Chapter 3371: Awakening the Artifact Spirit (1)

When they heard sacrifice, the expressions of the Wood Spirits experts all changed.

"Sacrifice? But once we make sacrifices, will we still be able to live?"

"We might not have to sacrifice everything. Maybe just part of it is enough."

"That's impossible. With our strength, let alone offering up a part, even offering up all our lives is probably just a smidge to the spirit of the ancestral artifact. It'll be next to nothing."

"Since the first ancestor said the spirit of the ancestral artifact would awaken with our generation, then we'll definitely be able to do it. Let's see if there's any other way."

……

…

The experts of the Wood Spirits voiced their opinions fervently. They also came up with many guesses, but in the end, apart from making offerings, none of them could come up with a better idea.

At this moment, the Heaven Fighting Ruler suddenly turned towards Jian Chen. He cupped his fist and asked, "Fellow Jian Chen, do you have any good suggestions?"

Jian Chen immediately sank into his thoughts in response. After a moment of silence, he shook his head gently.

The Heaven Fighting Ruler was disappointed by that. Then he looked at the Jade Heaven Ruler who was still breaking through. He said to the others, "Why don't we wait a little and decide once Jade Heaven finishes her breakthrough?"

The seven new rulers subconsciously looked towards the Jade Heaven Ruler and nodded in agreement.

Afterwards, they began to wait patiently, waiting for the Jade Heaven Ruler to complete her breakthrough and rouse from cultivation.

Meanwhile, Jian Chen constantly studied this world. He placed most of his attention on the small wooden hut on the hill. He even tried to get a little closer to the hill.

However, as soon as he tried moving past the first ancestor, he was stopped by an invisible power, unable to proceed another inch.

The power was tremendous and mighty. He could not resist it. It was power that came from the sovereign god artifact itself.

The furthest he could reach was the same place as the first ancestor. Any further towards the small wooden hut was impossible.

"I'll look around here." With that, Jian Chen suddenly vanished.

The eight rulers of the Wood Spirits remained where they were in deep thought. They contemplated the will of the first ancestor and tried to find a way to awaken the spirit of the ancestral artifact.

They had no other choice either. After all, as long as the spirit of the ancestral artifact remained slumbering, they could not leave.

In the blink of an eye, several days passed. The Jade Heaven Ruler successfully completed her breakthrough, formally becoming a Third Heavenly Layer Chaotic Prime.

"Where is Jian Chen? Why isn't he here?" As soon as she opened her eyes, she immediately asked for Jian Chen's whereabouts. She was slightly displeased.

"Fellow Jian Chen has gone to investigate somewhere else. He should return very quickly." The Heaven Fighting Ruler arrived before the Jade Heaven Ruler with a friendly smile, politely congratulating her on her breakthrough.

The seven other rulers gathered around as well, offering her their sincere congratulations.

However, the Jade Heaven Ruler was in absolutely no mood to accept their congratulations. Her face was sunken as if she was very unhappy.

"Jade Heaven Ruler, everyone has been waiting for you to come up with ideas. How do you think we should awaken the spirit of the ancestral artifact?" an old man asked. He was formerly the head caretaker of the Divine Palace of Jade Centre, as well as a capable subordinate of the Jade Heaven Ruler. His name was Shui Hen.

Of course, after becoming a ruler, they had all become independent. They were no longer bound by their former identities.

"You're asking me, so who am I supposed to ask? Everything I know about this place is no different from what you know," the Jade Heaven Ruler said in exasperation.

"B-but you're the strongest out of all of us." Shui Hen felt wronged after being rebuked for no reason, murmuring away softly.

Seeing that, the other Wood Spirits experts found it rather difficult to speak up. They could all tell that the Jade Heaven Ruler had become slightly angry.

At this moment, Jian Chen appeared again with a flash. He studied the Jade Heaven Ruler and smiled gently. "Congratulations. Your strength has increased yet again."

"Where did you go?" The Jade Heaven Ruler stood with her hands behind her back, looking at Jian Chen with a frown.

"I took a look nearby."

"Did you find anything?"

Jian Chen shook his head. "I didn't. This world isn't as large as I imagined it to be. It's extremely small and very normal. The only special part of it is near the small hill."

"Then do you know how we should awaken the spirit of the ancestral artifact?" The Jade Heaven Ruler stared at Jian Chen closely.

"I don't know. You'll have to figure that out yourself," Jian Chen said casually.

Afterwards, the nine experts of the Wood Spirits began a discussion about how they should awaken the spirit of the ancestral artifact.

However, after several days of discussion and numerous attempts, they achieved nothing at all.

With no other choice, the nine of them could only come up with one last method—sacrifice.

"We've tried many different methods, but they're all useless. The only path that lays ahead of us now is through sacrifice. We need to sacrifice our lives just like the dozen or so generations of seniors ahead of us," said the Mayhemless Heavenly King.

"That's right. All we can do is sacrifice ourselves, but we don't have to sacrifice everything. We can take it slowly and sacrifice bit by bit. Perhaps the spirit of the ancestral artifact will have awakened by the time we've sacrificed half of everything."

"After all these generations of effort ahead of us, we're probably only slightly off from awakening the spirit of the ancestral artifact, so let's make up for this tiny bit remaining."

"We have to believe in the first ancestor. Since the first ancestor said our generation would awaken the spirit of the ancestral artifact, then we'll definitely be able to."

"Alright, then let's start the offering, but we have to take it slowly."

After an intense discussion, they still ended up deciding to try and offer up their lives.

They got right to it, immediately taking action. They lined up behind the previous generation of ancestors before kneeling towards the small wooden hut on the hill. Their expressions were filled with devotion as they used a secret technique, beginning to offer up themselves.

Immediately, their souls, cultivations, and vital energies were exhausted at a visible rate. All of the energy merged with the surroundings, absorbed by the world.

They became feeble as their lives gradually dimmed.

None of them were ready to completely sacrifice themselves, so they controlled the rate of offering and ensured it to be extremely slow. They remained hopefully inside, hoping that the spirit of the ancestral artifact only needed that tiny bit extra.

Time slipped by. The more time passed, the more of their life they offered up. In just a few hours, they had offered up twenty percent of their lives.

After over twenty hours, only half of their lives remained, but let alone showing any signs of awakening, the surroundings had not even responded to their actions.

Not even in the slightest!

Meanwhile, they grew even more feeble.

By now, the nine of them began to waver.

"Spirit of the ancestral artifact, please awaken quickly. If you still don't awaken, w-we're going to die." The Deadwood Heavenly King wailed out, hoping that a miracle would occur.

"Hold on, everyone. Perhaps we're just a tiny bit off, just a tiny bit! We'll succeed if we hold on for a little longer."

"We have to believe in the first ancestor. The first ancestor is capable of tremendous feats. Everything she says must be true."

The experts of the Wood Spirits encouraged one another.

Before long, they had already offered up seventy percent of their lives.

They had already harmed the foundations of their lives by coming so far. Their bodies became much more shrivelled compared to before.

The spirit of the ancestral artifact still showed no signs of awakening.

They had offered up seventy percent of their lives, but they had not even made a splash, which made more and more of them feel despair. The ancestor's will might not come true. The spirit of the ancestral artifact was still asleep.

During this time, Jian Chen closely studied the changes in the surroundings. As he gazed at the nine Wood Spirits experts close to death, he sighed inside as he thought, "Looks like the nine of them really are incapable of awakening the spirit of the ancestral artifact. Let alone sacrificing half of their lives, even if they sacrificed everything, it would be barely anything to the spirit of the ancestral artifact."

"Looks like all I can do now is to try this."