(First update)
As they made their way upward, the houses around them grew fewer and farther between, and the branches and vines became increasingly sparse. Yet the spiritual energy of heaven and earth remained extraordinarily rich.
They followed the winding vines and branches upward, encountering very few members of the Divine Wood Tribe along the way. Only occasionally did they sense ripples of magic power from places sheltered beneath the foliage, as though someone were cultivating there.
Only when the group stopped did Shen Luo realize that they had reached the highest point of this forest.
Here, thick, gnarled vines intertwined to form a platform a dozen or so zhang across. At its center, a small sapling three or four zhang tall rose high into the sky.
Shen Luo walked to the edge of the platform and gazed into the distance, finding an unobstructed view in every direction, with the wind sweeping through the lofty heavens.
Only then did he realize that they were hundreds of zhang above the ground. He could not help marveling, "I wonder how this dense forest beneath our feet grew to be so magnificent and lush?"
At his words, Wuman'er and the others beside him briefly froze, then began to laugh.
"Big brother, you've got it wrong. What's beneath our feet isn't a dense forest. It's a single tree." Back among her own people, Yun Xiaonu had grown a little bolder and actually volunteered an explanation.
"A single tree?" Shen Luo asked in astonishment.
For a moment, he could not quite grasp what Yun Xiaonu meant. Then Wuman'er explained:
"Brother Shen, all the branches and vines you can see beneath us actually belong to one tree. Everywhere we walked on our way up, everything we saw-it was all part of that same tree."
"One tree