I am the sacred tree, evergreen for eternity.

Yu was awakened by thirst.

After a hangover, it felt like there was a red-hot iron stuffed in my head, and my throat was so dry it felt like I had a handful of pebbles in my mouth, and every time I swallowed, it was a dry, cracking, stinging pain.

He struggled to get out of bed, his bare feet stepping on the cold stone slabs, and staggered toward the table.

The moment my fingers touched the earthenware pot, I touched something else.

A rough, earthenware pot.

Yu paused for a moment, then looked down, and those fragmented memories slowly began to piece together and emerge—

In a corner of the tavern, the tree-man wrapped in a dark gray cloak sat down opposite him, and the two chatted for a long time.

He talked about his worries: about the competition, about Qi, about his father, about that goal that was always out of reach...

Upon hearing this, Wangyoulang grinned with a strange smile on his wooden face, then pushed the earthenware basin in his arms toward him.

"Your Excellency is of noble blood and should have everything go smoothly for you."

"This is the Worry-Free Herb, which can relieve all worries."

"You'll understand when it sprouts."

Its sound was very soft, like vines quietly wrapping around the ankles of their prey.

Yu scoffed at that moment.

Those who know me say I am worried; those who do not know me ask what I seek.

He carried the earthenware basin back to the stone house, casually placed it on the table, and fell asleep.

Nothing happened.

Ha ha.

Yu squatted down, poking at the soil in the basin with his fingers, a self-deprecating smile curving his lips.

Just then, the soil moved.

A small bulge rises from the center, as if it has been enduring for too long and has finally found the time to break through the soil.

The tender stems peek out from the soil, their emerald green almost transparent.

Yu's pupils contracted slightly.

The stems grew taller at a visible rate, one inch, two inches, one foot...

The leaves unfold one by one, layer upon layer, with edges gleaming with a dark purple sheen.

A bud, about the size of a fist, bulges out at the top, its surface covered with fine patterns.

Then, the flower buds bloomed.

It was a kind of beauty that was hard to describe.

The petals curled inwards layer by layer, each petal displaying a gradient from deep purple to scarlet, with an eerie fluorescent glow at the edges.

Yu was stunned and instinctively took a deep breath.

A rich, cloyingly sweet aroma entered his body through his nostrils.

In that instant, the world changed.

The spiritual energy exploded in the dantian like ignited gunpowder.

The gentle and mild spiritual energy surged into his limbs and bones like a flood bursting its banks, spontaneously launching an attack on the barrier that had trapped him for years.

once.

twice.

three times--

boom.

The pass collapsed.

The spiritual energy surged and roared through the meridians, condensing from the ethereal aura into tangible radiance.

He broke through during the Heavenly Light stage.

At the same time, his consciousness began to sink.

It's like falling into a warm, soft, endless abyss.

In a daze, he found himself standing on that training ground again.

Under the blazing sun, the stands were packed with people.

Standing opposite him was Qi, holding the iron-spine broadsword in his hand, the wolf head pattern on his bare chest gleaming menacingly in the sunlight.

But this time, Yu was not afraid.

A burst of inspiration erupted from within him, dazzling and brilliant, like the midday sun.

He felt an unprecedented surge of power coursing through his veins, his bones creaking, and his muscles expanding.

With a single swing of the blade, Qi's weapon snapped in two.

With another slash, Qi knelt on one knee, his hand split open, blood flowing down the hilt of the knife.

With another stab, Qi collapsed in the center of the training ground, his chest heaving violently, unable to get up again.

A deafening cheer erupted from the stands.

"Yu! Yu! Yu!"

Thousands of tribesmen shouted in unison, and the sound surged like a tidal wave, making his eardrums buzz.

He turned around and looked towards the highest point of the stands.

Qi stood there.

His father's gaze pierced through the crowd and landed on him, and a smile finally appeared on his perpetually serious and stern face.

A warm, proud smile, like the first ray of sunshine in winter.

Yu's eyes welled up with tears.

He opened his arms, wanting to embrace that smile...

Inside the stone house, the flowers in the ceramic pot are still in full bloom.

A large rat emerged from a crack in the corner of the wall, its nostrils flaring, attracted by the sweet aroma, and climbed up the table leg onto the tabletop.

It cautiously approached the ceramic pot, its pink nose reaching towards the flower's stamen.

The flower's core suddenly split open, like a mouth stretched to its limit, revealing countless sharp, inward-growing teeth inside.

Each one gleamed with a cold, eerie light, arranged in a spiral that stretched into the unseen depths.

The giant rat didn't even have time to let out a scream before it was swallowed whole by that "mouth".

The flower bud closed and chewed a few times.

Creak. Creak. Creak.

A few drops of dark red liquid seeped from the gaps in the petals, slid down the stem, and seeped into the soil.

Then everything returned to calm.

The deep purple petals swayed gently in the moonlight, eerily beautiful, as if nothing had ever happened.

Yu was still standing by the table, his eyes closed, a twisted, happy smile on his lips.

He was still immersed in that beautiful dream.

I don't want to wake up.

……

Council Chamber.

Qi sat at the stone table, with Qi's inspection records of the tree people spread out in front of him over the past few days.

The content was very ordinary.

One person and one tree visited the ironware workshop, the textile workshop, the pottery kiln... but the place they visited most frequently was the herb garden in the south of the city.

The tree-man named Wangyoulang even used the special abilities of the Wood Clan to heal the right leg of an old herb-gathering man who had been crippled for many years.

Qi's gaze lingered on that passage of text for a moment.

It can cure leg ailments, promote vitality, and repair damage.

Are there really such friendly and peaceful foreign races?

Turning to the next page, Qi's handwriting became more cautious.

On the third night, at a tavern in the East District, Shuren encountered Yu by chance.

"The two talked for about an hour, the details of which are unknown. When they parted, Wangyoulang gave Yu a ceramic basin that he was always carrying."

"Qi checked it; there was only soil in the basin... and Yu himself showed no abnormal reaction."

Qi tapped the word "gift" lightly with his finger.

He understood his only son's obsession better than anyone else.

A tree-man suddenly appears, a pot of "worry-free grass"...

"Never mind," Qi shook his head.

He trusted Qi, who, as the captain of the royal city's guards and a cultivator at the half-step Seeking the Law stage, should have no problem perceiving turbid energy and alien energy.

Qi closed the intelligence report, leaned back in his chair, and looked at the newly drawn large map of the territory on the wall.

"The vast and desolate Central Plains stretch for tens of thousands of miles."

Tens of thousands of miles.

The vast territory of the Xia Kingdom, spanning thousands of miles, is but a tiny patch in comparison.

Qi walked to the wall and reached out to trace the vast expanse of misty gray-white on the map—that was the endless mountains and seas beyond the Tree God's spiritual realm.

The carefree young man came from that direction.

It's been twenty years.

Eight thousand miles—

How many different landscapes must we traverse? How many diverse ethnic groups must we visit? What kind of goals and drive do we need?

Qi pictured the tree-man in his mind: humble, gentle, and polite, speaking slowly and deliberately, like a seasoned old scholar.

It showed genuine admiration for everything in the Xia Kingdom, was polite to everyone, and even took the initiative to help a lame old man it didn't know.

The perfect traveler.

The perfect guest.

Perfect...

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind like a thunderbolt, startling him.

Even the heavens and earth are imperfect; how can anything in this world be perfect?!

Qi suddenly turned around.

At the entrance to the council hall, a figure was leaning against the door frame.

轩。

The second-generation leader of the Xia family, Qi's mentor and most respected elder.

He had no idea how long he had been standing there.

"not bad."

"Did you finally figure it out...?"