"Of course, you can refuse. But it's extremely difficult for a plant True Spirit to take human form, and this place is fraught with danger."
"If someone attacks you while you're transforming, your cultivation of hundreds of millions of years will be destroyed in an instant. Can you really accept that?"
"Tell me the secret, and we can stand guard over you while you transform. What do you say?"
After Gu Qingzhi finished speaking, the corners of her mouth lifted slightly. She stood quietly where she was and waited.
After all that, she refused to believe the giant tree wasn't tempted.
Sure enough, as soon as her last words fell, the giant tree rustled. A willow branch extended from it and stopped before Gu Qingzhi, then began to write.
The villagers around them were astonished. They crowded closer, eager to see what their guardian deity was writing.
A moment later, the branch withdrew. Gu Qingzhi and Li Xiaoyao stared at the words in puzzlement.
Life—Death
Yin—Yang
Just four words, with a dash between each pair. There was nothing else.
Li Xiaoyao folded his arms and sank into thought as he studied them. What did they mean?
"Life against death, yin against yang... opposites?"
Gu Qingzhi narrowed her eyes and began to work it out. At last, a flash of insight struck her.
What did a plant True Spirit have in the greatest abundance? Life force, naturally.
That was life. And the monsters outside, the ones called Food Beasts? Each was steeped in death, as though it weren't a living creature at all. There wasn't a trace of vitality in their bodies.
In that instant, she understood.
The power of life force.
The Food Beasts feared the power of life force.
To most living creatures, life force was a treasure. But