Translator: CinderTL
Wood Spirit Realm.
This was a world where living beings and nature coexisted in perfect harmony.
At the very heart of this Lesser Thousand World stood an ancient tree, revered as the progenitor of all life within.
Like seeds carried by gentle breezes through the ages, the tree's descendants scattered across the land, taking root and growing into towering trees. When these trees reached maturity, they gave birth to new life.
These beings, known as Wood Spirits, were the sovereign rulers of this world.
Originally a peaceful race, the Wood Spirits thrived by nurturing their Primordial Ancient Trees, constantly evolving through this symbiotic bond.
But half a year ago, a catastrophic disaster swept through their realm, nearly shattering their world.
Had it not been for the Imperial Emperor, guardian of the Mother Tree, who rallied all Wood Spirits to awaken the Primordial Mother Tree and channel its immense power to withstand the calamity's onslaught, the Wood Spirit Realm would likely have been obliterated.
Though they survived, both the Mother Tree and the Emperor suffered grievous wounds and fell into a deep slumber. The external environment of the realm was also drastically altered.
They arrived in a completely unfamiliar star system.
This celestial expanse proved utterly hostile to the Wood Spirit Clan. Countless Trees of Life withered and perished in the harsh environment, and the once-thriving population plummeted from hundreds of billions to less than ten billion in a mere six months.
Yet this was not the most terrifying phenomenon.
The true horror lay in the environmental changes that had shattered the Wood Spirits' customary peace. Driven by desperation, they began aggressively attacking the Trees of Life of neighboring clans, seeking to absorb their vital essence and accelerate their own growth to withstand the encroaching environmental degradation.
In the initial months, the Imperial Emperor managed to dispatch the Imperial Guard to quell the rogue Wood Spirits who preyed on their kin. But as the crisis deepened, more and more Wood Spirits succumbed to this desperate path, choosing survival over morality.
By now, waves of rebellion were sweeping through the Wood Spirit Empire, tearing apart its dominion over the world. Even as the empire's leadership desperately scrambled to organize countermeasures, their forces were steadily pushed back by the rising tide of frenzied Wood Spirits.
In the Imperial Palace, built among the branches of the Mother Tree, all the high-ranking officials and ministers of the Wood Spirit Empire had gathered.
The Wood Spirits were fundamentally trees, but through cultivation, they could manifest biological forms.
In these humanoid forms, they possessed features similar to humans—eyes, nose, mouth, torso, and limbs—but with the addition of pairs of thin, translucent green wings. They were also shorter than humans, averaging around one and a half meters in height.
The number of wings they grew depended on their level of cultivation.
All the ministers present sported three pairs of delicate wings, their faces grave with concern.
"We've lost contact with all Tree Cities beyond the capital," reported a Wood Spirit clad in vine armor. "Except for those within a thousand li radius of the Mother Tree, all connections have been severed."
"It's clear this rebellion is unnatural," added another vine-armored Wood Spirit. "The Tree Cities wouldn't have fallen so quickly otherwise."
His gaze shifted to the Wood Spirit seated on the throne, wearing a jewel-encrusted crown. "Princess Elsa, we've been invaded."
"General Farah," Elsa replied, "do you mean... those worlds?"
Princess Elsa, the Wood Spirit, gazed up at the shimmering stars overhead.
"It seems that is the case," she murmured.
General Farah explained, "Due to the Starquake, our world was swept out of our familiar Starfield by a spatial storm. We drifted here and encountered an unprecedented foreign invasion. We have overwhelming evidence that these enemies are using methods unknown to us to bewitch and even control our people, plunging our entire empire into chaos and ruin."
The Wood Spirit, whose aura rivaled that of a Nine Tribulation True Monarch, spoke gravely, "Their ultimate goal is to completely dismantle our empire and turn our people into helpless prey for their slaughter."
"Then... is there any way to reverse this situation?" Elsa asked.
Her question hung in the air, silencing everyone present, including the generals.
"Is there truly no hope left?" Elsa repeated, her voice heavy with pain.
"So far, we don't even know where these enemies come from or how they launched their attack. Moreover, we lack any means to defend against them... Therefore..."
A general's face contorted with pain.
"Your Highness," a minister pleaded, "could we awaken His Majesty and have him summon the power of the Mother Tree? If the Mother Tree were to manifest once more, it would undoubtedly reignite our people's faith in the royal family, inspiring them to spontaneously resist the rebellion."
Elsa shook her head, her own anguish evident. "We can't."
She couldn't possibly reveal His Majesty's condition to these ministers. Something felt terribly wrong. The realization filled her with a faint sense of despair.
For a moment, the assembly fell silent.
After a long pause, one minister spoke. "If all else fails, only one path remains."
Princess Elsa seemed to understand the path he meant, yet remained silent.
After another long moment, a minister continued, "The Spirits of Nature have sent us intelligence. Among the three closest worlds, one claims to be the Human Race, composed of over sixty billion individuals with vastly different levels of strength. The second is the Titan Race, with a much smaller population of only tens of millions, but whose members possess immense power. As for the third... it's the legendary, malevolent Divine Race, said to dwell deep within the distant cosmos."
The mere mention of the Divine Race sent a wave of shock through the assembled ministers, their faces paling.
