“It worked!”
Xing Huang coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, but a wild laugh played on his lips. Within his Divine Soul Star Power Domain, three hundred and sixty stars arranged themselves into an ancient star map in the Void Realm, burning with scorching white Star Fire, completely sealing off the space around the Strange Tree.
However, before his laughter ceased, Xing Huang’s expression suddenly froze—he saw a bizarre Sword Pattern slowly emerging from the severed Dao Fruit!
The Sword Pattern was ancient and chilling, as if from primordial times, carrying supreme killing intent, and even subtly exhibiting sentience. The moment the Sword Pattern appeared, the entire Star Domain trembled, and the Star Array he had set up began to twist and deform uncontrollably.
“Xiao Chenzi! Beware of the backlash!”
Xing Huang screamed, his voice tinged with terror. He bit his tongue sharply, spitting a mouthful of vital blood onto the Star Disk, attempting to stabilize the tottering Star Array.
However, before his words landed, that Sword Pattern suddenly lit up, like thunder exploding in the night sky, its light blinding!
Xiao Chenzi's nine Flying Swords, originally Sharp Weapons used to suppress this place, lost control at the same instant! They seemed to be manipulated by some invisible will, turning their sharp edges in unison, pointing directly at their master!
“Sword Return!” Xiao Chenzi's white hair flew wildly as he rapidly changed his sword gestures with both hands, attempting to regain control of his Flying Swords.
However, these Natal Flying Swords, which had accompanied him for thousands of years, now seemed to be controlled by another “Xiao Chenzi.” This opponent wielded the same Sword Intent as him, vying for control of the nine Natal Flying Swords.
The nine Flying Swords hummed incessantly, generating a large amount of Sword Qi, perfectly replicating the gray-white Sword Light from Xiao Chenzi's Sword Domain—cold, sharp, and merciless! Under the Strange Tree's control, these Sword Lights were even more perfect than the originals, each trajectory secretly aligning with the ultimate principles of the Heavenly Dao.
“Pfft—!”
A wisp of gray-white sword shadow pierced through Xiao Chenzi’s shoulder, bringing out wood-grained flesh and blood, as if even his Divine Soul had been severed.
Xiao Chenzi staggered back a step, a look of horror appearing in his eyes for the first time: “It’s not just imitating… it’s optimizing my Sword Domain!”
Seeing this, Xing Huang immediately changed the Star Array, and three hundred and sixty stars transformed into streaks of light, protecting Xiao Chenzi.
However, as soon as those stars touched the gray-white Sword Qi, the same Sword Patterns quickly appeared on their surfaces, and they then uncontrollably turned their direction, instead striking towards Xing Huang!
“Be careful!” Xing Yu’s roar came from high above, his body enveloped in dark red Star Light, crashing down like a falling meteor towards the Strange Tree’s main trunk. The giant blade burned with Star Fire capable of incinerating a Small World, and wherever it passed, space collapsed inch by inch.
This blow landed squarely on the Strange Tree’s main trunk, and the dark red Star Fire instantly spread.
However, before Xing Yu could rejoice, he was horrified to discover that the Star Fire was being absorbed by the Strange Tree, and the main trunk showed Star Patterns identical to his own!
“Retreat!”
Xiao Chenzi endured the intense pain, and a broken sword flew from his hand, forming a Sword Curtain in front of Xing Yu. Almost simultaneously, the Strange Tree’s main trunk suddenly burst forth with dark red Star Light identical to Xing Yu’s, but with even greater power!
Xing Yu hastily raised his blade to block, and the shockwave generated by the collision of the two Star Powers sent him flying hundreds of feet. He knelt on one knee, his giant blade digging a long furrow into the ground, his left eye already shattered by the backlashing Star Power, blood dripping down his cheek.
At this moment, Xing Huang’s Star Array completely shattered, and three hundred and sixty stars exploded one after another, turning into a sky full of Star Dust. He knelt on the ground, and the same vein-like patterns as the Strange Tree appeared on his chest, as if he had been corroded by it.
“It’s using our Dao… to nourish itself!” Xing Huang gasped with difficulty, his voice hoarse and despairing. He looked down at his palms, discovering tiny roots wriggling beneath his skin.
The most tragic was Xing Yu; he had unleashed a World-Destroying Strike, intending to utterly destroy the Dao Fruit.
But now, not only did that strike fail to take effect, it instead triggered a terrifying backlash—endless Star Power poured back into his body from the wound; it wasn't pure Star Power, but twisted Star Power polluted by the Strange Tree!
Dark red blood vessels spread out from his shattered left eye socket, clinging to his entire body like parasitic vines. Something seemed to wriggle beneath his skin, as if it would burst forth at any second!
“Ugh ah ah ah—!”
Xing Yu roared, kneeling on the ground, his giant blade deeply embedded in the earth, barely supporting his tottering body. He was already half-transformed into a monstrous tree-human Fusion, grotesque and terrifying.
