Chapter 38 The deeper the love, the more intense the hate. He couldn't help but recall that night…
Even after being hit on the head several times by Fu Ming, Shenmu still did not give up using Xiao Huaiyuan's serious and handsome face.
"I didn't want to either! We trees aren't like people, we don't have faces to begin with. Whatever I look like in the illusion, that's what I'll look like when I come out." He retorted, his neck stiff.
Fu Ming: "That's easy, I'll help you revise it."
After saying that, he forcibly restored the sacred tree to its original form and began carving on the pure white wooden stake with a knife.
He had sculpted his own face and fully absorbed the makeup techniques of Tianxianglou, so now he can be considered a semi-expert in disguise.
Thanks to Master Fu's miraculous healing skills, the appearance of the divine tree human body finally underwent a significant change.
Upright yet sharp, delicate yet slightly naive, like a combination of Xiao Huaiyuan and Fu Ming.
The system in Fu Ming's mind couldn't help but exclaim in admiration: "Wow, host, this face is shaped just like your son with Xiao Huaiyuan."
Fu Ming, a straight man, was stunned: Go away, what are you talking about? We're both men, how can we have a baby?
No, he and Xiao Huaiyuan never had any improper relationship!
Fu Ming paused, stopping in front of the giant pit and steep cliff covered with green grass.
A gentle breeze stirred, lifting the stray hairs that peeked out from under his crown, carrying them across the boundless grassland before scattering away.
He noticed the second strange thing: this fairy island was too desolate. Apart from the endless grass, there were only low-level demonic beasts such as nematodes.
Previously, Wu Ming was asked to scan the spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from the ground, which led to the discovery of the divine tree's dwelling place from the faint fluctuations.
Zhugan was an ancient divine tree, whose branches and leaves could cover half a continent at its peak. However, when he marked it with the sign of recognition, he encountered not a single obstacle, which shows that the divine tree was extremely weak.
What exactly happened to Daiyu?
The side quests issued by the system never provide clues, only titles for reference. Protecting rare plants and animals is one thing, but how do we address restoring the ecological cycle?
He was just about to ask Shenmu when he saw Shenmu squatting on the edge of the cliff, drawing circles, his brows drooping, looking very lonely.
Shenmu said listlessly, "My kin are all here."
"Oh, are there other surviving pearls?" Fu Ming leaned over to take a look, but he couldn't sense any other source of spiritual energy.
call--
Suddenly, the grass and trees rose up as the divine tree called, revealing a huge oval-shaped pit.
The giant pit was about ten stories deep, and buried in the dark brown soil were layers upon layers of densely packed corpses of birds, beasts, and plants. At the bottom of the pit, a group of gray-white dead tree stumps of various shapes and sizes gathered, resembling the simple tombstones of a poor family.
The trees of the pearl tree all grow in clusters, and when they die, they are buried in one place.
"...If I die, I will return here and sleep with my people." As she spoke, the sentimental sacred tree wiped away non-existent tears.
"No wonder the once sacred tree has fallen so low as to eat people."
Fu Ming remained unmoved, coldly pointing out Zhu Gan's miserable situation of having no dignity whatsoever as a divine tree, which made the divine tree quite embarrassed.
What a heartless guy!
Fu Ming continued to ponder: "So it turns out that there's a problem with the spiritual energy circulation in Daiyu, which is probably why the Grand Competition Secret Realm hasn't opened yet."
A whale falls and all things come to life. Even a colossal creature like the Pearl Jade, though it dies, transforms into spiritual energy to nourish other living beings. These living beings, in turn, generate even more spiritual energy, which then nourishes the divine beasts and immortal trees, thus perpetuating the cycle of life.
Strangely enough, the spiritual energy on the immortal island is much denser than that of the outside world, yet it is now deathly still. Not to mention the divine tree, there isn't even a single demonic beast above the Golden Core stage.
He had previously instructed his subordinates in the Demon Realm to cultivate and plant rare trees, which grew into a forest and successfully tamed and stabilized the rampant demonic energy near Changliu Mountain.
