"Such potent life force!"
When Bai Shengyi opened her eyes again, she saw a pool of emerald green before her.
Lush, vibrant green, like surging waves, unfurling layer upon layer, but abruptly ceasing in the distance—transforming into ominous, withered black and brown.
"So many trees?" Suixing Divine Fire emerged from Bai Shengyi's sea of consciousness, also reminding her, "Right, Bai Shengyi, your dantian is burning."
Bai Shengyi, however, did not notice the abnormality in her dantian.
Holding the piece of wood in her hand, she flew towards the black and brown landscape, guided by the perceived spiritual energy fluctuations.
"No, there is only one tree here."
From her vantage point, she could clearly see that the roots of these trees, like banyan roots, floated in mid-air, their thick branches intertwining and connecting, all originating from the same source.
The trees filling this space as far as the eye could see were actually branches of the same tree, and this tree was the Heavenly Dao Tree that had been communicating with Bai Shengyi in her mind, also known as the Divine Wood and the Wood God.
"This tree is continuously withering, what do you plan to do?" Suixing Divine Fire asked.
Gazing into the distance, she could clearly see the black and brown area expanding. What would have taken a while to fly to, Bai Shengyi reached in no time.
The dark, decaying black and brown looked like rotten leaves and wood accumulated over tens of thousands of years, emitting a pungent, strange odor.
The piece of wood in Bai Shengyi's hand suddenly emitted a jade-green light and flew into the dense forest below, disappearing in an instant.
"As you can see, demonic energy has infiltrated my trunk." A voice suddenly emanated from the tree.
Bai Shengyi was not surprised. She landed in the forest, stepping on dry branches and leaves. Touching a section of the trunk with her fingers, she circulated her spiritual energy. In moments, she had understood the condition of that section of the trunk.
Inside the trunk, there was indeed a force continuously destroying the tree's new growth and repair systems, and another force constantly stealing the tree's vitality.
However, the former's power was growing stronger, while the latter's was weakening.
"I have waited for this day for a very long time."
Perhaps it had been too long since anyone had visited this place, or perhaps the Heavenly Dao Tree was suddenly feeling emotional, it couldn't help but say, "I was originally the Heavenly Dao Tree of Lürong and its guardian. However, after merely sleeping and waking, I discovered that my trunk had inexplicably absorbed a considerable amount of demonic energy."
"Demonic energy relentlessly corrodes the mind and soul. I had to exert all my efforts to expel it. But at that very moment, my branches and leaves suddenly began to wither and fall. At first, it was withered yellow leaves that dropped. I thought it was normal seasonal change. But later, large patches of leaves in their growth stage began to fall, and eventually, even the trunk itself began to rot and decay."
"Under such circumstances, one day a cultivator found me and reached an agreement with me. He would provide me with abundant life force to repair my本体, and I would bestow the Heavenly Dao Tree's healing and regeneration abilities upon those in Lürong who needed them. Helping the people of Lürong was something I should do anyway, so this vast amount of life force was essentially gained for free. I agreed immediately. But I never expected that what was called abundant life force was actually meant to conceal the demonic energy within..."
Following the Heavenly Dao Tree's narration, Bai Shengyi finally pieced together what had happened in the Lürong minor world.
Back then, Cheng Yuzhi, using some unknown method, had reached an agreement with the Heavenly Dao Tree, but the true intention was to deliver more demonic energy into the Heavenly Dao Tree, making it weaker and unable to detect the loss of its life force.
However, year after year, day after day, the Heavenly Dao Tree was not foolish. It finally realized that the entire thing was Cheng Yuzhi's conspiracy to devour its life force.
It was only that by then, the Heavenly Dao Tree was powerless to retaliate against Cheng Yuzhi. It could only watch helplessly as Cheng Yuzhi used her evil arts to cut off and take away its branches, fabricating the lie that sacrifices were needed annually to appease the Wood God.
"In fact, the life force and cultivation offered by those sacrifices were mostly consumed by that scoundrel."
And the shrine gradually became the spokesperson for the Divine Wood, while it, in this folded space, slowly withered.
The Heavenly Dao Tree's voice grew increasingly weak, sounding filled with frustration and melancholy. It did not notice that Bai Shengyi had gradually stopped her actions.
Bai Shengyi leaped up, standing in mid-air at the very tips of all the branches.
"You... aren't you going to save me?" the Heavenly Dao Tree tentatively asked, its treetops rippling like green waves.
Bai Shengyi: "Didn't you say it's useless to save you? I just checked your condition and it seems there's really no hope."
The Heavenly Dao Tree: ...
"But I am intrinsically linked to the Lürong world. Aren't you worried that my demise will affect Lürong?" it sighed helplessly.
"So you actually want to live," Suixing Divine Fire unceremoniously exposed this hypocritical tree. "Then why are you saying useless things? Heavenly Dao Tree, are you trying to trick us?"
It was no longer the ignorant little flame from Tianhuo Mountain!
The more she listened and watched, the stranger she found this Heavenly Dao Tree to be.
Although the Heavenly Dao Tree was the Heavenly Dao of this realm, theoretically it could even control the existence of Suixing Divine Fire. However, because the Heavenly Dao Tree was extremely weak and its control over Heavenly Dao rules was sluggish, and since both were naturally grown spiritual beings, Suixing Divine Fire was not afraid of it at all.
Dense spiritual energy and life force surged towards the tree where Bai Shengyi was.
"No! I'm just not eloquent and I don't know how to speak properly. Please don't misunderstand me."
The Heavenly Dao Tree hastily explained, quickly showing its sincerity.
It said to Bai Shengyi, "As long as you expel the demonic energy and save me, I can bestow upon you a large amount of life force, granting you eternal life as well."
"I don't want eternal life," Bai Shengyi refused outright.
"Then what do you want?"
Bai Shengyi chuckled, "I want the Heart of the Divine Wood."
"Impossible!" it retorted sharply, then quickly amended, "I didn't mean that, it's just... it's just that I don't have the Heart of the Divine Wood either! The Heart of the Divine Wood was stolen by that deceitful person long ago!"
The Samsara Brush spun in Bai Shengyi's hand before settling back into its place. She finally felt the scorching heat in her dantian.
Holding the brush, she suddenly wrote in mid-air, creating a single character: "Tree!"
A small, slender sapling suddenly fell to the ground, taking root amidst the black and brown decay. Simultaneously, a large expanse of spiritual energy, tinged with fiery red, flowed unimpeded through Bai Shengyi's wrist into the sapling.
"What are you doing?"
Every leaf, every branch, was an eye of the Heavenly Dao Tree. It could clearly see that with the falling of the sapling, the spiritual energy and life force that could have gathered around Bai Shengyi instantly broke free from its control and rushed towards that little sapling.