The Chaos Green Lotus Martial Soul had undergone a complete transformation, and the divine information surging in his sea of consciousness stirred Xiao Han's heart.
[Myriad Trees Spring Forth!]
These divine skills are both offensive and defensive, and their applications are endless!
It aids in healing and fosters the growth of all things; when used for offense, it transforms vitality into deadly intent, becoming unpredictable and ever-changing!
A system notification suddenly sounded in my mind.
[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have obtained the title: [Voidwalker]!]
[Voidwalker: Passive effect, permanently increases spatial affinity by 50%, reduces Void Travel cost by 30%, and doubles sensitivity to spatial fluctuations. Walking in the void is as easy as walking on flat ground!]
"Phew, this trip was worth it!"
Xiao Han exhaled a breath of stale air, suppressing the surging joy. Although his body was exhausted, his spirit was extremely excited. He propelled himself and floated upwards towards the Spring of Life.
As soon as he appeared by the spring, the tribal high priest and all the tribesmen who had been waiting on the shore turned their eyes to the spring.
Clear!
Full of life!
Dead silence.
After just a moment of deathly silence, a wave of wild joy, like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami crashing, soared into the sky!
"Holy spring! The holy spring has truly purified us!"
"The gods have appeared! The gods have saved our tribe!"
Countless clansmen wept uncontrollably, so moved they could hardly contain themselves. They all knelt down in Xiao Han's direction, bowing their heads devoutly, their foreheads pressed against the ground.
Two young girls from the tribe helped the high priest, who walked unsteadily and shakily to Xiao Han's side, already sobbing uncontrollably.
"My benefactor... you... you really... you really succeeded! On behalf of the entire clan, I kowtow in gratitude for your life-saving grace!"
Trembling, she reached into her bosom and solemnly took out something.
It was a small plaque, about the size of a palm, polished from the bone of some strange beast. It felt warm to the touch and was covered with dense totem carvings, ancient and weathered, representing the collective faith of the entire tribe.
The high priest held the dominoes high in the air with both hands.
"This is the [Guardian Totem], embodying the ten-thousand-year-old faith of our people and the lingering spirits of our ancestors."
"Please, my benefactor, accept this! If you encounter danger in the future, activating this totem will summon the spirits of your ancestors for protection. (This item can only be used once; its power depends on the degree of affinity between the user and the totem. The higher the affinity, the more astonishing the power.)"
Xiao Han accepted the totem.
The dominoes felt warm to the touch, and a pure and powerful force of faith surged through him, giving him a strange sense of intimacy. In the depths of his being, he felt an indescribable connection between himself and this land, and between himself and these simple and honest people.
Deep within his sea of consciousness, the Eternal Night Void Emperor Martial Soul trembled slightly, revealing a hint of interest in this pure power of faith.
"High Priest, you flatter me. Please rise."
Xiao Han quickly reached out to support her, "I acted out of self-interest, and dare not take credit for it."
The high priest, however, was unusually insistent. Only after Xiao Han accepted the totem did his expression relax slightly. Then, his face became solemn, and he led Xiao Han deeper into the majestic stone temple in the center of the tribe.
Deep within the temple, the light was dim.
A heavy, desolate, and deathly atmosphere filled the air, making it hard to breathe.
In the very center of the hall, a huge tree root is prominently displayed.
This root is as thick as a water vat, and most of it is charred and carbonized, showing no signs of life.
Only a small section stubbornly revealed a faint trace of green and a flicker of life.
"My benefactor, please look... this is the true World Tree Remnant Root, which my clan has guarded for generations."
The high priest's voice was low, filled with a profound sorrow beneath his reverence.
Xiao Han was utterly shocked!
Even though it's just a remnant root, the life force it contains is still as vast as the sea!
What made his heart pound even harder was that an extremely familiar aura emanated from the remnant root, resonating with the [World Tree Heart Fragment] within his body!
"My benefactor, you are unaware of the truth."
The high priest took a deep breath, as if making a firm decision, and began to reveal a shocking secret. "The Land of Forgetfulness we inhabit is not a simple fragment of a small world. This place is one of the core battlefields of the Primordial War!"
