Fey Evolution Merchant

"Are all the Dark Pufferfish disobedient, or does this only apply to your leader?"

Given the current situation, Ink Thorn dared not go against Lin Yuan's instructions.

Ink Thorn was strongly inclined to rebel.

If Winter were in Lin Yuan's place, he would not have given Ink Thorn any chances and would have killed him immediately.

However, doing so would only cause the problem of inciting infighting among the Dark Pufferfish as the main members fought over becoming the new leader.

Even if Lin Yuan forcefully suppressed the main members and assigned a new leader, it would be difficult for this new leader to assume control and maintain order right off the bat.

Lin Yuan frowned at Ink Thorn and paused mid-knocking on the throne's armrest. The continuous thudding stopped.

Ink Thorn froze and dragged his body, severely injured by Autumn's aura, over to Lin Yuan before bowing. He said, "Lord, it is the Dark Pufferfish's honor to be taken in by you. I will go and fetch the Faith Tree's sprout for you now. The sprout will definitely be able to grow strong as long as it can absorb a large amount of pure spirit qi. In the entire Lonely River, only the sprout nurtured by the Dark Pufferfish is capable of reaching such a level!"

The wise are those who understand their circumstances.

Ink Thorn understood his circumstances and made the best judgment based on them.

However, Ink Thorn did not know if this young man was put off by his previous actions and would order his subordinate to kill him because of it.

If there was any hope of leading the Dark Pufferfish in resistance against this enemy, Ink Thorn would not hesitate to do so for the sake of the Dark Pufferfish's pride and future development. After all, the Dark Pufferfish are currently a free species.

Once Lin Yuan took control of the Faith Tree, the future generations of Dark Pufferfish would only be able to serve and wait upon Lin Yuan and his descendants!

The Faith Tree could be inherited through bloodline. A direct descendant's bloodline could inherit the Faith Tree. It was not a case of servants being released once the Faith Tree's current master died!

In order to express his respect, Ink Thorn slammed his head heavily onto the ground in a kowtow.

The Dark Pufferfish's authoritative might dissipated with every slam and eventually vanished.

Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow.

Since Ink Thorn was now obedient, there was no need to cause a large fuss.

Lin Yuan did not want to waste too much time there.

Soon, Winter would lead the other species in the Lonely River there.

The Faith Tree was enough for him to take control of the Dark Pufferfish.

Once Lin Yuan took control of the powerful species in the Lonely River, he would allow them to compete and share power.

Martial force was not sufficient for him to subdue all the species in the Lonely River. He needed to extend kindness as well as discipline.

Once he controlled the species using his power, he would use his means to win their hearts, thereby gaining a large supply of faith from these lifeforms. That was Lin Yuan's main goal!

Ink Thorn carried a light blue jade pot and slowly walked over.

There was a light gold tree sprout growing in the jade pot. It was almost two meters tall. The tree sprout's leaves were heart-shaped and did not have any patterns on them. They glowed with a faint light.

Autumn had already explained to Lin Yuan how he could take control of the Faith Tree sprout.

The Faith Trees' roots needed to be planted in the fountain of faith to take control of the sprout. The faith power in the fountain of faith would then seep into the sprout.

This process took up a large amount of faith power. But once the faith power in the fountain of faith fully entered the Faith Tree, it would be ready to help its contractor take control of other species.

If the amount of faith power in the fountain of faith was low, it would immediately be drained dry by the sprout.

Only the experts of a few species were unable to contract Faith Tree sprouts but did so by force. As a result, their divine kingdoms were damaged.

Based on his level of power, Ink Thorn was unable to form a contract with the Faith Tree.

Lin Yuan was weaker than Ink Thorn. But due to the special characteristics of his divine kingdom, he had more than enough faith power in his divine kingdom to contract three to five Faith Tree sprouts.

Ink Thorn placed the Faith Tree sprout by Lin Yuan's feet before taking a few steps back.

Ink Thorn thought that Autumn would be the one forming a contract with the Faith Tree. He never expected Lin Yuan to be the one to plant the sprout in his divine kingdom.

Astonishment appeared on Ink Thorn's face.

