After hearing Moon Spirit's account, Su Xiao had a rough understanding of the situation. In reality, the Tree God had arrived in this world earlier than that true Ancient God.
The Tree God could not siphon the world because it originally belonged to the Neutral-Evil faction of gods, not the Ancient God system.
One day, a hole appeared in the sky of the world where the Tree God resided, and black sludge capable of drowning the entire continent poured down.
When the Tree God awoke, it was already inside the Dark Star World. After being soaked in that black sludge, it could be considered two-thirds an Ancient God. Completely becoming an Ancient God was impossible; it would never possess the ability to siphon the world.
Although the Tree God could not siphon the world, it possessed another ability. It could transform into a towering ancient tree, its roots spreading throughout the soil, while releasing a unique fluctuation that attracted nearby lifeforms.
Any intelligent lifeform would be drawn by this fluctuation and come beneath the giant tree, where its entire body would be parasitized by the roots and its consciousness sink into hallucinations.
In the world of hallucinations, everything was beautiful. People would be surrounded by beauties and indulge in pleasure every day, or become 'powerful'—with a single glance, everything they saw would crumble into dust. As long as they could imagine it, it could be realized in the world of hallucinations.
It seemed wonderful? It wasn't. In reality, the Tree God's roots would absorb those people's life force. That was the price.
Exchanging one's life for a brief, beautiful hallucination became known to the Mother Goddess. After the two sides met, they neither became enemies nor fought.
The Tree God could originally have continued doing this indefinitely, until that true