Protagonist of the World?

After realizing this, Yu An immediately stopped paying attention to anything else and began to fully absorb the power from the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster. As he continued to refine it, he could clearly sense his own life essence becoming more substantial.

This substantiality was an improvement in the essence of his life, but it would not directly translate into lifespan.

Simply put, lifespan is about breaking through the shackles of species evolution to achieve extended life.

But the improvement of life essence increases potential and foundation, not lifespan.

In the blink of an eye, a few days passed.

The world began to show faint signs of clearing up, and the wandering silver snakes had disappeared. Only the howling gale continued to rage, sweeping across the entire world, even showing signs of intensifying.

Although it wasn't snowing outside, the temperature had dropped drastically, and the ground was almost frozen solid.

It would be much harder for Old Man Yu to dig in the Spirit Field now.

In the tree root space, Old Man Yu sat there, carefully observing the tree roots that seemed devoid of life. A smile finally appeared on his face.

The tree root space was now about three meters in area, and Old Man Yu had already moved his bedding and daily necessities here.

He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but ever since moving here, he felt that the harm from the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster had slightly decreased.

Normally, this was impossible.

Only heaven and earth spirit roots could use their domain to counteract the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster's ability to strip away lifespan and protect an area. He had never heard of Rare Species having such an ability.

Of course, even if it weakened, it was only slightly, insignificant compared to the lifespan being stripped away.

Precisely because of this, he wasn't sure if it was his imagination.

But no matter what, staying in the tree root space brought him a lot of peace of mind.

These past few days, he had been hiding in the tree root space. At first, he could still clearly sense the vigorous vitality, but now, it was almost imperceptible.

It could be seen that the little tree had indeed 'listened' to his words and completely restrained its vitality.

While he still didn't dare to say it could completely evade the perception of the insectoids, it was undoubtedly much stronger than before.

Moreover, he still had a bottle of Corpse Stench Devil Plant juice, which could play a significant role in critical moments.

Meanwhile, in the small room in the corner of the yard, Yu An looked somewhat unwell.

His tree crown, which could have been described as lush and flourishing, was now half-withered, looking like it had suffered a severe injury.

However, if someone could explore to the deepest part, they would discover an indescribable depth and substantiality hidden beneath this appearance.

"That's enough."

Yu An's consciousness returned, and after checking his own condition, he finally decided to stop.

After all, he understood the principle of "too much is as bad as too little."

These past few days, in order to refine as much Qi of Creation as possible before the insectoids appeared, he had given it his all, even forcibly drawing out a portion of the vitality from his Return and Hide Seed.

The gains were undoubtedly immense.

Before, although Yu An had already grown to Juvenile Stage Two, and he felt he was equivalent to Fetal Movement Minor Accomplishment, his foundation was inevitably a bit unstable due to the short growth period and the absorption of too many Spirit Stones.

But now, his foundation was like turning loose soil into hard rock. Even the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster's ability to strip away lifespan had decreased.

Why is it that the higher the realm, the less lifespan is stripped away?

And at Foundation Establishment Realm, one could be completely immune?

The reason lies in the substantiality and stability of one's life essence.

Yu An had refined so much Qi of Creation with his vitality, not only cleansing himself completely but also resolving the issue of vigorous vitality, and his life essence had been elevated.

It could be said that apart from his somewhat poor appearance, he had absolutely undergone a transformation.

As for his appearance, if he wished, he could immediately make his tree body lush and vibrant by completely extracting the vitality from his Return and Hide Seed and feeding it back to the tree. He might not be able to directly reach Juvenile Stage Three, but reaching the peak of Juvenile Stage Two would be effortless.

For the trees in this world, especially Rare Species, the tree body is merely an external form, something that can even be discarded. Only life essence is the fundamental and most important aspect.

Of course, this doesn't mean the external form is unimportant. For Rare Species to continue growing and evolving in the future, they still need their external form.

But as long as the life essence is preserved, they will not die.

This is the biggest difference between plants and humans.

In comparison, the plants in this world, especially the heaven and earth spirit roots, can be considered exceptionally fortunate.

At the same time, he thought of the Blessed Lands that protected humans amidst the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster.

If even he could refine Qi of Creation, those heaven and earth spirit roots could probably do the same.

Even the high-level cultivators who could extract Immortal Destiny could do so.

Immortal Destiny?

Yu An's heart stirred, and he summoned his status panel.

[Name: Yu An]
[Species: Elm Tree (Rare Species)]
[Age: 1/300 (Continuously decreasing)]
[Realm: Juvenile Stage Two (Fetal Movement)]

Spiritual Power: Town Protection (A home with an elm tree brings abundance every year. It can slightly increase the luck of the homestead and bless descendants.)

Bonding (Every five years, or by consuming equivalent lifespan, one life-bound elm seed is produced. Assisting the Fetal Movement realm to step into the Qi Refining Realm, this bond is Immortal Destiny! The elm seed is the cause, and the bond is the effect. All beings who form this bond will feed back after death, accelerating their own growth.)

Overall, regardless of race, age, or realm, nothing had changed.

Even his Spiritual Powers remained the same two.

However, the descriptions of his Spiritual Powers had changed.

Previously, the Town Protection Spiritual Power was: "Can weakly increase the luck of the homestead." Now it had become: "Can slightly increase the luck of the homestead."

Don't dismiss the change from "weakly" to "slightly"; the effect had at least doubled.

And the Bonding Spiritual Power had changed from producing one life-bound elm seed every ten years to every five years.

Doing a quick calculation, his life essence had nearly doubled.

This showed just how significant his gains were this time.

If not for the imminent arrival of the insectoids, Yu An would have loved nothing more than to feed back all the life force from the Return and Hide Seed and fight the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster again.

He believed that by then, he would be one step closer to evolving into Juvenile Stage Three.

Perhaps, the Rare Species of this world evolved by seizing benefits from the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster time and time again, eventually evolving into heaven and earth spirit roots.

It's just that for Rare Species to complete this process might take tens or hundreds of years.

After all, Rare Species only had faint consciousness and relied more on instinct. How could they compare to Yu An, a Rare Species with a human soul?

As for those heaven and earth spirit roots that had already successfully evolved, they could continue to refine the power from the Black Annihilation Wind Disaster to improve themselves.

For some reason, Yu An had a feeling at this moment.

That is, this world clearly favored heaven and earth spirit roots more.

It was as if heaven and earth spirit roots were the protagonists of this world.

If that were truly the case...

At this moment, Yu An's heart pounded with excitement.