Reborn as a Demonic Tree-Chapter 463: (Interlude) Mind Eater

Astralis was curled around a grand mountain peak deep within his territory. His black scales dotted with silver specks shimmered under the moonlight as he absorbed cosmic Qi. One advantage he had over other affinities was that cosmic Qi could be absorbed anywhere; it was just more dense at night. He followed the beast tide around not for the need of Qi from the spiritual springs, but because it was a buffet to him.

I'm so close to Monarch Realm—how frustrating. Astralis sighed, causing the mountain he rested on to tremble. Loose rocks tumbled down to the dense forest below. His mind was restless.

If not for the beast tide starting early, there was a slim chance I could have managed to force my way to Monarch Realm before moving to the next spiritual spring. It wouldn't have mattered if I followed the others to the next spiritual spring a few years later, as my superior realm would let me take over any territory I wished besides the area reserved for Zephyrine.

He raised his head and shifted his weight—the mountain peak cracked down the middle. Unfazed, he looked to the horizon. It was blanketed by a roaring storm that Zephyrine had created to push the beasts toward the next spiritual spring. Usually, the process happened naturally, but due to the Qi in the land suddenly depleting, it had caused chaos and far too much infighting among the monsters.

Which was a problem. If the monsters killed each other, who would be left for him to eat? While he could sustain himself off Qi alone, he got a primal delight from devouring the weak. Not to mention, some species of monster were incredibly delicious.

He let out an annoyed snort as he looked back at the stars. What lay ahead of him would be a pointless battle for territory where he would waste Qi and set his cultivation back decades again. Since it was so hard for a peak Nascent Soul Realm existence to cultivate on the Qi-deprived layer of creation, wasting any Qi was foolish. His Qi pool was as precious as his life.

Maybe I should let the rest go to the next spiritual spring, and I hang back here. Astralis thought, but ended up ignoring that idea. His joy from eating weaker monsters aside, there was a more shameful reason he continued to follow the beast tide.

Safety.

There were human cultivators out there strong enough to kill him and even other monsters. By surrounding himself with weaker monsters, someone would have to battle past, giving him time to prepare.

An image of Nymeria's mother flashed in his mind. She was the perfect example. If not for Zephyrine stepping in and saving him during that passionate night, he didn't want to think about what might have happened to him.

"I wonder where she is now," Astralis mused, lowering his head again onto the now split mountain peak. Clearing his mind of unsavoury memories and turbulent thoughts, he was about to focus back on his cultivation, but something had entered his territory, except unlike last time when it was merely three drakes sent by Nymeria, this intruder was far stronger. It was undoubtedly a Primal Overlord.

What is a Primal Overlord invading my territory for? Trying to get the jump on me before the next spiritual spring? Or do they know I'm on the brink of the Monarch Realm and have come to force me to pointlessly waste Qi?

Astralis debated moving to intercept them, but decided to feign ignorance of the Primal Overlords' transgression into his territory. There was always the slim chance that after a long sleep, they forgot the borders they had established decades ago.

That hope quickly died as the Primal Overlord headed straight toward him and was also not alone.

There were two of them.

For whatever reason, they were masking their identity and presence as best they could. Astralis wouldn't have noticed them without his incredible attunement to changes in Qi.

Astralis rose and spread his wings. Looking toward the direction they were coming, he opened his mouth and roared, "Who dares invade the lands of the Celestial Star Dragon?" His Qi empowered voice boomed across the land, exploding nearby mountains and wiping out swathes of forest.

A tense silence followed.

He gathered air into his lungs, ready to shout again, only to be interrupted by a whisper in his ear.

"There's no need for that, Astralis."

Astralis's eyes narrowed as he recognized this ethereal voice that sounded like it belonged in a dream.

"Ig'Zal, what are you doing?"

He was thoroughly displeased. Out of all of the Primal Overlords to invade his territory, it just had to be Ig'Zal the Mind Eater. While not the strongest in terms of combat capabilities, he possessed psychic affinity, allowing him to directly attack and control the consciousness of others.

"I've come to have a talk," he replied, his tone as soft as clouds. "I mean no harm."

