I picked up skill fragments in the demon world.

Chapter 1041 Puzzle
"Don't cry, we've met again, haven't we? You've suffered so much these past years." Zhang Chen stroked Xu Erniu's aged head, a hint of emotion in his eyes. The young girl of yesteryear had turned into an old woman. This feeling of time passing and things changing suddenly welled up in Zhang Chen's heart, and an inexplicable sorrow swirled within him.

Fortunately, he found Xu Erniu in time, and fortunately, the worst had not happened yet; everything was still in time.

Xu Erniu recounted her experiences after their separation to Zhang Chen. After she finished, Zhang Chen asked with a strange expression, "I never imagined that the legendary Great Teacher of Virtue was actually a woman. What about Cheng Yu?"

The Chengdu-Chongqing region is his biggest question.

Upon hearing Zhang Chen's question, Xu Erniu looked surprised and said, "You actually know about Chengdu and Chongqing?"

Xu Erniu had been hiding deep in the mountains, suppressing her aura, and was unaware of Zhang Chen's activities down the mountain. Upon hearing him mention Chengdu and Chongqing, she couldn't help but show surprise.

Zhang Chen recounted his interactions with Cheng Yu, and also mentioned his intention to help Cheng Yu suppress the incense palace within his soul. Now that the end of the Dharma has arrived, the incense and divine paths have disappeared, and Cheng Yu has gained his freedom, but Zhang Chen still wanted to ask for clarification.

“Cheng Yu is my clone, a wisp of my spirit. I originally wanted to separate a wisp of my soul to reincarnate while I was asleep, to find you in the cycle of reincarnation. I never expected that it would develop its own consciousness. We are so destined to meet under such circumstances.” Xu Erniu’s voice was full of joy.

“Originally, after my resurrection, I intended to kill her directly, but I sensed that this great calamity had reached its final stage, and I feared I wouldn't survive. So I decided to leave her behind, as a way to preserve a sliver of hope. If she can meet you in the future, it will fulfill my regret.” Xu Erniu's voice was filled with emotion.
"Of course, there was another option back then, which was to possess her body. I would merge my soul into her body and try my best to survive. But who knew that the Great Calamity of the End of Dharma was too severe, and I even lost the ability to possess her body."

Zhang Chen was taken aback when he heard Xu Erniu's words. He looked Xu Erniu up and down, never expecting that there would be such a twist in the story.

As Xu Erniu finished speaking, she climbed out of Zhang Chen's arms, her cloudy eyes staring at him with a look of sorrow, and tears streamed down her face once more.
"I've endured countless hardships and endured millions of years to finally find you, but you are still young, while I am about to die of old age. I am not reconciled!" Xu Erniu stretched out her aged hand to touch Zhang Chen's smooth and elastic skin. "My lifespan will probably end in the next year or two. After I die, don't miss me. Tell Cheng Yu to stay and keep you company. She is still young and has enough time to be with you in my place. She was originally a part of my essence and spirit. You could say she is me, but I am still unwilling to accept this..." Tears kept sliding down Xu Erniu's face, and her sobbing appearance was heartbreaking.

"Don't cry! Don't cry! I've already found a way to escape the great calamity of the end times. You're a lucky girl. With me here today, you won't die." Zhang Chen quickly comforted Xu Erniu's grief, afraid that she might not be able to catch her breath and would die, at which point he would be powerless to save her.

"Do you have a way to get through this calamity? But I'm already so old, and my essence has been completely lost. Do you think I still have a chance?" Xu Erniu was overjoyed to hear this, and looked at Zhang Chen with burning anticipation in her eyes.

"Don't worry, now that I've found you, you don't have to die." Zhang Chen smiled and reached out to stroke Xu Erniu's head. No matter how much she had changed, in Zhang Chen's eyes, she was still the little girl who never grew up.

Zhang Chen then explained the Middle Thousand Worlds he had created to Xu Erniu, and said, "As long as you enter it and absorb the innate energy to cultivate, you can recover your cultivation in a few days and regain your immortal body."

"Zhang Chen, I knew you were capable. It's incredible that you managed to do something like this." Xu Erniu stared at Zhang Chen with wide eyes, her cloudy gaze filled with admiration, as if she had become the little girl who needed Zhang Chen's care again.

"Stop arguing. I'll send you to cultivate in that Middle Thousand World. I'm really afraid you'll die any minute now." Zhang Chen looked at the deathly aura surrounding Xu Erniu, his words filled with worry.

“My true form is the ginseng fruit tree outside the thatched hut. You only need to send my true form into the Middle Thousand World to receive the nourishment of innate energy, and you don’t need to worry about the rest.” Xu Erniu stood up shakily, pulled Zhang Chen to the gate, and pointed to the big tree, saying:

"But this large tree is rooted in the rocks and is connected to the entire feng shui formation. Do you have the ability to move it?"

Looking at the giant tree in front of him, Zhang Chen also felt that it was a bit difficult. Needless to say, the tree was connected to the feng shui formation. Its roots were embedded in the rocks, and the roots could extend for hundreds or even thousands of meters, or even cover the entire mountain. For Zhang Chen, he could only control one meter of the soil at present. Pulling it out would be extremely difficult.