A damaged divine kingdom couldn't be healed. Was this young man not afraid of hurting his divine kingdom?

Even if this young man was not afraid of damaging his divine kingdom, the experts by his side should be warning him.

Ink Thorn was afraid that Lin Yuan would become angry once his divine kingdom was damaged and that the rage would be turned onto him. That would spell doom for him!

Time ticked by, and what Ink Thorn was worried about did not happen.

Suddenly, the fluctuations of faith power begin radiating from Lin Yuan.

A golden tree that is tens of meters tall appeared in front of Lin Yuan. Every single one of these golden tree's golden leaves shines with orange-gold light. The orange-gold light pierced through the heart-shaped leaves like flying birds.

It was clear that Lin Yuan had used the faith power in his divine kingdom to form a contract with the Faith Tree.

Moreover, he had fully matured the Faith Tree and cultivated it until it thrived fully.

While Ink Thorn and the other Dark Pufferfish were shocked, Lin Yuan's heart ached. The Faith Tree sprout had absorbed far more faith power than he had expected.

Luckily, Lin Yuan had accumulated sufficient faith power. Otherwise, the amount of faith power that the Faith Tree sprout drained might have affected the divine kingdom's subsequent derivation. It might have caused the derivation to slow down!

"Okay. You will now inject faith into the Faith Tree and link it with your divine kingdoms! I always treat the people under me very well. When you work for me in the future, you will be able to receive generous rewards if you do well!"

Lin Yuan took out a Diamond fey storage box and placed it in Autumn's hands.

Next, he told the Dark Pufferfish, "Once all of you link your divine kingdoms to the Faith Tree and it produces fruits, you will be able to obtain a spirit qi crystal each from Autumn. The spirit qi crystal contains pure spirit qi and can strengthen your bloodlines."

The Dark Pufferfish looked shocked once again.

Spirit qi had to be of a certain purity for it to be used to strengthen bloodlines.

Lin Yuan used martial force to take control of the Dark Pufferfish. There was no need for a superior to lie to a subordinate.

However, it was difficult to imagine one providing such a large amount of pure spirit qi.

Every lifeform that lived in the Sky Beyond the Clouds knew how precious pure spirit qi was.

Instead of keeping it for himself, Lin Yuan was giving away the spirit qi as a reward. This meant that he had no lack of pure spirit that could strengthen bloodlines.

Ink Thorn could not begin to dream of the faction that Lin Yuan came from.

It might not be bad for the Dark Pufferfish to become the servants of such a powerful faction!

Ink Thorn was the first to step forward to inject faith power into Lin Yuan's Faith Tree. Once the Faith Tree was familiar with his faith, it formed a link with his divine kingdom.

The moment Ink Thorn sensed that his divine kingdom was linked with the Faith Tree, a golden fruit the size of a thumb grew beneath a heart-shaped leaf.

By providing the Faith Tree with his faith power, he was also aiding its growth. Because of his faith, the Faith Tree grew many new leaves.

Ink Thorn had initially prepared this Faith Tree for himself. But now, it was being used to take control of him instead.

Before Ink Thorn could rue his predicament, he received a spirit qi crystal from Autumn.

Ink Thorn carefully crushed the spirit qi crystal, and spirit qi beyond Ink Thorn's imagination entered his body, nourishing him.

His bloodline began circulating under the nourishment of the pure spirit qi.

This comfort caused Ink Thorn to let out a soft sigh.

The way that Ink Thorn looked at Lin Yuan changed.

The spirit qi that Lin Yuan gave to the Dark Pufferfish could do more than just trigger bloodlines. The spirit qi was sufficient to activate his genetic model.

Ink Thorn had never had the right to come into contact with such resources.

By now, this black-haired and black-eyed young man no longer had the aura of a Bloodian.

Ink Thorn could not be certain of Lin Yuan's identity. But at this moment, Lin Yuan seemed far superior to a high-ranking Bloodian!

With the Bloodians' foundation, even if they could produce such pure spirit qi, they would not be able to produce much of it, much less give it to every Dark Pufferfish!

The logic behind Lin Yuan's actions was simple. He wanted to offer a mix of positive and negative consequences.