Astralis growled, "Yeah, right. If you didn't come for a fight, why did you bring a friend?"

"Are you going to wait over there or come to greet me?" Ig'Zal replied, ignoring his question.

"I don't greet intruders," Astralis sneered.

"Not even with force? Has the great Astralis grown soft?"

Ig'Zal's tone was seriously getting on his nerves, making every muscle in his body tense. He was this close to calling down a star beam on Ig'Zal's head—wait. Astralis stopped and took a deep breath. Ig'Zal's voice was infused with psychic Qi, meaning it was affecting his consciousness.

I hate mind-controlling monsters.

Leaping into the sky, he soared toward Ig'Zal. There was no way he could ignore this any further, and as much as he hated to admit it, the Mind Eater was right. Nobody would respect his borders if he didn't defend them.

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Closing in and getting a visual through the foliage, Astralis saw Ig'Zal. He wasn't actually that hard to spot in the darkness as he shimmed. Despite being an ancient species of lunar moth, he was huge, almost the size of a tree. Ghostly silver wings comprised most of his size, trailing a sparkling dust with each casual flap. Likely noticing his presence in the sky, Ig'Zal glanced up with enormous, round eyes that looked like trapped moons.

In a way, they were quite similar monsters. Winged beings that were incredibly attuned to Qi. It's just Astralis moved with the gracefulness of a raging storm, while Ig'Zal was as silent as a ghost.

However, it was the other Primal Overlord lumbering below Ig'Zal that baffled Astralis. It was a titanic creature known as the living forest—Tyranox. A Colossal Thorn-Backed Basilisk, able to turn everything into poisonous swamps around him. Worst of all, his eyes can petrify any living thing. Yet despite his status as a Primal Overlord and high cultivation realm in the upper stages of the Nascent Soul Realm, Tyranox was as dumb as rocks.

Astralis sometimes joked that Tyranox had petrified his own brain. While not the strongest and definitely not the smartest, Tyranox was still a powerful and ferocious entity prone to senseless violence in the beast tide, so he kept away from him.

So why was Tyranox here, lumbering forward under Ig'Zal no less? It was utterly perplexing.

"Are you going to stay up there forever, dragon?" Ig'Zal asked him, the moth's tone ever dreamlike.

Not until I have figured out why you are here. If it's a fight you're looking for, I'd rather flee to preserve my Qi. I'm so close to the next realm, I can't afford to fight here.

"Depends," Astralis replied as he circled them overhead, his scales shimmering with unrestrained cosmic Qi to appear threatening and powerful. "Why are you here in my lands with Tyranox?"

"I told you, I'm here to speak with the oh so great Celestial Star Dragon," Ig'Zal said, but his hint of bloodlust gave him away.

Astralis pulsed his Star Core to pull back, but it was too late. An immense spiritual force pressed down on him, taking him by surprise. What?! How is Ig'Zal's soul pressure this strong? He fought back against the pressure and lost. He plummeted to the ground as if the hand of a god had thwarted him out of the sky, throwing up a wave of earth and shattered trees. With the pressure still pinning him to the ground, his twin Star Cores flared to life, and he managed to stand in the vaguely dragon-shaped crater

Narrowing his eyes at the treeline, he could feel the threats approaching.

It doesn't make any sense. Even if these Primal Overlords combined their spiritual pressures, it shouldn't have knocked me out of the sky like that. Something is off.

A strange laughter from Ig'Zal combined with the rhythmic trembling of Tyranox marching forward made Astralis's mind race. It had been centuries since he had last been threatened like this.

If I have no choice, I'll fight them off. But the waste of Qi will be deeply regretful.

The pair exited the treeline and paused at the edge of the massive crater he had formed during his fall. The area around Tyranox began to transition into a poisonous bog, and the softening ground began to slump.

Ig'Zal relaxed his ethereal wings and rested on top of Tyranox's head. The giant basilisk seemed unfazed by the treatment—in fact, his eyes were totally dead.

However, Astralis didn't care for Tyranox right now. He felt something off about Ig'Zal, and it took him a moment to realize a horrifying truth.

"Did you finally notice, Astralis?" Ig'Zal asked.

