At the edge of the deep blue waters deep within the secret passage, after a moment of pause under the pressure of the ancient tree, the cultivators gradually recovered their energy. A slightly rough voice broke the silence, "Isn't that Ju Wanning from the Ju Lineage?" Another person looked in the direction of the voice, his gaze fixed on the figure standing silently beneath the ancient tree. His voice was low but carried an undisguised tremor, "How did she get here...? I think I saw her fighting outside. How could she have arrived here first?"
A commotion arose in the crowd. Some hesitated, others' eyes darted around. The next instant, a cultivator with a profound aura stepped forward, his gaze fixed on the ancient tree. His tone suddenly became greedy and solemn, "Who cares who she is, this tree... have you ever heard of the legend of the Moonwheel Soul-Congealing Ancient Tree?"
As his words fell, the atmosphere around them instantly tightened, and dozens of gazes simultaneously turned to the ancient tree. The man spoke slowly, his voice low yet clear, "The True Annihilation Realm is not a place that can be reached by human power. It is not the end of cultivation, but a rift that was forcibly torn open, originating from the moment when an ancient being deliberately stopped at the deepest point of enlightenment. That person did not take the final step."
Instead, he embeds himself at the boundary between truth and falsehood; his physical body becomes the tree trunk, his Primordial Spirit becomes the branches and leaves, and his unfulfilled aspiration for enlightenment becomes the eternally shining moon. This tree Bugui to any particular time or space, yet it has a projection in all times and spaces. Those who can step beneath the tree...
"He must have already reached his Limit, yet he's still unwilling to stop." His voice gradually lowered, his greed undisguised in his eyes, "If I could gain the tree's approval, it would be equivalent to touching upon the unfinished path of that being, and perhaps even having a chance to glimpse the path beyond True Annihilation."
As these words fell, the crowd's breathing noticeably quickened, and their energy began to surge unconsciously. Another cultivator suddenly sneered, stepped forward, and glanced back and forth between the ancient tree spirit and Ju Wanning. "So what? What's before us now is that she has been chosen by this ancient tree, and the ancient tree spirit is clearly protecting her as she comprehends the Dao."
He turned to look at the crowd, his voice laced with provocation and intrigue, "What do you all think?" Before he finished speaking, a cultivator with a gentle aura shook his head slightly and said directly, "I disagree with taking action. The Ju Lineage has acted honorably in the Eternal Nonexistence Limitless Domain all these years, never abusing their power. Her reaching this point is her own good fortune."
Another person beside him scoffed, his aura suddenly radiating outwards, "Opportunities are something to be fought for; whoever gets them first is irrelevant. If this tree is truly as the legend says, whoever obtains it will keep it."
Immediately afterward, someone else echoed in a deep voice, "The ancient tree doesn't belong to anyone. Since she has already gained the upper hand, if we don't act now, once she wakes up, this opportunity will be gone for us."
Voices of opposition arose simultaneously. "Do you really think this elf is just for show? The fact that she was chosen means that the ancient tree acknowledges her path. If you act now, you will only anger the ancient tree itself."
The debate quickly spread, energy clashing, words clashing, and the crowd naturally split into two sides. One side slowly retreated, deliberately concealing their aura and standing beside the ancient tree spirit, their gaze calm yet wary. They showed no intention of attacking, but were already prepared to defend themselves.
The other side gradually approached, their aura becoming increasingly concentrated, several supernatural fluctuations surging within their bodies. Their gaze locked onto Ju Wanning and the core of the ancient tree, making no attempt to conceal their intent to seize it. The air between the two sides was tense, like a string that could snap at any moment.
The ancient tree spirit stood silently suspended above the water's surface, uttering no words. The two slowly rotating halos in its eyes gradually accelerated, and the light flowing between its branches and leaves began to spread outwards. The oppressive force of the entire space intensified, and the shimmering light and shadow of its roots beneath the water slowly emerged.
As if in response to the impending conflict, Ju Wanning remained standing with her eyes closed beneath the ancient tree, her aura sinking to its deepest point. Her Fate Soul fluctuations had completely overlapped with the ancient tree. She was unaware of the confrontation outside and had no defenses whatsoever. Her entire being seemed to be embedded in the core of that ancient tree, becoming a part of this space.
The standoff at the edge of the water shattered in an instant. A cultivator with a violent aura stepped forward first, his palm suddenly opening wide. A killing seal formed by multiple overlapping laws condensed before him. The light compressed to its Ultimate before exploding, tearing several cracks in the space. Then, several people attacked simultaneously.
Sword light flashed across the sky, divine fire fell, and chains of cause and effect burst forth from the void, weaving into a net. More than ten Ultimate powers were superimposed in a very short time, and all attacks were locked onto the center where the ancient tree and Ju Wanning were located. The air was compressed to the point of near solidification, and layers of light bombarded inward. The water surface exploded in an instant, creating a thousand-foot wave, and the space emitted a piercing cracking sound.