"The great World Tree, to resist the invasion of extraterrestrial demons and protect all living beings, ultimately crumbled here. And beneath this broken root, sealed away is a terrifying extraterrestrial being... a single finger!"
"A single finger?!" Xiao Han was utterly shocked. Just a single finger required the World Tree to shatter its own body to seal it? How terrifying must the true form be?!
The high priest nodded, his face filled with solemnity and worry. "The demonic contamination of the Spring of Life and the remnant soul of the Void Evil Demon you slew were merely small minions spawned by the slightest amount of power released during the awakening of that finger."
She looked at Xiao Han, her eyes filled with complex emotions. "Benefactor, you possess the aura of the World Tree and have purified the Spring of Life, temporarily suppressing the loosening of the seal. But... that finger seems to have reacted even more strongly due to your arrival and the brief resurgence of the World Tree's aura!"
Before the words were even finished, the World Tree Remnant Root inside the temple suddenly began to tremble violently without warning!
"Buzz--"
A terrifying and malevolent aura, far exceeding that of the previous Void Evil Demons by tens of millions of times, seeped wildly from the depths of the earth like ink, carrying a suffocating pressure and despair. The entire valley began to tremble violently, as if it were about to collapse at any moment!
"Not good!" the high priest cried out in horror. "The sealing power is rapidly weakening! That thing... that thing is about to emerge! The ancient tribal teleportation array located beneath the remnants is also about to be completely destroyed by this power!"
As soon as she finished speaking, an ancient teleportation array pattern on the temple floor, which was already covered in cracks, began to flash a blinding, dangerous red light. The spatial fluctuations on it were extremely chaotic, and it looked like it was about to collapse.
[Warning! Warning! Warning--!]
The system's shrill alarm almost pierced Xiao Han's eardrums.
[A cataclysmic disaster is upon us! The seal is on the verge of complete collapse!]
[Host! Make a choice immediately!]
That voice, for the first time ever, was actually trembling!
In Xiao Han's mind, the cold system panel flickered wildly.
Above it were three blood-red options, each word heavy and suffocating him.
Each option leads to a completely different, unpredictable path.
[Option 1: Escape in the chaos!]
[Description: Using the [Voidwalker] title and [Void Marker], forcibly activated an ancient teleportation array on the verge of collapse.]
[Success rate: 30%]
[Price: The Land of Forgetfulness will be completely destroyed. The host has a very high chance of being swept into an unknown spatial turbulence, with a slim chance of survival!]
[Rewards: [World-Breaking Talisman] (one-time use, randomly teleports to a small world), [World Tree Remnant Leaf] (contains the essence of the World Tree, can be used for repair or enhancement).]
[Option Two: A desperate fight!]
[Description: Assisting the tribe, using the [Guardian Totem] and the World Tree Remnant Root, in an attempt to reinforce the ancient seal and prevent the severed finger from breaking free.]
[Success rate: less than one in ten thousand.]
[Price: Failure will result in the annihilation of the host, both body and soul!]
[Rewards: [World Tree's Blessing] (Title, increases affinity with the World Tree to MAX, greatly enhances life energy affinity and recovery, possesses natural resistance to evil forces, and will provide a huge advantage when acquiring other parts of the World Tree in the future), [Primordial Sealing Technique Fragment], [Eternal Friendship of the Tribe], and [Tribal Guardian Deity] (Titles, permanently grant the blessing of the faith of the tribe in this area).]
[Option 3: System friendly reminder: Running away to save your life is the priority!]
[Description: Host, listen to my advice, can't our boss be less stubborn? Let's not get involved in this mess!]
[Suggestion: Quickly find a secluded corner to hide in, or just lie down and play dead. Wait until those gods outside finish their battle, then we can come out and pick up some scraps. Sweet!]
[Rewards: [True Explanation of the Way of Survival] (Ultimate mental technique, greatly enhances stealth and survivability, effectively reduces one's presence), [Golden Cicada Lifesaving Thread] (One-time use item, can withstand one fatal attack).]