I am the sacred tree, evergreen for eternity.

The moment the arrogant face emerged from the snake's body, the entire cave fell into a deathly silence.

The face was as pale as paper, its features distorted, as if it had been squeezed outwards from the inside to barely take shape.

Unfocused pupils slowly scanned—Xuan, Qi, and those clansmen who had once shared life and death with him.

"Father."

Upon hearing that familiar address, Xuan's fingers gripping the battle axe twitched slightly.

"Leave... Chief."

"I have taken control of this demonic heart."

"I will lock all death and despair here."

A proud voice came from deep within the snake's body, low and hoarse.

No one moved inside the cave.

Hundreds of totem walkers gripped their weapons, their spiritual light flickering on their bodies.

They looked at the human face that emerged from under the snake's head, and then at Xuan, who was standing at the very front.

Xuan slowly raised his right hand and made a "step back" gesture.

The totem walkers looked at each other, but none of them disobeyed the order.

They began to retreat out of the cave, their steps light and slow, the blade always pointed towards the snake corpse.

The three leaders, Qi, Meng, and Feng, remained unmoved, while several elders in the Seeking Law stage continued to guard the totem pole.

"You're insane!" he roared angrily. "Do you even know what you're doing?"

The wind made no sound, but bit its lip tightly.

Qi's gaze swept over the distorted face, then over the battered snake body, and finally settled on the shattered stone heart deep within the chest cavity.

The stone heart has stopped beating.

But a dark red light still flowed within those cracks, like magma suppressed deep within the earth's crust, ready to erupt again at any moment.

Qi finally understood.

After being devoured by the giant serpent, Ao did not succumb to the turbid air, nor did he become a puppet of the demon's heart.

He used his own spiritual light—the innate spiritual light of a seeker of the Dharma, carrying the faith of the Xia clan for decades—to control the demon's heart.

This is the real reason why the giant snake went out of control and went berserk.

It is not devouring, it is being devoured.

Those demons, those beasts corrupted by the turbid energy, were not instinctively devoured by the giant snake.

It was pride that allowed it to control this twisted demonic body and swallow the source of deathly turbidity into its own body.

A crazy plan.

A tragic sacrifice.

A...great clansman.

"Brother...you're awesome!"

Qi gazed at his former rival, his eyes filled with admiration, yet also with uncontrollable regret.

Ao's gray-white pupils shifted slightly, landing on Xuan.

Xuan remained silent throughout.

He just stood there, looking at that face struggling in pain, that face he had known for decades.

The first time his face wrinkled was when he refused to swallow the bitter medicine.

The first time I smiled was when I was learning to walk and finally stood on my own two feet.

The first time I bled was when a child my age hit me on the bridge of my nose with a stick on the training field, and I ran to him crying.

He didn't offer any comfort, but simply knelt down, wiped the blood from his son's face with his fingers, and said—

"As human beings, we should have pride."

That's how he named the child.

"I didn't teach you to do that."

Xuan's voice was very low, like a deep, ancient pool.

Ao's gray-white pupils brightened slightly, and something that had fallen into despair surged up again.

"I remember you said—"

"To be born a human being..."

He didn't finish speaking.

But everyone understood.

Xuan closed his eyes, and at that moment, no one saw his expression.

But everyone saw his shoulders—those shoulders that had withstood decades of trials and tribulations and never bent—tremble slightly.

Just a light touch.

It felt like a knife stabbing into my heart, but I couldn't cry out in pain.

When he reopened his eyes, there was a heavy, unspeakable pride in those sharp eyes.

"it is good."

He said one word.

This is a father's recognition of his son.

Qi took a step forward and walked to Xuan's side.

"Chief, let's retreat first."

"The totem pole is still inside. We'll figure out what to do once we're in a safe area..."

Before he could finish speaking...

A beam of light surged from the ground, and all eight totem poles lit up simultaneously.

The light intertwined, coalesced, and took shape on the cave ceiling—

a tree.

An elm tree, composed entirely of spiritual light, slowly emerged from the abyss cave.

The trunk is as thick as a mountain range, the canopy is vast and expansive, and rainbows flow among the branches and leaves.

When Yu Su descended, the world lost its color.

The earth's spiritual energy and the deathly turbid energy ceased their violent clashes under the suppression of this luminous elm tree.

They are like two tamed rivers, flowing, guiding, and dissolving along the trunk, along the branches, and along every vein of the leaf.

Impurities evaporate in spiritual light, and death dissolves in vital energy.

This is what it means to "see God"—

By entering the Dao through the Dharma, one can see the flow and transformation of heaven and earth and all things.

The elm tree, constructed from spiritual light, stands in the abyss, silent and without will, existing only as an ineffable entity.

But everyone felt it—

That is the tree god.

"By the Tree God!"

"Please...please save him."

In an instant, the few people who had been so resolute and strong just moments before all knelt down on the ground.

At this moment, they were not the leaders of the Xia family, but simply fathers, elders, and brothers...

A spirit leaf drifted down from Yu Su's branch and landed gently on Ao Zheng Ning's body.

In an instant, the turbid air began to dissolve.

The twisted and deformed body of the giant snake was also dissolving.

Scales peeled off, bone spurs broke, tumors shrank, and the enormous snake body, like a snowman bathed in sunlight, shrank and disappeared inch by inch.

The flesh and blood that had been eroded beyond recognition by the turbid air vanished into nothingness in the spiritual light.

Those demon souls imprisoned by the demon's heart dissipated and were released in the spiritual light.

Finally, the turbid air dissipated.

In the center of the cave, amidst rubble and bloodstains, lay a person.

Ao has regained his human form.

But everyone knew that he was no longer human.

His physical body had long since died and vanished; this body was now a condensation of the primordial essence of death and turbidity.

In other words, he is death on the move.

In essence, he was no different from those who died in the muddy waters—neither human nor ghost, neither alive nor dead.

However, he still retains his sanity and is able to control his will.

He sat up proudly, his gray-white pupils reflecting the luminous elm tree on the dome.

In silence.

A ripple stirred in Yu Su's heart.

When he first introduced the method of using spiritual energy to ward off evil into the spiritual field, his original intention was to create another possibility.

Unexpectedly, Ao comprehended the profound meaning of life transforming into death through this—

He carved out an unprecedented branch on the path above the Mingling realm.

Humans are indeed a fascinating race.

The branches and leaves of the tree god swayed gently on the dome, and then the spiritual light began to recede.

The outline of that elm tree with spiritual light faded from clear to blurry, like morning mist dissipating in the sunlight, or like a dream about to end.

From beginning to end.

Yu Su did not convey any message.

He arrived quietly and left quietly.

He knelt proudly amidst the rubble, bowing deeply to the last wisp of fading light.

Then, he stood up and looked at Xuan and the others.

"Father...Mrs. Xia, don't worry—"

"I will lead those filthy dead... deep into the mountains and seas."

"I will keep an eye on them and prevent them from launching any more attacks against humans."

"Until...the day I can't hold on any longer."

Ao was naked, covered in blood.

But he stood ramrod straight.

Like a person.

Like someone who has lived, been proud, and fought.

Meanwhile, outside the abyss.

Those wandering, filthy dead seemed to sense something.

Their gray eyes began to focus, and their lost senses gradually returned...

Ao turned around and looked out of the cave.

There, dawn was breaking.