According to the ancient texts passed down through generations of the Wood Spirit Clan, the Divine Race was an immensely powerful and malevolent race. They could control the minds of any living being they encountered, turning them into puppets. Even the Overlord races of the star system the Wood Spirits had once inhabited trembled at the mere mention of the Divine Race.
"Mr. Raven, do you have any further details?" one minister asked.
"I regret to say, the Spirits of Nature struggle to fully grasp our intentions, making our communication highly unreliable," Mr. Raven replied regretfully.
"To think such a malevolent race lurks so close by! We must act immediately!" another minister urged.
A third minister proposed, "We should send a distress signal to the Titan Race and request their assistance in quelling the rebellion. Their might would surely crush these rebels. Once the rebellion is crushed, we can devise a plan to evacuate our people from this Starfield."
"Why would the Titan Race bother saving the Wood Spirit Empire?" another minister countered.
Immediately, a minister voiced his objection: "How can we guarantee that once they arrive in our Wood Spirit Empire, they won't be even more brutal than these rebels? That they won't destroy our very foundation?"
"The empire... is already on the verge of destruction," the dissenting minister said gravely. "And it's not the rebels who are destroying it. They're merely pawns, manipulated by unseen enemies. If we don't save ourselves from their attacks, the Wood Spirit Empire will soon cease to exist, and the Wood Spirit Clan will become nothing more than a footnote in history."
His words plunged the assembly into silence once more.
Finally, all eyes turned to Princess Elsa, who stood at the head of the court.
The princess gazed up at the stars scattered across the Heavenly Vault, then beyond the immense canopy of the Mother Tree, which stretched for hundreds of miles.
In her mind's eye, she could almost see countless frenzied Wood Spirits devouring their own kin, desperately seeking the evolutionary adaptations needed to withstand the cataclysmic environmental changes—even though they knew this madness was secretly orchestrated by the invaders.
If this situation were allowed to continue unchecked...
It wouldn't be long before the Wood Spirit Empire was utterly destroyed, and the Wood Spirit Clan vanished from the world.
Then, they would all be traitors to their people.
The thought of potentially becoming the last generation of Wood Spirits steeled Princess Elsa's resolve.
To prevent either the Human Race or the Titan Race from being the unseen enemy inciting the rebellion within the Wood Spirit Empire...
"Send simultaneous distress signals to both the Human Race and the Titan Race, imploring them to save our Wood Spirit Empire."
Cultivation chamber.
A potent residue of Flaming Phoenix Blood lingered around Li Chunjun.
Yet his gaze lingered only briefly on this residual power. His entire Heart-Mind was focused on the nearly translucent Lifebound Flying Sword before him—the Scarlet Sky Sword.
With a thought, a ripple of Void energy shimmered along the Scarlet Sky Sword's blade.
It seemed as if he could tear through the very fabric of the Void with the sword if he so chose.
"Thanks to a single Nirvana Blood Sacrifice, I finally managed to refine the Shattered Flowing Gold into the Scarlet Sky Sword, elevating this Lifebound Flying Sword to the level of a high-grade quasi-Dao Artifact," Li Chunjun murmured.
A Lifebound Flying Sword-level quasi-Dao Artifact possessed power rivaling even the finest offensive-type quasi-Dao Artifacts.
"Now that the Flying Sword is complete, it's time for the Void Bridge," Li Chunjun thought, his mind already flowing with the dao technique.
Benefiting from the enhanced comprehension and innate talent granted by his elevated Life Level, mastering this dao technique was no longer an arduous struggle but a path where he had already made significant progress.
Just as Li Chunjun was about to resume his study of dao techniques, a faint sound reached his ears.
After a moment's thought, he deactivated the Array Formation of his cultivation chamber. True Monarch Huang Tian was already waiting outside.
"Sword Master," Huang Tian began, cutting straight to the chase, "a Lesser Thousand World has made contact with us. This realm is part of a Great Unified World ruled by a race called the Wood Spirit Clan."
"Hmm?" Li Chunjun's expression shifted in surprise. "Have they sent emissaries to our Azure Star Minor Realm?"
"Not exactly emissaries..." Huang Tian hesitated, finding the term inadequate. "Well, technically they are emissaries, but the message was delivered by a tree—the oldest Spirit Tree in our Azure Star Minor Realm, nurtured by the Xian Tian Sect!"
"What's going on here? Are they playing games?" Li Chunjun frowned. "Could they have already infiltrated our realm?"
"That doesn't seem to be the case," Huang Tian replied. "This appears to be a unique ability—or perhaps a technology—of their race."
"Technology?" Li Chunjun asked, slightly surprised. "Are you saying they possess a mediumless hyperspace communication technology that allows two previously uncontacted races to communicate seamlessly across billions of miles?"
"It appears... that is precisely the case," True Monarch Huang Tian replied with a nod.
Li Chunjun fell silent, his powerful Heart-Mind already resonating with the frequency of the Azure Star Minor Realm. Over the past few months, he had repeatedly used his own Heart-Mind to embody the World Will, preventing Heart Demons from infiltrating the realm. This process had become increasingly effortless.
In a single breath, his Divine Sense swept across the entire Azure Star Minor Realm. After a thorough search, Li Chunjun detected no foreign presence. Even the Primordial Ancient Tree of the Xian Tian Sect, though it showed traces of life energy, clearly didn't originate from an outsider. It appeared to be an indigenous life form imbued with sentience, perhaps awakened from dormancy.
(End of the Chapter)
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