Hearing Xu Zimo’s words, the towering trees fell silent. The countless branches flying through the air withdrew all at once.
“Boy,” an ancient voice echoed from the depths of the forest, “enough is enough. I simply don't want to commit more slaughter.”
“Oh really?” Xu Zimo chuckled. “Then I beg you, hurry up and kill me already.”
“You insolent whelp. I have roamed countless millions of years, unkillable and eternal since the dawn of the era,” the ancient voice snorted coldly.
Xu Zimo just smiled and continued walking into the forest.
“Countless millions of years? Now I really want to see what you are.”
As Xu Zimo moved deeper into the forest, the voice quickly warned, “Take one more step, and I won’t be so polite.”
“Please, I’m begging you, just kill me already. Enough with the bluffing,” Xu Zimo laughed.
From the canopy above, beams of brilliant green light shot into the sky, and a dense life force filled the heavens and earth.
The towering trees all gathered tightly together, forming a wall to block Xu Zimo’s path.
“Are you scared?” Xu Zimo asked with a grin.
“Let’s mind our own business, shall we?” the ancient voice replied calmly.
With Shadow Tyrant in hand, Xu Zimo continued forward. Lightning flickered on the blade, flames burned brightly, and a fierce hurricane swirled through half the sky.
As he slashed with the blade, the dense wall of trees before him was instantly reduced to dust by the overwhelming force.
Strangely though, in the blink of an eye, the trees regrew as if nothing had happened, once again sealing the path.
Xu Zimo looked up slightly and saw the green light above infused with boundless life energy, empowering the entire forest.
“Didn’t you claim to be some immortal being spanning millions of years?” Xu Zimo sneered.
“You think I’m a fool? If you’ve got the guts, come in here!” the voice snapped.
“So you’re all bark and no bite after all,” Xu Zimo said as he slowly lifted Shadow Tyrant, closing his eyes.
At that moment, a unique aura radiated from his body.
Spiritforce surged in the sky, gathering densely on his blade.
It was pitch-black spiritforce. As it condensed, the pressure shattered space around him with a brittle crack-crack.
Wherever the black energy neared, the ancient trees began to wither.
“Nineteen Forms of Dao-Seeking, Tenth Form: Death Canopy.”
With a low growl, Xu Zimo slashed with his blade.
The pitch-black energy detached from the sword, gathering into the shape of a curved blade.
As it cleaved through the heavens, the sky turned completely black. The blade tore through space with ancient, destructive power.
Death energy filled the sky. The once-blazing green light was temporarily suppressed.
Though it resisted fiercely, it wouldn’t be long before the green light broke through Death Canopy.
Xu Zimo frowned slightly. This move, Death Canopy, was something he had developed in his previous life, after slaughtering millions and comprehending death itself in a hellscape of endless death energy.
It was pure death incarnate. Yet even this could only hold the green light down for a short time.
As blade auras rained from the sky, the entire forest was reduced to ash.
With the green light momentarily sealed, its regenerative powers were halted, and the trees could no longer revive.
Spiritforce surged from Xu Zimo’s body. His Paragon Meridian Realm aura erupted in full force.
With a single step through the air, he crossed dozens of meters instantly.
“Stop! Don’t come any closer!” the ancient voice shouted in panic.
The green light in the sky became even more radiant, furiously slamming into Death Canopy in an attempt to break through.
Xu Zimo descended slowly and landed in front of a massive pit thousands of meters wide.
Inside, the life energy was even more intense.
He jumped down into the pit, where pale green light glowed all around him.
At its center, something seemed to be enveloped within the light.
As he approached, Xu Zimo discovered, it was a leaf.
The astonishing green light, richer in vitality than even the Spring of Life, was emanating from a single leaf.
Xu Zimo stared in disbelief. He could feel the pure essence of life resonating from it.
As he gently held the leaf in his hands, the ancient voice came from it.
“Don’t use your filthy hands to defile the source of my life essence,” it said.
“Even as a prisoner, you still talk big,” Xu Zimo smirked, placing the leaf on the ground.
Then he stepped on it a few times, and began untying his belt.
“What are you doing?!” the old voice asked in alarm.
“My piss is golden yellow, thought I’d use it to wake you up,” Xu Zimo said with a grin.
“Have some mercy! I’m ancient and frail, don’t you feel any pity?!”
“Then tell me, who or what exactly are you?” Xu Zimo asked.
“You only need to know that I am ancient, so ancient you can’t even imagine,” the voice answered proudly.
Xu Zimo stayed silent for a moment… then started untying his belt again.
“No, no, no! Fine, I’ll tell you,” the voice quickly relented. “I am the Leaf of Life.”
“Leaf of Life? What’s that?” Xu Zimo asked curiously.
The more he explored this world, the more he realized how limited his knowledge was.
Even though the Primordial Chaos Bead had once shown him the River of Fate and the evolution of countless worlds…
There were still many things he had never seen or understood.
“Put simply, I am a leaf from the Tree of Life,” the ancient voice explained calmly.
“And the Tree of Life… what is that?” Xu Zimo asked, puzzled.
The moonlight was sparse. A few faint stars hung above, swallowed by overwhelming darkness like a great beast.
Baili Xiao sat up in bed, drenched in sweat. She looked around in a daze, then slowly realized, it had all been just a nightmare.
Letting out a deep breath of relief, she wrapped a thin outer robe around herself and stepped outside into the courtyard pavilion.
Leaning against a bench, she gazed silently at the sky.
Her eyes were distant, lost in thought.
“Still thinking about your Chu Yang?” came a sudden voice.
Startled, Baili Xiao's face turned pale. “Who are you? Why do you keep haunting me?”
But as her words fell, her expression changed to a calm smile. Her voice softened:
“I am you. And you are me. We are one and the same.”