Four Seasons Transformation

Bai Tang held the dark, oval Spirit Seed between her fingers and sank into thought.

That familiar aura seemed to share her origins, and a sense of closeness welled up within her.

Though her true spirit was damaged and her memories incomplete, the sight of this object stirred her enough that she immediately recalled a few things.

Images flashed through her consciousness, jumbled and disordered, scattered and fragmentary. Though she was only an observer, they left her mind adrift.

Am I... really a spirit within a sword?

In the few scenes she managed to recall, her identity remained a mystery, and none of what they revealed boded well.

There were slaughters and magical battles, mountains of corpses and seas of fire, blood spilling everywhere. People fell one after another, bursting into showers of Spirit Treasures that filled the sky. Grotto-Heavens plummeted, Blessed Lands fell...

"Senior Bai?"

"Mm..."

Bai Tang returned to her senses, placed the seed back in Jiang Yang's hand, and said:

"This is an inheritance seed belonging to the path of Cracking Wood. It was a means by which ancient immortal cultivators passed their teachings to their disciples. Disciples planted it within their bodies, allowing it to sprout mystical workings and carry on the Dao Lineage."

"The path of Cracking Wood draws upon the image of collapse and disintegration. It governs the birth of shoots bursting forth, and the death of wood breaking and splitting apart. Its power of destruction exceeds even its power of growth. Though it belongs to Wood Virtue, it is an outlier within it. It overcomes Gen Earth, is close to Execution Thunder and Firmament Thunder, and fears only Fire Virtue."

Standing beside Jiang Yang, Bai Tang spoke with easy assurance. She seemed exceptionally familiar with this path and had said so much without