The originally lush, emerald-green tree aged at a visible pace as motes of green light continuously bled away.
During this time, it was not as if Ruomu had never thought of fighting back.
The divine tree trembled, giving rise to countless spirits and sprites that threw themselves fearlessly at the cultivators in desperate assault.
Even Ruomu itself lashed out with its boughs, thrusting forward like giant swords.
Yet the cultivators who had arrived here possessed cultivation bases of truly terrifying proportions.
All resistance proved futile, completely suppressed in the span of a breath.
Even Ruomu's desperate, mutually destructive final strike—causing all the purple-gold fruits borne at its crown to wither away—was successfully salvaged by this group.
Powerless to resist, Ruomu could only helplessly watch as its life essence was siphoned away without restraint.
Its leaves slowly turned yellow and withered, drifting down like rain.
Amid thunderous rumblings, numerous great boughs snapped and came crashing down.
Fissures began to creep across Ruomu's massive trunk.
Yet these people showed not the slightest intention of stopping.
They had every appearance of refusing to leave until they had bled it completely dry.
Fortunately, at the critical juncture, another group of cultivators seemed to arrive.
A chaotic melee erupted between the two sides, forcing the siphoning to an abrupt halt.
The first group managed to wrest away the sphere of green light condensed in midair. As they withdrew, they did not forget to unleash a combined strike upon the already devastated Ruomu.
The damage wrought by this strike seemed even greater than having its life essence forcefully drained moments before.
A colossal rift split upward from the base of the trunk. Vast swathes of boughs broke and fell, tumbling into places unknown.
Seeing this, the cultivators who had come to the rescue abandoned their pursuit and hurriedly set about healing Ruomu.
Through their efforts, they ultimately averted Ruomu's utter demise.
Yet the trauma it had suffered was simply too profound to reverse.
From then on, withering and decay became its eternal companions.
Until, countless years later, a human-shaped cultivator manifested from within Ruomu.
...
Though the scenes seen within Simmering Mortal Longevity were only fragmented glimpses, they were packed with immense information.
Li Fan replayed them again and again through the Dao Transformation Stone.
Piecing these together with the clues he had previously gathered, a conjecture gradually formed in his mind.
"The cultivators who harmed Ruomu were probably the very ones who advocated abandoning the Xuanhuang Realm and fleeing into the distance when the great catastrophe descended back then."
"Judging by the might displayed in their attacks, there was no lack of Longevity realm powerhouses among them."
"Five hundred years ago, for reasons unknown, this group sought to return to the Xuanhuang Realm, igniting a great war."
"Sima Changkong once said that Heaven and Earth harbored an extreme hatred toward these cultivators—far surpassing even their hatred for those of us who plunder Heaven and Earth."
"Traitors, who stole something..."
"Could that 'something' have been this Ruomu, capable of bearing Everlasting Life Fruits?"
"Hmm... Considering how ruthlessly that group conducted themselves, there might very well have been other things as well."
"Thousands of years passed, and they returned after leaving. Did they ultimately fail to bypass the Immortal Ruins? Or was there another reason?"
Li Fan frowned slightly.
The existence of the Immortal Ruins was no secret to the Ten Sects of the Immortal Dao.
Those people had acted with such vicious determination, burning every bridge.
Clearly, they had been confident in their ability to successfully flee the Xuanhuang Realm.
Yet no one knew what catastrophe or upheaval had forced them to turn back.
With so little known information, Li Fan decided not to dwell on it for now.
Regardless, he now finally understood why Ruomu bore such deep-seated hatred toward cultivators.
Whether it was humanity's wanton harvesting of its fruits or the later assault that nearly claimed its life, the enmity between it and cultivators could only be described as a fight to the death.
Had Li Fan been subjected to such treatment, his vengeance would likely have been several times more merciless.
"After the Heavenly Venerable preached the Dao and established the new method, the Everlasting Life Fruit lost its power to grant longevity."
"For Ruomu, that might actually have been a blessing in disguise."
"In a certain sense, Chuanfa could even be considered its savior."
"Otherwise, no matter how powerful Ruomu was, it probably still could not have escaped the fate of being plundered."
"Judging by its desire to overturn 'mourning one's own kind,' it probably hasn't reached the Longevity realm yet. But considering how long it has lived and the fact that its true form is such an unfathomable creation, its strength cannot simply be measured by ordinary Dao Integration."
"Another one above Dao Integration who hasn't attained Longevity, is it...?"
"The chasm between Dao Integration and the Longevity realm is truly a bit too vast."
The Heavenly Physician, Yufu, and this Daoist Xiumu—all three formidable figures Li Fan had encountered occupied this threshold.
While this might be a mere coincidence, it also illustrated from another angle just how difficult it was to 'defy the principles of Heaven and Earth and attain Longevity.'
Though the world lacked neither heroes nor geniuses, those who had attained Longevity through the new method could still be counted on one's fingers.
Li Fan's eyes grew profound, and he remained silent for a long time.
Having summarized the gains of this encounter, Li Fan began to reflect.
"Running into Daoist Xiumu and nearly losing my life this time was, all things considered, rotten luck."
"Could it be said that I grew complacent after breaking through to a new realm...?"
"No, that wasn't the case."
"This is Tianling Provincial City, and this rented courtyard belongs to the Dao Discussion Tower. Security was absolutely guaranteed."
"Who could have imagined that a cultivator engaged in sleazy dealings like peddling Golden Cores would turn out to be an almighty being harboring utter malice toward mankind?"
At this thought, Li Fan could not help feeling a sense of helplessness.
He couldn't very well keep his true body holed up forever, relying solely on avatars for everything, could he?
An avatar was, after all, merely an avatar, unable to deploy many divine abilities.
Moreover, its cultivation was a minor realm lower than his true body. To expect an avatar to cultivate all the way to the Longevity realm was nothing short of a pipe dream.
"It was just like walking down the street and suddenly getting struck by lightning—a completely low-probability event. I must not give up eating for fear of choking."
"Many things can only be done without leaving a trace if my true body acts personally."
"However, I still need to find a way to guard against Daoist Xiumu's ability to twist and alter a person's thoughts."
"Had it not been for its hatred of cultivators and its glimpse of what I might do in the future—hoping to use my hands to seek revenge on cultivators and thus letting me go—who knows how long I would have remained lost among the treetops before coming to my senses?"
"I pride myself on having a sufficiently unyielding will, yet I was powerless to resist in the slightest..."
"Still, the cultivation world is full of wondrous items and techniques; there must be a way to counter it."
"I don't ask to completely block it. As long as it allows me to preserve a sliver of lucidity, it will be enough to shore up my weakness."
Li Fan committed this matter firmly to memory, placing it at the very top of his priorities.
He resolved to focus his efforts on gathering information regarding this in the days to come.
After a long time, once his thoughts had settled, Li Fan finally picked up the withered branch of Ruomu that had been resting on the table.
Caressing it gently, Li Fan suddenly felt a faint sense of familiarity.
Not because he had been in close proximity to Ruomu's true body,
but because...
this branch seemed rather similar to the material Jiao Xiuyuan used to craft his avatars.
Chapter 588