North Sea Nan Tree

At the dawn of heaven and earth, all things were new. Countless living beings awakened their intelligence in response to destiny, while countless heaven-defying species failed to gain sentience and were thus destroyed in the long river of history!

As time passed, heaven and earth gradually showed signs of stability. A streak of white light descended from the sky, swift as a startled hare and sweeping away clouds like a gale, heading straight for the North Sea. Wherever it passed, lightning flashed and thunder roared, and heaven and earth changed color.

In but an instant, the white light vanished into the North Sea and fell silent. Heaven and earth slowly returned to normal, as though nothing had happened!

At the edge of the North Sea stood a tree called Nan. This nan tree possessed neither spiritual awareness nor intelligence, and should originally have been destroyed by the Demon Race's emperor. Yet today, it obtained a great fortuitous opportunity, and its future destiny needed no further mention!

In a hazy daze, Mu Jizi had a dream. He dreamed that he had transformed into a tree and arrived in the Primordial Wilderness world at the beginning of creation, where the ground was littered with innate treasures!

"Mm, hn!"

With a soft hum, like the rustling sound of a tree swaying in the wind, Mu Jizi awoke from his slumber!

"Mm? Where is this?" The moment his consciousness cleared, Mu Jizi was suddenly startled. He instinctively spread out his Primordial Spirit, but everywhere it passed was pitch-black. His heart could not help but grow cold and still.

"Wasn't I undergoing my tribulation? How did I end up in this place?"

Doubt—boundless doubt—coiled around his heart!

"Could I have failed my tribulation and perished?" One possibility flashed through his mind, only to be rejected a moment later. "No. The heavenly tribulation was unimaginably powerful. If I had perished, my Primordial Spirit would never have remained. What exactly happened?"

"Could it be that my physical body was destroyed in the heavenly tribulation, and some great cultivator captured my Primordial Spirit to refine it into an artifact spirit?" Mu Jizi was startled as an exceedingly likely conjecture abruptly surfaced in his mind!

"Right, only that could explain why the surroundings are filled with boundless darkness. This place is likely the inner space of some spiritual treasure." Anger gradually appeared on Mu Jizi's face. He had been a peerless genius, reaching the peak of Void Refinement and Dao Integration with merely a hundred years of cultivation. So long as he passed the heavenly tribulation, he would immediately achieve the Earth Immortal Realm and become an earthly divine being.

How could a man like him bear being refined into the artifact spirit of a magic treasure?

{Cultivation realm settings: Essence Refinement to Qi Transformation, Qi Refinement to Spirit Transformation, Spirit Refinement to Void Return, Void Refinement and Dao Integration, Earth Immortal, Loose Immortal, Primordial Unity Loose Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, True Immortal, Primordial Unity True Immortal, High Immortal, Golden Immortal, Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, Daluo Golden Immortal; above that is the Quasi-Sage Realm of a Quasi-Sect Master, followed by the Primordial Sage Realm (Saints are further divided into Primordial Supreme Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, Primordial Infinite Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, and Primordial Grand Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal), Heavenly Dao, Grand Dao!}

"Mm? No, that's not right. An artifact spirit of a spiritual treasure should have its intelligence erased outright, becoming muddleheaded and responding only by instinct. How could I still possess my own consciousness?"

Mu Jizi's heart stirred. From the instant he awoke, possibility after possibility emerged in his mind, only to be rejected one after another.

Within the boundless darkness, Mu Jizi's Primordial Spirit was like a pulsing ball of light, flickering with radiance. At that moment, a streak of white light suddenly appeared out of nowhere. It pulsed faintly, giving off dense innate spiritual qi.

In an instant, the white light plunged downward and collided with the ball of light formed by Mu Jizi's Primordial Spirit.

"Buzzzzzzz—"

The violent explosion he had expected did not occur. Instead, a buzz rang out as ripples spread forth. After the ripples faded, the two masses of white light slowly dissolved and finally merged into one, becoming a bean-sized speck of starlight.

That starlight was like gathered aurora, its spiritual qi pressing upon the senses. It did not resemble a Primordial Spirit, but rather a cocoon of light nurturing something within! Mu Jizi's consciousness, which had only just awakened, fell into slumber once more!

No one knew how long passed—perhaps hundreds of millions of years, perhaps only an instant. The speck of starlight within the boundless darkness suddenly filled with cracks. Like a spider's web, those cracks spread across the entire starlight. Then, in an instant, with a "Boom," the starlight scattered, and a human figure manifested within the darkness!

Looking closely, that figure seemed to gather the essence of all heaven and earth's refined splendor. Looking upon him was like washing in a spiritual spring; raising one's eyes to him was like bathing in a gentle breeze. His brows and eyes were bright, his black hair drifted freely, his eyes were shut, and his brows slightly furrowed. His face was imposing without anger. He truly cut a fine figure!

After a long while, the brows and eyes of the figure in the darkness twitched. He then opened his eyes, revealing a misty gaze. Gradually, the haze faded, and clarity emerged within. Mu Jizi's consciousness awoke once again!

"I understand. I understand it all! That ball of light was actually information recorded by my original body from the beginning of creation!" Mu Jizi's thoughts raced as he appeared almost crazed. Turbulent waves rolled through his heart; no words could describe his feelings at this moment. "For some unknown reason, I actually transmigrated to the Primordial Wilderness, where heaven and earth had just opened and the Heavenly Dao had only begun its evolution! I became a nan tree at the edge of the North Sea!"

He had originally been an ordinary man from the twenty-first century. Later, through a chance opportunity, he embarked upon the path of cultivation, and in the end, relying on his talent, reached the peak of Void Refinement and Dao Integration after a hundred years of cultivation.

