"Rustle... rustle..."
The sound of leaves rubbing together rose like a tide, gently echoing through the vast world of space. That towering Bodhi ancient tree, which stood at the center of heaven and earth and seemed to have existed since the era of primordial desolation, slowly turned its enormous crown toward the humans.
Its movements carried an indescribably ancient rhythm. Every sway of its branches and leaves drew faint ripples through the surrounding heaven-and-earth energy, as if the entire space were breathing with it.
It faced those tiny figures in silent proclamation of a struggle belonging to a newborn soul, one that had crossed countless long and lonely years.
Immediately, the boundless emerald light and the life waves that enveloped the world began to recede like an ebbing tide.
The ancient tree's vast will seemed to withdraw completely from its attention to the outside world, immersing itself wholeheartedly in the deep, complex core of its own body, sinking into the miraculous process where newborn consciousness fused with ancient root and bark, learning and understanding one another.
Everyone understood that this ancient tree was like an infant who had just opened its eyes and begun to see the world, and also like a giant that had suddenly awakened after sleeping through the ages. It needed time. It needed quiet to consolidate that weak light of consciousness and to understand that tremendous life source.
At the same time, the man who had helped it "awaken"...
Everyone's gazes gathered once more on the ancient tree's trunk, their emotions complicated beyond words. What role had Lin Ming played in this earthshaking transformation?
He... was still alive?
Within the world of the tree's heart, Lin Ming withdrew the soul force that had interfered with the work of heaven, and a faint curve rose at the