Chapter 826: The Three Ancient Trees of Xuanhuang
“That was unbelievably fast!”
Li Fan was utterly astonished.
The journey from the Spirit Wood Realm to Nine Mountains Prefecture required crossing nearly the entirety of Shilin Prefecture.
Even for a Nascent Soul cultivator traveling at full speed, the trip would take five or six days at a minimum.
Had Lin Ling flown with him through the sky, it would still have taken the better part of a day.
Yet, by harnessing the power of the earth veins, they had arrived in what felt like mere moments.
More crucially, their subterranean journey was completely silent, leaving no trace.
With the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance and the Five Elders Council locked in a tense standoff, the border between Shilin and Nine Mountains Prefectures was fortified with multiple layers of defense.
Yet their passage had gone completely undetected by both factions.
Upon reaching Nine Mountains Prefecture, the flow of the earth veins seemed to encounter some kind of obstruction.
The once-rushing current slowed to a gentle crawl.
Li Fan sensed a wave of discomfort from Lin Ling.
He gestured for her to bring them back to the surface.
Before emerging, Li Fan cautiously scanned their surroundings. Only when he was certain they were alone did they break through the earth.
“The air here... it feels so unpleasant,” Lin Ling said, her brow furrowing slightly.
“Nine Mountains Prefecture was formed from the corpse of an ancient beast. It’s only natural that you’d feel a certain aversion to it,” Li Fan explained.
“This whole vast land... it all came from a corpse?” Lin Ling’s eyes widened in disbelief. “It must have been terrifyingly powerful when it was alive. No wonder even that senior is constrained here...”
Lin Ling muttered.
“‘Senior?’” Li Fan’s heart gave a sudden lurch.
“Yes! We were able to travel so quickly underground just now all thanks to that senior’s help!” Lin Ling declared with childlike innocence.
As she spoke, she produced a tree branch, showing it off with a proud flourish. “Look, Master! This is a gift from the senior.”
Li Fan couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.
The branch was a withered yellow, yet it didn’t look drained of life. Instead, its color seemed to be the result of being steeped in the power of the earth veins for ages. He could still sense the vibrant, surging power of those very veins within it.
Li Fan had seen a branch like this once before.
It was during his 115th life, at the residence of Ximen Yu in Leyang Prefecture.
“The Tree of Earth Veins?”
He instantly recalled Ximen Yu’s theories about the tree’s origin.
Long ago, when the mother tree was grievously wounded by cultivators, several of its massive main trunks broke off and fell to the mortal world.
Over countless years, each of these trunks evolved into a distinct ancient tree.
This Tree of Earth Veins was one such descendant.
It grew upside down, its roots spreading to every corner of the Xuanhuang Realm.
“How did you communicate with that... ‘senior’?” Li Fan asked, his gaze fixed on Lin Ling.
Lin Ling tilted her head, giving him a puzzled look. She didn’t seem to grasp the nuance of his question.
After a moment, she simply transmitted the entire exchange with the ancient Tree of Earth Veins directly into his mind.
Communication between ancient trees was nothing like human speech.
The moment she entered the earth veins, the two had already sensed each other and established a connection.
They exchanged a vast amount of information in an incredibly short span of time.
The ancient Tree of Earth Veins showed great affection for Lin Ling, its newly awakened descendant.
Not only did It refrain from attacking, but It actively offered Its aid.
From the ancient tree, Lin Ling also learned about the other great trees of the Xuanhuang Realm.
First was the oldest of them all, the ancestor of all living things, the mother tree...
The Tree of Earth Veins didn’t tell Lin Ling Its name.
It only warned Lin Ling that the mother tree’s disposition had changed, becoming volatile and unpredictable. Even for Its own kind, for other tree spirits, It would show no special favor. In fact, It might even devour these scattered descendants to nourish Itself.
It was best to stay far away.
Next were two other trees, equals to the Tree of Earth Veins in stature.
They were born from the strongest trunks that had broken away from the mother tree all those years ago.
One was the Ancient Tree of Myriad Spirits, the other, the Celestial Splendor Ancient Tree.
Though born from the same source, they had chosen entirely opposite paths.
The Ancient Tree of Myriad Spirits chose to propagate itself as widely as possible.
It scattered countless offshoots across the land.
Even in the face of calamity, as long as a single offshoot survived, it could regrow to its former glory given enough time.
The Celestial Splendor Ancient Tree, however, followed the path of “Myriad Paths Converging into One.”
It constantly condensed and refined its essence, hoping to one day return to the state of the original mother tree.
...
Flashes of imagery related to the Ancient Tree of Myriad Spirits and the Celestial Splendor Ancient Tree surfaced in Li Fan’s mind.
To his astonishment, he realized he had encountered both of them in his past lives.
The branches of the Ancient Tree of Myriad Spirits were the very material Jiao Xiuyuan used to craft his clones.
“Spreading its branches and leaves across Xuanhuang... It resonates perfectly with Daoist Jiao’s Ten Thousand Puppets Dao.”
“I wonder what Jiao Xiuyuan’s actual relationship with the Ancient Tree of Myriad Spirits is.”
As for the Celestial Splendor Ancient Tree, Li Fan had only had a single, brief encounter with it.
It was the great, human-faced tree he had seen inside Qingfeng Hall, the lending house on Ten Thousand Immortals Island.
During his 115th life, when the Five Elders Council had launched their surprise attack on Ten Thousand Immortals Island with the intent of relocating it entirely...
...the entire area had been sealed off, rendering all communication and teleportation methods useless.
Li Fan had paid a hefty price to Jiao Xiuyuan for a means of escape.
And it was through Qingfeng Hall that he had managed to survive that ordeal.
“That human-faced tree must be one of the Celestial Splendor Ancient Tree’s offshoots.”
“But that female voice I heard with it... I still don’t know who that was.”
...
Beyond these two formidable trees...
...the Tree of Earth Veins had also told Lin Ling about several weaker descendants.
Like Lin Ling, they were mundane trees that had awakened their own consciousness.
Most hid within the grotto-heavens and pocket dimensions of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Since these dimensions were intrinsically linked to the Xuanhuang Realm, the spirit trees within them could maintain a faint connection with the Tree of Earth Veins.
However, Lin Ling was the first among them to achieve a human form and walk the world freely.
This was a source of great excitement for the Tree of Earth Veins.
As for Lin Ling’s circumstances—being under the control of a cultivator—the ancient tree seemed largely unconcerned.
It simply advised Lin Ling that every spirit tree in the world had its own destiny and path.
She needed only to follow the deepest desires of her heart in her cultivation.
The newly awakened Lin Ling only vaguely understood, but she obediently agreed.
...
“I can’t believe so much happened in just a few moments.”
“And all of it without me sensing a thing. It seems even my complete control over Lin Ling couldn’t prevent it.”
“The ways of these ancient trees are truly mysterious and profound.”
“Fortunately, both the Tree of Earth Veins and Lin Ling are relatively gentle by nature. Not like the mother tree, which is so extreme.”
“Otherwise, if they decided to conspire against me behind my back...”
“...it would be nearly impossible to defend against.”
Li Fan lamented softly.
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