Subspecies

When Zhang Xuezhou took over Donghua and got rid of the giant tree, the giant tree was dilapidated.

The enormous tree was continuously fragmented, leaving only a chair-shaped structure made from a branch as its core. The remaining branches, along with the damaged flower house, served as aids in the journey, as if they had endured countless storms.

The giant tree was so badly damaged that both its trunk and soul were destroyed; it was like a snake that had been killed, writhing on the ground.

Although Zhang Xuezhou Zhang Xuezhou and others believed that the giant tree still had vitality, they never believed that the giant tree was completely intact.

As Zhang Xuezhou traveled through the darkness again, he saw a tree branch emerging from the endless darkness, with a wooden flower bud hanging from it.

The flower bud slowly unfolded, revealing its empty interior, a place for the soul to reside.

The method of travel remained the same; Zhang Xuezhou still needed to rely on the greenhouse to reach the core tree chair for transformation. However, the giant tree spirit that carried his divine soul through the journey had changed.

The previous dilapidation has disappeared, and everything is perfectly intact without a single flaw.

"It's really awake!"

Zhang Xuezhou felt his soul taking deep breaths and forced himself to calm down.

"This is definitely not entirely due to the cultivation method!"

Zhang Xuezhou didn't believe that his nurturing of the spirit wood staff could stimulate any changes. He could only say that it was all a coincidence, and that the awakening and changes of the giant tree had other reasons.

"Where are you hiding? Who are you using? How much stuff have you stuffed into the Three Realms?"

As he pondered, Zhang Xuezhou felt a thunderous sound pass overhead.

A rainbow of light swept down, followed by a burst of blue light rising up.

Zhang Xuezhou's soul was then pulled into the greenhouse.

Like a fish diving into deep water, a fleeting movement can result in a completely different location.

"Don't take advantage of that limited spatial teleportation ability to act recklessly..."

The sound lingered in my ears before being swiftly cut off and rendered inaudible.

"It seems to be the voice of Hongjun. He seems to be watching that world all the time. How could the cultivators of the Outer Heavens be so idle!"

Zhang Xuezhou had heard about the Outer Heaven from Xu Lu. He felt that the social order there was more primitive, and the social structure had not developed the concept of a nation. At most, it was just an alternative world.

Zhang Xuezhou hadn't figured out either of the two worlds he belonged to, so he wasn't particularly curious about the outer world.

But he was indeed very curious about Hongjun's state.

Ultimately, the Void Furnace is like Rong Tianding in Hibiscus City; its scope of knowledge is limited, far from touching the core of the outer world. Much of its content is only what its eyes can see, plus hearsay, resulting in incomplete understanding.

Perhaps the Outer Heavens are not as simply imagined by Zhang Xuezhou, filled with numerous powerful factions and a simple law of the jungle, but may also involve the worlds they inhabit.

"You... you know his real name?"

Zhang Xuezhou harbored the idea of observing the changes in the giant tree, and his journey did not disappear in the blink of an eye.

They moved through the darkness, and a bluish light began to appear in the greenhouse.

An ancient tree appeared within the blue light, its leaves trembling slightly, emitting spiritual information that Zhang Xuezhou could perceive.

"A giant tree?"

Looking at the bluish light in the greenhouse, Zhang Xuezhou felt his soul pounding violently.

Compared to the conflict that erupted when Zhang Xuezhou and Donghua met, the giant tree in front of them seemed harmless.

However, Zhang Xuezhou vaguely sensed that the giant tree in front of him seemed different from the planetary world he had observed; it did not seem as powerful as he had imagined.

As with his previous experiences, Zhang Xuezhou felt that he was not bound or controlled by the giant technique.

"You've witnessed that poor child's life and forged a close bond with its subspecies, so you should be able to guess that I am also just a subspecies!"

"You are... are you the one handling the conversion?"

"Good!"

The ancient tree, bathed in the blue light, trembled its leaves, acknowledging its origin.

This made Zhang Xuezhou marvel, feeling that tree-like life was truly incredible.

But just thinking about how countless powerful cultivators had toiled like worker ants on that branch, ultimately leaving behind the myriad complaints the Emperor had spoken of, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but become vigilant, wary of becoming one of them.

