"Shit! We're in big trouble, Human Leyvi! That is the light of evolution. The Colossal Tree is evolving to the next stage! It's over! We failed to go to your world, and now we can't escape this anymore!"
Lapin's frightened voice burst out from the spirit beast bag, trembling with panic.
Leyvi's eyes widened.
It's evolving… already?
The strange dream he had experienced when he climbed the colossal tree resurfaced in his mind like a buried memory suddenly dragged into the light.
If Lapin was right, then everything was truly over.
Once the evolution was completed, the tree would become powerful enough to devour the entire world. After consuming this planet, it would eventually spread its roots beyond the sky itself and move on to other worlds, draining them one by one.
An unstoppable cosmic predator.
A catastrophe of unimaginable scale.
And right now, there was nothing anyone here could do to stop it.
For the first time since entering the Mystic Realm, Leyvi felt a flicker of regret.
Perhaps coming here had been a mistake.
But the thought quickly dissolved.
Even if he had never entered the Mystic Realm, the Colossal Tree would still awaken eventually. This disaster would still come.
The real problem was that he had no idea how anyone at his level could possibly deal with something like this.
The scale was simply too enormous.
It was like trying to stop a tidal wave with bare hands.
"Senior Lapin, how long will this evolution last?" Leyvi asked while adjusting Barbara in his arms. She was still unconscious, her body limp against his chest. Ever since she fainted earlier, he had been carrying her with him to keep her safe.
"I'm not sure," Lapin replied anxiously. "I'm not very familiar with the evolution of demonic plants. But according to the historical records stored in my museum, the Colossal Tree once remained bright like this for thousands of years. Though who knows if it was the same phenomenon."
Lapin paused before urging again, his voice filled with urgency.
"We should get away from here first, Human Leyvi!"
Now that his original plan had completely failed, Lapin had only one thought left.
Run.
Run as far away as possible.
He was even considering moving his entire sky island to the farthest corner of the world to hide, even though deep down he knew it might still be meaningless in the end.
Leyvi nodded.
Then he turned toward the stunned cultivators nearby and shouted again for them to keep moving.
Some of them snapped out of their daze and resumed fleeing.
Others simply remained standing there, staring blankly at the glowing colossal tree as if their minds had stopped functioning.
Leyvi did not bother repeating himself.
At this point, he no longer had the energy to worry about everyone else.
The only people he cared about now were his family and his friends.
Even if the future truly held destruction for the entire world, he would not sit still and wait for it to happen.
He would continue searching for a way to survive.
No matter how slim that chance might be.
Who knew, perhaps the expanding spatial rift would eventually grow large enough to swallow the Colossal Tree itself. But if that happened, it might also become large enough to tear apart the entire world. Thinking about these two terrible possibilities, Leyvi could only sigh inwardly. Either outcome would spell disaster for everything living in this world.
Leyvi and his group continued their escape, leaving behind a small number of cultivators who remained standing in a daze. Just as they were about to put more distance between themselves and the city, something suddenly happened.
A voice. Leyvi heard a terrifying voice.
"FINALLY."
The voice was like an explosion in his head.
Leyvi abruptly stopped and fell to his knees, Barbara still in his embrace. He realized that this was a voice translated by his Universal Language benefit.
Who? Whose voice is this? Wait... The scale of this voice... don't tell me it is the Colossal Tree?
"Leyvi! What is wrong?" Anda hurriedly turned back and came to him. She saw Leyvi's shocked expression, as if shaken to his core.
The others also noticed and came asking what was wrong with him.
But Leyvi could not hear them. He could only hear one voice right now.
"I FINALLY FIGURED OUT WHAT I NEEDED TO COMPLETE MY TRANSCENDENCE. THE LEVEL OF THIS LAW EXCEEDS ALL THE LAWS THAT MAKE UP THIS WORLD!"
"OH TITATON, THE CONSCIOUSNESS BORN OF THIS WORLD—OR IN OTHER WORDS, THE WORLD ITSELF. IT SEEMED THAT THIS IS THE LAW THAT YOU HAVE BEEN HIDING FROM ME ALL THIS TIME. MY LAST TRANSCENDENCE FAILED MISERABLY BECAUSE I WAS UNAWARE OF THIS."
"AFTER I KNEW THAT I LACKED SOMETHING CRUCIAL TO TRANSCEND, I BEGAN TARGETING YOU. MY INSTINCT TOLD ME THAT ONCE I DEVOURED YOU COMPLETELY, I WOULD FIND THE ANSWER!"
"HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN? I AM STILL FAR AWAY FROM COMPLETELY DEVOURING YOU. IT WOULD HAVE TAKEN HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS MORE YEARS..."
"BUT TODAY IS MY LUCKY DAY. OH TITATON, WE HAVE BEEN ENTANGLED FOR SUCH A LONG TIME. I CAN SENSE YOUR EMOTION. THE MOMENT THIS UNUSUAL CRACK APPEARED, YOU BECAME EXTREMELY AFRAID, WORRIED, TERRIFIED. THAT WAS ALL THE HINT I NEEDED."
"ONCE I DISCOVERED THAT THIS IS WHAT I REQUIRE FOR MY TRANSCENDENCE, INFORMATION ABOUT IT STEMMING FROM MY WORLD PIERCER TREE LINEAGE IMMEDIATELY REVEALED ITSELF."
"THE LAWS OF SPACE. YOU HAVE BEEN HIDING THIS FROM ME. ONCE I GRASP THIS LAW, I CAN FINALLY COMPLETE MY TRANSCENDENCE!"
"BACK THEN, I WIPED OUT THE HUMANS WHO WORSHIPPED ME BECAUSE I THOUGHT THEY WERE THE REASON I FAILED. AND NOW IT WAS BECAUSE OF HUMANS THAT I DISCOVERED THE LAWS OF SPACE. IRONIC."
