World Tree

After that, several figures could be seen planting Spiritual Roots everywhere on Kunlun Mountain. There had never been many living beings on Kunlun Mountain, so news of it quickly spread throughout the mountain.

The large Earth Veins of Kunlun Mountain were actually easy to find. Wherever there were large Earth Veins, Innate Spiritual Qi was denser. Following the concentration of spiritual qi, they quickly finished planting at the large Earth Vein Nodes.

That day, Xuan Qing discovered that the surrounding Innate Spiritual Qi was diminishing. Kunlun Mountain had always been a place abundant in spiritual qi, so something had to be seriously wrong. Following that direction, several people advanced cautiously.

Before long, Xuan Qing and the others suddenly saw a giant tree. The Innate Spiritual Qi around it was incredibly sparse, and no plants grew nearby. It stood completely out of place amid Kunlun Mountain.

The moment he saw this, Xuan Qing knew this place was far from ordinary. He stopped everyone who wanted to step forward. Compared to the Prehistoric Era, this place could be considered a Spirit-Deprived Land. There had to be something wrong with that tree.

All the vitality in the surroundings had been absorbed by it. If they stepped inside, even living beings might perish. Xuan Qing summoned the Green Lotus of Creation to protect himself and prepared to investigate it personally.

The instant he stepped inside, countless strands of spiritual qi born from heaven and earth were completely absorbed. Xuan Qing cautiously released his Divine Sense. Fortunately, it was not attacked. His Divine Sense probed into the Earth Veins, only to find them severely damaged and withering in this direction.

The Earth Veins could no longer bear the burden. They had been drained too severely.

Xuan Qing slowly began probing the giant tree. His Divine Sense approached inch by inch, yet it still suffered no harm. But when it came into close contact with the giant tree, a terrifying aura surged from it and nearly shattered his Divine Sense.

Xuan Qing could only withdraw his Divine Sense and inspect it with his eyes. At the base of the giant tree was a massive axe mark, as though it had been wounded by an axe.

Could Great God Pangu have cut this? The scar emitted countless auras, but Xuan Qing could sense nothing. He could only see a streak of axe light flowing through it.

Xuan Qing slowly approached the giant tree and examined it carefully. The axe light had been steadily eroding the giant tree's Origin. Most of that cluster of vitality had already been worn away, leaving only a small remnant struggling beneath the axe light.

Xuan Qing was relieved. As long as this was not the work of Chaos Demon Gods, it would be manageable. He took out a cluster of Three Lights Divine Water and poured it over the tree, but the divine water was repelled the instant it touched the giant tree.

There was no way to heal its wounds. What kind of tree could even be split by Great God Pangu?

The giant tree was stirred by Xuan Qing's actions, and a stream of light entered his Sea of Consciousness.

"World Tree!"

Xuan Qing had not expected the World Tree to truly exist. Wasn't the World Tree supposed to support heaven and earth? How had it been destroyed by Great God Pangu? Could it be that the Great God had found it unworthy of supporting the Primordial Heaven and Earth?

Xuan Qing did not care about that. This was a Chaos Spiritual Root. Even if the Great God did not value it, he did. Perhaps his future plans would depend on it.

Xuan Qing immediately moved the Green Lotus of Creation close to the streak of axe light. This axe light should not harm the Green Lotus of Creation, right? Xuan Qing was taking a gamble. They were all family, so it should not attack.

The instant the Green Lotus of Creation touched the giant tree, the streak of axe light flew directly through the lotus into his Sea of Consciousness.

"Damn, damn, damn! Am I going to die?"

Xuan Qing shouted in alarm. He had miscalculated this time. It did not attack the Green Lotus of Creation; it simply followed the Spiritual Treasure and struck at him directly.

As soon as the axe light entered Xuan Qing's Sea of Consciousness, it stirred up enormous waves. With one strike, it tried to split open his Sea of Consciousness. Yet when it sensed the Creation Dao Rhythm of the Law of Creation on Xuan Qing, it instantly quieted and slowly transformed into an imprint.

