Chapter 1199: Chapter 348: Capturing the Second Venerable!
Before meeting Venerable Moon Rabbit, Fang Ze had only met one Venerable, Yuan Gu. He had always believed that a Venerable should be someone who would sacrifice everything for their race, someone fierce and unwilling to submit to others.
However, after delving into Venerable Moon Rabbit’s experiences and thoughts, Fang Ze realized that actually… a Venerable is merely a creature who has gained the approval of their entire race.
As for this recognition, whether it’s earned through virtue, contribution, coercion, deceit, or inherited family status, all are possible.
This leads to a variety of Venerable personalities—though there may be more self-proud heroes and tyrants like Venerable Yuan Gu.
So how can one find Venerables like Venerable Moon Rabbit who are easier to control? Fang Ze discovered the answer during his conquest of Venerable Moon Rabbit, and that is: find dormant Venerables.
Dormancy is a way for demigods to avoid the erosion of time, extend longevity, and maintain their personalities. And Venerables have much greater longevity and divine power compared to other demigods. Therefore, Venerables willing to enter dormancy are either like Venerable Moon Rabbit, “individual above race” and “personal interest above all,” or those whose longevity has been half or two-thirds depleted.
These two types of Venerables often have a fear of death and various weaknesses; they are relatively easier to control than Venerables like Yuan Gu.
Therefore, Fang Ze feels that the approach he devised to target dormant Venerables was surprisingly effective.
He has a premonition that as long as he continues down this path, he will soon have a useful group of Venerables under his command.
Imagining the scene of twenty Venerables lined up, guarding the Spirit Realm Mountain, Fang Ze feels his blood boil!
Thinking this… he sat on Venerable Moon Rabbit’s large bed and carefully examined the next Venerable’s information and records.
The next Venerable is named Blood Crocodile Venerable, born over sixty thousand years ago, considered a veteran Venerable in Heaven Beyond the Heavens.
According to the investigations by Flower God and Teng, this Venerable is suspected to have depleted more than half of his longevity, thus being in long-term dormancy.
Unlike other demigods, when Blood Crocodile Venerable arrived in the Outer Realm, he was very prestigious, bringing not only a large number of believers but also thirteen demigod vassals.
However, over time, those thirteen Blood Crocodile Clan demigods gradually lost all their longevity and became divine fiends; coupled with Blood Crocodile Venerable’s lack of management skills, almost all the believers perished.
It can be said that, apart from him, the Blood Crocodile Clan has nearly gone extinct, and he can only rely on the believers recruited from subsequent worlds to maintain his facade.
Nonetheless, as a veteran Venerable, due to his strong combat ability, he still occupies a corner of Heaven Beyond the Heavens with two other Venerables: Blood Wing Venerable and Blood Origin Venerable, turning that area into a blood sea named Blood Prison with their Venerable domains.
The reason Blood Crocodile Venerable is the first Venerable recommended by Flower God and Teng for Fang Ze to target (Venerable Moon Rabbit was first due to the train incident) is that Blood Crocodile Venerable, confident in his power, doesn’t have tight defenses. Many creatures have entered the Blood Crocodile Swamp area to search for treasures without alerting this Venerable. Also, the strength of his believers is generally weak, posing not much danger.
It can be said that Blood Crocodile Venerable is the easiest Venerable to target in Heaven Beyond the Heavens.
After reviewing Blood Crocodile Venerable’s information, Fang Ze felt confident. He arranged the next development for the Moon Rabbit Clan, contacted Flower God, and quietly left Moon Rabbit Palace.
The disappearance of Venerable Moon Rabbit and Fang Ze’s departure did not have much impact on Moon Rabbit Palace, or rather, most Moon Rabbits were unaware that their Deity had been subdued by Fang Ze.
Only some sensitive Moon Rabbits noticed that the atmosphere in Moon Rabbit Palace had quietly changed: the top characters seemed to start shifting resources towards the talented young Moon Rabbits.
However, this change was very subtle, difficult to notice without careful observation. Coupled with the recent conflicts between elite disciples and low-level Moon Rabbit soldiers, even the observant Moon Rabbits just saw this as the upper echelons’ attempt to appease them….
What they didn’t know was that most of the changes were happening quietly…
…..
Meanwhile, after leaving Moon Rabbit Palace, Fang Ze headed alone to Blood Crocodile Venerable’s location: Blood Crocodile Swamp within Blood Prison.
Upon arriving at Blood Crocodile Swamp, Fang Ze indeed found many demigod vassals and Disaster Creatures lurking around. After capturing a creature for interrogation, Fang Ze learned that in the past few decades, Blood Crocodile Swamp, influenced by Blood Crocodile Venerable’s domain, has been producing many Heavenly Treasures and Earthly Marvels.
There are Blood Spirit Ganoderma, Blood Bodhi, Blood Lotus, Blood Fruit, Blood Flesh Worms, and so forth…
And the most important thing about these Heavenly Treasures and Earthly Marvels, besides boosting cultivation… is that they’re delicious!
In the Outer Realm, where even fruits and vegetables are scarce, these items, which resemble fruits and vegetables in taste and can improve cultivation, are truly priceless treasures.
Anyone who finds just one of these Heavenly Treasures and Earthly Marvels can offer it to their race’s demigod and receive generous rewards. Even ordinary Disaster Creatures have the chance to become outer ring believers, no longer homeless and starving.