C1304 He Arrived at the Scene
Embarking on the journey to restore the Spirit World, the flourishing Uxthar Tree had multiplied in strength in a remarkably short time! The Evil Divine Tree now towered thousands of meters high, its trunk piercing the shattered Star River. Its sharp branches appeared to siphon power from the diverse psionic powers of the Star River, channeling it into the Spirit World where it had established its roots. Massive meteorites were drawn to the Spirit World and fused back together. Without anyone noticing, the Spirit World's territory had expanded several-fold, just like the Uxthar Tree.
The Evil Divine Tree and the revitalized Spirit World, now teeming with life, seemed to enhance one another. The Divine Tree's rampant growth drew psionic power from the outside, nourishing the Spirit World and enabling it to continuously reclaim the meteorites that had once broken away from it. The enigmatic land, with the Uxthar Tree at its heart, was now surrounded by a lush forest of trees and flowers. The Spirit World, desolate for millennia, was now bursting with vitality, albeit a vitality steeped in malevolence...
Over two thousand Otherkin warriors, alien beasts, and human cultivators had perished within the Spirit World. Their life force, energy, and souls had been stripped clean, all becoming sustenance for the growth of the Evil Divine Tree.
"Brie!" Diggs of the Shadowkin stood beneath the colossal tree that now obscured the sky, feeling a peculiar pulse from the entire Star River. A fanatical light began to shine in his gaunt face, reminiscent of the warriors from various races who had been lured to their deaths by the illusions of the butterfly.
"I have waited for this day for thousands of years," he proclaimed. His figure ascended, no longer beneath the tree but perched upon a desiccated branch of the Divine Tree. From his elevated position, he narrowed his eyes, almost visualizing Brie wielding the giant scepter and approaching swiftly. "When you were but a child, I taught you the bloodline mysteries of the Shadowkin. In a strict sense, you're still my pupil..." Diggs's face turned icy.
"The role of Patriarch was meant for you, as was the tenth-level bloodline. I was prepared to hand them over willingly. But you didn't trust me! You acted prematurely, without my explicit consent, and your underhanded tactics provoked my wrath!"
"I was willing to give it to you, yet you chose to steal it behind my back!"
"Well then, I can't let you get your way!"
The elder of the Shadowkin, roused by Pei Yuling's arrival, spoke with an increasingly deep and chilling tone. "After millennia, I still intend to reclaim what I originally refused to give you!"
Whoosh! Whoosh!
A frenzied horde of Fire Lizard clansmen charged into the Spirit World with reckless abandon, like moths to a flame.
Before they could even touch the ground, the souls of the Fire Lizard clansmen began to disintegrate.
To their horror, they discovered that the intertwining rivers of fire that had lured them were now manifesting deep within their souls, consuming them in flames.
Without time to react, their souls were extinguished, and their bodies were impaled by grotesque shrubs.
As they regained a sliver of spiritual wisdom, they tragically realized that their vital energy and souls had nearly dissipated.
In their final moments, they beheld a colossal tree, like something out of myth, dominating the landscape for miles.
That immense tree, unlike anything they had ever seen, bathed in a soft green luminescence, continued to grow at an astonishing pace, its branches as if piercing the very fabric of space.
"When the divine tree sprouts leaves, blooms, and bears fruit, it will be complete," Diggs said, his eyes filled with longing.
Pei Yuling, not accompanying him, charged towards the trunk of the malevolent divine tree, still rooted to the ground.
This human cultivator, adept in space magic, kept a vigilant watch on the subtle shifts of the great tree while also studying the colorful undulations in the void, seeking to grasp the intricacies of profound space magic.
Suddenly, a spectacular array of colorful ripples marked an unusual spatial tremor.
Pei Yuling, startled, exclaimed, "Is it awakening?"
"No, it still requires a bit more time. It has expended a great deal of energy spreading its space magic and fantastical illusions. Moreover, its encounter with the secular bird has taken a significant toll," Diggs responded.
Together, they turned their gaze to the peculiar zone where the colorful ripples were quietly coalescing.
A blinding flash of silver-white lightning burst forth.
Both Pei Yuling and Diggs had to avert their eyes from the discomfort.
