I am the sacred tree, evergreen for eternity.

"Why……"

A sigh suddenly echoed in the air.

It was very light, as light as a branch brushing against a stone step, but to the ears of the carefree young man, it felt heavier than a thousand pounds.

Its hand, reaching for the branch of the tree god, froze in mid-air, its fangs bared, yet it could not advance an inch further.

The entire tree trunk resembled an insect frozen in amber, with even the wood grain ceasing to move.

A sacred site.

A vast, invisible spiritual field, emanating from the depths of the earth, enveloped the entire altar like a thick celestial curtain.

For the first time, fear appeared on Wangyoulang's distorted, wooden face—

The instinctive fear that lower life forms feel when facing their natural enemies.

Yu Su woke up.

Or rather, he never fell asleep.

He simply watched quietly, like a tree watching everything that happened under its shade.

He saw it all: the whispers, the late-night plots, the sweet fragrance of flowers spreading in the shadows.

But he didn't stop it beforehand.

Some mistakes we only learn from by experiencing them.

Yu Su looked down at the twisted life at her feet.

Half plant, half beast, devouring spirits and energy.

Its true nature is laid bare in the spiritual realm—it is not a mere plant, but a parasite, a predator.

A monster that sustains itself by devouring other life forms.

"An ugly race..."

A thought gently rippled through the void, causing Wangyoulang's body and soul to tremble.

It wasn't that it hadn't anticipated the tree might be very strong.

From the very first day it stepped into the territory of the Xia Kingdom, it felt the omnipresent spiritual pressure, so intense that it could hardly breathe.

But it did make an estimate.

The Xia clan has only existed for two or three hundred years.

According to the ancient experience of the Land of Wood, a sacred tree nurtured by faith requires at least a thousand years to awaken its spiritual intelligence.

In a mere few hundred years, even with its boundless spiritual brilliance, it is nothing more than a natural treasure devoid of wisdom and consciousness…

If done properly, it is not impossible to steal a bit of source energy from it.

It's wrong.

This is not a spiritual plant waiting to be harvested.

This is a newly born deity destined to stand tall amidst mountains and seas!

Wangyoulang let out a sharp screech, its twisted body struggling violently under the suppression of the spiritual field.

The withered, branch-like arms flailing wildly, the hooded cloak shattering into pieces, revealing the pale, cracked wood beneath.

A strange power erupted from its body—it was clearly abundant and rich life energy, yet it was filled with chaotic and distorted fragments of consciousness.

Those were the final cries and struggles of countless lives devoured by it over the long years.

The spiritual light collided violently with the chaotic energy, causing fine cracks to appear on the bluestone floor of the altar.

The trunk of the Forget-Me-Not tree began to crumble.

An active, inward-to-outward tearing apart.

Within the shattered trunk, a giant plant slowly grows.

The stem is as thick as a bucket, so green it's almost transparent, and you can clearly see something slowly wriggling inside.

The leaves are layered upon each other, each about the size of a door panel, with edges that gleam with a dark purple, eerie sheen.

At the top, a huge flower bud slowly rose.

The surface of the flower bud is covered with spiral patterns, and the color gradually changes from emerald green at the bottom to deep purple at the top, like a giant eye that is opening.

The next moment, the flower bud bloomed.

The petals curled outwards, revealing a huge, gaping maw filled with fangs.

In the blink of an eye, a terrifying, carefree giant grass, several meters tall, appeared on the altar.

"Gah—!"

A twisted and frenzied roar suddenly exploded, spreading outwards in visible ripples.

The next instant, those second-generation scions who had voluntarily inhaled the pollen of the Worry-Free Flower simultaneously began to convulse.

Yu, who was locked in combat with Qi, suddenly froze, fell to the ground in pain, and howled in agony.

Their bodies seemed to be stretched open from the inside by something, their limbs twisted at bizarre angles, their mouths opened to their limit, and muffled, low gurgling sounds came from deep in their throats.

Young, carefree plants peeked out from their mouths.

Xuan was suddenly jolted awake from his hallucination.

The spiritual light of the peak of the Seeking the Dharma suddenly blazed within his body, tearing apart the sweet fragrance like rags.

His pupils regained their clarity, but he was immediately captivated by the sight before him.

Those children—children who had committed serious crimes—were lying on the ground, struggling in agony.

Meanwhile, those few carefree grasses, deeply embedded in flesh and blood, swayed in the wind, their buds opening and closing, greedily absorbing the spiritual energy in the air.

"You bastard!"

Xuan roared, and spiritual light burst forth from his palm, transforming into a thin film of light that enveloped the poor children.

The cultivation level during the Seeking the Law period temporarily suppressed the rate at which the Worry-Free Grass devoured other plants.

But they also clung tightly to Xuan, preventing him from getting away.

The other elders also broke free from the illusion, making the same choice almost simultaneously—

Envelop the struggling juniors in spiritual light and stabilize their injuries first.

Even if these people have committed a capital offense of betraying their faith.

At least for now, they cannot stand by and watch young children become prey for other races.

In the center of the altar, Qi had already stood up.

The wooden dagger in his abdomen had fallen off at some point, and a thin layer of spiritual light remained at the wound, which was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

He looked at Yu Su, his eyes filled with faith and devotion.

In a daze, he saw the phantom of the giant tree standing on the mountaintop, and those eyes that seemed to transcend time and watch over all living beings.

A warm, powerful spiritual energy flowed into his body through the earth's veins.

Qi instantly understood the tree spirit's meaning—

As the leader, he had an obligation to eliminate the foreign tribes;

As a father, he has a responsibility to set things right.

In the instant his mind became clear, the shackles that had troubled him for decades in his spiritual practice suddenly shattered.

A solid, heavy field of spiritual energy, resonating with the power of heaven and earth, instantly took shape and enveloped the entire altar.

The wind stopped.

The flowers have stopped swaying.

The bizarre, life-devouring evil energy released by Wangyoulang, under the suppression of the spiritual field, shrank and dissipated inch by inch, like a wild beast with its throat choked.

The carefree grasses that grew from the mouths of the second-generation descendants on the altar lost their source of power; their leaves began to curl and turn yellow, and their flower buds drooped limply.

Qi's spirit field overlapped with Yu Su's spirit field.

One large and one small, one deep and one shallow, like the roots of an ancient tree and a seedling intertwined and entwined underground.

"By the Tree God!"

Qi raised his arms, and spiritual light gathered behind him.

Two dazzling giants of spiritual light emerged from the void, their overwhelming aura distorting the air around the altar.

Take the first step.

Three beams of light—one from the center, with two giants flanking it—formed an arrowhead-like pattern, crushing towards the enormous Worry-Free Grass.

The Forget-Me-Not let out a sharp screech, and the gaping maw in the flower's core opened to its limit, shooting out a stinking beam of blood.

However, under the suppression of the spiritual field, the blood-red light only advanced less than three feet before collapsing.

Like a drop of blood falling into boiling water, it evaporates instantly.

Qi's spiritual light burned in his pupils. Behind him were tens of thousands of Xia Kingdom citizens, and above his head was the phantom of the ancient tree with its towering canopy.

He raised his right hand.

The two giants simultaneously raised their right arms.

Three beams of light, all pointing in the same direction—

It struck with a thunderous roar!