Looking at the towering and magnificent Golden Tree before him, which stood upright like Heaven Supporting Earth, a vast number of past experiences from his previous life flashed through Yun Ming's mind.
Whether it was the arduous cultivation and high spirits of his youth, or reaching the pinnacle of the world in his middle age, this Golden Tree had been a witness to it all. It was the only friend he had in this era that felt both familiar and strange. Seeing it once again, he felt deeply moved.
The Golden Tree seemed to have a favorable impression of Yun Ming, who had forcibly broken through the spatial barrier to enter its domain. Its rustling leaves and constant swaying did not resemble the wariness one might show toward an intruder who had broken down the door, but rather the signals of someone meeting an old friend.
Through the gilded trunk, Yun Ming sensed the emotions transmitted by the Golden Tree: trust and urgency.
As the Life Core of Douluo Star, the Golden Tree did not possess many human-like emotions; or rather, the level it currently existed at did not allow for high-level intelligence. It was now akin to the heavens, operating primarily on instinct and logic. Therefore, it did not care that Yun Ming had broken in like a bandit; it only cared that Yun Ming carried a scent it recognized and could trust, and that he possessed the ability to move freely, allowing it to achieve its goal.
"Go. There."
Without any sound or spiritual fluctuation, a voice devoid of joy or sorrow resonated in his mind without warning, while a scene of the Dead Realm appeared in his consciousness.
The sudden voice and image in his mind brought Yun Ming back to his senses, and then, the Golden Tree's eerie psychic voice sounded once more.
"Go. There."
Hearing the psychic voice in his mind, the doubts Yun Ming held regarding the existence of the final plan were finally put to rest. His observations were correct: Douluo Star itself possessed a mechanism to deal with the Dead Realm, and that Golden Tree branch was likely the guide. The Golden Tree sought a fated person to bring into the different dimension, and then lead it to fill the void.
It was just unclear whether Luo Shide had failed to find the correct way to use the Golden Tree branch, or if the Golden Tree had given hints that Luo Shide had simply never noticed, causing the events of several years ago to drag on until now.
As Yun Ming's thoughts touched upon himself, the Golden Tree seemed to sense it, and in the form of images, it told Yun Ming about Luo Shide's actions over the past few years.
In the images, every night when Luo Shide meditated, a vision would appear in his consciousness—the very projection of the Golden Tree as it was now. Every night, the Golden Tree in the vision would tirelessly extend an invitation to Luo Shide. Under normal circumstances, this should have been enough to bring Luo Shide over, but alas! An accident occurred the first time Luo Shide saw the Golden Tree's projection, changing everything.
At the time, the Golden Tree's actions were perhaps too far beyond Luo Shide's imagination; a tree entering his consciousness and speaking had frightened him. Luo Shide's Spiritual Power had reflexively struck and extinguished the Golden Tree's conscious image. After it was extinguished, the origin of the image—the energy contained within the Golden Tree branch—was exposed, sparking a craving in his Green Pine Martial Soul. Luo Shide noticed this, tried absorbing it, and then discovered the efficacy of the Golden Tree's energy in enhancing his cultivation.
With such improvements, Luo Shide was naturally overjoyed. Afterward, the Golden Tree's image appeared time and time again, but the result was always the same: he would strike it down, absorb the energy, and improve himself. Thus, the Golden Tree branch became a cultivation accelerator.
Of course, Luo Shide was no fool. At first, he was indeed afraid of a situation beyond his understanding, but after it happened many times, he stopped being afraid. After delaying his reaction once or twice, he eventually understood what the Golden Tree meant.
However, he was a man of excessive caution. When Yun Ming said he was 'here for him and his treasures,' he handed them over without a second word—that was his style. But here, he had decided after much deliberation to wait until he had absorbed the Golden Tree's energy and his cultivation had greatly increased before going, to ensure he had more insurance.
Plants that were more beautiful and vibrant were often more dangerous; as the lord of a major city for Pills, he understood this well. Furthermore, the Golden Tree was covered in golden patterns and clearly didn't look like a "proper" tree—after all, what kind of decent tree invited people over every single day? And so, this dragged on for over three years.
Watching the images of Luo Shide smashing the Golden Tree's projection over and over again, Yun Ming didn't know how to evaluate him.
If you called him stupid, he had gained benefits from the Golden Tree. If you called him smart, he had clearly picked up a sesame seed while losing a watermelon. It was hard to say!
However, one thing was certain: he was very lucky. The Golden Tree was currently dominated by logic; otherwise, Luo Shide, who beat its projection to a pulp every day, would surely have suffered the consequences!
The Golden Tree finished demonstrating its years of being beaten up, then began to shake incessantly, accompanied by psychic transmissions.
