Innate Banana Tree

The reason!

The Banana Tree is one of the ten Top-grade Innate Spiritual Roots, renowned throughout the Primordial World as a "Treasure Tree"!

Its body bore four leaves containing innate essence, each destined to become a supremely powerful Innate Spiritual Treasure! Their future owners were already clear:

?The Water-attribute leaf:

Would be obtained by East Prince, refined into the "Great Leaf Banana Fan," possessing the might to summon wind and rain, part rivers and overturn seas. Later passed to Han Zhongli of the Eight Immortals of the Upper Cave, it could extinguish wind with a fan, scatter earth with a fan, turn stone to gold with a fan—endless wondrous uses.

?The Wind-attribute leaf:

Would fall into the hands of Old Ancestor Minghe of the Blood Sea, refined into the "Wind-fanning Banana Fan" (Taiyin Essence Leaf), fanning out a Yin wind that could send a person flying eighty-four thousand li. Later it became the supreme treasure in the hands of Princess Iron Fan.

?The Fire-attribute leaf:

Would land with Grand Pure Sage Laozi, transformed into a divine fan for alchemy and stoking flames, capable of unleashing the "Six Ding Divine Fire" that could burn the heavens and boil the seas.

?The Earth-attribute leaf:

Would be obtained by Venerable Banana at Western Mount Sumeru, able to move mountains and alter peaks, regulate earth veins, set up Feng Shui killing arrays, aiding his enlightenment and Buddhahood, earning him a place among the Eighteen Arhats.

These four leaves were the root of his calamity and disaster!

If he were even half a beat slower in taking form, he might not even live to see the terrifying thunder tribulation sent down by the Heavenly Dao.

The three future titans of the Primordial World—Grand Pure One Laozi, Old Ancestor Minghe, and East Prince—would likely follow the resonance of the Heavenly Secrets of Spiritual Treasures and come slaughtering to his doorstep, uproot his true body, kill him, and seize the treasure!

And according to the grand trends of the Primordial World in his memories, the time when the four Banana leaves would be divided was precisely the stage after Dao Ancestor Hongjun defeated Demon Ancestor Luohu in the Dao-Demon Conflict and began comprehending sagehood.

That was the period when many Innate Deities would take form and emerge.

Beginning to stir actively across the Primordial Earth, wantonly scavenging for opportunities and spiritual treasures!

"No! Absolutely not!"

The shadow of death loomed over his heart like a tangible thing. The immense crisis sent Zhou Yang's consciousness snapping to full alert in an instant.

"I must race against time! Otherwise, my only end is utter annihilation, becoming fertilizer for someone else's spiritual treasure!"

At this life-or-death juncture, all stray thoughts vanished.

Zhou Yang's consciousness no longer wandered, no longer reeled in shock—only a resolve as firm as bedrock remained.

In an instant, he gathered his mind and sank deep into the core of his true body, the colossal tree.

"Hum..."

The massive Banana Tree's true body trembled faintly. The Yin-Yang Qi entwined around its trunk flowed faster, and the surrounding Chaos Energy Field rippled in response.

Deep within the tree's heart, Zhou Yang's entire will began to frantically, recklessly comprehend the four great laws contained within the Banana Tree's true body—those originating from the dawn of Heaven-Opening, the most primal and closest to the Primordial Origin:

?Earth! Wind! Water! Fire!?

Do not underestimate this Banana Tree!

As one of the ten Top-grade Innate Spiritual Roots, it was not known for bearing Spiritual Fruit.

But in terms of affinity and mastery over the four fundamental forces, its potential was immense, its functions so powerful that it even surpassed peer-level spiritual roots like the Bodhi Tree and the Ginseng Fruit Tree!

Not to mention its ability to evolve Yin-Yang and the Five Elements.

Whether he could comprehend the origin, master himself, and successfully take form before those three set their sights on him and the heavenly tribulation locked onto him...

That single step was the chasm between eternal annihilation and the Great Dao Path!

Time had become the most luxurious and the deadliest enemy.

The giant tree stood silent. The deep valley lay still.

Only the four tender leaves, containing boundless might, quietly breathed the vast Dao resonance of the newly opened Primordial World, surrounded by Chaos Qi and Yin-Yang Qi.

