After half a day of effort, Takatsuki finally succeeded.
Haki, Nen, Hamon, Magic, and the Demon Flame at ten thousand degrees Celsius were completely compressed into Hestia's Edge.
After complete compression, the blade no longer had that special glow it once did, appearing rather unremarkable. Perhaps the only distinctive feature was the occasional wisps of green smoke emanating from the blade.
Looking at Phantylia, who was in trouble due to Seele's support, Takatsuki pondered how to approach her.
The Rabbit Talisman's super speed was one method.
But in reality, it wasn't foolproof, because as long as there was movement, it would inevitably take time.
In a battle between powerful individuals, that small amount of time was enough to do many things.
So there was only one method left, something Takatsuki had kept as a trump card: what he left on Phantylia when he first wounded her.
Takatsuki's [Close at Hand Yet Worlds Apart] activation condition was a place where his Nen was attached.
In the first Divine Departure, that attack contained Nen, so naturally, Nen was left on Phantylia's body.
The essence of Nen is life energy. Before acquiring a special Nen, this energy did not have the corrosive properties of other energies and would not be intentionally removed by others.
Phantylia recovered her injuries by relying on the Abundance's divine miracle, but she did not deliberately remove the Nen residue, because she could feel that this energy had no special effect; it would simply be diluted and disappear by her own life aura with a little time.
Given Phantylia's current divine body, it would only take less than an hour for it to be completely covered.
So she didn't pay it any mind, and the result was...
Takatsuki activated his ability using this Nen mark, and a slash crossed space, striking Phantylia's body.
"This slash, I'll call it 'Rising Sun Slash'."
As Phantylia's body was torn apart, Takatsuki's voice arrived belatedly.
Unlike the first time, Phantylia, now disconnected from the Ambrosial Arbor, had lost her continuous self-healing ability.
"Die!"
A green spear also suddenly struck, piercing Phantylia's body. Dan Heng also unleashed his strongest attack at this moment, directly shattering the petals on top of Phantylia's head.
Her body, originally formed from the Ambrosial Arbor's first fruit, was already tottering after two heavy blows.
"You... you people!"
Before she could finish speaking, the massive Lightning Lord suddenly struck down from behind her, shattering the huge lotus disc behind Phantylia. But even so...
The physical damage did not affect Phantylia's true form, but the next scene made her tremble with fear.
The reason Phantylia had always been fearless was that she was inherently a spirit body, and in this star sea, techniques that could directly attack the soul were few and far between. So even if her physical body was destroyed, it wouldn't harm her in the slightest.
But how could Takatsuki, who already knew her true nature, not be prepared?
Hestia's Edge instantly vanished, and Takatsuki punched Phantylia in the face.
Although that large face was bigger than Takatsuki himself, after being hit by this punch, Phantylia felt her mind suddenly become unstable.
"How could this be..."
Before Phantylia could react, she felt a strong pull.
"Come out!"
The physical weakness caused Phantylia's stability with this body to plummet. Her soul body was instantly pulled out, not in the form of a will-o'-the-wisp meant to deceive, but her true soul body.
"How is that possible!"
Why had Phantylia always been so reckless yet fearless?
Her unique nature and powerful strength were her greatest reliance. Even if she lost, she could escape at will by relying on her spirit body's characteristics. But now that her soul was pulled out, she instantly realized that the other party truly had a way to harm her.
Crack...
Takatsuki's hand pulled Phantylia's soul out, but the power of the Sheep Talisman only allowed him to pull out souls, not harm them.
But there was a power that could do the subsequent work.
Stand...
A Stand, being a manifestation of spiritual power, is inherently an existence that can substitute for the soul.
Referring to the situation with Black Sabbath in Golden Wind, when it pulled out the old man's soul and pierced it with an arrow, the old man died directly without any wounds on his body.
And when it tried to pull Giorno's soul, what it pulled out was Gold Experience.
So a Stand itself is an existence similar to a soul.
Heaven's Stairway, having absorbed half of the Stellaron's energy, had been greatly strengthened. To describe it in terms of stats, it was A in both power and speed. When Heaven's Stairway punched Phantylia's spirit body, it directly shattered a small piece of it.
Unfortunately, the Stand's ability couldn't directly damage Phantylia's spirit body. It's unclear if it was because it couldn't be used on souls or if the energy within Phantylia's soul was too strong, neutralizing it.
"You're going too far!"
Takatsuki felt his hand empty; Phantylia, who had been grasped, instantly vanished.
"I've remembered this grudge. The day of Xianzhou's destruction is coming."
Even while fleeing, Phantylia didn't forget to leave a harsh threat.