If it were replicated here, it would likely have a similar effect.
"My only fruit is here. Remember to return the seeds to me after you're done."
Shenmu dug through the grave soil and finally unearthed a small, round, silvery-white sphere. However, the flesh inside the transparent shell of this fruit was shriveled and clearly not yet ripe.
Fu Ming smiled brightly in the dappled sunlight: "No rush, let him rest first."
"ah?"
On clear nights, the Milky Way stretches across the sky, scattered stars twinkle, and spiritual energy, invisible to the naked eye, flows slowly between heaven and earth.
The pitch-black boundary marker blended perfectly into the night, with a flash of silver light occasionally flickering across it. It turned out to be a vine carrying a fruit, hanging on the boundary marker to absorb the essence of heaven and earth.
Even more strangely, several nematodes and some reeds were swaying around the boundary marker, absorbing spiritual energy. If you looked closely, you could find a magic circle at their feet that could inspire intelligence.
Shenmu hesitated: "What are you trying to do by specifically transforming the nematodes and the *Wei* grass?"
"Look."
Looking in the direction Fu Ming pointed, the pearls and fruits gradually filled up, seemingly even faster than when he ate three people a day.
It actually works!
Fu Ming regarded the ancient tree, which was tens of thousands of years old, as a child who had not received compulsory education. Silly child, an ecosystem can only function if both living things and the environment exist. If the spiritual energy is stagnant, it will naturally not be able to nourish any essence of heaven and earth.
At this moment, Wu Ming and Jiang Jie, who had finally managed to break free from the vines, arrived.
Wu Ming's steps were unsteady, and he looked dejected, while Jiang Jie was full of energy, looking relaxed as if he had had a good night's sleep. When he saw Fu Ming standing by the boundary marker, he took the initiative to come over and start a conversation.
However, as he approached the boundary marker, his attention was drawn to the rows of dark gold characters, and he completely forgot the many questions he was supposed to ask Fu Ming.
Jiang Jie was shocked: "Isn't this our name? How did we make it into the top ten of the Heavenly Ranking?"
He continued counting from the bottom up.
The eighth and seventh on the Heavenly Ranking both have 5,000 points. Since the seventh on the Heavenly Ranking is himself, then the eighth on the Heavenly Ranking is...
Jiang Jie patted Wu Ming on the shoulder heavily and laughed loudly, "Brother Wu, so your name is Li Yang!"
Li Yang, using the pseudonym Wu Ming, stumbled from the impact and quickly scanned the rankings. When he saw the last sentence, he cried out in alarm.
"There's only one person with the surname Ming in the top ten miles. Could it be Ming Chen, who's ranked number one on the Heavenly Ranking, that's you?"
How could a mere early-stage Golden Core cultivator possibly be so powerful!
Fu Ming looked up at the starry sky with his hands behind his back, his tone very ordinary, as if he had just picked up a spirit stone from the ground.
"It's me. It's nothing special. I just recognized an ancient divine object as my master."
It's no big deal, it's just being number one on the Heavenly Ranking.
"Ancient divine artifact, ranked number one on the daily leaderboard..." These indifferent words echoed in Li Yang's mind, turning his brain into mush. This is bad! Can he still seize the magical treasure as planned?
Fu Ming had no time to pay attention to the uproar in Li Yang's heart, although he never cared about it anyway. At the moment, he had another important matter to deal with.
Regarding his plan to flee.
The illusion created by the divine tree inadvertently reminded him that if his junior brother did not completely give up, he would relentlessly pursue the person he cared about, digging three feet into the ground to find them.
Back when he was still under the old Demon Lord's command, Xiao Huaiyuan was always among those who fought in every campaign. Although Xiao Huaiyuan's cultivation was not as high as his, his fighting style was extremely difficult to deal with. He was also reluctant to kill him, so they would often fight until one of them was seriously injured before stopping.
It is necessary to make Xiao Huaiyuan feel disgusted with "Ming Chen" in the same way he disliked Fu Ming.