Before he began cultivating, he enjoyed reading all sorts of books and novels. Through those novels, he had imagined that one day he too would become one of those people—perhaps cultivating, perhaps transmigrating.

Only after he began cultivating had his dream of cultivation come true, and those thoughts gradually faded away. Yet while undergoing his heavenly tribulation, he had inexplicably transmigrated—and even transmigrated to the era when heaven and earth had just opened, the Heavenly Dao had just begun its evolution, Heavenly Immortals were less than dogs, and Golden Immortals roamed everywhere in the Primordial Wilderness!

"This... I wonder whether it is a fortuitous opportunity or a disaster?" Mu Jizi examined his own Primordial Spirit, and a bitter smile could not help rising to his lips. "In the Primordial Wilderness, great cultivators are as numerous as the hairs on an ox. With this tiny bit of cultivation of mine, I am not even fit to be a vanguard!"

On Earth in his previous life, spiritual qi had been scarce. Mu Jizi's Void Refinement and Dao Integration cultivation had placed him at the top of the food chain. Yet although his Primordial Spirit had somehow reached the Earth Immortal Realm, in this Primordial Wilderness at the beginning of creation, even a random little demon likely possessed cultivation far beyond his!

"Heavenly Immortals are less than dogs? With my Earth Immortal cultivation, I may not even count as an ant!" Mu Jizi could not help feeling slightly disappointed. After the disappointment came quiet resignation. "Forget it. Since I have already come to the Primordial Wilderness, complaining is useless. I might as well hide here and cultivate properly. Perhaps I can cultivate a Dao Fruit and roam freely between heaven and earth from then on!"

Where there was an idea, there was motivation. After pondering for a long time, Mu Jizi could only resign himself to fate.

Ever since absorbing that previous ball of light, Mu Jizi's divine sense had received his original body's recognition. It was no longer buried in darkness, but attached itself to his original body!

"Rustle, rustle, rustle—"

In the North Sea, a nan tree grew alone. A gentle breeze passed by, and as the tree swayed lightly, a human face appeared upon its trunk.

This nan tree was Mu Jizi's original body. It was not particularly tall by Primordial Wilderness standards, only several dozen zhang high and thick enough that more than a dozen people would be needed to encircle it. Its branches spread out luxuriantly, and nine small fruits grew upon it. Each fruit was wrapped in halos and exuded pressing spiritual qi, clearly extraordinary. The fruits within the halos were green and translucent, evidently having grown only recently!

With a gentle shake, the tree swayed. Mu Jizi examined the nine small fruits upon it, only to discover that although they were excess essence produced by his original body, he could not consume them due to his own limitations!

"Sigh—"

With a soft sigh, Mu Jizi did not force the matter. The power of his Primordial Spirit gradually spread out, and in an instant, dense innate spiritual qi accompanied by a faint pressure washed over his heart. He shuddered inwardly before regaining his calm.

"Pangu truly was extraordinary! He transformed his body into heaven and earth and opened the Primordial Wilderness. Even after so long, his pressure still lingers between heaven and earth. With such cultivation, even ordinary Saints could not match him even if they rode horses to their deaths!"

Feeling the faint pressure between heaven and earth, Mu Jizi had never witnessed Pangu's divine abilities, but he could still vaguely sense a trace of them.

His divine sense gradually spread outward, stopping only at a distance of ten li. Within its reach, apart from astonishing spiritual qi, there was only an endless expanse of seawater! As for himself, he grew upon a small island several li in circumference at the heart of the sea.

"Uh... this... I am actually all alone, growing by myself in this boundless sea!" Mu Jizi was momentarily dumbfounded, then gave another bitter smile!

"I was an orphan in my previous life, and in this life I am once again a solitary being. Amid the changes of this world, there truly is the will of heaven!" Indifference filled Mu Jizi's eyes, but suddenly, the pupils displayed upon the tree trunk contracted sharply. A creature, fish yet not fish, had swum into the range of his divine sense.

That creature had fins like wings and claws, scales like feathers, and a mouth like a beak. It resembled both bird and fish, truly strange!

After swimming into the range of Mu Jizi's divine sense, the creature seemed to sense something. It raised its head and glanced toward the island where Mu Jizi was located. Then it suddenly leaped up, transformed into a peng, and soared upward, circling Mu Jizi's nan-tree body several times before finally settling upon it. Its beak rubbed against the nan tree, as though it depended upon it greatly.

Mu Jizi immediately felt a sense of closeness, followed by curiosity. He gave it a slight inspection with his divine sense!

He discovered that this peng was not large. After rubbing its beak for a while, it had now buried its head deep in its feathers. With its wings folded, its body was only several meters long...

"This peng seems so familiar!"

Mu Jizi was about to inspect it carefully when suddenly—

"Boom!"

A huge sound exploded out of nowhere. Immediately afterward came crackling thunder and flashing lightning. Wind and clouds changed color, and the originally clear sky turned gray in an instant. Moments later, with a "Crash," torrential rain descended!

The raindrops were as large as dippers. One landed upon the peng's body with a patter, making its wings flail about in obvious discomfort. Mu Jizi laughed silently. Then his branches moved in every direction, gathering into the shape of an umbrella above the peng!

With that, the raindrops were blocked by the nan tree's branches, and the peng no longer suffered the rain. Before long, soft "Hoo, hoo" sounds emerged. The peng had actually fallen asleep!

Seeing this, Mu Jizi's face upon the tree trunk could not help revealing a trace of concern. Then he froze, suddenly realizing that this little creature had influenced his emotions in such a brief moment!

"Interesting! Interesting!" Returning to his senses, Mu Jizi shook his tree body. He then glanced at the peng resting upon his original body. With a movement of his divine sense, he left something within the peng's mind!

After finishing all this, he closed his eyes and began his first cultivation session since arriving in the Primordial Wilderness...