The moment the three colossal wooden spirits, transformed from the trunks of ancient trees, fully stood up, the air in the entire area seemed to suddenly become heavy. They had no eyes.
There were no facial features, only a deep, empty rift in the chest cavity, but all the cultivators who collapsed to the ground simultaneously felt that it was "watching" them in the next moment.
The first wooden behemoth came to life, its arms, made of thick tree roots, slowly rising, its massive wooden hammer dragging on the ground with a grating scraping sound.
"Crack... Crack... Crack..." The sound was deep and heavy, like an ancient behemoth walking. It walked up to a paralyzed cultivator.
The cultivator's original divine power had been completely frozen by the pollen, leaving him without the strength to even stand up. He could only watch in terror as the enormous creature approached.
"No... don't kill me..." His voice trembled, but the wooden behemoth did not respond. It slowly lowered its body, its abyss-like chest cavity facing the cultivator.
The next instant, the dark rift suddenly expanded like an invisible abyss, and the cultivator's body suddenly began to tremble, not from struggling, but from his very essence being forcibly extracted.
Strands of pale golden light emerged from his body. These lights were not ordinary sources, but the essence of a cultivator's lifelong cultivation.
The origin of consciousness, the power of Fate Soul, the years of cultivation, and even the causal trajectory were all extracted. Those rays of light were drawn away by an invisible force and slowly left the cultivator's body.
The cultivator's face instantly turned pale, and his breath rapidly weakened. "Ah... ah--!!!" He let out a blood-ripping scream, for it was not a simple death.
That was the source of all existence stripped away, the pale golden light of origin increasing until it was all absorbed into the dark crack in the chest cavity of the wooden giant.
When the last wisp of essence leaves the body, the cultivator's body withers instantly, the skin cracks, the bones collapse, and the whole person becomes like an empty shell from which life has been drained.
The next instant, "Snap!" His body turned to ashes and vanished into the air. The second wooden giant spirit had already moved towards another cultivator.
The cultivator struggled desperately, but his body was completely powerless. He could only watch helplessly as the giant spirit approached, and the laceration in his chest opened again.
The source was extracted again, and this time it was even more terrifying. Not only was the golden source extracted, but even the residual Fate Soul imprint within the cultivator's body was pulled out bit by bit.
Those fragments of Fate Soul struggled in the air but were eventually all absorbed into the giant spirit's body. Screams echoed continuously through the Shi Lin, and the third wooden giant spirit also began to move.
Like three indifferent harvesting machines, they slowly and ruthlessly absorbed the cultivators' essence. None of the dozens of cultivators could escape into the higher-dimensional space.
Shen Qingchen's face had turned completely pale. "This... this isn't murder..." "This is..." Qin Yu's voice was low as he "harvested" the last cultivator below, extracting their life essence.
His body turned to ashes, and the entire area fell silent again. The three wooden giants stood in place, and suddenly a light shone from their chests—the source they had just devoured.
Golden, silver, and purple light intertwined within them. Then, countless ancient patterns appeared on the surface of the giants' bodies, and those patterns began to glow.
Immediately afterwards, streams of primordial light surged from within the giants' bodies, flowing down their arms to the ground, and then entering the ancient tree through the roots extending from the ground.
At that moment, the ancient tree seemed to come back to life, with countless streams of light surging inside its trunk, like rivers of energy containing the very essence of the cultivators that had just been devoured.
All of it was transported back into the ancient tree, the trunk resonated with a deep resonance, and the branches and leaves trembled gently. Those conceptual flowers became even more dazzling, as if they had received new nourishment.
As the last wisp of essence was transferred and the light slowly dissipated, the three wooden giants returned to silence. They neither disappeared nor returned to the tree trunk; they simply stood in place.
Like three guardians standing silently in the higher dimension, Qin Yu's gaze never left the ancient tree, even at the moment when the source was transmitted.
He suddenly sensed an extremely subtle fluctuation. The fluctuation was very weak, but extremely pure, like some kind of ancient mark. Qin Yu slowly narrowed his eyes.
He compressed his divine sense to the Ultimate and followed the trajectory of the source flow to observe. The source did not spread randomly but all flowed in the same direction.
Deep within the trunk of the ancient tree, there seems to be a tiny core where all the origins, after entering the ancient tree, will eventually converge.
Qin Yu was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Brother Shen..." Shen Qingchen looked at him. "What's wrong?" Qin Yu's gaze remained fixed on the ancient tree.