An aura of the Law of Creation spread throughout his Sea of Consciousness. This was the Pangu Imprint. Legend had it that there was a Pangu Imprint atop Zhou Mountain. Was this a blessing in disguise?

The imprint appeared beside the Dao Fruit of the Heaven and Earth Fruit Position. It shoved the Dao Fruit aside and occupied the center of his Sea of Consciousness.

Oh? This imprint was rather arrogant. It did not even regard the Heaven and Earth Fruit Position highly.

With this imprint, his path toward the Great Dao would become much easier. Perhaps he could use it to comprehend the Law of Creation. Was this another gift from the Great God?

Once the axe light left the World Tree, the World Tree's Origin stopped struggling and began to calm down. Its branches swayed, as though celebrating its escape from suffering.

This time, Xuan Qing's Divine Sense successfully entered the World Tree, and he began examining its condition.

It turned out that the World Tree had hidden far away during the Heaven-Opening Tribulation. But after Pangu killed the Chaos Demon Ape with a single axe strike, the axe light passed through the corpse and slashed into the boundless distant Chaos, striking the World Tree by chance.

However, after crossing the endless Chaos, its power had greatly diminished. It had only shattered part of the trunk, while the remaining force could only continue wearing away at the World Tree's Origin.

After being eroded for so many years, the World Tree was no longer a Chaos Spiritual Root. It had now degraded into a Pseudo Chaos Spiritual Root. This was only because it had drained the surrounding Earth Veins dry; otherwise, its vitality would have long been worn away and it would have turned to ash.

Now, Xuan Qing's arrival had brought it new life. However, if Xuan Qing wanted to take the World Tree away, he needed to repay the World Tree's Karma by restoring all the surrounding Earth Veins. Otherwise, once the Heavenly Dao emerged, the first thing he would do would be to deal with the World Tree.

Xuan Qing's head was throbbing. The Earth Veins had been shattered to this extent; he feared he would need Chaos Qi to provide nourishment.

Fortunately, he had the Green Lotus of Creation. With its Law of Creation and its ability to gather Chaos Qi, it could repair the Earth Veins. Otherwise, this tree would have no fate with him.

Three Lights Divine Water was useless for restoring the World Tree's vitality. It could only rely on the spiritual vitality of heaven and earth, which required the help of the Enlightenment Ancient Tea Tree. For now, Xuan Qing could only store it inside the Green Lotus of Creation to stabilize its Origin.

After taking away the World Tree, Xuan Qing finally allowed the others to enter. He then instructed everyone to plant Spiritual Roots at the Earth Vein Nodes. At the large nodes, they chose Innate Spiritual Roots, and this time they lavishly used Creation Holy Water and Three Lights Divine Water.

Xuan Qing then went beneath where the World Tree had originally stood, placed the Green Lotus of Creation atop the shattered Earth Veins, and poured all his strength into urging it to begin the repairs.

More than three thousand Kalpas passed like this. Qing Ya and the others also finished planting the Spiritual Roots, while Xuan Qing had repaired more than half of the Earth Veins. The rest would require time.

This time, to repay the Primordial Heaven and Earth, Xuan Qing and the others had used up three hundred and sixty-five Innate Spiritual Roots and one hundred twenty-six thousand six hundred Acquired Spiritual Roots. They had nearly exhausted all the Innate Spiritual Roots they had cultivated.

When Xuan Qing withdrew the Green Lotus of Creation, the earth began to tremble. Countless Spiritual Roots began responding to one another, and the repaired Earth Veins finally started operating, dragging each Spiritual Root into its node.

Countless strands of Innate Spiritual Qi began to emerge, but most of it was used to continue repairing the Earth Veins. Only a small remainder was supplied to the Primordial Heaven and Earth.