"It seems the only way is to consume the Golden Elixir to temporarily gain extraordinary power and uproot that tree?" Zhang Chen pondered to himself.

Seeing Zhang Chen pondering, Xu Erniu, who was standing nearby, thought he couldn't do it and became a little anxious: "If you can't pull out the whole tree, you can break off a branch and let it take root and sprout."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen's gaze swept across the entire tree: "No need! Just watch my methods." With a thought, Zhang Chen activated his Heavenly Eye within his own consciousness. The next moment, a golden pill flew out from the Heavenly Eye and landed in Zhang Chen's dantian. Then, a terrifying medicinal power erupted forth like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami. Zhang Chen circulated the Nine Revolutions Profound Technique, plundering the medicinal power and transforming it into magical power. Meanwhile, the Great Thousand Worlds were also frantically plundering the magical power within Zhang Chen's body. However, the speed of the Great Thousand Worlds' plundering was ultimately a tiny bit slower than Zhang Chen's refining process, causing a portion of the pill's power to swirl within Zhang Chen's body.

The next moment, Zhang Chen unleashed his magic power, and the power of the Five Elements Authority surged rapidly, enveloping the entire solitary peak in an instant.

Then Zhang Chen unleashed his Wood and Earth powers simultaneously, and in the next moment, a five-colored divine light shot into the sky, enveloping Zhang Chen. The large tree was uprooted by Zhang Chen, shrunk to the size of a palm, and landed in Zhang Chen's hand.

Those on Huangtiandao in the distance were all secretly shocked when they saw the colorful light soaring into the sky and the terrifying aura emanating from Zhang Chen.

"The intelligence reports are indeed true. Zhang Chen has truly mastered extraordinary power in the Dharma-ending Age. Not only does he possess extraordinary strength, but the power he unleashes is simply terrifying. Let alone thousands of troops, even billions of troops would be nothing more than ants before him." A high-ranking member of Huang Tiandao looked at the terrifying power unleashed by Zhang Chen, a look of horror appearing in his eyes.

"Our strategy of appeasement was indeed a wise choice. It's fortunate that we didn't confront Zhang Chen head-on. If we had escalated the conflict further, the entire Qingcheng Mountain would probably be reduced to dust by now," an elder from Huangtiandao muttered with lingering fear.

Everyone present was perceptive and could sense the power Zhang Chen was unleashing. It was at least at the ninth rank or higher, making him a deserving god in this era. He possessed terrifying strength, and the number of people in front of him was nothing more than a number that could be easily crushed.

On the solitary peak

Zhang Chen was unaware that his unintentional action had stunned everyone in Huangtiandao. He stretched out his hand, and the towering tree was uprooted from the cliff and transformed into a ten-centimeter-tall sapling. At this moment, Xu Erniu's body transformed into a stream of light and entered the ginseng fruit tree.

Zhang Chen's Heavenly Eye opened, transforming into an invisible passage. The sapling was captured by the Heavenly Eye and fell into Zhang Chen's Middle Thousand World.

As soon as the ginseng fruit tree entered the Middle Thousand World, Zhang Chen granted it the authority to absorb innate energy. The leaves of the ginseng fruit tree absorbed and exhaled innate energy, and with the nourishment of innate energy, the originally withered branches and trunks reappeared as emerald green. The old energy in the trunk was also continuously removed under the cleansing of innate energy.

With a thought in mind, Zhang Chen transplanted the ginseng fruit tree to the base of his own Tongtian Jianmu tree, allowing it to be immersed in rich innate energy and quickly regain its vitality.

The ginseng fruit tree took root and flourished, nourished by the overwhelming innate energy. A figure emerged from the ginseng fruit tree, staring in awe at the towering Jianmu tree and the vast, boundless innate energy, his eyes filled with disbelief: "What a blessing!"

Nourished by the innate energy, Xu Erniu's skin, which was originally like the bark of an old tree, began to slowly smooth out, with a faint luster adhering to it. Her white hair turned into black hair, and the traces of time were reversed on her body.

A branch fell from Zhang Chen's towering Jianmu tree, transforming into an avatar that stood beside Xu Erniu: "This place has enough innate energy. In a few thousand years, you will be able to regain your vitality and return to your peak condition. Just focus on cultivating here, and I will take care of the tribulations outside."

"Zhang Chen, you are incredibly capable! Even the ancient gods and demons were helpless against this calamity of heaven and earth, but you managed to break it. I knew I hadn't misjudged you." Xu Erniu seemed to remember something as she said this: "By the way, that Peacock Ancestor did me a great favor. If you find him, could you let him in as well?"

Zhang Chen nodded upon hearing this: "If I can find the Peacock Ancestor, I will naturally find a way to subdue him."

The Peacock Ancestor's strength is unfathomable, and the other party is restrained by his Soul-Stealing Technique. If he can be recruited into his ranks, he can become a great general.

"You should rest well here. I still need to prepare some measures to deal with the calamities to come," Zhang Chen said to Xu Erniu. The next moment, his consciousness left his body and returned to its original form.

"I never thought I would actually find Xu Erniu. She actually survived that calamity. Who would have thought that the mysterious ancestor of the demon race back then was actually the Peacock Ancestor? Fortunately, I was cautious enough back then and did not rashly test her." Zhang Chen said with lingering fear.

(End of this chapter)