His tone carried a hint of uncertainty. "I feel..." "There might be something inside the heart of that ancient tree." Shen Qingchen was taken aback.
"What is it?" Qin Yu said slowly. "It might really be the Mystic Void Non-Stillness Seal." He then shook his head.
"It's just a feeling." "I'm not sure either." But his gaze grew deeper, fixed intently on the ancient tree.
The earth suddenly trembled again, not with the violent tearing and shaking of before, but with an extremely slow and heavy groan.
It was as if the entire space was breathing from a higher-dimensional interlayer. Qin Yu's pupils contracted slightly because he clearly saw the heart of the ancient tree light up.
At first, it was just an extremely faint point of light, like a distant star in the night sky, but in the next moment, the point of light rapidly spread.
The original river flowing inside the tree trunk suddenly began to accelerate, and golden, silver, purple, and dark blue light streams, like countless rushing energy rivers, all converged towards the center of the ancient tree.
"Boom--" A deep resonance sounded again. The ancient tree began to split, not break apart, but rather as if some ancient structure was being slowly opened, with the trunk slowly cracking open from the center.
One layer, two layers, three layers—the enormous bark unfolded slowly to both sides like heavy doors, and the conceptual flowers swayed gently in response.
The entire ancient tree slowly detached from the ground, its roots pulling away from the earth. Countless ancient roots rose up, carrying soil and rocks, and the tree body floated in mid-air.
Like a giant altar, a corpse appeared at the very center of the tree canopy—the corpse of a woman, lying quietly in the center of the ancient tree's canopy.
As if asleep, her body was perfectly intact, without decay or scars, her skin as white as jade, and her long hair flowing like a waterfall.
Her hair wasn't ordinary black; it had an extremely subtle silver sheen, and it floated slowly in the air. Her face was serene, and her features were exquisitely beautiful, almost perfect.
She seemed not to be a corpse but a sleeping deity. She wore an ancient white robe, the hem of which draped gently. The fabric appeared ordinary, yet ancient runes constantly emerged in the light.
Her hands were clasped together in front of her chest, and between her hands was something that was not a physical entity, nor could it even be called an "object"; it was as if there was nothing there.
But it was as if some indescribable mark existed. In the higher dimension, Qin Yu's divine sense instinctively tried to capture it, but the next moment, his divine sense simply slipped away.
It was like probing into a completely Does Not Exist region, a place without outlines, without shapes, and even without the concept of "existence," yet Qin Yu vaguely sensed...
A faint, ethereal shadow appeared, sometimes dissipating, sometimes coalescing, like an invisible speck of light floating in the void. No law, divine sense, or energy could touch it.
Everything vanishes into nothingness the instant it comes into contact; there is no explosion, no fluctuation, not even a trace of energy dissipation, as if everything that comes into contact with it never existed.
Qin Yu's heart skipped a beat. Because that thing—it was the Mystic Void Non-Stillness Seal. Just then, the ancient tree trembled again, and all the cultivators' essence that it had just absorbed began to surge wildly.
All the light flowing inside the tree trunk converged on the three wooden giants in the canopy. They raised their heads at the same time, their chests lit up again, and streams of primordial energy gushed out from their bodies.
The primordial light, flowing along the branches towards the female corpse, resembled countless golden rivers, slowly flowing into her body. At first, it was just a wisp, but then it grew larger and larger.
The essence of her consciousness, the Fate Soul, and the years of her cultivation were all infused into her body, and the woman's body began to glow faintly, though the light was not dazzling.
Instead, it was an extremely gentle, pale glow, as if some kind of life flame was slowly igniting. In the higher dimension, Shen Qingchen suddenly widened his eyes.
He almost instinctively cried out, "Brother Qin!" His voice trembled. "That's...!" The female corpse was— the Primal Spirit Nurturing God?!
Qin Yu was slightly taken aback. "What?" "Primal Spirit Nurturing God? Who is that??" Shen Qingchen's breathing became noticeably rapid as he stared intently at the woman's corpse.
The voice was deep and filled with shock. "Title— Primal Spirit Nurturing God." "Alternative titles: Mother of Soul Fire, Candlelight of Life, Cradle of Individual Consciousness."
He said slowly, "Legend has it... He was the first being to awaken 'self-awareness' from a physical body." "Before Him—"
"The world only has life." "But not 'me'." Shen Qingchen's gaze grew increasingly solemn. "His power is to ignite the fire of the soul."
