Chapter 1 The Bizarre History

In the original history of Earth, the dynasty preceding the Zheng Kingdom was called ‘An.’

At the end of the An Dynasty, Li Wang ascended to the throne. He was tyrannical and cruel, his policies harsh and oppressive. The people suffered immensely. Compounded by a severe famine in the southwest, a single rebellion ignited countless others across the land. Overnight, hundreds of righteous armies rose up, and the flames of war engulfed the Divine Continent.

Ultimately, Li Wang perished in the battle where the allied rebel forces breached Southern Sky Capital, immolating himself within his palace. Yet, even in death, countless commoners spontaneously erected a Soul Suppression Pagoda, cursing Li Wang to never find peace and ensuring his soul would be shattered into nothingness.

Afterward, the rebel factions engaged in decades of low-intensity internal strife. Finally, the Hundred Families Righteous Army, the most powerful faction which had assimilated nearly all orthodox traditions of the Divine Continent, quelled all dissent. At the former Northern Sky Gate, now known as Celestial Prefecture, Celestial Capital, they established the Zheng Kingdom regime.

But in this spiritual world, blessed with an immortal divine tree, history had taken an even more mystical turn.

In Earth's original history, the An Dynasty had nine emperors and lasted for two hundred and forty-seven years, a relatively short duration. This was primarily because Emperor Xiao, who reigned before Li Wang, had overseen a period of peace and prosperity, filling the national treasury to overflowing. However, upon Li Wang's ascension, he squandered the accumulated wealth of three generations, even conscripting four hundred thousand people from three prefectures for massive construction projects, erecting extravagant altars to heaven and earth and luxurious palaces across the land.

Now, from Su Zhou's perspective, armed with extensive knowledge of the supernatural, Li Wang's inexplicable cruelty and extravagance might have been an attempt to perform extraordinary rituals ahead of the opening of the heavens and earth. But regardless of the price he paid, his failure was inevitable.

However, in this Divine Tree World, due to the presence of internal energy—spiritual energy—inherited from the royal family down to the common people, all were immersed in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, leading to lifespans far exceeding those on Earth. Here, the An Dynasty lasted for five hundred and eighteen years, and if one were to convert that to Earth's timeline, it would be close to modern times, yet there were still only nine emperors.

It was common for an emperor to live for over a hundred years. There were even retired emperors who voluntarily abdicated in favor of their crown prince, only to retreat to the deep mountains for decades of asceticism, attempting to break through to the Xiantian realm before finally passing away—by which time, his grandson had been the heir apparent for sixty years.

But most importantly, over five hundred years ago, the founding emperor of the An Kingdom discovered a seedling of an ancient divine tree among the Southern Sea Islands.

This seedling was impervious to metal and could not be burned by fire or submerged in water. No matter the method, it could not be harmed in the slightest. Awestruck by the tree's divine nature, the An founder planted it in the mountains outside the Southern Sky Capital and built a temple around it. But unexpectedly, during the reign of Emperor Xuan, the divine tree, which had not grown an inch in two hundred years, suddenly grew ten feet in height each day and seven feet each night.

Amidst the old man's slightly sorrowful narration, the campfire crackled and the snow continued to rage.

Inside the makeshift snow shelter, rows of unconscious people were arranged around the fire.

One of these unconscious individuals, due to the autonomous circulation of internal energy within his body to clear blockages and heal injuries, coupled with the stimulation of the cold behind him and the warmth in front, slowly awakened.

Zhou Buyi opened his eyes, still feeling a bit dizzy, likely from a concussion... But having fought the An Dynasty's demonic soldiers in various locations for nearly a decade, he possessed a resilient spirit and had endured even worse injuries. He quickly recovered and his gaze sharpened.

"Strange, wasn't I knocked unconscious by those An Dynasty demon guards, even demon generals?"

Then how did I not get drained of my flesh and blood and die?

Harboring such doubts, Zhou Buyi heard his Uncle-Master Mo's rather delighted voice: "Ah, my Nephew Zhou has awakened—alas, for the past few decades, I have been hiding in the deep mountains and forests. Even when I did venture out, I was protected within the righteous army's formations. My understanding of the changes in the world is superficial. Perhaps he can explain it in more detail."