Heavenly Dao above, "I, My Ancestor Dragon, lead the Dragon Clan to eternally guard the Four Seas, repaying karmic debts, not to emerge until a non-measurable Tribulation; may the Heavenly Dao witness this!"

?Heavenly Dao above, "I, My Primordial Phoenix, lead the Phoenix Clan to eternally guard the Volcano of Immortality, repaying karmic debts, not to emerge until a non-measurable Tribulation; may the Heavenly Dao grant this!"?

?Heavenly Dao above, "I, My First Qilin, lead the Qilin Clan to eternally guard Qilin Cliff, incarnating as auspicious beasts, not to emerge until a non-measurable Tribulation; may the Heavenly Dao witness this!"?

Three solemn vows, filled with endless vicissitude, resolve, and reluctance, carrying the last glory and downfall of the Three Innate Clans, resounded thunderously through every corner of the Primordial World.

Drawing the gazes of countless mighty beings, stirring threads of sorrow and lament in their hearts.

The Three Innate Clans, once so powerful, had ultimately failed to escape the reckoning of the Tribulation, trading eternal guardianship for a chance at racial survival.

Jade Capital Mountain, Purple Firmament Palace.

Dao Ancestor Hongjun, holding the fragment of the Jade Disk of Creation, furrowed his brows almost imperceptibly.

His gaze was profound, piercing through endless void, seeing the mountain range in the west seething with demonic qi.

"This Dragon-Han Primordial Calamity is over, the Sha Qi has all returned... Next, it will be this old Daoist's tribulation."

He murmured to himself, shaking his head, his gaze finally settling on the west, tinged with gravity.

?Western Mount Sumeru, demonic qi surging to the heavens.?

"Hahaha! Good! Good! Good!"

A piercing, manic laugh shook the cosmos, as if condensed from the wails of countless living beings.

Demon Ancestor Luohu stood atop rolling demonic clouds, surrounded by four peerless ferocious swords whose killing intent pierced the heavens and whose slaughterous aura was chilling to the bone—the Four Swords of Immortal Slaying!

His scarlet eyes gleamed with smug satisfaction.

"Those fools of the Three Innate Clans have indeed provided This Ancestor with an endless, excellent supply of Sha Qi! The Immortal Execution Sword Formation is complete. In this primordial wilderness, who else can stand against This Ancestor's edge?"

Feeling the surging power within him, he was only one crucial threshold away from the supreme realm of the Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal of the Origin!

The Heavenly Dao responded. The lingering echoes of the three-clan oath had not yet faded when boundless, leaden, pitch-black karmic clouds descended with crushing weight upon the surviving bloodlines of the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin clans.

...At the foot of Buzhou Mountain, in a valley.

A singular banana tree stood, its emerald leaves swirling with the primal light of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind, and faintly revealing visions of Yin-Yang interplay and the birth and death of thunder. In the instant karmic punishment fell and the primordial spiritual energy of the wilderness surged back in abundance as the three clans withdrew—Zhou Yang abruptly "awakened."

"The Dragon-Han Primordial Calamity... is over?"

Zhou Yang felt a mix of shock and urgency. He had heard the three-clan oath resounding across the wilderness with perfect clarity.

"How could it be so fast? From the moment I crossed over and began comprehending the Laws in a hazy state, cultivating until now, it's been at most five hundred and sixty thousand kalpas..."

Though this timescale was hardly long in the primordial wilderness, for Zhou Yang it meant danger was closing in fast. Because the Dao-Demon conflict between Hongjun and Luohu spanned only a mere five hundred kalpas.

At this moment, his realm had long since reached—Primordial Unity Golden Immortal late stage, Law Attainment?!

Yet a great anxiety coiled around his heart like vines.

Most living beings in the primordial wilderness, even plant spirits born of later generations, had already taken form and shed their original bodies at the Heavenly Immortal or Earthly Immortal Realm. But what about him? As an Innate Spiritual Root—a banana tree—his foundation was far deeper than ordinary beings, yet he remained stubbornly stuck at the threshold of the Primordial Unity Golden Immortal late stage. The "Form Transformation Opportunity," that crucial metamorphosis of life essence, remained elusive and distant!

"The Dao-Demon conflict is also nearing its end."

"If I cannot gain the power to protect myself—or even seize a thread of Luck—before Hongjun attains sainthood... then in this primordial wilderness, teeming with great powers and endless calamities, I will be nothing but fish on a chopping block!"