Chapter 173: Seeing the Truth

Ruan Xing was watching this massive war with undivided attention, yet as the Xian Tai Tree fell, its massive root system, which connected large swaths of land, shockingly split the entire continent into two parts! Only then did Ruan Xing realize that the battlefield they were on was not a normal piece of land at all, but was hanging high in the sky! At this moment, a Demon Cultivator braved the gale and jumped directly off the splitting ground, and the other male Immortal Cultivator who had just been fighting her followed without hesitation.

The overturned Xian Tai Tree tumbled head-over-heels, and the Demon Cultivator fell onto a thick branch and spat out a mouthful of blood. Seeing the Immortal Cultivator man behind her in pursuit, she dared not stop and ran straight down along the trunk. As she ran, she suddenly tumbled into a hollow in the tree, sliding down like a playground slide, twisting and turning for a long time before reaching the bottom, where she landed in a dizzying heap.

As the bubble memory progressed, Ruan Xing's gaze also shifted to this Demon Cultivator.

She climbed up to take a look and saw something resembling a candlestick as large as a wooden basin nearby, emitting a faint fluorescent glow. She judged it to be a good item in less than a second, hurriedly hugged it to her chest, and then planned to exit the tree hollow.

It was just that the Xian Tai Tree was already in the process of falling; she could not distinguish up from down inside the hollow and could not even walk steadily. Before she had walked more than a few meters, a humanoid creature rolled in front of her.

If they were to fight here, no matter what good things they had in their hands, they would have no life left to enjoy them.

Thus, she made a prompt decision, held up the object in her hand, and said to the male cultivator, "Even if you kill me now, you will be trapped in the Guixu Secret Realm and die here with me. It would be better to join forces to break out first; I can share half of this Xian Tai Tree essence in my hand with you."

She actually did not know what this thing was, but that did not stop her from spouting nonsense to trick this male cultivator first.

The male cultivator only thought for a few seconds before saying, "How do we get out?"

He had only seen the Demon Cultivator jump so decisively and followed her, thinking she had special means of escaping death; he had not expected that, through a twist of fate, they would both fall into the tree hollow together.

Now, the best method was naturally cooperation; only then could the two of them survive together.

A violent turbulence appeared in the air, and Ruan Xing's perspective returned to the sky. The completely collapsed Xian Tai Tree had all its leaves turn yellow and fall off overnight, with only a touch of green in the center appearing somewhat abrupt.

The crown of the tree shook, and a green seed flew out, flying into the two pieces of land that remained in mid-air.

And the moment the Xian Tai Tree hit the ground, along with the large swaths of land attached to its roots, everything suddenly vanished. Space closed, the Guixu Secret Realm had already formed, and the explosion was also confined within the Return to Ruins Land.

It was just that the higher a person's cultivation, the closer they were to the Xian Tai Tree during the battle; therefore, almost no one above the Nascent Soul stage, whether Immortal Cultivator or Demon Cultivator, could escape, and the remaining small-fry cultivators also mostly died in the aftermath.

Only individual cultivators who saw the situation was bad and slipped away early survived.

After this battle, the world of Cultivation fell into a period of stagnation.

Both the Immortal and Demon sides lost the high-level cultivators at the very top of the pyramid.

Some sects even had their lineages broken because their high-level cultivators were completely wiped out.

Seeing this, Ruan Xing felt she had already understood something.

That green seed was the seed of the Xian Tai Tree. Because it was about to collapse and its vitality was exhausted, it produced a seed to split off, but before it could land and sprout, its essence was taken away by that Demon Cultivator. No wonder the seed had always wanted to come here to sprout.

And because of the fall of the Xian Tai Tree, having lost its connection and cover, the remaining two pieces of land—namely Tianxin Island and the Floating Island—were affected, their existence erased in the eyes of cultivators, becoming an unknown Juelin Zhidi.

If Guangyou Xianjun had not brought the seed out of the Juelin Zhidi, I am afraid the seed would never have seen the light of day in this lifetime.

That place containing the remains of the Xian Tai Tree became the Guixu Secret Realm; after it was obtained by the Xuanbing Sect, perhaps to avoid a taboo, it was renamed the Golden Terrace Secret Realm.

And as time passed, with both the Immortal and Demon sides recuperating, after the new generation of leaders took over, these past events were all sealed away in history.

And those before seemed to have intentionally hidden this tragic war, leaving behind no records whatsoever.

The thoughts in her mind turned several times, but she discovered that half a day had passed, and the bubble had not yet dissipated.

She had thought that by reaching this point, the origin of the seed had been explained clearly; she had not expected there to be a follow-up. Ruan Xing waited curiously for a long while, and the scene before her finally changed.

The two cultivators who had fallen into the tree hollow were now sitting face-to-face in the same room, and on the table between them was the fluorescent Xian Tai Tree essence.

The seed had already been left in the Juelin Zhidi and could not have seen this scene, so this was the memory of the Xian Tai Tree.

