A moment later, Qin He's vision gradually blurred, and the shadow play of the three great tree demons began.
It was almost the same as Chi Mu Kui's, the only difference being the perspective.
Thorn Ridge had once had no name. It was an unnamed wilderness of dense Lin, rarely visited by people, its vegetation blotting out the sky and sun, rich with spiritual energy.
The four great tree demons had gained sentience there. Over tens of thousands of years, they awakened intelligence one after another, first taking on rudimentary human forms before transforming into demons.
It had been an exceedingly long stretch of time. Fortunately, tree demons generally possessed great longevity, and they had managed to cross the great threshold of taking human form.
The first to awaken intelligence was Gu Zhi Kui, whose true body was a cypress tree.
It was also the elder and guide of the other three tree demons. One idiom sufficed to describe it: "high in virtue and held in great esteem."
After becoming a demon, Gu Zhi Kui was upright by nature and treated all things with tolerance. It never harmed those of its own kind, nor did it disturb the animals in the mountains and Lin. It had even resolved calamities that arose in the mountain Lin, sheltering countless living beings.
Fu Yun Gui, Xing Tian Xian, and Chi Mu Kui had all received its care for thousands of years, allowing them to transform into demons and awaken intelligence in turn.
This was completely different from birds and beasts transforming into demons. It seemed to possess no desire to claim territory for itself; instead, it carefully nurtured promising younger generations, regarding them as its own kind.
If Gu Zhi Kui had been human, it would have been a revered village elder—protecting one