Three Ancient Trees of Xuanhuang

"This is too fast!" Li Fan was thoroughly astonished. Traveling from the Spirit Wood Realm to Jiushan Province required crossing almost half of Shilin Province. At the normal flying speed of a Nascent Soul cultivator, it would take at least five to six days. Even if Lin Ling carried Li Fan and flew through the sky, it would probably take nearly half a day. Yet by drawing upon the power of the earth veins, they had arrived in virtually an instant. More importantly, traveling underground was completely silent and undetectable! Currently, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals and the Five Elders Association were locked in a standoff, and dense layers of defensive lines guarded the border between Shilin Province and Jiushan Province. Yet as Li Fan and Lin Ling passed through, neither side had noticed a thing. *The power of earth veins is pure and exclusive. It seems that in the Xuanhuang Realm today, no method has yet been found to traverse the earth veins safely,* Li Fan mused, recalling the lore he had previously gathered regarding earth veins. Upon reaching Jiushan Province, the flow of the earth veins seemed to hit an obstruction. It abruptly slowed from a rushing torrent to a sluggish drift. Li Fan also sensed feelings of discomfort from Lin Ling. He signaled for her to return to the surface. Before burrowing out from underground, Li Fan cautiously surveyed their surroundings. Only after ensuring no one was around did they break through the soil. "The aura here feels so uncomfortable," Lin Ling said with a slight frown. "Jiushan Province was formed from the carcass of an ancient strange beast. It's only natural that you feel a slight repulsion toward it," Li Fan explained briefly. "Such a vast place was formed from a corpse?" Lin Ling's eyes widened. "Then its strength when alive must have been terrifying. No wonder Senior is restricted here too..." Lin Ling muttered. "Senior?" Li Fan's heart gave a sudden jolt. "Yes! Being able to travel so fast underground just now was all thanks to Senior's help!" Lin Ling said with utter innocence. As she spoke, she produced a section of a tree branch and showed it off rather proudly. "Master, look! This is the gift Senior gave me." Li Fan narrowed his eyes slightly. The branch was withered and yellow, yet unlike wood stripped of vitality; rather, it was the result of being soaked in the power of earth veins year-round. From within, one could almost sense the vigorous, surging power of the earth veins. Li Fan had seen this kind of branch once before. Back during his 115th life, in Ximen Yu's cave abode in Yueyang Province. *The Earth Vein Tree?* He immediately recalled Ximen Yu's speculation regarding the tree's origins. Back then, when Ruomu was severely wounded by cultivators, huge main trunks broke off its body and fell to the world below. After countless years of propagation, each had evolved into different ancient trees. The Earth Vein Tree was one of them. Growing upside down, its roots spread throughout the Xuanhuang Realm. "How did you communicate with that 'Senior'?" Li Fan asked, looking at Lin Ling. Lin Ling tilted her head and looked at Li Fan, seemingly not quite understanding what he meant. After a moment, she simply transmitted the entire process of her communication with the Earth Vein Ancient Tree directly to Li Fan. Communication between ancient trees differed from humans. Almost the moment she entered the earth veins, a resonance and connection had formed between the two, and they completed an exchange of information in an exceedingly short span of time. Toward Lin Ling, this newly born junior, the Earth Vein Ancient Tree showed immense affection. Not only did it refrain from attacking her, but it also proactively lent a helping hand. At the same time, Lin Ling learned about the other ancient trees in the Xuanhuang Realm from the Earth Vein Ancient Tree. First was the most ancient of them all, Ruomu, ancestor of all living spirits... The Earth Vein Ancient Tree had not told Lin Ling its name, however. It merely warned Lin Ling that the mother tree's temperament had drastically changed, becoming fickle and mercurial. Even toward fellow tree spirits, it showed no special regard. On the contrary, it might devour these scattered ancient trees to nourish itself. She needed to stay as far away from it as possible. Next were two beings of the same status as the Earth Vein Ancient Tree. They were the strongest among those that had broken off from Ruomu back then. One was the Myriad Spirits Ancient Tree, and the other was the Tianhua Ancient Tree. Though the two shared a common origin, they had embarked on completely opposite paths. The Myriad Spirits Ancient Tree chose to proliferate itself as much as possible, scattering countless branches across the world. Even if it suffered catastrophe, so long as a single branch survived, given enough time, it could regrow completely. The Tianhua Ancient Tree, however, took the path of Myriad Dharmas Returning to One. It continuously shrank and refined itself, hoping that one day it could become a being like Ruomu again. ... Fragments of images and information regarding the Myriad Spirits Ancient Tree and Tianhua Ancient Tree flashed through Li Fan's mind. To his surprise, he had actually encountered both of them during his reincarnations in this world. The branches of the Myriad Spirits Ancient Tree were none other than the material Jiao Xiuyuan used to refine his avatars. *Spreading branches and leaves across Xuanhuang—it subtly aligns with Fellow Daoist Jiao's Dao of Myriad Puppets.* *I just don't know what relationship Jiao Xiuyuan himself has with the Myriad Spirits Ancient Tree.* As for the Tianhua Ancient Tree, Li Fan had only crossed paths with it once. That was the human-faced giant tree he had seen at Azure Wind Hall, the moneylending establishment on Wanxian Island. In his 115th life, the Five Elders Association had launched a surprise raid on Wanxian Island, intending to relocate the entire island. At that time, the entire space had been locked down, rendering communications and teleportation methods completely useless. Li Fan had paid a hefty sum to Jiao Xiuyuan to learn an escape route. It was precisely through Azure Wind Hall that he had managed to survive that disaster. *That human-faced giant tree is one of the Tianhua Ancient Tree's offshoot bodies...* *And that female voice accompanying the spirit tree back then—I wonder who she was.* ... Besides these two mighty ancient trees, the Earth Vein Ancient Tree had also introduced Lin Ling to several lesser juniors a tier below them. Like Lin Ling, they were trees in the mortal world that had awakened their own sapience, mostly hidden within grotto-heavens and pocket worlds of the Xuanhuang Realm. Because grotto-heavens and pocket worlds rested upon Xuanhuang, these spirit trees could also maintain a faint connection with the Earth Vein Ancient Tree. However, Lin Ling was the very first who could assume human form and walk out on her own. Thus, the Earth Vein Ancient Tree had been extraordinarily thrilled. Yet regarding Lin Ling's predicament of being under a cultivator's control, this Earth Vein Ancient Tree didn't seem to care much. It merely reminded Lin Ling that every spirit tree in the world had its own karmic path, and she only needed to cultivate according to the deepest inclinations of her heart. Having only recently been born, Lin Ling naturally only half-understood, but she obediently agreed. ... *To think so much could happen in the blink of an eye.* *And completely without my notice. Even though I have absolute control over Lin Ling, it still happened.* *The methods of these ancient trees truly are unfathomable.* *Fortunately, both this Earth Vein Ancient Tree and Lin Ling possess rather gentle temperaments, unlike Ruomu, who is utterly extreme.* *Otherwise, if they joined hands to stab me in the back...* *It really would be difficult to guard against.* Li Fan sighed softly.