But hatred alone is not enough, after all, Xiao Huaiyuan might be hot-tempered and chase him to the Yellow Springs, dead or alive.
He wanted Xiao Huaiyuan to be disgusted with him from that moment on; he wanted... to never see him again in this lifetime.
Xiao Huaiyuan, ranked second on the overall list, stood right next to Fu Ming, ranked first. Ninety years had passed in this way, and they had never been separated through wind and rain. Fu Ming stared at them, lost in thought. In truth, his heart was also aching, but there was no turning back now.
It's always better to separate now than to suffer the consequences later.
I'm sorry, junior brother.
On Daiyu Immortal Island, the sun rises and the moon sets, its light ever-changing. Fu Ming guards the pearly fruit all night, truly like a sculpture.
Fu Ming took the ancient divine wood for himself, and as agreed, he also had to share some good things with Li Yang and Jiang Jie. So he gave them some of the spirit-preserving skeletons in the deep pit.
Since demons cannot be brought back to life, they might as well contribute to the restoration of the ecosystem. So he used the remaining skeleton to disperse its spirit and enlightened a group of vine demons and grass spirits, which brought more vitality to Daiyu.
Next, Fu Ming asked the divine tree for the seeds of the plants that had already died.
Setting up the formation, gathering spirits, and planting seeds – the whole process flowed smoothly, successfully pushing the side quest's progress to 80%. He calculated with his fingers that it was still a little short.
"Junior Brother Ming, who is this?" Jiang Jie asked for the fourth time, pointing at the self-amusing Divine Tree. For some reason, Junior Brother Ming, who had previously been quite willing to joke with him, suddenly became indifferent and often ignored his remarks.
Just in time, Fu Ming pushed Shenmu to play with him, saving him from having to answer Shenmu's endless questions: "Ancient Divine Tree Pearl".
Jiang Jie: "Speaking of which, Li Yang, who previously called himself Wu Ming, has disappeared. We don't know where he went."
"I know, don't worry about him." Fu Ming replied without looking up as he was preparing to set up a spirit-gathering array on the clear spring at the source of the river.
"Wow, look, Zhugan looks exactly like Xiao..."
"Shut up."
This person is so annoying!
Jiang Jie always felt that when his junior brother Ming turned cold, he was quite intimidating, like a hedgehog that made it difficult for people to get close to him.
However, there were times when Fu Ming's expression softened during this period, which was when he contacted his master, Sect Leader Xiao, using a jade slip.
If it were Jiang Jie himself, having finally managed to get rid of his master, he wouldn't bother reporting back to him.
Fu Ming, on the other hand, not only set aside an hour every day to chat with his master, but also specially set up an impregnable barrier.
"What a deep bond between master and disciple," Jiang Jie remarked with emotion.
Inside the barrier.
Fu Ming placed the jade slip on his lap, straightened his back, but softened his voice: "Yes... I accidentally made the ancient divine tree bead recognize me as its master. After the fruit matures, I will give half of it to Master, is that alright?"
“Of course, every moment I’ve been in this secret realm, I’ve been thinking of you, Master.”
The young man's originally clear voice was deliberately lowered, becoming hoarse and frivolous; he felt like vomiting after saying too much.
Xiao Huaiyuan probably noticed something was wrong and kept asking him if he was feeling unwell.
Whenever this happened, Fu Ming would always change the subject with some jokes, such as the noisy Jiang Jie, the treacherous Li Yang, and the eccentric Shenmu.
"Yes, Master, do you know why the Divine Tree looks so much like you?" Fu Ming chuckled, "Because you're the one who appears in my illusions."
Xiao Huaiyuan remained silent for a long time on the other end.
He knew he should remain vigilant, but he still couldn't control himself, just as he couldn't suppress the memory of that passionate night, nor could he stop the ever-growing desires in his heart.
Xiao Huaiyuan seemed to want to say something, but Fu Ming didn't hear him.
Just now, a telepathic message from the divine tree urgently entered his consciousness:
"Oh no! Hua Shi has been stolen by a bald fox!"
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