Chapter 87: Even the Tree-Finder Has a Story

Fine. There was one thing Ji Yao had to face squarely: the Heart of Wood was truly gone without a trace.

In its place was this little sapling, a creature a touch proud and rather endearing in its innocence. Yes, she had been latched onto by a young shoot with only two leaves, a descendant of the divine tree. The reason was simple: they shared the same goal, to seek the Origin of Wood.

The story went back half a day, to that space overflowing with wood spiritual energy.

While the little sapling sorrowfully recounted its past, Ji Yao, whose cultivation was ill-suited to that place, drew in great breaths of the fresh, woody fragrance that filled the air.

As if taking in a few more breaths would make the vitality within her bloom stronger, she inhaled and exhaled the spirit qi with tireless delight, while keeping one ear on the tale.

In the ancient world of cultivation, the Four Great Divine Trees still stood. The Sky-Linking Tree connected heaven, earth, and the divine, and immortals and mortals mingled freely. In those days, the cultivation world was crowded with immortals, cultivators were as common as grass, and countless races rose in splendor.

At that time, the boundary between the cultivation world and the realm of immortals was still not so distinct. Regrettably, all environments change; as time passed and ages shifted, the resources of the cultivation world were steadily consumed. In the struggle to seize cultivation resources, conflicts gradually arose.

The people grew dissatisfied with this world growing ever more polluted. The highest rulers of heaven, earth, and the divine, with immense power, separated the three realms. The Sky-Linking Tree vanished between heaven and earth and no longer appeared in the world.

The realms of gods and immortals stood high above the sky, known as the Heavenly Realm. All the myriad races of the world, along with demons and specters, sank beneath the earth, becoming the Human Realm.

All things in creation have yin and yang. The gods returned to chaos, and from below came the division between immortals and demons. As for the world's two poles, ghosts and wandering souls belonged to yin, dwelling in the nether depths and divided into the Netherworld Realm; while the lands of the myriad races belonged to yang, born between heaven and earth, collectively known as the cultivation world.

The Fusang Tree and the Ruomu Tree were taken from the world by the immortals and gods, leaving only a single branch of the Seeking Tree rooted on the sunny side, deeply planted in the cultivation world and shading the four extremities.

Alas, the strife in the cultivation world did not cease simply because heaven and earth were separated. The races still fought endlessly.

The Heavenly Realm was enraged and shattered the cultivation world into three thousand worlds, while also sending down heavenly punishment to chastise the races.

First to suffer was the Seeking Tree. Its true body was torn into four pieces and scattered across the three thousand worlds, while the branch in the Bright Vast World was scorched by fire that fell from the heavens.

In the end, when the heavenly flames were extinguished, the Seeking Tree's true body in the Bright Vast World had been almost entirely burned away. Only a few twigs and leaves, long severed from the main body, remained, and their vitality was nearly gone.

The once-abundant cultivation world also became barren. In nature, the fittest survive, and the glory of ancient times was bound to be discarded. Of the myriad races that once existed, only a little over a hundred remained in the Bright Vast World, standing apart from one another.

At that time, the spirit-elf race buried these remnants in places throughout the Bright Vast World where wood spiritual energy was abundant, hoping the Seeking Tree might break and grow anew.

A new order marked a new era. The ancient cultivation world passed away, and the Bright Vast World, still home to a hundred races, entered the archaic age of cultivation. The spirit-elf race still existed then, but no longer as it once had.

Its members were hunted down without end, and they could only choose to live in hiding. The severed branches of the Seeking Tree buried in various places gradually withered to death as the spiritual energy dried up.

Only the location where this section of trunk remained had been sealed early into the Hundred Races Trial Ground, and thus preserved a sliver of vitality.

When the trial ground was established, there was another thing sealed there with it: a wood-and-plant spirit who had secretly slipped away from its clan, been hunted by the races and gravely injured, then fled in panic into that place.

What happened afterward was naturally that the spirit, too badly wounded to be saved, left behind the Heart of Wood, which slowly nourished this dead branch of the Seeking Tree, and from that came the birth of this tiny sapling.

"So?" Ji Yao still did not understand. Could it be that this young Seeking Tree had brought her here just to tell a story?

