Tree God

Only the details revealed the truth.

Looking at the little ball he had stabbed through empty air, he suddenly understood. His swordsmanship seemed quite powerful, but it was only superficially impressive, built on the physical abilities of a Martial Artist level body. Beneath the surface, it was unstable and flimsy.

Martial arts weren't like studying. Understanding something didn't mean you could do it.

Memory was just memory. To make it your own, you had to practice over and over, tempering it through countless repetitions until it became muscle memory and instinct. There were no shortcuts.

The restlessness in his heart faded, and he quickly settled down.

Then he once again thrust at the little ball, one strike after another!

On a Small Island more than a hundred kilometers away.

This Small Island was much larger than the one Chen Shouyi was on, spanning five or six kilometers. Its abundant resources and dense forests made it lush and green.

One tree in particular stood head and shoulders above the rest. Hundreds of meters tall, its emerald leaves spread like an enormous canopy, blotting out the sky and covering nearly a fifth of the island.

At the foot of the tree, a tribe of several hundred people had made their home.

It was a fairly primitive tribe, its civilization still in its infancy.

Most of the young, high-ranking men wore animal hides. The children and women, meanwhile, were mostly completely naked.

Of course, animal hides meant more here than clothing. They were symbols of strength and status.

Yet the tribe was thriving. Its men were strong and brawny, its women healthy and rosy-cheeked, and the proportion of children and young people was very high.

Under the protection of the Tree God on the island, there were no fearsome beasts or dangerous Nature Spirits. The tribe was flourishing, brimming with vitality, and each year many more people were born than died.

Five years ago, after receiving an Oracle, they had helped the Tree God kill a Giant Beast on the island, at the cost of more than thirty members of their tribe.

For two whole years since then, not a single member of the tribe had died an unnatural death.

Until yesterday!

Before night fell, two of their people had gone out to fish, but never returned.

Night in this world was dangerous. Protected by the Tree God on the island, they had nothing to fear from Nature Spirits.

But once they were out at sea, in a region the Tree God's great power could not yet reach, they were probably as good as dead.

Because of this,

early in the morning, before the tribe members went out to hunt or gather, the tribal shaman summoned them all to offer a sacrifice to the Tree God.

The shaman was old and frail, his face covered in wrinkles. At his age, he had already begun to think about what would happen after he died.

In this world, death was not the end of life.

Once, while communicating with the Tree God, he had seen—through a hazy, half-awake vision—countless members of the tribe who had died long ago, still living on in a peaceful and happy place.

The next time he communicated with the Tree God, the information it sent confirmed that this was indeed the case.

And making offerings to the Tree God was not only a sign of his exalted position in the tribe; more importantly, it could win the Tree God's favor.

If there was an opportunity for such a ceremony, they had to hold one. If there wasn't, they had to make one.

The Tree God was enormous. Setting aside its immense canopy, its trunk alone was more than ten meters in diameter. No one knew how many years it had lived. Its bark was like parched earth, crisscrossed with cracks, giving it an ancient, weathered air.

According to their status and age, all the members of the tribe gathered in several circles around the Tree God.

The innermost circle held the tribe's chief and its strongest warriors. Behind them stood the adolescents who were still growing, and at the back were the women and children. The very youngest infants, naturally, had not been brought here.

For such a primitive tribe, and a Tree God that had only recently gained divinity and was still in a hazy, undeveloped state,

the sacrifice naturally involved no complicated rites, let alone formal prayers. Even so, the atmosphere was every bit as solemn.

The old, frail shaman danced like a madman, waving his arms and stomping his feet as he let out strange cries that even he couldn't understand.

Soon, four strong men carried over a beast about the size of a goat, its four legs bound, and brought it near the trunk.

The shaman took out a black stone knife, as if carved from obsidian. As the beast shrieked, he slashed its throat in one stroke, and a torrent of blood gushed out. The blood had barely touched the ground

when a faint, clear radiance rose from the ground, where the tree's roots crisscrossed in a dense tangle.

The beast, still twitching, suddenly tilted its head and fell silent. It was as though its soul had been absorbed.

The surroundings fell utterly silent. The barbarians looked on with awe mingled with fear. Even the bewildered children nervously clamped their mouths shut.

Amid the radiance, the old shaman had closed his eyes and sat down, his head drooping to one side as if he had lost consciousness.

But not a single barbarian dared disturb the shaman as he communicated with the Tree God.

After a long while, the old shaman finally opened his eyes. He seemed terribly frightened, his face twisted in terror.

"The danger comes from the north!"

Chen Shouyi knew nothing about any of this.

He practiced for four or five hours straight.

At first, he could hit the fast-moving ball only two or three times out of ten. By the end, he could hit it four or five times.

Of course, Chen Shouyi knew that he could make such great progress only because it was his first time practicing. From then on, every improvement would take far more effort.

It was like an exam. Going from twenty or thirty points to forty or fifty was easy. With a little effort—or even just being more careful during the test—you could manage it. But going from seventy or eighty points to ninety was another matter entirely. A little effort over a short time wouldn't be enough.

The farther you went, the harder it became to take each next step!

Feeling hunger in his stomach, Chen Shouyi finally stopped.

He had barely returned to the entrance of the passage before, in less than half a minute, the soreness in his muscles had rapidly eased under his Natural Healing ability.

He opened his briefcase and took out the cooked beef and bread he had brought for lunch.

Shell Girl flew over lightly, pointing proudly at the newly added pile of Gold Sand in the distance as she shouted:

"Gemstones! Gemstones! Gemstones!"

Chen Shouyi was no longer as excited about the Gold Sand as he had been at first, but he didn't want to dampen Shell Girl's enthusiasm, so he still went over to take a look.

There seemed to be about three taels. Added to what she had collected over the past few days, there was now more than a pound.

Judging by the amount, he immediately took three little glass beads from his pocket as a reward.

Shell Girl accepted them with a delighted look, holding them up to the sunlight like a miser. Then she flew into the air and hovered over a patch of grass for a long time, keeping a wary eye on Chen Shouyi as if she were guarding against a thief. When he wasn't looking, she quickly darted into the grass.

Concealed by the grass, she crouched down and used her slender hands to dig out a small hole, exposing the shell buried inside.

She opened the shell and put the three glass beads inside.

The shell was already packed full of glass beads, gleaming with dazzling splendor.

She narrowed her eyes, as if afraid the light would blind her.

Looking at this "huge" treasure chest filled with gemstones, she was utterly entranced, completely beside herself.

It was quite a while before she came back to her senses. She quickly closed the shell and covered it again with soil.

Putting on an innocent act, she wandered in front of Chen Shouyi. Before long, she was full of energy again, searching all around for Gold Sand.

Chen Shouyi, who had been eating dinner, finally looked up and stared speechlessly at her busy figure.