Ruan Xing pricked up her ears, listening to the two people's conversation even more earnestly.

The Demon Cultivator woman coughed lightly and said, "It was my oversight earlier; I didn't expect this to be not Xian Tai Tree essence, but the Xian Tai Tree itself. Since it is alive, we cannot divide it. Since I brought it out, it belongs to me. Whatever you want, I will provide you with other compensation."

"What a joke!" the Immortal Cultivator man sneered. "The Xian Tai is gone, the two islands have disappeared, and the Dao Rhyme is nowhere to be found. Do you think I don't know how important the Xian Tai Tree is to the entire world of Cultivation now?"

In the past, although Immortals and Demons had small frictions from time to time, they barely coexisted peacefully, only because the Xian Tai was constrained by the laws of the Heavenly Dao. All cultivators, after reaching the Spirit Severing stage and before ascending, could go to the two Xian Tai islands to bathe in the Divine Light and contemplate the Dao Rhyme.

Immortal Cultivators naturally did not welcome seeing Demon Cultivators at the Xian Tai, and many Immortal Cultivators believed that since it was called Xian Tai, Demon Cultivators should not be allowed up. But the Xian Tai Divine Light treated everyone equally, and Demon Cultivators wanting to ascend to the Spirit Realm also had to do so here; therefore, although the Immortal Cultivators had accumulated grievances and dissatisfaction, there was no large-scale opposition.

Demon Cultivators also did not really like going to the Xian Tai because their philosophies were different. Immortal Cultivators pursued ascension and longevity, while Demon Cultivators believed that they were already powerful enough to dominate a region and lord over others; why go to a Spirit Realm they knew nothing about? What if they ended up at the bottom there, unlike how happy they were now?

And the Saint Demon Lord, confident in her own strength, felt the overall strength of the Demon Cultivators was superior to the Immortal Cultivators, so she had the idea to use her own reputation to lead a Demon Cultivator army to monopolize the Xian Tai, which was why they started fighting at the Xian Tai.

Many Demon Cultivators were willing to respond to the Saint Demon Lord, not only because she was the number one person among Demon Cultivators and powerful, but also because many had the same mindset as Xie Feng, thinking of coming over to see if there were any benefits to be gained.

The Demon Cultivator woman said with a cold laugh, "Then what do you want?"

"The Xian Tai Tree belongs to me."

"No!" the Demon Cultivator woman refused flatly.

The Immortal Cultivator man sneered, "You, in the barren Northern Territory, also want to raise a Xian Tai Tree?"

The Demon Cultivator woman retorted, "Is your Nanzhou a rich and fertile place, then?"

He tapped his fingers on the table and shook his head lightly, "It seems you are the same, following the Saint Demon Lord to your deaths without knowing anything. Let me tell you, raising a Xian Tai Tree is not simple. Its vitality is exhausted; I need to replenish its vitality to make it sprout and grow. And I happen to have a cultivation technique that enters the Dao through vitality. Now, because of the change in the Xian Tai, many sects no longer exist, the world is in chaos, and everything is waiting to be rebuilt. I will use this technique to establish a sect and then specifically provide for this Xian Tai Tree."

"It seems you have already planned it out. However, among those in the world with great vitality, which one is not a heaven-favored child, protected by their sect like a treasure? Who could let you use them as fertilizer?" the Demon Cultivator woman said disdainfully.

The Immortal Cultivator man said calmly, "Vitality is something that, besides being innate, can also be cultivated later."

The Demon Cultivator woman hesitated and said, "You mean... dynasty... official fortune? Heh, the emperors of the small mortal kingdoms today, every single one of them is a Puppet cultivated by various sects. With cultivators interfering, where would any vitality come from!" "I can establish a kingdom without the interference of cultivators!" the Immortal Cultivator man said unhurriedly. "Using the Xian Tai Tree as a foundation, set a boundary for the surrounding area, with only mortals inside. Let them evolve freely without interference, and naturally, vitality can be cultivated!"

Catching some mortals was not difficult; if what he said was true, this was indeed a good method.

The Demon Cultivator woman pondered for a moment and replied, "Then what do I get?"

"The cultivation of the Xian Tai Tree takes time. When it truly grows up and the Xian Tai is recast, you will become the first cultivator to ascend."

"Are you trying to feed me empty promises?"

"You can choose not to believe me, but I guarantee that you will not walk out of this door today. Even if you do walk out, the Xian Tai Tree will not be able to survive in your hands and will only slowly wither."

The Demon Cultivator woman glared at him hatefully, "Every thirty years, I will send someone to check."

"Fine."

The two finished their conversation. The Demon Cultivator woman helped him capture many mortal children, keeping them in captivity in an area isolated by mountains, planting the Xian Tai Tree nearly a thousand meters deep beneath this area, and establishing the prototype of a barrier, which would slowly evolve and perfect itself through the rules of the Xian Tai Tree itself.