Seeing Phantylia flee, Jing Yuan also propped himself up and said, "Go, little pawn of Destruction, go back and tell the Legion that the Hunt's revenge will surely come."
Both sides, though in disarray, didn't forget to exchange some trash talk.
After confirming Phantylia had indeed left, Takatsuki breathed a sigh of relief. Phantylia was indeed a very powerful opponent. Fortunately, most of her combat power came from brute force and pure energy suppression; otherwise, even with Hestia's Edge, it would have been difficult to resolve.
After Phantylia's spirit body fled, her physical body also dissipated. Takatsuki and Seele landed on the ground together. Only then did he have time to examine Seele, who had completely changed her appearance.
Her original clothes had transformed into a very revealing pure white outfit, adorned with many white flowers, and her short hair had become waist-length.
"Um... Takatsuki..."
Perhaps feeling a bit embarrassed from being stared at, Seele suddenly called out.
"Cough cough, sorry, but Seele, how did you..."
Before Takatsuki could finish speaking, March 7th pounced on her.
"Wow, Seele, you look so cute now!"
"Ah... Sister March, don't do that..."
Almost everyone was more or less injured in the recent battle. Although Jing Yuan and Takatsuki bore the brunt, just the aftershocks of Phantylia's attacks had left the others in a sorry state.
Yang walked over and looked at Jing Yuan: "General Jing Yuan, are you alright?"
"I'm fine... just, a bit tired."
The erosion of Destruction energy made Jing Yuan feel weary: "As for the Stellaron, let Lady Fu handle it."
"Um... I've already sent Seele to retrieve the Stellaron."
Seele, held by March 7th, spoke, leaving the others a bit confused.
And just then, with the sound of hooves, a white deer trotted over, carrying a black-haired girl.
"Eh?" March 7th looked at the girl in her arms, then at the girl riding the white deer: "Two Seeles?"
Veliona dismounted from the white deer, ignored the others, and walked directly to Takatsuki, handing him the Stellaron in her hand: "Here, the Stellaron."
The Stellaron, which should have caused erosion to its surroundings, was remarkably docile in Veliona's hand.
"Thank you, Seele."
Takatsuki reached out and patted Veliona's head.
"Don't treat me like that idiot, it's annoying."
Although she said this, Veliona did not refuse, but after Takatsuki withdrew his hand, she immediately moved closer to Seele and merged into her body.
The others were sensible enough not to ask, only March 7th kept pressing for answers.
"General Jing Yuan, can this Stellaron be handed over to me for disposal?"
Takatsuki looked at Jing Yuan. Although it was a troublesome matter, since this Stellaron was still on the Xianzhou, it was absolutely correct to seek Jing Yuan's consent.
"Of course, if Mr. Takatsuki can help solve this trouble, Jing Yuan couldn't ask for anything more."
After getting permission, Takatsuki nodded, directly summoned Heaven's Stairway, and began to absorb the Stellaron's energy.
"Truly... astonishing."
Jing Yuan swore this was the first time he had ever seen someone directly absorb the energy of a Stellaron.
At this moment, Seele also walked over.
"Mr. Jing Yuan, Seele has something to tell you."
"Oh? Little sister Seele, what is it?"
Jing Yuan still had a certain fondness for this young girl. After all, it was Seele who rescued many Cloud Knights last night, and her timely appearance just now saved him.
"The Ambrosial Arbor has been taken by Seele."
"..."
Jing Yuan's expression froze: "The Ambrosial Arbor, isn't it perfectly fine here?"
The surrounding tree trunks and many branches were all part of the Ambrosial Arbor, with no changes whatsoever.
"No, these are just the external manifestations of the Ambrosial Arbor. The core of the Ambrosial Arbor and the Ambrosial Arbor Spirit are both with Seele, Flora."
The pure white flower fairy came to Seele's side at her call, circling around the two of them a few times.
Jing Yuan felt the strong aura of the Ambrosial Arbor on her, and then he knew that what Seele said was true.
"Hahaha, I never expected that the Ambrosial Arbor, which Shuhu couldn't take away back then, would actually be taken by a young girl? So Seele, I want to know, why do you want the Ambrosial Arbor?"
Jing Yuan laughed twice, then looked seriously at Seele.
What the Xianzhou Alliance had consistently been doing was hunting down Yaoshi and the Abominations of Abundance, and the Ambrosial Arbor was the most direct culprit behind creating those Abominations of Abundance. Of course, it was merely one of Yaoshi's blessings, but the Luofu had sealed the Ambrosial Arbor precisely because they did not want it to manufacture more Abominations of Abundance.
