True Life

As the putrid fluid began to leak from the lumps, more lumps cracked open.

The World Tree, once brimming with vitality, is now riddled with holes, resembling a piece of rotting fat.

The fat and muscle on its body are breaking down into a thick liquid.

However, this vigorous life force cannot repair the changes that have occurred to the World Tree, or rather, these are the normal changes.

The putrid sap flowed down the tree trunk and gathered on the ground.

However, Ling's subjective consciousness had not yet perceived the real changes that had occurred in the World Tree.

What she saw was the World Tree, which had absorbed all the life force here, reaching an extremely saturated state.

These excess life forces, like the fruits nurtured by the World Tree, cling to the trunk.

Finally, it split open and a great deal of life-giving water flowed out, which gathered on the earth.

Ling could almost smell the fragrant aroma emanating from these waters of life, and a hint of excitement crossed her face.

Arriving at the pool of life-giving water, I squatted down, cupped it in my hands, and finally couldn't resist the temptation to greedily drink a mouthful. It was refreshing and invigorating.

Ling felt that she was about to grasp that thing, that thing was... She looked up at the World Tree.

Chirping or roaring sounds came from above, and many creatures were being nurtured in the fruit from which the water of life had flowed.

Although these things were different in form, they looked extremely similar, and Ling had a sense of déjà vu, but couldn't quite place them at the moment.

But these are all things she loves—these creatures constructed from vitality and the power of life.

Moreover, because of the special connection between the World Tree and her, these creatures that were born from it are like her children.

As soon as she reached out her hand, all the creatures converged on her, surrounding her completely.

Ling reached out and stroked the heads of these creatures, looking at them with affection.

Ling was getting closer to that thing; she could feel that the power she wanted to control was right beside her.

She reached out again, touching the air; there was nothing there, yet she felt as if she had touched something.

There is no specific tactile sensation, only a feeling of peace and loving care that can be felt.

Ling opened her eyes at this moment, and a change appeared on the hand she had reached out to touch.

Starting from the fingertips, vine-like plants emerged from the void, coiling around the fingertips and spreading throughout the body.

A powerful life force, like the first ray of dawn in the cold winter, though not obvious, can be clearly felt and perceived by the inspiration.

She finally grasped that power!

Ling's whole body was trembling, whether from excitement or shock at the power.

She wanted to grasp more, to make the Sun, represented by this ray of dawn, rise completely.

But at that moment, a voice from the depths of the soul, from the most primal force of life, appeared in the spirit's mind with a kind and deep tone.

"Child, is all forms of life what you love?"

Upon hearing the voice, Ling was stunned. Not because the voice was sudden, but because it seemed perfectly natural; Ling felt no sense of incongruity.

What stunned her was the question raised in that sentence.

She couldn't quite grasp the specifics, but she knew that this question involved a choice, and her answer would determine certain things.

After only a brief pause, Ling nodded without hesitation, indicating her agreement with the question.

She loves life in all its forms.

After Ling gave an affirmative answer, no voice responded in her mind.

Instead, ripples spread across her vision, blurring the scene before her.

She could clearly sense that something was changing within her, at least her senses were changing...

Ling didn't think much of it, but regarded it as a necessary process for her to master the power here.

But as the scene before her eyes became completely blurry, the fragrance that had been lingering around her nose suddenly turned into a nauseating stench.

At that moment, a feeling of unease arose in her heart.

The blur before his eyes began to disappear and gradually became clear. Once he could see, Ling knelt down beside the pool of life-giving water.

However, what she saw now was no longer the clear water of life, but a foul-smelling, pink and yellowish putrid liquid!

A thunderbolt suddenly exploded in Ling's mind: Wasn't this the Water of Life? How could it have turned into this!

Thinking about how I had just picked it up and was drinking it, my stomach churned and I couldn't help but vomit.

And the vomited juice was indeed exactly the same as this pool of "water of life"!

The spit-out juice splashed out, creating ripples that clearly projected Ling's figure onto them.

Upon seeing its own image projected onto the "Water of Life," a piercing scream echoed through the heavens from the spirit's mouth.

Where was her pure and charming elfin image? Instead, she had transformed into a hideous and bizarre figure, her entire body covered in pustules oozing pus, with grape-like blisters blooming all over her body.

At that moment, a chorus of laughter erupted from all around, some even right next to him.

Ling felt a chill run down her spine. Looking around, the goosebumps that had spread across her body made her tremble as if she had been electrocuted.

The creatures she had summoned from the World Tree were now completely devoid of any semblance of normalcy.

They were all different shapes and sizes, their bodies covered in wounds, just like her current appearance.

The only truly distinctive feature was the sense of déjà vu that Ling had previously possessed.

That is, they share an identical face, a face that Rei knows all too well— Tomie!

These creatures all Tomie's face, and now they looked at Rei with mocking expressions.

All these sensory shifts gave the spirit a sense of unreality.

It all seemed like an illusion, a dream, and Ling refused to believe that the power she wanted to control would bring about such a change.

She will slowly raise her head, placing all her hopes on the World Tree that belongs to her.

But upon seeing that one look, a tidal wave of despair washed over her, completely engulfing and drowning her.

In the tide of despair, she saw many things: the evolution and birth of life, its death, and finally, its complete decay and rotting.

Just when she thought her life was over, a new life was born on top of the decaying matter.

At that moment, Ling recalled the question that had appeared in her mind earlier, "Child, is all forms of life what you love?"

She seemed to understand something, but not quite, because her last shred of consciousness began to dissipate in despair.

At the same time, her body began to decay, and a green divine light departed from the World Tree.

But the World Tree still exists, and the spirit is not truly dead; even after decaying, she remains with the World Tree...