"So, I need someone to take me out of here, away from this sealed place!" The sapling's voice was no longer sorrowful; instead, it rang with determination.

"Don't tell me you've chosen me?" Ji Yao felt that if this was fate, then perhaps it would be better not to have it at all.

"Of course!" The little sapling sprang back to her side. "My inherited memories tell me that the first person to witness my breakthrough, and who bears me no ill will, is my chance."

Ji Yao covered her face. After all that, this wasn't her chance at all; instead, she had become the sapling's chance?

What a spectacle.

Did that count as her eagerly delivering opportunity to someone else? Perhaps she was better suited to be a bearer of blessings.

"I refuse!" she said with absolute firmness.

The branches and leaves of the Seeking Tree tilted to one side like a child cocking its head. "Why? There are many benefits to taking me with you!"

Ji Yao turned her gaze to the little sapling and studied it carefully over and over. It was not that she did not believe it, but its tiny frame was truly not very persuasive.

"You no longer count as a spiritual plant. I can't bring you out."

The Seeking Tree grew anxious.

"Don't you still not have a spirit beast? I can form a contract with you and leave as your spirit beast. Of course, it would have to be a equal contract. There's no way I'd agree to a master-servant contract!"

Ji Yao inspected the little sapling from top to bottom again, then replied with a blank face, "I don't have a spirit beast pouch. I can't exactly carry you out in my hands."

"What's so hard about that?" The Seeking Tree's leaf twitched. "Do you think this is just any place? This is my life-bound space. I can stay inside my own space; I don't want to go sit in some spirit beast pouch!"

So she was being treated like a portable storage vessel? Ji Yao could not have felt more depressed.

"I don't have a wood spirit root. Following me won't do either of us any good."

"Who said it wouldn't do any good? It may not be of much use to me, but for you, that's another matter entirely!" The Seeking Tree actually began to tease her with suspense.

Ji Yao was not buying it. She had been fooled too many times by Sima Jing, and had automatically become immune to such tactics. Say whatever you want; in any case, she had no intention of contracting this wood spirit.

Seeing that the ability it had picked up was useless on this female cultivator, the Seeking Tree could not help but deflate. It took the initiative to say, "Even without the Heart of Wood, I can still help suppress the poison in you. I can also help you find the Origin of Wood!"

Hm?

This little sapling was simple, yes, but not stupid. She had only said a single sentence, and it had already guessed the thing she was truly after. Ji Yao looked at it in surprise.

"I've already found a clue to the Origin of Wood. I don't need your help. Besides, you're so tiny that even if you had some skill, you couldn't bring it into play."

The two leaf tips of the Seeking Tree touched together. Then, suddenly, the leaves parted and bent outward, like a pair of hands on hips, and its voice rose with them.

"Hmph! Don't look down on me. I am the spirit of a divine tree, and I have inherited memories! My abilities are far greater than you imagine. If you still refuse, I'll trap you in my space and never let you leave. Keeping you here to chat with me and pass the time would be fine too!"

That... had, in truth, struck right at Ji Yao's weak point, since she was the one who had come knocking of her own accord. Fine, then let it be a contract. It wasn't as though she would lose anything.

Thus, the contract was formed. A mark appeared on the back of Ji Yao's hand: a tiny green sapling, looking exactly like the current young Seeking Tree.

Only after the contract was complete did Ji Yao expose the other party's intention. "You probably aren't trying to help me find the Origin of Wood, are you? You need it even more than I do."

The Seeking Tree was stunned for a moment, then said with its usual proud air, "We both need it, and only then do we have a common goal, don't we? I can search at any time for places rich in wood spiritual energy. As long as there is the breath of wood vitality, nothing can escape my senses. It doesn't have to be some fixed destination."

In truth, Ji Yao was not as unwilling as she had seemed. Having someone to talk to was actually quite nice.

Only...

"Little sapling, where on earth did you move me to!!!"

The aura of a mass of third-rank demonic beasts surrounding her made Ji Yao tremble in terror, drenched in cold sweat.

Who could tell her that the place she was in was definitely not the center of the secret realm?

She was done for. She was going to die.