"He endowed every body with perception, memory, and personality." "In other words—" "All living beings possess 'self-awareness' because it originates from Him."
He took a deep breath. "But He also has limitations. He governs individual consciousness, but cannot control the origin or destination of individuals. Souls are born."
"It too will perish." "He... can only bear witness." Shen Qingchen's voice softened, "I've only seen records of Him in extremely ancient texts..."
"I never expected..." His gaze fell on the woman's corpse again, "She was actually sealed inside this ancient tree." Qin Yu remained silent.
His gaze remained fixed on the Mystic Void Non-Stillness Seal, for at that moment he vaguely sensed that the invisible seal seemed to be responding.
Time passed slowly, and the ancient tree remained suspended in mid-air, with the woman's corpse still lying quietly in the center of its canopy.
Streams of primordial light continuously surged from within the tree, displaying colors of gold, silver, purple, and dark blue. The harvested cultivators' essence flowed like rushing rivers, converging along the branches of the tree canopy into the woman's body.
The moment the source entered her body, it did not cause a violent fluctuation. Instead, it dissolved slowly like a drop of water falling into a lake, gradually sinking into her body.
Time passed moment by moment in the higher dimension. Qin Yu and Shen Qingchen remained quietly observing, and half an incense stick's time passed in the blink of an eye.
All the cultivators' essence absorbed by the ancient tree was eventually poured into the woman's corpse, and the entire space fell silent.
However, the woman remained unresponsive; her breathing was still, her Fate Soul unmoved, and her jade-like face remained serene.
Like a real corpse, it was as if the countless primal energies that had entered her body had simply sunk into a bottomless abyss.
Shen Qingchen said in a low voice, "These sources of origin... are not enough." Qin Yu did not answer, but his gaze became even more solemn, because at that moment he clearly felt...
The ancient tree seemed to realize this as well. The light flow inside the trunk gradually stopped, the branches slowly closed, and the huge ancient tree that had been suspended in mid-air began to close again.
The branches and leaves of the tree slowly converged towards the center, and the conceptual flowers drooped down again. The branches intertwined layer by layer, like countless ancient chains, slowly wrapping around the woman's corpse.
First the arms, then the long hair, and finally even the invisible Mystic Void Non-Stillness Seal was covered by branches. The scene was extremely eerie, as if the ancient tree was resealing a precious and dangerous treasure.
A few breaths later, all the branches closed completely, the trunk returned to its original state, the bark rejoined, and the crown once again became that ancient tree full of conceptual flowers.
It was as if nothing had happened at all; only a very few survivors knew that within the heart of the tree lay the corpse of a deity.
And the Mystic Void Non-Stillness Seal, returned to Ji Ran, the three wooden giants did not disappear; they still stood there.
Like three enormous guardians, after a few breaths, one of the giant spirits suddenly moved. It slowly turned its body, its hollow chest seemingly sensing something.
Then it began to walk slowly in the open space. The second giant moved, and the third did the same. The three giants began to patrol the entire area.
Their steps were extremely slow, but with each step they took, the earth trembled, and their hollow chests constantly turned in different directions.
As if searching for something, on several occasions, their bodies stopped directly in front of a certain void, a location near a rift in the Transcendent Five-Dimensional Space.
Within the higher-dimensional interlayer, Shen Qingchen's breathing visibly tightened. "They... are looking for something." Qin Yu nodded, his gaze also becoming wary.
The three wooden giants seemed unsatisfied with their previous harvest; they searched for any remaining fish like hunting dogs. After a few breaths, Shen Qingchen suddenly spoke in a low voice.
"Brother Qin." "Did you sense...?" "They seem to be looking for hidden cultivators." Qin Yu was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "Hmm."
His gaze swept across the surrounding high-dimensional spatial rifts, where there were more than one extremely subtle spatial fold that would go unnoticed unless one was consciously trying to perceive it.
Qin Yu frowned slightly. "Could it be...?" "There are others like us... hiding in the rift in the Transcendent Five-Dimensional Space?" Shen Qingchen nodded.
His gaze fell upon the three giant spirits in the distance. They were still slowly surveying the area, their hollow chests constantly turning in different directions, as if they were sniffing the air.
Shen Qingchen said in a low voice, "Hmm, there should be." "Otherwise, look at those three monsters..." "What are they looking for?" "They're definitely not patrolling for no reason."
The air in the higher dimensions became tense again, because if those giants could really sense the higher-dimensional rifts, they would be discovered sooner or later.