The materials for the ritual were, in fact, the remains of the Demon Emperor. Under Yara’s guidance, Su Zhou extracted twenty-four dark green Wooden Pearls from the Demon Emperor’s spinal column, which had already transformed into Dragon Bone. Each pearl contained an incredibly dense concentration of Wood Qi and toxins, making them rare Wood-element Spiritual Materials, even for the Innate Realm.

The ritual only required twelve of the pearls. The remaining twelve could be saved for some other wondrous use in the future. As for now, Su Zhou didn’t feel the least bit of regret using them, especially after learning they were inedible and smelled awful. He simply arranged them into a regular dodecagon, with each Wooden Pearl marking a vertex, and inscribed Runes within the shape using the Demon Emperor’s blood.

Next, Su Zhou dripped his own blood into the center of this simple ritual circle. Atop the crown of the Immortal Banyan Tree, he closed his eyes and chanted the Holy Words.

"Holy! Foundation of Heaven, Source of Earth, Root of all things!"

Instantly, as the Holy Words were spoken, an aura from a distant, ancient shore was drawn forth, causing the light of the myriad stars to shift and coalesce into an illusory phantom.

"Wisdom is the Source, Life is the Root!"

"Time is the Crown, the World is the Leaf!"

"The Great Dao turns in Reincarnation, eternal and Immortal!"

"Praise be to the Divine Wood, the cause of all fruits!"

—A faint, illusory image of a Divine Wood, its roots anchored in the Ten Thousand Realms, could be vaguely seen emerging from the far side of the Spirit Realm.

The perfect dodecagonal ritual circle began to slowly sublimate, transforming into a green qi that enveloped Su Zhou.

And at that moment, a holy yet ethereal light of life, which encompassed all things, projected itself from that distant, ancient shore, casting its reflection deep within his Soul.

Within his Soul Space, Su Zhou opened his eyes. His violet-gold Dragon Pupils stared straight ahead, gazing somewhat dazedly at the shadowy image of a tree projected by the light, which seemed to originate from countless worlds.

"Alright, you go communicate and form a pact with the Immortal Banyan Tree’s Essence Soul. I’m off to have a chat with an old friend, just to make sure It doesn’t get angry and cause any trouble."

Just then, Yara tapped Su Zhou on the head with its tail, reminding him not to daze out. With a soft chuckle, it vanished into the radiant shadow of the tree. "Ai, long time no see. How’ve you been? Ahahahaha~"

Su Zhou could faintly hear its tone, which sounded exactly like someone running into a miserable-looking old classmate years later, one they didn’t get along with as a kid... ’Honestly,’ he thought, ’at this moment, I’m starting to understand why Yara was sealed away.’

’And isn’t this just pure provocation?’

But this clearly wasn’t the time to be thinking about that. Shaking his head to clear it, Su Zhou looked up and stared directly at the tree’s shadow, which had dimmed considerably. He became lost in thought. ’So the "Great Will" and the "Immortal Banyan Tree" are separate entities... That makes sense. If I compare the relationship between the Immortal Banyan Tree and the Great Will to my relationship with Yara, then it’s not so strange after all.’

"Hello?"

He tried greeting it, not really expecting a reply. But to his surprise, Su Zhou quickly received a response after his greeting.

"RUSTLE~"

It was a rustling sound, like the swaying of branches and the rubbing of leaves, like the murmur of the ocean tide. A hazy will gently touched Su Zhou’s Soul, transmitting a few bits of information.

It was a greeting, and a question: why was Su Zhou communicating with it?

Su Zhou was blunt. "I want to become the next King of Divine Wood... To be precise, I want to ask you not to share your power with anyone else in this world."

"RUSTLE~ RUSTLE RUSTLE?"

The will of the Immortal Banyan Tree was still hazy, like that of a child. Its thoughts were strange and prone to jumping around. First, it indifferently agreed to Su Zhou’s idea, as if it were nothing at all—which, on second thought, made sense. Why would a Divine Tree share its power with others unless asked? But then, it curiously asked why he would make such a request, unlike all the other seductive vixe—... humans it had met before.

"Because your power will affect the native life of this world... If your power is wielded recklessly, it will destroy this world’s Order."

Su Zhou stated his thoughts plainly. But after saying it, he blinked. ’Wait, this sounds a little familiar?’

Just then, Su Zhou realized that his words bore a startling resemblance to what Yara had said before they crossed into the Divine Wood World.

As a powerful being, sometimes your mere existence is ’turmoil’ and a ’threat’ to other minds.

’The Tree of the Great Dao and the World Tree... Were they sealed away for this very reason? Is their mere existence a threat to other life?’

’In that case, was the act of sealing them away good, or evil?’

Burying the doubt in his heart, Su Zhou steadied his mind and continued to communicate with the Immortal Banyan Tree.

The Immortal Banyan Tree responded to his thoughts just as simply, feeding back a large amount of information.

Before long, Su Zhou came to understand everything that had happened in the Divine Wood World.

The Immortal Banyan Tree, in and of itself... was not dangerous at all.

Because it was just a tree. Nothing more.

How to put it?

The will of the Immortal Banyan Tree was essentially awakened by the countless departed souls who had died around it. It possessed no concept of good and evil, nor did it understand human life and death. The Demon Emperor’s act of killing countless beings to offer to it was, in its eyes, no different from a wild beast leaving its corpse next to the tree. It was nice to have, but the tree would grow all the same without it.

Without those departed souls, it still would have undergone an Awakening of its own will in a few hundred years. And after three thousand years, it would have gradually left its juvenile stage, possessed the power to traverse worlds, and given birth to the Space-Time Sect. The Demon Emperor simply accelerated this process and obtained power from the Divine Tree’s nascent will.

