Based on Wu Yu's estimation, other than the top experts, it would be extremely difficult for others to progress above the sixth level.

Hence, most of the people here should still be at the fourth or fifth levels of the Ancient Soul Tower.

Of course, there would be exceptions. For instance, with King You Ying leading them, Princess You Xue's team should not have much problems reaching the seventh or eighth levels.

Even though there were slightly fewer people on the third level of the Ancient Soul Tower, there was still quite a large number of martial cultivators here. Previously, when Prince Yu was still following them, Wu Yu's group had encountered many other people on the third level.

However, most of their encounters were with the Spirits of the Universe. Some of the towering, ancient trees surrounding them were real trees, while some were fake trees with Spirits of the Universe hiding in them. They could attack passers-by at any moment.

Qu Haoyan and his group had been trapped by these Spirits of the Universe a few times, and were almost ground into meat paste. It was Wu Yu who had saved them. Based on Prince Le and the others’ strength, it was really dangerous for them to wander about the third level of the Ancient Soul Tower.

However, Wu Yu was adamant on remaining on the third level of the Ancient Soul Tower. He would not proceed to higher levels at the moment.

That was because the abundance of Spirits of the Universe on this level meant that he could harvest more corpses. Wu Yu collected these Spirits of the Universe's corpses and kept them in his Sumeru Pouch. While these tree-type Spirits of the Universe were tough and not very tasty, they were still a source of energy, especially for the Heaven Devouring Avatar, whose true form was similar to that of a Spirit of the Universe. Hence, he could devour these corpses.

In order to prevent outsiders from seeing the devouring, Wu Yu would bring the Sumeru Pouch filled with the Spirits of the Universe corpses into the Floating Dreams Pagoda before letting the Heaven Devouring Avatar devour them. The Heaven Devouring Avatar gradually became stronger as he devoured more Spirits of the Universe.

However, the corpses of Spirits of the Universe were less effective than the essences from the blood and flesh of demons. Besides, to Wu Yu now, these tree Spirits of the Universe were not very strong.

While the Heaven Devouring Avatar strengthened at a slow pace, Wu Yu estimated that based on his rate of harvest now, the Heaven Devouring Avatar only required 10 days to reach a battle power equivalent to that of his real body. At that time, Wu Yu's real body, Heaven Devouring Avatar, and his puppets would be able to stand a chance in a fight against a seventh tier Dao Querying cultivator.

At that time, he could roam around the entire Ancient Soul Tower freely.

Prince Le and his group could not really understand why Wu Yu had insisted on remaining on the third level. They wanted to go to higher levels. They had heard that the Yan Huang Golden Bead appeared more frequently at higher levels. At this point, news spread in the tower that many people had seen the Yan Huang Golden Bead twice at the fifth level, and twice as well on the fourth level. Whereas, most of the people had only seen it once earlier on the third level.

The last time the Golden Bead had appeared was at the fifth level.

However, most people had guessed that the Golden Bead was more likely to appear frequently at the sixth, seventh, and eighth levels. It was just that no one could confirm this at this moment. For instance, no one knew about the time that Wu Yu had seen the Yan Huang Golden Bead alone.

"Prince, do you want to tell Wu Yu to advance to higher levels? We are strong enough for the next level," Qu Haoyan suggested secretly to Prince Le.

"Stop saying that. Wu Yu knows what he is doing." While Prince Le followed Wu Yu as Wu Yu continued to slay Spirits of the Universe, he had remained very patient. Perhaps he believed that Wu Yu was the key to him winning the Yan Huang Golden Bead.

The trunk of the smallest tree in the third level of the Ancient Soul Tower had a diameter of at least 10 zhang. When they raised their heads, they could not see its tree crown. The trees with thicker tree trunks had crowns reaching straight into the clouds. If they had hollowed the tree trunk, they could even build a huge city in it.

The trees here were so large that they could each basically form a forest on their own.

They could hear horrifying wails of wind at the top of this forest. The crazy wind was green in color. It was like giant, green blades, and there were billions of them. They sliced continuously in the air above the forest. Hence, no matter how tall these trees originally were, when they grew to the layer of wailing wind, any parts that attempted to grow further would be cut off.

After passing through this green, windy layer, one could reach the fourth level of the Ancient Soul Tower.

Now Qu Haoyan, Qu Fengyu, and Baili Zhuihun desired to reach the fourth level. They thought that they had to advance at least two more levels to reach the liveliest place in the tower. That level would also be the place where they would have the highest chance of obtaining the Yan Huang Golden Bead.

They were unhappy with the fact that instead of Prince Le, Wu Yu was making the decisions for the group. However, Wu Yu's strength had silenced them. Additionally, Prince Le trusted Wu Yu very much. Hence, they continued to endure and remained on the third level of the Ancient Soul Tower.

The martial cultivators who had appeared on the third level of the Ancient Soul Tower were mostly second and third tier Dao Querying cultivators. These cultivators had trained for at least 200 years. Cultivators at the Primordial Spirit Transformation Realm could never reach this level without the protection of their elders. Basically all the Primordial Spirit Transformation Realm cultivators remained at the first level of the Ancient Soul Tower. It was impossible for them to enter the next level.

Wu Yu's group could easily defeat these martial cultivators, if they had dared to challenge them.

During this period of time, the only thing that Wu Yu seemed to be doing was exploring. Along the way, he encountered all kinds of Spirits of the Universe and fought with them. He would slay his opponents and then continue to travel through the forest. There were simply too many Spirits of the Universe disguised as trees in this forest.