"You seem very interested in Hongjun?" Zhang Xuezhou asked cautiously.

"To be precise, I'm only interested in the world beyond the darkness," the ancient tree replied, its leaves trembling. "Unfortunately, his attitude was very unfriendly, making communication impossible and hindering my ability to imagine that world I've never touched!"

"There are many cultivators from the Outer Heavens world. In that region, there's a cultivator named Badun who originated from the Outer Heavens, and another cultivator named Nagos who may also have originated from the Outer Heavens. In the Qinmeng region, there are also Hu Hao, Hu Yu, Xu Lu, Qi Zhu, and others; they are very likely all from the Outer Heavens!"

Zhang Xuezhou originally intended to shift the potential trouble to Hongjun, but Gu Shu acted extremely cautiously, seemingly unwilling to personally contact Hongjun, which prompted Zhang Xuezhou to quickly change his approach.

"All living things should grow upwards, so why are they turning downwards?" the ancient tree asked.

"Perhaps there are nutrients below, or perhaps the outer heavens don't have the nutrients they can obtain," Zhang Xuezhou said.

What you said didn't sound pleasant to me!

The ancient tree trembled its leaves, and waves of spiritual energy continuously transmitted information.

It seemed to ponder Zhang Xuezhou's words for a long time before it began to emit bursts of blue light and mental fluctuations again.

"Can you see the endless darkness all around us? All living beings are trapped in darkness, with only a few flickering flames illuminating the way. Every living being longs to break through the darkness and embrace the light!"

The journey through the darkness suddenly stopped, the petals of the greenhouse unfolded, and a lush green planet appeared before Zhang Xuezhou's eyes.

From a distance, the planet appears to have emerald green, pale blue oceans, vast landmasses, and what also seems to be traces of extensive construction.

When the greenhouse turned around again, a huge star came into view.

Even though they knew the star was infinitely far away, the flames that occupied their senses kept exploding, and the countless surging giant fire serpents made them feel small and suffocated.

"The life-bearing planets you perceive are all seeds in the darkness," the ancient tree said. "Every life-bearing planet has the potential to give birth to intelligent life, until it pierces the darkness and welcomes eternal light. How could light not be beautiful?"

"If light is so good, why don't the beings already in the realm of light lead all life-bearing planets to transformation and rebirth?" Zhang Xuezhou said, "Just like Hongjun, whom I know, he went to the world beyond the heavens, but he didn't help other humans continuously leave the Three Realms. The same logic applies to other beings that have already transformed and grown!"

Ancient Tree's worldview differs from Zhang Xuezhou's. To him, a planet that nurtures countless lives is merely a seed waiting to grow, while a star is just a spark burning in the darkness.

Zhang Xuezhou felt this concept was too exaggerated. He compared planets to dust, finding it difficult to even become a spark of light, let alone to regard them like ancient trees.

If you don't want to be led astray by this kind of thinking, then you have to act as a contrarian and constantly refute the old tree's ideas.

Before him, far too many cultivators had been buried in the ancient tree, and Donghua's escape was further proof of that.

Zhang Xuezhou didn't know what Gu Shu wanted to do, but he didn't want to become one of those people who had been through similar experiences.

"When you break through to the higher realms, you won't even see the figures of those beings who have already grown. Have they welcomed the light, or have they already sunk into eternal darkness?" Zhang Xuezhou said, "Just like that spirit tree that used up all its vitality to promote growth, after welcoming the light it was only forced to grow into a gourd, and then even its trunk was completely devoured, until it turned into a spark and burned itself out!"

Theories of light and darkness are mutually opposed.

There has been intense online discussion about contact with extraterrestrials. Some believe that contact with extraterrestrials can bring goodwill and countless technological advancements, while others believe that contact will be the beginning of death, with anything of value being taken by the powerful extraterrestrials, and living beings becoming slaves or facing collective death.

The ancient tree yearns for light, while Zhang Xuezhou speaks of darkness.

Many statements can be transformed into opposing viewpoints simply by taking past summaries and rearranging them.

Initially, many people believed in the theory of light, but after continuous debate, the theory of darkness was eventually accepted by the majority.

Zhang Xuezhou spoke eloquently, but Gu Shu's demeanor seemed to have taken on a hint of melancholy.