In other words, for it to truly threaten the Seal of the Great Gate would still require another three thousand years... Three thousand years was not a long time in the mind of the Divine Tree. But if Su Zhou hadn’t become a Powerhouse capable of saving the world by then, he’d probably just kill himself. He couldn’t bear that kind of embarrassment!

In the Divine Tree’s mind, the existence of humans was like that of the insects and small beasts living on it—just another part of its own ecosystem. The Demon Emperor was simply the first human it had come into contact with, which was why it had granted him the power of the head of its Clan.

There was no complex, melodramatic story. Things were just that simple. The Immortal Banyan Tree had spent all these years quietly taking root, absorbing power, and growing on its own. It paid no attention to the world on the ground, nor to the loves, hates, and feuds of humanity.

What was complicated, what was evil, had never been the Divine Tree—it was the human heart.

And that was it.

"RUSTLE RUSTLE~"

After a moment of silence, Su Zhou requested that it not grant its power to the humans of this world, and the Immortal Tree readily agreed. Its hazy will even offered a complaint—the information it sent was very fragmented from the perspective of human logic, but Su Zhou managed to piece it together. It was roughly something like: ’They’re always cutting off my aerial roots and they don’t even protect me. They just want to mooch my power for free.’ The complaint was filled with considerable annoyance.

It seemed the Demon Emperor’s act of cutting the Divine Tree’s aerial roots was not at all welcomed by the Immortal Banyan Tree... ’Makes sense,’ he thought. ’Who would like a Clan head like that? The only reason it didn’t replace him immediately was probably because of the Divine Tree’s slow reaction time.’

At this moment, the green mist formed from the Demon Emperor Wood Pearls began to dissipate, and Su Zhou’s consciousness gradually detached from the Immortal Banyan Tree. He could vaguely sense its departing thoughts.

Broadly speaking, it intended to seal off its channels of communication with the outside world, strengthen its defenses, and slumber until it had passed its fledgling stage.

As for Su Zhou’s act of slaying the Demon Emperor, the Immortal Tree was a little happy, but also a little regretful. Although the Demon Emperor hadn’t been a very good member of its Clan, he was indeed the first human it had ever met. But that was all. Compared to Su Zhou, who carried a familiar and intimate aura, it was nothing.

To put it simply, Su Zhou’s charisma score was much higher than the Demon Emperor’s. The tree liked him a lot.

[Nurturer of the Wisdom Tree +200]

Just then, Yara returned. It came back from the starlight of the Ten Thousand Realms on that distant shore, wearing a smug look on its face.

"I brought back a gift for you!"

The Snake Spirit had the same satisfied expression as someone who just showed off their new 4,000-square-foot mansion to an unsuccessful old classmate. Its entire aura screamed, ’I’m a former cellmate who got out early and came back to visit my buddy, shouting about how awesome the dazzling world is on the outside, while you’d better behave yourself in here~’. It was an incredibly punchable look.

In any case, it returned to Su Zhou’s Soul Space, aimed at the Wisdom Tree sapling, and breathed out a puff of green qi.

Instantly, the Wisdom Tree sapling erupted in a brilliant light. A holy mist enveloped its entire form as a sacred hymn resounded!

"This!?" Su Zhou’s eyes widened. He could feel it, too. Many ancient and profound Runes, like condensations of the Great Dao itself, had appeared on the Wisdom Tree Essence Soul in his Soul Space.

The Wisdom Tree’s Essence Soul itself had also grown significantly, and its development was quite encouraging!

’I feel like the next Wisdom Fruit it bears will be much more effective than the first one...’ 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

With this mumble, Su Zhou’s connection to the Immortal Banyan Tree completely severed. His consciousness left his Soul Space, departed the Spirit Realm, and returned to the physical world.

At that exact moment, precisely twelve seconds had passed, and the twelve Demon Emperor Wood Pearls turned to ash and smoke, vanishing completely.

The Spiritual Light of the entire Immortal Banyan Tree could be seen gradually dimming. The turquoise light sank bit by bit like a setting sun, growing quiet and dissipating, before finally sinking into the earth and transferring into its endlessly spreading roots.

The autumn of the Divine Wood, a time of falling leaves, was about to begin.

Su Zhou rose in silence. In those short twelve seconds, the power of the Immortal Banyan Tree had surged into him, mixed with the power of the Demon Emperor’s Evil Soul. It had directly restored his shattered left eye and regenerated the right hand that the Demon Emperor had torn apart. Not only was he completely free of injury, but he was also far more powerful than before.

"Grandmaster Su, are you alright?!"

Soon after, with the sound of Qinggong tearing through the air, the Hundred Schools’ Righteous Army arrived atop the withering Celestial Palace. Zhou Buyi’s anxious voice reached Su Zhou’s ears. "We heard your voice, you..."

His voice cut off abruptly as the people who had arrived at the Celestial Palace took in the sight of the brutal battlefield.

And the figure standing before the shattered remains of the Demon Emperor.

Under the bright starlight, Su Zhou turned around. A complex light flickered in his violet-gold eyes. He looked at the dumbfounded crowd and managed a faint, strained smile.

But soon, as if he had figured something out, his smile brightened, completely free of any gloom.

"It’s over, but not completely over."

Su Zhou said, then smiled and walked toward the crowd. His tone was steady. "Come on, let’s go down."

"The road to true Taiping is still long."

==

The Divine Wood World arc is concluded for now. This marks the end of the 15-Chapter mass release. Please vote with your monthly tickets!