Creation!

Because he couldn't sense anything, Yu An's mind could only sink into the tree, and he had consequently neglected to observe the outside world.

As for the harm the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster had brought him, he had chosen to ignore it as well.

But as he continued transforming the abundant vitality within his trunk, a trace of unfamiliar power quietly appeared inside it.

The instant this foreign power intruded, it was like a drop of water falling into a pan of hot oil, setting off a violent reaction with the vitality in his body.

So much so that Yu An felt a faint burning pain.

"What's going on?"

Yu An was instantly alarmed.

After all, no one had told him that the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster had this drawback in addition to stealing away years of life.

The trace of foreign power had been so weak that he could easily bear it. But if it were ten or a hundred times stronger, surging into his trunk without end, would he still be able to withstand it?

He had to figure out what was going on.

Otherwise, he would be dead before the Insect Race even arrived.

When Yu An opened his mind to everything around him, he quickly found the source of that trace of foreign power—the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster.

At that moment, although he was hidden inside the little stone room Old Man Yu had built, there were gaps between the stones. Wind kept seeping in, only to be absorbed by his outstretched leaves.

It was much like the way his leaves absorbed sunlight on ordinary days. To explain it in terms of the biology classes from his previous life, that was called photosynthesis.

But what was the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster?

Could his leaves absorb it too?

Yu An was at a loss. Could it be that the trees and plants entered a state of Reversion to the Hidden precisely to avoid being invaded by this power?

Though Yu An's temperament leaned a little too far toward caution, he understood that not everything could be weathered by simply lying low.

He had to know exactly what was going on and come up with a way to deal with it.

So he calmed himself and let his leaves keep absorbing the foreign power in the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster, observing the violent reaction between it and his vitality.

The burning sensation came again, like being scorched by fire and pierced by needles.

Under the foreign power's assault, some of his vitality seemed to vanish into thin air as well.

If he had to put it in numbers, the ratio was ten to one.

For every trace of foreign power, he had to expend ten traces of vitality to neutralize it—or, more precisely, refine it.

The discovery sent a chill through Yu An.

No matter how much vitality he had, he couldn't keep up with that rate of consumption. Sooner or later, he would be refined into a withered tree.

No wonder nearly all the trees dried up after every Black Annihilation Wind Disaster, with only their surviving roots growing anew.

Even Reversion to the Hidden couldn't leave a tree with not the slightest trace of vitality in its trunk. But this foreign power could.

So those dead trees hadn't withered solely because the Insect Race had gnawed on them.

Unfortunately, the Yu Family was still too low-ranking to understand the truth of the matter.

As for Yu An, he didn't regret it either. This had been his own choice—he had wanted to experience the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster for himself. Besides, he had left himself a way out.

It was just that he wouldn't choose to enter Reversion to the Hidden and fall asleep unless he had no other choice.

So Yu An planned to shed all his leaves and stop absorbing the foreign power.

Even without leaves, the foreign power could still invade his body through his trunk. But at least one way was active and the other passive, which would reduce the amount quite a bit.

Just as he was about to put the plan into action and go bald ahead of time, he suddenly made a new discovery.

It turned out that after his vitality neutralized the foreign power, it didn't all disappear. Instead, it produced a wisp of nearly imperceptible qi, which then vanished in a flash.

"Something's not right!"

Yu An instinctively sensed a problem.

But no matter how carefully his mind swept over every inch of his trunk, he found nothing. That wisp of qi seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Out of curiosity—and instinct—Yu An put off going bald and let his leaves keep absorbing the foreign power. He even increased the rate of absorption.

Before long, he had absorbed three times as much foreign power as before. It immediately clashed violently with his vitality.

This time, Yu An endured the burning pain, keeping his entire mind fixed on what was happening, unwilling to miss the slightest change.

Perhaps because there was more foreign power this time, he finally sensed that wisp of qi clearly.

He called it qi rather than power because it had form but no substance, like flowers reflected in a mirror or the moon's reflection in water—something illusory.

Just as before, the moment it appeared, it vanished into thin air.

If he hadn't been watching with his entire mind, he might not even have noticed the change.

After the qi vanished, he faintly felt a slight warmth in his life essence.

This faint warmth was different from the burning pain.

Before, the wisp of qi had been too faint, and he had been enduring the burning pain, so he had overlooked it.

But this time, he finally grasped the difference clearly.

"Could it be..."

Feeling the change within himself, Yu An's thoughts raced, and a bold idea came to him.

If this was true, then he might have glimpsed a tiny sliver of the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster's hidden truth.

Even that insignificant sliver of truth would bring him immense benefits—perhaps even a great boon!

He summoned the panel and examined it carefully.

Although he couldn't find the qi that had vanished into thin air, he had the panel.

At last, he spotted a clue in the Divine Ability section.

Although the descriptions of his two Divine Abilities hadn't changed at all, he could feel that the wisp of qi that had just vanished had gone into them.

Or rather, it had entered his life essence.

The age entry certainly reflected how long he could live, but strictly speaking, Divine Abilities were formed from life essence and were closely connected to it.

The Divine Ability of Forming a Bond, in particular, could produce one Natal Elm Seed every ten years—or by consuming ten years of his lifespan.

What was a Natal Elm Seed?

It naturally referred to the power of his life essence.

And that wisp of qi had just entered his life essence, bringing about a subtle change in the Divine Ability section.

Still, believing in the principle that truth emerged through practice, Yu An continued to increase the amount of foreign power he absorbed from the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster. Once, twice, three times...

Every time he refined it, he could sense a faint change in the Divine Ability section.

At last, this confirmed his guess.

By refining the foreign power with vitality, he could obtain qi that strengthened his life essence.

And this qi could produce Immortal Destiny.

What was Immortal Destiny?

According to the limited information Yu An had learned, before the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster appeared—that is, before the Great Cataclysm—there had been a mysterious qi in the world. Once someone reached Perfection of Fetal Movement, refining this mysterious qi would let them enter the Qi Refining Realm.

But after the Great Cataclysm, no one who reached Perfection of Fetal Movement could sense this mysterious qi anymore, let alone refine it.

Only cultivators of a higher realm could extract this mysterious qi and turn it into Immortal Destiny.

So Immortal Destiny referred to that mysterious qi.

Now, the qi Yu An had obtained could act upon his life essence and let his Divine Ability produce Immortal Destiny.

Didn't that mean this was the very mysterious qi countless people yearned for but could never obtain?

But in Yu An's eyes, rather than call it mysterious qi, it would be better to call it Qi of Creation.

Qi Refining, refining qi—the qi being refined was this Qi of Creation.

Only this Qi of Creation could let an ordinary person in the Fetal Movement Realm reverse their acquired nature and return to the innate, becoming a cultivator.

No wonder some Innate Immortal Destiny condensed in the world after every Black Annihilation Wind Disaster.

The truth was so simple. It had been right there in the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster all along.

Once he understood this, Yu An wanted nothing more than to burst out laughing.

Sure enough, crisis held opportunity within it.