The Last Sentinel

"Something's wrong! This thing's completely out of control!" Brother Eighty's eyes narrowed, his aura suddenly tightened, and an intense sense of crisis surged within him. He roared loudly, a hint of panic in his voice, "Run! Get out of here! It'll be too late if we wait any longer!"

Before he finished speaking, Brother Eighty had already strode forward like the wind, rushing towards the cabin at an astonishing speed, showing no trace of his previous composure.

Seeing this, Old Liu couldn't help but curse, "Damn it! You're faking it, aren't you! Running so fast without even shouting! Brothers, let's get out of here! Don't throw your lives away!"

The two tiger-like heroes, Afei and Ayu, reacted quickly, following closely behind Brother Eighty and Lao Liu. They moved with lightning speed, hurriedly evacuating from the cabin without daring to delay for even a moment.

Only Hua Xiaobai stood frozen in front of the bronze giant tree, his gaze fixed blankly on the massive canopy that burst through the top of the spaceship's cabin, continuing to grow and spread wildly upwards. Wherever the bronze branches touched, whether it was floating meteorites or scattered metal parts, they were all instantly swallowed up, leaving not a trace, exuding a terrifying aura of devouring the heavens and the earth.

The bronze tree continued to grow at an astounding pace: ten meters, one hundred meters, five hundred meters, one thousand meters, two thousand meters, three thousand meters... In just a few breaths, it transformed into a colossal bronze peak that pierced the clouds, standing tall in the universe, radiating a terrifying pressure that seemed to envelop the entire cosmos.

"Beep beep—beep beep—" The communicator on Hua Xiaobai's wrist suddenly emitted a sharp, piercing alarm, breaking the surrounding silence. A calm and serious voice followed: "This is the Imperial Observatory of the Great Ming Empire. The Director has observed an extremely strong fluctuation of dynastic karmic energy in your area. The value has exceeded the critical threshold and could trigger cosmic turmoil at any moment. What is happening here? Could you please activate the live video feed so we can conduct an emergency investigation?"

Hua Xiaobai numbly raised her hand, pressed the synchronization button, and faced the camera with empty eyes. She recounted the entire process from blindly dripping blood to recognize the master, to accidentally discovering the correspondence between the bronze cauldron and the Ascending Dragon Diagram, to impulsively merging the two. Her tone was full of confusion and helplessness, as if she had not yet recovered from this change.

The Director of the Imperial Observatory on the other end of the video call fell into a long silence after listening. Finally, he spoke with difficulty, his voice filled with undisguised gravity: "I will contact His Majesty immediately. You must be careful and not approach that giant bronze tree again!"

Not long after, Hua Xiaobai heard the furious roar of the old Taoist priest Jiajing. The sound, even through the communicator, still made his eardrums ache, causing the communicator to vibrate slightly: "Hua Xiaobai! What are you doing! Do you know the enormity of your actions?! The Dragon Ascension Diagram is a treasure of the dynasty's destiny, and the Nine Provinces Cauldron is the dynasty's aspiration cauldron, bearing the destiny of humanity and the foundation of the dynasty. You actually fed this treasure of destiny to the aspiration cauldron, without even the dynasty's ruler to suppress it! The Nine Provinces Cauldron is completely out of control! It will devour everything it can reach, even the entire universe wouldn't be enough for it! Do you want to revive the Nine Provinces Cauldron? Do you know that your actions are enough to destroy this universe, to destroy all living beings?!"

Hua Xiaobai was completely dumbfounded. Standing there, stiff as a board, she blankly asked the communicator, "Your Majesty, what... what is this suddenly growing tree? How can it be so terrifying?"

The old Taoist priest Jiajing's voice carried an undisguised despair. His tone was low as he murmured to himself, "The Classic of Mountains and Seas, Southern Classic of the Seas Within, records: 'There is a tree, its shape is like an ox, and when you pull it, you find its skin, like a tassel or a yellow snake. Its leaves are like silk, its fruit is like a pine, and its wood is like a jujube. Its name is Jianmu. It grows on the Weak Water west of Yayu, a hundred ren high without branches. Above it are nine branches, and below are nine jujubes. Its fruit is like hemp, and its leaves are like awns. When Dahao passed by, the Yellow Emperor climbed it and first saw the Nine Heavens. The Emperor ascended and descended from there. At midday, there was no shadow, and when he called out, there was no sound. It was the center of heaven and earth.'"

Hua Xiaobai scratched his head, looking embarrassed, and said stiffly, "Your Majesty, I... I have limited education, and I don't quite understand what you're saying."

Suppressing the surging anger and despair within him, the old Taoist priest Jiajing roared, "Simply put! The Jianmu tree is the root of heaven and earth, the tree of the universe, connecting the Nine Heavens Divine Realm above and the Nine Netherworlds Hell below, growing and strengthening by devouring the karma of dynasties and the destiny of humanity! And the nine cauldrons in your hands, in the end, are nothing more than nine fruits borne by the Jianmu tree, bearing a portion of its power! Now, you should understand, shouldn't you!"

Hua Xiaobai rubbed her messy hair, finally realizing what was happening, and said somewhat stiffly, "So, this wildly growing tree in front of me is the legendary Jianmu?"

After a moment of contemplation, the old Taoist priest Jiajing suddenly asked, "Did you use the complete Xuzhou Cauldron for fusion, or a fragment?"

"It's a fragment of the Xuzhou Ding!" Hua Xiaobai quickly replied.

The old Taoist priest, Jiajing, pondered for a moment, a glint of light flashing in his eyes. His tone was urgent and grave as he said, "If I'm not mistaken, the ultimate growth path of this Jianmu tree is to the location of the Xuzhou Cauldron's main body! It must first devour the main body to replenish its power and revive the perfect form of the Nine Provinces Cauldron—its complete fruit—before it can unleash its ultimate growth mode. At that time, the entire universe will be devoured and reduced to nothing! The only way now is to guide its growth path towards the location of the Xuzhou Cauldron's main body, to send it elsewhere, so it won't remain in the carbon-based universe causing further havoc!"

He paused, his voice filled with urgency and panic, even a hint of pleading: "Blue Star is already shattered and devastated, its inhabitants slaughtered. If it returns to Blue Star, the Yuzhou Cauldron of my Great Ming Dynasty will be instantly devoured and drained. All the ancestors sleeping in the Jade Capital, and the trillions of lives of the Great Ming Dynasty, will be utterly destroyed, without even a sliver of hope for resurrection! You must find a way to stop it, to lure it away!"

"Yes! I understand!" Hua Xiaobai slapped his thigh, hope rekindling in his eyes. "Your Majesty, I have the coordinates of the Xuzhou Cauldron's main body!"

"What are you waiting for! Hurry!" The old Taoist priest Jiajing stamped his feet anxiously. "Throw the star map into the Jianmu tree, let it devour it, and let it follow the coordinates to find the main body of the Xuzhou Cauldron! Hurry! It'll be too late if we wait any longer!"

"Alright!" Hua Xiaobai didn't dare to delay for a moment. He was shocked and instantly came to his senses. He hurriedly took out the nine-sided Rubik's Cube he carried with him, flipped it quickly with his fingertips, took out the star map coordinates that Tian You had given him, held it tightly in his hand, and then threw it hard at the bronze Jianmu tree that was still growing wildly and exuding a terrifying aura!

The star map traced an arc and instantly disappeared into the canopy of the bronze giant tree.