"Ah!"
As Li Ya looked up, she saw the Divine Master in front of her instantly turn into a pile of limp clothes, with a few white bones clattering to the ground.
A pair of muddy, emerald-green eyes suddenly fixed on her.
Li Ya almost screamed again!
She covered her mouth tightly with her hand, swallowing the scream. Terrified, she retreated, only to find herself with no way out.
Just as she felt despair, she heard a familiar voice, like a sweet rain.
"The Great Divine Master Cheng Yuzhi has shown disrespect and impiety to the gods and cultivated evil arts." Bai Shengyi suddenly appeared before the Great Divine Master, her gaze sharp as she said, "I, on behalf of the Wood God, hereby depose Cheng Yuzhi from the position of Great Divine Master."
"Cheng Yuzhi." Bai Shengyi paused. "No, perhaps I should call you East Divine Master."
The Great Divine Master, Cheng Yuzhi, clapped his hands and said with a chuckle, "Child, you are truly clever, but I don't like it."
His face suddenly darkened, his emerald-green eyes glaring coldly at Bai Shengyi.
"Why are you so disobedient?" he said coldly, flicking his hand. Everyone on the ground floated into the air.
Innumerable light green silk ribbons emerged from everyone's bodies, swirling and flying towards Cheng Yuzhi.
"See, what can you do?" Cheng Yuzhi smiled, his eyes curving, looking incredibly friendly. Yet, he suddenly clenched his hand in mid-air.
No one saw it, but the light green silk ribbons were instantly grasped by him. Only Cheng Yuzhi himself felt that surge of vibrant life force.
He lowered his head, almost obsessively, sniffing his curled fingers and murmuring, "This scent, it's truly intoxicating."
The taste of life, so wonderful.
The deeper the cultivation, the more sensitive one became to the changes in their own body.
The Southern Divine Master was the first to realize his life force was continuously draining, and he exclaimed in panic, "My cultivation? My vitality?"
He subconsciously looked at the Great Divine Master, only to see the smiling gaze from behind the mask, "Little Li, are you also disobedient?"
The fate of the previous disobedient person was still evident. The Southern Divine Master instantly understood that this was all Cheng Yuzhi's doing.
His face turned pale, and his heart sank to the bottom.
Cheng Yuzhi was extremely pleased with the Southern Divine Master's reaction, which gave him a great sense of accomplishment. He could clearly feel the life force within him gradually filling up, gradually…
Cheng Yuzhi suddenly raised his head and looked at the child he had previously ignored.
That excessively young female cultivator.
"What did you do?"
The skin that had just become firm and young suddenly became soft and sagging again, like meat left out for several days. Brown spots began to appear on his skin, his raven-black hair turned white strand by strand, and his vision became increasingly blurred. In just a moment, he couldn't even see clearly.
"What exactly did you do!"
Cheng Yuzhi could no longer remain calm. His eyes, which had been smiling moments ago, now glared at Bai Shengyi as if poisoned, his eyeballs nearly bulging out.
Bai Shengyi gave a light smile. "Of course, I returned what you stole. Cheng Yuzhi, did you really think that by stealing the Wood God's life force, and everyone's life force, you would achieve eternal life and immortality?"
She hadn't really done anything, except re-establish a bridge of cycle and rebirth between the Divine Wood, Cheng Yuzhi, and everyone else.
Bai Shengyi held a piece of wood from the Divine Wood Platform in one hand, and the Nine Revolutions Reincarnation Brush tightly in the other. A large amount of wood spiritual energy flowed from her body into the Reincarnation Brush, and then from the Reincarnation Brush into the wood.
"It's useless." The weak voice from before sounded much more substantial, but it was still incredibly faint, as if it would shatter at any moment.
Bai Shengyi's gaze deepened, her hands not stopping. "Didn't you want me to save you? Are you giving up now?"
She hadn't initially associated this piece of wood with the so-called Divine Wood, thinking it was merely a decoration used by the temple to fill space.
Because from the beginning, Bai Shengyi had been suspicious of the Winter Moon Festival.
Sacrifices were generally made to heaven to beg for the fulfillment of one's wishes, and usually livestock were used. Only evil formations and sacrifices used human lives as offerings.
However, the temple had deep roots in Green Rong, and the concepts of female slaves and sacrifices were deeply ingrained. She, by herself, could not change much.
So, at first, Bai Shengyi only intended to enter the Central Domain Temple to obtain the Heart of the Divine Wood.
But when Bai Shengyi stood on the sacrificial altar and looked at the numerous innocent women kneeling on the ground, she suddenly felt that this decadent temple should be thoroughly purged, its rot removed and its stench eliminated.
"If you truly disappear, will the Green Rong Lesser World also disappear?" Bai Shengyi asked in her heart.
The voice remained silent for a long time before weakly saying, "You... you've guessed who I am?"
Bai Shengyi rubbed the body of the Reincarnation Brush. The smooth, jade-like Reincarnation Brush fit snugly. She said softly, "If my guess is correct, you are the Heavenly Dao Tree of the Green Rong Lesser World, the so-called Wood God, right?"
Bai Shengyi knew that her understanding of the cultivation world was not as good as that of local cultivators. Therefore, in her spare time, she liked to browse various books in the library of the Divine Enlightenment Academy. Those books were either collected from various places by Daoist Master Qinglan and Grand Venerable Qingyun, or obtained by disciples of the Divine Enlightenment Academy during their missions and then exchanged for value with the academy. In short, there were all sorts of books.
One of them discussed the origin of worlds.
Legend had it that some worlds were born from a speck of dust, some from a cluster of flame, some from a tree… some even from a piece of jade, a gust of wind. They grew naturally, communicating with the cosmic sea with their own bodies, entering the Primordial Chaos to know the rules, emerging into the Universe to understand reincarnation, and were later called by newcomers –
Heavenly Dao.
In the spacious main hall, various shades of green silk ribbons swayed and entwined.
The people in the hall could not see the silk ribbons, but they could clearly feel a lightness in their bodies, and a greater sense of comfort. They all looked at Bai Shengyi with gratitude.
Only one person became increasingly frail, his body even stooping. He wished he could devour Bai Shengyi's flesh and gnaw on her bones.
"You truly deserve to die!" Cheng Yuzhi could not understand how this woman managed to return the life force he had stolen for hundreds of years.
But that was not important.
Cheng Yuzhi cast a sinister glance at Bai Shengyi, recited a mantra, and the Divine Wood Platform where Bai Shengyi stood collapsed with a roar, falling into the thick darkness in the center of the main hall's wall.
"This Divine Master seeks immortality, what concern is it of yours?"
Cheng Yuzhi sneered, teleporting to the edge of the darkness. He coldly watched Bai Shengyi fall, disdainfully saying, "Meddlesome little girl, this Divine Master refuses to believe you can resist the temptation of eternal life!"
He waved his hand, intending to seal the entrance to this folded space, but found that the entrance was immoveable.
No, it was his hand that suddenly became immobile.
He frowned deeply, wanting to turn and try again, but found that his shoulders, legs, and feet were all unmovable!
He rolled his eyes, watching as the aging process on his hands suddenly stopped. The Southern Divine Master, who had been breathing heavily moments ago, was frozen in place. The panicked Saint Child's voice was silenced…
Time, at this moment, had been frozen!
Cheng Yuzhi's heart was filled with terror!
Meanwhile, in the thick darkness, Bai Shengyi formed a hand seal, sending the Mengteng Vine out of the darkness. "Go! Protect them!"