Chapter 143: O Devoted Demon, Wait One More Lifetime; Tu Shan

This scene resembled the one Ye Xuan had first seen in the Hangcheng Nature Reserve.

The tree in the Hangcheng Nature Reserve was a creation influenced by fragments of the Four Souls Jade, but this tree was itself a celestial treasure.

Ye Xuan’s gaze flickered; his fingertip lightly touched the trunk, and the moment his spiritual energy seeped in, countless memory fragments surged into his mind like a tidal wave.

Chaotic images and sounds intertwined into a torrent, as if crossing the river of time, directly slamming into the depths of his consciousness.

“The Tree of Unrequited Love…”

“The Tree of Unrequited Love…”

“The Tree of Unrequited Love…”

“I vow, with every fleeting memory of our meeting and knowing, and with all my demonic power…”

“I vow, with every fleeting memory of our meeting and knowing, and with half my demonic power…”

“I, Hudu Luolan, vow with all my demonic power…”

“Let us meet again in the next life.”

Obsession, waiting, regret, madness—countless emotions surfaced in his consciousness, finally crystallizing into heart-wrenching cries:

“How could I not know? I can’t even be sure of his feelings for me! But what if he wakes up? What if he speaks? What if he loves me?”

“I don’t want to be a Demon Emperor—I only want to forget everything, just like now, and run away with you.”

“If we can survive and leave here, will you accompany me to see every mountain and river?”

“Did you ever give her a chance? A chance to live as Tu Shan Susu?”

“.”

The flood of memories grew faster, more chaotic, until everything fell into silence.

In the darkness, a single gentle, sorrowful whisper slowly surfaced:

“O devoted demon, wait one more lifetime.”

Ye Xuan’s consciousness returned to reality; he remained silent.

Lin Ruoxi circled the great tree, unaware of the change on Ye Xuan’s face, only murmuring in awe:

“This tree’s efficiency in absorbing spiritual energy is absurd. If not for the current Spiritual Tide, when spiritual energy is abundant across the entire Blue Planet, it might have drained all the spiritual energy from Qingfeng Mountain.”

“What world did this tree come from? So greedy?”

“But spiritual energy concentration alone shouldn’t be enough to let those monkeys break through so quickly.”

Spiritual energy is abundant everywhere now, but the question is: how much can your body handle?

The body has limits; beyond that limit, no matter how dense the external spiritual energy, it’s useless.

At best, this level of spiritual energy might allow more geniuses to emerge in the mutated monkey clans in the future, preventing so many third-rank ones from appearing at this moment.

Gu Che rubbed his chin, gazing upward; pink petals settled on his shoulders.

“Strange—I feel like I’ve seen this tree before, but I can’t recall where.”

Trees, aside from novels—which are just words and lack precise mental imagery—were most vividly remembered by him as the Divine Tree from Naruto; everything else faded from memory.

Since this tree triggered recognition in him, it must be from some anime he’d seen.

He just couldn’t remember which one.

Shen Mo ignored their confusion, silently stepping forward and pressing his palm against the rough bark, just as Ye Xuan had done.

Instantly, countless memory fragments flooded his mind; his expression grew extraordinarily complex.

Seeing this, Gu Che and Lin Ruoxi exchanged glances, then curiously placed their hands on the tree’s trunk.

After a long while, they opened their eyes, falling into quiet silence.

“The Tree of Unrequited Love…”

Lin Ruoxi’s fingertip gently traced the bark’s patterns, her tone layered with complexity.

She was no stranger to the Tree of Unrequited Love—it, like the world from which Ye Xuan’s Wangquan Baiye template originated, came from the world of Fox Spirit: Matchmaking in the Afterlife, the very foundation of Tu Shan and the symbol of the “Red Immortal Realm.”

It possessed unique divine power to help humans and demons reincarnate and reconnect their fates, and could also aid fox spirits in cultivation.

The fragments they had witnessed were real scenes from the Fox Spirit: Matchmaking in the Afterlife world.

In that world, the lifespan gap between humans and demons was immense; though love could blossom, what awaited the demon after love was often endless loneliness.

The ancient Tree of Unrequited Love, standing for ages on Tu Shan, seemed to understand the demons’ pain, offering another possibility for human-demon love.

If the two lovers sincerely vowed before the Tree of Unrequited Love, offering their memories of love and part of the demon’s power as sacrifice, sealing them within a talisman, then using fox spirit power to split the talisman into two halves:

After the human’s death, the talisman and the demonic power would reincarnate with the human’s soul; when the Tree of Unrequited Love sensed their true feelings, it would appropriately bestow fate upon the human’s next life.

The reincarnated human would be born carrying the demonic power from the vow and one half of the talisman; with the fox spirit’s innate connection to the Tree of Unrequited Love, they could help restore the memories of both, thus rekindling their bond.

This process was called “Reincarnation and Fate Reconnection.”

Fox spirit power stemmed from profound emotion; by helping others reconnect their fates, the Red Thread Immortal deepened their own understanding of love, strengthening their cultivation.

They naturally didn’t believe the monkeys had been chosen by the Tree of Unrequited Love; they merely suspected that non-human races might gain special bonuses when cultivating beneath it, or perhaps other reasons—but compared to the Tree’s existence, those reasons were insignificant.

But

“The Fox Spirit world is the Fox Spirit world; the real world is the real world.”

“There are no such things as demons.”

The complexity on Gu Che’s face had faded, replaced by cold indifference.

Mutated creatures were mutated creatures; the real world was not the Fox Spirit world—there were no “demons.”

Even if, in some future day, humans called mutated creatures “demons,” it would only mean humanity had long surpassed them in power, reducing them to mere subjects under human rule.

Only then might “human-demon love” be acceptable.

Until then, everything that happened must die.

To defy explicit prohibitions, to betray one’s own race for the sake of a non-human life, to swear before the Tree of Unrequited Love for a next-life reunion—

He would feel no emotion; he would help them meet again in “hell.”

“That’s true, but you know as well as I do how rare sincere love is among humans.”

“Even between humans, it’s scarce—let alone between humans and demons.”

“And hearts change; no matter how deeply two people loved at first, over time, affection fades—unless one dies, or both die at the peak of their love.”

“Truly, those who love each other deeply after a hundred years together are exceedingly rare.”

(End of Chapter)