Yun Ming had come for this very reason, so he naturally wouldn't refuse, but there was one problem. He looked at the towering Golden Tree before him and spoke bluntly.
"I have no problem taking you to the 'Dead Realm,' the place in the images. However, your size is too large. How am I supposed to move you?"
The Golden Tree of later generations was a giant tree whose canopy could cover an entire island, with thousands of individual rooms carved inside—it was already massive. But compared to its current size, that was nothing. This size was not something Yun Ming's Teleportation Technique could move.
The reason was simple: as the Life Core of Douluo Star, the Golden Tree's growth was closely linked to the overall state of the planet. The God of Gods Battle that would occur in the original timeline not long after, combined with the later mass extinction of Soul Beasts, the rise of Soul Guidance Technology, the Abyss invasion, and so on, had severely damaged the ecological environment of Douluo Star. The safety of the entire planet faced a serious threat, and the Golden Tree naturally suffered. However, none of that had happened yet, so the Golden Tree's condition was much better.
The Golden Tree understood that Yun Ming was willing to help and was very excited. As for Yun Ming's question, it gave an answer on the spot, though the answer seemed a bit off-target.
Rumble—
With a loud crash, the sky suddenly split open, the endless Void began to tremble, and the entire different dimension shook as if the earth were quaking. The entire space began to collapse, a truly heart-stopping sight.
Yun Ming: "!!!"
He was stunned. Was this really how it chose to make its debut? He had already understood the Golden Tree's intent through the constantly appearing spatial rifts. It truly couldn't move, so it chose to collapse its own different dimension to let itself fall directly onto the Douluo Continent.
Watching the ever-appearing spatial rifts and the crumbling space, Yun Ming shouted in a hurry, trying to stop the Golden Tree's actions.
"Stop, stop!"
"You won't reach the destination this way."
His problem wasn't getting the Golden Tree out of the space, but getting it to Heaven Dou City. The Golden Tree's answer had missed the point!
Yun Ming's voice was loud, but the not-so-intelligent Golden Tree didn't listen to reason. Brilliant golden light erupted from its trunk, and it tore down its own home even more vigorously. The collapse of the different dimension accelerated, and a beam of golden light shot directly at Yun Ming, forming a protective barrier around him.
Although the Golden Tree hadn't understood the question, it still used its power to protect Yun Ming. It seemed it still cared about the "tool" that had delivered itself to its doorstep.
Through the light barrier, Yun Ming looked at the space, now riddled with cracks and teetering on the edge of destruction, and sighed. This different dimension was beyond saving; let it be destroyed! As for the problems that followed, he would deal with them once they fell onto the Douluo Continent!
As dense spatial cracks continued to appear across the firmament, this different world reached its end.
Snap—
The fate of the entire different dimension reached its conclusion with a crisp sound like shattering glass. The entire space exploded. The last thing Yun Ming saw was the Golden Tree and the golden light barrier protecting him glowing intensely, then he could see nothing else. After that, there was only a violent shaking.
Outside, Douluo Continent, Silver River City.
A massive change had occurred in the Golden Tree's space, and as the main plane, Douluo Star naturally did not remain unaffected.
Above the Wanfu Forest, faint, flickering cracks appeared in synchronization, as did the phantom of the Golden Tree. The scale of the phenomenon shocked the entire Silver River City.
The members of the Breaking Clan who had returned to the residence in Silver River City, Dai Bingjun who was temporarily staying in the South of the City, and everyone else in Silver River City—save for Luo Shide, who was in seclusion refining a Pill—were all startled.
"Your Highness! Something major has happened!"
Inside the temporary Prince Manor in the South of the City, a trusted aide of Dai Bingjun, who had been guarding outside the Bedroom, saw the celestial phenomenon and hurried to report to Dai Bingjun inside.
Thump, thump, thump—
A series of footsteps rang out as a cold-faced Dai Bingjun walked out of the room, looking at the phenomenon in the sky. In truth, he didn't need the servant to remind him. With the Golden Tree's light and shadow appearing, the Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi throughout Silver River City was rapidly activating, and the concentration of Yuan Qi was constantly rising. As a Soul Master, Dai Bingjun perceived it very clearly.
"Pass the order: take all our men and rush to the location of the light and shadow immediately!" Dai Bingjun ordered at once.
As a sign of such a rare treasure emerging, he naturally had to go and take a look. Although he might not be able to succeed with Sky Support Yun Ming currently in the city and beyond his control, he would not simply turn a blind eye to it either.
"Understood! Your Highness," his subordinates acknowledged the order and hurried off to gather men.
The same scene was playing out in various large and small family estates throughout Silver River City.