Supplemented by illusion techniques to control them, they taught these children to farm and weave, to read and write, and to establish a government. After more than ten years, when it was on the right track, they removed the illusion techniques and let them develop on their own.

After these children grew up, they had long forgotten their childhood experiences, remembering only that they were mortals born and bred, and no more stories of miraculous Immortals and Demons were passed down.

The scenes flashed by one after another, and Ruan Xing watched them in a daze. Soon, the first batch of mortals who cultivated vitality appeared. They were taken into the sect by the Immortal Cultivator man, who founded a sect called the Six Suns Study. When these mortals cultivated to the Golden Core stage, the Xian Tai Tree regained its vitality and began to grow roots.

Thousands of years passed, and the Xian Tai Tree grew more and more roots, and the area it took root in became wider and wider. The functions of the Xian Tai Tree developed by the Six Suns Study also became more and more numerous; they even took a portion of its roots to carve and refine into a mirror-like Spirit Tool, but it never grew a trunk, nor did it grow branches or leaves.

In the three-thousandth year, the Immortal Cultivator man, who had encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation and could not break through to the Return to Ruins Stage, finally reached the end of his lifespan and died with deep regret.

He had not even touched the threshold of ascension.

The newly appointed Study Master did not understand the truth about the Xian Tai Tree; he only knew it was the Sect's greatest secret, related to the cooperation with Demon Cultivators. He firmly kept the methods of the previous Study Master in mind and slowly passed these things on to his successor.

From then on, only Cultivators selected to be trained as the next Study Master and Elder could learn the truth passed down by word of mouth from their predecessors; the other Cultivators were merely nourishment for the Xian Tai Tree.

Even after another two thousand years, the Xian Tai Tree had lost its own name, becoming the Boundary Tree or the Sumeru Tree.

In the final scene, the Xian Tai Tree, having muddled-ly gained consciousness, nudged its own roots, found a memory obtained from the Saint Demon Lord who had guided that great war, transformed it into the appearance of a book, quietly tossed it into a remote village far from the Capital, and then fell back into a deep sleep.

The bubble dissipated.

Ruan Xing felt a sense of loss.

That Nether Ghost Record... it turned out to be a means for the Xian Tai Tree to save itself.

It had tossed that book into the boundary for several hundred years before finally having a Hongtou Daoren study the theories of gods and ghosts within it.

Perhaps this was the path planned by the Heavenly Dao; according to the original female lead's hatred for the Six Suns Study and the male lead, it would not be strange for her to wipe out the entire Sect.

It was just that the process had been disrupted by Ruan Xing.

She went to touch other, more distant bubbles, but the memory fragments inside them did not contain any important content; some were even just the changing of the four seasons and the interweaving of wind and rain.

It seemed the first bubble she touched was not random, but that the Xian Tai Tree had intended for her to see it.

Or rather... the current Xian Tai Tree was awake.

Ruan Xing looked at the staircase spiraling downward and the endless tree roots, her expression somewhat complex, "What do you want me to do?"

If it were to destroy the Six Suns Study, she would do it even without the Xian Tai Tree telling her to, but since the Xian Tai Tree had entrusted the entire process of events to her, there must be another reason.

A drifting, gentle sigh reached her ears.

"Make it sprout, and also, the 170,000 people within the boundary, I leave them to you."

Ruan Xing was silent for a long moment, "I have always been selfish, and I am used to being a lone wolf; I cannot bear the lives of so many people. If you want me to use Vitality to nourish it to sprout like them, I'm sorry, I cannot do it."

Although she had killed quite a few people, she was by no means a person who killed indiscriminately. Using so many innocent lives to nourish a small sapling that she didn't know when would be useful—this kind of thing went against her original intention.

She would rather destroy the Boundary Tree and the Six Suns Study together.

Of course, given the restriction within her body and the experience of the last Simulation, she probably couldn't beat the Boundary Tree...

It was just a Simulation, so to tell the truth, what did it matter? Even if she were killed by the Boundary Tree this time, at least she had obtained more information this time than ever before.

As long as she didn't go to the back mountain and didn't enter the boundary, it wouldn't matter if she destroyed the Six Suns Study and then lay low for a few years until she reached the Return to Ruins Stage to come back and deal with the Boundary Tree.

"That is not the case; this is my request."

The Boundary Tree was not angry and still explained to her in a gentle voice, though there was an extra touch of melancholy in its tone.

"I originally thought the child who obtained my technique would come, so that she would owe me a favor and naturally help me find the seed and help the seed sprout, but I didn't expect... it would be you. Although you also received a little help from that technique, you have already delivered the seed to me; you don't owe me anything."

"So, are you going to use it to threaten me?" Ruan Xing pointed her finger at her own heart.

Here, there was a restriction left by the Boundary Tree.

"I am very sorry, but that was not my intention; I am unconscious most of the time." The Boundary Tree's voice held a trace of guilt, "It is not just you who is bound; even I... in these few thousand years, have already become someone I am not."

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