"You're... in the Monarch Realm," Astralis replied. He was in disbelief. Ig'Zal had been decades behind him in cultivation the last time he saw the giant moth; what had changed?

Yet here he was, before the second ever Monarch Realm being in the beast tide—Ig'Zal, the Mind Eater. Astralis had so many questions. What would this mean for the balance between the Primal Overlords? What did Zephyrine think about this? Did she even know?

But most importantly, why was Ig'Zal here before him?

"I can see you have questions, Astralis. Since we go way back, let me explain. To answer how I ascended faster than you without anyone's knowledge, it was thanks to Tyranox here. You see, he didn't always have rocks for brains. I actually planted an egg inside his consciousness that has been slowly growing for centuries. Once matured, I could absorb it and advance to the Monarch Realm. It did come at the sad outcome of poor Tyranox losing his sense of self, but that worked well for me as he's easy to control now."

Ig'Zal paused speaking for a moment as he twitched his head and combed his lunar fur with his forelimbs. "As for why I'm here, that's simple. I want your help to overthrow Zephyrine."

"Impossible," Astralis snarled in response. "Ignoring your ludicrous story, your cultivation may have improved, and you can suppress me with your soul pressure, but Zephyrine wouldn't even blink twice at such child's play."

Ig'Zal's head twitched. "You forget she is weakened after summoning that grand storm to get the beast tide moving—"

"Weakling!" Astralis exploded with a Qi empowered roar. "You have no combat ability, and for a psychic affinity monster, the smarts of the mold under a rock. I will not participate in an uprising against Zephyrine, especially under you. Begone now, before I call down the wrath of the cosmos on your head!"

He wasn't faking it—Astralis was deathly serious, and his unrelenting bloodlust showed it. Monarch Realm was impressive, but he would still triumph over Ig'Zal in direct combat. Dragons were the most Qi attuned race, giving them unparalleled synergy with the heavens and the ability to manipulate Qi. It was why he was so keen to reach Monarch Realm—to unlock a domain.

Ig'Zal narrowed his moon-like eyes. "For a dragon, you are truly foolish. Yes, I wish to work alongside you for your combat capabilities, but did you forget I'm a Monarch Realm being now? We would only be able to beat Zephyrine because I can suppress her while you deal the final blow. You cannot hope to stand up against me."

"What a joke. Monarch Realm is wasted on you."

"Domain of Starwoven Delirium," Ig'Zal said, and his moon eyes pulsed once like the ripple on a lake. Nothing seemed to happen, yet the moth continued arrogantly proclaiming his greatness. "To step into my domain is to forget who you are, why you came, and which thoughts were ever your own. You will become mine."

Astralis laughed. "You want to try controlling a dragon? Laughable. As expected, it didn't work—"

***

Astralis looked at the distant storm from atop a mountain peak. He'd tried to cultivate, but he had a headache.

But dragons didn't get headaches.

He also had a memory gap. The last thing he remembered was it being night, but now it was morning. If he had been so focused on cultivation as to not notice the time passing, he would have had slightly more Qi.

But he had less Qi than before.

However, perhaps weirdly of all, he felt a deep jealousy toward Zephyrine while looking at the storm.

But jealousy wasn't an emotion he was used to, as what would he, the great Celestial Star Dragon, have to be jealous about? It was artificial... planted by someone else.

Something had happened to him during that gap; the question was what?

His memories or consciousness seemed to have been altered. Vast swathes of memories were missing, and he felt his personality had changed.

How did he know all this? Because a dragon never forgot anything, and if there was one thing he was absolutely sure of, it was himself.

Astralis's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Whoever you are, you picked the wrong dragon to make an enemy of."

Whoever it was, they wanted him to be jealous of Zephyrine. They also used some kind of mind manipulation instead of hurting or attacking him directly. Their target wasn't him; it was the target of these new memories—Zephyrine.

"An enemy against the Beast Tide perhaps?" Astralis cast out his spiritual sense as far to the south as he could, and to his surprise, he noticed something.

A powerful spiritual signature was heading toward him through the storm. It wasn't clear if it was an airship, a floating island, or a giant monster. But one thing was for sure, it was worthy of his attention.