A few years ago, the first riot of the Golden Tree had been covered up by Luo Shide because the commotion was small, but today's disturbance was far too great to be hidden.
The emergence of the Douluo Star Life Core was discovered not only here in Silver River City but also by the God Realm and the Star Dou Great Forest.
The God Realm showed no reaction; they ruled over countless planes and cared nothing for the Life Core of a mere single plane. After all, having become gods, worldly objects were of little use to them. They might be lazy and neglect their duties, but they had not yet sunk so low as to specifically seize control of a mortal planet.
However, the Star Dou Great Forest was not so calm.
Star Dou Great Forest, Lake of Life, Lake Bottom Space.
The Golden Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian was once again awakened by the changes in the outside world. Sensing that it was the Life Core emerging, Di Tian spoke to the massive Silver Dragon who had also been awakened before him.
"Lord, the Life Core has emerged. Shall we take action to seize it?"
Gu Yuena did not refuse immediately this time. Her gaze pierced through the void, looking toward the nearby Silver River City.
She was tempted! The Life Core of a planet was far more useful than that Big Meat Worm currently in her possession. If she could seize it, she could use the life energy of the entire Douluo Star as nourishment to rapidly recover from her injuries. It wasn't that she hadn't thought of finding this thing years ago, but she hadn't been able to locate it within the Star Dou Great Forest.
Seeing that Gu Yuena did not immediately refuse, Di Tian knew she was tempted. He immediately transformed into human form, knelt, and requested orders.
"This subordinate is willing to take action personally to retrieve the Life Core for you, Lord!"
Gu Yuena lowered her head to look at Di Tian, calculating whether it was feasible.
Times were different now; the gods were paying more attention to the current era, and she knew the reason: there were too many geniuses in this generation. Just from what she already knew, there was a woman about to complete the Rakshasa God trials, and that Yun Ming who had slain a god while still a mortal—it would be strange if the God Realm didn't pay attention.
But the Life Core was truly tempting to the Silver Dragon King. For a moment, even she, as the vessel for the Dragon God's wise divine soul, found it difficult to decide. After a moment of contemplation, the Silver Dragon King made her choice.
Setting aside the movements of the outside world, over in Wanfu Forest, the sky collapsed. Within a pillar of light reaching the heavens, the Golden Tree, carrying Yun Ming, crashed down violently from the void.
Boom--
A massive cloud of dust and debris from the vegetation rose from the earth. The trees and herbs that had been growing rapidly due to the Golden Tree's life aura were instantly subjected to a Mount Tai Pressing Down.
"Cough, cough--"
As the light screen dissipated, the dust filling the air forced Yun Ming to cough. Yun Ming used his soul power to conjure a breeze, clearing the air before he finally stopped.
Yun Ming looked up at the Golden Tree beside him and said.
"And then? Do you have any ideas on how to get to the place shown in the vision?"
The Golden Tree shook, and at the same time, that telepathic voice resonated in Yun Ming's heart once more.
"Go. There."
Yun Ming: "."
Fine! It seemed unlikely that the Golden Tree could come up with an effective method; it was just a tree that understood nothing, so he would have to rely on himself.
Yun Ming could not simply teleport such a massive tree, but would it be feasible to use the second characteristic of his Sky Support True Body?
He couldn't reach a conclusion through speculation, so he had to put it into practice.
Yun Ming raised his hand to summon the Atlas Divine Spear. His orange-gold, black, white-gold, and orange-gold soul rings lit up in unison, and the Atlas Divine Spear transformed into energy, flowing into Yun Ming's body.
The robes on his upper body vanished, revealing his fluidly muscled torso. From his heart, golden, silver, and white gradient patterns spread across his torso as the Myriad Aspects Floating World Painting manifested once again. Below his waist, he was covered in layers of white energy resembling pure silk.
At the same time, his black hair turned into white flames, cascading down to his waist, interspersed with strands of gradient hair that swayed in the wind. A crown-shaped divine pattern appeared on his forehead, and with his eyebrows and pupils completely replaced by silver-white, he exuded an indescribable sense of divinity.
Sky Support Yun Ming, reporting for duty!
"Do not resist later."
Yun Ming said to the Golden Tree, and the tree shook its leaves in agreement.
Looking at the towering, unreachable Golden Tree before him, another black soul ring appeared and lit up on Yun Ming.
Six Sky Support Marks emerged in the six directions around the Golden Tree. Yun Ming changed his hand seals, and countless profound and obscure spatial patterns emerged from the void, interlocking to wrap the Golden Tree in a silver sphere of light, while the Floating World Painting patterns on his own body shifted in response.
Preparation complete; success or failure hinges on this one move.--
───────────────
Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: DaoistReader