The reason was simple!
The Banana Tree was one of the top ten Top-grade Innate Spiritual Roots and a notoriously famous "Treasure Tree" in the Primordial Wilderness!
The four leaves on its body, each containing origin essence, were each destined to be overwhelmingly powerful Innate Spiritual Treasures! Their future belongings were already clear:
The water-attribute leaf:
Would be obtained by East Prince and refined into the Great Leaf Banana Fan, possessing the mighty power to summon wind and rain and split rivers and seas, later passed down to Han Zhongli of the Eight Immortals of the Upper Cave; fanning it extinguished winds, fanning it dispersed earth, and fanning it turned stone into gold, with countless marvelous uses.
The wind-attribute leaf:
Obtained by Ancestor Minghe of the Blood Sea, it would be refined into the Wind-fanning Banana Fan (Taiyin Essence Leaf); the dark wind it fanned out could send people soaring eighty-four thousand miles, later becoming the supreme treasure in the hands of Princess Iron Fan.
The fire-attribute leaf:
Fell into the hands of Grand Pure Sage Laozi, transforming into a divine fan for stoking alchemy fires, capable of unleashing the heaven-incinerating and ocean-boiling Six Ding Divine Fire.
The earth-attribute leaf:
Obtained by Venerable Banana at Western Mount Sumeru, it could move mountains and alter peaks, sort out ley lines, and set up geomantic killing arrays, helping him comprehend the Dao to become a Buddha and rank among the Eight Arhats.
These four leaves were the source of his disasters and troubles!
If his transformation was half a step too slow, he might not even survive the terrifying Thunder Tribulation sent down by Heavenly Dao.
The three future Primordial giants—Grand Pure Sage Laozi, Ancestor Minghe, and East Prince—would likely follow the induction of the Heavenly Secrets of Spiritual Treasures to kill their way over, uproot his true form, and kill him to seize the treasure!
According to the general trend of the Primordial Wilderness in his memory, the time when the four plantain leaves were carved up was precisely the stage when Dao Ancestor Hongjun began to comprehend and become a sage after defeating Demon Ancestor Rahula in the Dao-Devil War.
At this time, numerous Innate Deities successively transformed and showed their faces.
It was the period when they began to actively roam the Primordial Earth and wantonly plunder opportunities and spiritual treasures!
No! Absolutely not!
The shadow of death shrouded his heart like substance, and a huge sense of urgency instantly strained Zhou Yang's consciousness to the absolute limit.
I must race against time! Otherwise, the only end will be the destruction of both body and soul, reducing me to nourishment for someone else's spiritual treasure!
At this critical juncture of life and death, all distracting thoughts vanished.
Zhou Yang's consciousness was no longer dazed or shocked, leaving only a rock-solid determination.
In an instant, he collected his mind and sank into the deepest part of his main tree body.
Hum...
The massive Banana Tree true form trembled slightly, the Yin-Yang Qi entangling the trunk accelerated its flow, and the surrounding Chaos Energy Field fluctuated along with it.
Deep within the tree heart, Zhou Yang's entire will began to frantically and at all costs comprehend the four great laws contained in the Banana Tree true form—the most primitive and closest laws to the Primordial Origin from the very beginning of Heaven-Opening:
Earth! Wind! Water! Fire!
Do not underestimate this Banana Tree!
As one of the top-grade Innate Spiritual Roots, it was not known for nurturing spiritual fruits.
Solely in terms of its affinity and mastery over the power of the four origins, its potential and functionality even surpassed spiritual roots of the same level, such as the Bodhi Tree and the Ginseng Fruit Tree!
Not to mention that it also possessed the ability to evolve the Yin-Yang Five Elements.
Could he pierce through the origin, master himself, and successfully transform before these three coveted it and the thunder tribulation locked onto him...
This step of difference was the chasm between eternal annihilation and the Great Dao Path!
Time had become his most extravagant and deadliest enemy.
The giant tree stood in silence, and the deep valley was profound.
Only those four tender leaves containing supreme mighty power, surrounded by Chaos Qi and Yin-Yang Qi, quietly exhaled and inhaled the majestic Dao rhyme of the newly opened Primordial Wilderness.
"Heavenly Dao above, I, My Ancestor Dragon, lead the Dragon Clan to eternally suppress the Four Seas, repaying karmic hindrances, and shall not emerge unless a Boundless Tribulation arrives. May Heavenly Dao witness this!"
