The Ailing Bodhi Ancient Tree

Desolate Ancient Domain!

This place still retained its primitive, wild landscape. The jungle was dense, the trees towering; any random tree stood hundreds of zhang tall, its canopy like a giant umbrella blotting out the sky and shading a vast expanse below.

Countless Magical Beast clans lived here. Many Magical Beasts rarely seen elsewhere roamed these lands in herds, so numerous they were impossible to count.

This region was rarely visited by humans. Unless there was a necessity, almost no human set foot here. It could be considered one of the few paradises for Magical Beasts across the entire Dou Qi Continent.

The reason for this lay entirely with the Desolate Ancient Domain's greatest treasure, the Bodhi Ancient Tree. It was a colossal being that had lived for hundreds of thousands of years, surviving from ancient times to the present and witnessing incomparably long ages.

Perhaps because its body was simply too immense, the laws of heaven and earth instinctively suppressed the formation of its intelligence. Though the Bodhi Ancient Tree had lived for hundreds of thousands of years, its intellect remained low, and it possessed little more than instinct.

That day, a crack suddenly tore open in the sky above the tranquil Bodhi Ancient Tree. A tall, imposing figure dressed in white stepped out from within.

"So this is the Bodhi Ancient Tree? Although I had already expected it, seeing it with my own eyes still leaves me awestruck. The power of creation is truly mysterious, to nurture such a colossal being." Xiao Xian stood in the air, gazing at the enormous ancient tree that seemed capable of covering the entire Dou Qi Continent, clicking his tongue in admiration.

The Bodhi Ancient Tree was simply too large. Standing beneath it, a person was as tiny as an ant.

Having lived for hundreds of thousands of years, the Bodhi Ancient Tree radiated incredibly dense life energy. Even taking a slight breath made one feel as though every cell were cheering with joy.

If someone settled here for a long time, even an ordinary person could live to a hundred without illness or calamity, remaining healthy until the end of their natural lifespan.

But that was under normal circumstances. The Bodhi Ancient Tree was now sick. Though it still possessed dense life energy, a gray aura coiled around it, constantly corroding the ancient tree's foundation.

Buzz!

As though it had sensed the arrival of a powerful expert, the Bodhi Ancient Tree awoke on its own. An invisible force enveloped Xiao Xian, preparing to pull him into its inner space.

Xiao Xian did not resist. The Bodhi Ancient Tree had no ill intent for the moment and was instead seeking his help, so he allowed it to draw him inside.

This was a green space, filled with pale green mist. The life energy within was incomparably potent. Clearly, this was the Bodhi Ancient Tree's Life Essence.

At the center of this space stood a small tree roughly a dozen zhang tall. It was an exact miniature of the massive Bodhi Ancient Tree outside, clearly the Bodhi Ancient Tree's true core.

Buzz!

The small tree at the center trembled continuously, and scene after scene unfolded.

In the scene, a man dressed in black robes appeared before the Bodhi Ancient Tree. He stood in the air, radiating an aura that dominated the world. Though he was not tall, he seemed even more imposing than the Bodhi Ancient Tree.

Dou Emperor!

Clearly, this black-robed man was a Dou Emperor.

The scene shifted, and the black-robed man suddenly began attacking the Bodhi Ancient Tree. Vast energy poured forth without restraint.

Faced with the black-robed man's assault, the Bodhi Ancient Tree was not to be outdone. A massive force erupted at any moment.

The aftershocks of the battle between man and tree swept across heaven and earth, collapsing the space for tens of thousands of zhang around them. Everything turned to nothingness, and space itself was torn apart like paper.

The Bodhi Ancient Tree's realm might not have matched that of a Dou Emperor, but the energy its colossal body could contain was astonishing. A quantitative change caused a qualitative change; although the black-robed man was a Dou Emperor, taking down the Bodhi Ancient Tree easily was simply impossible.

The two sides traded blows, their power ferocious beyond measure. No substance could survive their clash.

Gradually, their battle reached a fever pitch. Both man and tree brought out their full strength and fought madly. Every exchange demanded their utmost effort and complete concentration, naturally reducing their awareness of the outside world to its lowest point.

And it was at that moment that a fatal danger struck. A violent gale swept through, and the black-robed man, utterly unprepared, was hit directly. His body instantly exploded into a mist of blood, smashed into pulp on the spot.

But matters did not end with the black-robed man's death. Within that void, a stream of black qi suddenly emerged. As soon as it appeared, it swiftly burrowed into the Bodhi Ancient Tree's trunk.

As the black qi poured in, the once vibrant Bodhi Ancient Tree gained a trace of chilliness. Though it was well concealed, it could not escape Xiao Xian's notice.

From this vision, it was clear that the black-robed Dou Emperor had been seriously injured back then and had wanted to seize the Bodhi Ancient Tree's immense life energy to heal himself. Yet at the final moment, another Dou Emperor appeared. With the two joining forces, they directly destroyed the black-robed Dou Emperor in body and soul.

However, the black-robed Dou Emperor had not been an easy opponent. Though he had been killed outright, the special nature of his cultivation technique meant that even after death, the power within his body still contaminated the Bodhi Ancient Tree, making its energy no longer pure.

Over the countless years that followed, this negative power continuously eroded the Bodhi Ancient Tree's already simple intelligence, causing its aura to gradually turn cold and sinister, steadily drifting toward evil.

The most obvious manifestation was that the Bodhi Ancient Tree would instinctively create illusions and draw outside creatures into them. If they could not see through the power of those illusions, they would gradually lose themselves and be controlled by the evil Bodhi Ancient Tree, becoming puppet-like existences.

Simply put, the Bodhi Ancient Tree now possessed two consciousnesses. One remained kind as it had been in the past, while the other, influenced by the power left behind by the black-robed Dou Emperor before his death, leaned toward evil.

The one that had drawn Xiao Xian into the Bodhi Ancient Tree's core was the kind consciousness. Having sensed a crisis of life and death, it instinctively sought help from a powerful being outside.

Xiao Xian naturally understood this as well, so he said directly, "You want me to help you expel this dark energy. That is not a problem, but what benefit do I get?"

Rustle!

The leaves on the Bodhi Ancient Tree's core at the center swayed, spitting out sphere after sphere of light. Each sphere contained a pure Bodhi Seed, densely packed, numbering no fewer than a hundred.

Clearly, in order to beg Xiao Xian to treat it, the Bodhi Ancient Tree had made a huge sacrifice. It was actually giving Xiao Xian fruits formed from its own life energy in exchange for his help.

"No, no, no. Bodhi Seeds may be precious, but to an existence like me, they are nothing but junk. They cannot improve my cultivation at all and can only be eaten as snacks. Such a reward cannot move me." Xiao Xian shook his head, indicating that these things were not enough to make him act.