Although he knew that his awakening was unlikely to be concealed, having it announced by someone on his own side still startled Zhou Buyi. Since it couldn't be hidden anyway, he simply stood up and looked toward the direction of the voice.

Then he saw the black-haired young man, who had been fighting them to the death just moments before, roasting a badger with its fur removed and seasoned with precious spices and salt by the campfire! His own Uncle-Master was also roasting one. Together, the two badgers weighed at least thirty jin. The two of them were chatting enthusiastically while rotating the branches. (Total: 20132 Calories)

"What, what's going on?"

Not just Zhou Buyi, but anyone who witnessed this scene would be bewildered for a moment. He blankly surveyed his surroundings, discovering that most of his team members were properly arranged around the campfire, looking unwell but at least alive and intact.

Even the monk Fang Hui, who had appeared to be on his last legs, now had a peaceful expression... a calm expression as he lay to one side. Although his shattered face still looked somewhat sunken and scarred, Zhou Buyi could tell from his years of battlefield experience that his Uncle-Master had performed surgery to set his bones—but why was he healing so quickly?!

"Hey, you over there."

Then, Zhou Buyi heard an unfamiliar voice. He turned his head and saw the young man who had defeated all of them with his simple and swift gun techniques casually tear off a piece of meat from his badger, skewer it onto a wooden stick, and throw it towards him. (980 Calories)

Having trained in martial arts, Zhou Buyi caught the meat skewer even in his bewildered state. He looked down at the skewer in his hand, then looked up at the young man who was staring at him, seemingly waiting for some kind of response.

"Uh... Thank, thank you?"

Hearing this expression of gratitude, the black-haired young man nodded in satisfaction, then lowered his head and continued roasting his meat: "You're welcome—this meat is payment. Old Mo is tired; you will continue telling me the history."

…

"In just a few short years, the divine tree grew far taller than the mountains. Its trailing aerial roots stretched and expanded, even collapsing several mountain peaks. From afar, it resembled a divine mountain supporting the heavens and the earth, its canopy reaching straight into the clouds, truly connecting heaven and earth."

Zhou Buyi's expression was solemn, yet despite being only twenty-four years old, he already appeared somewhat aged, with a sense of vicissitude in his eyes from having experienced too much. His black hair was streaked with white at the temples.

By the time he finished telling this to Su Zhou after eating the roasted meat, most of the original team members had awakened.

Among these people, some still wanted to attack Su Zhou, but they were quickly stopped by Zhou Buyi and Mo Ganxiu working together—regardless of whether Su Zhou's goodwill was genuine or feigned, the group was currently exhausted and injured, and no one could defeat him. Acting rashly would simply be courting death.

"What follows is the origin of this current great chaos in the Divine Continent, Brother Su."

"Mm, continue telling it; I'm very interested."

Even the severely injured martial monk Fang Hui had now awakened and was receiving care from the female saber artist Liu Xizhao, who was quite skilled in medicine. Zhou Buyi was using his sword as a pen in the snow, drawing various diagrams as he explained to the serious-faced, attentively listening Su Zhou.

"—After the divine tree connected heaven and earth, numerous strange beasts and spiritual plants were born, appearing between heaven and earth.

Among them were vermilion fruits that could increase one's cultivation with a single bite, spiritual ginseng that prolonged life, black moss that purified filth, and verdant leaves that enriched spiritual energy.

And the strange beasts and spiritual plants were symbiotic, or even themselves a special kind of spiritual plant, such as the Pure Water Centipede and the Yang Flame Light Cicada, providing pure water or storing light to contribute to the divine tree.

The An Dynasty royal family was naturally extremely interested in the divine tree, using the power of the entire nation to study it, attempting to discover the method of 'eternal life and immortality' within it."

"Decades ago, the Demon Emperor found it," Mo Ganxiu interjected softly, interrupting Zhou Buyi's explanation.

Because he was a personal witness to that period of history.

"【Panrong Undying Tree】—this is the name they gave to the divine tree."

【Panrong Undying Tree】, a strange but very fitting name.

Ancient texts say—the Jian Tree towers above the spiritual hills, the Pan Peach grows beside the great sea.

The Pan Peach prolongs life, while the Banyan tree forms a forest on its own, perfectly matching the two major characteristics of the divine tree.