"Heavenly Dao above, I, Yuanfeng, lead the Phoenix Clan to eternally suppress the Volcano of Immortality, repaying karmic hindrances, and shall not emerge unless a Boundless Tribulation arrives. May Heavenly Dao grant this!"
"Heavenly Dao above, I, My First Qilin, lead the Qilin Clan to eternally suppress Qilin Cliff, transforming into an auspicious beast, and shall not emerge unless a Boundless Tribulation arrives. May Heavenly Dao witness this!"
Three loud oaths containing endless vicissitudes, determination, and unwillingness swept through every corner of the Primordial World, carrying the final glory and downfall of the Three Innate Clans.
This caused countless mighty figures to cast sideways glances, with faint traces of sorrow and sighing welling up in their hearts.
Even with the immense might of the Three Innate Clans, they ultimately failed to escape the reckoning of the tribulation, trading the opportunity for racial continuation with an oath of eternal suppression.
Jade Capital Mountain, Purple Palace.
Dao Ancestor Hongjun, holding fragments of the Jade Disk of Creation, frowned imperceptibly.
His gaze was profound, piercing through the endless void to see that mountain range in the West permeated with raging demonic energy.
"This Dragon-Han Primordial Calamity is over, and the baleful Qi has all returned... Next should be this old Daoist's tribulation."
He muttered to himself, shook his head, and finally fixed his gaze on the West with a hint of solemnity.
Western Mount Sumeru, demonic energy soared to the heavens.
"Hahaha! Good! Good! Good!"
The harsh, frenzied laughter shook the universe, as if the wails of countless living beings were condensed within it.
Demon Ancestor Rahula stood atop the rolling demonic clouds, surrounded by four peerless, vicious swords radiating towering killing intent and baleful Qi—the Four Swords of Zhu Xian!
A look of complete self-satisfaction flashed within his scarlet eyes.
"This group of fools from the Three Innate Clans truly provided this Ancestor with an endless stream of supreme baleful Qi!
The Immortal Execution Sword Formation is complete; who in this Primordial heaven and earth can still block this Demon Ancestor's edge?"
Feeling the surging power within him, he was only a single, crucial threshold away from the supreme realm of proving the Dao as a Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal!
Heavenly Dao sensed it, and as the lingering echoes of the three oaths faded, a boundless, heavy as lead, and ink-black terrifying cloud of karmic hindrances descended with a roar, heavily imposing itself upon the remaining bloodlines of the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans.
At the foot of Buzhou Mountain, inside a valley.
A verdant, dripping-wet strange banana tree whose leaves circulated four-colored origin radiances of earth, water, fire, and wind, and even faintly revealed the phenomena of Yin-Yang circulation and thunder birth and destruction.
The moment karmic hindrances descended and Primordial spiritual Qi suddenly surged and filled the air due to the exit of the Three Clans—Zhou Yang abruptly "awoke".
"The Dragon-Han Primordial Calamity... has ended?"
Zhou Yang felt some astonishment and a trace of a sense of urgency. He heard the three-clan oaths echoing across the Primordial Wilderness with utmost clarity.
"How could it be so fast? From when I transmigrated here and began comprehending laws and cultivating in a dazed consciousness until now, it has only been fifty-six million kalpas at most..."
Although this time scale was not considered long in the Primordial Wilderness, for Zhou Yang, it meant danger was rapidly approaching.
Because the Dao-Devil War between Hongjun and Rahula lasted a mere five hundred kalpas.
At this moment, his realm was already—late Taiyi Golden Immortal, with Law Attainment!
However, massive anxiety coiled around his heart like vines.
Primordial living beings, even acquired living beings like plant spirits, mostly transformed and shed their shells at the Earthly Immortal or Celestial Immortal realms.
What about him? As the Innate Spiritual Root Banana Tree, his origin was far more abundant than ordinary beings, yet he was stuck at the threshold of the late Taiyi Golden Immortal stage, and the "Form Transformation Opportunity" concerning his life essence's transformation remained elusive and traceless!
The Dao-Devil War is also drawing to a close.
If I cannot make it before Hongjun becomes a sage, gaining self-preservation power and even fighting for a thread of luck...
In this Primordial Wilderness where mighty figures were everywhere and killing tribulations were constant, he was simply like a fish on a chopping board!
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