Destroying the Ambrosial Arbor is acceptable, but they absolutely cannot allow the Ambrosial Arbor to create more Abominations of Abundance in the universe.
"Actually... Flora didn't mean to..."
Seele told Jing Yuan what she had learned from communicating with the Ambrosial Arbor, which also greatly broadened Jing Yuan's horizons. After all, from beginning to end, no one had been able to communicate with the blessings of the Abundance.
Aeons were restricted by their own Paths, capable only of boundlessly practicing the mission of their Path. Coupled with the fact that Yaoshi was inherently an existence that administered healing regardless of good, evil, or consequences, the Alliance had consistently regarded Yaoshi's blessings as the physical manifestation of Yaoshi's will.
They had never thought that they would actually have their own consciousness.
"Seele will control this power well and won't let it cause disaster."
Looking at the sincere Seele, Jing Yuan fell silent.
As a General of the Xianzhou Alliance, he shouldn't allow the power of the Ambrosial Arbor to just leak outside like this. However, judging from his insight, this young girl before him was indeed not lying; at the very least, she truly thought this way just as she had stated.
There were many Pathstriders of Abundance upon the Luofu, but what the Luofu hunted down were only the immortal Abominations, rather than killing anyone simply because they were associated with Abundance.
Therefore, Jing Yuan could turn a blind eye to Seele's existence.
He subtly glanced at the others around him.
Everyone here, except him, was from the Astral Express, and Seele was also a member of the Express Crew. After noticing what was happening here, they all focused their attention.
It wouldn't be good if a conflict broke out here, and the Luofu could not withstand another impact of an Antimatter Legion level.
The Express Crew would protect its members, there was no doubt about that, and Jing Yuan was not an ungrateful person either.
"I understand. I will keep this matter a secret, but little girl."
Jing Yuan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, subsequently opening his eyes to look at Seele as he said: "If the Xianzhou Alliance ever learns that you are using this power to manufacture immortal Abominations, then The Hunt will launch an endless, unrelenting pursuit against you."
As if feeling his words were too harsh, he added, "Before it comes to that, you will always be my, Jing Yuan's, and the Luofu's friends. The Luofu will vouch for you."
Jing Yuan's attitude made everyone around him breathe a sigh of relief. The atmosphere just now was so tense that even someone as lively as March 7th remained silent, as she also didn't want former comrades to turn against each other.
"Thank you, Mr. Jing Yuan."
Flora seemed to know that the crisis was over and began to dance gracefully around Seele.
Seele seemed to hear something and spoke again: "Mr. Jing Yuan, Flora says she wants to compensate the Luofu."
"Compensation?"
Seele nodded: "The surrounding Ambrosial Arbor still possesses a lot of energy. This Imaginary energy of Abundance can be utilized to heal the wounds and pains of the Luofu from this upheaval."
"Oh..."
Jing Yuan pondered for a moment and suddenly thought of something: "Wait a moment, this wouldn't happen to be the immortal blessing of Abundance, would it?"
Seele hurriedly shook her head and said: "No, no. Seele will control the output of the Ambrosial Arbor's power properly. For this compensation, people who have already died cannot be brought back to life, but as long as they still have a single breath left, they can be saved back. If the people upon the Luofu have any sicknesses or pains, they will also be healed altogether."
"If it is merely to this extent, I agree."
After obtaining Jing Yuan's consent, Seele came over to a thick tree trunk and pressed her hand upon the bark.
The flower fairy and the spiritual deer simultaneously spiraled and circled around Seele, as a surge of golden energy was extracted from within the Ambrosial Arbor.
This was the final Abundance energy of the Ambrosial Arbor. After it was extracted, the Ambrosial Arbor finally became an ordinary tree.
Cradling the energy sphere with both hands, she held it high.
Like fireworks, the energy was launched high into the sky and subsequently burst open.
Jing Yuan also watched this scene, and then he felt a droplet of something land upon the tip of his nose.
"Is it raining?"
Jing Yuan extended his hand, and a raindrop fell into his palm, but it vanished instantly.
"No, this is... the power of Abundance."
Sensing the energy merging into his body, Jing Yuan felt that his originally corroded body became significantly lighter, and his drowsy spirit also recovered a great deal.
The minor signs of Mara-struck onset that had originally shown a slight indication seemed to be suppressed as well.
There was one thing he had consistently not told the others, which was that after he was corroding, he had perceived that he was one step closer to becoming Mara-struck.
"To think it can even suppress the Mara-struck state..."
Jing Yuan's eyes widened as he looked at the rain of life falling from the sky.
"As expected of the Goddess of Medicine... perhaps... this is the true Abundance..."