This time, there was no reward of Great Dao Merit. This was repayment of a debt; it was already good enough that he had not been struck down.

Xuan Qing was truly exhausted this time. He had spent more than three thousand Kalpas repairing the Earth Veins without pause, to the point of numbness. Once it was over, he collapsed to the ground without a care for appearances, took out Spiritual Fruits, and started eating.

"Brother, it is over this time, right? We nearly went crazy from all that planting. What decent person would do this kind of work?"

Han Xi and the others also ran over and sprawled haphazardly around Xuan Qing, teasing him as they lay there.

"Enough, stop complaining. We gave up a great deal this time, but we also gained enormously. How much foundation could a Pseudo Chaos Spiritual Root bring to Azure Nether Island? Perhaps the Heavenly Dao will even come looking for our help in the future."

Having helped the Heavenly Dao resolve such a massive problem, Xuan Qing had earned a great favor from him. When the time came to discuss something with the Heavenly Dao, would it not be simple?

After excessively using the Green Lotus of Creation this time, Xuan Qing's Law of Creation had reached the threshold of Primordial Golden Immortal. Only then did he realize that his Grand Luo Golden Immortal realm was completely different from others'.

His Primordial Spirit already emitted a dense Creation Dao Rhythm. This was the realm of Grand Luo Golden Immortal perfection, yet he had only condensed the Earth Flower. His Law of Destiny had also reached the Later Stage of Grand Luo Golden Immortal, but the Heaven Flower had yet to condense.

If he could further comprehend the Law of Time and Space, he would have three Laws within him, each inscribed upon one of the three Primordial Spirit Flowers. Perhaps, at Grand Luo Golden Immortal perfection, he would be able to rival a Primordial Golden Immortal.

With Xuan Qing's current strength, if he fought Zu Long, it was uncertain who would defeat whom. Xuan Qing could now be considered a top great expert of the Prehistoric Era, invincible below the Primordial Golden Immortal realm.

Xuan Qing and the others lay on the ground without any regard for appearances, staring at the sky and emptying their minds. Once they had fully relaxed, Han Xi and her sisters began preparing delicacies again. After going thousands of Kalpas without food, they had nearly forgotten its taste.

After eating, drinking, and playing for one Kalpa year, Xuan Qing told them to enjoy themselves while he went to collect the Spirits of the Earth Veins here.

When the Earth Veins had just been repaired, Xuan Qing had not dared to take the Spirits of the Earth Veins carelessly. Now that more than a hundred thousand years had passed, the Earth Veins had recovered somewhat. Taking a little of their spirit would at most return them to the state they had been in just after being repaired, causing little harm.

More and more Spirits of the Earth Veins appeared upon the Heaven and Earth Dao Diagram. The Great Dao Merit that came with the scroll was no longer enough. Xuan Qing gritted his teeth, broke off a piece of his Dao Wheel, and threw it into the scroll.

The instant that piece of Dao Wheel fell into the scroll, it transformed into a pale golden River that flowed around the phantom of Kunlun Mountain. The Spirits of the Earth Veins also fell directly into the phantom, and Kunlun Mountain began to grow more solid.

Xuan Qing thought for a moment, then threw all the Great Dao Merit slowly gathering toward his Dao Wheel into the Heaven and Earth Dao Diagram. His Great Dao Wheel was sufficient for now. From now on, his merit wages would go to the Heaven and Earth Dao Diagram.

Great Dao Merit gradually gathered toward the Dao Diagram, and that Merit River grew larger and larger. Perhaps one day, it would become a true River.

After collecting the Spirits of the Earth Veins here, Xuan Qing returned to where everyone was resting. Bai Yu and Qing Yue had been inspired by the Qing Ya Sisters' breakthroughs. After Xuan Qing left, the two diligently cultivated. Only Han Xi and her two sisters did not cultivate, though the three of them were also comprehending heaven and earth.