Chapter 1034: Merging with the Divine Tree
Phew—
At the instant Yi Yun entered the cave, he felt everything around him distance themselves from him. The sounds coming from the intense battle and the wanton flow of Yuan Qi had vanished. The distance of a cavern entrance made Yi Yun feel as though he had entered a completely isolated world. This was the restricted zone recorded in the Azure Wood Manor’s canon.
Yi Yun exhaled lightly. Time was of the essence, so it was imperative that he awaken the divine tree quickly. His master, Felicitous Rain Lord, was still fighting the bronze giant outside.
However, Yi Yun was not fully confident of awakening the divine tree. Although he had awoken the portrait left behind by the black-dressed woman, the divine tree that had existed for hundreds of millions of years clearly contained a power that was hundreds, if not thousands of times greater than the portrait.
A tiny world had been opened up inside the tree cavern. It was a grassland with a tiny stream flowing across it. Beside the stream stood a tiny stone house. There was a stone table placed in front of the house, with leaves scattered across its surface.
This world had existed for an extremely long period of time, but this scene seemed to be fixed in time.
Over the years of practicing martial arts, Yi Yun had seen numerous tiny worlds inside enchanted abodes, such as the God Advent Tower and the Pure Yang Sword Palace. Both of them had tiny worlds established inside, but none of those tiny worlds gave Yi Yun a special feeling like the one in front of him.
When he stood in this tiny world, he felt a tranquility throughout his body. It was as though his consciousness could extend out indefinitely, through the tiny world, extending to the Azure Wood Great World, and past it, into the 12 Empyrean Heavens.
“Oh! There’s a skeleton here!”
Yi Yun suddenly saw a set of white bones lying beside a soil mound along the banks of the stream in front of the stone house.
It was unknown how much time had passed since the owner of the bones had passed away. However, the bone remnants were crystalline like jade, as though they were enchanted artifacts honed and tempered by a master refiner. There was a lingering nomological aura on the surface of the bones that made Yi Yun certain that the owner of the bones was someone extraordinary in live.
The person was definitely a peerless expert.
Who could it be?
Yi Yun did not believe that the skeleton was left behind by the black-dressed woman. She was a level so high that the owner of the bones was certainly incomparable even if she led an extraordinary life.
And at that moment, Yue Yingsha seemed to realize something. She walked in front of the bones and gave it a deep bow.
“Yi Yun, I sense a familiar aura from this set of bones. This aura is something I’ve sensed in several of the books and heritage of the Azure Wood Manor. It’s likely that this deceased senior is the person who left those books behind. In other words, she was the Saint, who had awoken the divine tree about a hundred million years ago.”
“Her Excellency actually managed to come to this restricted zone as well…”
Yue Yingsha muttered to herself in surprise.
“Oh? Is that odd?” Yi Yun found it curious. Since the records in the books regarding the restricted zone were left behind by the Saint, it was nothing out of the ordinary for her to have come here.
Yue Yingsha said with a shake of her head, “You might not understand. By the time Her Excellency was born, the Door to the 33 Skies had already closed. Logically speaking, she wouldn’t be able to come here since she couldn’t even enter the Door to the 33 Skies.”
“Oh? Is that so…” said Yi Yun as he frowned slightly. “Perhaps…entering the restricted zone doesn’t require passing through the Door to the 33 Skies. The Excellency you mentioned might have used a special passageway to enter this restricted zone after obtaining the ability to communicate with the divine tree…”
“Yeah.” Yue Yingsha nodded. After she paid her respects to the Saint’s remains, she got up and surveyed her surroundings. “How are we to awaken the divine tree in this tiny world?”
There was not much time, so they had no time to spare. The Saint had once awoken the divine tree, but she had passed away, so there was no way she would come back to live to tell them of the method.
Yi Yun began walking slowly through the tiny world as he sensed the aura in it.
The tiny world was silent. For some unknown reason, Yi Yun’s anxious mood turned calm while he strolled in it.
Gradually, Yue Yingsha, the Saint’s remains and everything outside seemed to grow distant, leaving Yi Yun and the tiny world alone.
As Yi Yun slowly walked, he came in front of the stone house.
It had been standing there empty since time immemorial.
And after that immense period of time, Yi Yun had come in front of the door.
It was shut gently, giving off vibes that someone was still living in it.
Yi Yun stretched out his hand, and just as he made contact with the door to open it, he felt a fibrillation in his heart that came from the Purple Crystal!
As though it was stirred by the Purple Crystal, the entire stone house immediately emanated a strange aura.
“It’s a Purple Crystal Chaos Stone…” Yi Yun’s mind stirred.
In the Primordial Empyrean Heaven’s divine hall, Yi Yun had once seen a Purple Crystal Chaos Stone in the Primordial Space!
The twelve ancient Fey Gods—Extreme Yang Illumination, Extreme Yin Nether Glow, Empress Earth Dao Tree, Dragon Emperor, Seven-colored Phoenix… People only knew of nine, but they did not know that the Purple Crystal was one of the twelve Fey Gods. Purple Crystal Chaos Stones were born out of chaos during the Universe’s inchoate state. They were divine rocks carved with the Purple Crystal’s laws!