"I PITY YOU, TITATON. EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE WORLD, THERE IS NOT MUCH YOU CAN DO TO SAVE YOURSELF. WHAT A SAD EXISTENCE."
"NOW. IT IS TIME FOR ME TO COMPREHEND THE LAWS OF SPACE AND BEGIN THE NEW CHAPTER OF MY LIFE!"
At that moment, the ground suddenly trembled violently.
A massive earthquake swept across the vast land, shaking everything beneath the glowing Colossal Tree. Panic immediately returned to the fleeing crowd as the earth roared and split apart beneath their feet.
The scene was eerily similar to the massive earthquake Leyvi's group had experienced before, the one that had drastically reshaped the landscape outside the Colossal Tree's shade. The land cracked open in countless places. Some areas collapsed and sank into deep chasms, while others rose sharply into jagged cliffs and towering ridges.
But this time, the destruction was far worse.
The previous earthquake had occurred far outside the Colossal Tree's shaded territory. Now, however, the disaster was unfolding within the tree's domain itself.
For countless years, everything within this region had remained preserved under the tree's canopy. Cities, settlements, and ancient structures had stood untouched through the passage of time.
Yet in this single moment, all of it was destroyed.
Buildings crumbled as the ground beneath them split apart. Entire sections of land collapsed without warning. The sudden chasms swallowed dozens of people before they could even react, disappearing into the darkness below. The roaring earth quickly drowned out their screams.
Others survived only by sheer luck, desperately leaping away from the collapsing terrain.
Leyvi and his group, however, were fortunate.
Crown Prince Dastan reacted instantly. With a powerful surge of Qi, he formed a massive spherical barrier that enveloped hundreds of nearby cultivators. The glowing shield lifted them away from the unstable ground, carrying them to a safer, elevated area as the land continued to tear itself apart below.
Those who were outside the range of the shield had no such protection. For them, survival depended entirely on fate.
Fortunately, the earthquake did not last long.
After several terrifying moments, the violent shaking gradually subsided. The ground fell silent once more, preventing even greater casualties.
Even so, the damage had already been done.
The landscape that remained was completely unrecognizable. Deep ravines carved through the earth like open wounds, while towering ridges and twisted terrain replaced the once-flat land. Everything that had existed here for countless years had been erased in a matter of moments.
By now, Leyvi had regained his composure. The ancient voice that had paralyzed his mind earlier had faded, allowing him to think clearly again. Thanks to Dastan's quick action, everyone around them had survived the disaster.
Barbara had also regained consciousness, but she looked pale and terrified. Her body trembled slightly as she clung to Leyvi.
"Barbara, are you alright?" Leyvi asked gently, holding her steady. "Don't worry. I'm here. There's nothing to be afraid of."
"Ley… Leyvi…" she whispered weakly, her voice shaking. "That tree… the energy… it's terrifying… too strong… I'm scared…"
Leyvi's eyes flickered with understanding.
So that was it.
Barbara hadn't fainted because of the earlier explosion. She must have sensed the overwhelming aura released by the Colossal Tree when it began awakening from its long slumber. For someone with heightened energy perception like her and her brother, the sheer magnitude of that energy must have been unbearable.
After comforting her again, Leyvi slowly lifted his gaze and looked at the devastated landscape around them.
A deep frown appeared on his face.
The words of the ancient voice still echoed clearly in Leyvi's mind.
From what he had heard, he could roughly piece together what had happened in the distant past. The Colossal Tree had attempted to transcend once before and failed because it lacked something crucial. Ever since then, it had been trying to devour the world's consciousness, hoping to discover what it was missing.
But now…
Now it had found the answer.
Leyvi's expression darkened.
The Laws of Space.
Once the Colossal Tree managed to comprehend that law, everything would truly be over.
He slowly looked into the distance. The spatial rift could no longer be seen. Gigantic glowing roots had already spread across the sky, completely covering it like a cage. The massive earthquake earlier had clearly been caused by those roots tearing through the earth as they rushed toward the rift.
Leyvi clenched his fists helplessly.
The portal that was supposed to bring them home had ended up becoming the very key the Colossal Tree needed to complete its evolution.
What a cruel twist of fate.
For a moment, he felt completely powerless.
What could he possibly do now?
How could someone at his level save his family and friends from a disaster that threatened the entire world?
Was there really no way to overcome this?
---
Somewhere far beyond the Titanis Continent, high above the clouds, a massive pyramid-shaped structure floated silently in the sky.
Inside the structure, several people were staring at a large screen displaying the distant image of the glowing Colossal Tree.
"Husband! The tree is glowing!" Angela exclaimed as she pointed at the screen.
"Huh? Already?" Lin Wei leaned forward in his seat, surprise flashing across his face. "How did this happen so fast?"
"The monitoring device detected an abnormal explosion earlier, exactly at the location of the tree," Lana said as she examined the data scrolling across the screen. "I think that might be related."
Lin Wei sighed deeply and leaned back against his throne-like chair.
"My plan has derailed again," he muttered. "I wanted more time to extract additional bloodline power from Mr. Bison, Scarlet, and the others as backup. But it seems we can't delay this any longer."
His expression gradually turned serious.
"Since we don't have any backup prepared, we'll only have one chance to do this. That means we cannot afford a single mistake."
Angela and Lana straightened immediately.
"Yes, husband!" they replied in unison.
Lin Wei's eyes sharpened as he placed his hands on the control interface built into the throne.
"Let's go," he said calmly.
"It's time to pass my test with flying colors."
As he spoke, the massive floating pyramid slowly began to activate. The array panels across its surface lit up one after another as Lin Wei started operating the ancient structure.