Just as the divine power was about to touch the ancient tree, the tree spirit's finger gently fell, the movement extremely slow, yet it directly shattered the entire attack rhythm. All the divine powers abruptly halted in mid-air; the light and flames solidified, the sword momentum shattered, and the laws remained frozen in their incomplete state.
The next moment, an imperceptible wave emanated from the tree's core, forcibly rearranging the entire area's structure. The directions of the divine abilities that had been locked onto their targets were simultaneously distorted, causing attacks to misalign in mid-air, overlapping and colliding with each other. A deafening roar erupted in an instant, and light tore through space.
The backlash from the supernatural power exploded directly within the cultivators' formation. One person's chest caved in, and he was thrown away by the recoil from his own supernatural power. Another person's arms exploded, and the causal chains wrapped around him in reverse, forcibly dragging his Fate Soul to the brink of collapse.
The ancient tree spirit remained motionless, yet the surrounding space began to tighten layer by layer. Its roots beneath the water's surface became fully visible, and dense rays of light rose from all directions, sealing off the entire area. The cultivator's aura was suppressed to the surface, unable to diffuse; any attempt to unleash supernatural powers would be instantly crushed.
Several people forcibly activated their supreme treasures, and beams of light shot into the sky, only to be compressed into thin lines and disintegrate in mid-air. It was as if all power had lost its ability to extend at this point. Immediately afterwards, a cultivator was directly pressed into the water by an invisible force.
Their bodies instantly lost their form, stripped away into a blurry afterimage. Then even the afterimage was erased. The others' expressions changed drastically, and they all retreated. Their original offensive completely collapsed at this moment.
In the midst of this suppression, Ju Wanning's consciousness had completely sunk into another world. Her soul core condensed and took shape in her sea of consciousness, a crystal-clear core of existence suspended at its center. All her past experiences unfolded simultaneously. She saw her childhood, cultivation, battles, and breakthroughs. Every choice was presented in an extremely clear form. Her consciousness no longer followed the tide, but instead actively sank into it. One past experience after another unfolded and passed before her eyes. She glimpsed her past hesitations, obsessions, and perseverance. Every subtle thought was dissected layer by layer, transforming into Dao patterns, which were rewoven and recombined within her soul core.
Her foundation slowly manifested, crisscrossing and coalescing into a complete and flawless framework of destiny. She raised her hand and lightly touched one of the traces, which immediately split into several new branches. Following one branch, she glimpsed a completely different path in her life.
Its ending was almost identical to the actual trajectory. She slowly withdrew her consciousness and touched other destiny trajectories again. Whether to choose or not was entirely up to her own heart, without any external interference.
Above the soul core, a moon slowly took shape. Initially, it was just a crescent moon, but as she continued to dissect herself, the structure of her Dao principles began to stabilize, and the crescent moon gradually expanded into a half-moon. Her consciousness underwent a complete self-negation, thoroughly dismantling a past choice that she had considered inevitable.
In that instant, the moon changed again, its light expanding and gradually approaching completeness. Her state of mind continued to settle during this process, until at a certain moment, she stopped within the soul core, no longer continuing to deduce or touching any trajectory. All paths unfolded before her simultaneously, but she no longer chose; she simply watched. At that moment, the moon became completely complete, its radiance spreading silently.
Beneath the full moon, five branches appeared from the void, the first crack piercing downwards. She saw the entirety of her destiny, all the forks, nodes, and ends appearing simultaneously. She neither resisted nor tried to change it, but simply quietly acknowledged its existence.
The second branch swayed gently, and she relived all her forced past experiences, making choices anew each time. In this moment, her consciousness gained complete sovereignty. The third branch was like a throne, granting her the ability to define local reality in an instant, reconstructing the rules in a single thought.
The fourth branch spiraled inward, and she saw things that could not be spoken of. Her consciousness was stretched to its Limit, yet it was never swallowed up. The last invisible branch appeared in the deepest part of her consciousness. She did not touch it, nor did she try to understand it. She simply stayed there, and all her perceptions returned to their origin. At that moment, her Fate Soul completed an extremely stable Return to One.
In reality, she still stood before the ancient tree, her eyes closed, her aura completely concealed, her entire being overlapping with the light flowing from the ancient tree. The ancient tree spirit's gaze lingered on her for a moment, the trembling of the branches and leaves became even more gentle, and the entire space's rejection of her completely disappeared; she became the only being accepted.
On the other side, several people in the crowd remained silent for a moment before slowly retreating. Their gazes swept over the ancient tree and the elves, then lingered. One of them spoke in a low voice, "The opportunity here is already decided; we won't waste our lives here."
As soon as the words fell, dozens of figures turned and left, their auras rapidly dissipating from the area. They neither joined the fight nor chose to defend, instead heading directly deeper into the secret passage to seek their own opportunities. The two groups of cultivators who remained behind continued their standoff, the air tense once more, with the next conflict potentially erupting at any moment.