Although the Panrong Undying Tree did not have Pan Peaches, if one were to cut off its newly grown, tender aerial roots and place them within one's own flesh and blood, one could obtain the divine tree's power of immortality, thereby enjoying a long lifespan. Even injuries could heal rapidly, and even severed limbs could be regenerated!

But this power of immortality came at a cost—the divine tree's bloodline, named 'Undying Root', needed to absorb massive amounts of flesh and spiritual energy with each extension of life and healing of injuries.

Spiritual energy was still manageable; one could slowly absorb and store it from between heaven and earth. But the flesh was not available everywhere, and perhaps because the human soul was the strongest, the Undying Root obtained far more power by absorbing human flesh than by absorbing a hundred heads of cattle, sheep, or pigs.

The entire court of princes, dukes, and ministers had 'Undying Roots' implanted, and even the imperial guards and commoners of the entire Southern Sky Capital received a trace of the divine tree sap-derived bloodline, throwing the land into chaos.

"After obtaining the Undying Root, the Demon Emperor was still not satisfied. He wanted to transcend the limitations of lifespan and become an immortal, indestructible existence—he prepared countless secret rituals, wanting to transform into the apex of the divine tree's blood, the divine tree's dragon 'Panlong'!"

Saying this, Zhou Buyi sheathed his sword and sighed, but from the bulging veins on the back of his hand, it was clear that he was barely suppressing the anger in his heart: "At first, it was just cattle, sheep, and pigs, then even chickens, ducks, and fish were not spared. After exhausting all the livestock in the entire south, the Demon Emperor and his Undying Demon Soldiers extended their hands toward their own people."

"The Demon Emperor was very clever. The soldiers under him came from the Southern Sky Capital and the surrounding prefectures, so he generously bestowed the divine tree bloodline, and also granted the Undying Root to the local officials and gentry. His core soldiers were fearless of death, his core people revered him as a god—while the others were nothing more than livestock to be sacrificed for his grand cause of eternal life."

The cold wind howled.

For decades, the Undying Demon Soldiers rampaged across the Divine Continent, leaving the land devastated and the people in misery. The An Dynasty, considering itself a present-day divine court, engaged in corrupt rule, cruelly oppressing the common people, and using blood and bones as sacrifices. The current emperor of the An Dynasty built a palace atop the divine tree's 'Cloud Heaven Altar', proclaiming himself the Divine Emperor.

At least tens of millions of people died as a result, and nearly a hundred million were displaced, forced to migrate—and the majority of the dead were transformed into nutrients for the Panrong Undying Tree, nurturing more demonic spiritual plants, while the remaining small portion granted the An Dynasty's top rulers incomparably powerful strength.

"We, the Hundred Families Allied Army, rebelled from the very beginning, and for a time, even pushed the Demon Emperor and his demon army back to the Southern River Sky Gate, almost capturing Southern Sky Capital—but the other side truly possessed the power of immortality and could also control all kinds of demonic spiritual plants. If the martial artists did not use internal energy to peel off the Undying Root and then use fire and thunder to dissolve the divine tree bloodline, those monsters would not die even if their heads were cut off, their legs severed, or their hearts were pierced."

At this moment, the other thirteen members of the entire team followed behind Zhou Buyi, their expressions somber and heroic as they gazed at the words and simple diagrams in the snow, gradually being covered by the heavy snow.

Even with the support of the masses, they could not outlast those Undying Demon Soldiers—especially those Undying Demon Generals who had achieved mastery of internal energy. Relying on their fearlessness of death, exchanging injuries for injuries, coupled with specialized weapons and techniques, they could easily defeat two or three martial artists of the same level. Furthermore, having fought a hundred battles without dying, their experience was unmatched. If they formed formations, they were truly unstoppable.

"Therefore, in order to slay those generals of the Demon Dynasty and those princes, dukes, and royal bloodline members who possessed the power of immortality; the Hundred Families joined forces, intending to gather countless spiritual objects to create a divine weapon powerful enough to destroy immortality: 【Blade of Extinction】!"

"And our mission is to escort one of the core materials for the divine weapon, a relic of an ancient divine monk, to the divine weapon's forging location, 'Mount Tai Bai Volcano.'"