zhang deep into the ground.

Nothing was left uninspected on Jiang Sheng's second day with the Shattered Jiao Continent Stone. But to his surprise, Jiang Sheng discovered no other resources on this piece of a barren, Shattered Realm Stone.

All it had was a rich deposit of soil, rocks, and sand with a terrible affinity to Spiritual Energy, let alone the need to mention its poor ability to retain and maintain the power of vitality that keeps life going in this small, independent world.

Furthermore, this Jiao Continent also contains no breathable atmosphere, making it unsuitable for humankind and plants that need breathing to stay alive. But apparently, such a challenging condition was like a sanctuary to the Mysterious Stone Tribe, which has no such needs.

His meticulous inspection also concluded that no water source could be found anywhere on this piece of Realm Stone. And that naturally leads Jiang Sheng to a question...

(How did the three little buds stay alive without air and water? Could the plants share the same traits as the Mysterious Stone Tribe, which does not need breathing or eating to stay alive?)

Jiang Sheng guessed. But he had no idea he was just half correct. The nameless, green little buds had no need for breathing, but they still needed to eat. Their food is naturally the shattered core of a living golem left in the aftermath of a brawl.

Just as Jiang Sheng's Spiritual Sense is weakening, the Mysterious Stone Tribesmen suddenly become active again. Unrestrained and free, a brawl instantly started near the three green little buds.

To the three plants with a height of merely an adult's pinky finger, the living golem was akin to a colossal giant that moves around them.

(These little mortals! Are you trying to run something that caught my interest?)

Jiang Sheng was delighted by their liveliness and worried about it, particularly due to where the brawl started. 

Out of personal concern, he immediately directed a hint of his Spiritual Sense around the three little buds, intending to protect them from getting crushed beneath the living golem's foot.

But reality quickly taught Jiang Sheng a lesson that his concern was unnecessary. His concern was harming those little saplings instead.

Because the Jiao Continent was in a category of Realm Stone further below Lesser Realm, the sets of Laws and Logic it followed were flawed. In this case, Jiang Sheng's own set of Naturality, Sense, and Understanding is obviously inappropriate to be applied on top of this Shattered World.

It may sound ridiculous, but the green little buds were much livelier before it was protected by Jiang Sheng's Spiritual Sense. It is as if... the plant needs to live its life in between the danger, risking its safety of getting crushed by the living golems to obtain the necessary nutrients to grow.

This is also why the protective barrier earlier ended up almost costing these plants their fragile and invaluable life. In case they really die because of that, this protective barrier would be the most expensive ever coffin made for a mere budding sapling.

(This Jiao Continent is getting more and more interesting...)

Jiang Sheng spoke to himself.

These new discoveries only got him more interested in peeling off the protective layers that hide the Jiao Continent's secret piece by piece, like removing the clothes of a virgin maiden. His initial intention of simply monitoring them also gradually escalated to " nurturing" them properly.

It might not seem that obvious, but this "play" was a part of the process for Jiang Sheng to grasp and understand the true meaning of an immortal faster. After all, playing the part of a "god" who had complete control over mortals was a part of the assessment of the ascended and other Half-Step Immortals.

Because at this point of their cultivation, the lives of millions of mortals are no longer worth noting.

At one moment, these lives could be part of the Karmic Cycle that produces a hint of energy necessary to an Immortal-Realm cultivator. But the next moment, they could be reduced into fresh ingredients to refine a batch of Blood and Flesh Immortal Pills.

Even a recently promoted Half-Immortal, who had little to zero understanding of this stage, could simply reduce a dynasty into ashes with a simple flick of his finger. Their action could be tyrannical or virtuous, but it was all part of their right as immortal.

For Jiang Sheng's next few days, all his attention was given to mining the Immortal Spirit Qi Crystals or mending the broken life threads that joined the Shattered Jiao Continent together. It was a lengthy process, but seeing how the Realm Stone gradually retained more vitality each day made Jiang Sheng feel it was a noteworthy effort.

He had no idea that the effort he put into it also gave him a deeper understanding of the High Heaven Immortal Foundation Technique. Although they're still far from completing the next part of the technique, he is at least a step further than in the past.

With how fast the Sun and Moon replace one another, the Shattered Jiao Continent Stone had already been in Jiang Sheng's care for ten full days. As the physical owner of the Shattered piece of a Realm Stone and halfway refining this treasure into his Spiritual Universe, Jiang Sheng naturally could sense everything that happened on the Jiao Continent.

Under his meticulous care, the Mysterious Stone Tribe inside this Shattered World had grown from a mere hundred thousand to a million living golem tribe. Furthermore, there's a sighting of two Second-Tier living golems residing on the western edge of the continent, each leading several hundred living golems as subordinates.

Meanwhile, the green buds had propagated from three to fifteen buds. There were no major changes to their outer appearance, except they had grown a little taller, growing a third of what they were before. Still, they were at most at the height of an index finger.

To the owner, Jiang Sheng's surprise, the peaceful days in the Jiao Continent are eventually broken when a small battle that looks insignificant from afar breaks out.

The two Second-Tier living golems are finally unable to accept the existence of another similar strength rival and clash with one another.

It was far from being an unforgettable battle. But it was surely a memorable one for Jiang Sheng because such an insignificant fight due to rivalry could generate so much energy from the collision between two Second-Tier living golems.

A winner is quickly decided between the two Second-Tier living golems after they fought for an hour or so. The winner then chooses to swallow the loser's core to obtain the qualification to be promoted further.

Moments later, a living golem with a body constructed from twenty-four finer stones came into view. With these rocks used to develop a body, it was no longer necessary to question this living golem's ability.

This Second-Tier living golem is surely a true leader capable of leading the pack.

But simultaneously, the battle also created a powerful fluctuation in the Jiao Continent's Spiritual Energy. These fluctuations then spread over a hundred thousand miles and awakened several sleeping entities, all with leadership potentials.

A total of fourteen entities with leadership potential instinctually gain an understanding of the importance of strength. Without needing to do anything, the Jiao Continent is slowly creeping into a period of endless rivalry.

Right now, the Second-Tier living golem might be the strongest entity on the Jiao Continent, but the land it was on was just a small part of the world. And with fourteen new rivals, each rising from where they came, something will surely happen sooner or later.

To Jiang Sheng, this is obviously something he was looking forward to after witnessing how quickly the growth was after the Spiritual Energy fluctuated once during the battle. And if this continued for a while, it would definitely bring more vitality and growth to this Shattered World that was about to die two weeks back.

A special incident finally started on Jiang Sheng's twelfth day of ownership. As the owner of this piece of a Realm Stone, Jiang Sheng gave this event a memorable name.

The first Mysterious Stone Tribe War.