Xiao Chenzi forced a surge of True Qi, and nine broken swords flew around him, severing the attacking roots. He noticed that those severed roots quickly took root after landing, growing into small Strange Trees in the blink of an eye, with miniature Sword Patterns appearing on their bark.
“It’s learning our fighting style…” Xiao Chenzi’s heart sank. He recalled the records in ancient texts about “Dao Devourers”—evil entities born in ancient times that could devour a Cultivator’s Dao and make it their own. But the evolution speed of this Strange Tree was far beyond any record!
The Strange Tree’s main trunk began to heal rapidly, with metallic-textured wood growing in the Crack, hard as iron. Above the newly formed canopy, three enormous faces slowly took shape—they were precisely the likenesses of Xiao Chenzi, Xing Yu, and Xing Huang!
Those three faces were lifelike, their eyes and brows exuding their respective spirits, but their gazes were hollow, and their lips slightly parted, murmuring in unison:
“Become… us…”
The voice was not loud, but it directly poured into the three’s Divine Sense, like a Soul-bewitching demonic sound, sending chills down their spines. As the whispers sounded, the speed of the wood-pattern transformation on their bodies visibly accelerated. Xing Huang’s right arm already showed tree bark texture, and his fingertips began to lignify.
Xiao Chenzi leaned on his sword, his white robe long since stained with blood. His gaze swept over his two companions:
Xing Yu was already half-transformed, Xing Huang’s Star Radiance was dissipating, and he himself had six of his nine Natal Dao Swords shattered, his Divine Soul damaged, his life hanging by a thread.
The four wilds were silent, only the Strange Tree’s whispers reverberated endlessly.
In this desperate situation, Xiao Chenzi suddenly smiled.
That smile was serene and resolute, as if he had seen through life and death, leaving only obsession.
“Fellow Daoists.” Xiao Chenzi looked up, a golden Sword Light burning in the Sword Pattern on his brow, and solemnly said to Xing Yu and Xing Huang: “We are now in a desperate situation. Are you willing to… gamble on a true ‘Dao Severing’ with this old man?”
Xing Yu glared with his remaining right eye, half-transformed, yet still burning with unyielding Battle Intent. After a moment, he burst into wild laughter: “It should have been like this long ago!”
Xing Huang, with trembling hands, crushed his last turtle shell. Star Light condensed into a dagger in his palm, its cold gleam sharp: “The Star Turtle Clan… is never afraid to gamble with their lives!”
The three formed hand seals simultaneously, and their internal Dao Foundations roared into combustion!
This was not an ordinary sacrifice, but a true mutual destruction—using their own Dao as fuel to ignite the Dao-Burning Fire!
The Strange Tree seemed to sense a fatal threat. All its roots frantically retracted, layering around the core Dao Fruit, attempting to resist this attack. The three human faces on the canopy showed fear for the first time, emitting ear-piercing shrieks.
But it was too late.
Three distinctly different Domains reversed the Origin of the Great Dao in the Void Realm.
Xiao Chenzi’s Myriad Sword Domain completely converged, turning into a single golden speck of light, like an ancient sword splitting the heavens, its sword cries ringing, as if countless Sword Qi wailed;
Xing Yu’s giant blade melted into a dark red blood crystal, its surface adorned with crimson patterns like Dragons, its tremors causing the Void Realm to twist;
Xing Huang’s dagger blossomed with scorching white immortal light, like the rising sun, its radiance scorching even space itself wherever it reached.
…
“Sever!”
Three shouts merged into one, golden, red, and white Dao Rhymes interwoven, like divine punishment descending, aiming directly at the Strange Tree’s Dao Fruit.
At that moment—
Heaven and Earth were silent, all Laws congealed.
A dark crack silently sliced through, as if the brush of the Heavenly Dao had erased a line of existence. Countless fine cracks appeared on the surface of the Dao Fruit, and then… it disintegrated inch by inch!
“No—!”
The Strange Tree let out a shriek that did not belong to a living being—piteous, angry, and unwilling! Its massive trunk, which had sprawled across the sky, trembled violently. The root system, formed by devouring the Dao of all beings, twitched frantically, attempting to repair itself.
However, everything was too late.
The sky cracked, and the power of myriad stars poured down;
The earth collapsed, and the fire of the earth veins gushed forth;
Laws were chaotic, space-time was dislocated, and even the River of Time rippled.
The entire Immortal Domain vibrated with it, space cracks spread like a spiderweb, Laws were chaotic, Spiritual Qi flowed backward, and even time experienced a brief disruption at this moment.
The cracks in the Dao Fruit on the Strange Tree spread like a spiderweb, and dazzling silver light burst from the black fissures—that was the final struggle of the severed “Dao” before it dissipated.
The Strange Tree’s main trunk, with its eerie white branches, cracked layer by layer, revealing the pulsating, eerie white pith inside. That pith was like the heart of a giant beast, cut open, each beat spewing viscous, purple-eerie white mist. Wherever the eerie mist passed, space even grew tiny flesh buds, attempting to stitch the cracks back together.