When they looked again, they saw a silver-white meteorite materialize in the void outside the Spirit World, with many familiar figures standing atop it.
Yu Yuan, Chen Qinghuang, Beru, Leo, and Yan Qiling.
"Your Majesty!"
Pei Yuling's eyes were fixed on the secular bird from a hundred thousand years ago, the most crucial and terrifying entity present. His cry of alarm was a direct response to this ancient threat.
"Beru..."
Diggs's usually cold heart stirred with excitement upon his old friend's arrival. "Why won't you heed my advice?"
"I did listen. I've already led my people away, just as you suggested," Beru replied with a wistful smile, shaking his head in resignation. "But that colorful butterfly wouldn't let us be. Its pervasive space magic and illusions have been covertly influencing us, preventing our return to the Kuvrepros Astral Domain."
Leo and Denise echoed his sentiment with heavy sighs, their expressions one of resignation.
Moore, Yan Ziyang, and the others gazed down at the Spirit World and the Uxthar Tree, so vast it seemed to eclipse the heavens and the earth, and they were struck by a profound sense of their own insignificance.
Yu Yuan was equally awestruck.
He had previously observed the Spirit World from the Dragon Slaying Stage, glimpsing the Uxthar Tree's roots and the Origin Gate shaped like butterfly wings. Yet, it was only upon his arrival that he could truly appreciate the colossal scale of the legendary divine tree.
The sight of Otherkin warriors, human cultivators, and Ghouls impaled on the tree's gnarled branches and suspended in mid-air was chilling.
Yu Yuan took particular notice, relieved to see that none of the fallen cultivators from the Spirit World were those he cared about.
Furthermore, their numbers were not significant, merely a scattered few. From their attire, they appeared to be practitioners from the Ethereal Void Sect and the Winter's Bite Sect.
"Do you have a death wish?"
Chen Qinghuang's gaze turned to Denise, her face devoid of emotion.
Denise, who had been standing on a starshard alongside Beru and Leo, had been staring blankly at the Spirit World below, seemingly about to leap into the abyss.
A single sentence from the empress, a piercing look, jolted Denise's soul like a bolt of lightning.
She snapped back to reality, fear flooding her heart. Realizing her misstep, she prudently moved away from the meteor where Leo and Beru stood and came to stand dutifully beside Yu Yuan.
"My bloodline has just broken through, and my mental state is unstable, making it easy to fall under enchantment," she said with a pitiful look.
Yu Yuan nodded in agreement. "Then stop looking."
"Don't descend, don't set foot in the Spirit World," Chen Qinghuang stated coldly, not looking at anyone. "The closer you are to me, the more you can neutralize the influence of the Spirit World."
Yu Yuan whispered to himself, "The Uxthar Tree... I feel like I've seen it somewhere before..."
Suddenly, a memory sparkle detonated in his mind, and he envisioned an unimaginably vast tree with numerous branches piercing through the stars of a Domain within an alien Star River.
The tree's branches and leaves were lush and vibrant, teeming with supremely pure green energy.
The thick branches appeared capable of effortlessly penetrating the so-called living stars, capable of slaying warriors of the Otherkin and those at the ninth level of the Unbound.
Whoosh!
The imagery in his memory abruptly shifted.
He witnessed a similarly massive Hex Stone, shaped like a long bar, crashing into the ancient tree within the strange starry sea, shattering the branches that pierced the Domain's stars one by one.
The trunk, roots, and leaves of the tree were smashed into a shower of tender green luminescence that sprayed across the Star River.
The Hex Stone turned out to be the Dragon Slaying Stage!
Yet another scene flickered deep within his soul.
There it was again, the Dragon Slaying Stage, in a different, dazzling hidden place, where a spirited body was battering a colossal butterfly.
The soul of the immense butterfly was forced to flee into the enigmatic Maw of Oblivion.
Meanwhile, the butterfly's body erupted with blood magic, instantly returning to the so-called holy land of the Voidweaver.
"Do you recognize it?" the Empress asked, her gaze piercing him at that moment.
Her eyes sparkled with wonder, and her lips curled into a sardonic smile. "Whether it's the Voidweaver or the Uxthar Tree, they are nothing more than vanquished foes."
Yu Yuan was thunderstruck.
A surge of pride welled up within him the next instant!