However, the positive consequence that Lin Yuan offered was better than anything that the Dark Pufferfish had ever experienced.

Lin Yuan had not expected this.

Currently, Lin Yuan did not have a complete understanding of the degree of poverty in the Sky Beyond the Clouds. But it would not take long before he came to understand this.

This was because once Lin Yuan had control over all the species in the Lonely River, he would pick 100 lifeforms with whom Genius could connect using Connected Tails. This would allow Lin Yuan to gain a complete understanding of the circumstances of the Lonely River and, by extension, the Sky Beyond the Clouds.

Lin Yuan was fully focused on growing the Faith Tree.

There were now thousands of glittering golden fruits growing on the Faith Tree. At first, the Faith Tree had only been a few tens of meters tall. But now, it was more than 500 meters tall.

Luckily, the Dark Pufferfish's palace was sufficiently grand. Otherwise, the Faith Tree would have broken through the roof.

The Dark Pufferfish managers all received spirit qi crystals.

Soon, the regular Dark Pufferfish began dedicating their faith to the Faith Tree.

The spirit qi crystals were a reward for the Dark Pufferfish managers. The regular Dark Pufferfish received water-type heavenly-maiden-grade elemental pearls as a reward.

Even if the quality of the rewards fell, the regular Dark Pufferfish would still be more than satisfied.

It was not long before news came from Winter.

Winter had taken control of the Hidden Fog Turtles, Mantis Stone Crabs, and Shadow-Hunting Stingrays.

These four species were known as the Four Species Overlords of Lonely River. They were the strongest species in the Lonely River.

Fan Lou had already introduced them to Lin Yuan.

Winter needed time to bring these three species to Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan used this opportunity to summon Genius and used Genius to investigate the Dark Pufferfish's memories so it could vividly describe the past few thousand years of events that had taken place in the Lonely River.

The Lonely River was an unimpressive place compared to the rest of the Sky Beyond the Clouds. Nonetheless, its development had been an exciting one.

Lin Yuan watched the rise and death of hundreds of species.

In spite of the thousands of species that had gone extinct in the Lonely River in the past few thousand years, there were always new species entering the Lonely River and joining the fray.

The Dark Pufferfish, Hidden Fog Turtles, Shadow-Hunting Stingrays, and Mantis Stone Crabs could dominate the Lonely River because they each had their own competencies.

The Dark Pufferfish could contaminate water with the poison in their bodies. Once one was afflicted with the Dark Pufferfish's poison, one would lose the ability to control water elements.

The Hidden Fog Turtles mainly controlled the upper section of the Lonely River and produced a large amount of fog on the river's surface.

When flying feys crossed the Lonely River, the Hidden Fog Turtles would shoot out jets of water to attack them.

The Hidden Fog Turtles were not strong at doing combat in water. They were one of the Four Species Overlords of Lonely River because they had extremely strong defensive abilities. Not even the Mantis Stone Crabs' giant pincers could break past the Hidden Fog Turtles' defenses!

The Mantis Stone Crabs used their bodies in battle. While they were attacking, they utilized both thunder elements and fire elements. When coupled with their extremely strong defensive abilities, they were able to stand above the Dark Pufferfish, Hidden Fog Turtles, and Shadow-Hunting Stingrays. The other three species' members could not compete with the Mantis Stone Crabs' members.

The Shadow-Hunting Stingrays were the most mysterious of the Four Species Overlords of Lonely River. All of them were like assassins in the Lonely River.

Their concealment and hunting abilities were unmatched in the Lonely River. None of the species in the Lonely River wanted to make an enemy out of the Shadow-Hunting Stingrays.

When the Shadow-Hunting Stingrays robbed them of their resources, they usually chose to accept the short-term loss and would not begrudge the Shadow-Hunting Stingrays over it.

If the Shadow-Hunting Stingrays did not lack ambition and had a small number of members who were not united, they would likely have already conquered the Lonely River.

The Dark Pufferfish's unreasonable demands of the Bloodians were related to the Shadow-Hunting Stingrays to a certain extent.

The Dark Pufferfish had lost too much in their fights with the Shadow-Hunting Stingrays and were in urgent need of a large amount of resources to bolster their store of resources.