Back in the Luo clan, not a single person had sought enlightenment from the Purple Crystal Chaos Stone. Through a fortuitous encounter, Yi Yun had managed to learn the 10000 Demon Wheel of Existence from it. He never expected that a stone house made of Purple Crystal Chaos Stone could be found in the Azure Wood Great World!
Chaos Stones were extremely durable and solid, but they were used to build a stone house. What extravagance and flair were this!?
Yi Yun previously had the belief that the stone house had been constructed by the Azure Wood Manor’s Saint, but now, he was certain that the stone house was left behind by the mysterious woman. Other than her, no one else had such immense capabilities! The stone house had existed in there for hundreds of millions of years. It was even possible that the tiny world was once the black-dressed woman’s residence!
Instantly, Yi Yun’s consciousness entered the stone house.
“What a vast space…”
Yi Yun sensed that with the stone house as a support, it seemed to slowly merge into the land and spread out with the divine tree’s roots.
Yi Yun saw the battle outside before he saw the River Styx’s waters constantly surging towards the bronze giant from a distance. He saw a few warriors in the Door to the 33 Skies as they desperately attempted to evade death.
All of this entered Yi Yun’s eyes. He was impervious to all that he saw like he was the divine tree itself.
The divine tree’s roots spread throughout the Azure Wood Great World. And along with it, Yi Yun’s consciousness penetrated past the desolate ruins, through the mountain ranges and the vast lands.
Suddenly, he heard a sound.
It sounded like a heartbeat, but it also sounded like a river’s flow.
What was that sound? With a thought, Yi Yun’s consciousness rapidly sank into the ground before he entered the core of the land.
Boom!
A tiny glimmer of light appeared in the dark underground.
Enveloped within the light was a gigantic root network. And in between the roots, there was a rock wrapped in it. It looked like a heart.
The rock was covered in fractures, as though it was an ailing person that was having difficulty breathing.
Yi Yun silently watched it. In his unperturbed consciousness, the appearance of the rock made him sense a cadaveric aura and a deep sense of sorrow.
Ka-cha.
In front of Yi Yun’s eyes, a thin crack split across the surface of the rock.
Even though it was a hairline crack, Yi Yun’s consciousness immediately saw miasma spew out from various parts of the ground as mountains toppled and rivers dried through the divine tree’s roots that were spread out across the land.
The gigantic rock was cracking, and the Azure Wood Great World was dying as it cracked.
So, this was the Realm Rock that supported the Azure Wood Great World…
Some tiny worlds were created by mighty figures, and these creators would use a piece of divine rock to bear the weight of the world. That was a Realm Rock.
However, Yi Yun had never heard of such a majestic world of the Azure Wood Great World to have a Realm Rock bear its weight. There was no divine rock that could withstand it.
Perhaps it was because of this reason that the black-dressed woman had planted the divine tree on top of the Realm Rock. With the divine tree’s root network, it stabilized the Realm Rock, preventing it from shattering. What magnificence was that!
With a thought, Yi Yun seemed to transform into one of the gigantic roots that wrapped the Realm Rock. The Realm Rock that was riddled with holes was in front of his eyes.
Mortals have an average lifespan that did not exceed a century. All their experiences would turn to nothingness before their death. As for warriors, they pursued the Heavenly Dao, and their lifespans were constantly extended, but it did not represent eternal life.
Even a world would die, with the only thing indestructible to be the Heavenly Dao.
Yi Yun could not help but reach out his hand. He sensed the Realm Rock, and through it, the sorrow of the world he was in.
Silently, Yi Yun’s body suffused a dazzling light.
It was a rainbow light that shrouded the Realm Rock.
And at the instant the rainbow light appeared, Yi Yun was stunned.
He saw a familiar figure slowly walking out of the rainbow light…
“Yi Yun?”
Inside the divine tree cavern’s tiny world, Yue Yingsha saw Yi Yun walking before he stopped in front of the stone house. When he reached his hand out to open the door, he had come to a halt after he touched the door. He had been standing there quietly.
Just as she wanted to ask him if he had any discoveries, she suddenly sensed an extremely boundless ancient aura suffuse from his body.
The aura merged with the divine tree, as though Yi Yun was a manifestation of the divine tree itself.
“Ah!”
A figure suddenly fell out, planting herself to the ground with her head buried in the soil.
Yue Yingsha was alarmed as she subconsciously touched her interspatial ring. However, when she focused her eyes, she realized that the person who had fallen out was Chu He.
“Sis, what happened to me…” Chu He was somewhat dumbfounded as she got up while rubbing her head. She believed that she had been attacked when she was suddenly thrown out.
“Oh? Where is this?” Chu He looked around in complete confusion.
“Chu He, this is the restricted zone mentioned in the sect’s canon.” Yue Yingsha’s alarmed look gradually disappeared. As she looked at Yi Yun, her eyes had an indescribable look of longing. She said in a drawn out manner, “Yi Yun seems to have merged with the divine tree, but you can’t, so you were thrown out by the divine tree’s aura…”
“Divine tree? Merge?” Chu He widened her beautiful eyes as she looked at Yi Yun in disbelief. This was actually the restricted zone the sect’s canon mentioned. Could it be that Yi Yun was awakening the divine tree?