But the three-colored Dao Rhyme, like maggots on bone, frantically corroded along the pith’s veins, erupting in dense thunderstorms wherever it passed, vaporizing all the flesh buds in the blood mist.
The canopy suddenly collapsed violently, and myriad branches twisted into three thick bone spurs, each piercing towards the positions where the three had just been. The surface of the bone spurs was covered with rotating Star Patterns, Sword Marks, and turtle shell cracks—the materialized Laws remaining from their Dao Severing.
However, before the bone spurs were fully formed, they were swept by the residual Dao Rhyme, flickering several times like candles in the wind, and finally turned into dust, scattering.
The roots made a bone-jarring creaking sound. The surfaces of the roots that delved into the Void Realm showed relief carvings of the three's faces, which were now weathering and peeling off at a visible speed.
Each time a piece of carving peeled off, the corresponding root broke off a section. What gushed out from the break was not sap, but countless grotesque curses baring fangs and claws. However, as soon as they appeared, they were crushed by the Dao Severing Rhyme, turning into mournful ghost wails echoing between heaven and earth.
When the last crack pierced through the tree’s heart, the Strange Tree’s trunk suddenly stilled, even its trembling ceasing abruptly.
The next instant, centered on the Dao Fruit, the space for ten thousand miles around collapsed into black nothingness, like shattered glass crushed by an invisible giant hand. The newly formed miniature Strange Trees twisted frantically in the nothingness, emitting terrifying wails, …
The enormous Strange Tree began to shrink at a visible speed, and thick roots withered one after another.
…
Victorious?
Had they dealt with this terrifying Strange Tree?
But the cost of this victory was suffocatingly heavy.
Xing Huang's form gradually faded, like dissipating mist and clouds. In every wisp of escaping light, the afterimages of his lifelong cultivation were reflected;
Xing Yu's right arm and battle blade perished together, like a collapsing mountain, shattering mountains and rivers for a hundred miles when it hit the ground;
Xiao Chenzi knelt on one knee, his nine Natal Dao Swords all shattered, the broken blades suspended like a Sword Tomb, the Sword Pattern on his brow dim, and finally… like a candle nearing its end,
The three's vital energy was depleted, their Dao Foundations damaged, all falling into a state of cultivation regression and severed Dao.
But they did it.
They used their own Dao as fuel, igniting the Dao-Burning Fire, truly completing the “Dao Severing.”
Only…
What was severed was not only the Strange Tree’s Strange Dao, but also their own Great Dao.
However, they ultimately underestimated it—this evil entity, born from Chaos and living by devouring the Dao of all beings, had long transcended the boundaries of life and death, moving beyond Karma!
Just as the three were on the verge of death, a faint “drip” sound came from underground, like an ancient heartbeat.
That drop of gray-white tree sap, which had seeped deep into the earth veins, suddenly boiled after absorbing the residual Dao Intent of the three!
“Boom!”
The earth suddenly cracked open, and countless roots erupted like a swarm of snakes, tearing through the ruins and piercing through the Void Realm.
The originally dilapidated Strange Tree’s main trunk actually regrew at a visible speed, its twisted branches making ear-piercing friction sounds in the wind, like Sharp Weapons scraping bone, making one’s scalp tingle!
The eerie white bark was terrifyingly alive, with blood-colored veins like meridians appearing on its surface. With each Creep, life seemed to surge within it. The newly grown branches were laden with human-faced fruits, each face silently screaming, as if trapped in eternal pain.
Even more terrifying, above its canopy, the three faces that once mimicked Xiao Chenzi, Xing Yu, and Xing Huang’s appearances, began to slowly open their eyes!
Those eyeballs were not ordinary pupils, but were pieced together from fragments of shattered Dao Foundations, reflecting the scene when the three last performed “Dao Severing · Unity.”
They were not simple copies, but had devoured, reshaped, and aberrated the ultimate techniques, wills, and even Soul afterimages of the three powerhouses!
“Become… us…”
“Your Dao… originally belonged to us…”
“Return… eternal symbiosis…”
The three giant faces whispered in unison, their voices no longer mere Divine Sense transmissions, but mixed with the echoes of the three’s former voices, as if their consciousness was still trapped within the Strange Tree, being continuously extracted, exploited, and recreated!
The entire Strange Tree rose from the ground, growing at a visible speed, breaking through the clouds and reaching the sky in an instant.
Above the canopy, illusory cities appeared, phantom worlds constructed from the memories of countless Cultivators it had devoured. The vines hanging from the branches were all condensed from the obsessions of past deceased, gently swaying, they could hook Souls and lure people into endless nightmares.
Most terrifyingly, it was no longer just a single life form, but a living “Dao Graveyard,” containing countless fragments of Great Dao from fallen Cultivators. Every inch of wood contained forbidden power not of this era, every wisp of branch carried traces of twisted Laws.
Witnessing this terrifying scene, the three, hanging by a thread, exchanged glances, seeing each other’s powerlessness and despair.
What kind of monster had they encountered! (End of Chapter)