Actually, the reason why Qu Haoyan and his group wanted to quickly advance to the fourth level of the Ancient Soul Tower was because these tree Spirits of the Universe would often launch sneak attacks on them. Caught unaware, they would often find themselves trapped by countless vines and would always almost end up being killed. In the end, Wu Yu had to protect them within the Seven Stars Fortifying Design. The Seven Stars Iron Winged Bug was equivalent to a fourth tier Dao Querying Realm cultivator, so it was more than sufficient to protect them.

However, this was a blow to their confidence. After all, Qu Haoyan's group had finally reached the Dao Querying Realm after much difficulty. They had thought that they had reached the heavens in a single step and become powerful. Unfortunately, they realized that in the Ancient Soul Tower, they were still the weakest group once they were beyond the second level.

After a few days, while they did not voice out their concerns, their expressions darkened greatly. They continued to advocate to Prince Le that they should proceed to a higher level. They felt that they could never get the Yan Huang Golden Bead if they continued to wander around blindly at this level.

Of course, Wu Yu's goal was to develop his Heaven Devouring Avatar. Within this period of time, Wu Yu, the Full Moon of Nanshan, and Ye Xixi had killed hundreds of tree Spirits of the Universe. These trees were of different varieties. There were even some whose entire bodies were made of metal, while others had bodies of jade. However, they were all Spirits of the Universe born from the heavens and earth. They basically did not possess much intelligence. However, they had strong battle power. They possessed large amounts of essence from the heavens and earth in their bodies. Such creatures born of the heavens and earth were purer than martial cultivators and demons, who had to depend on their own training to absorb these essences. Spirits of the Universe were better and more beneficial to the Heaven Devouring Avatar.

The Heaven Devouring Avatar had grown after devouring hundreds of Spirits of the Universe. He was now between the fifth and sixth tiers of the Dao Querying Realm. Wu Yu's real body, currently at the Primordial Spirit Transformation Realm, had no problems exerting full control over the Heaven Devouring Avatar at the Dao Querying Realm. Hence, the Heaven Devouring Titanic Beast still had some space for growth. Wu Yu estimated that he would need to devour at least 100 more Spirits of the Universe to reach its peak. Hence, they would probably stay on the third level for a few more days.

He knew that Prince Le was a little anxious too. However, he still felt that becoming stronger was the key to this fight for the Yan Huang Golden Bead. So much time had passed, and yet the others had not managed to get the Yan Huang Golden Bead. A delay of a few days would not matter much.

"Are the worlds in the Ancient Soul Tower all endless and boundless? We have walked for so many days, yet we have not reached the end." The Full Moon of Nanshan stood at a high vantage point and looked far into their surroundings.

"Over these past few days, we did not encounter any fools who dared to challenge us."

There were many people like the Devilsky Seven; however, such people would be unlucky if they bumped into Wu Yu's group now.

"Stop." Wu Yu was leading the group and was focused on moving forward. He suddenly stopped in his tracks. The entire group stopped too. They could see golden light shining in his eyes now. He was using his Eyes of Fire and Gold. The whole group looked in the direction of his gaze. They actually saw a small tree amongst the countless towering trees in this forest.

This small tree was only small compared to these other gigantic trees. Its trunk had a diameter of at least five zhang, and it was at least 1,000 zhang tall. It would be considered a tall, huge tree in other places, but here in this forest, it seemed like a shrub.

Of course, the most special characteristic of this tree was not its relatively small size, nor was it its lack of leaves. It only had branches that spread out like hair. Its most unique feature was its color. This was a blood-red tree. It was the same shade of red as blood. They could even see fresh blood bleeding from its bark. Additionally, the bark on its trunk did not look rough. Rather, it looked like flesh and blood.

This did not even look like a tree. However, it possessed a thick arboreal aura and its entire body was shaped like a tree. Of course, Wu Yu could tell that it was actually a Spirit of the Universe with his Eyes of Fire and Gold. It was different from the previous tree Spirits of the Universe. This one was very strong, and it seemed to be the king of this huge forest. It had been waiting for Wu Yu to appear here.

It even reeked heavily of a vicious and bloody aura. Wu Yu recalled that in the first level of the Ancient Soul Tower, there were ordinary Burnished Golden Ants, but also that golden scorpion. The golden scorpion was much stronger than the ants. This bloody tree's relation to the average tree Spirits of the Universe was like that of the golden scorpion and the Burnished Golden Ants.

Besides, Wu Yu felt like he was being targeted. It was not him who had encountered this bloody tree here. Rather, it was the bloody tree that had found him and waited for him here. It was unbelievably excited after finding Wu Yu. Of course, Wu Yu was also excited. His Heaven Devouring Avatar lacked a strong Spirit of the Universe like this bloody tree as fodder.

Having met here, there was no doubt that a battle would explode between the two parties. Prince Le and his group had only seen the tree now and instantly gasped. They said, "Let's escape. This Spirit of the Universe is much stronger!"

"It looks really disgusting. This is scary. Let's leave!"

"You guys go ahead and leave first. Let us fight it. You can wait for us at a place far away. We will need some time." Wu Yu could not let Prince Le be dragged into this battle. After all, this battle would be dangerous for them. He chose to use the Seven Stars Fortifying Design to send them away first. He remembered that this was the third level of the Ancient Soul Tower and that perhaps the Seven Stars Fortifying Design was not enough. Hence, Wu Yu sent the Silver Moon Mantis as well to protect Prince Le and his group. With both the Silver Moon Mantis and the Seven Stars Fortifying Design, they would be fine. Now Wu Yu could focus on taking on this bloody tree!